Chapter 40: The Forceful Retaliation
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
Night descended upon the Capital City, and suddenly, a sharp and mournful scream echoed through the streets.
At Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor, dinner was underway.
“What happened? Why such an eerie scream in the dead of night? Ying Xue, go find out what’s going on,” Madam Xu exclaimed, startled.
The Old Madam cast a disapproving glance at her. “You are the main wife of a Marquis household. Why concern yourself with every trivial matter? Was this how the Xu family taught you?”
Before her scolding voice fully faded, Ying Xue returned with an excited expression.
“There’s a fight! A fight, Madam! Outside, people are fighting!” Ying Xue’s eyes shone brightly as she reported.
“Madam, they’re catching an adulterer in the northern alley of the city!” she added with zeal.
“Apparently, a government official kept a mistress, and now the legitimate wife is confronting the mistress. It’s a fierce brawl.”
Ying Xue’s voice dropped conspiratorially. “Rumor has it that the mistress bore a son and daughter. The son is none other than the famous genius youth, Lu Jing Huai. He’s been slapped so hard his face is swollen.”
She paused dramatically. “And there’s a seven- or eight-month-old child too, but… that child, oh my…”
Crash!
Both the Old Madam and Marquis Lu Yuan Ze paled. The porcelain in their hands shattered against the floor.
“Who did you say got beaten?” Lu Yuan Ze’s voice trembled. Though he tried to suppress his anger, his tone quaked despite his efforts to remain calm.
“A woman in the northern alley—no, a vixen,” Ying Xue clarified hastily.
“They said she was the mistress of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. She had a son and a daughter. The daughter, barely eight months old, already speaks with venom, calling the legal mother, Madam Qin, a cheap woman. Out of fury, Madam Qin slapped her hard across the face.”
The Old Madam’s body swayed.
“Go see, go see…” Her voice quivered as she urged. Her precious granddaughter and grandson…
“Mother, such filth shouldn’t sully your eyes. You are the matriarch of a Marquis household! How can you concern yourself with such disgraceful matters?” Madam Xu’s “well-meaning” words were laced with mockery, a subtle return for the Old Madam’s earlier reprimand.
“That shameless mistress, giving birth to children for another man outside. Why should you degrade yourself by looking into this?”
The Old Madam’s vision blurred as rage surged. She pushed Madam Xu aside. “Move aside! I must see this for myself!” Her eyes burned crimson.
Madam Xu stepped back quietly, hiding a smirk as her eyes gleamed with concealed amusement.
[Take me! Take me! Let me see!]
[If you don’t, I’ll throw a fit! I’ll turn the world upside down!]
Lu Chao Chao, anxious and determined, clung to the edge of her crib, trying to stand. Her chubby legs trembled as she struggled upright.
“Oh, my little ancestor,” Deng Zhi exclaimed as she caught sight of the child’s eagerness. “This isn’t the kind of excitement you should be involved in!”
[If you won’t take me, I’ll crawl out on my own…]
With surprising speed, Chao Chao began crawling toward the door, using both hands and feet. The courtyard dogs jumped in fright as she passed by.
“Pick up Chao Chao! The ground is cold. We’ll take her, but only from a distance. This little troublemaker…” Madam Xu said helplessly as she had the child brought along.
Marquis Zhongyong’s household moved swiftly, heading straight for the northern alley.
Madam Xu watched Lu Yuan Ze’s practiced navigation, a sneer forming in her heart.
By the time they reached the alley, crowds had already gathered in several thick layers. Faces brimmed with curiosity and schadenfreude.
Nearly half an hour had passed.
“Strip her clothes! Strip her clothes! This shameless wench, let everyone see what kind of person she is!” men shouted, their whistles and jeers stirring the frenzy further.
“Ah, no wonder she was struck by lightning last time. Even the heavens couldn’t stand her being a mistress,” someone added with a laugh, drawing more ridicule.
Inside, Pei Jiao Jiao’s exaggerated cries filled the air.
Madam Qin’s fury boiled over. “You shameless hussy! Can you not survive without clinging to men?!”
“Stealing my husband?! Bearing his children? And such grown children, too!” Madam Qin’s hatred for Pei Jiao Jiao seethed like venom.
Madam Qin’s sharp voice pierced through the courtyard like a dagger.
“I have tended to household affairs, served my in-laws, and managed everything, yet he keeps a mistress! Living as though he’s in a harem!” Her words brimmed with fury. Her gaze fixed on Lu Jing Huai with venom. “Lu Jing Huai! You illegitimate wretch! How dare you call yourself a genius? Filthy and shameless scum!”
At forty-two, Madam Qin had borne only one daughter. The lack of a son was a thorn in her heart. Her eyes burned red with rage, her voice laced with bitter resentment.
Madam Xu, witnessing this, chuckled under her breath. Madam Qin’s harsh words were the echoes of her own suppressed thoughts.
Lu Yuan Ze and the Old Madam stumbled, their world spinning as they tried to push through the gathered crowd.
In the midst of the chaos, Pei Jiao Jiao stood humiliated. Her outer garment had been ripped off, leaving only her thin inner layer, which had slipped down to reveal one shoulder. Her cheeks were swollen from slaps. She clutched her disheveled clothes tightly, her eyes brimming with despair.
“No! I didn’t! I’m not Official Chen’s mistress!” she cried in a trembling voice, her face ashen.
Madam Qin sneered. “A creature like you, using your beauty to serve men, what’s so difficult about stripping off your clothes? Open your legs, and the gifts of gold and jewels come pouring in!”
Pei Jiao Jiao bit her lip, her expression filled with humiliation. Madam Qin’s voice sharpened. “You claim you’re not a mistress? Then tell me, who is your husband?”
Pei Jiao Jiao shivered but remained silent, unable to answer.
“Speak!” Madam Qin demanded.
A sudden cry broke the air. “Deaaaaddd… All of you… gonna… die!” Eight-month-old Lu Jing Yao shrieked in a rage, her tiny fists waving furiously. Despite her babyish stutter, her furious gaze sent a chill down spines.
Madam Qin scowled at the child. Without hesitation, she slapped Lu Jing Yao, sending her sprawling toward the manor gate. A newly grown tooth flew from her tiny mouth.
“Demon! This child is a demon!” Madam Qin hissed, unnerved by the mature intensity in the infant’s eyes.
“Jing Yao! Jing Yao!” Pei Jiao Jiao screamed, her body pinned down, her bloodshot eyes filled with panic. “Jing Yao is not a demon!” she shouted, her voice hoarse with desperation.
No one knew the true extent of her child’s capabilities.
Madam Qin turned her gaze to Lu Jing Huai. “What’s there to fear? The bastard child of a mistress, strutting about like he owns the world. Pathetic.”
The young Lu Jing Huai stood tall despite his bruises, his thin frame seeming to bear the weight of countless burdens. His eyes, deep and calm as a still lake, met Madam Qin’s gaze with quiet defiance.
Pei Jiao Jiao’s children… they unnerved Madam Qin in a way she couldn’t articulate.
“Break the bones of these wretched children. Let’s see how hard they are!” Madam Qin ordered coldly. “And strip that woman’s clothes. Parade her for all to see.”
“No! Stop!” Pei Jiao Jiao’s voice cracked as she struggled, her screams filled with terror.
Lu Yuan Ze, witnessing the unfolding nightmare, nearly collapsed. The carefully constructed facade of control he had maintained was unraveling.
“Enough!” he roared, his voice shaking the air. He ordered his servants to cover Pei Jiao Jiao with fresh clothes. His eyes fell upon his son’s bruised and battered face, the boy’s unyielding resolve like a dagger to his heart.
The Old Madam’s hands trembled. “This is sin… such sin. The children are innocent,” she whispered, tears glistening in her aged eyes.
Madam Qin scoffed, her disdain palpable. “Old Madam, this isn’t your rural backwater,” she retorted, her words a deliberate jab. The Old Madam’s face turned ashen, her origins a lifelong sore spot.
Madam Qin’s gaze snapped to Lu Yuan Ze. “The Marquis of Zhongyong, showing pity for a despicable woman? What’s the matter? Are you involved with her too?”
“Enough of this nonsense, Madam Qin!” Lu Yuan Ze rebuked her, his frown deepening. Despite his composed and scholarly demeanor, there was a faint crack in his mask. He sighed, his tone softening. “Madam Qin, perhaps there has been some misunderstanding.”
Madam Qin snorted derisively, pulling a slip of paper from her sleeve and tossing it toward Pei Jiao Jiao with a look of cruel satisfaction.