Chapter 634: Chapter 218: A Father’s Fault for Not Teaching
The night was dense, fireworks by the edge of Chang Le Pond had burned out, and the remaining smoke was scattered by the wind, vanishing into the tidal darkness.
The legitimate son of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion, Qi Yutai, had died.
He was found within the effigy of the Plague Deity during the ritual, curled up inside the belly of the effigy like a baby hidden in the womb, his body was a mess from the ritual swords’ stabs, and his blood had almost entirely dyed him red.
The corpse’s eyes were filled with terror, his fists scuffed, indicating a desperate struggle before death.
Also discovered with him was an empty wine flask inside the effigy’s belly, and traces of powder remaining on Qi Yutai’s clothing.
The palace coroner had seen it, Qi Yutai had just ingested Cold Food Powder.
After the great fire at Fengle Building, Shengjing had strictly forbidden anyone from taking any powdered medicine, yet where Qi Yutai had gotten it from was unknown. He had been recklessly bold to bring it to the festival, and fearing discovery, he hid in the effigy’s belly and swallowed it. But because his mind was unclear after ingesting it, no one noticed him until the effigy’s belly latch closed, and he was stabbed to death with the ritual swords amidst the Plague Deity effigy.
The ritual was performed in full public view, the legitimate son of the Grand Preceptor, an official from the Ministry of Revenue, had just died beneath the watchful eyes of all the officials.
The Grand Preceptor was bathed in tears.
The mechanism inside the effigy’s belly could be fastened from the outside. Qi Yutai hid there to avoid detection, but who exactly had fastened it, trapping him inside?
No one admitted to it, not the Musicians from The Ministry of Music, the ritual dancers, nor the guards and Palace Attendants.
It was the "Plague Deity".
Others avoided it at all costs, and no one wished to approach it. That Qi Yutai was willing to climb inside was highly unusual in itself.
Perhaps it was a Musician passing by who casually fastened the latch, but now that it had come to this, no one would admit it.
Qi Huaying knelt in the hall, weeping and pleading, "My brother must have been murdered by someone. They trapped him inside the effigy. Please, Your Majesty, thoroughly investigate!"
Third Prince Yuan Yao looked at the beautiful woman crying her heart out below the steps, and his voice betrayed his pity, "But Miss Qi, the Cold Food Powder was not something Young Master Qi was forced to ingest."
He reminded her, "It hasn’t even been a few months since that conflagration at Fengle Building, yet your brother seemed to have not learned his lesson at all, even escalating his behavior."
The power of the Crown Prince had already faded, and he wasn’t even present at the festival. Yuan Yao, who had previously exercised some restraint, now had none left, and looked toward the elderly man with the graying hair in the center of the hall, feigning a sigh.
"By some twist of fate, Young Master Qi has met his end at the hands of his own father."
Qi Huaying trembled all over.
Qi Yutai had died at the hands of Qi Qing.
During the ritual to drive away the plague, the first sword, delivered by the "Fangxiang Master", was thrust.
The "Fangxiang Master" killing the "Plague Deity".
Father killing son.
The subsequent stabs by the dancers exacerbated Qi Yutai’s death.
Never mind the Cold Food Powder, if blame was to be passed, the first to be blamed should be Qi Yutai’s own father, the current Grand Preceptor.
And the remaining ritual swordsmen did not even know there was a living person hidden within the Plague Deity effigy.
The law does not punish the masses.
Moreover, one must not take life on the day of the Tianzhang Platform ritual.
The Grand Preceptor bowed his aged body even lower. He offered no defense, made no plea, and knelt silently, defeated on the ground like a snapped withered branch that will never witness blossoms again.
A white-haired man sending off a black-haired one, life’s greatest sorrow is just so.
The Emperor uttered not a word, merely gazed indifferently at the people below the steps.
After a while, he said, "Grand Preceptor, take heart."
...
Inside the Imperial City, Medical Officers were on their way to the Medical Officer Institute.
The joy by Chang Le Pond seemed like it had just happened moments before, yet the group of Medical Officers were exceptionally silent, with a deathly stillness in their ranks.
When someone dies in the palace, all present have to be interrogated. However, during the ritual, the Medical Officer Institute was seated on the outer edge by Chang Le Pond, some distance from the high platform, and after a whole night of questioning by the Imperial Guards, they let the people from the Medical Officer Institute go first.
It was already early morning, the sky was lighting up, and a white gleam was gradually spreading across the horizon. The coolness of the deep autumn morning made the post-celebration atmosphere even more desolate.
After returning to the Medical Officer Institute, everyone was somewhat exhausted.
Chang Jin told the Medical Officers to go back to their quarters and rest first. Lu Tong was about to return to his room with Lin Danqing when he was called from behind by Ji Xun.
"Doctor Lu," Ji Xun said, "I have something to talk to you about."
Lu Tong followed Ji Xun to his medicinal room.
The room was quiet, and as the two sat facing each other, Ji Xun looked at Lu Tong and then said after a moment, "Qi Yutai is dead."
Lu Tong looked at him.
"Previously, when the Envoy had an accident, you took over his medical consultations for Qi Yutai. Although Young Master Qi has now died by the ritual swords, the fact that traces of Cold Food Powder were found within the ritual effigy means that the internal Imperial Physicians will surely review his past medical records."
Seeing that Lu Tong remained silent, he continued, "Even though you are not connected to this incident, the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion may take their anger out on you."