Scalded by the boiling oil, Lu Song suffered unbearable pain in both palms. He leaped about, flapping his hands to stir up a breeze and ease the agony, yet he knew perfectly well that something had gone wrong this time-and disastrously wrong, right before the emperor. If the emperor held him to account, the head on his shoulders would be hard to keep-
Lu Song was quick-witted in a crisis. If he confessed to the emperor now and begged forgiveness, even if the Prince of Langya pleaded for him and saved his life, he would never have another chance to rise. He immediately dropped to his knees with a thud, faced south, and kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic, crying hoarsely, "Earth Official Emperor, forgive my sins-Earth Official Emperor, forgive my sins-"
Lu Song's four disciples turned ashen at the sudden mishap. They too knelt and kowtowed, echoing, "Earth Official Emperor, forgive our sins."
Supported by the Prince of Langya and a palace eunuch, Emperor Sima Pi retreated to sit on the Imperial Couch. His cheek burned painfully beneath his fingers. He asked his younger brother Sima Yi to look at it. There were a few red marks where the oil had scalded him; fortunately, there were only three or four small spots, nothing serious.
Footsteps rang out beyond the great doors of the East Hall in Taiji Hall. Huan Mi, General of the Central Army, hurried in with a squad of guards. Seeing Emperor Sima Pi sitting safely on the Imperial Couch, he relaxed and asked loudly, "Your Majesty, what happened?"
Emperor Sima Pi had truly suffered one fright after another that day. First Lu Song had claimed there was a female ghost in the hall; now he had leaped about and flapped his hands like a madman, then