Chapter 171
Chapter 171: Eating Our Fill With the Prince
Luo Ning sat quietly to the side without saying a word.
Xiao Huai Feng and his brother exchanged a few veiled remarks, then Prince Wei went into the main hall.
By the time the prayer ended, it was already almost midafternoon. The Empress was going back to the palace.
The Duke of Shen escorted her as before.
Prince Wei and the Princess Consort wanted to go along, but Empress Zheng refused.
Xiao Huai Feng did not escort her further either.
At the foot of the mountain, they watched the Empress leave. Seeing that it was getting late and that she had not eaten lunch yet, Luo Ning’s stomach was growling, so she said to Xiao Huai Feng: “Prince, I will head back now.”
Xiao Huai Feng said instead: “Take my carriage.”
Luo Ning did not understand, but she nodded without hesitation: “Thank you, Prince.”
When she walked up to Xiao Huai Feng’s carriage, the coachman actually set down a footstool.
Luo Ning was a little surprised.
She had ridden in Prince Yong’s carriage several times, and there had never been a footstool prepared. He was skilled in martial arts, tall, and long-legged; getting on and off a carriage was as easy as walking on level ground for him.
But Luo Ning needed one.
She did not show any reaction. She stepped onto the footstool and got in.
“Have some,” he said, taking out a food box that held several kinds of pastries.
Luo Ning stared at the pastries, feeling both ravenous and strangely unwilling to eat.
They were sweet and dry, and there was no tea in the carriage.
“I’m not very hungry.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her stomach growled.
Xiao Huai Feng glanced at her, his dark eyes calm and deep.
Luo Ning: “…”
“Do you not like these?” he asked.
“Right. They are too dry, and there is no water to wash them down,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng took out a water flask. “There is some cold water.”
Luo Ning was very hungry, but she felt there was no need to wrong herself by eating such dry pastries and drinking cold water. It was only a short distance home.
[Someone who has already died once at least deserves something good to eat.]
Nanny Kong’s cooking was good. If Luo Ning held out a little longer, she could have a tasty meal at home and feel comfortable in body and mind.
Pastries were for patching up one’s stomach or for idle snacking after a meal. They could never replace a proper meal. Otherwise, your stomach would feel bloated, yet your craving would still feel empty. It was really suffering.
“Prince, you should eat,” Luo Ning forced out a fake smile at him. “My whole body is sore from kneeling. I do not want to suffer more.”
Xiao Huai Feng really was hungry.
He picked up a piece and slowly ate it, taking a sip of cold water after quite a while. Then he said to Luo Ning: “You are actually this picky about food. No wonder you are so thin.”
“If I were stranded in the wilderness, I would not be picky,” Luo Ning said.
Fahua Temple was in the suburbs just outside the city; they would reach the city soon. Since she had the option, why should she not be picky?
A short while later, the carriage entered the city. There were peddlers along the road, and Luo Ning smelled the fragrance of fried flatbread.
The rich smell of meat and oil mixed with the smell of wheat made her mouth water.
She said to Xiao Huai Feng: “Prince, have them stop and buy a fried cake.”
Xiao Huai Feng ordered the carriage to pull over and told a bodyguard riding along to buy some.
Soon, the bodyguard handed in two fried cakes.
Luo Ning took a bite. Warm oil coated the tip of her tongue, and she suddenly felt she was finally treating herself right.
She took another bite.
Xiao Huai Feng ate the other one.
After they finished, Xiao Huai Feng suddenly spoke: “There are roadside restaurants too. Let’s eat something before going back.”
One piece of pastry and one fried cake had not filled him up; instead, they had only whetted his appetite and made him hungrier.
Luo Ning felt the same. Now she was even more anxious to eat. Yet she still had some misgivings, so she asked cautiously: “Prince, are you used to eating that kind of food?”
“Do you think I am that pampered and delicate?” he said.
Luo Ning: “…”
Because they were still some distance from the Imperial City, the roadside restaurants were all ordinary ones, not the luxurious inns you saw near the Imperial City.
There was a barely adequate private seat on the second floor, small and cramped, with shabby doors, windows, and curtains.
But the food was delicious.
Luo Ning felt that maybe it was because she was hungry, or maybe this cook really was skilled. She could not stop moving her chopsticks.
Very soon, she felt stuffed.
After the meal, the shopboy brought them two cups of barley tea.
It smelled wonderful.
Xiao Huai Feng probably felt the same. He drank it sip after sip.
It was dusk. Looking out from the second-floor window, the sky blazed with fiery clouds. The glow of the sunset streamed in through the window, covering the room.
Xiao Huai Feng watched quietly.
Luo Ning watched too.
Maybe because she was full and content, she felt that evening’s sunset was especially beautiful.
“Prince, do not worry,” Luo Ning said. “The court situation will not fall into chaos.”
Xiao Huai Feng came back to himself.
He glanced at Luo Ning and said lightly: “You always seem to hold this prince in high regard.”
She believed that what he worried about was the situation of the court, not his own gains and losses or hoping for the Emperor’s death.
“I chose you as my backer, of course because I feel you have the most ability and the broadest heart. Did you think I just picked someone at random and hoped to get lucky? My eye for people is very good,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng looked at her again.
The rich afterglow made her eyes seem especially bright.
After he had looked his fill, he shifted his gaze away without much expression and stood up: “Come on, let us head back. It is getting late.”
Luo Ning answered that she would and followed after him.
Many people heard that Empress Zheng had left the palace to pray for blessings.
It was said that the Eldest Prince’s fever broke that very night and did not come back.
Whether court officials or the Empress Dowager, everyone was moved by the Empress’s kindness toward the Eldest Prince.
She had done her duty as both an empress and a mother. Her sincere love for her son touched people’s hearts.
The Emperor’s illness slowly stabilized as well.
Once order was restored in the Imperial City, Prince Yong stopped going into the palace.
Luo Ning went once more to Prince Yong’s residence to ask about it.
Prince Yong told her about the situation in the Imperial Palace.
“Imperial Elder Brother is already able to read and approve memorials, but outwardly they are still saying he is recuperating,” Prince Yong said. “Imperial Mother wants to use this matter to observe the court again.”
Luo Ning understood.
“Prince, do I still need to enter the palace to pay respects to Imperial Mother?” she asked.
“No need. Matters in the Imperial Court are complicated. Imperial Mother may not want us to go,” Prince Yong said.
“Then I will not go,” Luo Ning said.
Having gotten a clear answer, she went back to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence with an easy mind.
On the way, however, she ran into Zheng Xiao.
Zheng Xiao was Empress Zheng’s younger brother. In the past, Prince Yong had even beaten him up.
Prince Yong had kicked and broken his nose with one blow.
Luo Ning had also run into him at the Spring Viewing Banquet. After seeing him once more after that, she had never come across him again.
She had not expected to meet him on the street today.
Her carriage was stopped by him.
“…What is it?” Luo Ning’s maidservant Qiu Hua asked coldly.
Zheng Xiao said: “Miss Luo is not yet Princess Consort Yong, and already she puts on such airs? I want to ask you to come out and say a few words.”
Luo Ning sat in the carriage and did not answer.
Qiu Hua, her expression unfriendly, said: “Prince Yong’s intended consort does not know you and has no need to speak with you. Move aside.”
Seeing this, Zheng Xiao had no choice but to step aside.
The carriage went on.
Sitting in the carriage, Luo Ning thought it strange that Zheng Xiao had suddenly blocked the road.
They were not even very familiar.
“What is wrong with that person?” Qiu Hua was puzzled as well.
Luo Ning shook her head. “I do not know.”
She added, “He is Her Majesty the Empress’s younger brother and not very bright. Who knows what he is doing. There has been so much happening in the Imperial Palace lately; maybe someone is egging him on.”
“How hateful,” Qiu Hua said.
Luo Ning patted the back of Qiu Hua’s hand. “It does not matter. We are not looking for trouble and we stay hidden in the inner courtyard. What can he do? We just need to go home.”
Only when the carriage returned to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence did Qiu Hua finally feel relieved.
After coming back, Luo Ning ate first, then washed and changed clothes. She sat on the large heated kang bed by the window and practiced her calligraphy.
She wrote with great focus.
She did not want to let her thoughts run wild or worry in advance. When something came, she would just deal with it then. If you thought too much, it was easy to fall into a trap.
However, even though Luo Ning tried to avoid trouble, trouble still came looking for her.