Chapter 122
Chapter 122: The Lake Inkstone Hit the Eldest Prince
When Luo Ning heard the word “inkstone,” she became very alert.
Consort Li had hit the Eldest Prince with an inkstone. What inkstone was it?
She really hoped it was not Cheng Yan.
So she asked the Empress Dowager: “What inkstone was it?”
The Empress Dowager smiled and said: “A Lake Inkstone. The one you gave me.”
Luo Ning let out a breath of relief.
She did not ask more and instead turned to worry about the Eldest Prince.
The Empress Dowager said: “The Eldest Prince was frightened. He drank calming powder and his fever went down this morning. The Emperor kept watch over him in Kunning Palace and did not close his eyes all night. Poor thing, that is his only son.”
When she spoke of this, the Empress Dowager showed a bit of sorrow.
Luo Ning knew she must have worried herself sick over the Emperor’s offspring.
Luo Ning said: “Imperial Mother, the Eldest Prince will be safe and healthy.”
The Empress Dowager gave a bitter smile.
The Eldest Prince was not healthy. He often had headaches and fevers. They had changed to several chubby wet nurses, but it did no good. The Eldest Prince did not eat much.
Luo Ning comforted the Empress Dowager with a few more words.
After leaving the imperial palace, Luo Ning did not go home. Instead, she hurried to Prince Yong’s residence.
She really wanted to know what had happened.
She wanted to know how Consort Li had come to hit the Eldest Prince with an inkstone, whether the Emperor had noticed what kind of inkstone it was, and whether this matter would affect the Dou family’s Imperial Merchant.
Prince Yong was in his study meeting with an advisor, discussing important matters.
Luo Ning’s carriage could still drive straight into Prince’s Manor and stop at the gate of the main courtyard.
The steward invited her into the Ming Hall to sit for a while and served her tea.
The one who served the tea was actually Chu Shuang.
Mistress and servant met again and were especially excited.
Chu Shuang asked in a rush: “Eldest Miss, how are things in Wenqi Courtyard? Are you well? Are Nanny Kong and the others doing well?”
Luo Ning laughed: “Everyone is fine.”
Then she asked: “And how are you here?”
Chu Shuang said: “There is only Nanny Shi here as the inner residence steward. She has His Highness’s order to bring me wherever she goes. Please rest assured, I now recognize all the people in the inner courtyard and outer courtyard of Prince’s Manor, and I have not been careless with the tasks you gave me.”
Luo Ning felt relieved and gently patted her head: “You have done very well.”
“Nanny Shi said you can enter the residence in the second month of next year. Eldest Miss, this servant is looking forward to that day,” Chu Shuang added.
After they chatted a bit more, Chu Shuang finally withdrew.
As she left, she told Luo Ning that Nanny Shi had given her a new name.
Because the Chu Shuang from the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence might be connected to Luo Yin’s disappearance, she had to “change her face and name.”
She said: “Now Nanny Shi calls me Tao Ye. It is a good name. It sounds like spring and feels warm. I even wanted to be called Tao Hua. It is very pretty, but Nanny Shi said it sounds vulgar.”
Luo Ning could not help laughing.
“Nanny Shi also said she will call me that for now, just for outsiders to hear. When the Princess Consort enters the residence, if the Princess Consort does not like it, she can change it again.”
Then she asked Luo Ning: “Eldest Miss, can you change it and call me Tao Hua?”
“Let’s keep calling you Tao Ye,” Luo Ning said.
Chu Shuang was speechless.
After they finished talking, Chu Shuang left.
Luo Ning sat down to drink tea and slowly drifted into her thoughts. Xiao Huai Feng arrived unhurriedly and late.
Seeing her bright clothes and the bead flowers in her hair, he asked: “Did you go into the palace?”
“Yes.”
It was just as he had guessed.
Madam Luo, A’Ning, did not know whether she was simply confident in her looks or just too lazy to dress up. Usually, when she went out, she dressed casually and did not wear makeup.
She looked very plain, yet she had striking, vivid features.
Only when she entered the palace did she wear a peach-pink jacket, embroidered with complex branch-and-flower begonia patterns, like a cluster of brocade flowers. In the heat of midsummer, her cheeks were flushed as if she had applied rouge, and she looked even more beautiful than the flowers.
Xiao Huai Feng’s Ming Hall was solemn and serious. When he walked in and saw her sitting on the chair, it was as if she had added a bright splash of color to the hall.
The whole room seemed to glow.
Xiao Huai Feng sat down. After a maidservant served him tea, he took a sip and then asked: “Have you heard what happened in the imperial palace?”
“I went in, and a steward aunt came to report that Consort Li had been demoted to a Beauty and sent to the cold palace,” Luo Ning answered honestly. “Imperial Mother said it was because she hit the Eldest Prince with an inkstone and made him run a fever in the middle of the night.”
Xiao Huai Feng took another sip of tea.
“That is true.”
“What exactly happened?” Luo Ning quickly asked, leaning forward a little. “Will Cheng Yan and the Dou family’s Imperial Merchant be delayed because of this?”
“There is no need for that.”
Xiao Huai Feng drank half his cup of tea to moisten his throat, then told Luo Ning what had happened in the palace the previous day.
Empress Zheng and Beauty Chen had been holding the Eldest Prince and went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager.
The Eldest Prince had not been sleeping well these days. Beauty Chen wanted to ask for a bit of ash from the incense in the Empress Dowager’s Little Buddha Hall, to mix into water for the Eldest Prince to drink.
Consort Li also came to pay respects.
Xiao Huai Feng said: “Consort Li scolded Beauty Chen, saying she should not be so foolish as to use incense ash to calm a child. Beauty Chen has always been soft-tempered and lets anyone scold her a bit, but Imperial Mother was not very pleased.”
The atmosphere in the Little Buddha Hall became a bit tense.
After Consort Li finished speaking, she herself felt it was not quite right and wanted to explain, but the Emperor arrived.
Beauty Chen felt wronged and burst into tears on the spot. The Emperor asked her what was wrong.
“Beauty Chen said Consort Li had been disrespectful to the Empress Dowager and the Empress and had openly spoken rudely to them. Consort Li of course defended herself and denied it.
The Emperor did not bother to ask for details and immediately ordered people to drag Consort Li away and confine her.
Consort Li tried to struggle and lunged forward. There were a few inkstones on the low table in front of them.
Her hand pushed forward, and one inkstone flew out and, by bad luck, struck the wet nurse who was holding the Eldest Prince.
The scene was chaotic, and the Eldest Prince started crying. It was likely that when the wet nurse was hit and felt pain, she held the Eldest Prince a little too tightly. But the wet nurse would never admit that.
Whether it was the imperial sister-in-law or Beauty Chen, both insisted that the inkstone had hit the Eldest Prince’s foot, and that was why he cried.
Consort Li was taken back to her palace and confined. Imperial Elder Brother punished her by having her copy Buddhist sutras and the palace commandments a hundred times. At first, he had handled it rather lightly, but who knew that after the Eldest Prince returned, he vomited milk and had a fever in the night.”
Luo Ning listened quietly.
After Consort Li gained favor, she had become a bit arrogant.
Maybe she herself felt that she was only lively, and the Emperor liked her clever, lively ways. But how did that look in Empress Zheng and Beauty Chen’s eyes?
Especially since she loved to talk and laugh so much.
Last time, when the Emperor fainted in her palace, the Empress Dowager had already been angry.
Outsiders did not know the real reason the Eldest Prince vomited milk and had a fever, but it was confirmed that Consort Li had hit the Eldest Prince.
In his fury, the Emperor deposed her and sent her to the cold palace. No matter how close a consort was, she could never be more important than an imperial heir.
Luo Ning asked: “Does His Majesty know that inkstone was the Lake Inkstone?”
Xiao Huai Feng said: “My people have already reminded him. He knows.”
“The Imperial Merchants will be decided in the next few days. I hope nothing else goes wrong,” Luo Ning said. “It is also fortunate that it was not Cheng Yan that hit the Eldest Prince.”
Xiao Huai Feng said: “It could not possibly be Cheng Yan. Even if it really was, the inkstone Imperial Elder Brother saw afterward would still be some other inkstone. The people in the imperial palace can handle something like this, especially when it happened in Imperial Mother’s Little Buddha Hall.”
No matter what, Luo Ning was quite lucky.
Qiu Shi Dong’s beautiful dream might shatter even faster than she had imagined.
After this failure, he would have even less chance four years later.
Luo Ning really wanted to see what kind of expressions they would have. As for her useless father, he also seemed to be cowed by the words “Marquis of Jian Ning’s residence” and “Imperial Merchant,” saying they should take the long view and plan slowly.
Luo Ning thought: [I knew he could not be relied on.]
She thought: [The real show is still to come.]
The corners of Luo Ning’s mouth could not help lifting in a faint smile.
Xiao Huai Feng asked her: “What are you so pleased about?”
Luo Ning did not answer.