Just a Wet Nurse, Just a Plaything? Everyone Wept After My Death - Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Two days later, Huo Xiao returned from the Northern Camp, covered in dust from the road.
He had only just swung down from his horse and had yet to remove his chill-radiating armor when the steward approached him, trembling. In his hands was a scroll of bright yellow silk, and his face was white as a sheet.
“G-General… Eunuch Li just left…”
The steward’s voice shook as he raised the scroll above his head with both hands.
“This imperial edict was issued moments ago… It specifically names Lady Shen of our manor and orders her to enter the palace immediately.”
“What did you say?!”
The exhaustion on Huo Xiao’s face vanished, replaced by shock. He snatched the edict away and unfurled it with a snap.
His blazing gaze swept rapidly over the grandiose official language before locking onto a single line.
[We have heard that Wet Nurse Shen of Huo Manor possesses an extraordinarily resilient fate, having survived even the direst calamity. She is thus one chosen by Heaven. She is hereby commanded to bathe, change her attire, and enter the palace at once to serve the Ninth Prince. All shall obey.]
“Lady Shen… enter the palace… the Ninth Prince…”
Huo Xiao’s fingers clenched sharply. They were hands hardened by years of wielding weapons, and his grip was so powerful that he crushed creases into the resilient silk of the imperial edict.
Who was the Ninth Prince? He was the Living Yama feared throughout the realm!
Sending Shen Yingyue into the palace was no different from sending her to her death!
“Who did this? Who the hell did this?!”
Huo Xiao roared in fury and kicked the base of the stone lion beside the entrance, toppling it. The blood vessels in his eyes instantly flared.
“I was training troops at the front! Who submitted her name behind my back?! Who gave any of you the nerve?!”
The steward dropped to his knees in terror and repeatedly slammed his forehead against the ground.
“Spare me, General! It… it was the Old Madam… She said it was for the sake of the Huo Family…”
“Mother?”
Huo Xiao went rigid. A moment later, disbelief and rage surged in his eyes.
He ignored the steward, seized the imperial edict, and stormed toward Songhe Hall without even removing his heavy armor, radiating a murderous chill with every stride.
…
Inside Songhe Hall, tendrils of sandalwood incense curled through the air.
Old Madam Huo sat with her eyes closed, prayer beads sliding through her fingers, while Liu Ruyan obediently massaged her legs beside her.
Bang!
Huo Xiao kicked open the heavy doors. Both panels smashed against the walls with a deafening crash that set everyone’s teeth on edge.
The maids and matrons filling the room shrieked and huddled together in fright.
“Mother!”
Huo Xiao charged inside and slammed the imperial edict onto the tea table before Old Madam Huo. The impact overturned a teacup, spilling tea across the floor.
“What is the meaning of this?! Why did you recommend Yingyue?! You knew full well you were sending her into a living hell! Why would you drive her to her death?!”
Old Madam Huo slowly opened her eyes. The sight of her son standing before her with bloodshot eyes, looking ready to devour someone alive, made guilt flicker in her heart. Outwardly, however, she forced herself to maintain a mother’s authority.
“How dare you!
“Who do you think you’re speaking to? I am your mother!
“The imperial edict has already been issued. This is a favor from the Emperor and an honor for the Huo Family! How can you call it driving her to her death?”
“Honor? What kind of honor is there in becoming wet nurse to the Ninth Prince, who has brought death to countless people?!”
Huo Xiao trembled with rage as he pointed at the imperial edict and roared, “She only just lost her child! She hasn’t even fully recovered! Sending her into the palace is the same as sending her to die!
“Mother, it was bad enough that you constantly made things difficult for her, but now you’re trying to have someone else kill her for you?!”
“That’s right! I do want her gone!”
Seeing her son defy her so brazenly for the sake of a woman stoked Old Madam Huo’s anger as well. She shot to her feet and struck her cane hard against the floor.
“Xiao’er, open your eyes and look around! Has our family known a single peaceful day since that harbinger of doom entered this manor?
“She brought ruin upon her husband and daughter, and she even set fire to the house!
“If we keep such a scourge by our side, sooner or later she’ll bring ruin upon you, me, and our entire family!
“Now that the Emperor happens to be searching for someone with a resilient fate, sending her away allows us to fulfill our duty of loyalty to the throne while restoring peace to this household. What have I done wrong?!”
“She’s my woman!”
Huo Xiao finally snapped. The veins in his neck bulged as he let out a deafening roar.
“I don’t care whether she’s a jinx or how formidable her destiny is!
“She’s my woman, Huo Xiao’s woman! A woman I’ve slept with!
“I want to keep her by my side. I want to protect her!
“And now you’ve sold her off behind my back! What does that do to my dignity? What am I supposed to do with the guilt I already feel toward her?!”
“Your woman?”
Old Madam Huo trembled with rage. Pointing a finger at Huo Xiao’s nose, she berated him.
“She’s nothing but a lowly wet nurse, a kept mistress! It was one thing to toy with her, but don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for her!
“For a thing like that, you would defy an imperial edict? You would anger your own mother to death?
“Fine… Very well!”
Old Madam Huo suddenly shoved Liu Ruyan away and broke free of her support. Tears streamed down her aged face as she charged toward the mahogany pillar in the center of the hall.
“If you’re willing to cast aside loyalty and filial duty for some seductress, if you don’t even care about the lives of this entire family, then what reason do I have to keep living?
“I might as well dash my head against this pillar and die! I’ll go apologize to your father in the afterlife and tell him that the Huo Family produced an unfilial son who abandoned his own mother for a woman!”
“Aunt, don’t!”
Liu Ruyan shrieked and threw herself forward, wrapping both arms tightly around Old Madam Huo’s waist. Tears streamed down her face.
“Cousin, just give in! Are you trying to drive Aunt to her death?!”
At the sight before him, Huo Xiao froze midstep. He had been about to go to the palace and ask that the imperial edict be rescinded, but now his feet were rooted firmly to the spot.
He looked at his wailing mother, at the roomful of servants kneeling and pleading, and then at the dazzling scroll of the imperial edict.
In the face of the two great mountains of filial duty and imperial authority, even his towering rage was ultimately forced to bow.
He was the Grand General.
He could not defy the imperial edict. Doing so would condemn his entire household to execution.
He was also a son.
He could not stand by and watch his mother truly dash herself to death before his eyes.
“Aaargh!”
Huo Xiao threw his head back with an anguished roar. He abruptly drew the sword at his waist and brought it down hard on the rosewood table beside him.
Crack!
The sturdy wooden table instantly shattered, sending splinters flying.
“Fine… Fine!”
Huo Xiao threw down his sword. As though every last ounce of strength had been drained from him, he staggered two steps back.
He looked at his mother, his eyes filled with disappointment and exhaustion.
“Mother, you win.
“You threatened me with your life, and you won.
“Send her away, then.”
With that, Huo Xiao turned to leave.
But when he reached the doorway, he paused. Without looking back, he spoke in a voice as cold as shards of ice.
“But remember this.
“Today, you severed the last shred of affection I had for this family with your own hands.
“From now on… I’m afraid your son won’t be visiting Songhe Hall very often.”
Huo Xiao strode away, his retreating figure desolate yet resolute.
Inside Songhe Hall, Old Madam Huo went limp and collapsed into a chair. She had won, yet an inexplicable chill welled up in her heart.
Liu Ruyan lowered her head and pretended to wipe away her tears, concealing the triumphant ecstasy curling at the corners of her lips.
She had won.
That wretched woman was finally going to disappear!
…
Tingfeng Courtyard.
Shen Yingyue still knew nothing of what had happened outside.
Then the door was pushed open, and Huo Xiao walked in, reeking of alcohol, his eyes bloodshot.
He gazed at Shen Yingyue, who was seated beside the bed, with an indescribably complicated look in his eyes. There was reluctance and guilt, but above all, there was the helpless resignation of a man who had accepted defeat.
“Yingyue.”
He walked over and slowly crouched before her. For the first time, he looked up at her from below, his voice hoarse.
“Pack your things.”
Shen Yingyue raised her eyes slightly and regarded him calmly.
Huo Xiao closed his eyes for a moment before forcing out the words.
“An imperial edict arrived from the palace.
“The Emperor… wants you to enter the palace.”
