Chapter 16
Chapter 16: It Can’t Be Luo Ning’s Doing, She Isn’t That Capable
The Marchioness quickly dealt with Li Juan, the maidservant who attended Concubine Song.
Li Juan’s task had been to coax Concubine Song into going to Wenqi Courtyard to ask for flower patterns, then go along with her.
At a place where there was ice, she was to make Concubine Song slip and fall, then hand her over to the people of Wenqi Courtyard while she herself went to report to the Marquis of Zhen Nan.
If the plan worked, there might be a chance to promote her to a first-class maidservant in the main courtyard. If it failed, she would be sold off directly.
When the Marquis of Zhen Nan brought Concubine Song into the manor, he had not told the Marchioness beforehand.
When the Marchioness found out afterward, she could not start a quarrel with the Lord Marquis over just one concubine.
There had only been one old concubine in the Marquis Manor. What the Lord Marquis had done could not really be called improper, so the Marchioness could only grit her teeth and accept it.
She arranged for Li Juan to serve Concubine Song.
Li Juan had always been the Marchioness’s person. Her deed of sale was still in the Marchioness’s hands.
Concubine Song had been born in a small, ordinary family and did not know the rules of great noble households, so she had no idea where the maidservants around her came from.
She did not even know she should ask for the deeds of sale of her personal maids.
This gave the Marchioness an opening.
For the Marchioness, controlling Concubine Song was easy.
To her, Concubine Song was just a toy. Since she was not one of the Marchioness’s trusted people, the Marchioness would never allow Concubine Song to bear a child.
When Concubine Song’s monthly bleeding was only two days late, her personal maidservant knew, and once the maidservant knew, the Marchioness knew.
She had first planned to take care of it quietly.
But in order to send Luo Ning away and stick the name of “bringer of misfortune” on her, the Marchioness had no choice but to make Concubine Song’s pregnancy public.
Then she would have Li Juan make Concubine Song fall. Even if the child did not miscarry on the spot, the tonic medicines given during her later “recovery” would be enough to make the child slip away.
The loss of this child would then be counted on Luo Ning’s head.
The Marchioness sat in a side room of the East Main Courtyard, slowly sipping a cup of tea, and said: “It was such a simple matter. How did it become so complicated in the end?”
Li Juan had been locked up and had “hanged herself” in the firewood shed. She was already dead.
This time, the Marchioness’s people had watched with their own eyes as Li Juan took her last breath before they came back, so there would be no more trouble.
At dusk, the Marchioness did not light the lamps. She sat in the dark, drinking tea.
Her mind was a little confused, and she could not believe what had happened.
She had been scheming and working inside the Luo family for twenty years. Seven or eight tenths of the Inner Residence were her people.
Her power there was absolute.
She had always thought that being the General’s Madam was her future. For a merchant’s daughter to become the General’s Madam, she had already brought great glory to her maiden home.
She had never imagined she would be even luckier.
That unremarkable daughter Luo Ning had won a noble rank for the Luo family. Madam Bai had never even dared to dream of such a thing, yet it had come true.
She had leaped over the dragon gate and become a First-Rank Titled Madam.
Since it was the Marquis Manor, she held it even more tightly in her hands.
Luo Ning was the only one who made her unhappy.
And Luo Ning was her own daughter.
She hated Luo Ning and had disliked her from the moment she was born. But she was her own flesh and blood. Sometimes her feelings got in the way and kept Madam Bai from being truly ruthless.
She had not sent Luo Ning away directly but instead tried to force her to leave on her own.
If the Guanyin statue was smashed and Concubine Song miscarried, these two big events happening on Little New Year would be enough to throw everyone in the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s household into panic.
The Lord Marquis and the Old Madam would very naturally follow Madam Bai’s way of thinking and suspect that Luo Ning was “inauspicious.”
The others were the kind who believed any rumor they heard and would also worry that Luo Ning would bring disaster upon them.
Everyone would want Luo Ning gone.
On New Year’s Eve, the Marchioness fully planned to stuff Luo Ning back onto the carriage returning to Shaoyang.
At the same time, she would screw up her courage and, on the morning of the first day of the new year, take Bai Ci Rong to pay New Year’s respects to the Empress Dowager, using Luo Ning’s name.
Once they entered Shoucheng Palace, she would explain things. She believed that because of the kindness Luo Ning had shown the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager would not make things hard for the Luo family.
Fortune had to be sought in danger.
If Bai Ci Rong gained the Empress Dowager’s favor this way, her future road would be very smooth.
Madam Bai wanted to be worthy of Bai Ci Rong and make up for the more than ten years she had lacked.
As for Luo Ning…
Not every child could receive their parents’ protection. Giving her life was already a blessing from heaven. Luo Ning had no right to ask for more.
The Marchioness wondered: “Who on earth is secretly stirring up trouble in this matter?”
Nanny Li, who served Old Madam, had been ordered by the Marchioness to push over the Guanyin statue. Nanny Li said she had done it herself.
But the Guanyin statue was perfectly fine.
So where had things gone wrong with Li Juan?
Did Concubine Song know anything?
The Marchioness thought: “[It can’t be A’Ning. She doesn’t have that ability, and she has just returned to the manor. She isn’t familiar with anyone here. If it isn’t her, who else could it be? The whole Inner Residence depends on me. Who would dare go against me?]”
Damn it.
The Marchioness could not figure it out, and that was what scared her the most.
Inside Wenqi Courtyard, Luo Ning sat by the brazier, applying medicine to Qiu Hua’s injuries.
Luo Ning asked: “Does it still hurt?”
When Qiu Hua had faked that fall, she had really thrown herself onto the icy ground.
She had trained in martial arts since she was young. Without a famous teacher, her skills were not very high, but she was stronger and more agile than most maidservants. She could control her strength and avoid being badly hurt.
“I’m fine, Eldest Miss,” Qiu Hua said.
Then she asked worriedly: “Eldest Miss, will Concubine Song betray us?”
After accepting the gold leaf ingots, Concubine Song had agreed to put on a show.
Luo Ning said: “The Lord Marquis and Madam both came just now. Concubine Song should know I was not lying. She is pregnant, and Madam will not tolerate her. She and the child in her belly cannot keep their lives safe.
“The Lord Marquis is often not at home. Madam rules the Inner Residence. Concubine Song is not especially clever, but everyone wants to live. She will not betray us.”
In her previous life, Concubine Song had not done anything evil.
Luo Ning remembered that after Concubine Song lost the fetus, her mind had not been right. She was sickly and weak, and her bleeding never really stopped.
Then Luo Ning thought of herself. When she got wind-cold and a high fever, the fever had burned for days without going down. This showed that the physicians in the Marquis Manor wrote their prescriptions according to Senior Madam’s wishes.
After Concubine Song fell ill, the Marquis of Zhen Nan had shown concern for a few days.
Madam had suggested several times sending Concubine Song to the country estate to rest, but the Marquis of Zhen Nan had refused.
Later, Madam brought back a pair of beautiful twin sisters from her maiden home in Yuhang and gave them to the Marquis of Zhen Nan as concubines. Only then did he let go of Concubine Song.
Concubine Song was sent to the countryside.
There was never any more news of her in the Marquis Manor.
From beginning to end, she had never been important. She was only a chess piece.
She had never gone out of her way to harm anyone.
But the twin sisters who later entered the manor were cruel and vicious. They were Senior Madam’s thugs and did many evil things for her.
Cousin Luo Wan died at the hands of those twin concubines. That would happen later.
For now, Luo Ning had to take care of herself first.
“Eldest Miss,” Nanny Kong said as she came in carrying a bowl of medicine.
Luo Ning took the bowl, blew on it to cool it, and then passed it to Qiu Hua.
Qiu Hua had been hurt for her sake. In the previous life, Qiu Hua had also died protecting her.
Nanny Feng spoke in a low voice: “Eldest Miss, Auntie Hong said Old Madam did not investigate what happened this morning. But Auntie Hong told Nanny Sheng about it.”
Nanny Sheng was the Chief Steward Nanny by Old Madam’s side.
“What did Nanny Sheng say?” Luo Ning asked.
Nanny Kong said: “She said it is very likely Madam Li. Madam Li went into the Little Buddha Hall this morning. She is in charge of the incense and candles in Old Madam’s Little Buddha Hall.”
“That is very likely. This Nanny Li also works for Madam,” Luo Ning said.
Nanny Kong lowered her voice even more and said: “That maidservant Li Juan who served Concubine Song hanged herself.”
Qiu Hua and Qiu Lan still felt a chill of fear.
Qiu Lan said: “She just died like that? Won’t her family make a fuss? Isn’t Madam afraid the Lord Marquis will ask questions? Li Juan did not even confess to anything yet.”
Luo Ning said: “The Lord Marquis already told Madam to strictly control the servants. That was his hint for Madam to get rid of Li Juan.”
What were servants worth?
The Marquis of Zhen Nan had never wanted justice. What he wanted was “harmony between wife and concubines.”
He did not care what the truth was.
In the whole Inner Residence, the only person he really cared about was probably his birth mother. That was why the Marchioness did not dare be very disrespectful to Old Madam.
Qiu Hua, Qiu Lan, and Nanny Kong all shuddered.