Chapter 64: With Many Allies
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
New Year’s Eve.
The capital resounded with the endless crackle of firecrackers, and every household adorned their windows with festive red paper-cuts. Children ran about, clad in their brand-new clothes, playing and laughing.
Lu Chao Chao was now eleven months old! A cause for celebration, as she had grown another tooth, bringing her total to three.
[So happy! One step closer to gnawing on a big drumstick.]
Whenever she saw anyone, she would grin widely, showing off her three gleaming little teeth.
Madam Xu’s cheeks ached just looking at her, sighing, “Alright, alright, Mother knows you’ve got another tooth. Tonight, I’ll let you chew on a drumstick.” This little girl even dreamed about growing teeth…
Lu Chao Chao’s face lit up with joy, and having secured her drumstick, her entire mood brightened. Not even the cumbersome layers of clothing could irritate her.
“Today, we’ll be entering the palace to offer sacrifices to the heavens. Later, there will also be a palace banquet, so you must behave,” Madam Xu said while dressing her in thick, warm clothing. The sacrificial ceremony was cold, and she worried about Lu Chao Chao catching a chill.
Once she was dressed, Lu Chao Chao glanced at her mother and then quietly wriggled under the bed, her little hands and feet busily pushing out a small chest. Around her neck hung a tiny key. With a “click,” she unlocked the chest.
Inside lay a string of jade pendants. Any single piece could make her stingy father drool, yet she had a whole pile of them, which she disdainfully left gathering dust in a corner.
[They’re in the way!]
Lu Chao Chao pouted, rummaging through the chest. Her tiny hands, still chubby, grasped a pair of chestnuts. Unable to hold even two at a time, she made several trips, stuffing her chestnuts into her coat pocket. She added peanuts and even a thumb-sized sweet potato for good measure. Only after packing her pockets to the brim did she lock the chest again and push it back under the bed.
The sacrificial ceremony was tedious and dull, with no opportunities to leave. Madam Xu even refrained from drinking water, fearful of needing the restroom midway through. Instead, she sipped a little thick rice porridge to ease her stomach.
“Why require legitimate sons and daughters to attend the ceremony this year? Chao Chao’s only eleven months old and can barely walk,” Deng Zhi sighed as she helped tie a scarf around the child.
Madam Xu glanced at her innocent daughter, who was squatting on the ground, poking ants. She couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps… the Emperor wanted to see Chao Chao. But surely His Majesty wasn’t so idle?
Madam Xu dismissed the thought. As she carried Chao Chao out, she encountered Su Zhi Qing, whose face radiated joy.
“Madam, Happy New Year,” Su Zhi Qing greeted with a formal bow, barely concealing her happiness.
Madam Xu looked indifferent. “If you have something to say, speak plainly. Delaying the sacrificial ceremony would be a grave offense.” As a third-rank titleholder, Madam Xu had to enter the palace to participate in the rites.
[Heh heh. She’s trying to become Lu Jing Huai’s Little Mother… wouldn’t that drive Pei Jiao Jiao mad?]
Su Zhi Qing was brimming with satisfaction. Lu Jing Huai didn’t know yet.
She performed another bow and said, “The Marquis… cared deeply for me. Last night, he said he wanted to elevate me to the status of an equal wife.”
“Madam, with your advancing years and many children to care for, the Marquis suggested I assist in easing your burdens.” Her voice held a triumphant edge as she recalled her victory. Even her legs had trembled this morning from the night’s “efforts.”
Pei Jiao Jiao might be beautiful, but she was no longer young. Su Zhi Qing, by contrast, combined youth, beauty, humility, and an education in poetry and etiquette, traits that mirrored the strengths of both Madam Xu and Pei Jiao Jiao. This carefully crafted persona had captivated the Marquis.
Last night, Lu Yuan Ze had foolishly promised to make her an equal wife.
A flicker of sorrow crossed Madam Xu’s eyes.
“If that’s the case, then tomorrow, on the first day of the new year, your name can be added to the family registry. However, as for the wedding…” Madam Xu hesitated.
Su Zhi Qing quickly interjected, “Madam, the new year is a busy time. There’s no rush for a wedding.” After all, once her name was on the registry, she would officially be an equal wife.
She even had the audacity to address Madam Xu as “sister.”
“Pah! Who’s your sister? Even a stray cat or dog wants to climb the family tree now?” Deng Zhi spat angrily. “Madam Xu is a noble daughter of the prestigious Xu family. She has no such sisters.”
An equal wife might outrank a concubine or maid, but to presume equality with the primary wife was laughable.
Su Zhi Qing’s face burned with shame, though her resentment simmered beneath the surface.
[Hmph. What good is being the main wife if you lack your husband’s favor?]
“Deng Zhi is right. I overstepped,” Su Zhi Qing replied demurely, though her lips curled with a hidden sneer.
“Enough. Focus on serving the Marquis well,” Madam Xu said, not sparing her another glance before leading her people out.
The Emperor led the court in the sacrificial rites that day, while the womenfolk stood with their children on the far side of the altar, shielded from the ministers’ gaze and the biting wind. Madam Xu noted her position and thought it unusually favorable, though she didn’t know it had been arranged by the Emperor and Crown Prince for Lu Chao Chao.
The ministers knelt in the freezing wind. Despite his high rank as a Marquis, Lu Yuan Ze’s low official status relegated him to the rear, where he could barely see anything ahead.
“Marquis Lu, care for a drink after the banquet?” one minister suggested.
“We could also savor and discuss the brilliance of ‘The Parting Cup’—every line a timeless treasure. That Lu Jing Huai truly has real talent. Last year’s failed display of righteous aura must have been an accident. It was his first time in a public procession, after all.”
Lu Yuan Ze’s chest swelled with pride. That’s my son! Lu Jing Huai is my son.
Another chimed in, “I hear the Emperor himself loves ‘The Parting Cup.’ Even before the provincial exams, Lu Jing Huai has earned His Majesty’s favor. If he truly secures the top honors in the imperial exams…”
“The Xu family’s glory will land squarely on Lu Jing Huai’s shoulders. To have such an exceptional child raised outside…”
As gossip swirled, Lu Yuan Ze remained silent, gripping his palms tightly, his face darkening.
The sacrificial rites began, with the Imperial Observatory reciting prayers for a prosperous year. The Emperor and Crown Prince stood solemnly as the ritual unfolded. The Emperor, grateful to Lu Chao Chao for saving the Crown Prince, silently thanked the heavens for her.
As he lowered his gaze, he spotted a tiny child peeking out from behind a massive bronze cauldron. She grinned, baring her three small teeth in unabashed delight.