Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Luo Ning Cries Poor
Luo Ning had not been frightened.
Xiao Huai Feng had moved too quickly and neatly when he hit people. Luo Ning had been too busy watching him to feel afraid.
Luo Ning told the Empress Dowager: “Prince Yong broke Young Master Zheng’s arm and hit him so hard his nose bled all over.”
The Empress Dowager chuckled: “Then let the Duke of the Realm go and complain. It has nothing to do with us.”
Luo Ning agreed softly.
Luo Ning stayed by the Empress Dowager’s side the whole morning.
Groups of married noblewomen came in one after another, seven in each group.
Each person saw Luo Ning.
Luo Ning thought that by the end of today, everyone would know that the legitimate young lady of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence had returned to the capital, and that the Empress Dowager was still grateful to her.
Her status might be hard to say, but her name would definitely spread all over Shengjing.
There were both benefits and drawbacks.
Luo Ning kept a faint smile, sitting calmly and with good manners below the Empress Dowager. When someone asked her something, she would glance at the Empress Dowager’s expression and answer depending on it.
She was very good at reading people’s expressions.
It was also the first time Luo Ning realized there were so many first-rank titled madams in the city of Shengjing.
Luo Ning thought: [There are so many nobles. Commoners and farmland have to support them, which is an unbearable weight. No wonder that later, after Prince Yong ascends the throne, the first thing he does is raise up new men and press down the great clans.]
The great clans not only sucked the blood of the commoners, they also weakened imperial power.
Luo Ning’s mother was also a first-rank titled madam, yet she did not arrive at Shoucheng Palace until late in the late morning.
When she saw Luo Ning, she was dazed for a moment, then showed an extremely proper smile.
Everyone saluted the Empress Dowager. The palace lady beside the Empress Dowager introduced Luo Ning, and Luo Ning saw a gleam in her mother’s eyes.
It was the joy of being lifted up and valued.
One madam said: “Madam Luo, you have truly raised your daughter well. She is brave and loyal, a model among women.”
The Empress Dowager smiled and said: “Indeed. Madam Luo, I am very pleased. You truly put effort into teaching A’Ning.”
Madam Bai was flattered and almost could not speak clearly: “It is A’Ning’s good fortune to receive the favor of the Empress Dowager and all you madams.”
The Empress Dowager said: “It is just that you should not control the child too strictly. Young girls are at the age when they like beauty and vanity. Being low key is good, but you cannot be too harsh with her. New Year’s Day court audience is the start of the year. She should be dressed more grandly. I granted A’Ning two bolts of shimmering jade brocade. Was the Marquis Manor so busy for the New Year that you did not have time to make clothes?”
These words carried a lot of meaning.
Look at Luo Ning’s clothing, then look at the ruby jewelry all over Madam Bai, the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s madam. The difference between mother and daughter was like heaven and earth.
These titled ladies were all very smart. How could they fail to understand?
She dressed herself bright and beautiful while her daughter was plain and simple. It really was improper.
The Empress Dowager could not stand it and pointed it out directly.
Madam Bai’s face turned pale. She hurriedly stood up, wanting to kneel to the Empress Dowager: “Your Majesty…”
The Empress Dowager said with a smile: “No need for formalities. I am just making small talk. Everyone is busy during the New Year. Which household does not get a little mixed up? I am not blaming you.”
She glanced at the other titled ladies.
The titled ladies immediately echoed her.
Following the Empress Dowager’s words, they complained about their own New Year chaos, and for a while there was laughter and cheerful talk.
On the surface everything looked harmonious, but inside it stirred up waves.
Once they walked out of Shoucheng Palace, the gossip would drown the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s madam.
If she dared to bring Bai Ci Rong out to socialize again during the New Year, people would not only guess that she was harsh to Luo Ning.
At that time, Bai Ci Rong would gain no advantage and only end up covered in infamy.
After the New Year greetings ended and the ladies with imperial honorary titles came out, the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s madam still did not look any better.
In private, the Empress Dowager asked Luo Ning: “Why are you dressed so plainly?”
Luo Ning said: “I just came back from the southern region right at the end of the year. There was no time to prepare new clothes.”
How could there not be enough time?
Luo Ning had been back in the capital for almost a month.
On the very day she returned, she had entered the palace to see the Empress Dowager and even received the Empress Dowager’s Buddhist prayer beads.
If the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence had even a little sense, everything about this legitimate young lady and great benefactor should have been top priority.
The storeroom would have taken out the best and most fashionable fabrics, and the sewing room would have stopped all other work to rush to make new clothes for the eldest young miss.
What busyness could be an excuse?
The Empress Dowager then understood that Luo Ning truly did not live well in the Marquis Manor.
The fact that the New Year’s Day court audience had come and gone without those two bolts of shimmering jade brocade ever showing up on her body proved it.
The Empress Dowager asked: “A’Ning, how have you been living since you went home?”
She was giving her a chance to complain.
But Luo Ning only smiled and said: “Empress Dowager, every family has its difficult scripture to read. As for household trifles, this humble woman can handle them all.”
She was very optimistic.
Very sure of herself.
She was calm and unhurried, treating heavy matters lightly, just as fearless as when she blocked that blade back then.
The Empress Dowager felt she had not chosen wrong. Luo Ning was suitable to be Princess Consort Yong.
Luo Ning could bear burdens.
The two of them chatted for a while. Then the Empress Dowager told Eunuch Wei to send the remaining enfeoffed ladies home first. She was tired and would not see them.
Every year at the New Year’s Day court audience, not everyone got to see the Empress Dowager, but no one could refuse to go to the Empress’s side.
The Empress Dowager said: “There is much to do for the New Year’s Day court audience. After the fifteenth, the Ministry of Rites will open the seals. I will discuss it with the Emperor and issue an imperial edict to grant you marriage as soon as possible.”
Luo Ning rose and bowed respectfully: “Thank you, Empress Dowager.”
The Empress Dowager took her hand and had her stay to eat lunch with her.
Just as lunch was set out, Prince Yong arrived.
As soon as he came in, Luo Ning stood up. She did not dare sit at the same table as him and the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager asked him: “Did you not eat in the main hall?”
He said: “The food there is all cold.”
The Empress Dowager said: “That is the rule. You must eat even if it is cold.”
Prince Yong said: “I am not used to it.”
The Empress Dowager said: “The north is bitterly cold. What hardships have you not tasted there? And now you cannot get used to this?”
He said: “This is Shengjing. When I have a choice, of course I choose the best.”
Luo Ning was speechless.
Prince Yong glanced at her. His dark eyes were deep, his gaze without emotion, as he said calmly: “Sit down and eat. Shoucheng Palace is full of palace maids and eunuch attendants. We do not need you to serve.”
Luo Ning answered softly and moved to sit at the lower seat.
No one spoke at the table.
The Empress Dowager’s meal was rich. The eunuch attendant picked out a bit of each dish for her. Seeing that the Empress Dowager only tasted a little of everything, Luo Ning did not dare eat much either.
Prince Yong, however, ate heartily.
The Empress Dowager said to Luo Ning: “If you are hungry, eat more. I am old and dare not eat too much.”
Only then did Luo Ning dare to pick up more food.
She ate until she was full.
After the meal, Prince Yong took her out through the northwest gate again, and they returned together to Prince Yong’s residence.
He did not talk to her much.
Back at the Prince’s manor, he had her maidservant Qiu Lan and the coachman take her back to the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence.
After she got home, she first went to the Old Madam’s courtyard.
The Marchioness had not returned yet.
Luo Ning said: “Mother is still in Her Majesty the Empress’s palace. They kept her for a meal there.”
The Old Madam nodded and asked Luo Ning about various things: “What did the Empress Dowager say?”
Two aunts, some sisters-in-law, and several younger sisters were all there, including Bai Ci Rong. They all looked at Luo Ning eagerly, waiting for her to share some interesting stories.
For New Year greetings in the palace, only the Marchioness Madam Bai from the entire Marquis Manor had the rank to go. Luo Ning had been specially summoned as an exception.
Luo Ning smiled and said: “It was all small things. But when Mother and the other madams went in to offer New Year greetings, the Empress Dowager told her not to control me too strictly, saying my clothes were too plain and did not show a young girl’s spirit.”
Everyone looked at Luo Ning.
The young ladies in the family were all dressed richly. Only Luo Ning’s long jacket was made of ordinary fabric with simple patterns.
Looking at Bai Ci Rong again, she was covered in bright flowers. The hem of her skirt was embroidered with crabapple blossoms in gold thread, bright and luxurious.
The Old Madam’s face sank. “I thought the house steward’s people had already taken care of these things. Our Luo family is not a ruined household. The rents from those sacrificial fields bring in several thousand taels a year, enough to make a set of clothes for my granddaughter.”
Everyone held their breath and fell silent.
Bai Ci Rong did not dare speak up either.
Luo Ning comforted the Old Madam.
After that, Bai Ci Rong went to wait at the gate for the Marchioness Madam Bai. As soon as they met, she warned her that the Old Madam had gotten angry.
The Marchioness took a deep breath.
She suspected that Luo Ning had set her up, making her lose face. She guessed that at the spring banquet in the first lunar month, the noble ladies would all be talking about her behind her back.
She went straight to Wenqi Courtyard.
The Marchioness came in full of anger: “A’Ning, open all your trunks and chests. Let Mother see whether you really have no clothes!”