Chapter 170
Chapter 170: Prayer for Blessings
A group of people went up the mountain.
By Empress Zheng’s side walked a steward aunt and two senior palace maids, all dressed as ordinary maidservants.
They supported the Empress, while Luo Ning followed two steps behind.
When they entered the main hall of Fahua Temple, Empress Zheng knelt down devoutly.
The head monk began to chant sutras.
Out of the corner of her eye, Luo Ning saw the monk Hui Neng.
This First Seat monk was greatly favored by the noble ladies of the Inner Capital. He was clearly deeply entangled with Qiu Shi Dong, and Bai Ci Rong was able to move him to act.
She only glanced once before quickly lowering her eyes.
All unrelated people were kept outside the hall; inside were only Empress Zheng, the Duke of Shen, Prince Yong, and Luo Ning.
Prince Yong knelt on the cushion with an unmoving expression. He did not fidget at all, nor did he sneak glances at Empress Zheng.
Luo Ning thought: [Everyone has their own hardships. If the Eldest Prince dies young, the court will be in turmoil, and Empress Zheng’s position will also be in danger.]
Right now, Empress Zheng’s heart was probably ground to pieces. She had left the palace to worship Buddha and pray for blessings for the Eldest Prince.
And what about Prince Yong?
Watching Empress Zheng so anxious and in such pain, what was he feeling inside?
Even if they kept Heaven Above in their hearts, they were still just an ordinary man and woman. In their twenties, their feelings should be as bright and burning as mountain flowers. How did they endure such torment?
Luo Ning had never suffered this kind of pain.
Maybe a person’s feelings were like the levels of a pagoda, climbed one step at a time with age. First came the love of one’s parents, then the closeness of girlhood friends, and then the intimacy between man and woman.
Luo Ning was stuck on the first level.
Her birth mother had degraded her, and her family had treated her lightly. Her eyes and steps had always stayed fixed on the stair of chasing after family affection. She had no especially close friends. Her slight dependence on Yu Zhuo was only the hope that he could help her escape from the Marquis Manor.
Even after living two lifetimes, Luo Ning still could not truly understand the deep, secret feelings between Prince Yong and Empress Zheng.
But she knew those feelings existed.
She had personally seen how grand the ceremony was when Empress Zheng was made empress.
Luo Ning had always felt that power was the highest form of affection an emperor could give a woman, not gold and jewels or fine silks.
The woman the Emperor truly loved would definitely become mother of the world. Even if she died, he would still posthumously confer the title of Empress on her.
Luo Ning let her thoughts wander on and on, and before she knew it, a long while had passed.
When she finally noticed how sore her knees were from kneeling, the head monk lit another stick of incense and began a new round of chanting.
Empress Zheng and Prince Yong, however, had not moved at all.
The Duke of Shen shifted a little. He was probably as uncomfortable from kneeling as Luo Ning was.
This prayer for blessings lasted a full two hours.
Luo Ning tried again and again to distract herself, but the pain in her knees was impossible to ignore, and it made the whole thing hard to endure.
At long last, it ended.
Luo Ning pressed her hand on the cushion to stand, but an arm slipped under hers to support her.
She looked back and saw Prince Yong.
Luo Ning immediately looked toward Empress Zheng.
Empress Zheng had been kneeling for a long time as well. She struggled to stand up but could not manage it.
Luo Ning straightened up with the help of Prince Yong’s strength.
The Duke of Shen had already walked over to the Empress and was supporting her arm: “Your Majesty, slowly.”
Empress Zheng nodded.
She was extremely weak. She glanced at Prince Yong and Luo Ning, as if she wanted to say a few polite words, but in the end she could not get them out.
She was probably too tired.
“Your Majesty, please rest awhile in a meditation room in the rear courtyard and have some rice soup,” the abbot came over and said.
The Empress inclined her head and finally spoke: “Can the prayer for blessings begin?”
“Yes.”
“Then let it begin,” the Empress said.
After this, they no longer needed to kneel. The monks would open the ritual altar and borrow Heaven’s grace on behalf of the Eldest Prince.
The palace maids and steward aunt at Empress Zheng’s side helped her to the meditation room.
Luo Ning did not go along.
She left the main hall together with Prince Yong, but she really could not stand steadily anymore, so she sat down in the corridor.
“You can wait here,” Prince Yong said.
Luo Ning said: “Your Highness, please go on with your business.”
Prince Yong glanced at the Duke of Shen.
The two of them walked out of the hall and headed outside.
Luo Ning rubbed her knees, listening to the monks chanting in the hall and feeling the slightly chilly mountain wind in the corridor. She grew a little lost in thought.
She realized that this time she had thought about many things, but not once had she thought about the trivial matters of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence.
Everything was progressing step by step as planned. What still needed to be dealt with depended on timing and waiting. She did not need to keep it on her mind anymore.
[That man Qiu Shi Dong has to die. He is too good at bewitching people’s hearts. If he dies, Bai Ci Rong and Madam Bai will completely lose their support.]
Madam Bai would probably be very sad when she heard the news of Qiu Shi Dong’s death.
Although the two concubines had been dealt with, Luo You had not met with trouble inside the residence back then.
If Qiu Shi Dong did not die and Bai Yu Lin did not leave, and they tried to seek out Luo You, would they harm him again?
Luo Ning turned these thoughts over slowly.
After Prince Yong and the Duke of Shen finished talking, they came back to the courtyard outside the main hall.
“…How are your knees?” Prince Yong asked.
“Still sore, but not as painful as before,” Luo Ning answered.
“Sit a while longer. If you feel too uncomfortable, you can go lie down in a meditation room too.”
Luo Ning said she was fine.
“How are things in the Imperial Palace?” Luo Ning asked him.
Prince Yong’s face did not change. He quietly watched the sunlight spread across the bluestone courtyard. After a long moment, he said, “It is a hurdle. We will see whether the father and son can get through it.”
“Bodhisattva will bless them,” Luo Ning said.
Prince Yong nodded.
While they were talking, a novice monk suddenly came over to report.
“Prince, Prince Wei and the Princess Consort have arrived.”
Prince Yong’s brows moved slightly, but his gaze did not change. He nodded calmly: “Tell Deputy General Zhou to let them come up the mountain.”
The novice monk agreed and hurried off to pass on the message.
Soon, Luo Ning saw Prince Wei and the Princess Consort.
After the last time Princess Consort Wei shot the auspicious beast, the husband and wife had kept a low profile for a long time. Luo Ning had not seen them for quite a while.
She had not run into them in the Imperial Palace either.
Princess Consort Wei came from the Marquis of Jian Ning’s residence. Luo Ning had met the Marquis of Jian Ning and his wife; looking at her now, she felt the princess consort resembled her father more.
Her younger sister, on the other hand, looked more like Madam Wang, delicate and charming.
Madam Wang had a very pretty nose, slightly upturned. Even though she was older now, it still looked very delicate. Third Miss Wang had inherited it; Princess Consort Wei had not.
“Seventh younger brother, where is Imperial Sister-in-law?” Prince Wei asked.
“In the meditation room. The prayer has ended,” Prince Yong said.
“You go check on Imperial Sister-in-law,” Prince Wei said, then seemed to notice Luo Ning. “Sister-in-law, you go too.”
“She just knelt for a whole shichen; her knees will not move right now. Fourth Sister-in-law should go by herself,” Prince Yong said.
Princess Consort Wei said nothing more and turned to leave.
Prince Wei stayed where he was in front of Prince Yong and spoke with him about the matter of praying for blessings.
“…This time Imperial Elder Brother fell ill, was it from catching a chill? I know nothing at all about the affairs in the Imperial Palace,” Prince Wei said.
“I do not know either. I only followed Imperial Mother’s instructions. Imperial Elder Brother is not seeing anyone; I have not gone before him,” Prince Yong said.
“Third Brother is not seeing him either?”
“Imperial Mother did not let Third Brother enter the palace,” Prince Yong said in a cool tone. “Is that what you were trying to find out?”
Prince Wei fell silent.
He knew that Prince Yong had gone into the palace, so he had been circling around the question, trying to find out whether the Empress Dowager had left out only Prince Wei.
Finding out that Prince Chen had not been summoned either, Prince Wei felt much more at ease.
Prince Yong had told him everything, yet still had to point it out. He was really quite sharp-tongued.