Chapter 128: Her Deadly Consolation
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Wuuu… Wuuu…”
“What did I do wrong? Tell me! Where did I fail her?”
“From the moment she entered my household, I cherished her for her youth. I sent away every concubine in my manor to honor her alone…”
“My eldest son, I never even held him. I sent him to a faraway province to serve as an official, unable to return to the capital for years.”
“I dote on the two children she bore me as if they were carved from my very bones.”
“I even gave the heir position to Ming Yao!”
“Yet I’ve estranged my eldest son, and now he hates me deeply.”
The Imperial Uncle Xiao clung to a wine jug, his tears pouring uncontrollably.
“My sons, my grandsons—they’re not even mine. And the one in the palace…” He hesitated, his lips trembling, unable to finish.
To disgrace himself was one thing, but to implicate the royal family? That was courting death.
With his hair now grayed and his mind clouded by drink, the Imperial Uncle Xiao raised a massive bowl of wine and shouted, “Come, let’s drink!”
Across from him, a tiny child rose from her chair. Wobbling, Lu Chao Chao held her own small bowl in both hands and clinked it against his.
“I’ll drink! You take it easy,” Imperial Uncle Xiao declared, downing his wine in hearty gulps.
Chao Chao mimicked him, gulping down her milk.
“Wuuu… Wuuu… I’m an old man now, abandoned by wife and children—cursed by fate.” Imperial Uncle Xiao sighed at the emptiness of his grand household.
“Thank you,” he said, laughing bitterly through his tears. “Thank you for coming to settle the debt. You’ve ruined my family, torn apart everything I had.”
Chao Chao scratched her head, puzzled. “No need for thanks?” she replied.
“It’s all… what I’m supposed to do.”
Was he thanking her?
“All gone! Sons, grandsons—gone! My wife dishonored me, and now I must endure this in my twilight years.” He sighed deeply.
“What meaning is left in this life?”
“They’re all liars! All of them! I, Xiao, have failed. Not a single person around me has been true!” His laughter teetered on the edge of madness.
Chao Chao frowned slightly.
“His Majesty is true to you!”
“He truly is!”
“He prays every day for your long life. His Majesty is the most genuine!” Chao Chao exclaimed, hurriedly defending the Emperor.
Imperial Uncle Xiao froze, his eyes glistening with tears.
A rare warmth crept into his heart.
“Truly? I never expected the Emperor to treat me with such sincerity. It seems I, as his uncle, have failed him,” he said, a rare note of guilt in his voice.
“His Majesty always keeps you in his thoughts.”
“He often asks the imperial physicians about your health,” Chao Chao said, nodding earnestly, her childlike tone adding a strange charm.
“He fears for your life.”
Imperial Uncle Xiao wept uncontrollably, deeply moved.
He had always believed the Emperor hated him for opposing him in court.
If anyone else had told him this, he wouldn’t have believed it.
But from Lu Chao Chao, a child not even two years old? How could she lie?
“Why would His Majesty care for me? I am unworthy,” he murmured.
“He’s scared you’ll die before repaying the money.” The little girl waved her hand, her voice brimming with righteous honesty.
Imperial Uncle Xiao: ???
Staring at her with tear-blurred eyes, he was at a loss for words.
The atmosphere had reached its emotional peak—tears of gratitude flowed freely. And then… she said that.
His trembling finger pointed at Chao Chao, shaking uncontrollably.
Chao Chao grew nervous, fearing he might collapse.
“Shall… shall I say something nice instead?”
“You’re really tough.”
“She’s been poisoning you every day!”
“Yet you outlived the death of your illegitimate sons…” Her face lit up with admiration, as if marveling at his resilience.
Imperial Uncle Xiao nearly dropped his wine bowl.
Drunken and dazed, he bolted upright, his reddened eyes staring at her.
He had two illegitimate sons—both had died of illness years ago.
Staggering to his feet, he stumbled toward the door, tripping over the threshold and landing with a heavy thud.
“Physician! Imperial physician! Someone get me the imperial physician!” he cried, panicked, calling for the eunuchs.
Chao Chao continued sipping her milk, her face confused.
What now? Wasn’t being resilient a good thing?
In less than half an hour, heart-wrenching cries echoed through the manor.
“No matter how late I returned home, she would personally prepare ginseng soup for me. And she… she would even send some to the illegitimate sons…”
Imperial Uncle Xiao had spent much of his life away, drinking only occasionally, but the illegitimate sons drank it daily.
Thus…
They had died.
“This poison works slowly, weakening the heart over time. It causes palpitations, panic, and even sudden death when startled,” the imperial physician explained.
“Since you consumed it sparingly, your body can recover within a few years. But under no circumstances should you be overly agitated.”
Muttering to himself, Imperial Uncle Xiao whispered, “Thankfully, my eldest son was sent away… Thankfully, his life was spared.”
Having married and fathered children far from harm’s reach, his eldest son had narrowly avoided Madam Zheng’s treachery.
Turning sorrowful eyes on Lu Chao Chao, he said, “Leave. I don’t want to see you anymore.”
Since meeting her, there hadn’t been a single good day.
No wonder the stingiest miser and the shrewdest prince had happily repaid their debts, even crying as they sent her off!
“Money?” Chao Chao asked anxiously.
“Money, money, money! I’ll repay everything! You loaned fifteen thousand—I’ll give you twenty! Now leave! The farther, the better!” Imperial Uncle Xiao bellowed, his chest tightening at the sound of her voice.
The Xiao Family had siphoned wealth in the Emperor’s name for years. Twenty thousand wasn’t enough to cripple them.
“If only I’d repaid earlier,” he muttered bitterly.
“Send it to the palace by morning. No—send it now!” His voice was firm.
Abandoning all decorum, he picked her up and stormed toward the exit.
“What about dinner?” Chao Chao asked, disappointed.
Veins bulged on his forehead, his tears nearly spilling over.
“My household is ruined! What dinner?!” he roared.
Startled into silence, she whispered timidly, “Even ruined families can still hold banquets…”
No reply.
Though unpoisoned by Madam Zheng, it seemed he would still be driven to death by Lu Chao Chao.
Dragging her to the door, she clung to the frame, refusing to let go.
“Why are you still here? I’ve repaid the debt!” He was on the verge of collapse.
She patted her left pocket, where golden melon seeds jingled.
“From Grandpa Zhou…”
Then her right pocket. “From the prince…”
Finally, she tilted her head, gazing at him expectantly.
Imperial Uncle Xiao:
What now? Is she expecting me to give her a cut too?!
“I can tell you a secret…” she began.
But before the words left her lips, his hand clamped over her mouth in terror.
“Don’t speak! I’m an old man, halfway to the grave—I don’t want to hear another word!”
Fear contorted his face.
Her small lips seemed incapable of uttering good news.
“Bring the gold melon seeds!” he bellowed.
Moments later, a maid arrived, hanging a heavy pouch around Chao Chao’s neck. The weight made her stumble.
“Th-thank you… I don’t usually accept bribes…”
“But since you insist, I’ll accept.” She offered a polite bow.
As she descended the steps, the Crown Prince’s carriage arrived at the Xiao household.
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Well, at least you buy access to +nth chapter, instead buy once each locked chapter.
Mm you know how one chapter in legal site could be expensive right? Usually I need 5 dollars for 2 chap in legal site, and it’s actually cheap one if it’s only for outside access country webnovel. So just accept it as it is.
And for what I know from chinese one, it’s actually more expensive to buy for one chap.