Chapter 236
Chapter 234: Unwilling to Leave Luo Ning
Luo Ning handled things gently this time.
She remembered the Empress Dowager’s words. Sending away the Secondary Consorts’ dowry maids and keeping the Prince’s Manor’s Inner Residence peaceful was the most important task.
This needed the right timing.
Luo Ning wanted to give the Secondary Consorts a chance to let down their guard. Once people underestimate others, they make mistakes that cannot be undone.
She said: “Pass on my order. Confine the three Secondary Consorts for ten days. During these ten days, cut their meals in half.”
She wanted to push them into making an even bigger move.
The two nursemaids looked at Luo Ning with surprise and delight.
“Princess Consort, this is a good idea,” the two nursemaids said.
Luo Ning said: “First, prepare a basket of pastries and candied fruits and secretly send it to Secondary Consort Cui. Then go pass along the order.”
Cui Zheng Lan loved sweet things.
Lin Zhao said: “Princess Consort, I will take care of this.”
Luo Ning nodded: “Ask Tao Ye to help you. She knows which pastries taste the best. Pick several kinds. Don’t let Secondary Consort Cui go hungry.”
Tao Ye quickly nodded. “Yes.”
Luo Ning looked at Qiu Lan and said: “Later, you go deliver the order. Don’t be too forceful. Mislead them a little.”
Qiu Lan answered.
“Take Qiu Hua with you. If anyone refuses to listen, Qiu Hua, you help Qiu Lan. Don’t let Qiu Lan suffer a loss,” Luo Ning added.
Qiu Hua also answered.
After she finished arranging everything, Luo Ning rinsed her mouth and went to take a nap.
Her naps were light. She had to get up after the time it took one stick of incense to burn. Luo Ning had just touched the pillow and barely fallen into sleep when she vaguely heard the door open.
Nanny He’s voice was very soft: “The Princess Consort has lain down. But it is almost time for her to get up.”
“You don’t need to wait on her. All of you go out,” Xiao Huai Feng’s voice was also very soft.
The room was quiet, and the sounds carried clearly to Luo Ning’s ears.
Luo Ning wanted to get up. She had just pushed herself halfway up when he lifted the bed curtain, and their eyes met.
She was still a little drowsy from sleep. Her mind was slow, and she did not manage to speak at once.
“Did I wake you?” Xiao Huai Feng asked.
“I was only resting my eyes. I have rested enough,” Luo Ning said.
She asked: “Has Prince eaten lunch yet?”
“No.”
Luo Ning called toward the doorway, asking people to come help her change clothes and wash. Then she told Nanny Kong: “Go see what the main kitchen has ready. Bring some dishes for the Prince.”
Everyone answered and began to busy themselves.
Once she got up, the servants could come into the inner room to serve.
The rules of the Prince’s Manor said that only first-class maidservants could enter the Prince and Princess Consort’s bedroom to wait on them. But right now, all three of Luo Ning’s first-class maidservants were away on errands.
Nanny He helped Luo Ning change clothes.
Luo Ning glanced toward the washroom and stood by the door, asking in a low voice: “Prince, the maidservants are all out. Do you need me to help you change?”
“…No need.” Xiao Huai Feng’s voice seemed to hesitate for a moment.
Maybe he had wanted to call her in. But he felt that even in his own courtyard, she needed her own authority. He had to give her face.
After a while, he came out himself, already changed into casual clothes.
Nanny Kong had set out three dishes and one soup in the side hall. Luo Ning washed her hands and set the chopsticks for Xiao Huai Feng.
She sat beside him.
Xiao Huai Feng sat down and first asked her: “Where are your maidservants?”
Luo Ning said: “Prince, you eat while I tell you.”
Xiao Huai Feng picked up his chopsticks.
Luo Ning briefly described the farce from earlier that day.
In short, Zheng Jia’er and Pei Yu had argued a few times. Cui Zheng Lan had given each of them a kick, pressed them to the ground, and completely ruined their dignity.
After that, they had been confined.
“We must punish them heavily,” Xiao Huai Feng said coldly, putting down his bowl and chopsticks.
Luo Ning passed the chopsticks back to him. “Prince, don’t be angry. Eat first.”
Then she carefully explained her plan and repeated in detail the Empress Dowager’s instructions from last time, word by word, for Xiao Huai Feng to hear.
While she spoke, Xiao Huai Feng ate in silence and did not interrupt her again.
Luo Ning felt a little uneasy. She did not know if he would blame her.
“Prince, the small matters of the inner residence are actually not so different from state affairs. You need patience and a slow simmer over a small fire. Fighting and killing may not bring any special results. That way of doing things does not work at home.
“The two Secondary Consorts argued a bit. Grounding them is reasonable. Even if it reaches the Emperor’s ears, the Emperor has no way to stand up for them.
“But if you really hit them with the board or even drive away the dowry maids who came with them according to the rules, that would be making a big fuss over a small matter. It would only give the Emperor and the great clans a chance to use it against you,” Luo Ning said.
After a long moment, Xiao Huai Feng looked up. “Did you feel wronged?”
“No. Those two kicks A’Lan gave were very satisfying. I feel very pleased. Even though we still have to ground her and cut her food in half according to the rules, I sent pastries to her. I also plan to secretly ask Nanny Kong to make some good food for her in the middle of the night,” Luo Ning said.
Not only Luo Ning felt happy. Everyone in the main courtyard also thought that Secondary Consort Cui had handled this matter very neatly.
“You are very generous,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
He himself did not have such a good temper.
The anger in his heart was almost about to break through the roof. But Luo Ning was right. Secondary Consorts were not the same as concubines. They had powerful clans behind them, and behind those clans stood the Emperor.
This matter needed careful planning.
Anyone who disrespected his Princess Consort was looking down on his authority. It was like two armies facing off and the enemy side openly provoking him. If he did not strike back at a time like this, morale would suffer.
In Prince Yong’s inner residence, that “morale” was really Luo Ning’s opinion of him.
He did not want Luo Ning to feel that this place was a dangerous den of dragons and tigers that she could not bear.
He wanted even less for her to keep thinking about Shaoyang.
“Isn’t there a musician courtesan? Ask Wan Xi to call them over to play the flute, and you play the zither for me,” Xiao Huai Feng suddenly said.
Then there would also be flute music in Prince Yong’s manor.
Luo Ning agreed.
There were four Secondary Consorts. Three of them were grounded. Only Wang Jun was free to wander around the manor.
Late in the afternoon, Xiao Huai Feng went to Cui Zheng Lan’s courtyard, and Wang Jun saw him.
She sat under a tree, having a maidservant fan her. Only when Xiao Huai Feng left Cui Zheng Lan’s courtyard half an hour later did Wang Jun slowly go back.
Her trusted maid and old maidservant did not dare say a word.
Over at Wan Xi’s place, the music from the main courtyard floated far. The zither notes were clear and airy, showing the good mood of the one playing. The flute that joined in was even more lingering and gentle.
The music could also be heard in Wang Jun’s courtyard.
She sat alone in the yard and ordered the maidservants not to make any sound. She listened quietly for half the day.
“She plays really well,” Wang Jun said with a small smile. “I never knew before that the Princess Consort plays such good music.”
A maidservant said carefully: “You play even better.”
Wang Jun said: “We each have our strengths. Her piece sounds like a changed guqin score. She really is a clever person.”
The maidservant asked softly: “Do you want us to bring out your zither too?”
“In a few days,” Wang Jun said.
She stood up and went back to her room.
That day, Luo Ning and Xiao Huai Feng went to bed very late. She played the zither for him, and then the two of them talked simply about music scores and small daily matters.
Xiao Huai Feng said that he had to go out again.
“This time I am going to my fief,” he said.
He frowned slightly, as if something bad had happened in the fief.
Luo Ning asked: “Did something happen?”
“I just do not want to travel,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
Luo Ning: “…”
[The fief probably does have some problem, but the Prince does not want to tell me, so he is using ‘too lazy to go out’ as an excuse.]
She was sensible and did not ask more.
When they lay down, in the darkness Xiao Huai Feng called her: “A’Ning.”
His voice was strangely soft.
“Prince, what is it?” she asked.
“Do you want to go to the fief with me?” he asked.
Luo Ning thought for a moment. “Do you mean this trip, or do you mean moving out of the Imperial Capital to live in the fief for a few years?”
“This trip.”
“All right, I will go with you,” Luo Ning said.
Xiao Huai Feng seemed to let out a quiet breath.
However, the next day they did not leave, because a summons came from the Imperial Palace. Empress Zheng sent an eunuch attendant to invite them into the palace.