Chapter 310: Lu Minghui Goes Mad

Chapter 310: Lu Minghui Has Lost Her Mind

"I forced the medicine down as per your orders, my lord."

"The young mistress was in unbearable abdominal pain, so I had to go down the mountain to find a doctor for her. When I returned to Chengchan Temple, she had gone missing."

"Could she have left by herself?" Yongning Marquis frowned as he asked.

Dai Liang shook his head. "There were shattered cups in the chanting hall, and the young mistress's belongings were still there. It doesn't seem like she left voluntarily."

"I suspect she was taken."

"Chengchan Temple is quite a bustling place. To take the young mistress without anyone noticing would require highly skilled operatives, not mere ordinary thugs."

Yongning Marquis's face instantly turned deathly pale.

Had the crime of killing innocents to fake military achievements been exposed?

"Find her."

"I want her found—dead or alive."

"Go!" he said through gritted teeth.

Yongning Marquis roared.

Dai Liang obeyed and left at once.

Then, Yongning Marquis dragged Yongning Marquise by the arm, his tone urgent. "You no longer have the time it takes an incense stick to burn."

"The intentions of those who took Lu Minghui are unclear."

"What if they are targeting Yongning Marquis?"

"You must enter the palace immediately and sound the grievance drum. Admit only to the crime of loan-sharking, and deny all knowledge of the killing of innocents to fake military achievements. Keep it contained."

"As long as Yongning Marquisate stands tall, even if your maiden family is exiled, they may one day return to the capital. You should understand the deeper meaning here."

"Wait—there's also the matter of contract killing..."

"Did you leave any witnesses when you hired assassins during the New Year?"

Yongning Marquise's eyes darted nervously. "One escaped."

Yongning Marquis staggered, almost collapsing.

One escaped...

Such a major incident, and his wife had concealed it for three or four months.

"It's over."

"That person must be in someone's custody."

"We can't keep it contained anymore. If you take the blame alone, Ming Hua will remain the heir of Yongning Marquisate. But if the estate is implicated, we'll all be thrown into prison."

"My lord, perhaps that person has long since died out there," Yongning Marquise said cautiously.

Yongning Marquis said ominously, "Zhaozhao knows the whole truth."

Yongning Marquis Madam shrieked in shock, "How could you let Lu Mingchao read Nanny Wang's letter?"

Yongning Marquis said, "She didn't read it."

"She is not alone."

"Behind her stand His Highness Prince Duan, Yongming Grand Princess, and Censor Minghua, all supporting her. Even His Majesty and the Empress in the palace have shown her special favor."

"How do you think she found out?"

"Stop deceiving yourself."

"When you committed those sins, you should have foreseen the day of exposure."

"I am her mother!" Yongning Marquis Madam shrieked hysterically. "I raised her for fifteen years, providing the finest clothes and food, and countless servants."

"I will beg her."

"I will beg her."

Yongning Marquis looked desolate. "Yet you also pushed her to the brink, forcing her to attempt suicide by crashing into a wall."

"When she left the manor, you only gave her a hundred taels to get by on."

"No, that was the bride price for the countryside hunter Lu Minghui."

"At banquets across the capital, you and Lu Minghui tag-teamed to ruin her reputation."

"You also gouged out Nanny Wang's eyes, cut her tongue, and cut the tendons in her hands and feet."

"Did you spare even a shred of motherly affection when doing these things?"

"She will no longer acknowledge either of us."

"I regret it deeply."

"Madam, for the sake of the marquis' household, for our son Minghua, I beg you."

...

Here, Yongning Marquis was persuading Yongning Marquis Madam to take the fall for the marquis' household.

Meanwhile, Lu Mingchao also read Lu Minghui's confession.

It turned out that floods had caused disasters, followed by an epidemic. The imperial envoy ordered the city sealed, set on fire, with its people massacred.

A whole city's worth of people.

With proper prevention, it could have been avoided.

Lu Minghui's confession was nearly useless.

As she had anticipated, in that other life, Lu Minghui knew nothing about A Yan's true identity.

Moreover, Lu Minghui had hardly ever left Changxi Village.

Lu Minghui had not been recognized by her birth family as early as in this life. The servants of Lanxi Courtyard in Yongning Marquis's household hadn't met unjust deaths; Lu Minghua had not been tricked into wedding Qin Wanrou; Nanny Wang lived well, going with the original young mistress to the Duke's household, provided for in her later years.

Some people are born troublemakers.

She leaves chaos in her wake everywhere she goes.

"My Lady, what should we do with her?" Xu Xun asked.

Lu Mingchao frowned slightly and replied indifferently, "If she likes playing the lunatic and slaughtering people on a whim, then let her truly lose her mind—never to regain her senses."

"Additionally, send word discreetly about the impending events in Wanxing and Beiba counties."

"Do we have anyone in the Ministry of Works?"

Xu Xun answered, "Yes, Zhou Da, a clerk in the Ministry of Works."

Lu Mingchao pondered for a moment before speaking methodically, "Then tell him to stand ready."

"Within three days, I will find a way to arrange for Zhou Da to go to Yicheng to reinforce the embankments and dredge the canals, to curb flood damage."

"This feat alone could propel Zhou Da forward."

"At the same time, it will also give a fighting chance to the people of Wanxing and Beiba counties."

"As for post-flood relief, the Chaofu Trading branches in Yicheng’s counties will spare no effort to help."

"Use Lu Minghui’s madness to spread news of the impending torrential rains and floods in Wanxing and Beiba."

"If Lu Minghui, who was in secluded meditation at Chengchan Temple, suddenly goes mad and rants about calamities in those two counties—wouldn’t some assume this is divine retribution for leaking secrets of heaven, hence her madness?"

"Isn’t there a Master Xuanxi in Chengchan Temple, famed for his ‘all-seeing eyes that unravel all illusions and falsehoods in the world’?"

"You are who you associate with—those close to the master may be blessed with insight."

"The spectacle alone will spread like wildfire."

"With livelihoods at stake, some officials will listen."

"The Emperor himself wouldn’t risk ignoring it."

The more Chaofu Trading steps up now, the more the people will rally behind A Yan and Huaiqian when their true identities are revealed.

She is saving the people of Wanxing and Beiba.

And she is also smoothing the path for A Yan and Huaiqian.

Xu Xun agreed without hesitation, "It will be done."

Lu Mingchao said, "Then this matter is left to you."

Who could she use to elevate Zhou Da into the spotlight, making him the emperor’s choice?

The most straightforward would be the Minister or Deputy Minister of Works.

But they may not be willing to promote Zhou Da.

It’s a game of musical chairs—Zhou Da’s rise means someone’s fall.

Lu Mingchao thought of the illustrated manual on farming tools in her spatial supermarket.

Daqian’s lifeblood is agriculture.

Lu Mingchao’s mind raced with a scheme.

While Yongning Marquis was still earnestly persuading Yongning Marquis Madam, the apparently crazed Lu Minghui appeared on the busiest thoroughfare in the eastern part of the capital.

The street was lined with shops and bustling with people.

Lu Minghui shouted at the top of her lungs, "In mid-May, Wanxing and Beiba counties in Yicheng district were hit by half a month of continuous heavy rain, causing severe floods and disease outbreaks."

She repeated this over and over until her voice went hoarse and she collapsed, exhausted.

"Isn't that the eldest daughter of the Yongning Marquis' estate?"

"Yes, it's her. I've seen her at a flower-viewing banquet before."

"What's wrong with her...?"

"Did she reveal heaven's secrets?" someone subtly hinted.

"Could it be true about the floods and epidemics?"

By the time the Yongning Marquis' estate received the news, rumors had already spread uncontrollably.

The situation was spiraling out of control.