Chapter 639: Chapter 219 Cherish_2
Minister Qi Yutai must die.
And he must die fully aware.
"He who does not teach his son, his father’s fault," a principle even a three-year-old child understands.
Qi Qing, shielding his son from accountability, buried every heinous crime committed by Qi Yutai. She had to stain this deeply touching father-son affection with blood. She wanted Qi Qing to personally kill the son he protected, to let Qi Yutai die by his father’s hands.
Father and son, turning on each other.
The smile on Lu Tong’s face faded slightly.
If Qi Yutai dies obscurely, Qi Qing will surely investigate thoroughly. He may not catch hold of conclusive evidence, but he will certainly suspect her.
He does not need to find evidence, nor does he need to verify its authenticity, as long as he suspects, that was enough to put her to death.
Lu Tong raised her hand and carefully touched the black gold paper butterflies pinned in her hair. She hadn’t worn such lovely decorations in a long time and felt somewhat unaccustomed to it now.
Then, she withdrew her hand and continued forward, carrying the lantern to the vermillion door and gently knocking on the beast-faced door knocker.
Outside was silence. After a while, the door slowly opened. The gatekeeper was taken aback when he saw Lu Tong.
"I am Medical Officer Lu Tong from the Medical Officer Institute," Lu Tong said, "I have urgent matters to see Minister Qi."
The gatekeeper gave her a suspicious glance, noticed she was alone, and pulled the door wider for her to enter.
Walking after the gatekeeper, just as Lu Tong was about to cross the threshold, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her wrist. A hand reached out from beside her, firmly grabbed her wrist, and yanked her back.
Lu Tong turned her head: "Pei Yunmeng?"
The gatekeeper also looked surprised for a moment.
Pei Yunmeng’s face was stern, silent, and his cold gaze swept over the gatekeeper. Abruptly, he spat out: "Leave."
Lu Tong tried to struggle, but his strength was surprisingly great, and she was almost dragged along, her steps stumbling to keep pace with his.
"Let go of me," she ordered in a low voice.
Pei Yunmeng, expressionless, shoved her into the carriage, and Lu Tong detected a grinding resentment in his tone.
"Be quiet."
...
The night deepened.
The dense ink darkness seemed boundless.
In the Palace Marshal’s Mansion, only Qingfeng and a few others remained at the gate. With a loud "bang," the door burst open amid disordered footsteps, and someone was dragged inside.
Lu Tong was thrown into the room, and she coldly headed for the door without a word, but Pei Yunmeng blocked her way.
A flash of ferocity swept through the depths of his eyes but quickly settled into a calm, as if suppressing rage.
"Going where?"
"What does it have to do with you?"
After saying so, Lu Tong attempted to push him aside, but he stood immovable at the door like a solid rock, unshaken no matter how hard she tried.
"What is the meaning of this, Marshal?" In the end, she spoke coldly.
Pei Yunmeng looked down, staring into her eyes.
"What were you planning to do at the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion?"
Lu Tong remained silent.
He demanded: "Speak!"
"Qi Yutai is dead, I was going to get the medical records," Lu Tong looked up, "What’s wrong with that?"
"Get the medical records?"
Pei Yunmeng nodded, then suddenly grasped her wrist.
Her wrist was delicate, fair, her long, supple fingers as tender as spring onion tips, painted lightly with pink rouge, like tiny blossoms just beginning to unfurl.
He held Lu Tong’s hand and interrogated sharply, "What is this?"
Lu Tong kept silent.
He sneered, gripping her hand towards the back of his own hand.
Lu Tong was startled, recoiling back, and in her panic, she pushed him away, shouting, "Don’t touch me!"
Pei Yunmeng staggered back two steps from the shove, his deep, dark eyes seemingly perceiving everything, simply watching her quietly.
Lu Tong clenched her fist.
She never wore rouge. Preparing medication, sorting herbs, performing acupuncture required clean, practical hands.
Yet, she had carefully applied subtle rouge to these hands, using it to conceal the deadly poison in her fingernails. She had not expected Pei Yunmeng to notice it instantly.
In fact, it was not just her fingernails; her hairpins, her sleeves, her pouch, were all filled with various poisons.
"You plan to perish together with Qi Qing," Pei Yunmeng spoke out.
He looked at the person before him.
Lu Tong was dressed in fresh new robes, a tender jade color like a freshly blooming, captivating spring flower. The quivering yellow butterflies in her hair innocently adorned the blossom. Without her usual aloof solitude, she appeared like a dressed-up maiden returning home, her dress fluttering, her features charming and playful.
But that sort of calm desolation was very bleak.
Like someone steadily approaching a quagmire, no longer seeing any other landscape in their eyes.
The room stayed silent for a long while.
Candlelight quietly flowed through the night, casting a cold hue over the people it touched.
Lu Tong stood in the shadows cast by the candlelight, and after a long time, she raised her head.
"Marshal isn’t a man of the Third Prince, right?" she said.
Pei Yunmeng’s gaze shifted slightly.
"At Huangmao Hill Hunting Ground, both the Crown Prince and the Third Prince were attacked. The Emperor suppressed and punished the Crown Prince, giving the Third Prince an advantage." she continued.