Chapter 50: Second Brother Returns Home
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
As the year drew to a close, the first snow fell.
The capital seemed to be draped in a layer of frost, with even the flowers and grass lightly coated in icy crystals.
Lu Chao Chao was now ten months old.
At ten months, Lu Chao Chao had grown to display the best features of both Madam Xu and Lu Yuan Ze. Her plump little face was round and chubby, her eyes clear and bright like stars, carrying a hint of innocence. Her cheeks were puffed like little buns, making anyone who saw her want to pinch them.
Dressed in a red jacket, her hair tied into two tiny buns adorned with pom-poms, she toddled along unsteadily. She could even take a few steps without needing a maid’s assistance.
“Our young lady looks just like one of those New Year’s baby paintings. She’s truly adorable,” Deng Zhi couldn’t help but praise. Having helped Madam Xu raise three young masters, none of them had been as captivating as Chao Chao.
“Miss Chao Chao is learning to walk and talk earlier than her three brothers,” Ying Xue nodded in agreement.
“Would you like me to carry you, young miss?” Deng Zhi asked as she noticed the light snow outside. Although the maids had already swept the paths, the ground was still slick.
Lu Chao Chao, however, was brimming with excitement.
“Walk… walk…” she babbled.
“Big… walk.” Her babyish voice was soft as she clutched two pieces of chestnut cake in her pockets. Nearing her first birthday, she could already enjoy soft foods such as roasted sweet potatoes, rice paste, and minced meat. Of all these, roasted sweet potatoes were her favorite, their warm sweetness irresistibly fragrant.
Seeing the little one’s determination, Deng Zhi and Ying Xue each took one of her hands, helping her waddle slowly toward the main courtyard. Her giggles filled the air as she stomped on the thin layer of snow, leaving tiny footprints behind—adorably miniature marks that charmed everyone.
As they passed a flowerbed, Chao Chao furrowed her pretty brows, pulled free of the maids, and squatted before a wilting flower, her face almost touching its petals.
“What’s wrong, young miss?” Ying Xue asked. Before she could finish, Chao Chao raised a finger to her lips and hushed her.
“Cry… cry… flower… cry…” she murmured, pointing at an orchid.
Deng Zhi couldn’t suppress a smile. Children were so innocent, believing even plants could talk.
“Alright, we’ll move the orchid to the greenhouse later,” Deng Zhi promised, coaxing Chao Chao to move forward again. However, the young girl soon grew tired, prompting Deng Zhi to pick her up and hurry toward the front courtyard.
Just then, Chao Chao heard faint sobbing. The sound was soft, weak, and carried an air of helplessness.
Her round eyes blinked as she craned her neck around the corner to see a young man in a pale-blue robe kneeling straight-backed at the doorway. A delicate young woman in white stood under the eaves, covering her face as she quietly wept.
Inside the house, Madam Xu’s furious voice boomed, “Did your education go straight to the dogs?! You’re already engaged, yet you bring another woman home?!”
“What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to humiliate your fiancée?” Madam Xu’s face was flushed with anger, and she nearly swayed on her feet.
Initially, she had doubted Chao Chao’s thoughts; after all, Lu Zheng Yue already had a fiancée and wasn’t usually a frivolous man. But seeing him kneeling outside and insisting on bringing another woman into the house made her blood boil.
Lu Zheng Yue glanced anxiously at his mother but grew resolute when his eyes landed on Su Zhi Qing, shivering pitifully at the door like a frail parasitic flower needing his protection.
“Mother, I have no feelings for Wen Ning. The engagement was never my wish,” he said firmly. “I only want to marry someone I love—to live a life as harmonious as yours and Father’s, not as strangers maintaining a facade of civility.”
Madam Xu was so furious that she felt faint. The marriage between Lu Yan Shu and Jiang Yun Jin had been arranged by the late Marquis himself, and she had accepted it. But Wen Ning—
She had grown up next door to the Lu family and had adored Lu Zheng Yue, following him around like a little shadow. They had been childhood sweethearts. Yet in just three years since her family’s relocation, Zheng Yue was now causing such a ruckus.
“I’ve always regarded Wen Ning as a sister. You can punish me however you wish, Mother, but I cannot marry her,” he said resolutely. At the time of their engagement, he had been only six years old. Wen Ning had indeed been adorable, but now he realized he had only seen her as a sibling.
“Mother, Qing Qing cannot marry anyone else,” he continued, his face reddening with embarrassment. “When I was studying, I encountered danger and fell off a cliff. It was Qing Qing who carried me back and saved my life.”
“Qing Qing lost her parents at a young age and has lived a hard life. By taking me in, she has already ruined her reputation. I cannot be ungrateful and dishonorable,” he added, his voice heavy with emotion. In the past months spent with Su Zhi Qing, his admiration for her had grown. She was gentle, pure, and completely untainted by the complexities of the world.
Madam Xu’s eyes burned with fury. Although Lu Zheng Yue had gone out to study, he had been accompanied by two servants skilled in martial arts. They had written regularly to the family until the incident. After the fall, the servants had searched for three days, scouring nearby villages, yet Su Zhi Qing’s village, though previously checked, had somehow concealed him. Unless someone had deliberately hidden him.
“Mother, I was unconscious for three days. When I woke, Qing Qing was caring for me. Perhaps when the servants searched, Qing Qing was out gathering herbs. Her family is impoverished, and I became an added burden to her,” Lu Zheng Yue sighed. When he had awakened, burning with fever and weak, the sight of the weeping girl embracing him had left a deep impression. Her body pressed against his as she cried, and her warm tears fell on his skin, leaving him both stunned and moved.
How could he not marry her after ruining her reputation?
“She was kind enough to save you,” Madam Xu retorted coldly. “If she hadn’t, your servants would have found you.”
Lu Zheng Yue felt his chest tighten.
“You, a man of high status, wearing a jade pendant worth thousands and dressed in fine clothes—how do you know she didn’t covet your wealth and hide you deliberately?” Madam Xu sneered.
At the doorway, Su Zhi Qing turned red with shame and burst into tears. “Why must Madam insult me?” she cried. “Though I am of humble origins, I have my dignity. I only came to the capital because Zheng Yue insisted. If not for him, I would have shaved my head and become a nun, living a life of prayer and solitude.”
“Meeting Zheng Yue has been the greatest fortune of my life. I dare not dream of marrying him. All I wish is for him to be happy.” With tears streaming down her face, Su Zhi Qing turned to leave.
Lu Zheng Yue’s eyes reddened. “You cannot go!” he shouted. “Mother, if Qing Qing leaves, I will go with her!” He grasped her trembling hand, his heart aching for her.
Gritting his teeth, he stood and prepared to strike his head against a pillar to prove his resolve.
But just as he braced himself, a child’s innocent voice chimed in his mind:
[Hit the wall, hit the wall! Let’s watch this love-obsessed fool hit the wall!]
The voice was gleeful and full of schadenfreude.
Lu Zheng Yue hesitated, his determination faltering. Silently, he knelt back down, lowering his head in submission.