Chapter 175
Chapter 175: Acting Spoiled and Crying
Luo You was still in prison.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan shut his doors and did not go out.
More and more people slowly began to pay attention to this matter.
Zheng Xiao was brought to the Ming Hall and made to kneel in front of his parents.
“I was only fooling around with Luo You,” Zheng Xiao said. “I did not touch his maidservant. I only ordered A’Fu and the others to act.” Cold sweat was streaming down his cheeks as he looked toward his mother for help.
His mother shook her head at him.
“Bastard. You ordered the servants to do such filthy things and threw all of the Zheng Family’s face away. Her Majesty the Empress already sent people to ask about it. You have dragged even Her Majesty down with you,” his father, the Duke of the Realm, shouted.
“She is just a maidservant. It is not as if she was a young miss of the Luo Family…” Zheng Xiao tried to argue.
He had not touched that maidservant himself. What was so shameful about that?
“Where are your men?” the Duke of the Realm asked him.
Zheng Xiao said nothing.
His men were only supposed to anger Luo You and force him to strike first.
After all, Luo You was only twelve or thirteen years old. In Zheng Xiao’s eyes, he was just a child, his body not yet grown.
Who would have thought that Luo You’s maidservant would actually kill herself? She had suffered only “a little grievance,” so why go that far? She was someone by Luo You’s side. Had he not already used her?
When Zheng Xiao was the same age as Luo You, he already had a bedchamber maid.
He had ordered A’Fu and the others to lay hands on Chun Zhi, with the real target being Luo You, to “put a green hat” on him and disgrace him.
But Chun Zhi’s suicide changed the nature of the matter. And as for Luo You, although he was young and also a scholar, his long staff was deadly in his hands.
Zheng Xiao’s attendants had gone there with the goal of “provoking” him. They were not household guards, so their skills were limited. They had planned to have a back-and-forth scuffle with Luo You, but instead they were only beaten.
Later, when they tried their best to fight back, Luo You’s staff work only became smoother and more powerful. He was in a mad rage, fierce and quick. Zheng Xiao’s attendants could not match him at all.
In the end, they had to pull out a long knife to try to scare him.
They failed to scare him. The long knife was snatched away and driven into A’Fu’s lower belly with one thrust.
The three attendants that were left were scared out of their wits.
Zheng Xiao himself was badly frightened too.
He had miscalculated.
A grown man, leading four grown male servants, had gone to cause trouble for a boy whose body was not yet fully grown. His attitude had been careless from the start.
If he had known things would turn out like this, Zheng Xiao would have taken the household guards instead. Those men were all trained in martial skills.
Just after Zheng Xiao and the others ran off, the officers arrived. They seized Luo You and at least completed that part of his plan.
Zheng Xiao had ordered his attendants to carry A’Fu back to the city for treatment. But on the way, another group appeared and took all four of his attendants away.
Now A’Fu’s life or death was unknown.
Luo You had also been thrown into the big prison.
Kneeling in front of his parents, Zheng Xiao truly had a bitter story he could not tell.
“Why did you have to go and provoke a child?” the Duke of the Realm asked.
Zheng Xiao had no answer. “It was an accident.”
“Someone is dead. That is no accident,” the Duke of the Realm said.
Madam Zheng sighed. “It is only a maidservant. We can give the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor some money, then go apologize in person. That is enough. Do not make things too hard on the child.”
“You will take out three thousand taels and personally go to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor,” the Duke of the Realm said. “As for the City Patrol Bureau, I will go smooth things over there and get Luo You released.
“As for our own men, right now we do not even know whose hands they have fallen into or whether they are alive or dead.” The Duke of the Realm also sighed.
This matter was truly troublesome.
“Why are you still here? Get out,” the Duke of the Realm said to his son.
Zheng Xiao answered and scrambled to his feet, then hurried away.
Madam Zheng picked up her tea to moisten her throat, but a maidservant from the second gate came in to report.
“Madam, Her Majesty the Empress has summoned you.”
The Duke of the Realm looked at Madam Zheng and said: “Go change your clothes.”
Madam Zheng still finished the cup of tea. “She is probably asking about this matter too. Prince Yong’s intended consort may have gone to the palace to complain.”
“In front of Her Majesty, say some good words. Do not make her angry.”
“What is there to be angry about? It is a small matter. We spend some money and the disaster is gone,” Madam Zheng said.
Because it was not a festival, Madam Zheng did not wear full formal makeup according to her rank when she entered the palace. She only wore a fine, luxurious dress and went to Kunning Palace.
Empress Zheng had just finished worrying herself sick over the Eldest Prince. For the past few days, her complexion had not been very good.
“What has Third Brother done now?” she asked.
Madam Zheng cut off both the beginning and the end of the story and only told the middle part simply.
“Some children had a quarrel, and a maidservant killed herself. The Luo Family is a small household. They have never seen the world and probably cannot accept this. I already spoke with Lord Marquis. We will go to their house to apologize and send three thousand taels of silver banknotes,” Madam Zheng said with a smile.
Empress Zheng’s face turned black at once, like the bottom of a pot. “Third Brother drove someone to death, and in your eyes that is just children fooling around?”
“She is only a maidservant…”
“She was a maidservant of the Luo Family, not of our Zheng Family. If the Luo Family refuses to let the matter drop, what will you do then?” Empress Zheng asked.
Madam Zheng forced out a smile. “Your Majesty, please do not be angry. You have just come through such hard days…”
“So you know I have suffered? When our own family acts like this and makes me lose face, how am I supposed to hold my head up?” Empress Zheng asked sharply.
Madam Zheng could no longer keep her smile. “Your Majesty, it is not that serious.”
Empress Zheng said nothing.
Within less than three days, the whole city was in an uproar.
Everyone knew that Zheng Xiao had driven a maidservant of the Luo Family to her death, and that the Zheng Family had even sent people to report to the authorities and have Luo You locked up.
Madam Zheng’s family had produced three Dukes of the Realm. They were already extremely powerful and were also the Empress’s maiden home, watched by everyone. Now that one of their young masters was bullying others by relying on his power, people’s spit alone was enough to drown Madam Zheng and also sweep away Her Majesty the Empress’s face.
The story spread wider and wider until it reached the Imperial Palace.
The Empress Dowager summoned Luo Ning to ask about it.
Luo Ning had just arrived and was talking with the Empress Dowager about the matter when Empress Zheng came.
“Sister-in-law, it is all our Duke of the Realm manor that has been rude. I have come to apologize to you,” Empress Zheng said.
Luo Ning stood up and said: “Your Majesty, I do not dare accept that. I fear someone is stirring up trouble on purpose, trying to make Prince Yong’s manor and Madam Zheng’s family fight.”
“Sister-in-law truly understands the situation,” Empress Zheng said.
As she spoke, tears filled her eyes.
The Empress Dowager asked her to sit. “Why are you crying now?”
Empress Zheng moved to sit right next to the Empress Dowager and said: “They will not give me any face and have dragged me into this as well…” Her voice broke, and she began to sob.
Empress Zheng’s crying was very contagious. It sounded like a baby crying, soft and pitiful. Even the Empress Dowager’s gaze softened. Then Empress Zheng threw herself into the Empress Dowager’s arms.
She cried miserably.
Thinking of how, in the last few days, Empress Zheng had taken care of the Eldest Prince day and night without rest, only to be stabbed in the back by her maiden family members, the Empress Dowager felt sorry for her.
“All right, all right,” the Empress Dowager said, gently patting her back, her voice as soft as water.
Luo Ning sat to the side, her eyes lowered.
“A’Ning, the City Patrol Bureau will release your brother,” the Empress Dowager said. “This matter will be handled by the two families together. If there is anything you feel is not right, come tell me.”
Luo Ning answered that she understood.
However, the City Patrol Bureau still did not release Luo You, because Zheng Xiao’s attendants were missing.
With those four men’s lives and deaths unknown, Luo You’s crime could not be clearly judged, so the case could only be delayed. The officer in charge was so anxious he was almost mad, while all of Shengjing watched the show.
On the way back, Luo Ning sat in the carriage and stared blankly for a long time.
Madam Zheng went to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor to visit, but was stopped at the gate.
She truly had not expected this.
She wanted to see the Empress Dowager, and even the Empress Dowager would give her face. How would the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor dare block her?
She even thought the servants must have passed along the wrong message.
“Our madam is ill and truly cannot receive guests. Madam, please forgive us,” a servant boy said.
“There is no one in charge?” she asked.
“In the inner residence, no one knows who is in charge,” the servant boy said again. “No one has the right to call themselves head of the house. Right now everything is a complete mess.”
Madam Zheng was speechless.