The Devious First-Daughter

Realizing that things were getting worse, the middle-aged woman rushed out the crowd and disappeared into the distance soon, leaving the dress on the floor.

Everyone had just realized that she had tried to blackmail this shop. They were angry and began to curse her.

However, as soon as they saw the black robe on the tall, straight and handsome man behind them, they all stopped cursing and went dumb. Covering their mouths, they rushed out the shop in the blink of an eye. “Is he Prince Yi, the terrible killer of the capital? I have never thought that he is so handsome!” some people thought while running away.

Ning Xueyan saw Ao Chenyi now, wondering why he had come here. She blinked her jet-black eyes and walked toward him. “Greetings, Prince Yi.” She bowed to him.

“Fifth Young Lady, you are so eloquent! I watched a wonderful show just now.” A trace of idle smile appeared on Ao Chenyi’s charming face. He walked inside and sat down in the chair Ning Xueyan had been sitting in just now. He pointed at the chair beside him, gesturing her to sit down.

Ning Xueyan froze a little and did not know what he was going to do. No matter what he wanted to do, she could not stop him, so she sat down in the chair next to him helplessly. She looked at Ao Chenyi, waiting for his instruction. She thought Prince Yi would not have come here for nothing.

“Is this your shop?” Ao Chenyi glanced at the shivering shopkeeper and shop assistants beside him.

“It’s our manor’s,” although Ning Xueyan did not understand why he was asking about it, she still answered.

“It’s said the shop is Madam Ming’s property, why are you saying that it belongs to the Lord Protector’s Manor? Is your manor trying to take Madam Ming’s dowry?” Ao Chenyi was not asking, but questioning. Mr. Yu’s face suddenly turned pale at the arrogant words. Madam Ling did not allow anyone to mention that the shop was Madam Ming’s dowry. If anyone dared to talk about it, he would be seriously punished.

“Prince Yi, you’re kidding.” Ning Xueyan knew it was not smart to say anything else except for following his lead for the moment.

“Fifth Young Lady, you’re so smart. I admire you. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me. Maybe I can help you.”

Ao Chenyi glanced at Ning Xueyan’s fair, delicate face and said with an idle look meaningfully, a pleasant smile on his lips.

Ning Xueyan froze at the words. She turned to Ao Chenyi and looked at him with a frown uneasily. “It seems he is really free today. He must be so boring that he had come to care about my business! It’s said that he is always busy. How does he have time to hang out and meddle in my business?” she wondered.

Of course, Ning Xueyan had no reason to refuse the benefit the others offered.

Especially the benefit was from Ao Chenyi! Since there was a deal between them, if everything went smoothly with her, she would be more useful to him. Anyway, it would benefit both of them, so she would like to accept the help he offered.

Since Ao Chenyi was willing to support her, more people would have scruples and did not dare to deal with her. If she had a fight with Madam Ling in the future for Madam Ming’s dowry, people would not dare to help Madam Ling after they knew that Ao Chenyi was on her side. One of his words was worth more than ten thousands of others.

After a short moment of silence, she curved up her lips and smiled pleasantly. She stood up and bowed respectfully again to Ao Chenyi. “Thank you, Prince Yi. If I get into trouble in the future, I’ll definitely ask you for help.”

“You’re welcome. I’m willing to help you because you’re my type.” Ao Chenyi stopped talking and stood up. He waved to Ning Xueyan, gesturing her not to say thanks anymore. He then turned to leave with his men. After taking two steps forward, he blinked to Yu Jian. Yu Jian understood what his master meant. He and a young eunuch, who had a box in his hands, did not move while the others walking out the shop.

“Fifth Young Lady, this is a reward for you from Prince Yi!” Yu Jian walked over to Ning Xueyan and said respectfully with a smile.

The eunuch walked over as well and handed the delicate box to Ning Xueyan.

“These pearls were produced from the South Sea. Fifth Young Lady, you can string them into a necklace.”

“Please thank Prince Yi for me,” Ning Xueyan said calmly. Xinmei, who was standing beside her, walked over and took the box. Then she stood behind Ning Xueyan again.

Yu Jian bowed to Ning Xueyan and turned to leave with a smile. He walked back to the carriage and drove the horse along the street slowly.

Watching Prince Yi leave, Mr. Yu calmed down a little. He looked at Ning Xueyan and found that she was at ease. He let out a sigh and praised her secretly. Being so calm and at ease at such a young age, she was truly a noble Young Lady!

The person who had been here just now was the legendary Prince Yi. Fifth Young Lady could even stay calm in front of such a person, so she was really something. Thinking about this, Mr. Yu was more certain that he had made the right decision to hand in the account book tomorrow.

Fifth Young Lady was already a difficult person. Prince Yi seemed to have been very impressed by her and he had promised her to help her in the future. It would be no good to be her enemy.

Now he had made up his mind to follow Ning Xueyan’s words. He decided to remind his friends, several other shopkeepers, to hand in their account books tomorrow. They were afraid of Madam Ling, but they still had their former master in mind. Therefore, although they had to follow Madam Ling’s orders, they were willing to help if it was about Madam Ming.

They had been promoted to shopkeepers from ordinary clerks after Madam Ling had taken power, but after all, they had worked for Madam Ming before.

After everything was settled, Ning Xueyan chose some cloth to make New Year clothes for the servants of the manor. Then she walked out the shop with her maids and got in the carriage. But she did not return to the manor.

The carriage stopped from time to time in front of different shops. After her carriage passing by, a rumor spread out, saying that Lord Protector’s Manor’s Fifth Young Lady was favored by Prince Yi, and the beautiful box that the maid held in her hands respectfully was from Prince Yi.

People were shocked when they heard that what in the box were South Sea Pearls.

Normally, this kind of pearl would be embedded in the earrings or hair-pins, and even a single piece was very precious. Now Prince Yi had given Fifth Young Lady a box of it, so it was obvious that he thought highly of her.

There was a story behind his admiration for her. It was said that Fifth Young Lady had happened to be at her shop when someone was trying to make trouble there. Fifth Young Lady was so smart and she had managed to scare the swindler away. Prince Yi must admire Fifth Young Lady’s wit, so he had presented her with a box of pearls.

How lucky she was to be appreciated by Prince Yi! Nobody had ever heard that Prince Yi had given anything to anybody outside the imperial palace.

The rumors spread quickly. After hanging out at a few shops, Ning Xueyan walked into another shop. The shopkeeper was extremely respectfully to her. And since then, all the shopkeepers of the shops she went to later were even more respectful to her than to their own masters.

Afterwards, Ning Xueyan returned to the manor with satisfaction. As soon as she stepped into the manor, Madam Dowager asked her to her courtyard. She specially asked Ning Xueyan about what had happened at the shop. Ning Xueyan told her the whole story and was going to give the pearls to Madam Dowager. Madam Dowager did not accept them, but only looked at her graciously. She praised her and presented her a set of jewelry before let her go back.

Madam Dowager had never been so kind to anyone except Ning Yuling.

Of course she did not dare to accept the South Sea Pearls, because they had been given to Ning Xueyan by Prince Yi. All that terrible killer thought about was killing people. Why had he been so kind to give the pearls to Ning Xueyan? Obviously, it was true that he thought highly of Ning Xueyan. If he knew that the pearls had fallen into Madam Dowager’s hand, he would definitely make a big trouble again!

No matter how bold Madam Dowager was, she did not dare to accept things from Prince Yi. So it would be safer to keep the pearls in Ning Xueyan’s hand.

“What? Ao Chenyi bumped into Fifth Young Lady and gave her a box of South Sea Pearls as a good will?” Ao Mingyu’s face darkened. He threw hard the brush pen in his hand into the ink stone, causing the ink to splash out and stain the characters he had just written.

“Yes. Because Fifth Young Lady was smart and calm in front of trouble and solved the problem easily, Prince Yi praised her and rewarded her the pearls. It’s said that he also promised that Fifth Young Lady could ask him for help if she was in trouble in the future,” the guard answered cautiously. His master had been in a bad mood recently, and had quarreled with his mother, Honored Consort Ya, a few days ago.

Everybody knew that he was not in a good mood, so they were all cautious when they spoke to him.

“Go and fetch me the jade hair accessories. Send them to Fifth Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor,” Ao Mingyu took a deep breath and said with a frown.

“Third Prince, you can’t do that!” The guard was so anxious that he could not help stopping him.

“Why? I can do anything I want!” Ao Mingyu had been impatient recently. Hearing what the guard said, he could not hold back his anger anymore. A grim look appeared in his eyes and made him look aggressive.

He had put up with Ning Qingshan so many times. And now, he felt that he had reached the limit of his patience. He had quarreled with his mother for that shameless, stupid woman. At the thought of marrying this woman, he was very upset.

Compared to Ning Qingshan, he appreciated Ning Xueyan more. He had a special feeling for that cold, but smart girl.

He would tell his mother that he wanted to marry Fifth Young Lady, instead of Ning Qingshan. Even though Ning Qingshan was more valuable, who could prove that she was not Ao Chenyi’s woman? Ao Mingyu had not found out whom Ao Chenyi’s favorite concubine was yet. Now, the Prince Yi’s Manor’s courtyard was strictly guarded, and only Ao Chenyi’s henchmen were allowed in and out.

Maybe that woman was really Ning Qingshan. At the thought of this, Ao Mingyu felt fooled. He guessed maybe Ao Chenyi was laughing at him secretly because he was going to marry a woman he had abandoned!

He did not want to marry that woman, but he had to! It was no wonder that he was so upset.

“Third Prince, you’re getting angry and distracted. Remember, you should stay calm all the time.” A man’s voice rang out from outside the study room. The guard took a sigh of relief and wiped sweat from his forehead. He then walked to the side quietly and pushed the door open. He knew his master would only follow this person’s suggestion.

A graceful noble childe in green walked into the room with a smile. He pointed at the two characters “Be Calm” on the wall and said, “Third Prince, you’re too upset. Have you forgotten these two characters? Nothing will go smoothly with a restless mind!”