Chapter 224: The Wicked Meet Their Match
This novel is translated and hosted on BCatranslation
“Father, you taught me everything I know!”
With a sudden surge of anger, Lu Yuan Ze lunged forward, gripping Lu Jing Huai’s mouth with his hands.
“You wretched child, you heartless traitor! How dare you bring disgrace to our marquis household? After all the kindness I’ve shown you, how could you betray us like this?” Lu Yuan Ze’s words were filled with fury and disbelief.
“It’s all your fault! You’re the reason our house is in such chaos!” In a snap, Lu Yuan Ze lost control. He attacked, hands tightening around Lu Jing Huai’s neck, choking him with fierce desperation.
Lu Jing Huai’s eyes bulged with terror. He struggled under the grip, his breaths growing shallow, his face turning a ghostly pale as he teetered on the brink of death…
In a rush of panic, Madam Pei hurled herself at Lu Yuan Ze, knocking him off balance and to the ground.
“Are you insane? Lu Yuan Ze, have you completely lost your mind?” she screamed, her voice trembling as she helped Lu Jing Huai to his feet. Noticing the deep, angry bruises forming on his neck, her eyes welled with both pain and rage.
“Not even fully grown and already a murderer, this boy has brought ruin upon our house!” Lu Yuan Ze spat blood, weakened from his previous incident of offering his life force away, now lay dazed on the cold ground.
“My Yan Shu, my brilliant Yan Shu is a genius. This fool can’t even compare to him! I sacrificed my wife and children for this fool!” The bitter truth was too much for Lu Yuan Ze to accept.
“It’s your twisted heart that’s to blame! How does this involve my son?” Madam Pei snapped back.
“Even if you kill him, what then? Lu Yuan Ze, he’s your last remaining son!” Madam Pei’s eyes sparkled with a dark malice. Ever since Lu Yuan Ze had been paralyzed and she was caught with another man, she knew she had lost his favor forever. She was determined to ensure he would have no more children.
Did he think she was unaware of the secret medicine he consumed daily? She, who had clawed her way from a concubine to a wife, knew all about cruelty. The medicine Lu Yuan Ze drank was tampered with—he would never father another child.
Slumped on the ground, Lu Yuan Ze mumbled incoherently, “I still have Yan Shu, Zheng Yue, Yuan Xiao, I have Chao Chao… They are all my children, all Lu family blood, all my flesh and blood!” His grip on reality seemed to waver.
Madam Pei ordered her son to be taken away, sneering at Lu Yuan Ze, “Are they really your children?”
“Do you want to see the family registry or the expulsion papers? If you kill him, our line ends. Do you really want to be the one who ends the Lu family?” Her voice was heavy with concealed resentment.
“This is a sin, a great sin…” Groaning in agony, Lu Yuan Ze collapsed into the snow, coughing up blood.
The maids and servants around knelt silently, none daring to move without Madam Pei’s command. She scanned the crowd coldly, noting the maid who had accused Lu Jing Huai of plagiarism had disappeared.
“She… she ran off in the chaos… Should we chase her?” A trembling maid inquired.
“Last month, she suddenly had the money to buy her freedom…”
[Damn that Madam Xu! She must have manipulated the maid to set up Jing Huai!] Madam Pei clenched her teeth. All the servants had become corrupt under Madam Xu’s influence.
Ever since taking over, the servants had labeled her as stingy. Lacking family support or wealth, and having previously misused Madam Xu’s dowry, which Madam Xu later reclaimed, she struggled to manage the household expenses alone.
Taking a deep breath, Madam Pei threatened the maids, “Remember, you all were born into this household, your indenture contracts are in my hands. Madam Xu might be kind, but kindness doesn’t feed you. Think of your families!”
For example, the housekeeper’s daughter was a maid here, married to Lu Jing Huai’s personal servant. If they betrayed her, their futures would be at risk.
“If you side with Madam Xu, I’ll sell your entire families to the brothels.” She waved a stack of indenture contracts menacingly.
“Madam, we dare not,” the maids repeated in unison, their heads bowed in fear.
From a distance, another maid from Deshan Hall approached cautiously, “Madam, the old lady fell from her bed.”
Madam Pei’s disdain was palpable, “Take the master to his room and call a doctor. As for the old lady, let her calm down.”
“But she is still on the floor, refusing help…” the maid whispered.
“If she likes the cold that much, let her be. Put out the fire in her room,” Madam Pei smirked. The maid nodded, too frightened to say more.
“Go, tell the young madam to return. Her husband needs her,” Madam Pei instructed, referring to Jiang Yun Jin, whom she had worked hard to marry into the family.
“If she refuses, remind her of her premarital affair. She’d better comply,” she added coldly.
“Mother, I’m scared. Will Father disown us like he did with Madam Xu?” Lu Jing Yao clutched at Madam Pei’s dress anxiously.
This novel is translated and hosted on BCatranslation
Madam Pei forced a smile, reassuring her, “Don’t worry, Yao Yao.”
[I, Pei Jiao Jiao, will never be divorced or abandoned. I will only leave as a widow.]
Satisfied, Lu Jing Yao smiled as they walked to the back courtyard where Lu Jing Huai groaned in pain.
The doctor, after examining Lu Jing Huai, frowned deeply at his severe injuries.
“Young master Jing Huai, you must be more cautious. These injuries… you must avoid reckless behavior. You still have no heirs; you mustn’t endanger yourself further,” the doctor advised, never having seen such severe injuries in such a delicate area. In wealthy families, keeping young men for secret affairs was common, but such brutality was unheard of even his years of experience.
Madam Pei handed the doctor some money, “Please, take good care of my son. He’s naïve and easily hurt.”
[This hardly seems like naivety.] The doctor thought as he wrote out a prescription.
“This medicine must be taken three times a day, internally and externally. And no sexual activity for six months.”
Lu Jing Yao pouted. Her elder brother was a fool, unable to even match Lu Yan Shu, despite having every advantage!