Chapter 73
Chapter 73: Driving Him Mad
The arson case involving Luo Yin caused a huge uproar.
By the next day, the news had reached the Imperial Palace, because he was the blood brother of the future Princess Consort Yong and had been the center of attention before this.
The Empress Dowager summoned Luo Ning into the palace.
“You must not panic. No matter what, the Prefectural Yamen will not convict your brother,” the Empress Dowager said to Luo Ning.
Luo Ning was silent.
For the sake of the bigger picture and for Luo Ning and Prince Yong’s reputations, Luo Yin would not be allowed to stay in prison this time.
Luo Ning had already expected this in her heart, but she still could not help feeling a bit disappointed. That disappointment was very small and passed in a flash.
[It is also fine if he does not stay in prison, so he will not be able to cling to a wretched life there. He should die.]
“Thank you, Imperial Mother,” Luo Ning said softly.
The disappointment on her face might look like shame because her brother had embarrassed her. The Empress Dowager thought so, and so did not think any deeper.
“You may also go back and tell your grandmother and parents, so your family can be at ease,” the Empress Dowager added.
Luo Ning answered again.
When she returned from the Imperial Palace, she first told the Marquis of Zhen Nan about it.
Very soon, Madam Bai heard the news.
Madam Bai went especially to Wenqi Courtyard, putting on a look of loss and patience. “A’Ning, did the Empress Dowager really say that?”
“Yes.”
“You have been granted in marriage to Prince Yong. So many noble households are jealous of us. Your brother was slandered. He is a good person, not crazy. How could he go to your cousin’s shop to set a fire? The Empress Dowager is truly wise, clearing your brother’s name.” Madam Bai’s eyes filled with grateful tears.
Luo Ning looked at her quietly. “Maybe brother really is crazy.”
At once, endless malice and fury surged up in Madam Bai’s tearful eyes as she stared at Luo Ning. “A’Ning, do not talk nonsense.”
Luo Ning did not back down and met her gaze. “Mother, if he is not insane, why would he set a fire for no reason? Do you think it is more believable that he went mad, or that he was framed?”
Madam Bai’s face froze.
“Do you want your son to go to prison, or admit that he has gone mad?” Luo Ning asked again.
She blinked. Her eyes turned clear again, like a child who did not yet understand the world, as she waited for Madam Bai to make a choice.
[In my past life, you poured that dirty water on me. Now you can taste it yourselves.
If he is not mad, then he can go sit in prison. If he is mad, he will lose his office and his honor.
You have to pay some price.]
Madam Bai’s expression changed several times, and for a long while she could not say a single word.
“A’Ning, you…”
Seeing how furious she was, Luo Ning reminded her: “Mother, if I had not been granted to Prince Yong, brother could not leave prison. Do not say anything ugly and give me a chance to complain in the Imperial Palace.”
Madam Bai shut her mouth at once.
Luo Ning continued: “He burned cousin’s shop. Are you not going to ask why? What made the two of them fight so fiercely?”
Madam Bai’s eyes drifted. “He was framed.”
Luo Ning sighed. “Mother, please go back. I am tired from going into the palace. I want to lie down.”
Madam Bai had no choice but to get up and leave.
Luo Ning watched her quietly.
Three days later, Luo Yin came home.
Right after that, the Ministry of Personnel dismissed him from his post.
Luo Yin had always thought his small minor official position was like a chicken rib, tasteless to eat yet a pity to throw away. In fact, that minor official post was still an official status.
There was a huge gap between an official and a commoner.
“He burned our own shop, and A’Rong does not pursue it, so the government office reduced the sentence by one degree.
“The dead person in the shop is of unknown identity. Merchants nearby testified that a thief has often appeared recently, so the dead person is probably that thief, and the sentence was reduced by another degree.
“As for the gunpowder, we could not explain it clearly, so they blurred it over. In the end, since it was still arson, he was given ten strokes and fined five hundred taels of silver, then allowed to leave prison,” the Marquis of Zhen Nan told Old Madam.
Old Madam snorted. “What a sin. He not only lost his official status, but also embarrassed the Marquis Manor and A’Ning. We are Prince Yong’s wife’s family and have brought criticism on the prince. He is simply unforgivable.”
The Marquis of Zhen Nan said: “Mother is absolutely right.”
Everyone in the manor heard about it.
Only the Marchioness felt nothing but pain for her son, crying bitterly as she watched him be beaten again.
“It was Luo Ning who harmed me. She plotted against me!” Luo Yin’s face twisted with anger.
Madam Bai held him down. “Calm down.”
“Mother, I went to prison, was beaten, and lost my office. Luo Ning harmed me like this. How can I calm down? I want to kill her and make her pay with blood for blood!” Luo Yin roared.
While he was saying this, the Marquis of Zhen Nan was supporting Old Madam, followed by Luo Ning and the people of the second and third branches.
They had come because Luo Yin had returned to the manor, planning to offer him a few words of comfort.
But at the doorway, they heard every word Luo Yin said.
The Marquis of Zhen Nan’s expression was extremely ugly.
There was a hint of grievance on Luo Ning’s face.
“Shut up, you unfilial wretch. You still have the face to say such things!” the Marquis of Zhen Nan shouted from outside the window.
The room fell silent.
The Marchioness, Madam Bai, wiped away her tears and hurried out.
She was already older but still charming. Only the skin at the corners of her eyes had loosened a little, which did not affect her noble air. Even when she cried, she looked like pear blossoms in the rain.
“Mother, Lord Marquis, A’Yin has suffered wrongs,” the Marchioness explained, then looked at Luo Ning. “A’Ning, your brother did not do it on purpose.”
The Marquis of Zhen Nan’s face was as dark as black iron. “Look at him. He does not feel any regret at all. How far does he want to drag our manor down?”
Old Madam was angry too. “What he has done cannot stand up to scrutiny. My maidservant Xiang Ran is missing. We must investigate this in our manor.”
Third Madam smiled brightly and openly fanned the flames. “A’Yin said he wanted A’Ning to ‘pay with blood for blood’. Where did this blood debt come from? I do not really understand. Mother, Lord Marquis, should we investigate this too?”
The Marchioness choked.
She was so angry she could die. Her fingernails dug into her flesh, making her palms sting.
Luo Ning looked at Madam Bai with deep meaning.
The Marchioness remembered what Luo Ning had said. She knew Luo Ning was forcing her, but at this point she had to say something, or Luo Yin would be beaten again.
He was already injured. He could not take any new wounds.
The Marchioness knelt down. “Mother, Lord Marquis, A’Yin has had everything go smoothly since he was young. He has never suffered any big setbacks.
“This time he was falsely accused and put in prison. Looking at him, he is overly frightened and seems a bit deranged.”
Ignoring the pain all over his body, Luo Yin rushed out from the inner room in only his underclothes, shouting: “I am not crazy!”
He almost shouted at the Marchioness: “I am not deranged. It was Luo Ning who harmed me!”
“Brother, how did I harm you?” Luo Ning asked sharply.
Luo Yin froze.
Bai Ci Rong had been waiting in the hall the whole time, standing quietly in a corner. At this moment she walked out and said: “Brother, rest well. Aunt, do not worry too much.”
“He is just a bit mad,” the Marchioness cried.
In the overlapping light and shadows, Luo Ning seemed to see herself from her past life.
She had also had moments like this when she could not explain herself, filled with anger and grievance, and had also been branded “deranged” by Madam Bai and Bai Ci Rong, unable to escape.
She had also shouted over and over like Luo Yin now that she was not crazy.
[But who had cared?]
Luo Ning looked at Madam Bai.
In her past life, when Madam Bai said Luo Ning was deranged, she had been calm and sure, elegant and noble, and the little bit of pain she pretended to show had been very shallow.
But now her cheeks were pale and her body trembling. Her pain was deep, down to the bone. To call Luo Yin “deranged” to help him escape was like cutting out her own heart.
At this moment, both Madam Bai and Luo Yin should be tasting the pain of flesh being sliced and bone being scraped.
Luo Ning felt that her soul had gained a bit of peace again.
Luo Yin was right. A blood debt had to be paid with blood.