After paying her respects, Luo Ning stayed in the West Main Courtyard, accompanying the Old Madam as she sorted Buddhist beads.
The Old Madam asked Luo Ning to recount the morning's events again, wanting to hear her version.
Luo Ning truthfully narrated.
Earlier, Zhennan Marquis and the others had downplayed the situation, not mentioning that Luo Yin had first raised his hand to hit Luo Ning.
"...You shouldn't have argued with him. He will inherit the title in the future, and even after you marry out, you'll still rely on your maternal family. We women cannot stand on our own without support," her grandmother said.
These words were well-intentioned, even if Luo Ning found them jarring.
The kindness the Luo Family could offer her was so scarce that Luo Ning accepted it all without complaint.
She nodded, following the Old Madam's words: "Thank you for your guidance, Grandmother. I understand."
The Old Madam said no more.
The next day, it was rumored that Luo Yin was ill with a severe cold, even developing a fever.
However, as a man in his twenties, even if delicate, he had his limits, and the fever broke after one night.
Unlike Luo Ning, who had a weaker constitution.
The people in Wenqi Courtyard, fearing retaliation from the Eldest Young Master, told Luo Ning to be cautious everywhere.
On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Turks envoys arrived at court, and the Emperor hosted a banquet with music in Longfu Hall.
Before the banquet, the Empress Dowager went to the Emperor's bedchamber to speak with him.
The Empress Dowager knew that the Emperor was infatuated with women and believed in Daoist priests, often taking immortal elixirs.
Even though her son was now a monarch, and she worried for him constantly, she couldn't advise him on his health without regard for the occasion.
"With the Turks envoys arriving, Your Majesty must be cautious everywhere. Longfu Hall might catch fire, so preparations for firefighting must be made in advance," the Empress Dowager said.
The Emperor listened and couldn't help but laugh, "Mother is too cautious."
He added, "The Turks were beaten so badly by Seventh Brother that they couldn't fight back; they wouldn't dare to assassinate anyone."
The Empress Dowager recalled Luo Ning's words.
Luo Ning had told the Empress Dowager that there might be a fire on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, and to be extra careful in Longfu Hall. If this prediction proved accurate, she asked the Empress Dowager to credit her.
Longfu Hall was used for banquets on important occasions, such as New Year's Day, Winter Solstice, or when envoys arrived at court.
The Empress Dowager was a bit puzzled by Luo Ning's words.
She thought that Longfu Hall would definitely not be used recently.
A few days later, she heard that the Turks envoys had arrived at court.
"Do you think A Ning's guess is accurate?" the Empress Dowager asked Eunuch Wei.
Eunuch Wei replied, "If Longfu Hall catches fire, it could harm His Majesty. It's better to be safe than sorry."
The Empress Dowager, though still suspicious, also felt that Luo Ning wasn't someone who spoke idly, so she gave the order.
She even personally instructed the Emperor.
The Emperor held his mother in great reverence; even if he found her meticulousness annoying, he didn't openly refute her, but instead nodded: "I will dispatch more guards."
That night, Longfu Hall was lively. However, there was an assassination attempt among the dancers. The target was not the Emperor, but the Turks envoy, the second prince of the Turks.
The Emperor had doubled the guards in advance. The incident was sudden, yet because of the preparations, the dancer was shot dead on the spot.
The lead dancer suddenly set herself on fire and threw a torch towards the wine pots and other attending officials, causing another round of chaos in the hall.
Fortunately, firefighting equipment had already been prepared—normally, these water buckets for firefighting would be placed outside, not inside the hall.
After the chaos subsided, the Emperor went to the Empress Dowager's Longevity Palace, still shaken.
"...These dancers were trained by the Imperial Concubine for a long time. I have always been unguarded against her. If we hadn't been prepared, and the Turks envoy had died, the peace talks would likely have fallen apart again," the Emperor said.
No one wanted war.
Prince Yong Xiao Huaifeng had been on the frontier since he was thirteen. In seven years, he had driven the Turks back into the mountains, leaving them no power to retaliate. The Turks had promised to pay tribute annually in exchange for twenty years of recuperation.
But if the envoy died in Shengjing, it would likely provoke the Turks' hatred, and within two years, the frontier would be plagued by war again.
And the second prince, he was very pro-Shengjing and had always advocated for peace. He also had hopes of succeeding and becoming the new Khan.
Fortunately, he didn't die.
And if Longfu Hall had burned down, many people might have died as well.
The Empress Dowager's heart also trembled: "Feng's malicious intentions never died!"
The Imperial Concubine was from the Feng family, deeply entangled with the former dynasty, and the Empress Dowager had never particularly liked her.
However, the Emperor favored her.
Sons can be rebellious; the more she disagreed, the more he would dote on the Imperial Concubine, so the Empress Dowager simply never mentioned it.
The Imperial Concubine, having been greatly favored for many years, was so audacious that the Emperor had already bestowed a cup of poisoned wine upon her.
"Mother, you have solved a great problem for your son." The Emperor said with emotion, standing up to bow to the Empress Dowager, "Mother's great kindness, your son will never forget."
The Empress Dowager asked him to sit down.
Smiling, she said to him, "It's not my credit, it's A Ning's."
"A Ning?"
"The daughter of General Luo, who blocked that blade for me three years ago, now the legitimate young lady of Zhennan Marquis Manor," the Empress Dowager said.
The Emperor remembered.
He had only been on the throne for five years and had only ennobled three marquises; Zhennan Marquis was one of them.
However, Zhennan Marquis's foundation was too shallow and his military achievements too low for the Emperor to use him, so he gradually fell out of favor. For a moment, the Emperor couldn't recall who he was.
"She has such ability?" the Emperor asked, surprised.
"A Ning knows some numerology," the Empress Dowager said.
"I want to reward her."
The Empress Dowager thought for a moment: "How about an imperial decree to arrange a marriage for her?"
"Does Mother have a candidate?"
"What about your Seventh Brother?"
The Emperor's heart was slightly astonished.
Seventh Brother had been exceptional in both civil and military arts since childhood, the most brilliant among all his brothers. Even as his own brother, the Emperor was very wary of him.
When studying, the Emperor had to memorize an essay for three days, while Seventh Brother could recite it backward after a glance; in martial arts, Seventh Brother had extraordinary talent, standing in a horse stance for two hours without his legs trembling, while the Emperor couldn't last half an hour.
When the late Emperor was alive, his affection for his youngest son was simply profound.
The court officials also began to stir.
When the late Emperor fell ill, the Empress Dowager, fearing factionalism among court officials and disunity between her two sons, strongly advocated for the youngest son to guard the frontier.
Before he left, the late Emperor enfeoffed him as Prince Yong.
For a full seven years.
In these seven years, Prince Yong only returned to the capital to report on his duties three times, until the Turks were so thoroughly defeated by him that their soldiers died and horses scattered. The Empress Dowager only called him back when she felt the court was stable.
His personality was cold and ruthless; neither the Empress Dowager nor the Emperor were particularly close to him.
And did he harbor resentment?
After all, someone who had lived in luxury since childhood, going to a harsh land to be tempered for seven years, enduring how much suffering, neither the Empress Dowager nor the Emperor knew.
The Emperor felt some guilt towards his younger brother; the Empress Dowager felt the same.
Therefore, the Emperor always thought that the Empress Dowager would certainly choose a daughter from a prestigious family for Seventh Brother, one who was top-notch in character, appearance, and family background.
Among the eight great noble clans of Shengjing, the Cui family was the foremost, with countless young ladies to choose from.
"Mother, is Miss Luo worthy of Seventh Brother?" the Emperor asked tentatively.
The Empress Dowager then said, "Her character and appearance are both excellent; only her family background is slightly inferior. No matter, she is now a respectable young lady of a Marquis Manor, even if the foundation is a bit shallow."
The Emperor thought about it and was naturally very satisfied.
His mother's action was still to suppress Seventh Brother and put the Emperor at ease.
Who doesn't want their mother's favoritism?
And with the Emperor at ease, Seventh Brother would also be safer—this was probably his mother's consideration, fearing that Seventh Brother's achievements would overshadow the Emperor.
Prince Yong had been back in the capital for half a year, acting erratically, and the Censorate impeached him daily.
Logically, the Emperor should have reprimanded Prince Yong once or twice, telling him to restrain himself, but he didn't do so.
The more he indulged him, the more alarmed the Empress Dowager became.
Prince Yong's wife's family must be of a middle-tier status.
Luo Ning was truly gentle, beautiful, dignified, and proper; the Empress Dowager was very pleased.
"I will ask Seventh Brother first, then issue an imperial decree for the marriage," the Emperor said. "Mother, you should also speak to Seventh Brother first. If he defies the decree, I wouldn't know what to do."
