Where the Mask Ends - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Lu Zhuo felt utterly powerless.

He seemed to have had a long dream. In the dream, everything was pitch black, and his consciousness felt like a pool of stagnant water. Sometimes he could hear faint sounds, yet he could not distinguish their meaning before everything quickly returned to deathly silence.

Only now, as he opened his eyes and saw the first flicker of light, did Lu Zhuo suddenly remember who he was. He remembered being injured on the battlefield and returning home.

But this was not his bed; his bed would never be covered in such vibrant, gaudy red.

Lu Zhuo wanted to turn over, but his body no longer seemed to belong to him. Let alone turning over, he could not even make a sound.

There was rhythmic, long breathing behind him, which indicated that besides him, there was someone else on the bed.

Lu Zhuo looked once more at the red wedding quilt before him.

When he returned to the capital, the wedding was only half a month away. Could it be that he had been in a coma the whole time, and the wedding had proceeded as scheduled?

This was the only explanation Lu Zhuo could think of.

Although his body was weak, his mind became increasingly clear.

In other words, the person behind him was his newly wedded wife, the Sixth Miss Xie, whose given name was Hualou.

Lu Zhuo felt deeply ashamed. For her to enter the household in such a manner—it was simply too unfair to her.

Feeling an almost numbing powerlessness, yet having an urgent need to relieve himself, Lu Zhuo remained calm for a moment, attempting to twitch his fingers. This tiny action was incredibly difficult for him. His right index finger finally moved, but when it tapped against the soft bedding, it made no sound at all.

Lu Zhuo’s gaze shifted toward the wooden bed frame on the inside.

His fingers were reasonably close to the board.

The night was silent, and Wei Rao was suddenly startled awake by a rhythmic tapping sound against the bed. Very light, very faint knocking came from behind her, as if someone were gently tapping on the wood.

As bold as Wei Rao was, the hairs all over her body stood on end. Fortunately, the room was bright enough, and the various festive reds diluted that lingering, ghostly chill.

Wei Rao remained motionless for the moment. Soon, besides the tapping, she distinguished a ragged sound, like someone breathing with their mouth agape.

This sound made her feel even more terrified.

Wei Rao jumped off the bed abruptly. The moment her feet hit the floor, she turned back into a defensive stance. However, apart from Lu Zhuo lying with his back to her, there was nothing unclean on the bed.

Her heart hammered wildly, and her breathing was as rapid as if she had just finished a horse race.

Lu Zhuo could not see her, but he could hear her. He could tell she was frightened; Lu Zhuo even assumed she would run away or scream, yet the footsteps actually stopped.

Was she observing him?

Lu Zhuo tapped three more times.

Wei Rao finally noticed the hand half-exposed outside the quilt. What a hand it was—the five fingers were slender, deathly pale, and, due to extreme emaciation, looked like chicken claws that had been soaked in water for too long.

"Young Heir, are you awake?" Wei Rao slowly approached the bed, leaning in to look at his face, only to find that the man indeed had his eyes open. Those long, black eyelashes might have been the only thing about Lu Zhuo that hadn't changed; even his hair, after more than ten days in a coma, had become like withered grass, devoid of luster.

Lu Zhuo could not see her face and could only hear her voice. It seemed somewhat familiar, though young girls' voices were all generally this sweet and soft.

Just as Lu Zhuo was waiting for her to turn him over, she ran off, happily shouting, "The Young Heir is awake!"

Lu Zhuo’s brows locked in a frown, but he could only endure it bitterly.

Nanny Miao was the first to rush in. Upon confirming with her own eyes that the Young Heir was awake, the first thing she thought of was to send people to notify the Duke, the Old Madame, and the various branches of the Lu family. The second was to have someone invite the imperial physician staying in the guest courtyard.

Wei Rao had already arranged for the young maids to do these things. Nanny Miao’s eyes filled with tears. After the excitement, she remembered the most important thing. While sobbing with joy, she slowly adjusted Lu Zhuo into a position lying on his side facing out. "The Young Heir has finally woken up! You have been in a coma for eleven days. Don't worry, Young Heir, the imperial physician will be here soon!"

Lu Zhuo did not look at the woman standing behind Nanny Miao; instead, he stared at Nanny Miao’s lips as they moved.

Seeing this, Nanny Miao tilted her head and leaned in close.

Lu Zhuo said, "A-Gui," referring to the manservant who attended to his daily needs.

Nanny Miao realized what he meant and said kindly, "Does the Young Heir need to relieve himself? Your back injury is severe, and you cannot move right now. I will go get the vessel..."

"A-Gui." Lu Zhuo’s gaze suddenly turned sharp, and his voice was a bit louder than before.

Nanny Miao’s old face flushed with embarrassment. It was her fault; the Young Heir was a person of such high status. It was one thing not to know while he was in a coma, but now that he was awake, how could he let an old woman like her serve him?

"Yes, yes, yes, this old servant will go call A-Gui right now." Nanny Miao hurried away, temporarily forgetting that there was still another person in the room.

Once Nanny Miao left, Lu Zhuo’s view was unobstructed. Another figure in a red dress jumped into his field of vision. Lu Zhuo slowly looked up and saw a beauty with dark hair cascading like a waterfall. Her beautiful face was devoid of any makeup; she had dark brows, phoenix eyes, fair, luminous skin, and a sweet, cherry-like mouth.

She was also looking at him, appearing somewhat nervous.

Lu Zhuo did not recognize Wei Rao.

He had only seen Wei Rao three times. Twice, Wei Rao had been dressed in men’s clothing. During the palace banquet, although she was in women’s attire, she had deliberately painted herself to look gentle and demure.

A woman’s hairstyle accounted for half of her appearance; changes in hairstyles could create different types of beauty or ugliness. Once let down, it was even harder to recognize for someone who wasn't familiar with her. Furthermore, Lu Zhuo had just awakened from a serious illness, and moreover, he had already concluded that the woman beside him was his fiancée, Xie Hualou.

Unable to speak, Lu Zhuo nodded with difficulty toward his newly wedded wife by the bedside.

Wei Rao suspected that Lu Zhuo did not recognize her.

Just as she wanted to explain the luck-changing ritual, Liuya ran in quickly and said anxiously to Wei Rao, "Miss, A-Gui is here. Shouldn't you tidy yourself up?"

Everyone had been in a panic just a moment ago, but now that A-Gui was here, the Duke of Ying and the others who lived further away would soon swarm in. It wouldn't be proper for their Miss to be in such a disheveled state.

Upon hearing this, Wei Rao immediately slipped into the western side room. Liuya let Bitao keep watch here while she grabbed the hair-styling tools to serve her mistress.

While Wei Rao was changing in the west room, she heard a loud wailing coming from the east room; it must have been Lu Zhuo’s manservant, A-Gui.

Wei Rao looked at Liuya before her. If something were to happen to her, would Liuya cry even harder?

Half a quarter of an hour later, Wei Rao walked out of the west room. She had changed into casual attire and wore a simple, proper hairstyle; at such a critical moment, it was not appropriate to be overly adorned.

After A-Gui finished serving the Young Heir, he had been sent away by Nanny Miao. After all, this was the bridal chamber, and A-Gui had no reason to linger.

Before Wei Rao could see Lu Zhuo, the Duke of Ying and the others arrived in a flurry. Wei Rao hurriedly went to greet them.

No one paid any attention to her. From the Duke and Duchess to Lu Zhuo’s youngest cousin, Lu Che, every member of the Lu family had only Lu Zhuo in their hearts, and all wanted to see their awakened relative as quickly as possible.

Wei Rao understood, so she silently walked at the very end, leaving the space by the bed for the Lu family and the imperial physician who had been keeping watch at the mansion.

The group let the imperial physician examine Lu Zhuo first.

There wasn't much to see. Lu Zhuo had a severe injury on his back, and his vitality had been greatly damaged by the coma. Because of the coma, Lu Zhuo had been unable to eat and could only rely on nutritional soups to sustain his life. Recovery in such a situation was much slower, and the wound had deteriorated the longer it was left untreated. Now that Lu Zhuo was awake, all the imperial physician could do was continue to observe. As long as Lu Zhuo did not lapse back into a coma and cooperated with his diet and medicine, the wound would slowly heal, and his lost vitality would gradually be restored.

"I will go write a prescription for medicinal porridge first. The Young Heir hasn't eaten for too long. Starting now, he must eat small, frequent meals, increasing them bit by bit."

After soothing the Lu clan, the imperial physician took his leave.

Lu Zhuo managed to drink a little water, but he remained in a state where he could only stare dry-eyed and unable to speak. His gaze swept over his relatives by the bed one by one. Everyone had grown thin, and everyone had red-rimmed eyes or tears, including his most dignified and stern grandfather, the Duke of Ying.

Lu Zhuo smiled slightly, silently telling his family that he had awakened and was fine.

His mother, Madame He, was the happiest and cried the hardest.

The Duchess of Ying swept her gaze around and spotted Wei Rao at the side of the screen. The young bride was quiet, neither vying for credit nor looking aggrieved. When their eyes met, she even smiled at the Duchess.

The Duchess of Ying had passed the peak of her initial ecstasy. Remembering that this was the young couple’s bridal chamber, the Duchess immediately arranged for her husband and the other three branches of sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren to return and rest first, saying that any words could wait until tomorrow.

Finally, only the Duchess of Ying and Madame He remained by the bed, one sitting by Lu Zhuo’s side and the other standing and wiping away tears.

The Duchess of Ying recalled the fourth condition mentioned by Old Madame Wei. To be cautious, she asked Wei Rao to first help Madame He to the side room to wash her face.

Wei Rao thoughtfully helped Madame He away, and Nanny Miao, Bitao, and Liuya followed.

Only then did the Duchess of Ying lower her head, touching her eldest grandson’s painfully thin face, and said, "Shoucheng, you were in a continuous coma for eight days without waking. The imperial physicians were at their wit’s end. Your grandmother truly had no other way, so I thought of discussing it with the Xie family to see if we could move the wedding date up a few days, letting the Sixth Miss marry in to perform the luck-changing ritual for you."

Lu Zhuo nodded; he had guessed as much.

The Duchess’s face, however, revealed a trace of faint irony. "Yet, fate plays tricks on people. Grandmother liked the Sixth Miss and thought you two were a match made in heaven. I never expected that while you were urgently waiting for a new bride to enter the household for the ritual, Old Grand Tutor Xie would exhaust his lifespan and ascend to heaven on the very night before we were to go and discuss it."

Lu Zhuo looked at his grandmother in astonishment. Since Old Grand Tutor Xie had passed away, how could the ritual continue? Was he truly indebted to his wife by this much?

The Duchess gripped her eldest grandson’s bony hand and continued, "The Xie family said that the Old Grand Tutor cherished the Sixth Miss the most while he was alive; if the Sixth Miss were to marry during the period of intense mourning, that would be unfilial. This was only proper, so Grandmother respected their wishes and took the initiative to call off the marriage. It was called off in the morning, and by the afternoon, your grandfather and I went to the Cheng’an Earl’s Mansion to propose to the Fourth Miss, Wei Rao. Why Rao Rao? Because Grandmother could not bear to wrong you. Rao Rao is more beautiful than the Sixth Miss Xie, and her character..."

As the Duchess looked at her eldest grandson, she praised Wei Rao. In addition to the reasons why she had taken a fancy to Wei Rao, she specifically mentioned Wei Rao’s kindness and righteousness—namely, the first two conditions Wei Rao had proposed: that if the luck-changing ritual failed, she would not ask for any betrothal gifts and would even be willing to remain a widow for Lu Zhuo for five years.

The Duchess said this not because she was happy her family had taken advantage of Wei Rao, but because she wanted Lu Zhuo to know what a good girl Wei Rao was, reminding her grandson not to dislike her because of outside gossip and truly refuse to be a real couple with her.

Lu Zhuo listened with a blank expression.

His body was weak, but his mind was very clear.

Wei Rao’s mother, the Noble Consort Li, and Wei Rao’s father, the Second Master Wei, had once been a loving couple. Even after the Second Master’s death, the Noble Consort had only remained a widow for three years. He and Wei Rao had no feelings for each other, only a slight rift. Would a woman as wild and untamed as Wei Rao be willing to perform a luck-changing ritual for him out of sympathy or gratitude for his defending the border?

Lu Zhuo did not believe it.

This luck-changing ritual would certainly bring Wei Rao some benefit.

Firstly, those two conditions could improve Wei Rao’s reputation; otherwise, whether she had married in happily or rejected his grandmother’s proposal, it would have added insult to her reputation. Of course, this was trouble caused to Wei Rao by his family’s proposal, and it was human nature for Wei Rao to find a way to minimize the loss to the Cheng’an Earl’s Mansion; Lu Zhuo would not be picky about that.

What he cared about was the five-year mourning period that Wei Rao had taken the initiative to propose.

To earn a good name, three years of mourning would have been enough. Why did Wei Rao ask for five?

The kitchen sent over the medicinal porridge—a shallow bowl’s worth.

The Duchess personally fed Lu Zhuo. While he was drinking, Wei Rao and Madame He returned.

Madame He stared unblinkingly at her son as he drank his medicine and spoke some happy words for a while. Remembering Wei Rao, she took her hand and said to Lu Zhuo, "Shoucheng, you were only able to wake up because Rao Rao brought good fortune to you. In the future, you must be sure to thank Rao Rao well."

Lu Zhuo looked at Wei Rao.

In front of the two elders, Wei Rao said modestly, "The Young Heir is a fortunate person and has the protection of Heaven; he would have awakened anyway. It has nothing to do with me."

The Duchess and Madame He refuted her simultaneously, both attributing the credit to Wei Rao.

Wei Rao had no choice but to lower her head in a shy manner.

Seeing this, Lu Zhuo only wanted to sneer coldly.

Luck-changing to save a life—he had never believed in such absurd claims, and he wouldn't believe in them in the future either.

The reason he could wake up was because his fate was not yet ended; it had nothing to do with Wei Rao or any other girl willing to perform the ritual for him.