Eldest Young Master Luo Yin, soaking wet, climbed out of the lake and was then made to kneel by his father.
He shivered, his teeth chattering from the cold.
His Eldest Young Master's wife continuously pleaded for him.
His mother and Cousin Bai Cirong soon arrived as well.
“Marquis, it’s so cold, A Yin will get frostbite. Let him go back and change first, then punish him later,” Bai also knelt before Zhennan Marquis.
Even with her age, she remained beautiful and noble, showing no hint of distress while pleading. Her slender neck was adorned with a white fox fur collar, a truly pleasing sight.
Zhennan Marquis highly regarded his Eldest Young Master and deeply cherished his wife.
His Eldest Young Master was exceptionally handsome and well-versed in etiquette; his wife possessed unparalleled beauty and graceful demeanor. Both were sources of pride for Zhennan Marquis.
Zhennan Marquis sighed, “This rebellious son, early in the morning, he made things difficult for his younger sister…”
“It takes two to tango, A Yin is not entirely innocent. But it’s too cold, Marquis, he is a scholar,” Bai said. “Marquis, let him change first. It won’t be too late to scold or beat him afterward.”
Luo Ning stood by her side.
Her Servant, Kong Mama, who was also her steward, followed her and heard these words.
Kong Mama was inwardly startled.
What was the Marquise saying?
“It takes two to tango” and “A Yin is not entirely innocent” essentially meant that there’s no smoke without fire, implying it was all Da Jiejie’s fault and the Eldest Young Master was merely implicated by her.
While saying “he is not innocent,” she actually meant “he is innocent.”
Such favoritism.
Da Jiejie had said the Madam was biased, but Kong Mama had thought it was just a young girl being overly sensitive.
Now, Kong Mama could hardly believe her ears.
“Why aren’t you hurrying back to change?” Zhennan Marquis hesitated for a few breaths, then said to his Eldest Young Master.
Luo Yin respectfully assented and stood up.
He raised his eyes and glared fiercely at Luo Ning.
Luo Ning smiled slightly, meeting his gaze, “Why are you glaring at me, Eldest Young Master? Are you unhappy with Father’s punishment?”
Everyone looked at Luo Yin again.
Luo Yin composed his expression, lowered his head, and said, “I wouldn’t dare.”
Madam Bai’s gaze fell upon Luo Ning, and she sighed again, “A Ning, you are too spoiled. The Marquis dotes on you, indulging you to this extent.”
Then, she said to Luo Yin, “Hurry back, the wind is picking up.”
Luo Ning recalled how, in her previous life, after falling into the water, they had left her there for half an hour, almost dying of fever. Her smile grew even brighter, “Father and Mother have always doted on me the most.
However, Eldest Young Master doesn’t care about the Marquis’s Estate’s rules at all. He came to pay respects to Grandmother, carrying a sharpened sword with him.”
In her hand was a sword, which she had just knocked out of Luo Yin’s hand with a long whip.
She knew very well what her selfish and unfeeling father’s taboos were.
When military generals enter important places, such as a marshal’s tent, the first thing they do is unfasten their weapons.
Bringing a weapon into the tent is a great disrespect, which is why Zhennan Marquis rarely carried a sword.
Everyone has something they consider very important, and only by stepping on that can they feel ‘pain.’
She, of course, knew that Eldest Young Master’s sword was sharpened, not merely decorative. Because she had later suffered from this sword, her hand was cut open, leaving a very deep scar.
For his Cousin, Eldest Young Master had shown no mercy when injuring Luo Ning.
Thinking of this, Luo Ning drew the sword. The long sword slid from its sheath, its blade gleaming brightly.
The snowy blade reflected the morning sun, its glint dazzling.
It instantly stung Zhennan Marquis’s eyes.
“You wretch!” Zhennan Marquis’s anger this time was from the bottom of his heart.
He valued the rules he cared about, and he was extremely filial to his mother.
His Eldest Young Master bullying his younger sister, being unrighteous and unfilial, a small punishment was enough; but his Eldest Young Master daring to break his rules and disrespect Grandmother, that required severe punishment.
No one could challenge his authority.
“Kneel!” he roared, his voice so high-pitched that his cheeks flushed red.
He was a military general, tall and strong, and his authority was immense when he was angry.
Luo Yin, on the other hand, was a scholar, who had feared and resented his father since childhood.
His legs gave out, and he knelt down again.
“You will kneel here for two hours and reflect!” Zhennan Marquis commanded.
The Marquise’s face turned pale, “Marquis…”
“If you plead for him again, you will kneel with him.” Zhennan Marquis threw out this remark, flicked his sleeves, and left.
He first went to Old Madam’s courtyard.
Bai looked at her Eldest Young Master, whose face was purple from the cold, then turned her gaze to Luo Ning.
Luo Ning met her gaze.
As mother and daughter, both possessed strikingly similar, unparalleled beauty, and the same gentle, affectionate eyes. At this moment, the emotions in their eyes were so alike.
“A Ning, you’ve gone too far.” The Marquise, for the first time, spoke to her harshly, “This is your blood brother, how can you be so vicious?”
Luo Ning seemed utterly surprised, and she slightly parted her soft lips, “Mother, are you calling your daughter ‘vicious’?”
She was putting on an act.
Just like Bai, she was so beautiful when acting, making her utterly convincing.
Bai felt a sourness in her throat, almost wanting to vomit blood.
“So, Mother dislikes me so much. In Mother’s heart, there’s only Eldest Young Master and Cousin A Rong, isn’t there?” Luo Ning said, seemingly with a hint of grievance, “I, and little brother, are so unliked by Mother. Could it be that only Eldest Young Master and A Rong are Mother’s biological children?”
Her words sounded like a complaint.
But those with a guilty conscience were terrified out of their wits.
Luo Ning not only spoke for herself but also specifically mentioned her younger brother, Luo You, making the Marquise suspect she had discovered something.
She abruptly looked at Luo Ning.
Luo Ning had a hint of tears in her eyes, and she softly looked back at her, “Is that so, Mother?”
Bai had broken out in a cold sweat for a moment, and now, with the cold wind blowing, she felt a chill from the top of her head to the soles of her feet: “Nonsense!
Forget it, forget it. Children grow up and are no longer under their mother’s control. You siblings are connected by blood, and my pleading only makes me an outsider. Let you all make a fuss.”
Tears welled in her eyes, “I truly committed a sin, going through the gates of hell to give birth to you all. A Rong is your Cousin, she is pitiful, having lost her mother young, yet you still feel jealous.”
She continued, “Especially you, A Ning. When I gave birth to you, I suffered a major hemorrhage, couldn’t move my limbs for half a year, and still suffer from a hidden ailment.”
Luo Ning listened, her emotions completely undisturbed, yet her heart clenched tightly.
She turned and pressed her hand to her chest.
She knew that her body was that of her seventeen-year-old self. It still longed for her mother’s love.
She still held so many expectations for the person who gave birth to her.
Hearing her mother’s words, her heart would involuntarily ache.
But the soul that had been a ghost for over a decade had already seen through it all.
She had repaid her mother with her life, truly achieving “cutting flesh and bone” to repay the kindness of birth.
They owed each other nothing.
Luo Ning also went to Old Madam’s courtyard.
Old Madam also helped persuade Zhennan Marquis, “Let him kneel for half an hour. The New Year is approaching, don’t let him fall ill; then no one will be able to help you manage affairs.”
Luo Ning knew that Grandmother cared for her and was not bad to her.
However, in Grandmother’s heart, the most important grandson was still her legitimate Eldest Young Master, Luo Yin.
—Such was the custom; the legitimate Eldest Young Master was the family’s continuation, and his status in Grandmother’s heart would not be low.
Yet Luo Yin’s heart had long been separated from the Marquis’s Estate; he didn’t even hold Old Madam in high regard. In her previous life, Luo Yin surely knew the cause of Old Madam’s death, but he helped conceal it.
They were like vines, clinging to a large tree, intending to strangle it and replace it. Otherwise, how could a vine reach a high position?
Luo Ning’s blood had watered their ambition.
“Go watch the Eldest Young Master kneel for half an hour, then tell him to go back,” Zhennan Marquis said to a Servant.
The Servant assented.
Luo Ning sat beside Grandmother.
Everyone who came to pay respects had to pass that road, and they would all see the Eldest Young Master kneeling, soaking wet, by the lake.
The discussions were incessant.
Cousin Luo Wan’s eyes lit up, and she said to Second Madam, “Da Jiejie is truly capable.”
Second Madam, however, thought to herself: How could the mother and son of the main branch become so estranged?
Was Cousin so good?
Besides being beautiful, wealthy, and accomplished, she was ultimately just a relative. How could she be more important than a biological daughter or sister?
That Cousin was truly strange.
Although Second Madam had benefited from Cousin, she couldn’t help but be suspicious.