Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Finding a Way to Drive Luo Ning Away
The Marchioness, Madam Bai, had a table of dishes set and invited the Marquis of Zhen Nan to the main courtyard to have dinner.
The husband and wife talked about Luo Ning.
“…Lord Marquis, A’Ning has become very strange,” Madam Bai said.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan had noticed it too.
The girl always smiled brightly now. It was different from her former obedient look, and there was no trace of the unease of someone coming home after a long time away.
Every time she smiled with such certainty, the Marquis of Zhen Nan felt uncomfortable all over, as if he was a useless father who had gained his noble title only because of his daughter.
And if he did not bow down in worship to his daughter, it felt like he was failing her. Luo Ning made the Marquis of Zhen Nan feel this way all the time.
It was absurd.
Never mind any credit. Even his daughter’s very life should be decided by her father.
“…Lord Marquis, A’Ning looks so thin and frail. Why not send her back to Shaoyang to rest and be cared for?” The Marchioness watched the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s face, testing him, finally showing her real intention.
She had wanted to find a more gentle way to say it.
But in less than half a month since Luo Ning had come home, her eldest son had been punished to kneel and had caught a chill; her A’Rong had moved out of Wenqi Courtyard; and for the Spring Banquet in the first lunar month, she had no excuse to leave Luo Ning behind and take only A’Rong out to see the world.
Luo Ning was not only stubborn, she was in the way.
If they sent her back to Shaoyang and never brought her back again…
They had distant relatives there. Give him some money and have him find a wealthy local family to marry Luo Ning into.
A thousand miles away, where they would never see her again, Luo Ning would still be a well behaved daughter in Madam Bai’s heart.
“That would not do,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan said after thinking.
He was the head of the family and had seen the world, not as impatient as Madam Bai: “The Empress Dowager already knows that A’Ning has returned to the capital. If we send her away again for no reason, how are we supposed to explain ourselves in front of the Empress Dowager?”
“The Empress Dowager will ask once or twice, then slowly forget. How could she truly remember her?” Madam Bai said. “Lord Marquis, think about it. If someone saved your life and kept asking you for rewards again and again, wouldn’t you get annoyed?”
The Marquis of Zhen Nan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Of course he would.
Who would want a benefactor hanging over their head? Once or twice was enough to show proper respect.
If it never ended, did she really think she was some savior of the world?
“The Empress Dowager will get annoyed too,” Madam Bai said.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan shivered.
If the Empress Dowager got irritated because of Luo Ning, then this Marquis Manor, this title and estate…
No, he could not bear to think about it.
He had craved power and status since he was young. He had spent more than ten years in the army, risking his life, but had never earned any great merit. As a teenager, he had wanted to guard the borderlands and keep a region safe. Now that dream had been worn away, leaving only the struggle for rank and power.
Was he supposed to step back and go on as a third-rank military general, where anyone in the Ministry of War could press him down?
No way!
He was tired of bowing and scraping!
“You keep her in check. Do not let her go to the Empress Dowager so often,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan said. “Wait a while. If a good chance comes up, we will send her back to Shaoyang.”
Madam Bai agreed.
That night, the Marquis of Zhen Nan rested in the main courtyard.
Madam Bai did not sleep even at midnight, thinking about her husband’s words.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan did have some fatherly feelings toward Luo Ning.
As long as Luo Ning did not make any mistakes, he did not really care whether she was sent away or not.
Madam Bai thought: [Both the Lord Marquis and Old Madam have to agree before A’Ning can leave.]
She was the mother. She felt this decision was good for everyone, including Luo Ning.
Luo Ning was a noble young lady from the capital. If she married a thousand miles away to Shaoyang, her husband’s family would never have seen a daughter in law of such status. Wouldn’t they try their best to flatter her?
Her life there would be very good.
Without her, A’Rong would no longer have to suffer any slight.
In Madam Bai’s mind, she would be taking care of Luo Ning and also doing right by A’Rong, taking care of both sides.
She had to decide soon.
Luo Ning woke up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat.
She had dreamed again of the raging fire. She was locked inside a room at the country estate. The window gauze had already burned through, but the wooden window frame would not budge no matter how hard she pushed.
The courtyard outside was bright as snow under the moon.
Her mother, her brother, and Bai Ci Rong stood there, quietly watching the sea of fire.
She vaguely saw her mother wiping away tears.
While wiping her tears, she threw a torch inside, wanting to burn her to death.
In that moment, Luo Ning’s hatred was hotter than the flames. So after she died so miserably, her ghost did not disperse and wandered around the city of Shengjing for more than ten years.
Only after everyone in the Marquis Manor died did Luo Ning’s ghost grow calm.
After she was reborn, she did not carry much resentment.
She did not remember much about her past life.
If not for tonight’s dream, she would not have remembered it at all.
“Why are you crying for me? Weren’t you the one who sent me to my death with your own hands?” In the first few years as a ghost, she had circled around her mother, asking her for an answer.
Sadly, she was lighter than the wind, and her mother could not see her.
That single tear had bound Luo Ning as well, and even as a ghost she could not find peace.
After her rebirth, she finally let go.
She accepted that she had been born from Madam Bai, and she accepted that single tear Madam Bai had shed when she burned to death.
Both were real.
But both were also meaningless.
Luo Ning sat up and called the maid on night duty, Qiu Lan.
Qiu Lan took hot water from the brazier, mixed it until it was warm in a copper basin, and wiped the sweat from Luo Ning’s back.
After changing her underclothes, Luo Ning suddenly asked Qiu Lan: “The day after tomorrow is the Little New Year Festival, right?”
“Yes, Eldest Miss,” Qiu Lan answered.
In her past life, two things had happened on the day of the Little New Year Festival.
It was those two things that made everyone in the Marquis Manor say Luo Ning was “unlucky” and “brought disaster.” Her parents and grandmother had gently suggested sending her back to the country estate in the southern region.
Of course Luo Ning refused. She cried and made a huge scene again.
So they said she had a violent temper and might be ill, and forced her to rest quietly.
It was the same as grounding her.
In the first lunar month after she returned to the capital, her mother never took her out to any banquets. Instead, it was her cousin who stole all the attention.
After the Spring Banquet in the first lunar month, many noble households came to propose marriage to her cousin.
But the noble households who came to propose were not good enough in the eyes of the Marchioness and Bai Ci Rong. They were only third or fourth rank civil and military officials, or declining meritorious aristocratic families that were not even as good as the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s household.
Later, Luo Ning had a chance meeting with Pei Ying, the only son of Grand Princess Jia Hong. By coincidence, they met several more times. Then Grand Princess Jia Hong invited Luo Ning and her mother to visit.
The Grand Princess said that when choosing a daughter in law for her family, she did not care much about noble rank. She only wanted the young lady to have good character and good looks.
She had taken a liking to Luo Ning.
Even though Luo Ning had been nineteen at the time, already considered an “old” young lady in Shengjing.
That was also the cause of Luo Ning’s death.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan’s household could never climb to a better match than Grand Princess Jia Hong. That marriage had to be given to Bai Ci Rong instead.
After changing clothes, Luo Ning lay back down to sleep.
Early the next morning, she called for Nanny Kong.
Nanny Kong had served under the Old Madam before and was familiar with the stewardess and maids of the Old Madam’s West Main Courtyard.
“Do something for me,” Luo Ning said to Nanny Kong.
Nanny Kong said: “Please give your orders, Eldest Miss.”
“Go to the market and buy a Guanyin statue,” Luo Ning said, handing her a sheet of paper with the statue’s size and weight written on it. “Find a way to make contact with the maids and old servants in the Old Madam’s courtyard. When you bring the statue back, hide it directly in the Old Madam’s small kitchen.”
Nanny Kong thought for a moment: “I am related by marriage to Auntie Hong, the purchasing steward of the Old Madam’s small kitchen. Her younger brother’s wife is my little sister in law.”
Luo Ning said: “In that case, it will be even easier. Go along with Auntie Hong.”
She then leaned close and whispered a few more instructions.
Nanny Kong memorized them carefully.