Chapter 230
Chapter 228: Avenging Luo Ning
Cui Zheng Qing arrived. After they finished talking about business, Luo Ning sent a young maidservant to Cui Zheng Lan’s courtyard to invite her over for a talk.
Cui Zheng Lan arrived soon.
She strode in boldly. Her steps were so big that her skirt lifted and showed the dark ink-colored long trousers under her white silk skirt.
Her hair was slightly damp with sweat, and there was still a rosy flush on her cheeks from martial training.
Cui Zheng Qing almost could not bear to look at her.
Prince Chen even teased her: “General Cui, did you just take off your armor?”
Cui Zheng Lan: “…”
Xiao Huai Feng’s face was cold, and his tone was harsh: “This is improper. Who allowed you to rush around like this in the inner residence?”
Cui Zheng Lan was almost annoyed to death.
She could not see herself. Her strides were so big that her skirt flew up and her trousers were already exposed, but she only thought these people were making fun of her with their sharp tongues.
She frowned.
Seeing her frown, Xiao Huai Feng’s face grew even darker: “If you refuse to be disciplined, you can be grounded for half a month as well.”
Luo Ning smiled and tried to smooth things over: “Prince, A’Lan only wants to see her brother and got a bit impatient. It does not matter. A quick temper can be changed slowly.
“Her heart is good, and she is respectful to me. If she is grounded too, then in the future it will just be me and the prince’s secondary consort staring at each other every day. That would be very awkward.”
Xiao Huai Feng looked at Cui Zheng Lan: “Why are you not sitting down yet?”
“Thank you, Prince.” Cui Zheng Lan knew when to bow to the situation.
The princess consort had pleaded for her.
The princess consort needed her.
No matter what foolish things this prince said, the words of the princess consort were pleasant to hear.
She could not let the princess consort be put in a difficult spot.
“‘It has been almost a month since you entered the manor. How do you feel?” Cui Zheng Qing asked. “Are you used to it?”
“Except that I cannot go out, it is no different from being at home,” Cui Zheng Lan said.
Once the gate of her courtyard closed, it was her world.
Everything in the prince’s manor was good, except that she could not go out as she pleased.
Cui Zheng Lan did not really like to wander about. She did not like lively crowds by nature. Of course, she also had the confidence that if she wanted to go out, she could choose a gap when the prince’s manor’s bodyguards were patrolling, climb over the wall, and slip away. The prince’s manor could not lock her in.
These past days, she had only seen the prince twice. That was good. She was very satisfied.
“Do you lack anything?” Cui Zheng Qing asked again.
Cui Zheng Lan said: “The princess consort looks after me. I lack nothing.”
“Seventh Brother, my mother misses her quite a bit. Could you allow her to go back and visit another day?” Cui Zheng Qing asked again.
“No.” Xiao Huai Feng said. “Tell Aunt to endure it.”
In his heart, Cui Zheng Qing complained: [A new bride coming in through the side gate and not allowed to go out freely, this is exactly the treatment of a concubine.]
Luckily his sister had not truly married into Prince Yong’s manor, or it would really be a bit unfair.
“Prince, I asked around. If I go out as a guest, I can bring the secondary consort with me,” Luo Ning said. “There are many spring banquets these days. I can take A’Lan to the Cui family to attend a banquet.”
Xiao Huai Feng did not contradict Luo Ning’s words.
Earlier he had been strict and forbidding, but now he relaxed without hesitation: “As for the inner residence, you make the decisions.”
Cui Zheng Qing: “…”
He understood in his heart and planned to ask his mother to send a formal invitation to Princess Consort Yong another day.
At noon, Cui Zheng Lan stayed in the main courtyard for lunch.
News about Grand Princess Jia Hong spread quickly through the city of Shengjing.
The talk about “Prince Yong’s manor’s secondary consort entering the gate” was finally overshadowed by Grand Princess Jia Hong, and no one discussed it anymore.
At the end of the third month, the Imperial Court passed judgment. Grand Princess Jia Hong was stripped of her title, and her fief was taken back.
As expected, she was only removed from the register and her lands were reduced, but her life was spared.
This was the most favorable outcome that Madam Pei had won by negotiating with the emperor.
The Princess Manor was taken back, and Grand Princess Jia Hong moved back into Madam Pei’s main estate to live together with her parents-in-law, sisters-in-law, and the others.
This matter caused a stir for a time. Everyone talked about it, including the people in the inner residence of Prince Yong’s manor.
The two secondary consorts were released from confinement and came again to pay respects to Luo Ning.
Zheng Jia’er had not learned any lesson at all. She mocked Pei Yu to her face: “Your aunt’s Princess Manor is gone.”
Pei Yu had suffered disaster for no reason and had been grounded for half a month without knowing why. She had become a little more steady.
She did not dare quarrel with Zheng Jia’er. She only said: “Madam Pei does not rely on the Princess Manor. Our Madam Pei comes from a scholarly noble household and never cares about worldly fame and profit.”
Zheng Jia’er let out a scornful snort.
Pei Yu looked at Luo Ning: “Princess Consort, are you just going to watch her mock me like this?”
Luo Ning said: “The two of you are bickering, and neither of you has said any less than the other. What, do you want me to give each of you fifty strokes?”
Pei Yu: “…”
Zheng Jia’er raised her brows.
Luo Ning said: “Secondary Consort Zheng, you keep stirring up trouble again and again. Do you want to be grounded again?”
Zheng Jia’er’s cheeks twitched.
Luo Ning had thought she would jump up, but instead she swallowed her anger, lowered her lashes, and said: “I would not dare, Princess Consort.”
Wang Jun sat quietly to the side and did not join in. Cui Zheng Lan’s mind was wandering far away. She was not interested in the quarrel between Zheng Jia’er and Pei Yu.
Luo Ning finished her tea and told them to withdraw.
She entered the palace to visit the Empress Dowager, but at Shoucheng Palace she ran into Grand Princess Jia Hong.
Although she had been removed from the register and her fief had been reduced, in blood she was still the emperor’s aunt and the late emperor’s sister.
The eldest branch of the Pei family held a high position. She could use the status of the Pei family’s senior madam to ask for an imperial honorary title.
She had come to pay respects to the Empress Dowager and to cry about her wrongs: “This is a false charge. I did not do this.”
The Empress Dowager said: “The evidence is solid.”
“Imperial Sister-in-law, someone wants to harm me. Is it not easy to forge evidence? I am innocent,” Grand Princess Jia Hong cried.
She refused to admit it to the end.
There was also no evidence for what happened at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, so she had been able to get away easily.
This time they had finally caught hold of something, but Madam Pei had turned black into white, and the emperor could not openly go against the court officials, so in the end Grand Princess Jia Hong had escaped disaster.
Even so, being removed from the register and having her lands cut was enough to make her shed a layer of skin.
When she saw Luo Ning, Jia Hong waved: “A’Ning, you are here.”
There was not the least bit of resentment.
She knew it was Prince Yong who had made trouble, yet she seemed to place no blame on Luo Ning at all.
If she had said a few harsh words, Luo Ning would actually have felt more at ease.
Luo Ning called her “Madam Pei”.
After quite a while, Grand Princess Jia Hong finally left Shoucheng Palace.
The Empress Dowager had a bit of a headache.
“Imperial Mother, did she upset you?” Luo Ning asked.
The Empress Dowager forced a smile: “No. She is a very crafty person and has been scheming for many years. She cannot be taken down easily.”
Luo Ning said: “She did not take any blame for what happened at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.”
“We will wait and see for now,” the Empress Dowager said.
After Grand Princess Jia Hong left the palace gate, Pei Ying was waiting for her at the door.
“Mother, you should not have entered the palace,” Pei Ying said. “These days you should stay behind closed doors for some time, so others do not find more faults to hold against you.”
Grand Princess Jia Hong did not mind at all: “It does not matter. Otherwise they will think I am an easy target.”
She added, “I met A’Ning in Shoucheng Palace.”
Pei Ying’s heart tightened.
The princess smiled: “Why are you so nervous? I did not blame her. This was the work of that little brute Xiao Huai Feng. It has nothing to do with A’Ning.”
Pei Ying’s heart pounded wildly.
He did not know whether his mother truly thought so, or was only trying to comfort him.
“Do not worry. In a while, the emperor will have to grant me another Princess Manor. At that time it will be on an even better fief,” the princess said.
She was calm and at ease.
Pei Ying quietly looked at her, feeling strange inside.
He even thought of Luo Ning.
Whenever he thought of Luo Ning, Pei Ying’s heart grew darker.
His mother had threatened him that if he dared to leave, she would strike at Luo Ning and the Luo family and drag the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor and Princess Consort Yong down with them.
Pei Ying was trapped here, unable to escape, suffering day and night.