The Devious First-Daughter

“You will die at our manor if you can’t escape?” Ning Xueyan repeated what Concubine Ma said, a relaxed smile on her face.

“Yes! Third Young Lady’s maid, Caifen, promised me that if I could give this jade pendant to you and let you send me out the manor, Third Young Lady would help me to leave the capital and get rid of the hunting from our manor. Besides, she also promised me that she would give me a new identity and the departure certificate…”

“And a large sum of money?” Ning Xueyan cut her off and said with a laughter.

“Yes, yes! Third Young Lady did promise me that!” Concubine Ma said, trembling a little.

“If your life is at stake, money and freedom will mean nothing to you!” Ning Xueyan’s eyes turned cold and she satirized Concubine Ma indifferently, “Concubine Ma, are you so confident that Third Sister will let go of you easily? Xia’er of Foggy Courtyard was her henchman, but you know what happened to her. Do you think that you are even closer to Third Sister than Xia’er is to her?”

“Third, Third Young Lady wanted to kill me? How could she do that?” Concubine Ma asked in surprise. She was not stupid, and she immediately understood what Ning Xueyan was hinting.

“Why couldn’t she do that? It was not a big deal for her to make someone less important her scapegoat, so she had every reason to do this.” Ning Xueyan contemptuously looked at Concubine Ma and continued, “I believe Third Sister has never promised you anything to your face. That means if something bad happens, she won’t take any responsibility. She won’t care about the death of a maid or a concubine. And you, are very likely to be beaten to death or drown in the pool!”

“It’s… impossible!” Concubine Ma was utterly scared and she said in a trembling voice.

“Why not? Concubine Ma, don’t you think that you are being used? You knelt down at the gate and cried a lot when you came to Bright Frost Garden last time. Now you came to me again and asked me to help you, saying that you would thank me with your jade pendant if I could bring you out the manor. If someone finds out that the jade pendant you gave me belongs to the imperial family, I will be punished, and you will be hunted and caught. All your family members will be beheaded. Nobody can escape. But it will have nothing to do with Third Sister!”

Ning Xueyan sneered, a rage on her extremely beautiful face.

“Concubine Ma, you can only tell the king of hell your grievance in the netherworld, but I don’t know if he will serve you justice!”

Ning Xueyan had no idea if the king of hell would redress an injustice for others in the netherworld and the blood sea, but she knew that blood would have blood.

Concubine Ma broke down mentally after hearing what Ning Xueyan said. She seemed to have seen that all her family members were taken to the execution ground and beheaded at noon—her obedient nephew who had already been able to call her auntie could not say anything more, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, her old parents died on the spot, and…

“Fifth Young Lady, please save me! Please!” Concubine Ma was terrified by all these possibilities. She raised her head in horror and pleaded, looking at Ning Xueyan.

“Concubine Ma, I can’t save you, but you can save yourself!” Ning Xueyan said with a slight smile and the rage vanished from her face.

“How can I… save myself?” Concubine Ma asked with disbelief.

Ning Xueyan gestured to Lanning. Lanning came over to Concubine Ma and whispered in her ear for a while. Concubine Ma suddenly froze. She looked at Ning Xueyan shockingly. Waving her round fan slightly, Ning Xueyan turned around and walked into the inner room leisurely.

Concubine Ma stood behind her and thought for a while. She then gritted her teeth and took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped the jade pendant carefully. After that, she put it into her pocket again.

She bowed in the direction of Ning Xueyan’s room and exited. When the maid, who was waiting for her outside, saw Concubine Ma, she immediately walked over and support her by the arm. She looked at Concubine Ma from the corner of her eyes, and Concubine Ma nodded to her quietly. Seeing that, the maid’s face immediately lit up. Without staying at Bright Frost Garden any longer, she supported Concubine Ma to return to their courtyard in a hurry.

After lunch, Ning Xueyan asked for leave to Madam Dowager, saying that she wanted to do some shopping. Since the Spring Festival was coming, she needed to buy something for the servants of the manor. Every year, the manor would prepare two sets of new clothes for the servants. In previous years, it was Madam Ling who had arranged for it. This time, Madam Dowager had asked Ning Xueyan to prepare the new clothes.

“Go ahead. Check if there is any suitable cloth at the market today. If there is, make two sets of clothes in cheerful color for each servant,” Madam Dowager sat on the soft couch and said with a smile, looking at Ning Xueyan graciously. Obviously, she was in a good mood.

Although Ning Qingshan had gotten injured yesterday, in the accident, Madam Dowager had found that Fourth Prince had a crush on Ning Xueyan. It was a piece of good news that she had never expected. She had been thinking that it would be good enough if Ning Xueyan could become Fourth Prince’s co-consort, but now it seemed that Fourth Prince was going to marry her as his principal wife.

Anyway, even if the Fourth Prince’s parents did not approve of Fourth Prince’s marrying Ning Xueyan, it was not bad if Ning Xueyan could be his favorite co-consort.

If Ning Qingshan married Third Prince and Ning Xueyan married Fourth Prince, the Lord Protector’s Manor would gain an advantage from both sides. It was no wonder that Madam Dowager was pleased at the thought of this, so she smiled when she saw Ning Xueyan. She did not even mention Lanning’s bumping against Ning Qingshan yesterday. Since Ning Qingshan herself had not complained about it, Madam Dowager did not want to stir any trouble.

Ning Xueyan knew what Madam Dowager was thinking about. She sneered inwardly, but she did not show anything abnormal on her face. She chatted with Madam Dowager for a short while and then left with Lanning and Xinmei.

After returning to Bright Frost Garden, she saw Concubine Ma in a maid’s dress. Concubine Ma had come here secretly without taking anybody with her this time. Seeing Ning Xueyan coming over, she walked closer and bowed to her. Then she walked toward the gate, following behind Ning Xueyan.

Caifen had been hiding in a small intersection. When she saw that Concubine Ma dressed as a maid and followed behind Ning Xueyan, she triumphantly raised her smiling face and turned to another path. This path did not lead to the inner courtyard, but to the second gate which connected the inner and the outer courtyard. The older female servants who were on duty at the second gate stopped her because they had never seen her before. Caifen took out something and waved it in front of them and the two older female servants immediately released her.

As Lanning needed to inform the doorman to prepare a carriage for Ning Xueyan, after walking following behind Ning Xueyan for a while, she surpassed her and walked to the gate first.

Now only Xinmei, two older female servants and two maids were behind Ning Xueyan. Xinmei followed closely behind her, and the rest followed behind her silently with their head lowered.

When they were going to reach the gate, they saw Lanning arguing with someone angrily at the gate. Seeing Ning Xueyan walking over, Lanning ran to her and complained indignantly, “Miss, the doorman said they didn’t have any carriage for us!”

“Why?” Ning Xueyan stopped with a frown and asked unpleasantly.

“I don’t know. I was told that Third Young Lady had reserved a carriage early and she was going to the Third Prince’s Manor soon, and Eldest Young Master would use another carriage and he was going out right now. All the other carriages are broken. The doorman said if you wanted to go out, you could only use the carriage prepared for the servants!”

Lanning told Ning Xueyan angrily, pointing at the gate.

There were more than two carriages in the manor, but unfortunately, all the others were broken. It was such a coincidence!

The doorman stood at the gate, looking awkward. It was totally out of his expectation! Third Young Lady and Eldest Young Master had reserved the carriages in advance. When he had tried to find another carriage for Fifth Young Lady, he found that all the rest carriages were broken, some had broken wheels, some had broken carriages, and some even had broken curtains! The masters of the manor seldom went out recently, so these carriages had not been in use for some time.

But he was still surprised that so many carriages were broken. He would definitely be punished after a while when the marquis returned to the manor.

“Fifth Young Lady, I’m not lying. There is no carriage that can be used. Maybe you can discuss with Third Young Lady or Eldest Young Master and go out with them together.” Seeing Ning Xueyan walking over, the doorman bowed to her with a bitter face.

“All the other carriages are broken?” Ning Xueyan asked coldly.

“Yes. I don’t know what happened. A few days ago when I checked them, all the carriages were in good condition. Somehow, when I checked them again today, I found in addition to those reserved, all the others were out of order,” the doorman answered.

“When did Third Young Lady and Eldest Young Master reserve the carriages?” Ning Xueyan asked calmly.

“This morning. Their servants told me that Third Young Lady and Eldest Young Master were going to use the carriages after lunch, so they reserved them in advance. I didn’t mean to give you a hard time. Fifth Young Lady, if you don’t trust me, you can ask Third Young Lady and Eldest Young Master.” The doorman was anxious. He explained constantly, worrying that Ning Xueyan might think that he was lying.

Fifth Young Lady was quite different from she used to be, so a humble doorman did not dare to offend her.

“Fifth Sister, are you going out?” Ning Qingshan turned to this path from another one with a few maids. At a glance, Ning Xueyan immediately found the two older female servants at the end of the line were from Madam Dowager’s courtyard.

“Third Sister, are you going out as well?” Ning Xueyan asked back with a smile.

“Fifth Sister, wait for a moment. I still have something to handle. After it’s done, we can go out in the same carriage, okay?” Ning Qingshan smiled, seemed to be in a dilemma.

It seemed to be the best way for the shortage of carriages.

“But I have something urgent, so I have to go out right now,” Ning Xueyan said gently.

“Fifth Young Lady, you’d better wait for a while. Madam Dowager asked you to go to her courtyard and she had something to ask you!” Mammy Luo walked out from behind Ning Qingshan and said seriously, looking at Ning Xueyan.

“Mammy, don’t talk nonsense! Maybe it’s not true,” Ning Qingshan said unpleasantly and pulled Mammy Luo’s sleeve, as if she was not satisfied with Mammy Luo’s attitude.

“Third Young Lady, how could it be false? Look! Is she or not?” Mammy Luo said helplessly. She pulled Ning Qingshan turn around and Ning Qingshan saw a maid who stood in the last row behind Ning Xueyan.

That maid was furthest away from them. She lowered her head and shrank her neck, as if she did not dare to raise her head. It seemed that she had felt people staring at her, she moved to the side a little.

“You, come here!” Mammy Luo shouted loudly, pointing at the maid.

“Mammy Luo, what are you doing? She is my master’s maid. How dare a Foggy Courtyard’s servant order our Bright Frost Garden’s maid?” Lanning flew into a rage and stopped Mammy Luo.

“There must be something wrong. Or why don’t you dare to let us have a look?” Mammy Luo said aggressively.

“Mammy, stop! Fifth Sister is not such a person.” Ning Qingshan defended Ning Xueyan again in a low voice, as if she was sincere to explain for Ning Xueyan.

“Miss, why are you still trying to defend Fifth Young Lady? Fifth Young Lady has done such an unbelievable thing, and she is hiding that person…” Mammy Luo seemed to be very disappointed with Ning Qingshan.

“Mammy Luo, what do you mean?” Ning Xueyan cut Mammy Luo off and said with an indifferent smile.