Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Quarrel, Luo Ning Wins
The fine rain kept falling, misting the willows until their soft branches drooped.
Luo Ning sipped her tea slowly. She glanced at the courtyard, where the rain made it look like a world of mist, and felt in a good mood.
Inside the East Main Courtyard, it fell quiet for a moment.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan had already been a little jealous of Yu Zhuo’s early success, and had only held it back because he was thinking of becoming in-laws.
Now that Luo Ning was needling Madam Yu, the Marquis of Zhen Nan was full of anger as he listened.
He did not know whether he should scold Luo Ning or Madam Yu.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan said coldly: “Sister-in-law Yu, for the sake of my old ties with Brother Yu while he was alive, I invited you here as a guest. If you look down on the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s residence, then from now on we can simply cut off contact.”
Madam Yu forced a smile: “Lord Marquis, you take it too seriously. I didn’t say anything. It was this child A’Ning who twisted my meaning…”
She truly had not expected Luo Ning to be this sharp-tongued.
Luo Ning took the words: “My parents are sitting right here. They heard every word Aunt Yu said. Whether I twisted them or not, my parents know in their hearts.”
“You…” Madam Yu was at a loss for words.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan grew even more vexed and looked at Madam Yu: “If you have something to say, just say it outright!”
“It’s nothing,” Madam Yu stalled.
“Are you planning to go back on the marriage the two families agreed on before?” the Marquis of Zhen Nan asked.
Madam Yu said: “N-no, that’s not what I mean, Lord Marquis. It is that foolish child A Zhuo. He couldn’t control his own heart.
“He sees A’Ning as a sister, but he and Miss Bai have fallen for each other. If I don’t agree, wouldn’t I be breaking up a pair of lovers and making the two children miss their chance?
“If I insist on forcing him together with A’Ning, A’Ning won’t be happy, and Lord Marquis would also blame me in future for hiding it today. I’m thinking long-term for A’Ning. I’d rather be blamed than leave this unsaid.”
Luo Ning gave a short laugh and said bluntly: “Aunt Yu, you truly have a clever tongue. You turn black into white and muddy what is right and wrong.
“You want to break the promise from those years ago but refuse to admit fault, and you keep saying it’s for my sake. What, my parents suffer a loss and still have to thank you?”
The marchioness, Madam Bai, could hardly listen anymore and scolded her lightly: “A’Ning, when your elders are speaking, it is not your place to cut in.”
“Mother, you simply don’t treat me as your daughter. They want to swap marriages and give my promising fiancé to your niece, and you don’t even care,” Luo Ning said with a light laugh. “Someone who didn’t know better would think Cousin was your own child.”
Then she asked Madam Yu: “Aunt, between me and Miss Bai, who seems more like my mother?”
The marchioness’s expression changed sharply, and she almost raised the teacup to throw at Luo Ning: “Shut up! How can you say such things! You have not a shred of filial piety. You really should be struck by lightning.”
Luo Ning looked at her, then at the Marquis of Zhen Nan and Madam Yu.
She gave a small laugh: “Mother, don’t be angry. What if Aunt Yu thinks you are feeling guilty and spreads these words outside? What then?”
Madam Yu: “…”
What a way to sow discord.
Madam Bai almost spat blood. Her face looked terrible as she pointed at Luo Ning, her finger trembling: “How did I give birth to a beast like you?”
At those words, Luo Ning looked as if she were greatly shocked.
Sadness flickered across her cheeks. “Mother scolding me like this really breaks my heart. Even if I am speaking nonsense, you shouldn’t curse me so viciously,” she said.
She rose to her feet: “Your daughter will take her leave first.”
Madam Bai hurriedly called: “Stop…”
If Luo Ning ran off like this, she would leave Madam Bai with a heap of hidden troubles, and Madam Bai’s heart thumped wildly.
She even began to suspect that Luo Ning had learned something.
[Impossible!]
When Luo Ning went to Shaoyang to recover from her injuries, she had been only fourteen, just a child, and had known nothing. She had only been back in the capital for a few months.
When Madam Bai came back to her senses, she saw Madam Yu and the Marquis of Zhen Nan both watching her.
She lightly covered her chest and said: “I can’t control her anymore. She hates me and blames me for favoring my niece.
“Heaven and earth can be my witness, when have I ever favored one over the other? She even has a small kitchen in her own courtyard, which even the eldest daughter-in-law’s courtyard doesn’t have. Am I not treating her well enough?”
As she spoke, she began to wipe away tears.
Madam Yu looked away, thinking: [A’Ning cannot be taken as a wife. With such cunning and ruthlessness, are we supposed to marry her home and treat her like an ancestral spirit?]
Compared to her own family’s daughter-in-law, Madam Yu did not care about the Marquis of Zhen Nan residence’s quarrels.
As for the Marquis of Zhen Nan, proud of being the best man Madam Bai could have chosen, he never doubted her.
Besides, Bai Ci Rong was the legitimate daughter of the main wife of the head of the Yuhang Bai family, with a proper name and background. Luo Ning using such absurd words was just to take revenge on her mother.
This daughter had made a bit of merit and now wished the whole family would worship her.
[What future could she possibly have? Why should we coax her?]
[A’Rong can enter the palace and become a consort. And A’Ning? What capable man could she marry? Even the Yu family looks down on her.]
The Marquis of Zhen Nan put all his resentment at being compared unfavorably to Yu Zhuo onto Luo Ning.
While they each nursed their own thoughts, Luo Ning walked out of the East Main Courtyard.
At the doorway, she saw Bai Ci Rong’s maidservant.
This maidservant was named Bi Yun. She had once served Luo Ning, but when Luo Ning left, she had not gone with her and had quickly gone to serve Bai Ci Rong instead.
“Miss, the eldest young master asks you to go to the study in the outer courtyard. The Yu family’s young general is here,” Bi Yun said with a smile.
Luo Ning asked: “If my brother is calling me, why are you the one sent to fetch me?”
“I happened to be at the outer study. Aside from the pageboys, the eldest young master has no one serving at his side, so I took the task,” Bi Yun said.
Luo Ning nodded.
On this day in her previous life, Yu Zhuo had scolded her fiercely. At that time, Luo Ning had been the one on the losing end, while Bai Ci Rong held the upper hand. All she did was vacate Wenqi Courtyard for her, yet even over something so small she had urged Yu Zhuo to “punish” Luo Ning.
In this life, nothing had gone their way yet, so she had even more grievances to air.
Luo Ning wanted to go and enjoy the spectacle.
Her maidservant Qiu Hua followed behind her.
“Miss, do you need to take the soft whip?” Qiu Hua asked her.
Luo Ning shook her head: “No need.”
Last time, Prince Yong had said that her whip technique didn’t even count as beginner level. She could strike out but could not pull back.
Yu Zhuo had been skilled in all kinds of weapons since childhood. In her previous life, the fact that Luo Ning had hit him twice with the whip was only because he had allowed it, not because she was so strong.
Luo Ning felt that hitting him had only eased his guilt instead – why should she reward him like that?
She said something to Qiu Hua, and then went alone to her brother’s outer study.
The rain was still falling, even finer now like mist, touching the clothes without soaking them.
There were four people in her brother’s outer study.
Bai Ci Rong, Yu Zhuo, Luo Yin, and Li Yu Xuan.
Luo Ning disliked every one of them.
“A’Ning.” When Yu Zhuo saw her, there was no joy in his eyes. He did not even stand up, only nodded with a bland expression. “You have come back from Shaoyang. Is your health better?”
He wore a sky-blue robe that showed off his strong build. His skin was darker, his features handsome, and his single-lidded eyes focused, his gaze brighter than most people’s.
At this moment, there was even more arrogance in his eyes and expression.
He was a high-spirited young general who looked down on everyone.
“Much better,” Luo Ning said. “Congratulations.”
“It was earned after escaping death time and again,” he said.
He glanced at Luo Ning again: “You have only just come back and already caused a lot of trouble. A’Ning, have you reflected on yourself lately?”
Compared to the previous life, he was even more direct.
Luo Ning thought that he must feel immense heartache for Bai Ci Rong to speak in such a tone.
“Who are you?” Luo Ning asked.
Yu Zhuo looked at her.
His eyes were bright and sharp, but Luo Ning’s gaze did not waver: “Who are you, that you have the right to tell me to reflect on myself?”
Yu Zhuo was stunned for a moment before saying: “So the rumors were true. A’Ning, I thought others were slandering you. I had only just come back, and already I heard that you pushed your younger half-sister down the stairs, publicly defied your mother and made her lose face, and even smeared Miss Bai.”
He did not even bother to pretend.
Luo Ning looked at Luo Yin and Li Yu Xuan.
These two were in cahoots with Yu Zhuo, while Bai Ci Rong’s eyes were soft.
She did not speak.
When someone else did evil deeds for her, she had cleverly learned to remain silent. In this way, she would never show a ferocious face. She would stay elegant, noble, and beautiful, so that she could stand on a high platform and gain power.
Luo Ning knew that she had not succeeded in her previous life. Though she was even more proud than Yu Zhuo, in the end she had only been beaten to death.
When Grand Princess Jia Hong had her beaten to death, she had made sure all the charges were in place. Once she died, Bai Ci Rong’s body had been thrown into a mass grave with no one to collect it.
How could Bai Ci Rong know that all her false grace and pity would come to nothing?
Thinking of this, Luo Ning felt very calm inside.
“…The one who pushed Luo Xuan down the stairs wasn’t me but Cousin, wasn’t it? The two of them fell together, and no one judged me guilty,” Luo Ning said.
Bai Ci Rong’s eyes were full of sorrow as she looked toward Yu Zhuo for help.
Yu Zhuo frowned: “A’Ning, stop talking. I don’t want to hear this. No matter how you argue, it changes nothing.”
“I’m not talking for you to hear. I’m talking for a dog to hear. Just now a dog barked wildly at me for half the day. I should at least answer it with a few words,” Luo Ning said.