Yi Ning turned her face away, feeling uncomfortable with Luo Shenyuan’s proximity. She took a deep breath and said, “It’s just delivering a message to Lord Sun. Why specifically did Sun Congwan do it? Last time when you interrogated that person, you clearly couldn’t get anything out of him. But in your letter, you wrote that you had obtained information. You were probably trying to trick Cheng Lang into believing it, weren’t you?”
“If they believed it, they would act on it, and you could use that to catch them. At first, I couldn’t figure out why it had to be Sun Congwan. Couldn’t you have had someone else leak the information to Cheng Lang?”
Yi Ning continued, “Later I realized you wanted Cheng Lang to know. If someone else delivered it, how would Cheng Lang believe it? It had to come directly from Sun Congwan’s hands to be credible. But he didn’t expect that you had factored Sun Congwan into your calculations as well. If anything went wrong, Sun Congwan’s reputation could be damaged. You didn’t care about her wellbeing at all… So I want to ask you, what exactly are you thinking?”
She felt sorry for Sun Congwan, who liked Luo Shenyuan so much. She had even said she was willing to be a concubine, which was truly too humble.
Having been manipulated too many times herself, Yi Ning was particularly wary of such cold and heavy schemes.
Perhaps too many things had happened recently, and the emotions she had been suppressing were building up, which was why she wanted to vent earlier.
Luo Shenyuan listened silently, feeling both amused and irritated by Luo Yining’s words. For her to guess these things, Cheng Lang must have said something to her when they were alone in the room. He understood Cheng Lang better than others – that man wouldn’t casually reveal what he knew to just anyone. Angered by her, he grabbed her wrist and said, “How I deal with her is my business. I indeed don’t pity her. You can call me cold-blooded or heartless if you like, but in my view, as long as I can achieve what I want, that’s all that matters. Do you pity her?”
Did she pity Sun Congwan? Not exactly, perhaps she saw herself in Sun Congwan.
With Luo Shenyuan admitting it so directly, she found herself at a loss for words.
Thinking of what would happen in the future, Yi Ning was worried that Luo Shenyuan’s methods might affect him later. He would be criticized by the purist faction for decades. Although no one dared to offend him, no one would befriend him either.
But who could she tell these things to? Yi Ning laughed bitterly inside and said, “I can’t say anything about you using her. I also don’t understand, if you don’t like her, why don’t you just reject her outright…”
“Reject?” Luo Shenyuan said, “She’s been waiting for me to become a jinshi. Now that I hold a fourth-rank position, if I were to reject her proposal, the Luo family’s reputation would surely be ruined.”
Indeed, as he said, he couldn’t openly reject this marriage proposal.
Yi Ning was gradually calming down. She asked, “Then… what do you plan to do?”
Luo Shenyuan shook his head and said, “Don’t concern yourself with my plans.” He gradually moved closer to her. Yi Ning could see her reflection in his deep pupils and even felt the heat of his breath. It was an invasive presence.
Yi Ning suddenly felt something was very wrong, though she couldn’t articulate it. Her heart began to race. Perhaps because he was too close, she instinctively wanted to escape, but couldn’t move due to his grip on her hand. As she struggled to free herself, Luo Shenyuan remained immovable, continuing to press her down beneath him. He then asked, “What did you do with Cheng Lang when you were alone in the room?”
Yi Ning felt this was completely unlike his usual self!
Moreover, how could she tell him about what happened with Cheng Lang? She pressed her lips together and said, “We just happened to meet… Third Brother, please don’t ask anymore.”
She twisted her wrist, which was starting to hurt from his grip. But she still couldn’t move! She felt a bit angry and looked at him, saying, “Since I’m not interfering with your affairs with Sun Congwan, you shouldn’t interfere with mine either!”
Luo Shenyuan smiled and said, “If I don’t look after you, who will?”
Yi Ning was frustrated by his response and tried to push him away angrily, twisting her wrist. His arm muscles were surprisingly hard. If he hadn’t intentionally let go upon seeing her genuine anger, she wouldn’t have been able to push him away. After pushing him away, she sat at the table to calm herself. Luo Shenyuan sat down as well, noticing that her wrist had developed several harsh red marks from his grip.
He closed his eyes briefly, realizing he had lost control a bit.
He shouldn’t have lost control like that, at least not let her know now.
He reached out to take her hand, saying, “…I was too forceful earlier. Call your maid to bring some ointment.”
Yi Ning pulled her hand back, “I’m not that delicate. These marks will fade soon.” But seeing his demeanor, she was no longer angry about his words. Instead, she said, “I tore up that letter of yours… It didn’t reach Cheng Lang’s hands. You might need to rethink your plan. It’s getting late, Third Brother. You should go back and rest. I won’t see you out.”
Luo Shenyuan sat for a while without speaking, looking at her hand. After a moment, he got up and left.
Zhenzhu, standing behind the screen, listened to their argument feeling terrified. The way Young Master Luo questioned and restrained the young miss was extremely strange… The Duke may have left, but she felt the Luo family was not peaceful either. Perhaps it would be better to persuade the young miss to return to the Duke’s mansion.
Seeing Luo Shenyuan leave with his people, she entered the room to find Yi Ning looking for ointment herself.
Zhenzhu took it from her hands, warming it in her palms before applying it. Yi Ning frowned, feeling a bit ashamed of her delicacy. In her previous life, she hadn’t been this fragile; falls and bumps wouldn’t even leave bruises. Seeing Zhenzhu apply it slowly, she took over and applied it herself, instructing Songzhi who had just entered, “Tell the maids to heat some water.”
Zhenzhu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Miss, I don’t know if I should ask this. Third Young Master is over twenty years old. Others his age would already have children. But from what I’ve seen, it seems the Third Young Master doesn’t even have a woman in his room…”
“He was delayed by the mourning period for his former grandmother,” Yi Ning told her.
Thinking of the earlier scene, Yi Ning felt a strange sensation in her heart. She hoped she was overthinking it… She felt his behavior had been somewhat aggressive; it wouldn’t have been impossible for him to directly press down on her, which was a bit much for a sister. Perhaps he had truly been too angry… That was the only way she could rationalize it.
…As for having a woman in his room, it was indeed time for him to have one.
The next day, while eating breakfast in the main hall, Luo Shenyuan specifically took her hand to look at it.
Yi Ning tried to avoid it, but he caught her hand. Seeing that the marks had indeed faded as she had said, Luo Shenyuan said, “…Why are you avoiding me?”
Yi Ning shook her head, noticing he was wearing casual clothes, and asked, “Third Brother, aren’t you going to the office today?”
“I’m taking that person to the Ministry of Justice prison in the afternoon, so I won’t be at home,” Luo Shenyuan said calmly. “Mother sent word that she’ll arrive this afternoon. I’ve asked Nanny Xu to help with preparations. You can catch up with her.”
Yi Ning nodded, feeling that she couldn’t be as open around him today as before.
However, she was happy that Lin Hairu was finally coming. She hadn’t seen her for over a year and wondered what her yet-unseen little brother looked like.
After lunch, Yi Ning was walking around the rockery made of Taihu stones when she heard that Lin Hairu had arrived. She hurried to the main hall.
The Luo family had moved to the capital en masse this time. Luo Chengzhang had come first, but for convenience in going to the office, he hadn’t stayed here. However, that place was small, not as spacious and bright as this one, so they all moved here. Lin Hairu had come to find her as soon as she got off the carriage. Yi Ning saw that she had become more plump and looked more spirited than before.
Lin Hairu happily came forward to hold her hand, noticing she had lost some weight, and couldn’t help saying, “…Didn’t you go back to be the young miss of the Duke’s mansion? How did you get thinner? Is the food at the Duke’s mansion not to your liking?”
“I’ve been eating well, don’t worry,” Yi Ning said, holding back a smile as she curtsied.
She was eager to see her yet-unseen little brother and looked around but didn’t see him. She asked Lin Hairu where her brother was.
Lin Hairu said, “Ah, don’t bother looking. Your brother was taken away halfway here—”
Yi Ning was a bit confused, and Lin Hairu continued, “It was your cousin Lin Mao. He had just left the office when he encountered my carriage and insisted on taking Nan’er. I sent the wet nurse along with them.”
While Lin Hairu’s maids and servants were settling in, Yi Ning walked to the ceremonial gate and saw Luo Yiling standing at the entrance.
Luo Yiling turned to see Yi Ning, wearing a plain white Xiangqun robe. She still looked pitifully beautiful, though she seemed to have become much thinner, with a pointed chin.
She curtsied to Lin Hairu, saying, “Madam, I’ll take the concubine to the west wing first.”
Lin Hairu nodded faintly.
Luo Yiling left without even glancing at Yi Ning.
Yi Ning didn’t mind her now and watched her leave indifferently. Then she asked Lin Hairu in a low voice, “I heard that Concubine Qiao isn’t doing well mentally?”
Lin Hairu led her into the room and told her, “She hurt herself trying to cure Xuan’er’s illness, so the master doesn’t favor her as much anymore. Later, Concubine Qiao falsely accused your Third Brother of harming her…” Lin Hairu paused here, “But at that time, your Third Brother was about to take the imperial examinations. How could the master let her say such things? So he confined her. She was only released after she finally behaved. Now she trembles in fear whenever she sees your Third Brother. Everyone knows… if it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t have left the Luo family. Your Third Brother must have punished her for your sake. The master understands this too, but no one dares to say anything against your Third Brother because of her.”
At this point, Lin Hairu took a sip of tea and called a servant to summon the maids who served Luo Shenyuan for questioning.
She then asked Yi Ning, “How is the Duke’s mansion? I heard the Duke is quite good.”
Yi Ning only told her about the good things. When the maids arrived, Lin Hairu asked them about Luo Shenyuan’s affairs, sending Yi Ning to the western side room. In the side room, Yi Ning could faintly hear them talking. The lead maid, named Fujiang, had fair skin and a gentle, obedient demeanor. She said softly, “The Third Young Master doesn’t let us serve him in bed… but when we cleaned his room this morning, we found that last night, on the Third Young Master’s bed there was… but he wouldn’t tell us anything.”
Yi Ning realized what they were talking about and suddenly felt her face heat up. She asked Zhenzhu to close the lattice door of the side room, blocking out the sound. Perhaps because of last night’s events, she felt that Luo Shenyuan was no longer just a third brother in her heart.
After a while, Lin Hairu came in, seeming to have let out a sigh of relief. She cheerfully called Yi Ning out to eat the snacks she had brought.
However, Yi Ning ate absent-mindedly, her mind constantly replaying the maid’s words from earlier.
At this moment, Ruixiang entered and curtsied to Lin Hairu, “Madam… Young Master Lin has brought the little young master back. The little young master is crying for you!”
Yi Ning finally snapped back to reality.