Chapter 326: The Aggrieved Little Heavenly Dao
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
The Lu Manor burned throughout the night.
By dawn, nothing remained but charred ruins, wisps of black smoke curling toward the sky. Everything had been consumed by the flames.
Supported by her maidservants, Madam Jiang trembled as she rushed into the scorched wreckage.
“Yun Jin, my daughter—my child!” she wailed.
Just then, a maidservant ahead screamed in alarm.
“Madam, don’t come any closer!” Her voice was laced with terror.
“Did you find my Yun Jin? Where is she? Let me see her!” Madam Jiang’s eyes were swollen red from crying, her voice hoarse and frayed. Blood vessels stood out in her gaze as she pushed aside the blocking servants, stumbling toward the burnt remnants of the room.
The walls were charred black. As she reached out to touch the doorway, she recoiled instantly from the searing heat.
The maidservant bit her lip and stepped forward, her heart aching for her mistress. “Madam, don’t look—the young miss would not have wanted you to see this…”
“Move aside!” Madam Jiang shrieked. Her throat, raw from a night of wailing, could barely produce sound.
She shoved the maid aside.
The unsteady maid lost her footing and fell against a scorched pillar with a shriek.
Madam Jiang didn’t look back. She only saw Jiang Yun Jin.
In that instant, the blood in her veins froze solid.
Despite the lingering heat in the air, an icy chill gripped her body. She trembled as she gazed at her daughter on the ground, her eyes filled with anguish.
An iron chain was wrapped tightly around Jiang Yun Jin’s neck.
Like a dog, she had been imprisoned within her own home, robbed of all dignity.
Her body was burnt beyond recognition, her features lost in the blackened remains. But the blood-red hairpin at her temple—Madam Jiang would recognize it anywhere.
It was her daughter.
Her daughter, whose corpse was riddled with stab wounds, a grotesque testament to her suffering. She had collapsed to the floor, curled in on herself.
“Lu Yuan Ze went mad! Before setting the fire, he killed Lu Jing Huai and…”
A young servant spoke in horror from behind her.
At that moment, Madam Jiang could not speak. Her trembling finger pointed toward the scorched, broken form of her daughter, her bloodshot eyes bulging in despair.
Not a single word escaped her throat.
She could only make hoarse, gasping sounds.
Tears streamed down her face.
“Aaaahhh—!” Her scream of grief split the morning air. This moment would forever be her nightmare.
Official Jiang entered the room with heavy steps, his face lined with years of sorrow in mere moments.
At the sight before him, his eyes averted instantly.
“Madam, come away. Let Yun Jin retain some dignity,” he said, trying to pull his wife away.
But Madam Jiang clutched onto him, trembling violently with grief.
“My Yun Jin—she suffered so much!”
“They imprisoned her. How could they dare? I should have taken her away, should have ignored everything and saved her!” She sobbed hysterically.
“She was still alive when Lu Yuan Ze set the fire! Do you see it?”
“She was still alive! The floor is covered in bloodied handprints. My Yun Jin—she tried to crawl out, bleeding from a thousand wounds! But the chain at her neck kept her from escaping!”
Madam Jiang nearly collapsed from sorrow. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much pain her daughter had endured.
Just one look—and the scene had seared itself into her memory, forever haunting her.
“Why was my Yun Jin’s fate so cruel?”
“Husband, our daughter died with regret!” she cried, unable to bear it any longer.
Official Jiang clenched his teeth, his eyes misted with unshed tears.
“Yun Jin begged to come home. Why did you refuse her?”
“Why did you not let her return?”
“Jiang Mu, you are heartless! This is all your fault! If not for you, she would have been divorced long ago!” Madam Jiang wept bitterly.
She clutched his shoulders and shook him violently.
“Madwoman!” Official Jiang pushed her away.
“I harmed Yun Jin? Who was it that truly hurt her?” he sneered coldly.
“Your father, desperate to curry favor with the Marquis Zhongyong, shamelessly arranged her engagement to Lu Yan Shu. And you—the moment Lu Yan Shu fell from grace, you cried and threw tantrums until I was forced to demand a broken engagement!”
“All for an illegitimate son who stole articles, you forced the separation from Lu Yan Shu! That was where this tragedy began!”
“Tell me, who is truly to blame for Yun Jin’s fate?”
“Foolish woman! If not for your indulgence, if not for your every misguided decision, she wouldn’t have taken step after step toward ruin!”
“Her death is on your hands!”
Madam Jiang’s sobs caught in her throat. Her face turned deathly pale.
“You blame me? You dare?”
“Who invited Lu Jing Huai into our home? Who gave Yun Jin the chance to know him? Jiang Mu, do not think I do not see your schemes! You try to wash your hands clean, but it was you who pushed her down this road!”
“Slap!”
Official Jiang’s hand struck her face.
She staggered backward and fell to the ground, her face bearing the mark of his hand.
“Ignorant fool!” he spat, storming off.
None knew of the bitter quarrel between the Jiang couple.
Lu Chao Chao awoke to whispers filling the estate: “The Marquis Zhongyong’s household is finished.”
That morning, Rong Che and Shi Yun rose early to prepare tea for the elders.
Shi Yun would not move into the Stabilizing Duke’s Manor, but the previous night, the old couple had moved next door to the Rong estate. A connecting doorway had been built between the courtyards.
Today, Shi Yun had already invited the elders in.
Grand Tutor Xu and the four elders of the Stabilizing Duke’s family sat at the head of the hall.
“Father, please have some tea.”
“Mother, please have some tea.”
The couple knelt before their parents in solemn reverence.
“Good, good! Shuang Shuang, you must live well,” the Old Madam of the Stabilizing Duke sighed with emotion.
The four children knelt in succession, calling Rong Che “Father.” The sight moved him to tears.
By noon, both families dined together.
Rong Che was in high spirits, striding about with vigor. Marriage truly made a man different.
The great fire at the Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor sent shockwaves through the capital.
Lu Yuan Xi arrived only to find the remnants of his home reduced to ash.
He stood before the ruins for a long time, lost in thought.
His mother had died falsely accused. To spite Lu Yuan Ze and exact vengeance upon Madam Pei, he had shattered his own bloodline—never expecting the destruction of his entire house.
Kneeling at the gates, he bowed three times before leaving the capital forever.
“At least Lu Yuan Xi leaves behind a sliver of the old Marquis’s bloodline,” Shi Yun murmured. “Who would have thought the once-glorious household would meet such an end?”
“Not long for this world…” Lu Chao Chao muttered atop her Windchaser, shaking her little head.
“Lu Yuan Ze didn’t spare him. He poisoned Lu Yuan Xi…”
Shi Yun was silent for a moment. “I never expected he would choose mutual destruction.”
She recalled her dream from the previous night and suddenly laughed.
“Speaking of which, I had the strangest dream.”
“A young boy, beaten and bruised, weeping as he wished me a happy wedding. He asked if I liked my gift… yet I have never seen that child before. Nor do I know of any such gift.”
Shi Yun covered her mouth, stifling a giggle.
Rong Che narrowed his eyes. “Was he handsome?”
Shi Yun pondered briefly before nodding seriously. “Extremely handsome. I’ve never seen anyone so dazzling, brighter than the moon itself. But he looked so pitiful, as if terribly wronged.”
Lu Chao Chao bared her little teeth.
[That bastard! That bastard stole my invitation and had the audacity to invade my mother’s dream!]
Awwwww… The Heavenly Will met Shiyun in her dream with bruises on his face. Looks like everything turn to better for every good characters in the book and evil punished.