Chapter 88
Chapter 88: Luo Ning Hits Every Shot
In early summer, the sun was blazing. Light filtered through the sparse shade and fell in broken patches.
Luo Ning had changed into her summer clothes.
In the courtyard, Lin Zhao was teaching Luo Ning archery.
They used a small bow and shot at a short distance.
Luo Ning had only started yesterday, but today she was already hitting every shot.
“Princess Consort, your archery is better than your soft whip,” Lin Zhao praised her.
The reason for this last-minute practice was that in a few days Luo Ning would go to the Imperial Palace to accompany the Empress Dowager for the Dragon Boat Festival.
One custom of the Imperial Court for the Dragon Boat Festival was shooting at “Mugwort Rice Dumplings.”
A Mugwort Rice Dumpling was a kind of green pastry, only called a “dumpling” by name. They were placed in a square tray, and if you hit one with a small arrow, you could eat it.
They had mugwort juice mixed inside, said to bring blessings and drive away poison.
These Mugwort Rice Dumplings were smooth, soft, and sticky, and very hard to hit.
This game was something the Empress Dowager had thought up herself. She liked it very much, and it slowly spread from the Imperial Court to the great houses and prestigious clans.
Nanny Yin had told Luo Ning about it and told her to prepare ahead of time.
When the time came, all the womenfolk would be shooting. If Luo Ning kept missing, Nanny Yin was afraid she would be embarrassed.
So it was better to practice first, just in case.
“I have never learned archery, but I’m very accurate at pitch-pot,” Luo Ning said.
Pitch-pot was the most common game, and Luo Ning liked it too.
For close-range shooting, you only needed good aim. By slowly using her hands to find the feel of the bow, it was easy to aim and hit.
Luo Ning improved very fast also because this small bow was light as nothing, and she was shooting at a distance like in pitch-pot, so the feeling in her hands became similar very quickly.
If it were a longbow and sharp arrows, she probably would not do so well.
She still did not have enough strength in her hands.
“Later, when this old servant has made the Mugwort Rice Dumplings, you keep practicing first,” Nanny Kong said nearby.
For the past two days, they had been practicing by shooting at steamed buns.
Steamed buns were easy to hit, but Mugwort Rice Dumplings were harder. You had to go from easy to hard and improve bit by bit.
Luo Ning nodded.
In the late afternoon, Luo Ning changed her clothes and went to Grandmother’s courtyard to sit and talk with her.
Now that summer had begun and the days were warm, Grandmother’s complexion was much better than before, and she was full of energy.
The grandmother and granddaughter still did not talk about Luo Yin.
“The Dragon Boat Festival is almost here,” Grandmother said to her. “And your birthday is coming too. What gift do you want this year?”
She had been born on the tenth day of the fifth month.
“Your being healthy and free of illness is the best gift,” Luo Ning said with a smile.
Grandmother patted her hand. “Good child. But you still need a birthday gift. In past years it was always clothes and shoes. Now that you are grown, we should prepare something of real value.
Tell Grandmother what you want. You not only have to receive gifts, you should also hold a birthday banquet. This may be the last time you spend your birthday at your maiden home.”
Luo Ning did not refuse again. “Let me think about it. When I decide, I’ll tell you.”
Giving the old lady something to busy herself with would make her feel better and give her something to look forward to.
In fact, Luo Ning had hardly ever really celebrated her birthday.
She hated that day.
Every time her birthday came, the maidservants and wet nurses around her would remind her how dangerous it had been when Marchioness Bai gave birth to her.
It had been dangerous, but there had never been half a year of being stuck in bed.
After giving birth to Luo Ning, Madam Bai had indeed bled very badly and had been badly frightened.
After three to five days, the bleeding stopped, but she was extremely weak.
That year, Luo Chong Ye was at the borderlands, and Old Madam had to manage the household. All the people serving Madam Bai were her own.
She claimed she could not move for half a year and spent all day in her courtyard, only because she kept Qiu Shi Dong in the main courtyard. Luo Ning had only heard her mention this after she died and became a ghost.
While Madam Bai was “resting” for many days, she openly carried on with Qiu Shi Dong in the Luo family home.
Nanny Zhen would often carry Luo Yin over so they could gather as a family.
Half a year later, Qiu Shi Dong had to go back, and Madam Bai wanted to go with him.
She told everyone in the Luo family that she could finally move again and wanted to return to her maiden home. Every time she went back to her maiden home, she brought back many benefits.
Yuhang was far away. Each trip took more than half a year.
When Madam Bai returned to her maiden home again, she was already pregnant with Bai Ci Rong.
In the year the rebel army entered the capital city, the timing happened to favor Madam Bai, and she was “forced” to stay in Yuhang for more than two years.
After giving birth to Bai Ci Rong, her elder brother and sister-in-law at her maiden home covered up for her, and Bai Ci Rong became the legitimate daughter of the eldest branch of the Bai family in Yuhang.
Later, Qiu Shi Dong obtained the qualifications to be a salt merchant and made even more money. He also ran sea trade, and the Bai family’s business came to rely on him.
In Yuhang, Madam Bai had to count on him to make money, so she cared more and more about his affairs.
Luo Chong Ye’s official rank also kept rising. Madam Bai could not leave the Luo family, and Qiu Shi Dong also encouraged her to put down roots in Shengjing and secure futures for their children.
They treated the Luo family like monkeys to play with.
Luo Ning only felt that she was pitiful.
From the moment she was born, no one had ever really wanted her.
Madam Bai had chosen Luo Chong Ye herself. For that chance, she had given up her engagement to Qiu Shi Dong. In the end, she claimed she had been forced.
The only one truly innocent was Luo Ning.
Since she was young, Luo Ning had borne Madam Bai’s anger. Whenever she lived too comfortably, Madam Bai would think of Bai Ci Rong, especially on Luo Ning’s birthday.
So every year on her birthday, when Grandmother had people send Luo Ning new clothes and shoes and she happily put them on, she would always hear the people around her scold her sharply, telling her she had to be filial to her mother.
They would tell her how pitiful her mother was and how hard it had been to give birth to her.
And on that day, Mother never gave her a kind look either.
“[Maybe I really should properly celebrate a birthday,]” Luo Ning thought.
Her life in her last lifetime had already been spent. The life she had now was one she had fought for herself.
She wanted to live once for herself.
She had never owed Madam Bai anything. Every step in Madam Bai’s life, including giving birth to Luo Ning, had been her own choice. Luo Ning had never had any choice about whether to be born or who would give birth to her.
In this farce, Luo Ning had never gained anything. So her blood was completely clean; she bore no sin.
She had the right to celebrate her own birth once.
“[…I still don’t know what I even want,]” Luo Ning thought for a long time, yet still could not think of a gift for herself.
But from Grandmother’s side came a land deed.
It was a country estate that had been part of Grandmother’s dowry. Every year it produced a great harvest of osmanthus flowers.
“Take it. No matter how bad things get in the future, with the income from this country estate, you will not go hungry,” Grandmother said.
Luo Ning happily accepted it.
She would be fine, and Grandmother would be too.
On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, Marquis Manor felt a little quiet.
Madam Bai had fallen ill, and Madam Wen and Second Madam did not put much effort into the festival. They only handed out a few things to the servants and hung calamus and mugwort around the house.
Privately, Luo Wan sent Luo Ning a longevity thread charm that she had braided herself. Luo Ning returned a bat-pattern tassel, which she had woven herself.
Luo Ning also used five-colored silk cords to make some longevity thread charms and bat-pattern tassels to give to Prince Yong and the Empress Dowager later.
In the blink of an eye, the Dragon Boat Festival arrived. Married young ladies went back to their maiden homes to avoid the noon hour, while Luo Ning went into the palace to spend the festival with the Empress Dowager.
The imperial clan and their relatives would all gather in Kunyu Hall, where they usually held banquets, to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with the Empress Dowager.
Luo Ning first went to Shoucheng Palace.
Prince Yong, Princess Ping Yang, Prince Chen, and Prince Wei were all there, along with their princess consorts and the imperial sons-in-law.
Luo Ning went up to pay her respects.
“A’Ning, come and sit beside me,” the Empress Dowager said to Luo Ning with a smile.
There was an empty seat next to the Empress Dowager.
Luo Ning walked over.
This was her first time seeing Prince Wei and his wife together. They had gone to their fief some time ago and had only returned half a month ago.
“Come out. I have something to tell you,” Xiao Huai Feng said to Luo Ning.
Luo Ning had not even sat down yet and had to stand back up.
She followed Prince Yong out of the main hall, and they stood under the covered corridor to talk.