The Devious First-Daughter

Ning Xueyan pushed away Ao Mingyu’s hand and rushed toward Ning Qingshan. “Third Sister, which part did you get injured?” she asked anxiously, crouching down in front of Ning Qingshan.

“Third, Third Young Lady, I, I didn’t mean to bump into you. I swear I didn’t see you coming over,” Lanning knelt on the floor and explained nervously, lowering her head.

Ning Qingshan covered her shoulder with her hand, her face full of panic. She looked at Ao Mingyu subconsciously and saw that Ao Mingyu was looking at her with thoughtful and grim eyes. Her heart sank. Third Prince had never looked at her with such a cold and suspicious look!

“Shan’er, are you okay? Come on! Let me check if you broke your bone!” Seeing that Ning Qingshan could not stand up from the floor for the moment and covered her shoulder with her hand, Madam Dowager was so anxious that she stood up. With Mother Qin’s support, she held Mother Qin’s hand and was about to come over to Ning Qingshan.

“No… Nothing!” Ning Qingshan pressed her shoulder with her hand and answered subconsciously, shaking her head. She would try every means to conceal her injury. If the others knew that there was a scar on her shoulder, they would think that her image was not perfect.

Her shoulder injury had almost recovered, but a winding scar was left on her skin, and it became a taboo for Ning Qingshan. As a perfectionist, how could she bear to have an ugly scar on her body?

“How can you be okay? Grandmother, Third Sister is bleeding. Please ask the doctor of our manor to come as soon as possible!” Ning Xueyan turned to Madam Dowager and said anxiously, supporting Ning Qingshan’s injured hand.

“I’m okay. Let go of me!” Ning Qingshan held back the pain and said, gritting her teeth. She then began to push Ning Xueyan forcibly.

But there was no sign that Ning Xueyan would let go of her hand. On the contrary, she applied more force to grab Ning Xueyan’s hand firmly.

“How could Third Sister be okay after bumping against the chair foot? Third Sister, let me help you up.” Ning Xueyan seemed to be guilty and nervous. However, a faint sarcasm flashed in her jet-black eyes when she looked at Ning Qingshan.

Ning Qingshan saw the sarcasm clearly.

“Ning Xueyan is laughing at me? Yes, she must be laughing at my scar and she wants Third Prince to know that I have an ugly scar! Fourth Prince mocked at me just now because of her, now she is trying to ruin my perfect image in Third Prince’s heart!”

Thinking about this, Ning Qingshan was almost driven crazy by hatred. Being occupied by Ning Xueyan’s sarcasm on her mind, she suddenly pushed Ning Xueyan away and shouted angrily, “I’m okay! I told you!”

Everyone was stunned by Ning Qingshan’s sudden rage. Being pushed hard, Ning Xueyan took several steps back and fell heavily to the ground.

Ao Mingwan acted quickly this time. He reached out and stopped Ning Xueyan from falling to the ground.

Everybody fell silent at Ning Qingshan’s sudden rage and the room was strangely quiet. They all looked at Ning Qingshan in suspicion, wondering why she had overreacted like this just because Ning Xueyan wanted the doctor to check her injury.

Seeing their skeptical look, Ning Qingshan immediately came back to herself. She realized that this would put her at a disadvantage, so she instantly turned to Ning Xueyan with a softened face. She apologized in a gentle voice, “Fifth Sister, I’m sorry. But you touched my injury and it hurt badly, so I lost my temper.”

She was hinting that Ning Xueyan had touched her injury on purpose while pulling her up.

However, Ning Xueyan did not care about this at all, because once Ning Qingshan’s shoulder injury was exposed in front of people, Ao Mingyu would suspect her. It was said that Prince Yi, Ao Chenyi’s favorite concubine had been injured on the shoulder. The injured part and severity were as same as hers. Most importantly, that woman was very mysterious and by now, no one had known who she was!

Ning Xueyan knew that Ao Mingyu must be investigating the background of that woman. It was impossible for a favorite concubine appearing at the Prince Yi’s Manor for no reason. And nobody knew anything about her. However, since Prince Yi’s Manor was strictly guarded, it was not easy to get any clue. Now Ning Qingshan’s shoulder injury became an important clue.

It was Prince Yi’s man who had treated wound for Ning Xueyan, but in that courtyard, there must be some people who worked in the imperial palace, so it was normal that the news about her injury leaked out by accident. Of course, Ao Chenyi must have plotted it. Otherwise, Ning Qingshan would not have been injured in the same part as she.

Ning Xueyan guessed that even the severity of Ning Qingshan’s injury was similar to hers!

But unlike her, Ning Qingshan had been trying to conceal her injury from people, so the medicine she had applied on her wound must be very common. On the contrary, the medicine Ao Chenyi had given Ning Xueyan was very effective, and now her injury was almost invisible. Ning Qingshan’s wound had opened with a slight touch, so it was obvious that her injury had not recovered yet.

Ao Chenyi was a ruthless and thoughtful man, so it was impossible for him to do this for no reason. He must be trying to lead others to associate Ning Qingshan’s injury with his favorite concubine’s injury!

That was also Ning Xueyan needed.

“Sorry, Third Sister! I didn’t mean to do this!” Ning Xueyan froze for a short moment and pretended to feel guilty. She pushed away Fourth Prince’s hand and was about to walk over to Ning Qingshan. She did not seem to mind what Ning Qingshan had done to her, as if she really thought that Ning Qingshan had roared not because she lost her temper, but because she touched her wound and it hurt badly.

“I’m okay. Thank you, Fifth Sister. Maybe it’s just a scratch and a brief treatment will do.” Holding back her pain, Ning Qingshan squeezed out a smile. She avoided Ning Xueyan’s hand again, as if she did not even want Ning Xueyan to touch her.

Ning Xueyan did not try to approach her again. She bit her lip, seemed to have been wronged, but she still nodded. “Third Sister, you’d better go back to your courtyard early. Maybe there was a nail on the chair foot and injured you.”

“Maybe! I’ll have my wound checked after returning to my place.” Ning Qingshan responded. She only wanted to leave here as soon as possible. She was worried about that if she stayed here any longer, her secret would be found out. In any case, she did not want Third Prince to know that she had a scar on the body.

“Shan’er, you can leave now. If the wound is serious, ask the doctor of our manor to treat it for you,” Madam Dowager said, holding back her suspicion.

Ning Qingshan was really not herself today!

“Okay! Grandmother, Third Prince, Fourth Prince, I’m going to return to my courtyard now.” With that, Ning Qingshan slightly bowed to everyone and left in a hurry, holding her maid’s hand.

“A nail on the chair foot?” Ao Mingyu looked at the position where Ning Qingshan had fallen, but only found that the chair foot was smooth and there was no nail on it at all. Ning Qingshan’s bumping against the chair foot was not serious, and it was impossible to have made her bleeding unless she had been scraped by a nail.

Since there was no nail on the chair at all, there was only one possibility—Ning Qingshan had had an injury on her shoulder before. Ao Mingyu suddenly remembered that his men had reported that Prince Yi’s favorite concubine disappeared again after entering the Prince Yi’s Manor. It was said that she had been locked up again.

How could a favorite concubine have been locked up for no reason? Ao Mingyu had seen clearly at the imperial palace that Ao Chenyi was very special to this favorite concubine. Therefore, it was even less likely that he had locked her up as soon as they returned to his manor. It was so strange! It seemed that the favorite concubine only appeared at some special moments and she had been chosen for these particular moments.

“The favorite concubine who was injured? The favorite concubine who disappeared in the Prince Yi’s Manor? The favorite concubine who was locked up for no reason? Is that because…”

Ao Mingyu’s face darkened. Although he did not believe it, he could not help thinking in that way!

Since Ning Qingshan got injured, she returned to her courtyard. After a while, Mammy Luo came and reported to Madam Dowager that it was just a scratch, not serious. She then asked for leave for Ning Qingshan, saying that Ning Qingshan would not come to have dinner with them. Mammy Luo also brought Fourth Prince’s gifts to give them back to him.

Madam Dowager granted Ning Qingshan leave of absence and asked Mammy Luo to take good care of Ning Qingshan. Then she was going to give back the gifts Ning Qingshan returned to Fourth Prince, but Ao Mingwan said he wanted to give them to Ning Xueyan. Ning Xueyan refused him, saying that she had never done anything for Ao Mingwan, so she could not accept his gifts. Fourth Prince thought it was improper to take back what he had been given away, so he asked someone to send all the gifts to Ning Huaiyuan’s place.

After only having a little food during the dinner, Ning Xueyan said she wanted to visit Ning Qingshan, so she stood up in a hurry and was about to leave. Seeing that, Ning Lingyun immediately stood up as well, saying that she was going to Foggy Courtyard with her. Madam Dowager approved their requests and let them leave first.

Ning Lingyun was scared by what had happened today and she had been filled with anxiety. Although she did not know what was really going on, she had a bad feeling. It made Ning Qingshan look like a fool after everyone had known that Fourth Prince had taken Ning Xueyan for her. When Ning Xueyan had been going to check her hand injury, Ning Qingshan lost her temper and pushed her away forcibly. In any case, Ning Lingyun could tell there was something wrong.

She cautiously followed behind Ning Xueyan, keeping a step away from her. “Fifth Sister, Third Sister only hit the chair, how could she injure her hand and bleed so easily?” She thought for a while and could not help asking.

“I have no idea. Maybe she was bumped against by Lanning too heavily, so Third Sister got her hand injured.” Ning Xueyan frowned, looking confused. She then turned her head and asked Ning Lingyun, “Fourth Sister, you should see it clearer than we did from where you were just now. Was Third Sister really knocked down so heavily?”

“I, I didn’t see it clearly. Maybe that was it!” Since it was all of sudden, Ning Lingyun had not seen what was happening clearly. Nobody had expected that Ning Qingshan would have bled with a slight bumping. Normally, it would never happen. Had Ning Qingshan made herself injured on purpose?

It was possible that Ning Qingshan wanted to vent her anger on Ning Xueyan after knowing that Fourth Prince had had the wrong person, so she tried to frame Ning Xueyan for injuring her hand. But why had neither of the two princes wanted to hold Ning Qingshan up? Could that because it was too obvious that she was framing Ning Xueyan? How could she be scraped by a smooth chair foot?

Thinking about this, Ning Lingyun understood why Ning Qingshan’s hand had been injured so seriously.

“Ning Qingshan is too cunning! If we marry the same person in the future, I should be more cautious!” Ning Lingyun reminded herself inwardly.

Finally, Ning Xueyan and Ning Lingyun failed to see Ning Qingshan. When they arrived at Foggy Courtyard, they saw Mammy Luo there. Mammy Luo greeted them with a smile at the sight of them. She said that Ning Qingshan was uncomfortable and had gone to bed. She also hinted that if not because of Lanning, Ning Qingshan would not have been injured that seriously.

Ning Xueyan repeatedly promised that she would give Lanning a good lesson after returning to her courtyard. She then left Foggy Courtyard with Ning Lingyun.

In the study room of the Prince Yi’s Manor…

Ao Chenyi was about to go to bed. The black robe embroidered with beautiful red manjusaka was hung on the screen and he had changed into a suit of plain white clothes. His long black hair fell casually and there was a trace of indolence on his extremely handsome face, making him even more charming. However, usually nobody dared to look at his charming face carefully.

There was a pigeon at the window. He walked over and took off a note from it lazily.

When he opened the note, he narrowed his eyes, causing his handsome face ruthless and cold.