Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Falling Down the Stairs
Luo Ning had been choosing flowers for half the day and still had not found a single pot she liked.
Second Madam, Third Madam, the concubines from each courtyard, their concubine-born daughters, and the Head Maids from every Madam’s rooms all came over one after another.
The Flower Arbor grew a bit crowded.
Luo Ning chatted politely with them. On the surface, mistress and servants all seemed very harmonious.
Second Madam said: “I just saw A’Xuan at the Emerald Pavilion. What is she doing there? That place is for catching cool breezes in summer. The First Lunar Month isn’t even over yet. It’s freezing.”
Luo Ning said: “Second Sister said she was going to have some tea and enjoy the view.”
“Such elegant taste.” Second Madam laughed. In her heart she was scornful, but she did not say anything unpleasant.
When everyone had almost finished picking their flowers, Madam Bai, the Marchioness, and Bai Ci Rong finally arrived, slowly and a bit late.
Everyone went up to greet them.
Luo Ning thought: [Mother and Bai Ci Rong always have to have the best of everything. Either they don’t come to choose at all, or they have to pick first. How could they show up only when everyone else is almost done?]
She kept these thoughts to herself and showed nothing on her face.
She glanced at Bai Ci Rong again.
Bai Ci Rong wore a plain Hangzhou silk jacket and a light purple skirt. With every step she took, it was as if lotuses bloomed beneath her feet. Her bearing and her looks had been carefully cultivated. She was a few degrees more refined than everyone else.
At her waist, a jade pendant still hung.
Luo Ning remembered that pendant.
“A’Rong, what do you think of this pot of wintersweet?” Luo Ning picked up a pot and set it in front of Bai Ci Rong. “It’s the prettiest one. You can give it to Third Sister.”
Bai Ci Rong looked a little surprised.
The Marchioness nodded in relief and said: “Now that you have something good, you remember your sister. You finally act a bit like an older sister.”
Luo Ning smiled and said: “Mother, does that mean your daughter was thoughtless before?”
She turned to Second Madam and Third Madam and said: “Aunties, you be the judge.”
Everyone laughed and joked.
Bai Ci Rong, half amused and half helpless, accepted the flower from Luo Ning. As she did, the dagger hidden in Luo Ning’s sleeve quietly slipped down and sliced through the cord of Bai Ci Rong’s jade pendant.
The dagger went back into its sheath, the pendant slid into Luo Ning’s sleeve. Using the flower pot as cover, her movements were not that quick, but she hid them completely.
“I’m really thirsty,” Luo Ning said. “I’m going out to look for some tea. Don’t touch that pot of begonia. I picked it.”
The Marchioness said: “There’s tea just outside the Flower Arbor. Don’t go too far…”
Luo Ning left.
When she came back, Luo Xuan had already returned from the Emerald Pavilion to the Flower Arbor and was also choosing flowers.
“Big Sister, where were you for so long?” Luo Xuan asked. “Did you go to the Emerald Pavilion to drink tea?”
“I went to the privy,” Luo Ning said. “I didn’t go to the Emerald Pavilion.”
Luo Xuan said nothing more.
Everyone picked flowers, each with their own thoughts.
When they were almost done, Second Madam, Third Madam, and the other concubines left first.
The Marchioness, Madam Bai, and Bai Ci Rong walked a few steps behind and chatted with Luo Ning and Luo Xuan.
Luo Xuan suddenly cried out: “Oh no, one of my earrings is gone!”
Then she added: “It’s the ruby earrings Mother gave me.”
Rubies were expensive.
Her face turned slightly pale.
“Don’t panic. Where have you been today?” the Marchioness asked.
“Only the Flower Arbor. I felt stuffy and thirsty, so I went to the Emerald Pavilion to drink tea and get some air,” Luo Xuan said.
“Go back and look. It’s probably at the Emerald Pavilion,” the Marchioness said.
She looked at Luo Ning. “Go with your second sister to search. Two people mean two pairs of eyes.”
“…” Luo Ning did not speak.
They could have asked maidservants or old maidservants to help look, but she insisted on naming Luo Ning. It was like setting the scheme right in front of her.
Mother was not only selfish and cold toward her, she was also clumsy.
[What a new discovery.]
“Alright, I’ll go with Second Sister and have a look,” Luo Ning said.
The Marchioness seemed to realize her words were not quite proper and added: “Tell your maidservants to carry the flower pots back first. Don’t bring too many people. If it gets too crowded, you won’t be able to find anything.”
Luo Xuan agreed, and Luo Ning also nodded obediently.
The two sisters turned to leave. As they walked, Luo Ning said: “Second Sister, you have to be more careful. Today it’s an earring, tomorrow it will be a jade pendant. In the future you might even lose your own keys.”
Then she added: “Let’s hurry.”
The Marchioness and Bai Ci Rong smiled when they heard this.
Their plan was more than half complete.
But because Luo Ning mentioned a jade pendant, the Marchioness instinctively glanced at Bai Ci Rong.
Bai Ci Rong had worn a jade pendant year after year. It was very important.
With just one look, the Marchioness was stunned. “A’Rong, where is your jade pendant?”
Bai Ci Rong looked down.
Her face changed at once. “It was still here just now. It was still on me before I entered the Flower Arbor. I remember it very clearly.”
As if to comfort the Marchioness and also herself, she said: “It must have fallen in the Flower Arbor. I’ll go and look for it.”
The Marchioness grew anxious too. “Bring some people. I’ll help you search!”
Bai Ci Rong smiled and held the Marchioness’s hand. “Aunt, my cousins have gone to the Emerald Pavilion. If you go there now and something happens, won’t you be blamed?”
The Marchioness hesitated.
“I’ll go by myself,” Bai Ci Rong said. “You and the maidservants take the flower pots back first. I’ll be careful. The pendant is so big. It will be easy to find.”
The Marchioness squeezed her hand back. “Don’t try to be brave. If anything seems wrong, come right back. As long as the pendant is still in the Luo Family, it won’t be truly lost. Even if we can’t find it for a while, I’ll dig three feet into the ground to get it back for you.”
Bai Ci Rong agreed.
She turned and went back to the rear garden.
She searched the Flower Arbor once, then asked the gardeners, but no one had seen her pendant.
She thought about how she always wore it, and how the material was not that precious. Everyone in the Marquis Manor was used to seeing it. Whether it was master or servant, anyone who picked it up would take it to the Marchioness in exchange for some reward.
Bai Ci Rong was a bit anxious, but not flustered.
She walked out of the Flower Arbor and glanced toward the Emerald Pavilion.
That one glance made her heart jump. Her jade pendant was hanging from the railing on the second floor of the Emerald Pavilion, swinging in the wind.
If she had not seen it, it would have been fine. But once she saw it, she could not hold back. Her mind was filled with only the words “jade pendant,” and she hurried toward the Emerald Pavilion.
She knew she really should not go. Luo Xuan would carry out the Marchioness’s order. If she went, she might get in the way.
But it was her pendant.
When Bai Ci Rong arrived, she saw Luo Ning and Luo Xuan standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the Emerald Pavilion, arguing at the stairway.
“…You want to search my body? That’s ridiculous. Why would I want your ruby earrings?” Luo Ning’s tone was sharp.
The plan was going very smoothly.
Bai Ci Rong stopped, thinking she would fetch her pendant later, but Luo Ning had already seen her.
“Cousin, come judge for us!” Luo Ning’s cheeks were flushed with anger. “Second Sister says I hid her ruby earring.”
“Big Sister, I didn’t mean that. I just wanted to see if it stuck to your clothes,” Luo Xuan said.
“Listen to yourself. You’re really going too far,” Luo Ning said. “Cousin, come here!”
She called Bai Ci Rong twice.
If Bai Ci Rong still did not go up, it would look deliberate. If she went, she could stay somewhat outside the quarrel and be a witness.
Thinking this, she stepped onto the stairs. Smiling, she said: “A’Ning, A’Xuan, don’t fight. You’re blood sisters. To argue over a little trinket and ruin your harmony is not worth it.”
Luo Ning’s expression was dark. “She’s the one going too far. She’s clearly making pointed remarks. I’m her sister, but she says I hid her things. What she really wants to say is that Cousin, an outsider, stole her earrings.”
Luo Xuan: “…”
Bai Ci Rong: “…”
Luo Ning’s mouth could really turn black into white.
“A’Ning, A’Xuan didn’t mean it like that,” Bai Ci Rong said.
“Big Sister, you misunderstood me. Please listen to me!” Luo Xuan reached out as if to pull Luo Ning to her and explain, but her hands pushed at her instead.
Luo Ning had been on guard for a long time. She secretly grabbed Bai Ci Rong and gave her arm a tug. Luo Xuan lost her balance and fell right onto Bai Ci Rong.
The two of them could not stand steady. Luo Ning took the chance to give them a hard shove. At the same time, she stuffed Bai Ci Rong’s jade pendant into Luo Xuan’s belt. The two of them tumbled down the stairs together.
Before this, Luo Ning had seen the jade pendant draw Bai Ci Rong over, so she had already taken it down from the railing. Luo Xuan was too nervous to notice.
The two girls screamed as they rolled down the steps.
That by itself would not have been so terrible.
But then a section of the staircase, which had looked perfectly fine, suddenly collapsed. Luo Xuan and Bai Ci Rong fell straight through and hit the ground under the stairs.
There were several stones on the ground, big and sharp.
Luo Ning heard their terrible cries of pain.
[So the plan was for me to fall down and get hurt.] She stood above them, looking down.
[Such a small scheme, and they still had to make it so roundabout.]