The Devious First-Daughter

“Mother, don’t worry. I’ll inquire Fourth Prince about it at the right time. But since Yan’er’s status is not that high, I’m afraid that Honored Consort Shu wouldn’t let Fourth Prince marry her. No matter how Fourth Prince likes Yan’er, he can’t disobey his mother’s will.” Ning Zu’an knew what Madam Dowager was thinking, and he could not help frowning after thinking for a moment.

The problem was still Ning Xueyan’s identity. As her mother was just a co-wife, she was not worthy of a prince.

“I don’t think so! Madam Ming used to be your principal wife, and she was your first wife, so Yan’er is your principal wife’s daughter, and she is much more distinguished than Ziyan and Yuling!” Madam Dowager snorted and defended Ning Xueyan. She seldom spoke for Ning Xueyan.

No matter how low Ning Xueyan’s status was, for Madam Dowager, she was of noble blood.

“Mother!” Ning Huaiyuan cleared his throat and cut her off awkwardly.

“Fine! Fine! I won’t bring up the past. Keep an eye on Fourth Prince. If Fourth Prince can’t convince Honored Consort Shu to marry Yan’er as his principal wife, at least he can marry her as his co-consort. After all, Yan’er is Lord Protector’s daughter, so she should be noble enough to be a co-consort of Fourth Prince,”

Madam Dowager said resentfully. She shot a glare to Ning Huaiyuan with a complicated expression.

Ning Zu’an knew that Madam Dowager was blaming him for what he had done years ago. He nodded obediently and did not dare to say much fear of upsetting her again. He only promised that he would sound Fourth Prince out.

They talked for a while before Ning Zu’an stood up and took a leave. After seeing Ning Zu’an off at the courtyard gate, Mother Qin walked back to Lucky Garden.

Every one of the manor knew that Third Young Lady had stopped Fifth Young Lady at the Lord Protector’s Manor’s gate and argued with her. It seemed she had been trying to frame Fifth Young Lady. Moreover, her servant, Mammy Luo had even discredited Fifth Young Lady. Of course Madam Dowager could not turn a deaf ear to such rumors. She asked people to beat Mammy Luo twenty times with a stick as a warning to others.

And she also stopped paying for Ning Qingshan’s expenses for three months as punishment.

The punishment was not serious at all. However, since Ning Qingshan had made so much trouble not long after returning to the manor, the others did not value her as much as they used to. It was quite different from when she had just come back and everyone had praised her.

Sitting in front of Mammy Luo’s bed, Ning Qingshan clenched her fists and her nails coated with red nail polish deeply embedded in her flesh.

She had begun to plot everything three years ago, hoping that she would enjoy a higher reputation than three years ago. Thus, the others might ignore the fact that she was only an adopted daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor. Then she would have a grand wedding with Third Prince and gain both fame and fortune. With this on mind, she had endured the boring and poor life in the nunnery for three years.

However, to her surprise, after three years, she had not only gotten what she deserved, but even Third Prince began to distance her as well. From the disgust look in his eyes at the manor gate, she could tell that Ao Mingyu had agreed what Ning Xueyan said.

She could not bear her careful plan to be ruined by Ning Xueyan!

She had always been the object of envy, but since she met Ning Xueyan, she had tasted failure and jealousy.

Thinking about this, she was both angry and unreconciled.

She swore that she would never let go of Ning Xueyan.

“Miss, calm down. It’s not easy to deal with Fifth Young Lady. I shouldn’t have been so quick-tempered to argue with her. Look at me now! If not for your sake, Madam Dowager would have beaten me to death.” Mammy Luo knew that Ning Qingshan could not swallow the result, so she persuaded her, holding back the sharp pain.

Mammy Luo had regained reason and she knew that she had been too impulsive yesterday. If she had not been overconfident and argued with Ning Xueyan, she would not have been punished and gotten her master into trouble. It made Mammy Luo realize that Ning Xueyan was difficult to meddle with. If they had a head-on confrontation with Ning Xueyan, her master would suffer a loss.

Hatred made the blood rush in Ning Qingshan’s chest. “Mammy, don’t worry. I will be very cautious in the future,” she gritted her teeth and said slowly.

She had been too contemptuous of her opponent and acted too recklessly. She had thought that Ning Xueyan would have retreated in the battle, but obviously, she herself was the loser! She had lost Xia’er, and now Mammy Luo was punished. Both of them had been staying with her at the nunnery for three years! Fortunately, Madam Dowager had shown mercy and spared Mammy Luo’s life. Otherwise, nobody would serve her and work for her as wholeheartedly as they had done.

“Miss, Fourth Young Lady…” Mammy Luo hesitated for a while, but still wanted to talk about Fourth Young Lady with Ning Qingshan. She had been quite in favor of taking advantage of Ning Lingyun, but now she thought it was necessary to reconsider it. Otherwise, they might suffer even more.

“Mammy, leave it to me. Take good care of yourself. After your wound healed up, you can help me again.” Ning Qingshan stopped Mammy Luo unpleasantly. Then she stood up and put down her hand. Before Mammy Luo could say anything, she turned to leave with Caifen. Anyway, she would not spare Ning Xueyan.

Mammy Luo shook her head helplessly and stopped talking.

Her master was so smart, so she should not have lost to Fifth Young Lady, who was still too young. Mammy Luo felt guilty, because if she had not been too careless, her master would not have been in trouble this time.

“Caifen, go and visit Fourth Young Lady. Bring her some fruits and tell her that I can’t eat so much, so I would like to share with her. By the way, tell her that Third Prince invited us to visit his suburban courtyard. Fifth Sister and she will go with me tomorrow. She can take anyone she wants with her.” After returning to her room and sitting down, Ning Qingshan said with a thoughtful look, pointing at a basket fruit on the table.

These fruits were very fresh and it was obvious that they had just been picked from the trees. It was not easy to have such fresh fruits in winter. They had been produced from Third Prince’s greenhouse and the yield was not high. After taking away her maid yesterday, Ao Mingyu had specially ordered his servant to bring the basket of fruit to Ning Qingshan.

It was said that Third Prince’s greenhouse was very famous in the capital. It was located in Third Prince’s suburban courtyard and the fruit and vegetable were fresh even in winter. Third Prince had specially ordered the servant who brought the fruit to Ning Qingshan to tell her about this.

Caifen immediately understood her master’s intention. “Got it.” She nodded and took out several fruits from the basket and put them into a salver. Then she placed the salver into another food basket and walked out.

Ning Xueyan was reading when someone told her that Concubine Ma was missing. This did not have much to do with her. Concubine Ma had disappeared once yesterday, now she disappeared again! But this time, nobody would think that Ning Xueyan had something to do with this.

Indeed, she had nothing to do with this in addition to having given Concubine Ma a push.

Concubine Ma had been too greedy. After reaching an agreement with Ning Xueyan, she had also wanted to set her up. She had known so many secrets, so it was normal that she had been murdered. How miserable! Concubine Ma had thought that she had taken advantage of others and she had never thought she would have lost her life because of this. But she deserved it!

“Miss, I saw Caifen head for Fourth Young Lady’s courtyard with a basket in her hand. It seemed to be some food in the basket,” Qingyu reported, lifting the door curtain and coming in. She had gone to send the account books to Madam Dowager when she suddenly saw Caifen walk toward Ning Lingyun’s place. Feeling something wrong, she had rushed back to tell Ning Xueyan.

Many people of the manor said that Caifen had been very close with Concubine Ma recently. However, as Madam Dowager did not arrange for people to investigate Concubine Ma’s disappearance, and she did not even allow anyone to talk about it, so nothing bad had happened to Caifen yet. Qingyu thought that Ning Qingshan was trying to frame Ning Xueyan by making use of Caifen, so she had paid close attention to this maid’s every move.

“Was she alone when you saw her?” Ning Xueyan raised her head and sneered. Ning Qingshan had failed to frame her and now she wanted to make another try. Obviously, she wanted to make use of Ning Lingyun this time. Now Ning Xueyan figured out why Ning Qingshan had been so close with Ning Lingyun when she saw them on the other day. She had already planned to deal with her by that point.

“What does she want Ning Lingyun to do for her? Why is she so confident that Ning Lingyun will help her?” Ning Xueyan wondered.

“Yes, I only saw her. She looked around while walking toward Fourth Young Lady’s courtyard. Obviously, she visited Fourth Young Lady for some shady business!” Qingyu said angrily.

Ning Xueyan smiled slightly and picked up the book beside her. She glanced at the withered leaves of a cluster of plantain outside, her eyes as calm as autumn water. “Qingyu, pay close attention to Fourth Young Lady. Let me know immediately if there’s anything wrong,” she said.

Under Ning Qingshan’s instruction, Ning Lingyun would definitely make a move. From her look on the other day, Ning Xueyan could tell that Ning Lingyun still had feelings for Ao Mingyu. She had looked so affectionate, just like when she had seen Ao Mingyu. When Ao Mingyu had visited the manor some time ago, Ning Lingyun had not shown up in front of him on purpose.

What had made her become so confident again? She was going to marry Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Could she still think about to marry someone else?

It was so interesting!

Qingyu nodded. But after thinking for a while, she still felt not assured. “Miss, I’m worried that Fourth Young Lady and Senior Concubine Xu will join hands to deal with you! Do you want me to keep an eye on Senior Concubine Xu?” she asked.

Ning Xueyan shook her head with a sneer and answered briefly, “No!”

Senior Concubine Xu was very satisfied with the engagement between Ning Lingyun and Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. If Ning Lingyun changed her mind and wanted to cancel the engagement, she would not dare to tell Senior Concubine Xu. With her characteristics, Ning Lingyun would not let Senior Concubine Xu know until everything had been settled. The person she loved was not Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li, Ao Xian, but Third Prince, Ao Mingyu.

No matter why Ning Lingyun was willing to cooperate with Ning Qingshan to frame Ning Xueyan, this matter would have something to do with Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li.

But under what circumstances did an engagement cancellation not damage the girl’s reputation?

Ning Xueyan touched the book page slowly and looked down, a sneer on her lips.

If Ning Lingyun had agreed to follow Ning Qingshan’s words, she would definitely help her to deal with Ning Xueyan. Ning Lingyun was not that patient, so she would not wait a long time before making a move.

As Ning Xueyan expected, Ning Lingyun was impatient to wait. When she heard that Ning Qingshan had made a fool of herself at the gate, she had hesitated for some time, but when she saw the fruits Ning Qingshan had sent to her, she immediately made up her mind. It was obvious that Ning Qingshan had tried to frame Ning Xueyan at the manor gate, but no one held her accountable for this matter.

In addition to the older female servant who had made impertinent remarks had been beaten, nobody had been punished, and even the maid who had just brought the fruits to her was still safe and sound. It must be because Madam Dowager did not want to offend Third Prince. It was not a big deal for Third Prince to make the maid Ning Qingshan’s scapegoat and spare Ning Qingshan easily.

Since Third Prince did not want to punish Ning Qingshan, of course Madam Dowager did not dare to disobey his will.

“If I can marry Third Prince in the future, no one of the manor will dare to offend me!” Thinking about this, Ning Lingyun’s heart thumped. After sending Caifen away, she asked her personal maid in and whispered in her ear for a while.

The maid immediately understood her intention with a nod. She left the manor and headed for the Commandery Prince Li’s Manor under the pretext of buying candied fruit for Ning Lingyun.

On the other hand, the maids of Bright Frost Garden and Foggy Courtyard rushed back to their courtyards and reported the news to their own masters.