Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Luo Ning Strikes Back

Luo Ning went out with the maidservant.

There was a carriage waiting at the gate.

She looked terribly anxious, her gaze wandering and worried, and she did not question anything.

For example, she did not even ask why the maidservant Xiang Ran had been able to prepare a carriage in advance and wait for her.

“Big Miss, it is just up ahead,” Xiang Ran said to Luo Ning when the carriage stopped, pointing at a silk shop.

Luo Ning lifted the curtain and saw a silk shop called Auspicious Brocade Pavilion.

It was only mid-afternoon, not yet closing time, but the door boards were already halfway down, as if they had closed early for some reason.

“The door is already half closed. Are they still doing business today?” Luo Ning said as she got down from the carriage.

Xiang Ran helped her down: “When the Old Madam and the Eldest Young Master came just now, the boards were not yet down. It is just that the Old Madam and the Eldest Young Master are in a private room upstairs, and the shopboy would not let me go up.”

Luo Ning walked to the doorway.

A shopboy came out to greet them: “Are you here to buy something, honored guest? Please come back tomorrow. The shopkeeper has a happy event at home, so we are closed today.”

Luo Ning looked at Xiang Ran in puzzlement: “Hasn’t the Old Madam already gone back?”

Hearing this, the shopboy smiled and answered: “Are you from the Luo family? Then you are relatives. The master of this shop is Miss Bai.”

Xiang Ran quickly said: “This is the Luo family’s Big Miss.”

The shopboy bowed respectfully: “The Old Madam is still upstairs. She is happily chatting with an embroideress and even said she wants to buy silk from our shop to make dowry clothes for Big Miss.

“Because of that, the shopkeeper used the excuse of the happy event at home to half close the doors and only do this big business for the Old Madam today. Big Miss, please come in as well and take a look.”

Luo Ning stepped into the silk shop.

The shopboy politely invited her upstairs.

There were only three private rooms upstairs, used especially to receive honored guests.

He invited Luo Ning to sit.

Luo Ning looked a little surprised: “Where is my Grandmother then? Did you not say she is upstairs?”

“She may be in the storeroom,” the shopboy said. “Just now the Old Madam said she wanted to go to the storeroom to look at the stock.”

“I will go too.”

“Please wait here. This humble servant will go and check for you. If you run up and down and miss each other, it will be troublesome. Our shop has stairways on both sides,” the shopboy said.

Luo Ning said impatiently: “What is going on? What exactly are my Grandmother and my brother doing?”

“Big Miss, this humble servant really does not know…” the shopboy replied.

“You do not know?”

“No. I will go down to check for you. Please sit. This humble servant will brew you some tea.” As he spoke, a dagger slipped from his hand.

Luo Ning appeared extremely panicked and anxious: “I am going to find Grandmother.”

She seemed to be in a panic, and the shopboy still wanted to calm her down so she would not make a big scene, when Luo Ning suddenly raised her hand.

She threw a handful of quicklime wrapped in a handkerchief at the shopboy.

The shopboy had not been on guard. His eyes burned and his vision went blurry. At once he swung the dagger hidden in his sleeve toward Luo Ning.

Luo Ning’s soft whip fell. With one strike she hit him in the face, then quickly dodged behind him and wrapped the long whip around his neck.

The shopboy struggled with all his strength, but he was not a trained assassin. He was not very agile and had not been prepared for Luo Ning to attack him three times in a row. In his panic, he dropped the dagger.

Luo Ning pulled the gold hairpin from her hair and drove it into his neck.

When he stopped moving, Luo Ning immediately went to the window and looked to both sides.

Qiu Hua was in a hidden corner under the front window of the silk shop, disguised as an old woman. She waved at her.

Luo Ning quickly tore off a piece of silk, wrapped it around her head and face, and carefully went downstairs.

The front door boards were already fully in place, and there was no one in sight.

Luo Ning was a delicate precious daughter, while the shopboy was a man in his twenties who had come prepared. It should have been easy for him to deal with her.

In order to avoid too many eyes and ears and keep things from getting messy afterward, the fewer people involved in this matter, the better. That was also Luo Ning’s guess.

Sure enough, there was no one left guarding the main hall. Luo Ning quietly pushed down one of the door boards, squeezed out, ran across the street, and met up with Qiu Hua.

Qiu Hua’s palms were slick with sweat from nerves: “Big Miss, how are you? Are you hurt?”

“I am fine.” Luo Ning was very calm as she took her hand without the slightest panic: “How did things go on your end?”

“According to your instructions, I left the food box in a corner of the silk shop,” Qiu Hua said. “When I went in, the shop was still doing normal business and there were quite a few customers. No one noticed me.”

Luo Ning nodded.

Qiu Hua was still shaken: “Big Miss, you must not take such risks. Let me do it for you next time.”

“If I do not show my face, I cannot draw out the people behind this. A person can even choke to death while eating. Everything carries some risk. If you do not enter the tiger’s den, how can you get its cub?” Luo Ning said.

Qiu Hua: “…”

It seemed that Big Miss had changed.

In the past she had been impatient, then later sad and gloomy. Now she was calm and decisive.

She was much too brave, almost fearless. It was just that she usually hid it well and looked chaste and gentle, so it was hard to see.

“Hurry, let us hide ourselves well so nothing changes at the last moment,” Luo Ning said. “How did things go with Qiu Lan and Nanny Kong?”

“They gave the yamen runners some silver and mentioned ‘Princess Consort Yong’. The runners are all waiting on the back street,” Qiu Hua said.

Luo Ning nodded.

She and Qiu Hua quietly left.

Luo Ning returned to the Marquis of Zhen Nan residence and asked the steward at the gate: “Has the Old Madam come back?”

“She came back long ago, Big Miss.”

“Who escorted her back?” Luo Ning asked again.

“It was Cousin.”

Luo Ning nodded and went to Grandmother’s courtyard.

From the gate to the West Main Courtyard, the sun was already low. The last light of the setting sun bathed the sky and the courtyard, and the trees were dyed with a bright red glow.

Grandmother was very displeased.

Luo Ning went forward: “Grandmother, you came back late today.”

Grandmother took her hand: “Something is very wrong. My heart has been pounding all day.”

She told Luo Ning that she had indeed met Luo Yin at the Wan Family Residence.

Luo Yin had also gone there as a guest. The Wan Family Residence was very pleased and felt that the Luo family was giving them great face. But the Old Madam asked him why he was not at the yamen.

On the way back, Luo Yin insisted on riding in the Old Madam’s carriage, saying he wanted to talk to her about his troubles.

The Old Madam found him somewhat annoying.

“He told me that he still wanted to bring Nan Xi back into the residence so she could give birth there. That is not something I can manage, so I told him to discuss it with his mother. But he said that his mother would not agree and begged me to speak up for him,” Grandmother said.

He pestered her like that all the way until they came to a shop.

Luo Yin said to the Old Madam: “This is a shop the Bai family gave Cousin. I heard that the business is very good. Grandmother, would you like to go down and have a look? Later we can also buy a few shops like this for A’Ning as part of her dowry.”

The Old Madam was wary of him and said: “A’Ning’s dowry will come from the public funds, and your mother will prepare it. I have my own plans for the extra things I add to her trunks. You do not need to worry about such matters.”

Still, Luo Yin insisted that the Old Madam go down and take a look.

When the carriage stopped, Bai Ci Rong was already waiting outside the curtain, speaking softly as she invited the Old Madam in to sit.

The Old Madam felt a little forced and was extremely angry, but when Luo Yin had squeezed into her carriage, the maidservant Xiang Ran who usually stayed by her side had been told to ride in Luo Yin’s own carriage and was no longer with her.

There was no one she could use.

The Old Madam was old and did not want to lose face in public, so she had no choice but to get down from the carriage.

She wanted to see what tricks they were playing.

“…They did not do anything in particular, just asked me to sit in the shop while she went on and on about how much money the place makes. We did not stay very long.” When the Old Madam spoke of it to Luo Ning, she was very displeased and also a little frightened in hindsight.

Now that she was back in the West Main Courtyard, the Old Madam was still completely confused. Unease and irritation tangled together in her heart: “What are they up to?”

She asked Nanny Sheng again: “Where is Xiang Ran? She went out with us, but after all this time she still has not returned. Where did she go?”

Luo Ning held the Old Madam’s hand: “Grandmother, Xiang Ran may not be able to come back.”

The Old Madam was stunned: “What do you mean by that?”