Chapter 635: Chapter 218: A Father’s Fault for Not Teaching_2
Lu Tong bowed his head, "I know."
The Qi Family would certainly investigate everyone close to Qi Yutai, and over the past few months, aside from the servants in Qi Yutai’s residence, the only person closest to Qi Yutai was Lu Tong himself.
Moreover, Lu Tong was still an "outsider."
"Don’t worry," Ji Xun reassured, "The Medical Officer Institute can vouch for you, you are innocent."
Lu Tong smiled and when he looked up again, his expression had become calm.
He said, "Actually, if Doctor Ji hadn’t sought me out today, I would have come to find Doctor Ji myself."
Ji Xun was puzzled.
"There’s something I’d like to ask for your help with."
"What is it?"
Lu Tong was silent for a moment before he said, "As Doctor Ji said, the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion might take their anger out on me. I am of humble origin, and without any living parents or older brothers, dying alone isn’t a great loss. However, before I joined the Medical Officer Institute, I worked at a small clinic on West Street."
"The owners, the maids, and the apprentices there, as well as the Resident Doctor, are not very familiar with me. We only occasionally worked together for a while, and they know nothing about me."
Lu Tong looked at Ji Xun, "I know Doctor Ji has a kind heart. If I unfortunately meet with a misfortune later, please, for the sake of the few days we spent together in our hometown of Su Nan, look after Renxin Medical Hall. Such a great kindness will not be forgotten by Lu Tong for as long as I live."
Having said this, he got up and gave a long formal bow.
Ji Xun was stunned for a moment and hurriedly reached out to help him up, frowning, "Why suddenly say such things? Even if the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion holds a grudge, they have no evidence. How can they convict someone arbitrarily, let alone take it out on the West Street Clinic. Doctor Lu, you really shouldn’t talk about such inauspicious things anymore."
But Lu Tong was insistent, "If Doctor Ji doesn’t promise, I won’t get up."
Although he was usually steadfast, he rarely forced others in such a way. After a standoff, Ji Xun sighed helplessly, "Alright, I promise you."
The West Street Clinic was just ordinary folk. With the influence of the Ji Family, looking after them wouldn’t be difficult.
The two talked for a while longer, and Ji Xun himself looked tired. He bid farewell to Lu Tong. As he was leaving, he muttered to himself, "Now that Cold Food Powder is banned in Shengjing, where did Young Master Qi get his Cold Food Powder from?"
There was no one beside him to answer, and Ji Xun looked up to find Lu Tong had already walked far away.
Seemingly not having heard his question.
...
The daylight was gradually rising.
The golden-red morning glow, like a blazing inferno, was splashed into the courtyard of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.
The weeping of maids and servants behind the doors, veiled by a suffocating fog, was eerily similar to the exorcising chants of the dancers on the shores of Chang Le Pond the night before, raising hairs for no reason.
The main room was very quiet.
Qi Yutai lay peacefully in the coffin.
Qi Huaying was heartbroken. After returning to the mansion, she fainted and did not wake up. The steward had already sent for the Medical Officer to come and examine her.
Qi Qing sat by the coffin, with a silk handkerchief, wiping Qi Yutai’s face little by little.
This coffin was originally prepared for himself.
Being advanced in years, he had long ordered a coffin to be made and kept at home, waiting for the day when he would ascend to heaven. Unexpectedly, Qi Yutai was the first to lie down in this costly coffin made of golden phoebe nanmu wood.
It was the irony of fate.
The body in the coffin had been redressed, and cleaned thoroughly, no longer the frightful mess that it had been when extracted from a body’s belly. Yet Qi Qing continued to wipe off non-existent bloodstains from the corpse’s face, unwilling to stop.
He wiped very carefully, stroke by stroke, using a bit of force, causing the corners of the mouth of the body to lift slightly, giving the appearance of a bizarre smile.
The old man’s movements slowed, and his turbid old eyes twitched.
When Qi Yutai was young and got his face dirty while eating, he would do the same, holding his son on his lap, wiping the remnants from the corners of his mouth.
Qi Yutai would then grab his beard and mumble, "Daddy, Daddy!"
Qi Qing was not young when Qi Yutai was born. It was also the time when his career was flourishing, with a young wife and child, basking in unlimited favor and affection.
He was very fond of Qi Yutai, just as he was of his gentle young wife.
But his wife’s family kept a big secret from him; his wife suffered from epilepsy, she was a madwoman.
He could not let others discover he had a mad wife. As he climbed higher, many were watching him, all hoping for his fall.
Thus, Shu Hui died in the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.
By that time, Hua Ying had already been born.
He hoped, in his heart harboring a slim chance of luck, just wishing that neither child would inherit their mother’s terrible affliction. For this, he donated generously to temples, built bridges, and did good deeds for many years.
Fortune and misfortune came to him simultaneously.
Hua Ying grew up safely.
But Qi Yutai began to show signs of the illness in his childhood.
Qi Yutai was supposed to die, too.
But when he saw his once hopeful child looking up at him with adoring eyes, he ultimately couldn’t go through with it.