Chapter 683: Chapter 232: Old House_2
Pei Yunmeng lifted her eyes to survey her surroundings.
The room was not very spacious, even a bit cramped.
Against one wall, there was a narrow grass mattress, which could barely fit one person.
Near the door stood a square table, under which was placed a stove, with a locked wooden cabinet close by the door. Beyond that, there was nothing else—bare walls making the place look desolate.
Lu Tong bent down to retrieve a key from beneath the grass mattress and unlocked the wooden cabinet.
Inside the cabinet, the items still lay orderly, just as she had left them. Luomei Peak was desolate and untraveled, and no one had visited the cottage. She took out an oil lamp from the cabinet, filled it with oil, lit it with a match, and placed the lit lamp on the square table, its tranquil light dispelling some of the room’s sparse bleakness.
Lu Tong turned and saw Pei Yunmeng standing with her arms crossed, taking in her surroundings. She asked, "What’s there to look at?"
Besides a bed, the room was virtually empty, easily seen at a glance. Why was he looking around so seriously?
Pei Yunmeng glanced at her and spoke deliberately, "It’s my first time in your boudoir, naturally I’m curious."
Lu Tong: "..."
The man was simply sick.
He swept his discriminating gaze across the room’s crude furnishings, and said, "You used to live in such a shabby place?"
It was humid, dim, cramped, and low, perhaps only a bed richer than the Interrogation Room of the Palace Front Office, and not even as spacious.
"Naturally, it cannot be compared with the opulence of the Palace Marshal’s Mansion."
"Didn’t you say that you lived on the mountain with your master?" He turned again, his eyes scanning the corner, "Then why is there only one bed?"
The small room and even smaller bed appeared to fit only one person.
Lu Tong pursed her lips, "She doesn’t live here."
Lady Yun didn’t live here.
The sounds from testing medicines would interfere with Lady Yun’s creation of new drugs, so she lived in a different thatched house. The one next door had Lady Yun’s medical books and herb manuals. Before Lady Yun passed away, she made her promise to burn her body along with those medical books.
And so, that room ceased to exist.
Hearing her words, Pei Yunmeng looked at her in surprise and asked, "So, you were living here alone?"
"You could say that."
Most of the time, Lady Yun was not on the mountain. Indeed, on many nights, she was the only one living here.
Lonely, solitary, she spent her days in monotony.
Pei Yunmeng watched her, his eyes reflecting deep thought.
The first time he saw Lu Tong was six years ago when she was only twelve.
Luomei Peak was desolate; even Li Wenhu felt apprehensive when talking about it. How did a twelve-year-old girl endure living here alone?
The curiosity in his eyes was intense. Pretending it was nothing, Lu Tong turned around and took bedding out of the cabinet. The beddings hadn’t been aired out and felt damp, but fortunately, they weren’t moist. They were still bearable to lie on for one night.
Lu Tong: "Tonight I’m afraid the Marshal will have to put up with it and sleep here for the time being."
Pei Yunmeng "tsk"ed, looking at the narrow bed, and said, "But there’s only one bed here."
Lu Tong walked up to him and tossed the thick bedding into his arms, "You sleep on the floor."
"Is that all right?"
Pei Yunmeng looked at her with a smile, "After all, as an unmarried man and woman alone together in one room, it’s bound to cause misunderstandings if word gets out."
Lu Tong turned her back, facing him with a mockingly pleasant expression, "If the Marshal truly values his reputation, he could sleep outside. Given our past acquaintance, I will definitely collect your corpse first thing in the morning."
Pei Yunmeng watched her expression for a moment before speaking with barely contained laughter, "You really do get angry easily these days."
"It’s because the Marshal is too idle," Lu Tong said coldly.
Lu Tong spoke frostily, "I need to light a fire. Please, Marshal, go outside and chop some plum branches."
Pei Yun nodded, "Alright, you’re the host. You call the shots."
He turned and left.
Watching his figure disappearing outside the door, Lu Tong finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on a chair by the table.
Perhaps her old illness had flared up more frequently recently, her strength was not what it used to be. Climbing to the mountaintop today was particularly strenuous, and she already felt exhausted. If not for that, today’s journey wouldn’t have been so slow.
Lu Tong reached out and wiped the sweat from her forehead, then looked around.
After Lady Yun’s death, she actually wanted to burn this cottage too, thinking she would never come back. But when the torch was in her hand, ready to set the blaze, Lu Tong suddenly changed her mind in the last moment.
She left this room behind.
She had lived here too long. If the Lu Residence in Changwu County bore witness to "Lu Min," then this thatched house on Luomei Peak witnessed another "Lu Tong." She couldn’t deny the existence of "Lu Tong" as if setting fire would erase the past seven years, leaving no trace.