Chapter 206
Chapter 206: Luo Ning’s Wedding Robes Are Too Heavy
Luo You ate dinner in Wenqi Courtyard.
Luo Ning would leave the family to marry tomorrow. Everything at home was ready. Everything that should be put away in Wenqi Courtyard had been packed up, and what needed to be moved out had already been taken away. The courtyard was as quiet as usual.
After the meal, Luo You sat alone in his study for a while. He took out a Humble Servant doll he had bought at the market and went to his sister-in-law Madam Wen’s courtyard.
He said: “This is for A Qin.”
Madam Wen took it, thanked him with a smile, and looked a little surprised.
After the wet nurse took the child out to play, Madam Wen told a maidservant to serve tea. She looked closely at Luo You’s face and asked: “A’You, is something the matter?”
Luo You said: “Sister-in-law, you know my eldest sister. Since she was little, she never had a wet nurse, or even a regular maidservant to wait on her. Nanny Fan told me this.
“It was not until she went to Shaoyang that Grandmother gave her Qiu Lan, a third-class maid from her own side. When she was in Shaoyang, the clan head also assigned Qiu Hua’s family to look after her. Only then did she have two close maidservants.”
Although Madam Wen did not know the details, she felt this was only natural.
The Marchioness had always treated Luo Ning poorly.
This kind of bad treatment left no obvious fault to pick at, but anyone with eyes could see it.
Even the Grand Master knew that when the Marchioness gave birth to Luo Ning, she had bled heavily. He seemed to understand why she hated Luo Ning, and it was hard to blame her openly.
Madam Wen said: “A’You, A’Ning really did not have a good life before.”
Luo You said: “Sister-in-law, I’m not trying to complain for my eldest sister. I just want to say, I have Nanny Fan, and I have a pageboy and a maidservant who grew up with me, but my eldest sister has no one.
“Toward my mother, my eldest sister still has a bit of kindness in her heart. She never talks about it, but she has always longed for Mother to look at her more. She even shows some leniency toward Uncle.”
Madam Wen was even more confused.
She could not grasp Luo You’s intent and did not know what he was trying to say.
Luo You said: “My eldest sister also said that after she is married, she will have Uncle take my mother back to Yuhang and never bring her back here.”
Madam Wen said: “That is quite good.”
Either way, it had nothing to do with her.
Once she went to Shaoyang, what happened in the Marquis of Zhen Nan Residence would no longer concern her.
Madam Wen had money in her hands and Luo Li Qin to rely on, and her maiden family could still be counted on, so she did not fear the road ahead at all.
Luo You said: “Sister-in-law, I have always thought, if good and evil have no reward or punishment, then why should we do good?”
Madam Wen said: “That is what people say…”
Luo You said: “Do you know that you almost died together with A Qin?”
She whispered: “…What?”
Luo You then told Madam Wen everything he had heard from Luo Ning.
At first, Madam Wen’s scalp tingled as she listened. Then a chill climbed up her spine, and she felt cold even in her bones.
Her teeth almost began to chatter.
Luo You said quietly: “I have no proof, and my eldest sister does not want to talk about it more. She only mentioned it in passing…”
She said, her voice trembling: “I remember, back then that midwife said my fetus position was not good, and that she had to knead my belly three days early so the child could be born.
“But before that, the physician who felt my pulse had never said anything was wrong with the fetus. Later, I really did have a difficult labor. I don’t need proof. I know it. In my heart I know it.” Her voice shook, and she trembled badly.
Luo You said: “Sister-in-law, your life and A Qin’s life were just stepping stones for others. If you and the child had died, they would have lost nothing. If you and the child lived, then you were supposed to be grateful to Bai Ci Rong. Our whole household was treated like monkeys in a play.”
Madam Wen felt she could not breathe.
She clutched the edge of the kang table so hard that her fingers turned white.
Luo You asked her: “Sister-in-law, if you do not vent this anger, will you ever feel at ease for the rest of your life? Whenever I think of Bai Yu Lin and my mother getting away without a scratch, and that once she returns to Yuhang she may even have a new chance at life, I feel I will never sleep peacefully.”
He went on: “Even if I work as hard as I can, in the future she could come back and still want a share. Why? She has bullied our family like this.
“Sister-in-law, my eldest sister is afraid of going to hell. I am not. Do you dare to join me in doing something, so we can get this anger out?”
Madam Wen suddenly lifted her eyes and looked at Luo You.
Luo You said: “I am just a child, and you are a weak daughter-in-law. The two of us can join hands. When Eldest Sister returns to her parents’ home on the third day after the wedding, that will be a good day to act.”
Madam Wen stopped trembling.
The gentle look in her eyes hardened with cold light. She asked: “What do you want me to do?”
The spring chill was sharp, and the night wind was cold as it blew past the tree branches that had just sprouted new leaves, like a low sob.
Luo You walked back to his own courtyard at a slow pace.
The bright white moonlight fell like frost, pulling his shadow long and slanting. He looked at his own hands. Under the moonlight, the bones already looked strong. He was about to grow into a lord.
He longed to grow up.
He wanted these hands to be stained with blood, so that from then on people would fear him, and no one would dare to target his family again.
For a moment, Luo You’s eyes were colder than frost.
The next day, Luo Ning was married.
She was woken at the beginning of the third watch, drank a bowl of bird’s nest porridge, and then began to dress and do her hair.
Her bridal attendant was Nanny Feng from Shoucheng Palace.
Nanny He and Qiu Lan were the ones doing her hair and makeup.
For the wedding of an imperial prince’s consort, she had to wear the court robes of an enfeoffed lady, which were extremely complicated and heavy.
After only a few pieces of head ornament were put on, Luo Ning’s neck already hurt.
She glanced over and saw that at least half of the pieces were still left, and in her heart she let out a cry.
Before she even finished crying inside, a young maidservant came in carrying another box, and Qiu Lan told her to set it at the side.
In her mind, she cried out: [There is even more!]
Luo Ning accepted her fate and closed her eyes for a moment.
Qiu Lan asked: “Eldest Miss, are you feeling unwell?”
Luo Ning said: “There are too many ornaments.”
Qiu Lan said with a smile: “Indeed. If you are not feeling well, we can call Qiu Hua in. You can lean against her, as long as you do not mess up the head ornaments.”
Luo Ning said: “I can still hold on.”
She looked at herself in the bronze mirror and suddenly remembered that, when she had been a ghost, she had seen the ceremony to crown an empress.
That grand ceremony had been extremely lavish, followed by a sacrifice to Heaven.
The headpiece on Empress Zheng’s head had been piled higher than her own head, and she had to keep it on for at least four hours. Yet her posture had stayed dignified and her bearing graceful.
When Luo Ning looked at herself in the mirror again, she felt it was still acceptable. Her own head ornaments were not as many as the ones Empress Zheng had worn at the coronation.
Her head ornaments were only finished just as the sky was about to brighten.
She could not move; if she moved at all, even her skull hurt.
Relatives and friends came to send her off.
Madam Bai actually came too.
Madam Wen supported her. Madam Bai looked haggard, almost as thin as a skeleton.
All the guests who saw her were surprised.
No one knew how Madam Wen had persuaded Madam Bai, but Madam Bai even smiled at Luo Ning and said: “A’Ning, today is your great day.”
Luo Ning said: “Mother, you are still ill. You should be lying down and resting. Don’t make your daughter worry.”
Madam Bai said: “I wanted to see you once. After you marry, you will no longer be at your mother’s side.”
As she spoke, she wiped away a tear.
Luo Ning trembled inside and put on a sorrowful expression. She wanted to cry, but no tears came.
Madam Wen said with a smile: “Mother, go back first. Your health is poor. Don’t make Sister worry.”
She supported Madam Bai and left with her again.
They were almost at the auspicious hour, and nothing had gone wrong.
Grandmother and two aunts also came, and Luo Ning cried with them for a while. This time real tears fell.
In the blink of an eye, the auspicious hour arrived, and the procession Prince Yong had sent to fetch his bride reached the gate of the Marquis of Zhen Nan Residence.
Luo You carried his sister on his back to send her off.
Luo Ning asked: “…What is going on with Mother? Why did she come?”
Luo You said: “Sister-in-law persuaded her. She had to show her face at least once, or others would think she had died and we were hiding it. That would be bad for you.”
Luo Ning asked: “How did she persuade her?”
Luo You said: “Ask Sister-in-law about it later.”
Luo Ning fell silent.