Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Sowing Discord
The “Little New Year disaster” was smoothly resolved.
The maidservants and steward nannies in Wenqi Courtyard all feared that Luo Ning acted too boldly and would bring disaster on them.
But Luo Ning herself felt that her methods were too gentle and did not scare anyone.
Thinking it over, she told herself that she had only just been reborn and the Imperial Edict granting her marriage had not yet come down. She was like a person who had been sick for a long time and was just standing up, her legs still weak.
She had to slow down.
She had to be very careful and avoid big mistakes.
There would be time in the days to come.
The Marchioness was still angry. Her eldest son, eldest daughter in law, and Bai Ci Rong all tried to comfort her. Her concubine born daughter Luo Xuan, who depended on her, saw her mood and took the chance to scold Luo Ning.
“Mother, Elder Sister is really too much,” Luo Xuan said.
Luo Xuan’s birth mother was Concubine He, who had already passed away.
Luo Xuan relied on the Marchioness for her living, so she worked extra hard and always rushed ahead of Bai Ci Rong in everything.
“Forget it,” the Marchioness sighed and said: “A daughter acting against me is not such a big matter. There are many children who are disobedient and senseless.”
“Mother, you are the Madam of the Marquis Manor. It is only right for you to punish a child,” the Eldest Young Master Luo Yin said. “Since A’Ning is so disobedient, send her to the family temple for half a month to reflect. Don’t make yourself ill from anger.”
The eldest young madam sat beside them, thinking: [A’Ning has not really been disobedient. Hasn’t she handled everything quite well?]
It seemed Luo Ning had not left any handle for others to grab.
Luo Ning had even helped Old Madam shine.
Sending a girl to the family temple was the set punishment in Shengjing’s prestigious clans for daughters who had done wrong.
What excuse could the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s household use to send Luo Ning there?
“We will talk about it later,” the Marchioness said. “Let’s not talk about A’Ning anymore. I will slowly feel out her temper and get along with her.”
“Mother, you still want to give in to her?” Luo Yin grew even more angry and said: “She doesn’t know her place.”
Bai Ci Rong soothed Luo Yin and said: “Brother, don’t be angry.”
Then she secretly glanced at Luo Xuan and said with a smile: “If I had the ability, I would help Aunt. Sadly, I am not part of the Luo family.”
She gave Luo Xuan another look.
Luo Xuan quickly said: “Mother, your daughter is of course willing to work for you. This is for your good and for Elder Sister’s good.”
The Marchioness smiled.
She praised Luo Xuan as a good child.
Seeing this, the eldest young madam also hurried to flatter her and said: “Mother, A’Yin is in the Outer Courtyard, and it is not convenient for him to interfere in Inner Residence matters. I, your daughter in law, am also willing to help and share your worries.”
The Marchioness finally showed a relaxed smile and said: “You are all good children.”
Then she added: “Let’s stop talking about A’Ning and have a good New Year.”
In Wenqi Courtyard, Luo Ning sneezed twice.
She sat upright reading. When she grew tired, she practiced calligraphy to calm her mind.
On the twenty ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Marquis of Zhen Nan specially called Luo Ning to the outer study.
“The thing is, your uncle sent rich New Year gifts. Our family has no way to repay him. You received shimmering jade brocade. Give one bolt to your cousin,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan said straightaway.
He put on the bearing of a military general.
He was tall and large, sitting upright like a pine tree. Over the years he had grown plumper, which made him look even more powerful and imposing.
In her previous life, Luo Ning had always been quite afraid of him and had not wanted to get close to him. She also clearly knew that, to him, sons and daughters were only servants. He never valued any of them, and trying to be close was useless.
“Father, it is not that your daughter is unwilling, but that this matter is not proper. Even I should not wear shimmering jade brocade out in the first month,” Luo Ning said.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan frowned and said: “You are the legitimate miss of the Marquis Manor. You may wear whatever you like. Besides, the Empress Dowager rewarded you. How can we lock her gift away in a chest?”
Last night, Madam had again brought up the Spring Banquet held in the first month and had mentioned the shimmering jade brocade.
If Luo Ning and Bai Ci Rong each had a bolt of it, and the two girls shone at the Spring Banquet and found good matches, gaining powerful in laws for the Marquis Manor, it would be a great joy.
Luo Ning could not keep it all to herself.
“I am the legitimate miss, but my cousin is not,” Luo Ning said.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan was choked for a moment.
“Father, when you were not yet the Marquis of Zhen Nan, how many New Year gifts did Uncle send every year?” Luo Ning asked again.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan frowned slightly.
He had always known that the Bai family in Yuhang was rich, with money and silk piled up like mountains.
Back then, the Bai family had desperately wanted to tie themselves to powerful clans. Every New Year they sent advisors to the capital city with silver banknotes worth more than a hundred thousand taels.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan had sometimes heard this and had almost drooled with envy.
But back then he had only been a military general.
In the current dynasty, which honored civil officials and looked down on the military, and with the great prestigious clans standing in front, a third rank military general had limited power, and the Bai family had never bothered to curry favor with him.
Only when his Madam returned to her maiden home did she bring back a little benefit.
Luo Ning said: “The money Uncle is giving now is to buy the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s reputation. In his business, who knows how many connections he uses in secret and how many hidden troubles he is planting for you.”
She went on: “The noble rank belongs to our family. If Uncle does not want to send gifts, he does not have to. We do not need to beg him.”
She added: “If he causes some huge trouble, the first person the Imperial Court will hold responsible will be you, Father. When that happens, will all the heads in our whole manor be enough to fill the hole?”
The Marquis of Zhen Nan’s heart trembled.
How could he not know this?
It was just that his advisors did not tell him the full truth, and he himself had clung to a bit of luck and chosen to ignore it.
By speaking these things out loud, Luo Ning had laid the problem before him and forced him to face it.
“So according to you, we will no longer accept New Year gifts from your mother’s family in the future?” he asked coldly.
“Gifts are gifts. They should follow the rule of equal exchange. If he gives too much, he is putting Father in a position of injustice,” Luo Ning said.
She went on: “Father, when Uncle tried to curry favor with the great clans before, the gifts he sent were worth more than a hundred thousand taels.”
Ten thousand taels of silver was extremely generous and enough for the Marquis Manor to spend for several years.
But no matter how good a gift was, comparison ruined it.
Once compared, the balance in one’s mind was lost, and ten thousand taels ended up buying resentment.
Luo Ning very much wanted to say: [Father, no matter how much silver you take from the Bai family, it is only right. You are raising their child.]
In the future, along with the entire Marquis Manor and the Luo family’s foundation over three generations, he would hand everything over to others, so the Bai family’s silver would be well spent.
“These words are not wrong,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan said. He took Luo Ning’s words to heart, and his face grew very dark.
The Bai family always judged people before serving them and treated people differently by status. It was truly hateful.
Back then, when he married Madam Bai’s daughter, it was first for her rich dowry, and second because he had been dazzled by Madam Bai’s beauty. In the end, what right did a merchant’s daughter have to marry him?
At that time he had already been a fourth rank military general.
The Bai family had been mere merchants, yet they had disdained to curry favor with him. Only now did they come to sell favors. It was too much.
He dismissed Luo Ning.
Back in the main courtyard, with a very ugly expression, the Marquis of Zhen Nan said to the Marchioness: “For the Spring Banquet in the first month, tell your niece to stay quietly in the manor.
“She is just a little merchant girl. If you take her out with you to the banquet, it will insult our old family friends. They will not mention it to our faces, but they will curse us behind our backs.”
The Marchioness was stunned and said: “Lord Marquis, this… Did A’Rong do something wrong? She is a good child.”
“No matter how good she is, she is not your daughter,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan said. “I do not care how you hold her up and praise her on ordinary days. But the Spring Banquet is a major event. If you damage the Marquis Manor’s dignity, I will not let it go lightly.”
The Marchioness’s face turned ashen.
She looked at the Marquis of Zhen Nan and could not argue back for a long time.
Who had said these nasty words?
Luo Ning?
That Concubine Song?
The Marchioness had been counting on this Spring Banquet to let Bai Ci Rong show herself in front of everyone and shine.
Once she appeared as “the Marquis Manor’s cousin,” that would be her status. Who would dare fuss over the fact that she was a merchant girl?
Yet the Marquis of Zhen Nan had suddenly flown into a rage and blocked this path.
The Bai family had spent so much money.
No one in the Luo family had a conscience. They all deserved to die.
No wonder Luo Ning was so hateful.
She was Luo Chong Ye’s own daughter and was just like him.
Luo Ning sneezed twice again.
She had not touched the shimmering jade brocade. She left it at the bottom of her chest. That cloth was a gift from the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager meant well, but it was far too eye catching and would stir up jealousy and hatred.
Luo Ning would not use it and would never let anyone else use it.