Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Blocking Luo Ning from Entering the Palace, Poisoning Her
On New Year’s Eve, the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor was fairly lively.
Even if the Marchioness felt dissatisfied, she still forced a smile and managed all the household affairs.
She never dared to put the burden down.
The reason was simple. The Luo Family had an old foundation. They had not risen only because of Marquis of Zhen Nan Luo Chong Ye, and they certainly were not living off the Marchioness’s dowry.
The Marchioness’s wealth only bought goodwill and added a bit of shine. It did not control the lifeblood of the Marquis Manor’s money.
The Luo Family owned more than three thousand mu of ancestral sacrificial fields, enough for their descendants to eat and drink without worry for several generations.
If the Marchioness no longer wanted to serve as house steward and hand over the account books, she would have to explain all the expenses she had made in the Luo Family’s name to build connections for her maiden home over the years.
Those gift monies were not something the Luo Family needed to pay. Madam Bai was the one who wanted to socialize, spending her own money, and the other side had not even sent return gifts.
Besides, if she was no longer the house steward, it would cut off her maiden home’s path for the future.
In the last ten years, the Bai Family had earned huge profits from sea trade, yet they still had not managed to marry into any noble household higher than the Luo Family. That showed just how much the great clans looked down on merchants.
The Luo Family was their only option.
In the past, they had relied on their money to deliberately look down on the Luo Family, yet at the same time tried to use the Luo Family to latch onto even more powerful nobles.
[You are their only stepping stone, yet they still decide you are not high enough and look down on you.]
Now that the Luo Family held a noble rank, the Bai Family and the Marchioness all the more did not dare let go.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan, the Old Madam, and Madam Bai all understood this. So when the marquis and his mother faced Madam Bai, even if they accepted her money, they remained neither humble nor overbearing.
Madam Bai herself managed the household with great care and never slacked off.
Other people were a bit muddle-headed. They were confused by Madam Bai and dazzled by money, unable to see the truth.
On the first day of the new year, the married noblewomen had to enter the palace to pay New Year’s respects to the Empress Dowager.
At the start of the third watch, Madam Bai, the Marchioness, got up to wash and dress.
Bai Ci Rong arrived very early in the morning to help her aunt choose jewelry.
Bai Ci Rong said: “This set of red gemstones is nice. It makes you look so rosy and well.”
The Marchioness said: “It is a bit too bright.”
Bai Ci Rong said: “You are going into the palace to give New Year’s greetings. Of course you should look grand and noble.”
The Marchioness thought for a moment, then chose the red gemstone set after all.
As she watched the Marchioness put on her full ceremonial makeup and the complicated, luxurious court robes of a first-rank imperial honorary title, Bai Ci Rong’s eyes were filled with unconcealed envy.
She whispered: “Aunt, you really married well.”
The Marchioness sent the maidservants away, held her hand, and said: “In the future, you will marry even better than I did. This Marquis Manor’s noble rank and the Bai Family’s wealth are your two wings. They will definitely let you fly up to the branches and become a phoenix.”
Bai Ci Rong’s heart gave a little jump: “Aunt, I don’t dare think that far.”
The Marchioness gave a soft laugh and said: “I was born a merchant from Yuhang. Could you have imagined that I would be going into the palace today to give New Year’s greetings? We were born with nobility in our fate. The people around us are all our nourishment.”
Bai Ci Rong’s cheeks grew burning hot.
The Marchioness went on: “Even if you do not become a Princess Consort, you should at least be the young madam of a prestigious clan.”
Bai Ci Rong blinked and said: “If that really happens, then all the lonely suffering I, A’Rong, went through before will not have been in vain.”
The Marchioness gently put her arms around her and felt endless heartache.
By the end of the third watch, when the Marchioness was about to leave, it was still pitch dark outside.
People from the imperial palace suddenly arrived.
An eunuch from Shoucheng Palace, the residence of the Empress Dowager Madam Cui, came to deliver an oral decree from the Empress Dowager: “The Marchioness is to bring the eldest young lady Luo Ning into the palace to pay New Year’s respects.”
The Marchioness knelt and kowtowed to give thanks.
But inside her sleeves, her hands clenched slightly.
She did not want to bring Luo Ning with her, for fear that Luo Ning would steal the spotlight. In the future, when Bai Ci Rong appeared in society, other people would compare the two of them.
Once there was a comparison, Bai Ci Rong would be at a disadvantage.
A reputation as a talented woman or praise for one’s beauty could never compare to being the legitimate young lady of the Marquis Manor.
The Marchioness had already decided to marry Luo Ning off to faraway Shaoyang. At that time she could give Luo Ning an extremely generous dowry as compensation from a mother.
But now, the Empress Dowager had ordered her to bring Luo Ning into the palace.
She could not disobey the decree.
When Bai Ci Rong heard about this, her face once more showed unhidden envy: “The Empress Dowager treats Sister A’Ning so well. She is really lucky.”
The Marchioness’s heart twisted to pieces.
She really could not accept Bai Ci Rong envying anything.
She wished she could take out her own heart and give it to Bai Ci Rong.
Anything Bai Ci Rong did not have, Luo Ning absolutely could not have either.
Thinking of this, the Marchioness immediately rummaged through her chests and boxes and took out a small jade bottle.
She ordered a maidservant: “Bring a bowl of the bird’s nest porridge that was cooked this morning.”
The maidservant answered at once.
The Marchioness quietly poured a little of what was in the small jade bottle into the bird’s nest porridge, then told a young maidservant to carry it in a food box and deliver it to Wenqi Courtyard.
She went along in person as well.
She smiled and said: “Eat quickly and then get your hair done. The Empress Dowager has specially ordered you to go pay New Year’s respects. If we are any later, the palace gates will be packed with people and it will be hard to get in. We will miss the proper time.”
She took the bowl of bird’s nest porridge from the young maidservant and personally handed it to Luo Ning.
Luo Ning accepted it and smelled a very, very faint fragrance.
In her previous life, she had drunk this kind of bird’s nest porridge twice.
The first time, red rashes had broken out all over her body, and her cheeks had swollen up like a pig’s head. She suffered for two full days before it faded. The second time, she became suspicious, yet she also felt that her mother could not possibly be that vicious, so she still drank it.
She broke out in rashes again.
After she died and became a ghost, she saw her mother use this trick on a pair of disobedient twin concubines, using a larger dose. One concubine’s skin split open and she died from it. Only then did Luo Ning suddenly understand.
It was such a poisonous drug.
It was just that the dose given to Luo Ning had been extremely small.
Both times the drug had been used to snatch away Luo Ning’s chances and give them to Bai Ci Rong.
Thinking of this, Luo Ning suddenly smiled, lifted the bowl of bird’s nest porridge to her mother’s lips, and said: “Mother, you drink first. The imperial palace does not serve food, so don’t go hungry.”
The Marchioness seemed startled and jerked her head back.
She herself realized that her reaction was too extreme and quickly laughed: “I just put on lip rouge. Don’t smudge it.”
Then she added with a smile: “Hurry and drink it while it’s hot.”
Luo Ning raised her sleeve to cover the rim of the bowl, pretended to take a sip, and poured some of the bird’s nest porridge onto the inside of her sleeve.
She wrapped her sleeve around herself and said with a smile: “I am not hungry yet. I will do my hair first.”
She sent the Marchioness away, asking her to go sit and wait in the outer courtyard hall for a while.
Then she waited for the moment when the Marchioness would come in again to urge her, raised the bowl to her lips, and made a show of drinking. The bird’s nest porridge in the bowl had already been dumped out.
The Marchioness smiled in satisfaction and said: “Rinse your mouth. You should put on some lip rouge.”
Luo Ning did as she was told.
Just as they were about to leave, they ran into Bai Ci Rong, who was on her way to go pay New Year’s respects to the Old Madam.
Her clothes were ten thousand times more luxurious than Luo Ning’s.
Luo Ning wore a plain long jacket with a crimson long skirt, and a silk cloak over it. Bai Ci Rong, on the other hand, wore a patterned woven brocade long jacket with a light purple skirt, covered by a large cloak woven with peacock feathers.
Bai Ci Rong smiled and said: “Aunt, Sister A’Ning, are you two heading out?”
Yet her gaze kept sizing up Luo Ning.
Luo Ning gave a slight nod.
The Marchioness seemed blind to Luo Ning’s simple, elegant clothing. In her eyes there was only praise for Bai Ci Rong.
Bai Ci Rong was so beautiful and so noble looking, just like her.
The Marchioness patted Bai Ci Rong’s hand and said: “Hurry along, it’s cold.” Only then did she take Luo Ning out with her.
At the gate, two carriages were waiting.
The Marchioness had arranged this on purpose.
The Marchioness said: “A’Ning, using this kind of four-horse carriage makes it easier to get through the crowds. The Grand Master’s six-horse carriage cannot turn around at the foot of the Imperial City.”
Luo Ning knew this was true.
On the day of the New Year’s court audience, there were too many people going to pay New Year’s respects, so even the Grand Master would use a four-horse carriage. Otherwise, there would be nowhere to park.
The reason they used two carriages was to make it easy to send Luo Ning back halfway. Otherwise, with mother and daughter each bringing only one servant, a single carriage would have been enough.
Luo Ning supported Madam Bai’s arm and said: “Mother, slow down.”
She also exposed a bit of the red mark on the back of her hand for the Marchioness to see.
The sky was still dim. It was hard to tell whether it was a rash or rouge, and the Marchioness could not very well inspect it closely. She only glanced at it, kept it in mind, and then got into her carriage.
Only after she saw Madam Bai get into her carriage did Luo Ning climb into hers.
She said to her coachman: “Take the shortcut through Anxing Ward.”