Chapter 217
Chapter 215: Love Me, Love My Dog
With Prince Chen and Cui Zheng Qing visiting, Prince Yong’s manor felt livelier.
After the meal, the two guests did not take their leave, and Xiao Huai Feng did not tell Luo Ning to leave either.
The four of them sat in the side hall of Linhua Courtyard, chatting idly about small things.
Xiao Huai Feng did not specially instruct her about anything. He simply let her sit there, listen, and think for herself.
Luo Ning thought: [Does the Prince see me as a trusted aide?]
It did make sense.
She was the princess consort, after all.
Could someone holding such an important position really be controlled by just a deed of sale? Since he had accepted her, he naturally trusted her.
He trusted her loyalty and also acknowledged her ability.
That was what she thought in her heart, but nothing showed on her face. She only listened as Prince Chen talked about matters in the imperial palace.
“Fourth Brother has been jumping around a lot these days,” Prince Chen said. “It is still because of those few thousand mu of good farmland in Wanzhou Prefecture.”
Cui Zheng Qing followed and said: “Your Majesty will not agree. Last time Fourth Brother even went to visit Prince Jiang’s manor. Prince Jiang turned around and wrote a letter to the Empress Dowager, thanking the Empress Dowager for sending someone to visit him.”
Luo Ning could not help but laugh.
She said: “Prince Jiang is quite clever.”
He did not want to get dragged into Prince Wei’s business, but it was not easy to openly report, “Your son is trying to pull me to his side,” so he simply wrote a letter of thanks.
That laid everything out in the open.
“Fools do not live long,” Xiao Huai Feng said calmly.
They went on chatting aimlessly like this.
They even talked about Prince Chen taking a new wife.
“I will not remarry,” Prince Chen said with a smile. “Wan’er is my wife. When a hundred years have passed, I want to be buried in the same tomb with her. If I marry another one, there will be quarrels even in the underworld, and I will not be able to stand it.”
Then he turned to Luo Ning and said: “It is a pity Wan’er left so early. She had a lively temper. If she were still here, things would be even livelier. She was even noisier than Zheng Qing.”
Luo Ning was speechless.
For a moment, she could not tell what Prince Chen was feeling.
He did not seem very sad, but he did not look as if he did not care either.
Cui Zheng Qing and Xiao Huai Feng did not follow up on his words.
The sun slanted to the west, and the green bamboo in the courtyard rustled as the wind brushed past.
Prince Chen and Cui Zheng Qing rose and took their leave.
Luo Ning stayed at Linhua Courtyard to eat dinner.
She asked Xiao Huai Feng: “Did Prince Chen and his princess consort have deep feelings for each other?”
“Yes,” Xiao Huai Feng said. “They were childhood sweethearts and got along from a young age.”
From the moment they met, they felt like old friends.
Prince Chen had a slow temper and spoke slowly, but his princess consort, Meng Wan, was bright and lively. Her speech was crisp and quick, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
“I thought Prince Chen did not want to mention his late princess consort,” Luo Ning said.
“Just say ‘princess consort’,” Xiao Huai Feng said. “Do not say ‘late princess consort’. Third Brother will not be happy. In his heart, his princess consort has never left. She has only passed away, that is all.”
Luo Ning was silent.
Died, that was all?
She did not really understand. But she took the advice. However Prince Yong told her to address Meng Wan, that was what she would say.
On the last day of the second month, the weather turned cold again.
The secondary consorts would enter the manor the next day. Chief Steward Tao Bo had the prince’s manor decorated again and hung up fresh new lanterns.
The Empress Dowager summoned Luo Ning into the palace.
This time, Xiao Huai Feng did not go with her.
It had rained the night before. The return of the spring cold made the morning chilly. Luo Ning took out the lotus-green cloak that Prince Yong had given her.
Xiao Huai Feng saw it and looked at her a moment longer.
Luo Ning spoke up on her own: “Prince, this cloak was a gift from you.”
“I remember,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
He wanted to say something else but held back.
The look on his face was definitely not praise or joy. His dark eyes were deep and hard to read.
“Prince, if there is nothing else, I will head out now,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng nodded: “Go.”
When she reached Shoucheng Palace, the Empress Dowager’s eyes lit up, and she praised Luo Ning again and again.
“This cloak looks lovely,” the Empress Dowager said.
The cloak made Luo Ning look very charming. Even her brows and eyes carried a hint of allure, yet she still kept a young girl’s purity. The Empress Dowager felt her heart almost melt when she looked at her.
“The Prince gave it to me,” Luo Ning said with a smile.
The Empress Dowager could not help laughing and said: “His taste is very good. He knows how to pick things.”
She had called Luo Ning into the palace mainly to talk about the secondary consorts entering the manor.
“You must have patience,” the Empress Dowager said. “Do you know that these four secondary consorts were also chosen by the Emperor?”
“I understand,” Luo Ning said.
“Do not let yourself be bullied. But also do not drag matters into the open where everyone can see. That would be hard to clean up,” the Empress Dowager said again.
Her words were almost blunt.
She was telling Luo Ning not to touch the Emperor’s sore spots. If the secondary consorts did not behave, she had to handle them cleverly and not openly.
The idea Prince Yong had mentioned before, “just kill them if you can,” definitely would not work.
“Imperial Mother, I do understand…” Luo Ning said.
“You must truly understand!” The Empress Dowager took her hand.
She was afraid Luo Ning would misunderstand.
Luo Ning smiled and also squeezed the Empress Dowager’s hand: “Yes, Imperial Mother, I really do understand. Neither you nor the Prince can bear to see me being wronged. Please be at ease. I will not cause trouble, but I also will not let others bully me.”
The Empress Dowager nodded in relief and said: “That is very good. Your body is not strong, and you were left with old injuries from taking that knife for me. Of course you must not suffer even the slightest grievance.”
Luo Ning answered softly.
“You can understand how difficult things are for me,” the Empress Dowager said again.
It was very hard to keep her balance between the Emperor and Prince Yong.
A tiny misstep and everything would be lost. The Empress Dowager had to think about even the smallest details.
The only one who was truly thoughtful toward her was Luo Ning, who was both smart and obedient.
While mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking, Beauty Chen brought the Eldest Prince, Xiao Yu, to pay respects to the Empress Dowager.
The Eldest Prince was not yet a year old and was held in the arms of a wet nurse. He was small and pale and very cute, but he was not the plump “carved jade doll” people often spoke of, because he was thin.
Babies his age were usually chubby from drinking milk.
The Empress Dowager took him into her arms.
Beauty Chen stood to the side with a smile. She glanced at Luo Ning and said with a smile: “Princess Consort looks truly beautiful today.”
Luo Ning thanked her.
Beauty Chen said with a laugh: “Her Majesty the Empress also loves lotus-green. This color is really lovely. Only when two beauties like you wear it can it look like fairies descended to earth.”
They were beautiful like immortals, pure and otherworldly.
The Empress Dowager seemed to remember then that the Empress had often worn lotus-green when she was at the clan academy. At that time, Princess Ping Yang had even copied her style for a while.
Luo Ning also smiled.
She still admired Prince Yong and the Empress for being able to hide everything so deeply.
Only at times like this, after going around several corners, could one glimpse a tiny edge of their feelings. It was only a little sliver. Once you tried to look more closely, everything was completely covered up again.
When Luo Ning had put on the cloak to leave that morning, Xiao Huai Feng had not stared at her in fascination.
Instead, he had seemed a little lost in thought.
From what Luo Ning knew about him, he had not been very pleased at that moment.
Was it because she had not worn it into the beauty he had imagined, or had she copied someone and ended up like a dog’s imitation of a tiger, making him feel she had tainted this color?
Luo Ning had no intention of continuing this topic with Beauty Chen.
She only smiled, looked at the Eldest Prince, and played with the child together with the Empress Dowager.
A eunuch attendant came in then, looking anxious.
Luo Ning and Beauty Chen took the Eldest Prince and stepped aside.
After that, the Empress Dowager left in a hurry.
An older palace maid from Shoucheng Palace told Luo Ning to head back first.
As Luo Ning left the palace gate, she was still guessing in her heart: [For Imperial Mother to rush out without caring about her appearance like that, something must have happened with the Emperor. Is he sick again?]
When she returned to Prince Yong’s manor, the first thing she did was take off the cloak.
She told Nanny He to put it away properly and not bring it out for her to wear again in the future.
Prince Yong might simply “love the house and its crow,” thinking this color looked good and that anyone wearing it would please him. But if the Empress saw it, Luo Ning would not be able to bear the consequences.
She did not want to cause such big trouble.
After changing clothes, she went to Linhua Courtyard and told Xiao Huai Feng about the Empress Dowager being hurriedly called away by the eunuch.
“It was Imperial Elder Brother,” Xiao Huai Feng said. “He suddenly had convulsions.”
He had just received a secret report.