Chapter 131: A Failed Scheme Turns Disastrous
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
Bang!
The grand door was kicked open with a violent crash.
“You wretched woman! Let me see who would stoop so low as to pick up my discarded trash!” Lu Yuan Ze’s face twisted with malice as he stood at the threshold.
Madam Xu, who had been kneeling on the ground, was so terrified that she fell back onto the floor.
Behind the curtain, the Emperor’s gaze turned dark and cold.
“What are you doing here? This is no place for the likes of you! Get out at once!” Madam Xu’s heart pounded in panic. Had Lu Yuan Ze lost his mind? Did he have any idea who was behind that curtain?!
Lu Yuan Ze sneered, stepping inside with three or four burly men following behind him.
“Is there a place in this capital where I cannot go?”
“Madam Xu, a lowly woman who left her husband with her children, dares to remarry?”
“I’d like to see who is so desperate as to take my cast-offs!” With every word, Lu Yuan Ze moved closer, and Madam Xu’s eyelids twitched violently.
“Come out here!”
“You dare take a woman I discarded? What’s this? So hungry you’ll eat anything?” Lu Yuan Ze smirked and reached out to yank the curtain aside.
“You adulterous pair…” His words trailed off as his voice froze in his throat.
The moment the curtain was lifted, Emperor Xuan Ping’s calm face came into view. Behind him, Eunuch Wang’s expression was mocking, as if he were staring at a dead man.
Though the Emperor’s face remained tranquil, his eyes burned with searing rage.
Lu Yuan Ze felt as though he had been struck by lightning. His body stiffened in terror, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to speak.
How… how could this be?
The Emperor!
With a clatter, Lu Yuan Ze’s legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees. Cold sweat drenched his back, and his heart pounded like a drum.
“Your… Your Majesty?” His voice quivered with pure fear.
Madam Xu? With the Emperor?
The adulterer was… the Emperor?!
Recalling the treasonous words he had just uttered, Lu Yuan Ze wished he could faint on the spot.
“Hungry and desperate?”
“Picking up trash?”
“You insolent fool!” The Emperor let out a cold laugh and delivered a swift kick to Lu Yuan Ze’s chest.
“Ahhh…” Lu Yuan Ze cried out in pain as the force of the blow left him curled up on the ground, trembling in agony. Yet he forced himself to crawl back up, shaking and trembling, to kneel once more at the Emperor’s feet. The pain in his chest was excruciating, as though his internal organs had shifted.
Already weakened from his prior misfortunes, the Emperor’s kick only worsened his state. It was a strike filled with personal vendetta.
“This humble servant deserves death! I deserve death! I did not know…”
The arrogance Lu Yuan Ze displayed earlier had completely evaporated, replaced by utter panic. He raised his hand and slapped his own face with force.
Slap!
Slap!
Each strike grew heavier, leaving his cheeks red and swollen. Blood soon trickled from his mouth. Still, he did not dare to stop, continuing until the Emperor ordered him to cease.
“I deserve death! I deserve death…” The sound of slapping echoed through the room, rhythmic and relentless.
The men Lu Yuan Ze had brought with him had long since dropped to their knees, shivering in fear.
Catching adultery on the Emperor?
The Marquis Zhongyong was filled with regret and shame, but above all, shock.
Madam Xu was involved with the Emperor?!
Even more shocking was that the Emperor personally helped Madam Xu to her feet.
“Madam Xu is a woman of integrity and loyalty to Northern Zhao. She has raised her children with great merit. I intend to reward you handsomely,” the Emperor declared as he helped her up.
“Since we’ve come to an agreement, there will be no changing your mind,” he added, clearly afraid she might reconsider.
“I will have the Imperial Observatory select an auspicious date for the conferment.”
The Emperor’s laughter rang out, filled with satisfaction. At last, he had secured Lu Chao Chao for his household.
Eunuch Wang turned to Madam Xu with a smile. “Madam Xu, as the saying goes, ‘A blessing in disguise.’ Your good fortune is truly immense.”
He cast a glance at the humiliated Marquis Zhongyong. Some people truly have no idea what they’ve lost.
When the Emperor departed, Madam Xu turned her gaze to the still-kneeling Marquis Zhongyong.
Slap! Slap! His face had turned grotesque from the repeated blows, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Marquis, you ought to give that face of yours a good beating. See how large it is?”
“What business of yours is it whether I remarry or not?!”
“Do you think everyone is as shameless as you?” Madam Xu’s tone was biting, her mockery laid bare.
Lu Yuan Ze ground his teeth in hatred.
Madam Xu spat directly onto his face.
“Deng Zhi, let us go.”
The sound of slaps echoed behind her laughter as Madam Xu left.
Lu Yuan Ze’s misery was far from over.
The Marquis Zhongyong slapped himself until he fainted and was carried back to his manor. Upon his return, he learned that his offense against the Emperor had resulted in his demotion by one rank. The entire household descended into despair.
When Madam Xu returned to her own residence, the house was already sealed up, charms pasted everywhere.
“Tonight is the Ghost Festival. Let us hope we make it through safely,” Deng Zhi sighed.
The Ghost Festival was a day when evil spirits roamed freely, and mortals stayed behind locked doors. Only scholars with righteous energy could repel them.
Lu Chao Chao sat on the doorstep, gnawing on a roasted duck leg, her cheeks smeared with grease.
“Where did you get that roasted duck?” Madam Xu asked as she stepped off the carriage.
“Big Sis Wen gave it to me…” Lu Chao Chao replied, savoring each bite. The duck was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, leaving her little face a mess.
Lu Zheng Yue’s eyes burned red with frustration as he watched.
Why? Why, when he gifted Wen Ning a pair of mandarin ducks, did she return it with a bowl of roast duck? What did that mean?!
Lu Chao Chao didn’t care about her brother’s torment. She was content with her duck leg.
“Chao Chao is waiting for Brother Jun An…” she mumbled. Today, Xie Jun An was returning to the capital and coming directly to their home.
Madam Xu’s brows furrowed with worry. “Chao Chao, can you truly protect the Fourth Prince?”
She knew of the Fourth Prince’s peculiar destiny. Born cursed, he had been raised in the National Temple. Consort Xian had shed countless tears for him.
“Don’t worry, Mama.”
[If even I can’t protect him, then no one can.]
[I’m super strong…]
Madam Xu had no idea of Lu Chao Chao’s true capabilities. Sighing, she decided to leave her youngest son, Lu Yuan Xiao, at home. Her eldest, Lu Yan Shu, was leading a team of scholars in the ghost-expelling procession.
“I heard there are two groups for the ritual,” Deng Zhi remarked. “One led by Young Master Yan Shu, composed of his old classmates. The other by Lu Jing Huai, whose team is several times larger.”
“The two groups will set out from opposite sides of the city and meet before dawn.”
“I hope Young Master returns safely,” she sighed.
The ghost-expelling procession was more than a ritual; it was a clash of factions.
By afternoon, the streets were lined with people burning paper offerings. As the sun dipped lower, the capital grew eerily silent. Doors were shut, windows sealed, and tension filled the air.
A carriage raced through the empty streets, heading straight for the Lu household. It arrived just as the last rays of sunlight disappeared, coming to a stop at their gate.
“Hurry, hurry, get inside!”
The servant carrying the Fourth Prince was pale with fear as he dashed into the house.
Darkness fell, and countless evil spirits emerged from the shadows, surging toward the capital.
“Whew… barely made it. I was scared out of my wits,” the servant said, collapsing to the ground. If the Fourth Prince had remained outside, it would have been a disaster.
Xie Jun An, sore from a long day in the carriage, forced himself to stand and bowed to Lu Chao Chao.
“Chao Chao, thank you,” he said, his face pale. He had planned to seek her out in May, but delays at the National Temple had pushed his journey to July.
The young monk frowned deeply. Could Lu Chao Chao really protect him?