Chapter 229
Chapter 227: Prince Yong Makes Trouble
Luo Ning opened her eyes and was dazed for a moment.
She was almost pressed right up against Xiao Huai Feng.
Dawn had not fully broken yet, and it was even darker inside the bed curtains. Luo Ning could only see that he was sleeping very soundly.
[He must be tired from traveling.]
[What time did he come back last night?]
She quietly shifted to the side, moving back to her own place, and let out a small breath of relief.
Luo Ning pretended to be asleep.
He was sleeping on the outer side of the bed. If he did not get up, Luo Ning did not dare get up in a rush. The last awkward incident was still fresh in her mind. If she fell on him again, it would be hard to explain.
She thought about the account books she had read the day before.
The harvests and taxes from the fief were all very impressive. Luo Ning had also found that the fief sold a large amount of pasture every year. Since there was pasture, there should also be many good horses.
There was also the matter of transport…
Prince Yong’s fief was very large, less than two days’ journey from the Imperial City. Among all the fiefs of the princes of the blood, it was the largest and most fertile.
She kept thinking until someone at the door raised her voice slightly and asked: “Prince, Princess Consort, are you awake?”
After a pause, she added: “It is already the hour of Chen.”
Luo Ning fell silent.
They were an entire hour late.
Xiao Huai Feng opened his eyes. He half sat up and lifted the bed curtains. Light poured in. Luo Ning’s eyes were not used to it, so she closed them again.
“A’Ning?” he called her.
After a full night’s sleep, his voice was a little hoarse, low and strangely pleasant to hear.
Luo Ning sat up as well.
She did not answer him, but said to the outside: “We are awake. Come in and serve us.”
The door was pushed open.
Nanny Yin came in with Qiu Lan, Qiu Hua, and Tao Ye to help the two of them dress and wash.
Nanny He came in too and quietly said to Luo Ning, who was having her hair combed: “The secondary consorts are here. Should we ask them to go back first?”
“No need. Let them wait,” Luo Ning said.
After washing and dressing, Luo Ning went to the main hall first. Wang Jun and Cui Zheng Lan were already there. Neither showed much emotion. One smiled, and the other looked indifferent.
Luo Ning smiled and said: “The prince brought back many gifts on his return yesterday and thought of sharing them with you. Since you are here, you can take them back yourselves.”
Soon, Xiao Huai Feng came out from the inner room.
He was not going out today. His hair was bound with a jade crown, and he wore a light blue robe. His face showed no expression, and coldness lay in his eyes as he gave Cui Zheng Lan and Wang Jun a strict, serious glance.
Beside him, Luo Ning seemed all the more warm and kind.
“Prince.”
Cui Zheng Lan and Wang Jun both stood up and saluted him. Neither lifted her eyes. They half crouched quietly, waiting for his orders.
Xiao Huai Feng’s voice seemed coated with frost as he said: “Rise.”
He did not sit down. He looked at Luo Ning and asked: “Finished?”
“Almost.”
“Come and eat breakfast,” he said, turning and walking toward the flower hall.
Cui Zheng Lan and Wang Jun stayed silent. Luo Ning also looked as gentle and calm as ever, with not a ripple in her gaze.
Luo Ning said: “Qiu Lan, bring out the gifts for the two secondary consorts and give them to their people to carry back. It is getting late. You may go back first.”
The two secondary consorts answered, saluted, and withdrew.
Each of them received several gifts: rouge from the Jiangnan region, inkstones, round fans, and two kinds of carved wooden toys they had never seen before.
Wang Jun said nothing, and Cui Zheng Lan was silent as well.
Instead, it was Wang Jun’s dowry maidservant who whispered: “This is to put you in your place. As soon as the prince came back, he purposely got up late.”
Wang Jun gave the maidservant a faint look and said: “If I hear you speak so disrespectfully of the princess consort again, you will no longer serve by my side.”
The maidservant was startled and quickly apologized.
Wang Jun went back.
She took the gifts Luo Ning had given her into the inner room. Later in the morning, when the maidservant was tidying up, she found that the round fan had been torn to shreds. She did not dare say anything and quietly took it out to throw away.
After Luo Ning and Xiao Huai Feng finished breakfast, they sat on the heated platform by the window, drinking tea and chatting about small things.
Luo Ning said: “…I really like the summer cloth the prince brought back. It feels especially light and cool to the touch. It will be very comfortable to wear in summer.”
Xiao Huai Feng said: “Have a few more sets of summer clothes made later.”
His tone was slow, and he drank his tea with the same easy grace.
From his expressionless face, Luo Ning still somehow saw that he was a little happy.
Luo Ning asked: “Did something good happen on this trip to the south?”
“You will know later,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
Luo Ning picked and chose and told him about what had happened in the manor over the past ten days.
She also mentioned that she had been busy every day, with no time to listen to music or amuse herself.
She did this so the prince would not think she had neither achievements nor hard work.
As they talked, a maidservant from the second gate came to report that Prince Chen and Cui Zheng Qing had arrived.
Xiao Huai Feng said: “Invite them to the main courtyard.”
Luo Ning was taken aback.
[Not to Linhua Courtyard?]
Xiao Huai Feng did not receive Prince Chen and Cui Zheng Qing in the main hall, but went to the side hall instead.
He also asked Luo Ning to sit in on the meeting.
Cui Zheng Qing laughed and said: “Huai Feng, the matter is a great success!” He glanced at Luo Ning.
Xiao Huai Feng showed no change in his face and asked directly: “Has the Dali Court taken Aunt?”
Luo Ning showed a hint of surprise.
Cui Zheng Qing said: “She has already been sent to Heaven Prison and is waiting for the imperial judgment. But Madam Pei is still protecting her. His Majesty’s health has not yet fully recovered. I am afraid he cannot stand a long struggle.”
Prince Chen smiled, lifted his tea, took a sip, and said: “Huai Feng, you cannot chop down a big tree with one strike of the axe. Don’t be so eager to go all out this time.”
Xiao Huai Feng said: “Then have the ‘Grand Princess’ stripped of her title and her fief.”
“…What happened?” Luo Ning asked.
Prince Chen and Cui Zheng Qing both looked at Xiao Huai Feng.
Xiao Huai Feng only nodded slightly, signaling Cui Zheng Qing to explain. Cui Zheng Qing could not wait and poured everything out to Luo Ning.
On this trip to the south, Prince Yong had discovered that Grand Princess Jia Hong was secretly digging a waterway, trying to open a branch channel between the Yuan River and the Grand Canal so she could seize control of transport and make huge illegal profits.
When she heard this, Luo Ning was stunned for a long moment. She asked: “Is the Grand Princess trying to rebel?”
What boldness and what great ambition she had!
In her previous life, Prince Yong had also taken down the Pei family.
Luo Ning had thought that Grand Princess Jia Hong had been dragged down because of Madam Pei. Now it seemed to be the other way around. Madam Pei’s fall came from the Grand Princess’s swelling selfish desires.
Cui Zheng Qing smiled and said: “We already knew about this last year, Cousin’s Wife. We were only waiting for the right time. Did you go south with Huai Feng to watch the fun?”
Luo Ning shook her head. “No.”
Xiao Huai Feng’s tone was cool, but he did not look angry. His expression was calm as he said: “I invited you.”
Luo Ning fell silent.
No wonder he had twice suggested that she go south with him.
Luo Ning had only thought: [What scenery is there to see in the spring in Jiangnan?] So she refused him. She had never imagined that he had actually wanted her to see Grand Princess Jia Hong’s crimes.
[Was he trying to vent my anger for me?]
In the matter at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, Luo Ning had been injured, and a small scar was still left on the back of her hand.
If there had been the slightest misstep then, Luo Ning would have died in that explosion.
She still felt lingering fear.
Luo Ning said: “…The prince has done something very good for the Imperial Court.”
Xiao Huai Feng studied her expression closely.
After that, his face did not change much, but his mood seemed rather good.
Luo Ning understood that he was pleased she had not held him back and had not shown any extra, overflowing pity.
Prince Chen said: “Now it depends on how the Dali Court and Imperial Elder Brother decide this case. I still don’t feel hopeful. This past year, Imperial Elder Brother has often come up with bad ideas and strange thoughts.”
Cui Zheng Qing said: “Don’t be too pessimistic. The Empress Dowager is still here.”
Prince Chen said: “Imperial Mother is tied hand and foot in some matters.”
In truth, these “some matters” meant things related to Prince Yong.
The two words “Prince Yong” were like the Emperor’s reverse scale. Even the Empress Dowager could hardly touch it. This time, the evidence had also been found by Prince Yong. It was hard to say how the Emperor felt in his heart, and the Empress Dowager would surely avoid suspicion again.