Chapter 200
Chapter 200: The Princess’s Ambition
Grand Princess Jia Hong looked perfectly calm.
Inside, she was a little amazed and a little afraid, and she also felt sorry for Luo Ning’s ordeal. She comforted her with a few words, acting just right.
When she left, Luo Ning stared in a daze at her departing back.
“A’Ning, what are you thinking about?” the Empress Dowager asked her.
Luo Ning said: “No one should suspect the Princess. It was the Buddha hall, and she and her beloved son were there too. She would not risk herself. Besides, they found a gold mine and bones. People will be more interested in those things.”
The Empress Dowager smiled in relief: “A’Ning, you think far ahead.”
She lowered her voice: “You must keep your composure.”
Luo Ning agreed.
She could not help asking: “Imperial Mother, do you think the Princess did this?”
“It was her,” the Empress Dowager said.
Luo Ning let out a breath: “That was my guess too, but I was afraid I was wrong.”
The Empress Dowager smiled: “A’Ning, it does not matter if you guess wrong.”
Luo Ning thought over these words, then gave a bitter smile: “Imperial Mother, am I a bit too lacking to really be of use?”
She could not match the Princess’s cruelty, and she did not have the Empress Dowager’s calm.
“You are still young,” the Empress Dowager said. “Many people your age cannot even be taught properly. But you understand every word I say. A’Ning, you are very good.”
She added: “But for this disaster, it will be very hard to sentence the Princess.”
“I understand,” Luo Ning said.
She rested in Shoucheng Palace for three days.
After taking her medicine, her cough stopped, and the wound on the back of her hand had scabbed over.
Only when the Empress Dowager saw that she was completely stable could she feel at ease.
Xiao Huai Feng had not been in the Imperial Palace these three days. He was the one who had brought Luo Ning here, and he was also the one who came to take her back to Wenqi Courtyard.
Because she was returning from the Imperial Palace, Luo Ning went back home through the main gate.
When Xiao Huai Feng arrived at the Luo family home, he also sat and chatted with the Marquis of Zhen Nan, with Luo You accompanying them. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, this future father-in-law of his had already said a whole basket of things that sounded harsh to his ears.
Instead, it was the still young Luo You whose words matched his temper.
When Xiao Huai Feng took his leave, he did not let Luo Chong Ye see him off, but instead asked Luo You to walk him out.
“Prince, was someone trying to harm my elder sister this time?” Luo You asked bluntly. “I do not believe it was an accident.”
His elder sister could not be that unlucky.
“Someone did plot against her. But I had not placed any spies on that person beforehand, so I only learned of it afterward. I was a step too late and did not catch any solid evidence,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
“Who was it that harmed my elder sister?”
“Grand Princess Jia Hong,” Xiao Huai Feng said directly.
He added: “I am telling you this not so you will rush off to seek revenge, but so that you will be on guard.”
Luo You said: “I will not act on impulse. I will study hard and train in martial arts. In the future, I will work for you, Prince, and for my elder sister.”
Xiao Huai Feng nodded in satisfaction.
He mounted his horse and rode away.
At Grand Princess Jia Hong’s residence, Pei Ying was packing his things.
The Princess lost her temper: “If you dare step one foot out that gate, I will make you understand the consequences.”
Pei Ying ignored her.
There were only a few changes of clothes in his bundle.
Seeing that she could not stop him, the Princess told a maidservant to lock his door from the outside and sent everyone else away.
“If you do not believe me, by tomorrow morning the entire street in front of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence will be blown away,” the Princess said.
Pei Ying stopped what he was doing.
He straightened up and quietly looked back at his mother. His tall figure blocked half the ray of sunlight coming in through the window.
The heated floor channels in the room were not lit, and the cold was like ice.
“Mother, if I go to the Dali Court to testify, and add in the fact that Wang Tang Yao was injured before, he will certainly send you to prison,” Pei Ying said.
Grand Princess Jia Hong’s face looked extremely ugly: “You are certain I did it?”
“You promised me you would never hurt A’Ning, yet she was almost buried alive. You also promised me you would be honest with me, yet you kept deceiving me again and again,” Pei Ying said.
Grand Princess Jia Hong was at a loss for words for a long time.
She knew her son’s temper.
If she kept hiding this matter, she feared her son really would become a monk and never return to the capital.
She could not accept that.
Her son was her only weakness. Even when he had left her to travel and study, not even becoming a monk, she had suffered greatly and worried about him every moment.
“A’Ying, are you going to force your own mother like this?”
Pei Ying looked at her and said nothing.
“I did it,” Grand Princess Jia Hong said. “But I did not think anything would happen to her, and I did not know there was a hidden mechanism under the offering table.
I only knew that there was a gold mine under Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. It had been dug long ago, more than twenty years back. Above, people burn incense and worship; below, the white bones lie in piles. I was only exposing its hypocrisy.”
Pei Ying’s expression shifted slightly.
Some of the tension left him.
Seeing this, Grand Princess Jia Hong continued to play the pitiful role: “I never thought of harming A’Ning. She only needed to disappear for a few days. Once her family was thrown into confusion, we could take the chance to create a small accident.
Do you know, her mother is in very poor health, mad all day long, and her conduct is even improper. If she died in the chaos, A’Ning would only be grateful to us.
After A’Ning finished her mourning seclusion, we would have a chance to deal with Xiao Huai Feng. The secondary consorts would enter his residence first, and the other great clans would do everything they could to stop A’Ning from marrying into it again.
In the days to come, others would fan the flames. All we needed to do was protect A’Ning and shield her when she was on the very edge of the storm.
After we had taken care of Xiao Huai Feng and everything was settled, the Emperor might even be gone. The Young Emperor, the young Empress Dowager, and the Grand Empress Dowager would all need Madam Pei.
A’Ying, if A’Ning married you then, the Empress Dowager would agree. I am thinking of both Madam Pei and your future, and also of your marriage. I want to kill two birds with one stone.”
Pei Ying closed his eyes in pain.
Silent, he slowly sat down.
“Mother, your ambition is too great,” Pei Ying said at last.
“The Emperor is in poor health. This is a chance that comes once in a thousand years. Perhaps one day the dynasty will change,” Grand Princess Jia Hong said.
Pei Ying’s eyes flew open, and he looked at her in shock.
“Who knows what happened in the past?” the Princess said. “You are my son. You carry your maternal grandfather’s blood. You are naturally of the highest nobility.
Why is it that only a grandson can inherit the throne, but not a maternal grandson? That Young Emperor is frail and sickly. How long can he last?”
Pei Ying sat there in utter despair.
Perhaps he never should have returned to the capital.
From childhood, he had never had such worldly desires. Power held no attraction for him.
His mother’s boundless ambition looked like a mad obsession in his eyes.
He only wanted to read books, play his flute, and live a simple life.
“Mother, you have dragged me into this,” Pei Ying said softly.
“If you still want A’Ning, you should not think of staying out of it,” Grand Princess Jia Hong said.
“I will listen to you,” Pei Ying said. “Can you promise me one thing?”
“Speak,” Grand Princess Jia Hong said, wild with joy. She knew she had won again.
“You must never hurt A’Ning again.”
“Of course,” the Princess said. “I never meant to hurt her in the first place.”
After a while, the Princess left and sent people to watch Pei Ying.
Pei Ying did not go out, but he sent a maidservant to deliver a brocade box to Luo Ning.
The Princess wanted to see it first.
Inside the brocade box was a purple bamboo flute, with a red tassel hanging from the end. Pei Ying had brought it back from Shaoyang, and he treasured it greatly.
When the Princess saw it, she felt both heartache and helplessness.
Pei Ying was nothing like the elegant young masters of Shengjing. He was like a cloud at the edge of the sky, drifting and pure, impossible to grasp.
Even if you added the Princess and her consort together, you could not get a trace of that carefree ease. They were both striving and ambitious. All the “not contending with the world” in human nature seemed to have been given to Pei Ying alone.
“Send it,” the Princess sighed.
Returning the purple bamboo flute to Luo Ning, was he revealing his identity, or cutting off the past?
The Princess did not know what he was thinking.
At this critical moment, she did not want to force him too hard, so she decided to let him do as he wished.