Chapter 107
Chapter 107: Prince Yong’s Thanks
Luo Ning drew quite a lot out of Cui Zheng Lan.
Cui Zheng Lan did not like talking in circles. As soon as Luo Ning casually asked a few questions, she spilled everything.
For example, she had never been raised in a quiet inner chamber. She had followed her uncle and father to the borderlands many times. She had been to the northern frontier and the southern border, and she was skilled with all kinds of weapons.
“The Prince is strict, but he is very capable when he commands. He has his own way with battlefield formations. We have never lost a battle,” Cui Zheng Lan said.
She added: “He originally wanted to ask for me to be granted the rank of junior fourth-rank general and report my two successful surprise attacks, but my parents stopped him.”
Luo Ning was a bit surprised: “Why?”
“I am a woman.”
“…” Luo Ning had no words.
She rubbed her forehead lightly.
When she faced Cui Zheng Lan, she felt that someone this bold and capable being promoted beyond the rules was only natural, and she forgot that Cui Zheng Lan was born into the great Cui clan and was Madam Cui’s daughter.
Right now, there were no female generals or female marquises. There were only commandery princesses and county princesses.
Madam Cui’s reputation shook both court and commoners. If Xiao Huai Feng sent in such a request, she did not know how much criticism it would stir up.
Xiao Huai Feng did not care about old ideas about men and women, but the Cui family might not be able to accept it.
“You are a pity,” Luo Ning said.
Cui Zheng Lan said: “The Prince says I was granted to him as a secondary consort by an imperial order he cannot disobey. He wants the inner residence to be peaceful. Once he has achieved his great work, he will ask for me to be granted the position of a third-rank general and transfer me to guard the southern border.”
Her eyes grew brighter as she spoke.
Luo Ning could see that she was a bit proud. When it came to topics she did not want to talk about, she did very poorly, showing open impatience.
But when the topic was something she loved, she talked without holding back, endlessly.
People were not just black and white. Everyone had both faults and strengths.
From a higher point of view, Luo Ning looked at Cui Zheng Lan as a whole.
She said: “A third-rank military general is already a big official in the borderlands.”
“I want to work even harder and help the Prince solve his problems,” Cui Zheng Lan said, lowering her voice. “If one day the Prince can give me a title on his own instead of asking for it, I will ask for a second-rank general’s post.”
In the current dynasty, a second-rank military general on the border could be called a frontier governor, a local overlord. Holding heavy troops, he had far more power than a civil official.
Many men would not even dare dream of that.
Thinking about her own goal of becoming a commandery princess, Luo Ning felt that she and Cui Zheng Lan had similar aims. Of course, Cui Zheng Lan’s future would be much harder. She would have to be promoted beyond the rules and would face unimaginable resistance.
Cui Zheng Lan herself surely knew this.
For the sake of that future, she would give it her all. Luo Ning felt that Cui Zheng Lan would be a good helper.
Someone who had something to strive for was easy to inspire and could become a sharp blade.
Luo Ning did not mock her for dreaming big.
She herself wanted a commandery princess title with land and salary. In truth, that was almost the same as being a commandery prince. She and Cui Zheng Lan were having the same big dream.
The two of them truly had the same goal.
“The inner residence has the rules of the inner residence, and the borderlands have the systems of the borderlands. Miss Cui, I hope both of us can run toward our own futures. First, change your habits as a military general,” Luo Ning said.
She added: “If you can’t manage it on your own, ask your mother to assign a house steward’s nurse to you. They will teach you.”
This time, Cui Zheng Lan did not frown.
She thought carefully and said: “Princess Consort, you are completely right.”
Entering Prince Yong’s residence was only entering another battlefield.
Each battlefield had its own way of fighting and needed different strategies.
Cui Zheng Lan still remembered that year when they launched a surprise attack on the Tujue Realm and heavy snow began to fall. They had to switch to sleds. She had not been very good at it, so she forced herself to practice hard, falling countless times before she finally mastered it.
Was learning to use a sled something every military general had to do? Of course not.
But the situation had forced her to.
Now that she was going into the inner residence, she also had to look the part.
As the sky grew dark, Cui Zheng Lan went home.
When she returned, her parents in the main courtyard had already finished dinner.
She briefly explained where she had gone: “I waited for the Princess Consort at the Marquis Manor for quite a while. That’s why I was delayed.”
Then she said to her mother: “Mother, please assign someone to teach me how to dress, how to do my hair, and how to wear jewelry.”
The teacup in Second Madam Cui’s hand shook.
Had her daughter been possessed by a ghost in the middle of the night?
The one thing Second Madam Cui regretted most in her life was that when her daughter was five, she saw the household guards training in martial arts and insisted on running over to learn the horse stance, and Second Madam Cui had not stopped her with all her strength.
From then on, she had almost wished her son and daughter could change bodies and be born again.
And now her daughter suddenly wanted to learn how to dress up. It was like seeing a ghost.
“Does the Princess Consort know some kind of Gu curse? Why can’t you talk like a normal person anymore?” Second Madam Cui asked.
“…” Cui Zheng Lan fell silent.
By then, Luo Ning had already washed up and gone to bed. She sneezed.
She had things on her mind and did not fall asleep until the second half of the night.
The next day, Xiao Huai Feng sent someone to invite her to Prince Yong’s residence.
Once again, Luo Ning left through the side gate.
The summer heat was stifling. She wore a thin summer dress and thought that once she arrived at Prince Yong’s residence, she would have to walk from the gate to the main courtyard and would end up sweating again.
However, when her carriage reached the gate of Prince Yong’s residence, a guard told her to wait a moment.
A short while later, they removed the threshold and allowed Luo Ning’s carriage to go straight inside.
“…” Luo Ning was speechless.
Such courtesy meant that Prince Yong had remembered what she had done for him.
Xiao Huai Feng sat straight in a grand teacher’s chair. He wore a simple light blue summer robe, with his hair tied up with a jade hairpin. His face was expressionless as he drank his tea.
When he saw Luo Ning, he gave a slight nod.
Seeing that Luo Ning was about to salute, he spoke: “No need for formalities. Sit.”
Luo Ning sat down on the chair beside him. A maid quickly brought her tea as well.
Luo Ning did not wait for him to ask. She said directly: “Prince, Miss Cui has already told me about what happened in the imperial palace.”
“You have met her?” Xiao Huai Feng asked.
He might not know every small detail of what had happened in the mountains that day, so Luo Ning told him the whole story.
“…I told her that when she went to offer thanks, she should send a set of ruby head ornaments. She really did,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng took another sip of tea.
“You handled this well,” he said. “How did you see through it?”
“In the past, when I did divination and fate calculations, I once predicted the disaster at Longfu Hall exactly. Has the Prince forgotten?” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng turned his head and looked at her quietly.
His eyes were dark and calm as he said: “You are not being honest.”
“I would not dare lie,” Luo Ning said. “Prince, my heart is with you and the Prince’s Manor. Whether I am honest about every detail is not important. What matters is that I am absolutely loyal.”
Xiao Huai Feng withdrew his gaze.
He finished his cup of tea before he said: “I will remember this. This time will count as a great merit for you.”
Luo Ning thanked him.
“What do you want?” he asked again.
At the moment, Luo Ning did not have anything she especially wanted. She already had enough in terms of status and material things.
“My brother, Luo You, wants to go to Spring Mountain Academy with his friend,” she said.
As she spoke, she told Prince Yong about Grand Princess Jia Hong and Pei Ying coming to visit, and about her brother’s future.
“…If the Prince has a way, I would like to ask you to help and send Luo You and Zhou Huai into Spring Mountain Academy,” Luo Ning said.
She added: “I will tell them to study hard and not bring shame to you, Prince.”
Xiao Huai Feng put down his teacup and said: “Spring Mountain Academy is not as pure and holy as you all imagine. Even in Lu Mountain Academy, four out of ten people are mediocre and useless.”
Everyone knew how powerful Lu Mountain Academy was. The Pei family was very keen on building ties with powerful clans. Among the sons of the big prestigious families, what child had not studied at Lu Mountain Academy?
It was just that Lu Mountain Academy had a good reputation. Scholars all over the land respected and admired it. These shameful parts were things no one talked about.
Spring Mountain Academy, which was one step below it, was even more filled with trades of interest.
“Madam Pei may look pure and noble, but her ambition is great,” Xiao Huai Feng went on. “They are also an aristocratic clan. Do not let those few words ‘Classics of the Sages’ blind you.”
Luo Ning thought of how, in her past life, after Xiao Huai Feng ascended the throne, he opened a special imperial examination and slowly pushed Lu Mountain Academy off its pedestal.
That move had not been an accident. It had been meant to weaken Madam Pei.
“Your brother can go study at Spring Mountain Academy, but you must explain things clearly to him. He must not be blindly naive,” Xiao Huai Feng said again.
Luo Ning agreed.
“Please be at ease, Prince. I will explain everything to him,” she said.