Chapter 43
Chapter 43: Luo Ning Stares at a Man in a Daze
In the blink of an eye, it was the first day of the early Third Month. Cooked blessed-bean porridge was given out from Old Madam’s west main courtyard, and Luo Ning received a letter passed to her by sister-in-law.
Sister-in-law really had found something out.
She was too soft and too timid. Luo Yin and Marchioness did not guard against her at all.
But her moments of clear-headedness were usually only for a heartbeat.
Before, Luo Ning had also looked down on her a little. She feared sister-in-law would never stand up, only know how to cry and sob. Even if she saw things clearly, she could not persuade herself to stand.
Only now did she realize that under that weak appearance, sister-in-law was so strong. Once she was hurt, she would never turn back. She was decisive, tough, and even a little clever.
After Luo Ning finished reading her letter, she burned it at once.
She called Qiu Hua: “Take my command token and go to Prince Yong Manor. Repeat to the Prince exactly what I tell you.”
She gave her orders one by one.
Qiu Hua memorized them.
After half a day, Qiu Hua came back: “At first, it was the steward who received me. When he heard that I was your maidservant, he went in to report. Then the Prince actually called me in.”
She was a bit surprised and also a little scared.
Who would not be nervous in front of Prince Yong?
Luo Ning smiled: “What did the Prince say?”
“The Prince said you can rest assured. He knows what he is doing. A small matter like this is very easy for Prince Yong Manor to handle,” Qiu Hua said.
Luo Ning’s heart grew calm again. She now had a powerful backer.
She waited with ease and without hurry.
Marchioness sent someone to call Luo Ning to the east main courtyard.
“This is the best Shu brocade this year. One bolt costs two hundred taels of silver. I know the owner of the cloth shop well, so I bought two bolts.
“The crimson one is for A Rong to make a skirt. This ‘sky after rain’ blue one is yours. There is also the upper robe and jacket, in apricot-white with hidden patterns,” Marchioness said.
She added: “A Ning, when you go to the Princess’s birthday banquet this time, bring your zither. The Princess’s spring viewing banquets are always filled with precious daughters of prestigious clans. Every year they must show their talents. You should prepare in advance.”
Luo Ning smiled: “Thank you, Mother.”
Then she looked at her: “Mother, you are not angry at me anymore?”
Marchioness gave a small laugh: “Your mother has many things to deal with. Sometimes I cannot take care of everything. When you spoke up, I was very angry at that moment. But when I thought about it afterward, you meant well.
“No matter how angry I am, when there is something good, I still think of you first. You are the flesh that fell from my body after all.”
Luo Ning answered with a sincere smile: “That is great. I really feel relieved. I was afraid you were angry with me, so I did not dare come pay my respects these days.”
Marchioness took her hand and hugged her.
After just a few breaths, she let go again, as if she felt it was a bit improper.
But Luo Ning knew very clearly that she actually resisted being close to her.
Luckily, she had been reborn.
If this were her past life, hearing such words, even the smartest person would start to waver and doubt their own judgment.
Family affection was the softest place in a person’s heart. Some kinds of family affection were poisonous, yet people still swallowed them as if they were sweet.
Luckily, Luo Ning had already been cut open and scraped to the bone by that family affection and tortured to death. She had finally seen through it.
She gave Marchioness a very sweet, childlike, and playful smile.
Marchioness was very satisfied.
Soon it was the Third Day of the Third Month.
The weather was clear that day. Peach buds in the courtyard were baked by the bright sun, their pink petals almost transparent, even more lush and bright.
Luo Ning had long since changed her clothes.
Marchioness Madam Bai had prepared them for her: an apricot-white upper robe and jacket, and a sky-after-rain blue silk skirt.
The outfit was grand yet plain. Paired with her fair, clear skin, Luo Ning’s bearing was cold and noble, like a goddess from a snowy mountain.
Before leaving, Luo Ning went first to Old Madam’s west main courtyard to pay her respects.
Old Madam praised her again and again: “This outfit looks very nice.”
“Yes, I think it looks nice too,” Luo Ning said with a smile.
Her maidservant Qiu Hua held a guqin in her arms, wrapped in silk.
The group went out together.
At the gate, they ran into Marchioness and Bai Ci Rong.
Marchioness was also going out for the spring outing today.
She had received many invitations from families whose noble status and wealth were about the same as the Luo family, but she looked down on all of them. The seating at their spring viewing banquets was all in the less important spots.
The good positions had long been taken.
The two groups of women from the Marquis Manor met and exchanged a few polite greetings.
When Bai Ci Rong and Marchioness heard that Luo Ning and the others were going to the Princess’s picnic, they were not jealous at all.
“What an eye-opener that must be. Tell me all about it when you come back, so I can broaden my horizons too,” Marchioness said to Luo Ning with a smile.
Luo Ning agreed.
Bai Ci Rong said: “Sister A Ning, your outfit is really beautiful. It really suits you.”
Luo Ning glanced at her.
Bai Ci Rong was wearing a light ink-colored jacket and upper robe of the same color, with a crimson silk skirt embroidered with golden begonias. Compared to the light colors on most women, her outfit was very striking and stood out more.
“Yours looks good too,” Luo Ning said with a smile.
Bai Ci Rong’s smile grew even more sincere: “It still cannot compare to Sister A Ning.”
Time was getting late, and they each got into their carriages.
The first step of Bai Ci Rong and Marchioness’s plan had succeeded, so they were both in a good mood.
“Mother, can we really get close to the Princess’s picnic tent?” Bai Ci Rong asked.
“It is all arranged. Don’t worry. The person we invited has an unusual status. The Princess will definitely give this person face,” Marchioness said.
Then she looked out the window, a little lost in thought.
She was a bit worried.
It was not for anything else, but because her confidence had been shaken. Just now, when Luo Ning and Bai Ci Rong stood together, even though Bai Ci Rong’s clothes were more luxurious and her makeup more delicate, she had still been outshone by Luo Ning.
Luo Ning’s skin was better, and her eyes were calm. Even with only light powder, her bearing was especially elegant and graceful. So her looks seemed even more beautiful and noble.
Bai Ci Rong’s beauty, next to Luo Ning, felt somewhat deliberate.
If they appeared at the Princess’s spring viewing banquet at the same time, even if Luo Ning was mocked, would Bai Ci Rong really win?
Without a comparison, Marchioness had always seen Bai Ci Rong as the bright moon in the sky. When compared to Luo Ning, she dimmed at once.
And Luo Ning clearly was nothing special either.
“…Mother, are you reluctant to let Sister A Ning go?” Bai Ci Rong asked softly. “Will you feel sorry for her when she makes a fool of herself later?”
Today, Luo Ning would probably lose all face.
Once she disgraced herself, the Marquis of Zhen Nan would likely no longer want to acknowledge this daughter. The Empress Dowager would also feel embarrassed for her.
Bai Ci Rong and Luo Yin’s plan was very good.
Marchioness had agreed at first, but now she was dazed. Bai Ci Rong was a little afraid she would ruin things at the last moment.
They were mother and daughter by blood, after all.
“No, I am not worried about her,” Marchioness came back to herself and gently straightened Bai Ci Rong’s collar. “Good child, I have arranged a better future for her. Marrying into a rich household in Shaoyang will be her good life. I have thought it all through for all of you.”
This was not harming Luo Ning.
It was not tormenting or humiliating her either, but educating her.
She wanted to teach Luo Ning to see reality clearly, accept her fate early, and obediently go to Shaoyang, thousands of miles away, to marry into a local aristocratic family and be their young madam.
The splendor and riches of the inner capital should belong to Bai Ci Rong.
This was what Madam Bai owed Bai Ci Rong and her father. That father and daughter pair had suffered too much for her sake.
The Shangsi Festival spring outing was the liveliest event in Shengjing.
Although people called it a spring outing for fun, it was also a disguised way of “meeting and looking over” possible matches.
Many noble madams held large picnics and invited unmarried young men and women of suitable family background and age.
By the river in the suburbs outside the city, some people played in the water, meaning to wash away filth and pray for blessings and the removal of disasters. It also carried the meaning of praying for children and driving away misfortune.
The open space by the river was full of tents.
The tents were all different colors, bright and dazzling.
The Luo family women got off their carriage at the Official Road, where people from the Princess Manor were already waiting.
Luo Ning saw Pei Ying.
Today Pei Ying was also wearing a sky-blue long robe, very close in color to Luo Ning’s silk skirt.
He cupped his hands in greeting: “Mother asked me to come wait for the guests. Miss Luo, this way please.”
The Luo family women followed him toward the tents.
Luo Ning could not help sizing him up.
She watched the way he walked and the line of his back.
She still could not tell.
The days in Shaoyang were more than ten years ago in her memory. She was Luo Ning after rebirth.
Luo Ning only remembered the tune she had played.
Besides, in her past life she had never suspected Madam Feng of anything, so she would not have paid special attention to her posture and the way she walked.
Yet she was curious now.
Her cousin Luo Wan quietly tugged her: “Elder Sister, there are people all around.”
Only then did Luo Ning realize that she might have been staring at Pei Ying too hard.
She laughed a little and squeezed her cousin’s hand in return.
In the distance, she also saw Marchioness Madam Bai and Bai Ci Rong.
They were surrounded by maidservants and were looking in Luo Ning’s direction.
Luo Ning smoothed her skirt and kept walking forward.
[Let them relax for a while first.]
[Later, who will be the one to cry first?]
Only Luo Ning and her sister-in-law Madam Wen knew about this matter. Cousin and aunt were still in the dark.