Chapter 202
Chapter 202: The Prince Goes Mad
Luo Ning took the bamboo flute and went back to Wenqi Courtyard.
She was not good at playing the flute, but she still put it to her lips and tried to blow a note.
Her heart felt damp and heavy. She could not even name what she was feeling.
She sat alone for a long time.
Then Luo Ning made a new cord, black with gold thread. Her handiwork was fine and neat. She worked until midnight, then took off the old cord from the purple bamboo flute and put the new one on.
When she finished, Luo Ning placed the flute into a brocade box and hid it at the very bottom of her trunk.
After all this busy work, it was already late at night. Her eyelids were so heavy they felt like they were fighting each other. Her wild thoughts were gone, and she soon fell into a deep sleep.
Two days later, the Empress Dowager sent Eunuch Wei again to visit Luo Ning and bring her many tonic foods, as well as some medicines from the Imperial Pharmacy.
There was also a trunk with two long jackets and two cloaks inside.
“The weather is cold. The Empress Dowager tells the Princess Consort to wear more layers. You must eat bird’s nest soup every day. The people below you must not slack off,” Eunuch Wei said.
He added: “The Empress Dowager also says that since it is so cold, the Princess Consort does not need to tire herself by coming into the palace to pay respects. She will often send people to check on you.”
This spared Luo Ning the hard trips yet still let the Empress Dowager know how she was doing.
Luo Ning kept all of it in mind.
After seeing Eunuch Wei out, Luo Ning took out the clothes to have a look.
One cloak was bright red cloud brocade, and the other was a gold-red cloak. Both were light and very warm.
“How beautiful.”
The maidservants gathered around and praised them.
Luo Ning especially liked the bright red cloak. It was very festive and would be perfect to wear during the New Year.
That afternoon, Xiao Huai Feng came once to Wenqi Courtyard.
He came in through the side gate.
He had also brought clothes for her.
There were four long jackets and two cloaks. One cloak was lotus green, fresh and charming. The other was rose purple, steady and dignified for winter.
“Imperial Mother already sent some,” Luo Ning said.
“Those are from Imperial Mother. These are from me,” Xiao Huai Feng replied.
He also asked how she had been sleeping these last few days.
“Imperial Mother says you were badly frightened and wanted to invite an eminent monk to pray for you. But there have been too many problems with temples lately, and Imperial Mother wants to clean them up. If she calls an eminent monk into the palace now, it will only give those people false hope. You will have to endure for now,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
Luo Ning smiled a little and said: “I have actually been sleeping quite well these few days.”
During those three days in the Imperial Palace, she really had not slept well.
She did not dare think back on this recent disaster. At every careless step she could have lost her life and wasted everything.
Without meaning to, she had already let it go.
The only thing she still could not let go of, even in her dreams, was the flute music.
Madam Feng’s flute was a beautiful memory, mixed with sunlight and the scent of flowers. On Luo Ning’s heart, it had embroidered a ring of tiny, close patterns.
Luo Ning had never before received care or affection from any man. Madam Feng had been the first, and also the only one.
This made her feel a little damp and sad whenever she woke up in the middle of the night.
The actions of Grand Princess Jia Hong and Pei Ying had laid a shadow over those beautiful memories.
Thinking of this, Luo Ning sighed.
Xiao Huai Feng’s dark eyes were calm as he glanced at her and asked: “Why are you sighing?”
“It is nothing.”
“You will not tell me?” he asked, his voice carrying a faint and deep meaning.
She had suffered such a heavy blow this time, yet she had not cried to anyone, nor had she demanded justice. To him, that did not make sense.
“Prince, I do not want to say it right now…”
Her words stopped there, and Luo Ning herself froze for a moment.
[What am I doing?]
Leaving some dignity for Pei Ying was one thing. Hiding the truth from Prince Yong was another.
Had she not decided that, for the sake of her future, she could give up anything?
Luo Ning remembered going up the mountain before with Qiu Hua and Qiu Hua’s father. There had been a very steep stretch of road. Qiu Hua’s father had warned them again and again not to look back, but to fix their eyes on the steps in front of them and keep climbing. If they did that, they would reach the top.
On a dangerous path, the worst thing is to look around and be half-hearted. Once you get distracted, you will not reach high ground and may fall and shatter to pieces.
“It was the Pei Heir Apparent,” Luo Ning said. “He once pretended to be his cousin Madam Feng and lived next door to me. When I played the zither, he would answer with his flute.”
Once she spoke these words, it meant that bamboo flute could never be shown to anyone again.
It felt as if Luo Ning had pulled out all the little girlish feelings from her heart and smashed them in front of Prince Yong.
She knew this was the right thing to do.
It was also the choice she was making now.
Still, her chest felt stuffy, as if something inside was being tugged and hurt. That bit of reluctance, with its soft and weak emotions, seemed to be dragging her down.
“You sighed over something this small?” Xiao Huai Feng looked at her, his eyes very still.
They were as still as a frozen lake in winter.
A frozen lake had no deep blue of water. It only looked pitch black, bottomless, and ice cold, just like his gaze at this moment.
Luo Ning lowered her eyes and no longer met his: “It is my weakness, Prince. From now on, I will not do it again.”
“Then remember that,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Look at me,” he said again.
Luo Ning raised her eyes.
Seeing his tight lips and sharp gaze, her heart trembled.
“Look into my eyes and say you remember. You escaped death once. If you do not learn from it, then you are foolish. I do not use fools.” Every word he spoke was like an ice pick.
After spending these last days with him, Luo Ning had almost forgotten how strict and powerful he could be.
She sat up straight and said: “Yes, I remember, Prince. I will stay fully on guard against the Pei Heir Apparent and Grand Princess Jia Hong. If we face each other with armies in the future, I will not show mercy.”
Xiao Huai Feng stood up.
He looked down at her from above. Luo Ning lifted her face a little to look at him. She did not dare lower her head, afraid it would displease him.
He stepped closer and lifted her chin with his hand.
His thumb brushed across her cheek. His palm was hot, and the pad of his finger felt a little rough.
“Do not act stupid,” he said, and his finger gently rubbed her cheek again.
That touch felt as if it had rubbed against her heart. It hurt a little and made her heart flutter and tremble.
“Yes, Prince.”
Xiao Huai Feng let go of her and turned to leave.
Luo Ning felt as if his coldness had rushed over and filled her whole chest. She woke up completely in that instant.
During her days in Shao Yang, even without Pei Ying’s flute, there had still been sunlight and flowers, and there had still been freedom.
She knew better than anyone what she truly wanted.
“Princess Consort, why was the Prince angry?” Lin Zhao later asked her.
“About what happened at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, I acted a bit on impulse. The Prince was very displeased,” Luo Ning said.
“He is upset that you did not kill anyone? You could hardly protect yourself then. You could not have killed anyone,” Lin Zhao said.
Luo Ning shook her head: “No.”
Lin Zhao studied her and felt that the Princess Consort probably understood what the Prince meant but was not able to say it out loud.
“But do not worry,” Lin Zhao said. “The Prince treats you well.”
“Yes.”
“He has come to see you through the side gate twice,” Lin Zhao added.
Luo Ning came back to her senses: “What is wrong with that?”
“He is a prince of the blood and holds great military power. Even when he enters the imperial city, he does not have to come by a side gate. For him to lower himself like this shows how close he feels to you,” Lin Zhao said.
Luo Ning said nothing.
After Xiao Huai Feng left Wenqi Courtyard, he went straight back to the Prince’s Manor and sent someone to call Cui Zheng Qing to see him.
“How is the collection of evidence against Grand Princess Jia Hong going?” he asked.
Seeing how grim and angry his face looked, Cui Zheng Qing put away any joking thoughts and answered seriously: “The princess is very careful and planned everything in advance. All those who knew the truth are dead. Now there is no proof.”
The only thing she had left behind was the handle that she had invited Luo Ning again and again.
“Use her own methods against her,” Xiao Huai Feng said. “I will not allow her to keep running wild.”
Cui Zheng Qing thought for a moment: “At this time, you want to go against Madam Pei? Huai Feng, I think we should plan more carefully.”
“I am giving you three months to settle this. I will handle the rest,” Xiao Huai Feng said, leaving no room for argument, and turned back toward the inner courtyard.
Cui Zheng Qing was completely confused.
[What kind of madness is he having now?]