The Devious First-Daughter

“Everyone thought that the marquis loved Madam Ming from the bottom of his heart, and Madam Dowager also promised that the marquis would not marry any other woman except for Madam Ming. Finally, the minister agreed on their marriage. After marrying Madam Ming, the marquis was promoted quickly. Afterwards, there was a coup at court and to everyone’s surprise, the marquis opened the gate of the city he was guarding and surrendered with his men.

After the regime change, your grandfather died in the battle and your uncle was arrested. He refused to surrender, so the marquis was arranged to persuade him. The marquis threatened him with Madam Ming, so your uncle had to agree with him. Madam Ming was very sad about this. However, what surprised her more was that not long after, the marquis brought his mistress to our manor. That woman was Madam Ling. She had already had a son and a daughter by that point.”

Speaking of the past, Mother Han could not hold back her tears. A series of blows had exhausted Madam Ming both physically and mentally. According to the age of the b*stard, she could tell that when the boy had been born, the marquis was promising her that he would not marry any other woman.

Madam Ming had been utterly disappointed in the marquis, and from then on, she had given him the cold shoulder. She had left everything about Madam Ling to the marquis, saying that she would not get involved in his business anymore. The couple’s relationship had become as cold as ice.

What a tragedy that a sentimental Young Lady had married a cold-blooded man! If the previous dynasty had not fallen, Madam Ling would only have been a hidden mistress. Unfortunately, the old dynasty had been replaced by the new one, and many families fell apart because of this, and even some of them still looked uniform, they were not what they used to be.

After giving birth to a boy for him, Ning Zu’an’s mistress had been dreaming of becoming his principal wife. His former principal wife had no longer been helpful for his promotion. Besides, her existence might remind the others that she was the daughter of the Minister of War of the previous dynasty and it would be bad for his career. Maybe because of these, he had forced Madam Ming to Bright Frost Garden.

The outsiders thought that Ning Zu’an was a man of deep affection, and although Madam Ming had offered not to be his principal wife, he still let her be his co-wife, and allocated a courtyard to her to rest. However, nobody knew that there was a big conspiracy behind it.

The scum and his vicious mistress had colluded and framed Madam Ming. Madam Ming had already disheartened with Ning Zu’an, and after that, she had to move to Bright Frost Garden.

“Was the military medallion of the former dynasty in my grandfather’s hand?” Ning Xueyan asked coldly. She suddenly figured out many things. Some of those who had suddenly appeared at Madam Ming’s funeral used to be the noble family members of the previous dynasty. That meant some people had had to surrender to the new emperor and become the officials of the new dynasty.

It was said that the founding emperor of the Chu Kingdom, the current emperor’s father, was an ambitious and talented man. That was why he valued the talented people, even the main high-rank officials, no matter if they had worked for the previous dynasty before or not. Unfortunately, not long after he had founded the kingdom, this great emperor died. Thus, the current emperor took the throne.

However, the old emperor had also announced his will to his subjects and the current emperor before death and appointed Ao Chenyi to be the current emperor’s successor.

Those officials who had helped the former emperor found the Chu Kingdom were all very capable and loyal. Otherwise, they could not have overthrown the previous dynasty. Most of them had been high-rank officials, and after their retirement, many of their students were still working for the court. That was why the current emperor did not dare to depose Prince Yi now.

“Military medallion? I don’t know. Since the minister was in charge of the Ministry of War, maybe the military medallion…” Mother Han paused for a moment at this question and did not know how to answer. She was just a servant of the inner courtyard, and it was impossible for her to know such kind of things.

Ning Xueyan took a deep breath and bit her lip, a piercing light crossing her eyes. She suddenly shifted the topic and asked, “Mammy, have you heard of the empress of the former dynasty? Have you seen her before?”

Although Ning Xueyan was not well-informed, she knew that the empress of the previous dynasty was an extremely beautiful lady. It was said that the empress had caused the fall of the previous dynasty. Therefore, in most rumors, this empress was an evil woman who had brought calamity to the country and people of the previous dynasty.

Hearing Ning Xueyan mentioning the previous dynasty’s empress, Mother Han’s face turned pale. “Miss, are you talking about Empress Han? You can never talk about her! It’s a taboo to the court. If people from the court know that we are talking about Empress Han, we will be beheaded!” she immediately covered Ning Xueyan’s mouth and reminded her in a low voice anxiously.

Ning Xueyan shook her head calmly, gesturing Mother Han to let go of her. Then Mother Han removed her hand from her mouth. Mother Han’s face was ashen and she could not help trembling with fear. Since she was so scared, Ning Xueyan did not ask more. The previous empress was really mysterious! The rumors said that she had led to the downfall of the country, but in the history books, nothing about this was mentioned. The history books only said that her surname was Han, and she had burned herself the day the imperial city was captured.

That was all about her.

It seemed that the empress the history books recorded was not the same one as the evil woman the rumors described. However, they actually were the same person.

“It’s said the princess of the previous dynasty was still a child when the coup took place. After that, she was missing,” Ning Xueyan could not help asking.

“Miss, that princess had already died in the fire. Almost half of the imperial palace was burnt out, so it was impossible for a child to survive. She must have died. She had no chance to survive.” Mother Han’s face turned blue and she shook his hand in fright.

“Mammy, I want to know if she were still alive, how old would she be now?” Ning Xueyan smiled slightly.

“Probably… sixteen or seventeen!” Mother Han answered hesitantly.

Ning Xueyan looked at Mother Han quietly. Until Mother Han felt uneasy at her gaze and turned her head to the side, she continued, “Mammy, do you think Ning Qingshan could be the princess from the previous dynasty?”

“Third Young Lady? Impossible! No way!” Mother Han answered firmly, without hesitation.

“Why couldn’t Ning Qingshan be the previous dynasty’s princess?” Ning Xueyan muttered with a frown, a suspicious look in her jet-black eyes. It was very different from what she had expected.

“There’s no chance that Third Young Lady is the princess. Although Third Young Lady is about her age, she couldn’t be the princess of the previous dynasty. I have seen the princess more than one time when I worked for Madam Ming. If she were still alive, her appearance should be different from when she was a child, but there should be still some similarities. I didn’t see anything in Third Young Lady about the princess when she was a kid, so it’s impossible that they are the same person.”

Mother Han shook her head again.

Ning Xueyan hesitated for a while and stopped asking. It seemed that she could not solve her doubts soon, but she trust Mother Han and believed that Ning Qingshan was not the missing princess of the previous dynasty. But from Ning Qingshan’s manner and the way Xia’er behaved and spoke when she had met them for the first time, Ning Xueyan still felt that Ning Qingshan had something to do with the princess.

Besides, like a death squad member, although the sudden appeared maid looked pale with fear, she had still taken all the blame for Ning Qingshan. Who the hell was Ning Qingshan? Why did a death squad member appear by her side? Although Ning Zu’an said that Ning Qingshan was an old friend’s child, Ning Xueyan did not believe it.

Anyway, there must be some secrets about Ning Qingshan. Ning Xueyan knew she must be more careful when she dealt with Ning Qingshan in the future.

It seemed Ning Qingshan would escape from being punished this time. Nobody had thought that a maid would have been willing to take the blame for her, and Third Prince, Ao Mingyu, had let go of Ning Qingshan so easily.

Fortunately, Ning Xueyan had gained something today. At least, she could tell that Ao Mingyu’s attitude toward Ning Qingshan had changed. He had been gentle when he looked at Ning Qingshan, but today, Ning Xueyan had clearly seen the disgust look in his eyes. He had not been treating Ning Qingshan like a lover he had waited three years for.

As for why Ao Mingyu had not lost his temper with Ning Qingshan on spot, Ning Xueyan thought there must be some special reason.

Because of this special reason, Ao Mingyu could not offend Ning Qingshan for the moment.

“Lanning, ask Xinmei to visit Concubine Ma secretly and inform Concubine Ma to mingle with those kitchen staffs who are in charge of cleaning up the kitchen waste and leave the manor,” Ning Xueyan said coolly.

Every day after super, the kitchen staff would clean up the waste from the day. Some people would take away the leftover food and dishes. Since it would be getting dark when they left, nobody would notice them.

“Miss, what if Concubine Ma is caught? She will definitely tell the others that you helped her escape. Then you will be in danger! She did not want to come out and it took me a long time to find her today,” Mother Han said anxiously. After Ning Xueyan had stopped asking her about the previous dynasty, she became much more relaxed. Now when she heard that Ning Xueyan was going to have Concubine Ma leave, she became nervous again.

In her mind, Concubine Ma was not a kind person. She had followed Madam Ling’s words and tried to poison Ning Xueyan before. Now she was trying to frame Ning Xueyan again following Ning Qingshan’s instruction. So obviously, she was a selfish and vicious woman. If she was caught, she would definitely sell Ning Xueyan up.

Concubine Ma had promised Ning Xueyan to go out, but Mother Han had not seen her after waiting for a long time. Finally Mother Han had found her with the help of other maids and sent her to Lucky Garden.

“She… had no chance to sell me out!” Ning Xueyan bit her lip and sneered, a bloodthirsty coldness flashing in her eyes.

Concubine Ma had never been an honest person. She had broken her word before, and she would do the same thing in the future. If Ning Xueyan had not prepared in advance, she might have already been set up by Ning Qingshan because of Concubine Ma. Concubine Ma had promised Ning Xueyan that she would suddenly show up from a path and caught Ning Qingshan off guard. If she acted as they had agreed, Concubine Ma should have walked to them from a path much earlier than she had shown up at Lucky Garden.

However, after waiting for a long time, she still had not come out yet. Thankfully, Ning Xueyan had asked Mother Han in advance to look for Concubine Ma if she failed to show up as schedule. When Mother Han had found her, Concubine Ma said that she had gotten held up.

Obviously, she did not want to come out at all. She just wanted to watch Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan both lose, and then she could reap the benefits.

But Concubine Ma did not seem to be that bold! There must be somebody else watching the backyard of the Lord Protector’s Manor!

Since Concubine Mas was so vicious, Ning Xueyan knew it was unnecessary to show any mercy to her. After rebirth, she had always assessed the situation carefully before action. She would never hurt herself and people who cared about her again because of her helping others.

Although Mother Han did not know what Ning Xueyan meant, she knew her young master had been much smarter than before recently. Since her young master said she would be okay, she believed that nothing bad would happen to her. Then Mother Han left with a nod.

After supper, Concubine Ma put on coarse clothes and cautiously walked to the door of the kitchen. She got into the prepared barrel and after the barrel was closed from outside, she sat down with a big bag in her arms. She took a sigh of relief and closed her eyes triumphantly, pretending to be asleep.

The gold in the bag was the payment someone had given to her for making Ning Qingshan and Ning Xueyan both lose in the fight. She had been surprised that someone was thinking in the same way as she did. Moreover, that person also gave her a sum of money.

“I didn’t expect that Fifth Young Lady was so cunning. Her servants still found me even though I have hidden in such a concealed place. Otherwise, I would have gotten more gold!” Thinking about this, she looked a little sorry.