Chapter 638: Chapter 219: Cherish
The palace was lit throughout the night.
A death during the ritual ceremony was an ominous sign. The Emperor and Empress Dowager were furious, although they did not know how Qi Yutai managed to "ingest" the Plague Deity. The Ministry of Music, the Ministry of Rites, and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau were all thoroughly inspected throughout the night.
The Qi Family posed the greatest difficulty.
The Grand Preceptor lost his son, becoming both the bereaved and the accused.
Lead by the Third Prince and the Duke of Chen, a group of people bluntly stated that Qi Yutai’s death at his father’s hands during the ritual, was divine punishment, suggesting the entire Qi Family should be heavily punished. The Crown Prince’s faction, however, firmly insisted that Qi Yutai’s death had hidden circumstances and that he was actually harmed by a treacherous person.
Inside the palace, the arguments were endless while the bloodstains by the Edge of Chang Le Pond had been completely cleaned up.
The first thing Pei Yunmeng did after leaving the palace was to go to the Medical Officer Institute.
Lin Danqing looked at the suddenly arriving Pei Yunmeng in surprise, "Younger Sister Lu? She went back to West Street after noon today."
"She said she had left a few medical texts at the medical hall and was going to retrieve them. She’ll be back early tomorrow morning."
Pei Yunmeng furrowed his brows.
Lin Danqing looked at him, "What is it, Marshal Pei, do you have urgent business with Younger Sister Lu?"
Pei Yunmeng asked, "Did anything about Lu Tong seem off today?"
Lin Danqing thought for a moment, "No, everything was as usual. She was not affected by last night’s incident, thankfully. She even swept the floor before she left in the afternoon."
Pei Yunmeng’s eyes were cold and stern as he stood in place without speaking for a moment.
For some reason, he always felt something was not quite right.
Before he went to the Medical Officer Institute from the palace, Xiao Zhufeng mocked him, "In such a hurry to offer congratulations?"
Qi Yutai was dead, perished by the hand of Qi Qing, cause and effect following its course, a great vengeance fulfilled—it was indeed a joyous occasion. Anyone in the know would think, at this moment, Lu Tong should be overjoyed.
But Pei Yunmeng instinctively felt it was improper.
When he was in the palace, he kept remembering the scene he saw by Chang Le Pond last night.
She stood under the fireworks, with a smile on the corner of her mouth.
A calm smile, as if a burden had been lifted, yet it suddenly brought about a sense of panic.
She was going to leave, to depart from here.
Lin Danqing’s voice reached his ears, "Marshal Pei?"
Pei Yunmeng came to his senses and told her, "If Lu Tong comes back, remember to notify the Palace Marshal’s Mansion immediately."
Lin Danqing nodded, puzzled.
Pei Yunmeng quickly turned around, mounted his horse, and galloped toward West Street.
...
Before the grand residence, lanterns swayed to and fro.
Lu Tong stopped before the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.
The autumn chill was biting. Unlike before, the entrance to the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion was devoid of its usual liveliness, with a cold frost blanketing the ground. Faint sobs came from deep within the mansion, subtle yet discernible, spreading a chill of desolation into the cold, silent night.
Lu Tong looked up at the tightly closed red doors, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.
Qi Yutai was dead.
During the costume ceremony, under the watchful eyes of many, amidst the fireworks, at the feet of the Emperor, he died a dramatic death—like a bird trapped in a cage, with no escape or refuge, ultimately becoming a pile of flesh under his father’s sword.
Good.
He should have died a long time ago.
It wasn’t in vain that she had gone to such lengths these days.
Going to great lengths to enter the Medical Officer Institute, getting close to Jin Xianrong, luring Cui Min into her trap—step by step, she finally made her way to Qi Yutai’s side.
’Pond Spring Grass Dream’ enticed Qi Yutai to relapse into his drug addiction, rendering ’Spirit Rhinoceros Fragrance’ burning in the Qi Family’s residence ineffective against him. Since the fire at Fengle Building, Qi Yutai’s drug craving surged uncontrollably like a floodgate opened, impossible to revert.
Then, she gave Cui Min the prescription that made Qi Yutai relapse, and when she got close to him, she began to give him replacement powder for Cold Food Powder daily...
That was actually not any substitute powder at all, it was Cold Food Powder in truth.
She simply used poison to counteract the effect of Cold Food Powder, making Qi Yutai feel that the replacement powder wasn’t as noticeably effective as the original.
After the fire at Fengle Building, Shengjing could no longer find Cold Food Powder.
But Lu Tong could make it.
Some poisons don’t necessarily require scorpions, centipedes, or venomous spiders.
After continuously consuming Cold Food Powder for a while, Qi Yutai’s addiction grew increasingly uncontrollable. She cut off his supply a few days before the ceremony in the name of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion conducting searches, and Qi Yutai nearly collapsed.
During the costume ceremony, just at that moment, Lu Tong handed over the packet of Cold Food Powder, untempered by the counteracting poison, to Qi Yutai.
Qi Yutai could not control himself.
He could not resist that temptation.
The usual powder required only the time it took an incense stick to burn for clarity to return, but the Cold Food Powder she gave Qi Yutai would take a full hour before the drug’s effects gradually began to dissipate.
Moreover, the costume ceremony began an hour early last night.
From beginning to end, she had never intended for Qi Yutai to go mad.
A madman, how could he face trial? He would lose all memory, and as long as those around him indulged him, let him be, perhaps even the terror would gradually fade.