Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Prince Yong Defends Her

In the blink of an eye, it was the Lantern Festival.

In the city of Shengjing, every household hung lanterns, and lights shone everywhere.

That morning, Luo Ning’s maidservants and Nanny Kong hung two lanterns at the gate of Wenqi Courtyard.

They also hung a small festival lantern on the window lattice.

Luo Ning sat on the heated brick bed by the window, leaning against a neck pillow embroidered with ink designs, reading a book.

“Eldest miss, should we take your zither strings to be fixed?” Qiu Hua asked when she saw Luo Ning seemed a little bored. “You have not played for quite a few days.”

Luo Ning froze for a moment.

She had almost forgotten that she once loved to play the zither, especially when her heart was filled with bitterness.

When she was recovering in Shaoyang, and after she returned to the capital, it had always been the sound of the zither that let her pour out her feelings.

“I have not played for so many days that my fingers have gone stiff,” Luo Ning said.

On the way back to the capital, two strings on her jade zither had come loose.

After that, she was reborn.

She had been busy handling one small matter after another and had pushed the jade zither to the back of her mind.

Luo Ning put down her book: “Go take it out. We will go to the zither shop.”

She added, “This jade zither is already old and is just a very ordinary instrument. I want to walk around the zither shop. If there is a good one, I will choose a new zither.”

Qiu Hua agreed.

To go out, they had to tell the Marchioness and have a carriage arranged.

Qiu Lan went to report it.

The Marchioness did not make things difficult. She only told Luo Ning to come back early and not wander around.

By the time Luo Ning was properly dressed, the carriage was already prepared. She hid a soft whip inside her sleeve. Qiu Hua carried the zither. Mistress and maid went together to the zither shop.

The shop was very lively today.

After asking around, they learned that a famous old zither from the Chengming Commandery Prince’s residence had come onto the market after the household was confiscated last year.

This zither was made from ancient parasol wood. Parasol wood was hard to grow to the right size and had to wait for the right time to be used, but its sound was loose and clear. It was even rarer for zither making than other woods.

Luo Ning had not known that a famous zither would be sold today. She had just happened to walk into the bustle.

“Do not squeeze forward,” Luo Ning said, pulling Qiu Hua back.

She was not going to spend a huge sum to fight over that zither and did not want to be pushed around in the crowd.

Qiu Hua agreed and turned to leave, but she suddenly felt someone shove her from behind. She stumbled. Afraid of falling forward and breaking the zither, she forced herself to lean back.

Luo Ning tried to steady her, but her hand was not fast enough. She saw Qiu Hua take two steps back.

Then Qiu Hua stepped on the foot of the person who had pushed her.

A young woman cried out in pain.

Luo Ning looked up and saw Zheng Jia’er, the fourth miss of the Duke of Yan’s residence, the younger sister of the current Empress.

Zheng Jia’er sucked in a sharp breath. Her face turned dark. “Who is rushing around like that?”

As she spoke, she also saw Luo Ning.

She let out a cold laugh and hardened her face: “I was wondering who did not like me and just had to step on me on purpose. So it is Miss Luo.”

Her voice was clearly raised, drawing many people’s attention.

Zheng Jia’er did not want to lose a noble miss’s dignity. She lifted her chin a little to signal her maidservant to speak for her.

Her maidservant was extremely arrogant. She stepped forward and tried to slap Qiu Hua.

Luo Ning caught the girl’s wrist. Because she practiced with a whip, her wrist strength was not like an ordinary girl’s. The maidservant could not even move her hand.

“Let go, or I will have you brought before the officials!” the maidservant shouted.

Luo Ning flung her away.

The maidservant staggered from the push.

Zheng Jia’er’s face grew even uglier. “You dare to attack someone? You are very bold.”

“Miss Zheng, it was your maid who tried to attack first. It is noisy here. If you insist on making a fuss over a mistake that was not on purpose, will you not only stain your own name?” Luo Ning asked.

She added, “If jade and a common stone knock into each other, I am not the one who loses.”

Zheng Jia’er gave a cold laugh: “Do you think that if you lower yourself, I will let you go?”

She turned and walked out of the zither shop first.

Her maidservant followed behind her.

Luo Ning gave Qiu Hua a look, and the two of them also left the shop.

“These shoes took me three months to embroider, and your servant stepped on them. How will we settle this?” Zheng Jia’er asked.

She had an oval face and delicate features. When she spoke, the ends of her brows lifted slightly. Because she was still young, she did not yet look truly vicious, only spoiled and willful.

“How does Miss Zheng want to settle it?” Luo Ning asked back.

Zheng Jia’er stretched out her foot. “Kneel down and lick this dust clean. Then I will not hold you to account.”

Luo Ning’s brows stayed calm. Only her eyes, clear and bright, moved a little. “That is impossible,” she said.

She added, “Just now I saw you push my maid first. That is why she lost her balance and stepped on you.”

“What a joke. Who am I, that I would push a servant?” Zheng Jia’er’s brows lifted higher. “If I had pushed her, should she not have fallen forward? Listen to yourself. Your story does not even match up.”

Luo Ning said: “Miss Zheng, are you planning to be unreasonable on purpose?”

“Your servant hurt me and dirtied my shoes, so of course you, the master, have to pay the price,” Zheng Jia’er said coldly. “Men, take her away. I will question her myself.”

Her voice grew a little louder.

From the shadows, two shadow guards came out and stood in front of and behind Luo Ning and Qiu Hua, trapping them in the middle.

Qiu Hua stood in front of Luo Ning. “It was this maid who was careless and stepped on you. It has nothing to do with my miss,” she said.

She added, “Someone did push me first, so I lost my footing. Miss Zheng, are you really going to use private punishment here in Shengjing?”

“What do you think you are, to dare question me?” Zheng Jia’er curled her lips. “Give her twenty slaps first.”

The shadow guards stepped forward. Luo Ning snapped her long whip out from inside her sleeve.

She and Qiu Hua had only learned martial arts from Qiu Hua’s father.

Qiu Hua’s father had been a household guard. His skills were meant mainly to strengthen the body. What he taught two girls was even more basic, only enough to bluff people.

When Luo Ning threw out her whip, the Zheng family’s shadow guard grabbed it.

He gave it a hard pull. Luo Ning refused to let go and almost fell forward.

Just then, there was a sudden gust of wind.

The shadow guard was more alert than Luo Ning and the others. He tried to dodge, but pain exploded at the back of his neck. His body swayed, then he fell forward.

Luo Ning quickly stepped back a few steps and lifted her head to see a teahouse across from the zither shop.

On the second floor, the window of a private room was half open. She could just make out a human figure inside.

She had seen that hidden weapon technique before.

Zheng Jia’er’s face changed at once. “Who is hiding there?”

She probably already knew.

Last time, her brother had been knocked out in the same way by Prince Yong.

Zheng Jia’er’s other shadow guard whispered to her: “Miss, please return to the carriage first. I will go and take a look.”

“No one is to move. Take this woman away first,” Zheng Jia’er said.

She was spoiled and overbearing, and also harsh and cruel. She was absolutely unwilling to let Luo Ning go.

The shadow guard hesitated, and he was nervous.

But he did not dare disobey his master. He reached toward Luo Ning’s neck, planning to knock her out first and then carry her away.

He had to be fast.

Luo Ning, on guard, stepped half a step back.

A black dog rushed out of the teahouse across the street like a gust of wind. The dog was so huge that the passersby and the people peeking from the zither shop’s doorway all screamed in fear.

Before the shadow guard could react, the black dog had already pounced on him.

When the black dog rose up to pounce, it was actually taller than a man.

It was a dog, yet it looked almost like a bear.

Its front paws pressed on the guard’s chest. Its sharp teeth clamped down on his throat.

The shadow guard could not make a sound. Blood flowed down from his neck.

There was a crack of bone. The guard’s eyes rolled up, and his hands dropped weakly.

The black dog loosened its jaws. Its fangs were bloody, and its eyes were fierce as it stared at Zheng Jia’er, a low growl rumbling in its throat.

Only then did Zheng Jia’er turn pale with fear. She could not stand steady and stumbled back. Her maidservant held her and helped her hide inside the zither shop.

The shopboy grabbed the door bar to block the black dog, shaking so hard he almost fell.

Luo Ning walked over and gently patted the black dog’s head.

At once, the black dog pulled back its fierceness and rubbed its head against her palm.

A whistle sounded from the teahouse.

The black dog, Yi Yi, unwillingly left Luo Ning’s hand and rushed back into the teahouse like the wind, again drawing frightened screams from inside.

Luo Ning looked up at the second floor.

She knew that Prince Yong was there.

Since they had met again, and he had helped her again, even sending his dog to kill someone, Luo Ning could not pretend not to know.

At the very least, she had to say thank you.

Luo Ning took her maidservant Qiu Hua with her and went into the teahouse.