Chapter 187
Chapter 187: The Prince Has Everything
After Luo Ning finished threatening Bai Yu Lin, she returned to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence.
Her brother was waiting for her in Wenqi Courtyard.
“So, how did it go?” Luo You asked.
Luo Ning said: “Uncle should not dare act rashly. Qiu Shi Dong just died, and I also warned him. He will know better.”
“He has done quite a lot of wicked things too.”
Luo Ning glanced at Luo You, afraid he would change from ordinary to extreme.
“Uncle does have many faults, but he is not the mastermind of this matter. The Imperial Court always shows some mercy to accomplices,” Luo Ning said.
Luo You said: “Big Sister, you are too forgiving.”
“I am busy every day. I do not want to waste my energy on people who do not matter. Being lenient to others is also being kind to myself,” Luo Ning said.
Luo You was slightly stunned.
Luo Ning said: “First you must live up to yourself, and then not hurt the innocent. That is a kind of cultivation.”
It was as if Luo You suddenly understood something.
He was silent for a moment, then, rare for him, smiled: “Big Sister, have you been studying Zen lately?”
The siblings looked at each other and smiled.
Luo You was not in a hurry to return to the academy.
After Chun Zhi’s tragic death, he wanted to pick up his martial arts again and start practicing.
When he was young, he hated squatting in horse stance and learning the spear. It was tiring and boring.
But when he had to fight, he deeply hated that he had let his martial arts go to waste and that his skills were not good enough to beat those people to death with one strike.
These past few days, he had been getting up early every day to practice horse stance.
“I will wait for the academy’s arrangements. Going back after the New Year is fine,” Luo You said.
Luo Ning said: “I have sent people to ask. Your case came first, and the academy already has arrangements. They are discussing when to let you return to your studies.”
She gave him a reassurance: “Your sister is Prince Yong’s intended consort, and the scholarly youths from Lushan Academy have also spoken up for you. Chunshan Academy would not dare force you to quit.”
“I know this. Prince Yong holds enormous power, and the scholarly youths often talk about him. I heard that his calligraphy and painting are both excellent. Sister, have you seen the Prince’s writing or paintings?”
“No.”
Luo Ning had not seen them, but she remembered Prince Chen mentioning that Xiao Huai Feng’s paintings of court ladies were very good.
“Next time, ask him for one. I want to copy it and take a look. He had martial training from childhood, so his handwriting should be very suitable for me to practice,” Luo You said.
“Another day, I will take you to visit him,” Luo Ning said.
Just as she finished speaking, a maidservant from the second gate came in and said that someone from Prince Yong’s residence had arrived to invite her over.
“Then there is no need to wait for another day,” Luo Ning said with a smile. “Go back and change your clothes. The two of us will go together.”
“All right,” Luo You answered neatly.
After everything that had happened, he had grown up in an instant and no longer rejected social dealings.
Luo Ning told Qiu Lan to reward the servants who had come from Prince Yong’s residence with the message, and to go back ahead of time to tell the Prince that Luo Ning would be bringing her brother to pay a visit.
When the siblings arrived at Prince Yong’s residence, Xiao Huai Feng was sitting properly in a chair drinking tea, as if he had been waiting for them on purpose.
“Prince, A’You would like to see your calligraphy,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng looked at Luo You: “I thought you wanted to learn martial arts.”
Luo You bowed respectfully: “I also want to ask the Prince for guidance.”
Xiao Huai Feng said: “You are still too young. My guidance would not be useful to you. You would not be able to learn it.”
Then he called toward the door: “Deputy General Zhou.”
Deputy General Zhou came in and saluted, as if he had also been waiting. Otherwise, at this time he would surely be at the drill ground watching the regional troops train.
“Take him to the drill ground,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
Deputy General Zhou answered at once.
He looked at Luo You with eyes full of encouragement and appreciation: “Second Young Master, please.”
When Luo You heard the words “drill ground,” his eyes lit up. He at once left together with Deputy General Zhou.
A maidservant served tea to Luo Ning, and she thanked him first: “Thank you, Prince.”
Xiao Huai Feng only nodded slightly.
He brought up Qiu Shi Dong and praised Luo Ning again: “You handled this matter well.”
“If it were not for the poisoned needle the Prince used, it would not have gone so smoothly. I only did forty percent; sixty percent was thanks to the Prince’s help. Thank you, Prince,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng said: “In just two short sentences, you thanked me twice. How many more times will you thank me today? Finish saying them all first, then we can sit and chat properly.”
Luo Ning: “…”
Although he was teasing her, his expression was not serious.
Luo Ning looked for a topic and began to talk about the Duke of the Realm’s residence.
“Lately the Censorate has stopped scolding you and is focusing only on scolding the Duke of the Realm’s residence,” Luo Ning said.
She remembered that when she had just returned to the capital, half the memorials the Censorate sent up every day were all scolding him.
“Which of these aristocratic families does not deserve to be scolded?” he said.
Luo Ning nodded: “Keeping these people fed is too heavy a burden on the commoners.”
Xiao Huai Feng glanced at her again.
He did not say anything.
He picked up his tea and took a sip. The tea was very fragrant, warming him from his throat all the way to his heart.
“Prince, do you have a hot spring villa?” Luo Ning asked.
Xiao Huai Feng put down his teacup: “In this Inner Capital, whatever others have, I have as well; and what others do not have, I also have.”
Luo Ning: “…”
“Among us brothers, the third was made a prince at seven, the fourth at ten, and the rest after the age of thirteen. Only I was made a Prince of the Blood at three months old,” Xiao Huai Feng added.
Listening to this, Luo Ning felt that this prince had every right to be proud.
At three months old, who could know if a child would become a dragon or an insect? Yet the late emperor had already favored him then, which showed it was not because he was especially outstanding.
It was simply because he liked him.
Liking someone was not reasonable and had nothing to do with logic.
Of course, the fact that he was liked all along was also because he really lived up to expectations.
“Everything you have seen or can think of, Imperial Father has already rewarded Prince Yong’s residence with. Of course I have a hot spring villa,” Xiao Huai Feng concluded.
“It will snow in a few days. Will the Prince be using his hot spring villa? If not, could you lend it to me for a few days? I want to take Grandmother there for a short stay,” Luo Ning said with a smile.
Xiao Huai Feng called someone in again.
“Go and tell the chief steward to bring the keys to the villa for the princess consort.”
Very soon, Luo Ning received the keys.
Luo You came back from the drill ground full of energy, having learned several moves.
As expected, Xiao Huai Feng also gave him a few pieces of calligraphy.
Luo Ning and Luo You looked at them together.
The writing was indeed excellent, as light as flowing wind and drifting snow, very graceful.
“These are characters written by someone with great strength, yet you cannot see the force in them. It is like lifting something heavy as if it were light,” Luo You sighed. “The more strength there is, the more free and easy the writing becomes.”
On the other hand, it was when the hand lacked strength or skill that the writing looked heavy.
“It truly is very good calligraphy,” Luo Ning also said.
She discussed with her brother: “Give me one piece. I also want to copy it.”
Her brother picked out the best piece, ‘Return Upstream,’ and handed it to Luo Ning. “This one is the best. Every character in it is good,” he said.
He could not help sighing again: “You can tell it was written all at once. But from the very first character to the last, there is no change at all.”
When Luo You wrote, the beginning was often a bit stiff, the middle very smooth, and the end dragged a little. Of course, this was a small flaw. Unless a scholar-teacher was extremely strict about calligraphy, most people would not mind it, or even notice it.
He cared about it because he had once earned money by selling his writing. Any business was full of picky customers, so Luo You had developed the skill of judging calligraphy.
“If you practice well, you will write even better than the Prince one day,” Luo Ning said.
“I do not dare hope to be better. If I can equal him, that will already be a great achievement.”
Looking at the characters again, he said: “No wonder the scholarly youths praise him as ‘accomplished in both civil and martial arts’. It is not just flattery.”
Luo Ning said: “The Prince has always been very strict with himself.”
She did not know what Xiao Huai Feng had experienced while growing up.
But since he had enjoyed the late emperor’s favor from childhood, there were surely people who were unhappy about it, especially his eldest brother, the Crown Prince.
Maybe Xiao Huai Feng had done it so that others would not be able to find fault with him, or maybe he was simply strong-willed by nature, but he had indeed managed to be three points better than others in all things.
And because he had received so much, he had developed a strict yet not mean-spirited personality.