Chapter 37: Smearing Her Name

The steward’s remark was truly dripping with malice. To have a young lady return home after being out, only to be dismissed with a comment about her "faltering footsteps"? Yet, Lu Ming, the father, did not rebuke the steward; instead, a surge of fury flared within him toward Lu Zhaoling.

"Get that wretched daughter of mine to crawl over here!"

The young servant standing nearby immediately chimed in obsequiously, "I’ll go, sir." This was Hu Dali, the steward’s son.

Hu Dali ran outside just as Lu Zhaoling was heading toward Tingnuan Pavilion. She was accompanied by two maids, one supporting her and the other clutching a wooden box. The size of that box suggested it was meant for storing silver ingots. Hu Dali’s eyes widened. Could it be? Had the Second Young Miss actually earned a box full of silver on this outing?

"Second Young Miss, the Master wants you in the front hall!" Hu Dali scrambled before them, blocking their path. His gaze darted incessantly toward the wooden box held by Qingbao. It had to be full of silver!

"I’m busy," Lu Zhaoling glanced at him coldly. "Move aside."

"Second Young Miss, you can’t do this. The Master is your father; how can you be so rebellious? He must have something important to discuss."

"Who are you? Is it your place to lecture our mistress?" Qingbao snapped back.

Hu Dali shifted his gaze to her face. These two maids by the Second Young Miss’s side were quite beautiful, and their figures were far better maintained than hers—curvaceous in the right places, slender where they should be... Hu Dali felt an itch of desire. His father was the steward; surely that alone meant his status in the Lu household was higher than these maids? If he could just beg the Master to grant him one of them...

His leering gaze made Qingbao feel sick.

"I’m just following the Master’s orders to invite the Second Young Miss. If you don’t go, the Master will punish me," he said with a smirk, attempting a pathetic expression for Qingbao’s benefit. But with his flat features and small eyes, the look was anything but pitiful—it was greasy. Disgusting.

Just as Qingbao was about to speak, Lu Zhaoling said calmly, "Fine. I’ll go and hear what he has to say." Her soul had not yet fully fused with her body, and her mental strength remained severely depleted. Moreover, in this era, an unmarried woman could hardly establish her own household, and since the Lu family had no intention of letting her go without a fight, she still had to live here for the time being.

"That’s more like it, Second Young Miss. Now that you’re back from the countryside, you ought to start acting like a proper young lady of the capital." Hu Dali, assuming she was intimidated, added smugly.

Qingyin and Qingbao exchanged glances, teeth gritted in frustration.

As soon as Lu Zhaoling stepped over the threshold of the front hall, a covered teacup came flying toward her.

"Mistress!" Qingyin quickly pulled her aside. The teacup shattered on the floor.

"You ungrateful wretch! Do you even know what time this is? How dare you run around outside! Have you already found a man to cling to so soon after arriving in the capital?" Lu Ming roared the moment he saw her.

Lu Zhaoling’s gaze turned icy. "Did you eat excrement again today, Master Lu?" she retorted.

Madam Lu entered with Nanny Jin just in time to hear this. Nanny Jin’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg. Was this... was this the Lu Zhaoling she had brought back? She had just been speaking with the doctor, and now she was telling Master Lu that he had eaten filth!

"Look closely. Is she really the same wretched girl you brought back from the countryside?" Madam Lu hissed to the nanny before stepping over the shards. "Master, what is the matter? Why all the shouting?"

"You wretched girl! What did you just say?" Lu Ming, shocked and furious, pointed a finger at her, unable to believe his ears.

"If you haven't eaten filth, Master Lu, why does your mouth smell so foul?" Lu Zhaoling stared at him coldly.

"You—you! I am your father! You’ve been back for days and haven't even called me Father once!"

"I’m afraid you’d lose years off your life," Lu Zhaoling scoffed. Wanting to be her father? Was he worthy?

Lu Ming was so incensed he nearly collapsed. "Where did you go?" he asked, taking a deep breath to suppress his rage.

"That’s none of your concern. Just worry about yourselves," Lu Zhaoling said, her eyes shifting to Nanny Jin standing to the side. This old woman was the one who had fetched her from the countryside, wasn't she? Seeing the shock on the nanny's face, Lu Zhaoling realized at once that Madam Lu must have sensed something amiss and sent the woman to verify her identity.

But even so, Lu Zhaoling had no intention of acting like the original, pathetic version of herself. To let them bully her, to be submissive to these people? They could dream on.

"We are in a period of grand mourning! Everyone else is afraid to step outside for fear of breaking taboos and bringing disaster upon their families. Yet you, a country girl who knows nothing of the capital, dare to run about! You don't know a soul here and have no money—where could you possibly go?"

Lu Ming slammed the table. "On your very first day back, you offended the Prince of Jin. If you go out and offend some other royal, how many lives do you think you have?" He truly believed that with a face like hers, Lu Zhaoling was a magnet for trouble. Perhaps she really was a jinxed creature; why else would she have injured her head and caused such trouble the moment she arrived? Thinking of what he had heard at the palace today, his heart skipped a beat.

"And another thing! You were almost carried off to the Marquis of Qingfu’s estate to be a concubine for Heir Zhu! And you didn't say a single word about it!" He had heard other officials discussing this today, and his face had gone pale with terror. He heard that if not for the retired Emperor’s intervention, the Marquis would have gone to the palace to lodge a complaint. They said the girl had beaten Zhu Minghao until he passed out! He hadn't even known! He was well aware of what kind of man Zhu Minghao was; this matter was far from over.

"What? You were to be the Heir’s concubine?" Madam Lu gasped, staring at Lu Zhaoling. "Does the Prince of Jin know? Zhaoling, could these injuries of yours have been caused by Heir Zhu? Tell me, has your... has your body already been defiled by him?"

Malice welled up in her eyes. Could Lu Zhaoling have been ruined by Zhu Minghao during the time she was missing? Did the Prince of Jin know? Lu Zhaoyun had suspected it, but she hadn't believed it until now. Madam Lu secretly hoped that Lu Zhaoling’s purity had indeed been stolen by Zhu Minghao.

"Speak! You shameless, wretched creature! Did you go to see the Heir?" Lu Ming also grew suspicious. The Prince of Jin had been in the palace today, so she couldn't have gone to see him. But he had heard the Heir was injured and at home—could she have gone to him?

Madam Lu covered her mouth with her hand. "Could it be that you went to apologize and beg for mercy from the Heir? But you’ve already been betrothed to the Prince of Jin! What is to be done now?"

"Heh..."

Lu Zhaoling watched them scrambling about, eager to pour the filthiest sewage over her head, and couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh.