Chapter 26: Eek! Poked a nest of marketing hustlers! (2 / 2)

Xu Yanmiao instinctively opened the system interface.

[“Something feels off…”]

The moment this thought appeared, the Marquis of Kuaiji froze for a second. In the next moment, he picked up his pace, walking even faster.

Just as he was about to step out of the side hall’s doors, Xu Yanmiao’s mind flooded with shocked expressions conveyed through exclamation marks.

[“No way, no way, no way! A baby-switching scandal! This is actually a case of switching the dragon for a snake!”]

The old emperor, who was just stepping onto his sedan chair, staggered and almost fell off.

The head eunuch cried out, “Your Majesty!!!” and hurried to support him.

“There’s no need to help!” The old emperor leapt off the sedan chair and strode swiftly back into the hall. “I still have unfinished business!”

He was rushing back to watch the drama unfold!

Seeing the emperor return, all the officials naturally followed suit.

The Marquis of Kuaiji’s legs went weak, and he was dragged back into the hall by the imperial guards.

Xie Luoshui, still confused, observed the officials around her—some of them, inexplicably, even yanked off their own beards. What was going on here?

Unable to figure it out, she instinctively followed the crowd back inside.

Xu Yanmiao walked absentmindedly along with the group, his eyes glued to the system interface.

[“I knew something was off! If he really had a guilty conscience and admitted to his crimes so easily, he wouldn’t have resorted to imprisoning people in the first place.”]

[“But I never expected this—it’s a baby-switching scandal!”]

[“The current heir of the Marquis of Kuaiji isn’t even his biological son!”]

The revelation instantly energized the previously groggy officials, and their eyes now burned with curiosity.

They all wondered just how the heir wasn’t the Marquis’s son. Was it because the lady of the house had an affair and swapped her illegitimate child with the young miss of the family?

[“Nope, the child was swapped by the Marchioness herself! She brought in some random baby boy from outside. Let me check if the Marquis knew about it.”]

[“Whoa!!!”]

[“Oh my, the aristocratic circles are truly chaotic! And yes, he knew—he always knew! He’s infertile and only has this one child, so he turned a blind eye and accepted it!”]

The officials collectively sighed in disappointment.

Since the Marquis knew about it, it was likely that he had condoned the act. The possibility of an illegitimate child from an affair was thus ruled out.

The Minister of Revenue shook his head in regret. “The Marchioness was so foolish! Husband and wife are one unit—if the heir wasn’t of the husband’s bloodline, she should’ve at least ensured he had her bloodline. Why bring in an unrelated child to inherit the Marquisate? If it were just an affair, the Marquis, with his magnanimity, probably wouldn’t have minded such a trivial matter.”

He stomped his foot in frustration. “So foolish!”

The Marquis of Kuaiji fumed silently: Shut up!

The Marquis muttered inwardly: You’re all just enjoying the drama. Why don’t you have your wives give you an heir while they’re at it!

The old emperor immediately called for the chief eunuch. “Bring the heir of the Marquis of Kuaiji and his wife here!”

To watch the drama unfold. Teehee.

Before long, the two were brought into the hall.

During this interval, the officials had feasted on plenty of gossip.

It turned out that all the Marquis’s efforts to promote his son as a prodigy—like composing poetry at three and mastering prose at five—were staged, with someone preparing the works in advance for the boy to memorize.

The tale of the boy’s supposed hunting prowess—like the time he released a mystical black fox he had hunted, only for it to spin three times before leaping into his arms—was also fabricated. The fox had been caught ahead of time, starved for three days until it could barely move, and then released. Moreover, the boy had meat hidden in his robes to lure the fox back.

[“And that fox! Hahaha, that fox was—”]

Xu Yanmiao’s laughter was earth-shattering.

[“It was just a regular red fox dyed black with ink! Hahahaha!”]

[“Such shameless fakery—poor fox was almost drowned in a vat of ink.”]

The Marquis’s face turned crimson, as if he were being stripped naked and paraded in front of the entire court.

So what if it was fake?

At least I had the means to fake it!

Besides, achieving fame in the scholarly world can’t simply be dismissed as mere fakery!

Xu Yanmiao found another piece of deception and burst out laughing: [“Hahahahaha!”]

The Marquis: …Can you stop laughing already?!

Xu Yanmiao unearthed yet another fabrication and laughed even harder: [“Hahahaha!”]

The Marquis: …Will this ever end? Seriously, will it ever end?!@@novelbin@@

Xu Yanmiao continued: [“Hahaha! Turns out the Marquis of Kuaiji’s reputation as the most refined and handsome man of his generation was built on similar fakery! No wonder he’s so skilled at creating a persona for his fake son—it’s a family tradition! Hahaha!”]

All the officials in the hall were red-faced from holding in their laughter, while Xu Yanmiao’s unabashed cackles echoed throughout the chamber.

Suddenly, Xu Yanmiao’s laughter stopped abruptly.

The Marquis felt a chill run down his spine. Guided by some instinct, he turned toward the hall’s entrance and saw his wife and the supposed heir being escorted in by the imperial guards.

It’s over.

The Marquis thought despairingly.

Xu Yanmiao let out an excited [“Oh wow!”]

[“I’m actually witnessing this drama live!”]

[“Looks like the old emperor’s guards have been investigating the Marquis’s household for some time now.”]

[“Now I get it! The earlier dismissal of the court must’ve been staged to prevent the Marquis from pulling any desperate moves!”]

[“The guards must have found evidence proving that Xie Luoshui is actually the true young miss of the Marquis’s household!”]

The Marquis closed his eyes in agony.

This time, it was truly over.