Chapter 188: Pulling Down the Pants
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Mother, I want to go too…” Lu Chao Chao hesitated after speaking.
“I want to show my filial piety to Grandmother…”
[Fake! I just want to hear the gossip!]
[I must be at the forefront of the drama…]
Lu Chao Chao looked at her mother expectantly.
Madam Xu did not want to take her along, but she also feared that if left behind, Lu Chao Chao would wander the world with the Beggars’ Sect.
“Fine, come with me.”
“You all focus on your future. Don’t worry, Mother will extend her regards to Grandmother on your behalf…” Madam Xu waved her hand dismissively.
Lu Yan Shu and his brothers stepped out of the courtyard.
Lu Zheng Yue lowered his voice, “Mother has changed.”
“She used to be so dignified and elegant, avoiding any sordid affairs, afraid to sully her ears.”
“But now? She can’t even hide the way she wants to see a joke and add insult to injury.”
A single divorce had changed her entire being.
Lu Yan Shu’s expression remained indifferent. “Don’t you think she’s becoming more ‘Chao-ified’?”
The others were stunned. Indeed, she was!
Gradually influenced by Lu Chao Chao.
“This is good.”
“Anyone deceived for eighteen years, thinking their love was real when it was a lie from the beginning, would change drastically. Being cast out with her children, it’s already impressive that Mother hasn’t gone mad.”
A heavy silence fell among the brothers.
“If others look down on us, we must work even harder so that no one dares to belittle Mother,” Lu Yuan Xiao declared, clenching his pudgy fists.
“Well said, Yuan Xiao!” Lu Zheng Yue clapped his shoulder.
Lu Yan Shu smiled at his younger brother. “I sent a few books to you with notes I made. If you have questions, come find me anytime.”
Lu Yuan Xiao’s eyes shone with excitement.
His eldest brother was the top scholar of the court—countless people sought his guidance.
“I am dull-witted and have embarrassed you, Eldest Brother.” Lu Yuan Xiao blushed.
Little did he know that one day, he would become one of the greatest scholars of their era.
For now, he only had one thought: I am the dumbest in my family.
…
Meanwhile, Lu Chao Chao donned the bear fur coat gifted by the Emperor and climbed into the carriage to watch the drama unfold.
“You are not allowed to kick me, okay?” She solemnly warned Xuan Ji Chuan.
Xuan Ji Chuan: ………
“I’m sorry.” He lowered his head in guilt.
Last year, he had mistaken her for a bear and kicked her into a snow pile. That misstep had cost him a month of terrible luck.
He had nearly lost his life.
Now, he attentively carried her down from the carriage and followed behind her with utmost deference.
Ha, even the Crown Prince of Eastern Ling lived worse than she did.
Since Princess Zhao Yang held great status, all he had to do was bow his head to Lu Chao Chao.
It wasn’t disgraceful.
Deng Zhi stepped forward and knocked on the door.
A young servant opened it, his face lighting up in surprise. “Sister Deng Zhi! You’re back?”
Then, he noticed Madam Xu behind her.
Tears welled up in his eyes. “Madam, ever since you left, life has been unbearable.”
“Enough nonsense. I heard the Old Madam had a stroke. My lady is kind and came to check on her for the young masters.” Deng Zhi handed him a silver reward.
“Young Masters are truly filial. Madam, please come in…”
The servant eagerly welcomed Madam Xu into the manor.
She examined the once-glorious Marquis’s Manor. In just one year, its decline was evident.
The lavish feasts and extravagant wealth of the past now seemed like nothing but a shattered dream.
As she walked, passing maids saw Madam Xu and bowed respectfully.
Their eyes brimmed with sorrow and reluctance.
Before she even reached the inner chambers, soft sobs drifted from within.
“Mother, I haven’t fulfilled my filial duty, yet you’ve had a stroke?” Lu Yuan Ze’s voice was filled with grief.
“The Old Madam suffered a great shock. A stroke is irreversible. The household must take good care of her,” the Imperial Physician sighed before departing with his apprentice.
“Mother, what exactly shocked you so deeply?” Lu Yuan Ze was utterly perplexed.
Madam Pei quietly clenched her sleeves.
Hearing that Madam Xu had arrived, everyone in the room turned toward the door.
The grand entrance opened slightly, allowing moonlight to spill inside.
Through his tear-filled vision, Lu Yuan Ze saw Madam Xu step into the room, bathed in silver light.
Eighteen years of toil, and the young maiden had been honed into a seasoned matron. The once-unremarkable, rigid woman had, at some point, shed the exhaustion clinging to her and transformed into someone both graceful and refined.
Her skin was as fair as freshly fallen snow, and her eyes twinkled like the stars in the night sky. Her willow-like brows arched delicately, exuding an enchanting charm. A simple jade hairpin adorned her neatly bound hair, lending her an ethereal air, more captivating than in her youthful days.
She was impossible to look away from.
Lu Yuan Ze cast a glance at Madam Pei, who constantly wailed about their household’s poverty yet always adorned herself in gaudy extravagance.
As if she wished to wear every ounce of gold and silver she could get her hands on.
Utterly vulgar.
Lu Yuan Ze did not understand—people desperately try to prove what they lack the most.
Madam Pei clenched her handkerchief tightly. Seeing Lu Yuan Ze’s momentary daze, her anger surged.
“What are you doing here? Are you just here to watch a spectacle?” Madam Pei sneered coldly.
[Heh, she guessed correctly.] Lu Chao Chao stifled a giggle.
Lu Yuan Ze’s gaze remained fixated on Madam Xu, filling Madam Pei with jealousy and resentment.
Madam Xu dabbed the corner of her eyes with a handkerchief and chuckled lightly. “I am not as disgraceful as you.”
“I have been a daughter-in-law to Old Madam for eighteen years, and never once have we raised our voices at each other. What is wrong with me visiting her now?”
She wiped away her feigned tears and continued, “How exactly have you been taking care of the Old Madam? For eighteen years, whenever she was ill, I personally attended to her, cleaning after her, nursing her through sleepless nights. Yet you’ve only been in this household for a year, and already she has suffered a stroke?”
“Back then, I served the Old Madam without a single complaint. You must also dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to her care, without passing the responsibility to others,” Madam Xu said with sincere conviction.
Madam Pei bit her lip in fury, her teeth nearly grinding together.
Lu Yuan Ze’s eyes turned red, seemingly deeply moved.
“Do as Shi Yun says,” he murmured.
Madam Xu stepped closer to the bed, where the Old Madam lay—her mouth twisted, her gaze unfocused, saliva glistening at the corner of her lips.
She was paralyzed.
“Hoh… hoh… hoh…” Broken, incoherent sounds came from her lips.
“Do not slander me! I have cared for Old Madam as if she were my own mother. I spent half a month praying in the Buddhist hall, copying scriptures for her well-being!” Madam Pei wailed as she wiped away her tears.
The moment those words reached the Old Madam’s ears, her eyes widened, her face flushed crimson, her entire being trembling with overwhelming emotions. Though her body could barely move, she exuded vehement resistance.
“Ahh… hoh… hoh…” Her lips twisted further, unable to articulate a single word.
Tears streamed down her face in agitation.
Her furious, hateful eyes bore into Madam Pei as a heart-wrenching wail escaped her throat.
“It seems the Old Madam wishes to refute your claim? I heard that her stroke was triggered after a visit to the Buddhist hall. What exactly were you doing there?” Madam Xu inquired casually.
Madam Pei gripped her handkerchief, her voice sharp with anger. “Of course, I was copying scriptures!”
[Oh dear, oh dear, what scriptures? She must have been caught red-handed doing something else!]
Lu Chao Chao pulled out a handful of melon seeds from her sleeve and crouched in a corner, nibbling away diligently.
“Without lighting a lamp at night, with the wind blowing through, the Old Madam, half-awake and half-asleep, might have been startled by the shadows cast by the swaying branches outside the window.”
“I was merely copying scriptures. Is that so wrong?”
The Old Madam seethed with resentment, her eyes brimming with bitter hatred toward Madam Pei.
She glanced at Lu Yuan Ze, then at Madam Pei.
But Lu Yuan Ze understood nothing.
Tears poured down the Old Madam’s face as she trembled uncontrollably, unable to speak, saliva spilling from her gaping mouth.
Pei Jiao Jiao, how dare you?!
I was the one who arranged to raise you outside, who paved the way for you, who fought against Madam Xu for your sake, yet you—
You deceived me!
You placed a green hat upon Yuan Ze’s head!
I drove my own grandchildren away, yet kept a pair of bastards in my home!
Her emotions surged violently as she turned toward Lu Yuan Ze, crying out in agony, desperate yet powerless to warn her son.
“Oh my, why does it smell so foul in here?” Madam Xu covered her nose with a handkerchief, wrinkling her brows.
Lu Chao Chao pointed at the Old Madam and chirped brightly.
“She pooped herself! She pooped herself!”