The Devious First-Daughter

A man in a cyan robe was sitting there. Although he was not gorgeous, he looked both graceful and mild.

Xia Yuhang had always waited for her here before, but later, he had met her at Ning Ziyan’s courtyard instead. Therefore, Xia Yuhang had only come here the first year Ning Xueyan came to the manor, and in the following two years, only Ning Ziying had occasionally come here to read and relax.

This man had waited for her here gently before. Now he looked up at Ning Xueyan and smiled, just as he had done to Ning Ziying several years ago.

“Why don’t you come here and sit for a while?” His words were ambiguous. For Ning Xueyan, she would feel a little surprised and offensive at the words, but when it came to Ning Ziying, she would take it as the tenderness from the man she was so familiar with.

It was as if she had returned to her last life—at the same place, the same man had spoken the same words to her with the same gentle smile.

His handsome face and the deep affection in his eyes had added a trace of mildness in his gentleness and made people could not help trusting in him.

But what had he done to her? He had watched her being drowned in the lotus pool without doing anything!

She had given him everything she had and followed everything he said, taking him as the man who would wholeheartedly spend his rest life with her. However, he had not only played around with Chen Hexiang outside the manor, but had an affair with Ning Ziyan in the manor and caused Ning Ziyan’s pregnancy. Finally, he had watched Ning Ziying being murdered by Madam Ling and her daughter!

She had totally trusted in him in her last life and thought that he loved her from the bottom of his heart, but now…

When she looked back, she only felt what he said was ridiculous, so ridiculous! “Who does he think I am? The silly girl Ning Ziying who loved him so much? How dare he speak this to me now?”

The blood of all her body flushed to the top of her head. All this man’s gentleness in her memory had turned to terrible scheme and hypocrisy. At the thought her helpless death in the lotus pool and her rebirth for revenge, she felt her heart broken and full of hatred.

“Greetings, Eldest Brother-in-law. Whom are you waiting for?” Ning Xueyan walked over at ease and stopped in front of Xia Yuhang calmly. She raised her head, a coldness in her jet-black eyes.

Xia Yuhang looked at Ning Xueyan doubtfully. After a while, he let out a long sigh and said, as if mocking himself, “I’m not waiting for anyone. I’m missing an old friend.” He then lifted the tea pot on the stone table and poured the tea into an empty cup. “Fifth Sister, have some tea!” he said gently.

“Eldest Brother-in-law, are you talking about my eldest sister? Since you miss her, why didn’t you ask her to come here with you?” Ning Xueyan asked curiously. Ning Xueyan seemed to have thought of something, she smiled faintly and sat down on the stone stool gracefully.

Her long eye-lashes shivered and no one could saw the sarcasm in her eyes.

An old friend? How ridiculous! They used to be the closest unmarried couple, but now he only called her ‘old friend’. Maybe she should thank Xia Yuhang. At least, he did not regard her as a b*tch and would miss her, his ‘old friend’ occasionally.

“I’m not talking about your eldest sister. Fifth Sister, do you still remember Ning Ziying of Cloud Reflection Courtyard?” Xia Yuhang raised his head and fixed his eyes on Ning Xueyan, looking a little emotional. People who were not familiar with Xia Yuhang would not notice much change in Xia Yuhang’s expression.

Ning Ziying would have taken such a look and expression and the trace of gentleness in his eyes as his affection for her. However, after rebirth and becoming Ning Xueyan, she would only mock him for his hypocrisy. “He is really good at pretending! He acted like it was real!” she thought.

Xia Yuhang was a hypocritical and selfish person. He always looked affectionate when his interests were not involved.

“I have heard of Sister Ziying of Cloud Reflection Courtyard, but I have never seen her. It’s said Sister Ziying died unnaturally, and the rumors said that she was murdered. Eldest Brother-in-law, do you know what happened?” Ning Xueyan asked with a slight smile. She said quickly, as if she was really very curious. An indifferent and cold smile appeared in her beautiful eyes when she raised her head, expressing her surprise naturally.

Her performance was just right, neither exaggerated nor inadequate!

Her finger which hooked on the handle of the cup kept on touching the cup gently when she was talking.

Only very few people of the manor had discussed it before, and now the rumors had almost disappeared. After all, Ning Ziying was only an orphan who had left her home and stayed at the manor. Since none of the masters had mentioned this matter and nobody had complained about her death, who would care such a trifle? So the influence of this matter had been kept to a minimum by Madam Ling.

Xia Yuhang shifted his gaze from Ning Xueyan’s emotionless face to her finger. He suddenly widened his eyes and unconsciously reached out to grab Ning Xueyan’s hand. “Ying’er!” he muttered.

Everyone’s heart would be softened when they saw such a gentle movement. In addition to Ning Ziying, nobody would have such a habitual action.

“Eldest Brother-in-law, it’s me, Ning Xueyan.” Ning Xueyan raised her head with a frown and stared at Xia Yuhang coldly with her bright and clear eyes. When she saw into Xia Yuhang’s eyes, there was a ghostly, grim look in her eyes. At this very moment, Xia Yuhang almost immediately felt a cold hatred coming from this girl’s jet-black eyes.

He stopped trying to grab her hand and looked at her eyes carefully. Now he was sure they were just a pair of beautiful, jet-black eyes.

Failed to touch Ning Xueyan’s hand, his outstretched hand drooped feebly. A wind blew from nowhere and lifted their robes, causing flapping sounds.

“Fifth Sister, I am sorry! I mistook you for Ying’er.”

Realizing that Xia Yuhang really tried to grab her by the hand, Ning Xueyan frowned in disgust and moved back a little. “Eldest Brother-in-law, you were familiar with Sister Ziying, weren’t you?” she pretended to ask casually. She was full of questions about Ning Ziying’s death in her last life, but she could not find the key to solving the mystery. Since Xia Yuhang was an important person related to Ning Ziying’s death, she might get unexpected information from him.

“Ying’er is a nice girl.” Xia Yuhang suddenly lowered his head, looking very decadent. Xia Yuhang was a man of great self-control ability, Ning Xueyan had never seen such gloomy and bleak looks on his face before. However, things were different now. Everything had changed after Ning Ziying’s death!

“Eldest Brother-in-law, I don’t understand why you think that Sister Ziying is a nice girl. I know she is nice, but I take a different view from yours. Eldest Brother-in-law, since you have married my eldest sister, you should not miss another woman again. Besides, the rumors said that Sister Ziying had an affair with someone,”

Ning Xueyan said with a sneer, her face darkened. She deliberately raised her voice when she spoke the word ‘affair’. She had no idea why Xia Yuhang waited for her here on purpose. “Is he trying to commemorate Ning Ziying with me? How ridiculous!”

If she had not seen clearly that Xia Yuhang was also there when she was murdered in her last life, she would have been moved by his deep affection and thought that he was still that affectionate and helpless man.

She had a feeling that once her heart softened a little, she would get into endless trouble in the future.

“She did not have an affair with anyone!” Xia Yuhang gritted and said in a hoarse voice. The veins on his forehead swelled and he seemed to be trying hard to hold back his anger.

“Oh? So you believe the rumor that someone murdered Sister Ziying, right? Eldest Brother-in-law, who do you think the murderer was? Could it be my eldest sister?”

Ning Xueyan asked, hitting the nail on the head. The smile on her lips had turned to sneer.

“You…” Xia Yuhang had been eloquent, but now he was cornered and did not know what to say. He felt like he had so much to tell her, but the words failed to come out on the lips. He clenched his fists firmly in his sleeves and after a while, he recovered his composure under Ning Xueyan’s mocking eyes.

“Fifth Sister, I’m sorry for my gaffe! I only came here to mourn an old friend,” Xia Yuhang said, a faint sadness on his face.

Not like the natural expression of emotion before he had become furious just now, the sadness on his face was more of an affectation. “What does Xia Yuhang want to get from me? Obviously, he asked Mother Qin to cooperate with him in acting and lead me here. But why? Of course he would not have brought me here only to make me watch them acting!”

Ning Xueyan put down the tea cup in her hand and stood up. Then she took a few steps backward with perfect manner and bowed to Xia Yuhang gracefully. “Eldest Brother-in-law, our grandmother is still waiting for me, so I can’t chat with you for the moment. If I see my eldest sister, I will have her here,” she said.

Whatever Xia Yuhang wanted, she would meet all changes with constancy. She was no longer the spoony Ning Ziying, and now she saw clearly that although there was sadness in his calm, Xia Yuhang was just acting.

It seemed that Xia Yuhang had recovered from his grief. He stood up with a smile and asked a young male servant beside him cleared up the tea set. “It’s unnecessary. I will go with you,” he said to Ning Xueyan with a smile, with his hands clasped behind his back, as if nothing had happened just now and he was still the distinguished and graceful Eldest Young Master of the Xia Manor.

Of course, unlike she used to be in her last life, Ning Ziying was no longer that girl who had loved the wrong man and miserably died in the lotus pool.

When they met again after her rebirth, Xia Yuhang was still what he used to be, but Ning Ziying had totally changed and she was living in another person’s body now.

Madam Dowager’s laughter could be heard from Lucky Garden from time to time. Ning Qingshan gently snuggled up behind her and joked with her. Ning Ziyan sat on the other side of Madam Dowager with a smile. The graceful Third Prince and the excited Fourth Prince sat on both sides of Madam Dowager. Everyone in the room was chatting and laughing, and it was very cheerful inside.

The door curtain was lifted and Ning Xueyan walked in following behind Xia Yuhang.

Since Xia Yuhang was Ning Xueyan’s eldest brother-in-law, he should walk ahead of Ning Xueyan, but in terms of the identity of host and guest, nobody would accuse Ning Xueyan of being disrespectful if she walked ahead of Xia Yuhang. No one in the room had noticed that this interesting phenomenon actually involved a different nature, and neither Xia Yuhang nor Ning Xueyan had realized it.

Fourth Prince, Ao Mingwan, had waited for some time and he had come here specially for Ning Xueyan. “Fifth Young Lady, how did you come with Yuhang?” His beloved woman had not only come so late, but also walked in with Xia Yuhang, so he could not help asking in surprise.

“I bumped into Fifth Young Lady outside just now, so we came together,” after bowing to Madam Dowager, Xia Yuhang answered with a gentle smile. He had told the others that he felt stuffy in the room and wanted to get some air outside, so he had left Lucky Garden for a while just now.