Chapter 162: Suffering in Silence
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Why did you go to the Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor?”
“The Pei family already dislikes you. What if they seize the chance to bully you?” When Lu Chao Chao was born, Madam Pei had already tried to harm her. Now, Madam Xu feared that her daughter would face that household alone.
“Oh, Wo just wan’t to…”
“Dump manure on Lu Jing Yao’s face.”
“Dump manure on her face? What do you mean by that?” Madam Xu asked, bewildered.
“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Lu Chao Chao whispered.
Madam Xu gasped, her face twisting with shock.
“You… really dumped manure on her face?” Madam Xu’s voice cracked. For over thirty years, she had carried herself as a noblewoman and had never done anything so crude.
Lu Chao Chao nodded earnestly.
“She lost the bet. She dared to bet with Wo!” Lu Chao Chao lowered her voice, her tone carrying an air of mystery.
“Mama, Wo heard a juicy secret!” she exclaimed excitedly.
“Lu Jing Huai… he’s not really Papa’s son!” She leaned close to Madam Xu’s ear, whispering the words that left Madam Xu stunned and speechless.
“What did you just say? Lu Jing Huai isn’t his biological son?” Madam Xu shot to her feet in disbelief.
Lu Chao Chao nodded firmly.
“Yu Shu heard it too!”
Yu Shu quickly affirmed, “Madam, it’s true. Madam Pei seemed to have lost her composure and even brought her lover to the manor.”
“The man refuses to leave the Marquis’s Manor. This will surely stir up trouble…”
Madam Xu appeared dazed, and Lu Chao Chao grew worried. Was her mother planning to return to that accursed manor?
“Mama, what are you thinking about?” Lu Chao Chao asked in a trembling voice.
“I regret…” Madam Xu sighed faintly.
Lu Chao Chao’s heart skipped a beat. “Regret what?” Her voice quivered, on the verge of tears.
Her mother wouldn’t… wouldn’t want to reconcile with that man, would she? She began pondering if Rong Che would be willing to assassinate the Marquis Zhongyong.
“I regret not going with you!” Madam Xu’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she spat out her frustration.
Lu Chao Chao: ???
“Serves him right! That scoundrel!” Madam Xu’s eyes turned red with emotion. “He abandoned his real children for an illegitimate one. He deserves the humiliation!”
How laughable.
For Lu Jing Huai’s sake, Lu Yuan Ze had cast out his wife and daughter. Yet, the child he had kept turned out to be a fraud. Madam Xu almost anticipated Lu Yuan Ze’s reaction when he learned the truth.
[Hmph, he doesn’t deserve it.]
[The scholar he so desperately wanted has also been thrown out of the household.]
“Mama, how did you know I went out?” Lu Chao Chao timidly inquired. How had she been exposed?
Madam Xu cast her a side glance.
“Did you sneak into the kitchen and steal some chicken feet before you left?” Madam Xu asked slowly.
Lu Chao Chao sheepishly nodded.
“Only you and your dog would walk around gnawing on chicken feet.”
A trail of chicken bones led from the kitchen all the way to the wall…
“And there’s still grease on your mouth.”
Both Lu Chao Chao and her dog raised their paws simultaneously to wipe their mouths. Truly, pets mirrored their owners.
Madam Xu sighed deeply. [Child, it’s time to go to school.]
By now, the sky had brightened, and many visitors had arrived to offer congratulations. Madam Xu pushed through her exhaustion to clean up Lu Chao Chao before stepping out to greet the guests.
Although she hadn’t found a good man, her children brought her endless pride.
When she first divorced, there had been whispers and ridicule. But with Lu Chao Chao bestowed the title of Princess Sunshine and her eldest son achieving the rank of Top Scorer in the Provincial Exam, all doubts were silenced.
Lu Chao Chao drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Meanwhile, the Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor had been sleepless all night.
“I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her!” Lu Jing Yao was beside herself with fury, clutching Madam Pei’s hand as she raved hysterically.
“It was Lu Chao Chao! It was her!”
“Urgh…” She retched as she spoke.
Madam Pei arrived hastily, her attire disheveled. The Old Madam eyed her suspiciously, noting the red mark on her neck. [But Lu Yuan Ze isn’t home today… Did I see wrong?]
“My dear granddaughter, how could Lu Chao Chao have dared to sneak into the manor at night?” The Old Madam’s voice dripped with disbelief.
“It must have been Shi Yun who put her up to it! How could a two-year-old be so bold?” Madam Pei cried, tears streaming as she tried to comfort Lu Jing Yao.
She had bathed Lu Jing Yao three times, but the stench still clung to her.
“Where were the guards? How could someone sneak in without being noticed?” the Old Madam bellowed in rage, her cane thudding on the floor.
Madam Pei swallowed her resentment. [You say we need more guards, but are you going to pay for them?]
“Call the authorities! I want to report this!” Lu Jing Yao sobbed.
“You can’t!”
“Absolutely not!” Madam Pei and the Old Madam spoke in unison.
Madam Pei stiffened. If her illicit affair was discovered in the manor, what then?
The Old Madam sighed deeply.
“Jing Yao, she’s just a two-year-old. Reporting this will ruin your reputation and the household’s name. Can the Marquis’s Manor endure more scandal?”
With the fiasco of Lu Jing Huai being exposed, the manor could ill afford another blow.
“So we just let it go?” Lu Jing Yao wept bitterly, clutching her face.
Why? Why was everyone so protective of Lu Chao Chao? Why?!
“Jing Yao, Grandmother understands your grievance, but as a young lady, your reputation is paramount. Remember, the Abbot of the National Temple said you are destined for greatness. If your name is tarnished, how can that destiny come to pass?”
Being known as someone involved with manure was far from noble.
Lu Jing Yao’s fury flickered, her thoughts drifting to a dream of the crown prince’s devotion. She silenced herself, though the resentment and murderous intent in her eyes remained evident.
“Mother, the manor has been plagued with misfortune recently. Why not invite a high monk to bless the house?” Madam Pei suggested nervously, clutching her handkerchief tightly.
“Fine. Take care of it,” the Old Madam said wearily, dismissing her with a wave.
Madam Pei hesitated. “Mother, high monks are difficult to invite. I’ll need…” She glanced awkwardly at the Old Madam.
The Old Madam’s face darkened.
“I’m always the one footing the bill! Look at Xu Shi Yun—eighteen years in this house, and she never asked me for a penny!” Her cane struck the ground sharply.
Madam Pei’s face burned with shame. [If Xu Shi Yun was so perfect, why did you cast her out?]
“Nanny, give her three hundred… no, just two hundred silver taels!” The Old Madam’s heart ached with the loss, muttering bitterly, “If you hadn’t flaunted Xu Shi Yun’s jewelry back then, would we have had to empty the treasury for your dowry?”
When Madam Pei was a mistress, the two women had gotten along famously. But after her formal marriage, the animosity grew.
Truly, the one running the household bore the brunt of the complaints.
The once-renowned beauty had been worn down into a haggard figure within a single year.