Chapter 309: Husband and Wife Turn Against Each Other

Chapter 309: Husband and Wife at Odds

"That’s a stupid idea," Gu Huai said coldly.

With that, Gu Huai walked off.

Bu Yan sneered, mimicking: *That’s a stupid idea~*

Yongning Marquis’s estate.

Main courtyard.

All servants barred from entering. The courtyard gate was tightly shut.

The Yongning Marquis's eyes were bloodshot with rage, fury seething inside him as his hands clamped around the Yongning Marquess’s wife's throat like a vise, the pressure steadily increasing as if to suffocate her beneath his grip.

*Framing innocents for glory!*

*How dare you!*

The Marquess’s wife's eyes bulged as she struggled wildly, slapping at the Marquis's hands, her face turning purple.

Only when her struggles began to weaken did the Yongning Marquis abruptly release her.

She crumpled to the floor, gasping for air, her face contorted with terror.

Her own husband—had tried to kill her.

"Divorce or a grave. Pick one," the Yongning Marquis said coldly, staring down at his wife.

The Marquess’s wife shrank in guilt.

She had no idea how much her husband had uncovered.

The Marquis stormed back into the main courtyard, dismissed all the servants, and without a word, struck her hard across the face before seizing her throat, nearly choking her to death.

Shrinking back, the Marquess’s wife clutched her burning, aching neck, her voice hoarse. "M-My lord…"

"Twenty years as husband and wife..."

"Did you think of those twenty years when you used the Yongning Marquis’s estate's name to arrange loan-sharking? Or when you let your nephew get away with murdering civilians to fake military honors?" The Marquis's voice dripped with disgust and ice.

"Have I ever mistreated your family?"

"Now, you either face divorce or death."

"The centuries-old noble house of Yongning cannot be dragged down by your family's crimes."

Her eyes bulged, torn between fury and terror.

"Ming Hua and Minghui cannot have a mother who was divorced and disgraced."

"My lord, after all our years together, give me a chance to make it right!"

The Yongning Marquis remained unmoved. "They cannot have a disgraced mother, but they can have one who died of a sudden illness."

"I will explain things to Ming Hua myself."

"As for Minghui—if you truly cannot bear to part with her, I’ll send her to join you."

The Marchioness of Yongning's pupils contracted as she knelt at the Marquis's feet, clutching his outer robe. "My lord, your wife truly knows her wrongs now."

"The matter of killing civilians to claim military honors was handled cleanly—no outsiders knew about it, and it won't implicate the Marquis's household."

"My lord, spare me just this once."

The Marquis of Yongning let out a furious laugh.

He had spent half his life scheming for small advantages, yet never dared to kill civilians for military honors.

He was the Marquis of Yongning, with plenty of chances to earn merit by quelling civil unrest during disaster relief and aiding the poor.

He didn’t dare.

But his wife did!

"No outsiders knew about it?"

"Then how did I come to know of it?"

The Marchioness stammered, "Nanny Wang came with my dowry, trusted and relied upon by me, which is why she learned of these matters."

She already knew Nanny Wang had dashed her head against a wall to her death—and before her death, she had met with the Marquis's men.

"No, not just Nanny Wang."

"I can't protect you anymore." The Marquis mercilessly pushed the Marchioness away.

Just as Lu Mingchao had said, if she knew, others naturally could too.

"If you wish to avoid being divorced or meeting a sudden end, there is one other path."

"Write a formal accusation, sound the grievance drum before the palace gates, and personally expose your family's crimes."

"Then, they die, and you live."

"I give you the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Consider your choice carefully."

The Marchioness collapsed to the floor.

A married woman denouncing the family that bore and raised her—could she still call herself human?

Suddenly, she thought of Lu Minghui, in secluded meditation at Chengchan Temple, and hastily pleaded, "My lord, believe me just this once—the Marquis’s household will surely rise to unprecedented glory."

"Minghui—Minghui can foresee the future."

The Marchioness clutched desperately at her last lifeline, her reason deserting her, no longer weighing pros and cons, acting on pure survival instinct.

The Marquis stood frozen.

Madness! She's truly mad!

"My lord, it’s true."

"I can prove it."

"On the night of the fire at Lanxi Courtyard, Minghui predicted that in mid-May this year, Wanxing and Beiba counties under Yicheng’s jurisdiction would suffer unrelenting heavy rains for half a month, leading to catastrophic flooding, followed by an outbreak of plague. Wanxing County would be especially severe, with rampant disease leaving nine houses empty out of ten."

"Before the heavy rain arrived, from late spring onward, not a single drop of rain fell in Wanxing and Beiba counties, leaving the earth cracked and crops shriveled."

"I sent my nephew from my maiden family to Wanxing and Beiba, and just as Minghui predicted, not a drop of rain fell."

"My Lord, Minghui's gift for foreseeing the future can outweigh her thousand faults."

"If she says the Marquis's household will rise to great glory and honor, then it surely will."

The Yongning Marquis stared at The Marchioness with a look reserved for the insane, sneering as he asked, "Predict the future, is that it?"

"If she truly could predict the future, why didn’t she foresee Gu Huai breaking off the engagement, the Emperor’s censure of the Marquis’s household, or her own impending disgrace?"

"So, was it her so-called foresight that deceived you into sending her to the palace as an imperial concubine, or was it your own greed that drove you to persuade her to withdraw from the marriage?"

The Marchioness’s heart skipped a beat.

How did the Marquis know?

That night, she had already sent Nanny Wang out of the Marquis’s household.

"Having a mistress like you in Yongning Marquis’s household is a disaster waiting to happen!"

The Yongning Marquis did not believe in the so-called ability to foresee the future.

Someone who could predict the future should be living in prosperity, not mired in disgrace like Lu Minghui.

"You need not hold onto the hope of sending Lu Minghui into the palace as an imperial concubine any longer."

"I have already ordered Dai Liang to ride swiftly to Chengchan Temple to deliver her a bowl of medicine that will scar her face, ruin her health, and make her barren."

"By my calculations, Dai Liang should be returning soon."

"I would rather raise a good-for-nothing daughter than a scandal-maker."

"Without beauty or the ability to bear children, she will never enter the palace in this lifetime."

The Yongning Marquis had come to understand.

Someone as foolish and vicious as Lu Minghui was only fit to be raised in an isolated, desolate backwater.

"Minghui is your own daughter."

"How could you commit such a cruel act?"

The Marchioness’s voice trembled as she questioned him, though it sounded more like empty bluster.

"Yes, she is my own daughter."

"That is why, when she was acknowledged into the family, I cast Chaochao out."

"That is why, even when she had servants beaten to death, I still sought prospects for her."

"But I am not just her father—I am the Yongning Marquis. For the continuation of our noble house, anyone can be sacrificed."

"Do you think I was never full of noble pride in my younger days?"

"If I can break even my own will, what is a daughter who brings only disgrace?"

"You must see how determined I am."

"One incense stick's worth of time."

"You only have one incense stick's worth of time."

Just then, a rapid knocking sounded at the door.

"Marquis, it's me."

The Yongning Marquis's brow furrowed. "Dai Liang is back."

The door opened, and Dai Liang dropped to his knees with a thud. "Marquis, your daughter has been abducted."

Lu Minghui has lost her mind.