Chapter 138
Chapter 138: No Mercy When She Hits
Luo Ning was heading to the gate.
She told Nanny Kong: “Take some iced milk custard to the outer study for the Lord Marquis. Keep him there and chat with him about my dowry.”
Nanny Kong was a bit uneasy: “This old servant is afraid the Lord Marquis will scold me.”
“He would not dare,” Luo Ning said. “After the New Year we will be moving into the Prince’s Manor. The Lord Marquis will be the one begging us.”
Nanny Kong felt a bit more confident.
She nodded: “This old servant can delay him for at most a quarter of an hour. Miss, you must be quick.”
Luo Ning agreed.
After the Start of Autumn, the weather was still very hot.
Golden light fell on the ground, and waves of heat like fire poured over the body. Luo Ning walked out of Wenqi Courtyard and broke into a sweat after only a few steps.
Lin Zhao and Qiu Hua followed at her side, each carrying a long whip.
[Bai Yu Lin is probably here to stand up for my mother. And to take Bai Ci Rong away,] Luo Ning thought.
She had no intention of letting them get what they wanted.
When they played with the Luo family before, they had not felt the least bit guilty. Bai Ci Rong had already been sent away. She was the one who insisted on coming back.
She dared to return to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s mansion. Was she unwilling to let go of the name “marquis manor,” or was she simply sure the people of the Luo family could do nothing to her?
Since she dared to come, how could they let her leave without rolling her in the mud?
The three of them, mistress and servants, walked very fast and soon reached the gate of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s mansion.
What she saw there surprised Luo Ning a little.
Five or six carriages, along with coachmen and servant boys, were blocking the front gate of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s mansion.
Arguing voices came from the crowd.
“…What marquis manor? Just three years ago you were still a poor little family, and you dare call yourselves a ‘marquis manor’ in front of me? Go look at the plaque over the Marquis of Jian Ning’s gate. The white jade there has been there for a hundred years. That is what deserves to be called a marquis manor!”
The young boy’s voice was especially arrogant, with the rough, hoarse sound of someone whose voice was changing. It was extremely unpleasant.
“A hundred-year-old turtle and an eight-thousand-year-old tortoise, that is what is worth bragging about. We are also a marquis manor, also granted the title by Your Majesty. Can you really tell who is high or low, noble or humble? If you have the ability, then stop coming to my gate.”
Luo Ning heard her younger brother Luo You’s voice.
She had not expected Luo You to come back today.
His carriage and Zhou Huai’s carriage were both stopped here, and they were quarreling with people from the Wang family of the Marquis of Jian Ning’s mansion.
Bai Yu Lin, fair and chubby, stood to the side covered in sweat, trying to break up the fight.
He already hated the heat, and now he was anxious too, so his sweat flowed like rain. The front and back of his clothes were soaked.
“Fourth Young Master, stop arguing. A’You, listen to your uncle and say a little less,” Bai Yu Lin said, flustered and unable to handle either side.
The two boys refused to give in to each other.
They were at the same proud age, with the same rough, ugly voices of puberty, like hundreds of ducks quacking.
“Enough.” Suddenly, someone spoke from the carriage in the center with the colored-glass canopy. The voice was not loud, but it carried clearly.
Lin Zhao instinctively stepped in front of Luo Ning to shield her and whispered: “He is someone trained in martial arts.”
Luo Ning’s eyes darkened.
The green curtain of the carriage window lifted, revealing a pale face. In the sunlight, his features were even clearer. His eyes were deep and dark as ink, his lips red as if painted, yet his brows were sharp. Dignity and a strange, seductive charm were mixed in him just right.
Lin Zhao was slightly surprised and whispered again to Luo Ning: “It is the man from that night.”
Luo Ning remembered too.
On the night of the Ulsheepana Festival, they had met a man whose looks were especially striking.
He was alluring but not soft, like an evil god bodhisattva in a temple: covered in paint and bright colors, splendid and beautiful, yet no one felt any wish to profane him, only fear.
“Xiao Si, stop making noise. Ask the people at the gate again whether they have delivered the visiting card to the Marquis of Zhen Nan,” the man sitting in the carriage said.
His gaze swept once in Luo Ning’s direction but did not stay. Then the curtain fell.
“I cannot be bothered to argue with you,” the Wang family’s Fourth Young Master said to Luo You. He turned and shouted toward the Luo family’s servant boy: “Did you deliver the visiting card…”
As he caught sight of Luo Ning and her two maids, his words stopped.
Luo You also saw his elder sister.
After a few steps up the stone steps, he came to Luo Ning’s side: “Elder Sister, I will send them away. You do not need to worry.”
Luo Ning said: “How did you start arguing?”
Bai Yu Lin also took a few steps forward: “A’Ning…”
“Uncle, please wait. Let me ask my brother first,” Luo Ning cut him off.
“…” Bai Yu Lin was speechless. In his heart he thought that they had no respect for rank and did not know proper order. Truly they were the Luo family’s children.
“We got out of the carriage and he started cursing right away, saying our carriage was parked too close. I asked who he was, and he said he was my grandfather,” Luo You said.
It was hot. Luo You had hurried on the road back and was starving, so he was already in a bad mood. Being cursed at the gate of his own home, then seeing his uncle Bai Yu Lin, only added fuel to his anger.
After a few words, they were already quarreling.
“Since he is so rude, then you should teach him a lesson,” Luo Ning said.
Suddenly, a shoe flew toward them.
Lin Zhao raised her hand and knocked the shoe aside.
The Wang family’s Fourth Young Master was furious. Pointing at Luo Ning and her brother, he shouted: “Who do you want to teach a lesson? Tell the people of the Luo family to come out!”
“His mouth really is foul,” Luo Ning said. “Go and slap him twice.”
The Wang family’s Fourth Young Master grew even angrier: “How dare you be so insolent! Who are you to say such wild things? You clearly lack a beating and do not know how high the sky is!” He stepped forward, about to strike.
Bai Yu Lin knew that Luo Ning was deliberately angering this impulsive young man and wanted to make a big scene. That way the Marquis of Jian Ning’s family would be in the wrong, and the Luo family would have an excuse to refuse them at the door.
He, Bai Yu Lin, would also not be able to enter.
“Fourth Young Master, please calm down…”
The Wang family’s Fourth Young Master immediately slapped Bai Yu Lin across the face: “Shut up, you lowly stinking servant. Is it your turn to speak?”
Rolling up his sleeves, he rushed up the steps.
Before he could stand steady, Luo Ning slapped him across the face. With a crisp sound, before he could react, Luo You kicked him down the steps.
The Wang family’s Fourth Young Master rolled down the steps and did not get up for quite a while.
When he could move again, he screamed and shrieked even more crazily, wanting to fight to the death with Luo Ning and her brother.
A hand grabbed his collar.
No one knew when that man had already gotten out of the carriage.
Today he wore a jade-colored summer robe, his hair tied up with a jade hairpin. His dark hair made his skin look even whiter. His brows and features were cold and sharply carved, yet his skin was white, his lips red, and the shape of his eyes charming.
With a wave of his hand, he tossed the Wang family’s Fourth Young Master aside like a rag and threw him into the hands of a nearby house guard: “Hold him down.”
The house guard answered, “Yes, sir,” and at once covered the Fourth Young Master’s mouth and nose, throwing him into the carriage.
The Fourth Young Master made no more sound.
“Forgive our rudeness.” The man cupped his hands in salute. “I have come to request an audience with the Marquis of Zhen Nan. Please pass on the message.”
Luo You spoke up: “My father has no time to see you. Please go back. Next time, send in your visiting card a few days early. You have been a great noble marquis manor for a hundred years, and you still need others to teach you this basic rule?”
Luo Ning fell silent. Her brother had become much sharper.
Luo Ning looked again at the man across from her.
His looks were too outstanding and his expression too cold, making people ignore the pride hidden in his eyes.
“There is a reason for all this. Since things have become so big today, I must apologize to the Marquis of Zhen Nan in person,” he said.
He still did not take Luo You’s refusal seriously.
The Fourth Young Master’s arrogance was out in the open. This man’s arrogance was no less, only more hidden.
Luo Ning’s face also cooled: “It seems your hundred-year great noble family not only fails to teach rules, you also cannot understand human speech. Young Master, in the phrase ‘send a visiting card before coming to the door,’ which word do you not understand?”
“Fifth Master, I am truly sorry. These young children do not know the rules,” Bai Yu Lin hurried to apologize. “A’Ning, this is the Wang family’s Fifth Master, the youngest younger brother of the Marquis of Jian Ning.”
So he was not the eldest young master.
“No matter who he is, he still has to follow the rules. Uncle, you come from the countryside and have not seen much, so I do not blame you, but please stop talking. It is really embarrassing,” Luo You chimed in from the side.
The corners of the man’s lips seemed to hold a cold smile as he turned and got into the carriage.
As soon as he was in, the Wang family’s carriages left without hesitation.
There was another carriage with someone inside as well, but it had not moved from start to finish.
Bai Yu Lin stood there awkwardly.
Luo Ning looked at him: “Uncle, are you not leaving?”
“A’Ning, you behaving like this…”
“How we behave is not for you to teach,” Luo Ning said. “Uncle, please go back.”
With that, Luo Ning and Luo You turned to go back.
“A’Ning, A’You, do you still have any conscience? You…” He actually rushed to follow them.
Luo Ning suddenly whipped out her soft whip.
The whip lashed the ground.
She looked calmly at Bai Yu Lin: “Uncle, if you take one more step forward, this whip will land on you. Does it feel good to be beaten twice in one day?”
Looking at the deep white mark on the ground, Bai Yu Lin knew how fierce the whip was and quickly backed away several steps.
Luo Ning and her brother went back into the mansion.
The servant boy closed the main gate.