Chapter 43: Patricide Invites Divine Retribution

Duke De had already been in a foul mood after being schemed against and losing face earlier that day.

When he arrived at Xishou Palace and found the palace maids and eunuchs sprawled out asleep all over the place, his anger ignited even more.

“Get up!”

But as soon as his voice rang out, not a single person stirred.

Realizing something was wrong, he hurried to the nearest palace maid and yanked her up.

Seeing that she was unconscious, he checked a few others—and his face changed drastically.

He immediately rushed into the bedchamber. The main hall was barren, in complete disarray. The moment he took it all in, his vision went dark.

He’d been away from the palace for a short while, and someone had looted his home!

“Guards!”

The imperial guards stationed outside Xishou Palace rushed in upon hearing his shout.

“Grand Chamberlain, what are your orders?”

Duke De’s face was stormy as he barked, “Who’s been to Xishou Palace?”

“Since you left, no one’s come by.”

“If no one came, where the hell did all the stuff in my bedchamber go?”

With that, he strode straight to the study.

The guards followed to inspect the scene.

When they laid eyes on the bedchamber—even the floorboards were gone—they were dumbfounded.

“We failed in our duty. Please punish us, Grand Chamberlain.”

Even though they hadn’t been slacking off, a theft within the palace was still partly their fault.

Duke De ignored them and entered the study.

Not even a scrap of paper remained. He hurried into the treasury behind it.

A lifetime of wealth—gone!

His rage boiled over, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Search! Turn the palace upside down and find the thief!”

To steal from him was to court extermination of nine generations!

The guards felt his explosive fury and dropped to one knee.

“Yes, Grand Chamberlain!”

Duke De leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

Suddenly, he thought of his most prized possession stored in the bedchamber. His heart skipped a beat.

He scrambled onto the beam, only to find the spot where the red cloth had been—empty.

“My treasure…”

Before he could finish the sentence, his eyes rolled back, and he fell.

Ye Chutang watched from the shadows as the imperial guards caught Duke De just in time. She clicked her tongue and muttered, “What a pity,” before slipping back to Ningchu Courtyard.

She discovered all the gifts from the banquet guests and the prizes she’d won from poetry contests were gone.

Dan’er, Shuang’er, and Wangcai were nowhere to be seen.

“Heh, trying to kick down the donkey after it’s done plowing? Keep dreaming.”

Ye Chutang didn’t rush to confront Ye Jingchuan about the missing items and servants. She changed back into women’s clothes first.

Just as she finished changing, Ye Jingchuan arrived.

He had been there earlier, demanding, “Where did you sneak off to just now?”

Ye Chutang casually lied, “Went to see Ye Anling make a fool of herself.”

At that, Ye Jingchuan recalled the scene of his wife and daughter cozying up to Duke De.

His face turned greener than spring grass.

He felt secretly relieved that no one had caught Kong Ru climbing into Duke De’s bed. Otherwise, his whole life would’ve been a joke.

And the more he thought about how bringing Ye Chutang back not only failed to change Ye Anling’s situation but also cost them a fortune and turned the Ye family into a laughingstock—while offending Duke De in the process—he regretted it bitterly.

“You wicked girl! You—”

Ye Chutang wasn’t interested in a lecture. She cut him off impatiently.

“Where are the gifts from the guests and the prizes I won?”

Ye Jingchuan sneered, “You embarrassed the Ministry’s estate in front of everyone. The entire capital’s laughing at us. And you still have the face to ask for gifts and prizes?”

“Lord Ye, the one who should be ashamed is you—for going back on your word and plotting against me. I haven’t even asked you for compensation yet. You should be burning incense in thanks.”

Guilt flickered across his face. He quickly changed the subject.

“The carriage to send you back to the countryside estate is already waiting at the gates.”

He had to get this bringer of bad luck out of the house—fast.

Ye Chutang laughed from sheer anger. “So you schemed against me, stole my stuff, took my people, and now you’re throwing me out too?”

Facing her icy stare, Ye Jingchuan faltered a little and softened his tone.

“Chu’er, I’m not throwing you out. I’m sending you to the countryside to lay low for a while.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I lay low?”

“Everyone suspects you harmed Ling’er and plotted against Duke De. If you stay in the capital, you’ll be condemned and your life could be in danger.”

Ye Chutang looked at his half-hearted performance and let out a chuckle.

“No worries. If someone tries to stab me in the back, I’ll stab them twice as hard. If someone tries to kill me, I’ll snap their neck first.”

Ye Jingchuan: “…”

“I’m doing this for your own good—”

“Stop. You’ve only ever schemed against me. Don’t bother pretending. It’s disgusting.”

Ye Jingchuan’s face turned ugly from the shame.

“Three days of learning proper conduct and you learned nothing!”

“Conduct is for people, not for dogs.”

Before he could explode, she added coolly,

“I’ll go—but only if you return the gifts and prizes from that day, give me my mother’s dowry, and write me a letter severing all family ties.”

Ye Jingchuan looked pleased for two seconds before exploding with fury.

“We just held a return-home banquet for you, and now you want to cut ties? And what girl demands her dowry before marriage?”

Ye Chutang couldn’t be bothered to argue anymore. She pulled out a poison pill from her space and shoved it into his mouth.

“Congratulations. You’ve been poisoned with Duanchang Powder. Still want to send me away?”

Ye Jingchuan, who’d just been force-fed poison: “!!!”

“You wretched girl! You’ll die a horrible death!”

“You have three days to throw tantrums and find the antidote. Otherwise, your guts will rot and your intestines will burst.”

“There are plenty of top doctors in the capital!”

Ye Chutang saw through his tough act and smirked.

“Good luck. If you want the antidote, return my servants.”

“Killing your father will bring divine retribution!”

Ye Chutang grabbed him by the collar and whispered coldly into his ear,

“You murdered your wife and are still alive and well. What do I have to be afraid of?”

Ye Jingchuan froze like he’d fallen into an ice cave.

Panicked, he shoved her away. “What nonsense are you spouting?!”

“Why are you so nervous? I was just throwing out a wild guess based on something Kong Ru said. Or did I guess right?”

Ye Chutang hadn’t exposed him completely—yet. The time wasn’t right.

Ye Jingchuan snorted coldly. “Utter nonsense!”

Then he ran away.

Ye Chutang shouted after him, “You’ve got half an hour. If I don’t get my gifts and servants back, I’ll destroy the antidote!”

He didn’t respond—but not long after, the items and people were returned to Ningchu Courtyard.

The gifts and prizes were placed in her boudoir.

Dan’er, Shuang’er, and Wangcai had been beaten with twenty strokes each. Their backsides were raw and bloody—they couldn’t even stand.

Ye Chutang looked at their pitiful state and asked coldly, “Who gave the order?”

Shuang’er bit her lip, eyes filled with hatred. “It was Madam.”

She had served Madam loyally, never expecting such cruelty in return.

Ye Chutang took out high-grade wound medicine from her space and handed it to Dan’er and Wangcai.

“You two go back to the side room and rest. I’ll send someone to apply the medicine shortly.”

Dan’er, seeing Ye Chutang’s current difficult position, didn’t want to be a burden.

“Miss, Shuang’er and I can help each other.”

Wangcai added, “I can manage on my own.”

“No need to push yourselves. Just wait in the room.”

With that, Ye Chutang left Ningchu Courtyard.

On the way to Liuli Courtyard, she sent servants to tend to their wounds.

Once there, she kicked the courtyard gate wide open.

BANG!

The impact even shattered the doors to the main house.

Kong Ru had just been bathing and nearly jumped out of the tub in fright.

“Qiuhe, go see what’s happening!”

But before Qiuhe could get up, Ye Chutang barged into the bathing room with a feather duster.

She grabbed Kong Ru by the shoulders, dragged her out of the tub, and slammed her to the ground.

Then she whipped her savagely across the backside.

“Their contracts belong to me. You had no right to touch them. So those twenty strokes—they’re yours now!”

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

“AAAHHH!”

Kong Ru had been pampered her whole life. She’d never endured such brutal punishment.

Before Ye Chutang was even halfway through, Kong Ru passed out from the pain.