The Devious First-Daughter

Everyone knew that something was wrong with the herb residue when they saw the doctor’s face. Some madams could not help noticing Ning Xueyan’s pale appearance, which was as white as paper. Coupled with her fragile body, she did not look well. They thought of the Second Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor yesterday, who was in good health with a rosy complexion.

There had to be something wrong.

“Is there anything bad in the herb residue? Did it make Xue’er sick? Tell me!” the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li said hurriedly because the doctor remained silent.

This unintentionally got right to the point and Madam Dowager trembled a little.

“To be honest, Princely Heir, some noxious herbs were put into the medicine. They have cooling attributes, so it can kill someone if they drink too much of it, and it can damage fertility…” The doctor suddenly stopped talking. He raised his head and looked at Consort Dowager because he knew some private things in the manor would be exposed.

Kill people and cause infertility?

The medicine was for the Fifth Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor. Someone in this manor was vicious enough to harm this fragile girl.

“Then what happened to my cat?” the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li asked the doctor without much thought, pointing at his leopard cat.

“My heir, Xue’er is pregnant so she can’t take it after eating the vicious herbs with cooling attributes,” the doctor replied.

Coincidentally, the cat’s reaction was because of it being pregnant.

“Doctor, if someone keeps drinking it for a long time, what will happen?” Qingyu stood out from the crowd and asked hastily.

“It has a high dosage. If someone keeps on drinking it, they will die in less than half a year…” The doctor was uncertain.

“No wonder my lady is so weak,” Qingyu whispered.

Everyone looked at the skinny Ning Xueyan, who was supported by Qingyu. And as she stood there, her long feathery eyelashes drooped slightly making two shadows below her eyes, which made her face look more bloodless. But she had a kind of poignant beauty. And although she look tired, she was peaceful. She stopped Qingyu by pulling her hands.

“Qingyu, stop talking!”

At this point, everyone was aware that someone had damaged the Fifth Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor.

The facts had proven that Lord Protector’s Manor had harmed the leopard cat, so the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li showed no mercy and turned around to yell at Ning Xueyan, who stood behind Madam Dowager. “I don’t care about anything in your manor. Now the blame is on the residue. How can you explain it?”

This was directed at Ning Xueyan. He was angry by her denial. Now he would not let her go easily when he had the advantage.

But in the eyes of the others, he was staring at Madam Dowager looking like he wanted to eat her.

“Xian’er, stop! It’s their family business.” Consort Dowager stopped him properly, but with a hint of ridicule on her lips.

“It’s nothing to do with me!” The Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li lifted up his head.

Consort Dowager was a little surprised. Luckily, she knew that he was reckless when he was in bad mood. So she said politely, “Xian’er, Lord Protector’s Manor will definitely find out the truth because their first daughter was almost murdered. Now what we need to do is save Xue’er immediately.”

Consort Dowager was afraid of her grandson’s temper because it would cause chaos. Now that they were here in front of everyone, Lord Protector’s Manor could not pass the buck anymore.

This reminded Princely Heir. In spite of Ning Xueyan, he rushed to ask for the doctor’s help.

“Madam Dowager, I heard that the Second Madam in your manor has just died. And now, her daughter is being treated like this. Doesn’t this prove that a weak man is calling the shots in Lord Protector’s Manor?” Consort Dowager turned around to look at Madam Dowager with a taunting look on her face.

“Go check the Fifth Young Lady’s herb residue and see if the same ingredients are in it.” Madam Dowager was pushed into asking, while gritting her teeth. Because she was being watched by everyone, she had to do it.

Several older female servants went to do what she asked.

Two older female servants beside Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li followed them as well.

Ning Xueyan sneered secretly when she saw Madam Dowager’s great affectation. She took away all her medicine but acted as if she were a judge. Fortunately, Ning Xueyan already knew that Consort Dowager would keep being angry at Lord Protector’s Manor because of what happened yesterday.

“Grandmother, forget it please. Maybe it’s just a mistake. Perhaps there were other things where the residue was, causing the mistake.” Ning Xueyan forced a smile with knit eyebrows, looking like she wanted no more trouble.

This was the result that Madam Dowager wanted, but now it had come from Ning Xueyan’s mouth and it blocked her way. This made it difficult for her to find another reason for this.

“Fifth Young Lady, it can’t be a coincidence. Compared with the Second Young Lady, you looked much weaker.” It seemed that Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li was joking. But people noticed her sharp words and Ning Yuling’s actions.

Hitting and cursing at people and making a scene showed Ning Xueyan’s good health.

Observing the Fifth Young Lady, they found her in poor health and remembered what happened before in this manor.

“Anyway, Ning Xueyan is not her daughter, so she isn’t favored. Looking at Ning Xueyan, she was definitely poisoned.”

“Definitely, we never noticed it before. No men can marry Lord Protector’s Manor’s daughters, they are shrews or sickly. Eh… Madam Ling is vicious. She grabbed another woman’s husband then wants to kill her daughter as well.”

This was old business.

Madam Dowager’s expression continued changing. Veins throbbed on her forehead and her eyes bulged out while her face showed her great anger.

She had no idea why things had turned out like this. She wanted this to die down then she could give a lesson to Madam Ling back at the manor. She did not expect that it would be led to the public because of the leopard cat.

“Consort Dowager, I’ve found two more packs of medicine in the corner.” An older female servant of Commadery Prince Li’s Manor ran over holding two packs of herbs.

“Right on time. Show them to the doctor to discover if there any poison in them,” Consort Dowager said.

The older female servant brought them to the doctor. He smelt them and tasted it with his tongue, then he said, “Yes, it has poison, but it was mixed well. So the murderer must be an expert.”

The murderer had done it many times.

How could this medicine still miss! Madam Dowager’s face grew darker. She had to ask, “Qingyu, where are they from?”

“My dear Madam Dowager, my lady’s medicine ran out when she arrived at the temple. So these herbs came from Madam Ling’s roomkeeper, Mr. Lu. I thought they looked like the old ones so I paid little attention. It’s unexpected that there’s some poison in them. Please help my lady,” Qingyu knelt on the ground and said angrily.

Qingyu’s words did not blame Madam Ling directly. However, she said that Mr. Lu was Madam Ling’s roomkeeper. This made everything clear. A servant dared not murder the mistress without any support.

Qingyu had not said this yesterday but had done it in front of everyone. Madam Dowager felt ashamed.

Looking back at Ning Xueyan, Madam Dowager found she was a little astonished. But there was little panic on her face. So the Fifth Young Lady had not asked Qingyu to do this. Madam Dowager made sure it was an accident. Nobody anticipated the leopard cat run over here.

Maybe Qingyu had said that because she wanted to console Ning Xueyan.

“Nonsense! You, stand up! I will find out the truth,” Madam Dowager said. Everyone was watching. The medicine and the residue were the evidence. She had to investigate. Everyone knew that someone in their manor wanted Ning Xueyan’s life, so she could not let a servant take the blame as she had planned.

“Princely Heir, I’m so sorry. But your cat… Look, it’s no big deal…” Ning Xueyan said sorry to the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. She wanted to calm him down.

Hearing what she said, the Princely Heir was unhappy. The cat was cool now but it was dirty. Besides, the cat hadn’t moved since being poisoned. No big deal? Seriously?

“What? You think it’s fine? Come on, my cat seemed as if it would die. Can you call that no big deal? I happened to be free today so I don’t mind investigating with you. I need to know who did this to my precious cat.” The Princely Heir was in a rage.

He wouldn’t let it go easily. Everything that happened yesterday and today was because of Lord Protector’s Manor. He wanted to see the manor’s reaction.

Damaging his cat on purpose made Madam Dowager become more furious. But she couldn’t say no because it was his cat. At his side, Consort Dowager did not seem to stop him, so the Princely Heir would really do this.

Madam Dowager felt dizzy, so she said angrily, “Consort Dowager, Princely Heir, now that it’s related to your cat, of course you can do it.”

The Princely Heir was a jerk, but she couldn’t believe that Consort Dowager wanted this as well.

“Madam Dowager, thanks.” Consort Dowager wanted to continue the drama from yesterday. She was willing to see Lord Protector’s Manor be mocked. So she said yes, pretending to be angry.

Madam Dowager was angry because she did not expect Consort Dowager to respond like this. So she had to excuse herself from Honored Consort Ya and return in a rage with her people. The people of Commandery Prince Li followed behind immediately. Moreover, some madams who were familiar with Consort Dowager followed as well to see more drama.

Honored Consort Ya heard that the two manors were about to have a fight, so she asked the Third Prince to take a look.

Ning Xueyan needed to go with Madam Dowager back to the manor because she was the victim. Due to her poor health and her staying in the temple, Madam Dowager showed love to Ning Xueyan. She asked her to pack up and take her time to return.

After everyone had left the yard, Qingyu and Lanning started to pack up immediately.

Ning Xueyan put on an unobtrusive dress when they were packing. She walked along the pathway toward the right-side yard of Cold Mountain Temple.

There was one more thing that she had to finish before leaving.