Chapter 131
Chapter 131: Bai Ci Rong Is Confined in the Inner Courtyard
Nanny Zhen slowly stopped breathing. Everyone in the East Main Courtyard was shaking.
The Second Madam and her people also turned pale with fright, one by one.
They had never seen such a scene.
Only the Marquis of Zhen Nan and Luo Ning stayed calm. Father and daughter, their eyes were the same cold, and not even their brows moved.
Madam Bai collapsed on the ground, crying until she almost could not breathe.
Two head maids kept comforting her as they carried her back to the inner bedroom. Her mind was muddled.
When Bai Ci Rong returned to the side wing, her maidservant had already tidied up her bedroom for her.
She lay down, but had nightmare after nightmare, and woke up soaked in sweat.
Bai Ci Rong had never thought that while she was plotting against others, she herself would end up being plotted against.
She had no idea who had put the needle-stabbed figurines under her pillow.
And Nanny Zhen had been beaten to death right in front of her.
At the moment before she died, Nanny Zhen had raised her head to look at her, her eyes filled with unspeakable venom.
It was not a plea for help, but hate.
[Why should I die in your place?]
That seemed to be the last thing Nanny Zhen had wanted to say.
At dawn, just as Bai Ci Rong’s eyes were about to close, she saw Nanny Zhen standing before her, covered in blood, demanding: “A’Rong Miss, why were you so cruel as to want me dead?”
Bai Ci Rong wanted badly to wake up at once, but it was as if something was pressing on her. She could not open her eyes.
She screamed wildly in her dream.
The young maidservant on night duty asked: “Should we wake Cousin up?”
Another second-class maid was annoyed and angry. “Leave her alone.”
That second-class maid had once stayed in Wenqi Courtyard as one of Luo Ning’s maidservants. Later, she and a few others had gone to serve Bai Ci Rong.
At the time, they had thought it was a very good job. Cousin was very generous and easygoing. Following her would mean an easy life.
Who could have guessed that in such a short time they would move from Wenqi Courtyard to Huifu Court, then to the side wing of the East Main Courtyard, getting worse each time.
Cousin was gentle only on the surface. In truth she was selfish and cold, and she always liked to set strict rules for the maidservants. Aside from the few taels of silver they got as a reward when they first came, she never gave them any other benefits.
In contrast, even the rough servants in Big Miss’s Wenqi Courtyard could eat their fill every day.
The maidservants did not reflect on their own lack of loyalty in leaving Big Miss to follow Cousin. They only blamed Cousin for bringing them bad luck.
Now Big Miss was about to become Princess Consort Yong, and the few maidservants around Bai Ci Rong regretted their choice so much that their guts were turning green.
They did not dare show an ugly face to Cousin.
But when Cousin had nightmares in the middle of the night and could not wake up, they just let her suffer and were too lazy to shake her awake.
Bai Ci Rong struggled for a long time before she woke up. Not only was she soaked in sweat, she had also wet the bed.
She was as embarrassed as she could be.
“Go away. Hurry and go away. I was not the one who harmed you. Go find Luo Ning, go find Luo Chong Ye!” Bai Ci Rong cried loudly.
The maidservant only found her disgusting. “Cousin, you are already so grown up, yet you still wet the bed…”
Before she finished speaking, Bai Ci Rong slapped her hard across the face.
“What kind of thing do you think you are, that you dare talk about me? In this East Main Courtyard, if I want to torment you to death, it would be as easy as turning my hand,” Bai Ci Rong said.
Her voice still shook with fear and sobbing, but her words were extremely vicious.
The maidservant was still afraid of her.
Feeling unhappy inside, she went around telling everyone about Bai Ci Rong’s nightmares and bed-wetting.
As for the marchioness, Madam Bai, she did not fully wake up for several days and stayed in a daze.
Bai Ci Rong sent someone to invite the Second Madam. “Ask my father to come see my mother.”
The Second Madam refused. “The Lord Marquis has said that Madam needs quiet to recover. She cannot see any visitors during this time. A physician has already been called for her.”
Bai Ci Rong argued a few sentences, but the Second Madam did not give an inch.
When Bai Ci Rong tried to leave the Marquis Manor to look for Bai Yu Lin and Qiu Shi Dong, the old maidservant at the second gate would not let her go out.
“You want to lock me up? This is outrageous. Who gave you the courage?” Bai Ci Rong cried in shock and anger.
“The Madam’s courtyard lost a valuable item. Everyone in the East Main Courtyard is a suspect. Until we find it, no one can leave,” the old maidservant said. “Cousin, this is the Lord Marquis’s order. Please do not make things hard for me.”
Bai Ci Rong had bitter words she could not speak.
That so-called small golden Buddha statue was something Bai Ci Rong and Madam Bai had made up.
Their goal had been to search Luo Ning.
Once the search started, the whole Marquis Manor would be thrown into chaos. As long as Madam Bai did not bring it up again, who would still remember to look for a small golden Buddha statue for her?
Yet now the Marquis Manor was using this excuse to keep Bai Ci Rong from going out.
Bai Ci Rong was terrified, but forced herself to stay calm and pretended nothing was wrong as she went back.
[Where was she supposed to find a small golden Buddha statue now?]
It seemed that Nanny Zhen’s restless spirit was still lingering in the East Main Courtyard and had not left. Bai Ci Rong had nightmares every night. The marchioness, Madam Bai, was sometimes clear and sometimes confused, and even after taking medicine she could not fully wake up. Nanny Zhen’s death had hit her hard.
“The Zhongyuan Festival is coming soon.”
Some young maidservant said this.
Bai Ci Rong almost lost control and rushed out. She was almost turning into a madwoman, just like her aunt.
No, she could not be crushed by something this small.
She had to pull herself together.
In the future she would be so noble that words could not describe it. These were only small setbacks.
A few days after Nanny Zhen died, the Second Madam sent someone to invite Luo Ning.
“The last time I went to the East Main Courtyard, it really did feel gloomy inside. The maidservants were crying from fear. Should we invite someone to perform a ritual?” the Second Madam asked.
Luo Ning said: “There is no need. Send someone to tell the maidservants in the East Main Courtyard that if they are afraid, they can leave. The Luo Family is not short of people.”
The Second Madam was speechless.
“Aunt, why be so kind to outsiders?” Luo Ning said. “If misfortune falls on you, those people will not show you the least bit of kindness.”
The East Main Courtyard was full of the marchioness’s trusted aides. Had they done few evil deeds?
In her previous life, Luo Wan had died a terrible death. The Second Madam’s heart had broken, and she had fallen ill for more than half a year.
Madam Bai had not changed for the better. She had only been pressed down. She and Bai Ci Rong had never cared about anyone else in the Marquis Manor.
“They planted banned books. Have you thought about how many servants in the Marquis Manor could be dragged down with them?” Luo Ning said. “It is not only me. As the head of the household, you will also have to take responsibility.”
One mistake, and the whole family could be executed, even nine generations wiped out.
If the Second Madam herself suffered, that would be one thing, but even her maiden home would not be spared.
“You are right,” the Second Madam said, suddenly feeling a chill run down her back. “Being too kind is nothing but weakness.”
Luo Ning smiled a little.
She said to the Second Madam: “Aunt, you will probably be in charge of the inner courtyard of the Marquis Manor for a long time. You cannot be too soft.”
The Second Madam did not look very proud, nor did she try to refuse.
Being in charge naturally had benefits, and it brought prestige too.
Running the household of the Marquis Manor was not hard. The accounts were clear, and there was no need to use her own money to make up the difference. But Madam Bai always had Nanny Zhen say that she had secretly given many benefits to the Marquis Manor. She was only praising herself.
For example, the Senior Madam of the Luo Family had an allowance for clothes and jewelry. Each season, twenty taels of silver would have been enough, but she insisted on spending one hundred taels and then claimed she had “paid extra out of her own pocket.”
The extra money still ended up being spent on herself and on her own children.
Also, when the Luo Family interacted with others, if the other side was a very noble household, the Senior Madam would insist on going to send gifts.
Normally, fifty taels of silver would have been enough as a gift, but the Senior Madam would send one thousand taels, then say she had done a favor for the Luo Family. Yet those people did not return the favor at all. They only took it as the Luo Family showing respect.
Where did all those “respectful gifts” end up? The Second Madam did not know either. Maybe they ended up back in Madam Bai’s hands in Yuhang. After all, her family needed such connections for business.
When the Senior Madam sent those “one thousand tael” gifts, she did not actually use the Luo Family’s money, but she would still say: “I spent my own money to help the Luo Family.”
With that money, she bought connections for her maiden home and goodwill for herself inside the Luo Family.
But everyone in the Luo Family was fooled by this trick. It was hard to figure out the real accounts behind it. All they could see was that the Senior Madam took out one thousand taels for gifts from her own purse.
The Senior Madam “helped” with silver, yet the Luo Family had never gotten any real benefit from it.
Maybe Luo Chong Ye and the Old Madam had received some gifts of respect.
There were countless such examples, all recorded in the Luo Family’s account books.
After doing such things so often, the marchioness, Madam Bai, had even fooled herself. She thought she had given too much to the Luo Family and saw herself as being above everyone else.
“A’Ning, most of the stewardesses and maidservants in the inner courtyard of the Marquis Manor are Sister-in-law’s people,” the Second Madam said, finally getting to the main point. “What should we do about this?”
“What does Aunt plan to do?” Luo Ning asked.