Chapter 717: Chapter 241 Kiss_3
Lu Tong shook his head, "I just remembered that on last year’s New Year’s Eve, I seemed to have watched the fireworks with you as well."
Pei Yunmeng was caught off guard for a moment.
It was as if she had only just recalled that scene.
Back then, she had fallen into the muddy ground, while he stood high above, pressing and overpowering. Outside the window, the resplendent silver sparklers competed to bloom, and in the flow of light and shadow, he handed her a handkerchief.
Some things started to change from that moment on.
Pei Yunmeng glanced at her, the corner of his lips curling up, "Indeed, at that time you even included me in your roster, I was almost erased from it by you."
Lu Tong: "..."
She retorted, "And weren’t you the one rushing into someone else’s yard in the middle of the night to accuse them? I was almost taken to see the officials by the Marshal."
He was at a loss for words.
Lu Tong, however, pressed on, turning to dig up old grievances, "If the accident hadn’t happened, would you really have taken me to see the officials?"
Caught off guard by her revival of the past, Pei Yunmeng couldn’t help but laugh helplessly, "No."
"Really?"
"Really." He cocked his head to the side and looked at her, "What about you? That night, did you really intend to kill me?"
"..."
Lu Tong turned her head away, avoiding his question.
He laughed sharply, his voice cool, "Doctor Lu truly has a heart of stone."
Lu Tong, momentarily feeling guilty, deflected the topic nonchalantly, "You invited me to watch the fireworks, let’s just enjoy them. Why talk about all this?" She then looked up at the sky above.
Li Wenhu had gone to the city to search various shops for all kinds of fireworks, as if to drive away pestilence and miasma, the vibrant colors blossoming one after another, igniting the night sky.
Just as her eyes were dazzled by the display, a white jade carved lotus pattern sachet suddenly fell in front of her.
Lu Tong paused for a second.
"Su Nan just recovered from a major epidemic; many shops have not reopened yet. I visited a few but couldn’t find something suitable. I’ll give you something else when we get back to Shengjing. For now, this will do as a gift for your birthday."
Pei Yunmeng tugged the corner of his mouth, "The New Year’s here, best wishes to Miss Lu San, may you be happy and blessed for all your days."
Lu Tong laughed out loud, reaching out to accept the fragrance pouch.
Pei Yunmeng’s sachet was very pretty, exquisitely carved, and it contained a familiar cool and light fragrance that was identical to the one he embraced. She had asked him for it several times unsuccessfully, and now it had unexpectedly fallen into her hands.
Seeing her closely inspect the sachet as if reluctant to let it go, Pei Yunmeng cleared his throat to remind her, "Use this sachet for your own private use, remember not to show it off in front of others."
Lu Tong nodded, then suddenly looked at him, "Why can’t it be shown in front of others?"
Before Pei Yunmeng could speak, she continued, "Is it because you’re afraid others will know that both of us use ’Lover’s Incense’?"
Pei Yunmeng was stunned for a moment, turning to her in disbelief, "You know..."
Lu Tong blinked.
She knew.
It had been much later when she and Lin Danqing went to Official Lane to buy medicinal herbs and passed by a Fragrance Medicine Bureau. Lin Danqing wanted to pick some incense for his clothes, and Lu Tong, recalling how she had failed to procure the sachet from Pei Yunmeng twice before, casually asked the shopkeeper if it was possible to make one’s own version of another person’s fragrance.
The shopkeeper asked for the other person’s sachet, which she couldn’t provide. After a round of questions on the reasons and consequences, the shopkeeper laughed knowingly.
"Miss, the incense bought in the Fragrance Medicine Bureau and the personally tailored fragrances are different. Nobles do not wish to use common incenses available to everyone from the Fragrance Medicine Bureau; they often seek perfumers to create a unique fragrance, in this way to demonstrate their distinguished status.
Since it’s unique, there’s no practice of two people using exactly the same fragrance. Unless the two individuals using the fragrance are husband and wife or lovers, they use the same fragrance recipe to indicate intimacy."
"Your Young Master wouldn’t give you the fragrance recipe, probably because he was worried about this!"
Lu Tong suddenly realized.
No wonder every time she asked him for the fragrance recipe, he looked so odd, as if she had done something outrageous. So this was his concern.
Pei Yunmeng stared at her, his brows slightly furrowed, "Knowing this, you still ask me for it."
He misunderstood how long Lu Tong had known the truth, and she didn’t explain, merely saying, "Even if it is Lover’s Incense, there is nothing unclear between us, what are you worried about?"
"Clean and clear?"
Pei Yunmeng raised an eyebrow, looking at her, and suddenly laughed, "I have never been clean and clear, haven’t you always known that?"
Lu Tong stopped in her tracks.
He spoke so openly, under the fireworks, the look in his calm eyes was intense and unhidden.
The boat that skimmed across the Spring River made deeper waves, suddenly stirring her emotions, making them difficult to calm.
Lu Tong looked up at him, after a while, she spoke, "Today is my birthday, won’t you ask what my birthday wish is?"
Pei Yunmeng was taken aback, "What do you want?"
Lu Tong reached out and grabbed the collar of his clothing.
He was tall, and when she pulled him, he leaned down slightly, looking at her somewhat puzzled. Lu Tong leaned over and gently kissed the corner of his lips.
A very light, barely there kiss.
Amongst the Silver Sparkler flowers, like those scattered stars, it was fleeting.
Pei Yunmeng looked at her.
She let go of his collar, took two steps back, and turned to leave, but was pulled back in one swift move.
In those pair of dark, bright eyes, the fireworks and her reflection were clear, soft like the long night.
In the glow of the twilight, he lowered his head and kissed Lu Tong.
Above the endless sky, the snow and fireworks dispersed.
His kiss was light and tender, like a gentle breeze that occasionally swept over Luomei Peak, carrying a hint of the crispness of Tusuzui Wine. Lu Tong was embraced in his arms, looking up, holding his arms, allowing the gentle breeze to kiss her lips.
This man, she had always pushed him away.
Time and again against her heart, it was difficult to deny her own feelings.
In many moments, when he stopped her from kneeling to Qi Yutai, on some nights during early summer at the Medical Officer Institute brimming with the scent of flowers, every time he came close to her, she couldn’t dodge the ripples in her heart. On the day of Qixi, the look in his eyes he never spoke of, the restrained night rain on Danfeng Pavilion...
Perhaps even earlier, early in their first snowy night encounter when he lit that lantern...
The destiny of the future had already been determined.
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around the neck of the person in front of her.
"Pei Yunmeng..." Lu Tong murmured, her words muffled.
The person she beckoned leaned down slightly, asking tenderly, "What?"
"It’s something," Lu Tong said.
She was not open with him.
She had her own selfish desires towards him.