Chapter 224: Evil Meets Its Match
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Father, everything I learned, I learned from you!”
Lu Yuan Ze lunged forward, his hands tightening around Lu Jing Huai’s mouth with a death grip.
“You wretched spawn! You heartless traitor! You dare to destroy our Marquis Manor—our family!”
“I cherished you so dearly! How could you betray us?!”
“It’s all because of you! Because of you, the Marquis Manor has fallen into ruin!” A thread in Lu Yuan Ze’s mind snapped. His sanity shattered as he clawed at Lu Jing Huai’s throat.
Straddling his chest, he strangled him with a maddened fury.
Lu Jing Huai’s eyes widened in terror, his mouth gaping open in silent agony. He struggled, but his body failed him. His throat, gripped in an iron hold, left him floundering like a dying fish, gasping for air, death creeping upon him—
Madam Pei wailed and flung herself forward, slamming into Lu Yuan Ze, knocking him off balance.
“Are you insane?! Lu Yuan Ze, have you lost your mind?!”
“Are you trying to murder your own son?!” Madam Pei shrieked, shoving Lu Yuan Ze aside. She trembled as she lifted Lu Jing Huai, her hands brushing over the bruises blooming across his throat. Pain and hatred burned in her eyes.
“At such a young age, he already knows how to manipulate others into killing for him. This vile son—he has doomed the Marquis Manor!” Lu Yuan Ze coughed up blood, his weakened body, drained from borrowing lifespan, crumpling as he was pushed to the ground.
“My Yan Shu—my Yan Shu was a genius. This fool is nothing compared to him! He cannot even hold a candle to Yan Shu!”
“And yet I cast out my wife and children for this imbecile!” Lu Yuan Ze’s voice was hoarse with despair. He could not accept it—could not accept the bloody truth staring him in the face.
“It was your own wicked heart that led you here! What does it have to do with my son?!”
“Even if you kill him, what then?! Lu Yuan Ze, you have no other heirs! He is your only son!” Madam Pei’s voice was laced with venomous determination.
From the moment Lu Yuan Ze was paralyzed on horseback, from the moment she was caught in an adulterous act, she knew she had fallen from favor.
She would never allow Lu Yuan Ze to father another child.
Did he think she didn’t know he had been secretly brewing medicinal tonics? She knew.
She had risen from a mere concubine to the legal wife, stepping over the former Marquess and her children. She had done so with ruthless cunning.
The tonics Lu Yuan Ze drank every day? They were laced.
For the rest of his life, he would never sire another heir.
Lu Yuan Ze collapsed onto the ground, utterly broken.
“I still have Yan Shu, I still have Zheng Yue, I still have Yuan Xiao, I still have Chao Chao… They are all my children, my bloodline… They are my flesh and blood!” His voice wavered, his mind clouded.
Madam Pei coldly ordered the servants to take her son away. Then, she sneered at Lu Yuan Ze:
“Are they truly yours?”
“The severance letter, the family registry—do you need me to show them to you?”
“If you kill him, your bloodline ends here. Lu Yuan Ze, do you wish for your lineage to perish?” Her sharp nails dug into her palms as she suppressed the vicious pleasure welling in her heart.
“Retribution… This is retribution…”
“Pfft—!” Lu Yuan Ze spewed a mouthful of blood, collapsing onto the snow-covered ground.
Not a single servant moved. They remained on their knees, heads bowed, waiting for Madam Pei’s command.
She cast her gaze around the courtyard. The maid who had accused Jing Huai of stealing the article was nowhere to be found.
“She… she ran during the chaos… Should I send someone after her?” A trembling maid inquired.
“She suddenly had enough silver last month to buy her freedom…”
“That wretched Madam Xu! It must have been her! She must have bribed the little maid to frame Jing Huai!” Madam Pei gritted her teeth, fury seething within her.
Ever since she took over the household, the servants had viewed her as stingy, still longing for the indulgences Madam Xu had once provided.
She had no strong maternal family to support her. She had no riches to spare. In past years, she could still embezzle from Madam Xu’s dowry, but once Madam Xu realized, she had taken back every coin.
Madam Pei could barely keep the household running.
She took a deep breath, eyes as sharp as daggers, scanning the courtyard.
The maids of the household hunched their shoulders in fear. “You were all born into this household, and your deeds of sale are in my hands. No matter how kind Madam Xu may be, she cannot provide you with a single meal. I advise you to think carefully! Think of your parents, your children!” Madam Pei’s eyes were filled with malice.
The maid who accused Lu Jing Huai was an orphan.
But the other servants all had ties to the household.
For instance, the steward’s daughter was a senior maid in the rear courtyard and had married Lu Jing Huai’s personal attendant.
The old woman in the kitchen—her son was a stable hand.
“If I find out that any of you have helped Madam Xu, then your entire family will be sold into a brothel,” Madam Pei said, gripping a stack of deeds.
“Madam, this servant dares not.”
“Madam, this servant dares not.” All the servants knelt, knocking their heads against the ground in terror.
A maid from Virtue and Kindness Hall spoke cautiously. “Madam, the Old Madam has fallen from her bed.”
Just now, a little maid had been whispering by the window.
She said that Lu Jing Huai was a false genius, that he had plagiarized Lu Yan Shu’s essays to pass the imperial examination. She mocked the Lu family for mistaking a jewel for a mere pebble, driving away the true treasure while exalting the worthless stone.
She blamed him for the Marquis Manor losing its noble title and for its children being cast out into the streets.
The Old Madam was so furious that she widened her eyes in rage—and in that fit of anger, she tumbled from her bed.
A flicker of disgust passed through Madam Pei’s eyes. “First, help Master back to his room and summon a physician. As for the Old Madam…”
“Let her cool down first.”
“The Old Madam is still lying on the floor; she won’t let us touch her…” The maid whispered hesitantly.
Lu Yuan Ze had originally hired a few matrons to care for the Old Madam, but Madam Pei had dismissed them due to a lack of funds.
Now, the Old Madam was completely at her mercy.
“If she refuses to be touched, then let her lie there until she’s had enough. The Old Madam enjoys the cold, does she not? Extinguish the charcoal in her room.” Madam Pei’s smile was cold and cruel.
The maid nodded fearfully, not daring to meet Madam Pei’s gaze.
“Summon the Young Madam back to the estate. Tell her that Young Master has been injured and that she must return home to care for him.”
“A married daughter residing in her parents’ house—what a disgrace!” Madam Pei had schemed tirelessly to marry Jiang Yun Jin into the family; there was no way she would allow her to abandon Lu Jing Huai.
“If she refuses, then remind her: she lost her chastity before marriage. If she doesn’t want her reputation ruined, she had better behave.”
The maid bit her lips and nodded.
“Mother, Jing Yao is so scared. Will Father cast us out as he did Madam Xu’s family?” Lu Jing Yao clung to Madam Pei’s robes, trembling.
Madam Pei forced a smile. “Don’t be afraid, Yao Yao.”
“I, Pei Jiao Jiao, will never divorce, nor will I be cast aside.”
Pei Jiao Jiao would only ever become a widow.
Lu Jing Yao curled her lips in satisfaction.
Madam Pei took her by the hand and led her toward the rear courtyard, where Lu Jing Huai was groaning in agony.
The physician had prepared medicine, his brow furrowed at the ghastly sight before him.
Lu Jing Huai lay face-down on the bed, his body trembling from the pain in his lower half.
“Young Master Jing Huai, you must practice self-restraint. With these injuries… you must not indulge in any reckless behavior.”
“The Young Master has yet to produce an heir. It would be best to avoid harming the root of his vitality.” The physician had never seen such a grievous wound—especially in such an unspeakable place.
Even noble families who kept male companions never inflicted such harm.
Madam Pei handed the physician a pouch of silver. “Please take extra care. My son is innocent at heart; I fear he has been deceived by ill-intentioned people.”
The physician accepted the silver without a word.
This hardly seemed like innocence.
Silently, he wrote out a prescription and passed it to Madam Pei. “This medicine must be taken three times a day, both orally and externally.”
“And abstain from intimacy for half a year.”
Lu Jing Yao scoffed. Her brother was truly an idiot—standing on the shoulders of a giant, yet still unable to surpass Lu Yan Shu!