Oops! The Black Lotus Can’t Be a Female Supporting Character

CHAPTER 64

Kneeling on the ground, Xiao Luanfei’s face turned deathly pale. She raised her head, staring at Madam She in disbelief.

It felt as though something had exploded inside her skull, leaving only a ringing buzz. Terror, shock, confusion, and fury tangled together in a storm of emotions.

Why?

Why had it come to this?

She had calculated every step, every move. How could the situation have spun so far out of her control?

Her appearance today had been no impulsive act.

From donating fifty thousand taels at Huangjue Temple to win fame, to arranging a poetry gathering at the nearby Qingquan Teahouse so the scholars could be led here at the right time—every detail had been part of her careful design.

In recent days, her reputation among the literati had soared. They believed in her, admired her.

Today, all she needed was to kneel here, and the game would be won.

No matter how Xiao Yanfei argued, no one would believe her.

Everything had been unfolding exactly as she wished. The scholars were firmly on her side.

She was the one destined to claim the people’s hearts.

Her eyes widened, blade-sharp, as she glared at Madam She.

Just one more step…

All it would have taken was a few more tears, perhaps a desperate dash against the stone lion at the gate. Then, with the scholars’ righteous indignation pouring down, Xiao Yanfei would be condemned beyond defense.

Everyone would think her sly, a schemer who had turned even her own mother against her.

For the sake of Xiao Yanfei’s reputation, Madam Yin would be forced to yield—forced to take her back into the marquis’s household.

But why—why had Madam She chosen this moment, of all times, to leap out and ruin everything?

It shouldn’t have been like this!

Xiao Luanfei felt the blood in her veins turn to ice. The blow was so sudden, her mind couldn’t keep pace.

The alley fell into uneasy silence as all eyes swung toward Madam She. Even Madam Yin turned, startled, to look at her.

“Xiao Luanfei!” Madam She’s voice cracked like a whip. “Do you really not know where those fifty thousand taels came from?”

“Wasn’t it wrung from my family’s master, extorted by your hand?!”

A derisive laugh followed. “Generous, were you? You squandered another man’s wealth to win yourself a reputation for virtue—enough to snare the Crown Prince himself! Such glory!”

“Fifty thousand taels, and you still come to my house to stir up trouble? What a greedy face you wear!”

“Or do you truly think we’re afraid of you?”

Each word struck harder than the last, Madam She’s voice ringing down the narrow lane until even the servants inside the gates stopped what they were doing, dumbstruck.

“You—what nonsense are you spouting, Aunt?!” Xiao Luanfei shouted, her voice hoarse with fury.

In her past life, it had been Madam She and her husband who poisoned Lord Yin and his wife, scheming to seize the Yin family fortune.

So why now—why now was Madam She standing up for Xiao Yanfei?!

Even if they had guessed that she was behind the letter that robbed them of fifty thousand taels, shouldn’t they have swallowed the humiliation in silence?

Weren’t they afraid that if she revealed the truth, the old patriarch would cast them out of the family altogether?

Had Madam She lost her mind?

Xiao Luanfei’s chest heaved. Veins throbbed faintly against her pale neck.

After pouring out her tirade, Madam She instinctively glanced back toward Zhu momo.

The old woman nodded in encouragement, even smiled.

Relief washed over Madam She. I did the right thing. Her heart steadied.

The words had already been spoken; there was no taking them back.

And Zhu momo was right. In this household, only the old master and madam mattered. Please them, and her children would have a secure future.

Even without the eldest son, as long as the old master acknowledged her son Yin Hao as heir, she and her children would remain safe in this grand estate.

She would never again live in fear that Yin Huan might one day strip it all away to favor some concubine’s child.

Never again—the way it had happened in that nightmare.

When the crowd heard Xiao Luanfei call her aunt, they quickly guessed that Madam She was indeed the Yin family’s daughter-in-law. Watching the two women accuse one another, they grew uncertain.

For the daughter-in-law of the Yin household to openly accuse a marquis’s legitimate daughter of extortion—wasn’t that too outrageous to be false?

Gradually, suspicion seeped in. Voices began to stir.

“Could what Madam Yin said… actually be true?”

“Hard to say.”

“I think she’s slandering Eldest Miss Xiao. If I had extorted fifty thousand taels, I wouldn’t part with a single coin, much less give it away.”

“Or maybe she only gave it away for the sake of her reputation.”

“…Who knows?”

The alley boiled with whispers, the crowd like water brought to a furious boil.

At last, Madam Yin recovered her wits. She turned to look at the girl beside her.

Xiao Yanfei slipped one finger from her sleeve—and silently wagged it.

Madam Yin immediately understood and exchanged a subtle nod with her daughter.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, her mood had shifted completely—serene now, calmly watching the storm unfold.

Xiao Luanfei, however, felt as if thorns were pricking her back. Her cheeks burned with humiliation.

She drew out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, then slowly rose from the ground, smoothing the wrinkles from her dress.

Lifting her gaze, she met Madam She’s eyes directly across the stone steps.

In just that short moment, Xiao Luanfei had forced her turbulent emotions back under control, regaining her composure.

“This fifty thousand taels were left to me by my grandfather before his death. I only managed to scrape together the rest by selling my jewelry,” she said, her expression sorrowful, biting her lip as crystalline tears welled in her eyes.

That fragile, pitiful look stirred sympathy in many of the onlookers. A few scholars even nodded to themselves, thinking: So that’s how it is.

Fixing her gaze firmly on Madam She, Xiao Luanfei spoke with deliberate slowness:

“My aunt insists that I extorted her and my uncle. Then I must ask—what exactly did I extort from you?”

Her eyes bore into Madam She from across the courtyard, unblinking, unyielding.

She was certain Madam She wouldn’t dare to speak the truth.

How could she ever reveal her husband Yin Huan’s sordid secrets before such a crowd?

They were nothing but clowns, a pair of ridiculous jesters.

Xiao Luanfei sneered inwardly, though her face remained the very picture of sorrowful innocence. She then turned her head slowly toward Xiao Yanfei, sighing as if hesitant to speak: “Second Sister, you’ve always been close with Aunt… did you know?”

The words were gentle, but they carried enough weight to set imaginations spinning.

“It must be that Second Miss Xiao is jealous of her elder sister, and so she tries to stir up trouble here,” declared a scholar in blue robes with arched brows and narrow eyes. He stepped boldly from the crowd, his heart full of pity for Xiao Luanfei, so unjustly maligned by her kin. “Second Miss, you’re but a young girl, yet you delight in—”

He had meant to say “strife,” but recalling how he himself had been rebuked by another young matron at the Royal Temple, he hastily corrected himself:

“—in throwing your household into discord!”

He spoke with an air of lofty detachment, as though he alone saw clearly while all others were drunk.

At this, Madam She strode down the stone steps and spat contemptuously at him: “Bah!”

“You’re the fool here, blinded by those fifty thousand taels!”

Turning then to Xiao Yanfei, her face softened with protective affection: “My niece has the kindest heart of all!”

Then, jabbing a finger at Xiao Luanfei, she snapped: “But you—you’ve always been petty and narrow-minded, unable to tolerate others, forever trying to bully her!”

Drawing a deep breath, she pressed on: “There’s no point in hiding it! My husband embezzled a sum of silver behind Father-in-law’s back and lost it all in gambling—five hundred thousand taels! The debt was too great to cover, so he falsified the accounts to keep it hidden.”

“This conniving girl somehow caught wind of it, and then she wrote us an anonymous letter demanding hush money. We were forced to sell off farmland and estates just to scrape together those fifty thousand taels.”

Madam She took a step closer, her voice like ice: “Shall I recite that letter for you?”

“Yin Huan, last year in midsummer, you misappropriated five hundred thousand taels of maritime trade silver, squandered it recklessly in the gambling houses of Jiangnan, and not only lost every coin but fell deep into debt. To hide it from Old Master Yin, you bribed Steward Wang, purchased shoddy porcelain and silks, and forged the ledgers.

I know everything.

Within three days, prepare fifty thousand taels in silver notes and bury them beneath the merit box behind Yongfu Temple. Fail, and bear the consequences.”

Madam She had read and reread that letter so many times that, though not word-perfect, she could recite the gist of it by heart.

“…” Xiao Luanfei’s hands trembled violently within her sleeves, her lips drained of all color, her dark eyes dulling to ashen gray.

She’s mad. Absolutely mad! To bare her family’s disgrace in public—she must be possessed!

Had reason not held her back, Xiao Luanfei would have slapped Madam She across the face then and there, if only to wake her from her frenzy.

Around them, the crowd erupted into a storm of gasps and murmurs.

“For Madam Yin to utter such a thing aloud… then nine times out of ten, it must be true.”

“Indeed. Otherwise, no matter how fond she is of her niece, she wouldn’t throw mud on her own husband.”

“To think! Miss Xiao, with such beauty—yet her character so vile!”

“Shameful. To extort her own uncle, then come weeping and kneeling here at her grandfather’s house—what sort of farce is this?”

Onlookers, ever eager for scandal, gossiped freely. Where once they had spoken of Xiao Luanfei with admiration, now their tones were laced with nothing but scorn and contempt.

Every word was like a knife driven into her flesh. Her body shook harder, as if she had fallen back into her previous life…

Back when she had been left with nothing.

Madam She spat again, this time at the scholars, her voice dripping with mockery:

“And you call yourselves men of learning!”

The faces of several flushed crimson. A short-bearded scholar in blue retorted angrily: “Perhaps you invented this slander to shield Second Miss Xiao!”

“Women are the most venomous of creatures. History is full of them—even killing their husbands when it suited them!”

“Exactly. Clearly she dares speak so boldly only because her husband isn’t here to defend himself. That’s why she spreads such wild lies!”

Madam She was nearly driven to madness. She forgot all of Zhu momo’s lessons in propriety and stomped her foot furiously, her cheeks blazing red.

Why should she bear this abuse, when the sinner was Yin Huan? Why should she, and her children after her, suffer retribution for his sins?

Lifting her chin high, she cried out: “When we gave Xiao Luanfei those fifty thousand taels, there were four notes of ten thousand each, one of five thousand, and five of one thousand!”

“The four ten-thousand notes came from Datong Bank; the five-thousand and the rest from Jiahe Bank!”

The more she spoke, the deeper the knife twisted in her heart.

The farmland and estates had been sold in haste, fetching barely seventy percent of their worth. That scraped together forty thousand taels; the remaining ten thousand came from Madam She’s years of hard-saved private funds. Those silver notes—she had pored over them every few days, taking them out to count again and again.

“Xiao Luanfei, let me tell you—never mind the banks they came from, I even remember how many creases each note bore,” Madam She said, eyes wide and blazing. “And one of those one-thousand-tael notes even bears a smudge of my rouge on the back, about the size of a fingernail.”

“Shall we go before Her Majesty the Empress and confront you there?”

Though her voice faltered at the end, Madam She forced herself to stand tall, face stern with borrowed strength. After all, everything she said was true.

“…” Xiao Luanfei could not speak, her eyes flickering dark and light.

When she had first received that bundle of notes, she had merely counted the sum, checked that they were genuine, and thought no more of it. Who would ever imagine someone could describe the folds on the notes themselves?

The young scholars were dumbstruck, their faces flushing red, paling, then turning green and purple in turn. Even those who had just denounced Xiao Yanfei and Madam She now looked shaken, their eyes shifting suspiciously to Xiao Luanfei.

The common folk watching the spectacle were all the more convinced of Madam She’s words. Voices rose in censure, the crowd boiling over.

Hearing the growing tide of support, Madam She’s eyes brightened. She lifted her chin with a victor’s pride.

“You paraded about with ill-gotten silver, pretending at charity,” she sneered. “Xiao Luanfei, have you no fear of dragging sin down upon those poor refugees?”

“Madam She!” Xiao Luanfei nearly lost her mind, teeth gritted, her frail facade shattering. She cried hoarsely, “How dare you slander me!”

Yes—she reminded herself—those notes had already been offered to the Empress, already used for disaster relief. Madam She’s words were baseless accusations.

She could deny everything. Insist she was being framed.

After all, Madam She was merely a merchant’s wife—what right had she to appear before the Empress?

“Is she slandering you?”

The sudden, rigid male voice swept over them like a chill autumn wind.

It was as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her. Xiao Luanfei froze, fists clenching inside her sleeves as she turned stiffly, slowly.

At the mouth of the alley, the crowd parted. Clad in a robe of lake-blue silk, the Crown Prince Tang Yueze strode forward, his expression taut with shock as his gaze fell upon her. His tall frame seemed uncharacteristically rigid.

“…” Xiao Luanfei almost believed she was trapped in a nightmare.

Why was the Crown Prince here? When had he arrived? How much had he seen—how much had he heard?

The thought alone made her tremble, as though a lofty tower in her heart were about to collapse. She was on the brink of ruin.

“Your Highness…” Instinctively she called to him, taking a step toward him.

But Tang Yueze recoiled as if stabbed, stepping back once—then again.

His eyes on her brimmed with emotions—shock, doubt, hesitation, estrangement… but above all—

Disbelief.

How could his Luan’er be such a person?

At that moment, Liang Zheng dismounted from the carriage, bowed deeply, and greeted him: “Your Highness, Crown Prince.”

The alley fell into deathly silence. Not a breath could be heard. The commoners gaped, struck dumb.

That noble youth—this was the Crown Prince himself?!

Tang Yueze paid them no heed, nor Liang Zheng. His gaze was fixed solely on Xiao Luanfei, his chest tightening.

After she had offered those fifty thousand taels at the Royal Temple, he had volunteered to take charge of the relief efforts for the refugees.

He knew how hard it must have been for her—selling her jewelry, her dowry—to gather such a sum. He wanted that silver to truly help the displaced, to accumulate virtue for her sake.

Once he received the commission, those silver notes had passed into his keeping. He could not bear to spend them. Instead, he secretly added another fifty thousand from his own purse, using that sum for the relief effort while keeping her notes untouched.

For days, he had been busy with the task, working tirelessly for her sake.

He had even kept those notes in his sachet, taking them out often to look upon. And on one particular note—the one-thousand-tael bill—there was indeed a bright red smudge of rouge.

He had always thought it was hers. Believed it to be her lip mark, accidentally left behind.

Now, glancing at Madam She’s broad, speckled face and dry, cracked lips, it was as if lightning struck him.

Last night, he had even pressed a secret kiss to that rouge print.

In this instant, nausea rose violently in his throat. He staggered back a third step.

“It’s not what it looks like…” Xiao Luanfei’s tear-washed eyes shone with heartbreaking clarity, her nose flushed pink, her fragile beauty more moving than ever. “Your Highness, please—let me explain…”

But Tang Yueze did not want to hear it.

“You need say no more.” His hoarse voice cut her off.

His Luan’er was supposed to be pure, kind, untainted. She loved him, he believed, for himself alone—not for his station.

But now, everything he had seen, everything he had heard, had shattered that faith. His world had collapsed in an instant.

Lifting a weary hand, he motioned for her to stop speaking. “I’ve seen ‘your’ silver notes.”

From his sleeve, he drew out a sapphire sachet embroidered with dragonflies and lotus blossoms, giving it a slight shake. “They’re all here.”

“Would you like to see them?”

He spoke the last words slowly, his gaze on Xiao Luanfei filled with such sorrow, such disappointment.

“……” Xiao Luanfei couldn’t move at all. Her throat burned as if seared by fire, no sound could come out.

She felt like a lone skiff tossed about in a storm—one more crashing wave and she would be utterly destroyed. Her limbs went numb with cold, the chill sinking into her very bones.

How could things have turned out like this?!

The Crown Prince wasn’t poor—why would he treasure a few banknotes so carefully, keeping them tucked away in the purse she had given him?

It shouldn’t be like this!

From the panic in her eyes, Tang Yueze had his answer. In his ears, it was as if something inside him had shattered.

So, those notes really were extorted from Yin Huan!

Tang Yueze could stay no longer—he couldn’t bear to face Xiao Luanfei again.

The woman before him felt like a stranger, as though he had never truly known her at all.

Was this still the same Luan’er he loved?

In that moment, Tang Yueze felt lost.

In a daze, he turned away, seized his horse’s reins, and mounted, hollow and broken.

“Your Highness—!”

As he moved to leave, Xiao Luanfei cried out desperately.

But the moment the sound left her lips, she realized her voice was hoarse, trembling beyond her control.

Tang Yueze looked back from the saddle with great effort, his eyes roiling with turbulent emotion.

Yet he quickly turned away, pressed his heels into the horse’s belly, and spurred it into a gallop.

Man and horse surged down the alley and were gone.

“Your Highness!” Xiao Luanfei tried to chase after him, but how could she ever outrun a horse? After only a few steps, his figure had vanished at the far end of the lane.

The onlookers closed ranks once more, sealing off the alley completely.

After a brief silence, the crowd erupted again, their voices rising in excited debate. The earlier dispute now had its answer.

The Crown Prince’s reaction, his words—taken together, it was as good as an admission: the fifty-thousand taels Xiao Luanfei had donated at Huangjue Temple were indeed tainted.

“So what Madam Yin said was true after all!”

“Silver extorted like that, donated away—does that still count as merit?”

“I heard Her Majesty the Empress even awarded her a plaque reading Virtuous and Refined for it!”

The crowd roared like waves in a stormy sea.

Xiao Luanfei’s face turned bloodless, her body trembling like a delicate flower battered by wind and rain. Cold sweat drenched the hair at her temples.

In the span of a single incense stick, she had plummeted from the heights of glory into a pit of darkness.

Xiao Yanfei, meanwhile, quietly enjoyed the scene, eyes sparkling as she watched the drama unfold—one twist after another, like some grand play. A famous saying came to her mind: Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

It was just too funny!

She bit down hard on her laughter, reminding herself over and over: I mustn’t break character. I’m supposed to be gentle and sweet!

Not broken. Not broken.

It was sheer torture to hold it in. She finally buried her flushed face against Madam Yin’s shoulder, and couldn’t resist whispering, “Mother, isn’t this entertaining?”

Her lips curved uncontrollably, dimples sinking deep.

Madam Yin: “……”

Madam Yin wrapped an arm around Xiao Yanfei’s shoulders, her expression complicated.

She knew Yin Huan had sold off their estates and farmland.

The Yin family was still a reputable house; when its holdings were suddenly sold, brokers and buyers alike naturally came to confirm, wary of servants secretly stealing contracts to sell property on the cheap. After all, such assets were worth a fortune—if trouble arose later and ended up in court, it would be a scandal.

But for Madam She to deal with Xiao Luanfei by publicly airing Yin Huan’s filthy secrets—wasn’t that like killing a thousand enemies while wounding herself eight hundred?

Clearly, Madam She wasn’t doing this for her own gain. The one who truly benefited was—

Madam Yin lowered her gaze thoughtfully to the little girl at her side, who had her head bowed, shoulders quivering as she tried to stifle her laughter.

This child! Madam Yin’s heart softened, melting like water. She couldn’t help but pat her daughter’s shoulder gently, again and again, as though soothing a baby.

The affectionate gesture drew the attention of many onlookers in the alley. To their eyes, it looked as if Xiao Yanfei had been moved to tears by grievance, and Madam Yin was comforting her.

Of course.

A young girl’s skin is thin—being scolded to her face before so many people, no wonder she felt wronged.

Madam She noticed too. Her first thought was: if the old master heard his niece was crying, he would be heartbroken.

In her ears, she seemed to hear Zhu momo’s earnest voice again: “Right now, the people the master and madam feel most guilty toward, the one they most wish to make amends to—is the young lady. Even the young mistress holds her dearest.”

“The young lady’s matters are the greatest matters of the Yin family.”

“The young lady treats her aunt with the utmost kindness. Madam, you must not forget her devotion, nor betray her heart.”

Zhu momo had spoken true—and now, at last, her chance had come!

She finally had a way to repay her niece!

Planting one hand on her hip, Madam She raised the other to point at the ashen-faced, distraught Xiao Luanfei, her voice sharp and domineering:

“Xiao Luanfei! You little bastard-born, you’ve no shame at all!”

“Our girl has yielded to you in everything—even gone so far as to retreat to her mother’s family—yet you still find fault?!”

“Do you mean to drive her to her death, just so you can take her place?”

“Dream on!!”

“No matter what, you’ll always be nothing but a wretched bastard born of a concubine!”

***