The Devious First-Daughter

“Sir, are you from the Qingyun Academy?” While they were talking, Ning Xueyan had put down her book and came over gracefully. She bowed to the young man politely.

“Yes!” Although he was a little bit unpleasant, the young man still bowed to Ning Yueyan politely before answering her question. Obviously, he was well-educated.

“Sir, we are going to the Qingyun Academy to give something to a person. I wonder if you know him.” Ning Xueyan continued with a smile, “Sir, can you give it to him for me when you go back to the academy?”

“Whom are you talking about?” the young man sized up Ning Xueyan. However, he could not see her face clearly except for vaguely telling that it was a girl with a veil.

“Ning Huaijing. Do you know him, sir?” Ning Xueyan asked in a soft voice.

“Ning Huaijing?” The young man was so shocked and his eyelid twitched unconsciously, the look in his eyes becoming even colder. He stared at Ning Xueyan and answered after a while, “What’s the relationship between you and him? Why are you looking for him?”

“I’m not looking for him. My father asked me to bring something to him. As for what’s the relationship between us, maybe he is my father’s nephew of our clan.” Ning Xueyan glanced at the young man’s tight lips. Now the coldness in his eyes had disappeared, but she had seen it clearly just now.

“Lanning, bring me the bag. I will ask this childe to take it to the academy,” Ning Xueyan turned her head and said to Lanning.

Hearing that, Lanning ran downstairs. After a while, she brought a small bag upstairs and placed it on the table in front of the young man.

“Ning Huaijing does not have any high-rank official relatives. Miss, I think you must be mistaken.” The young man sneered when he looked at the bag. He was no longer gentle and shy, but a little aggressive.

With that, he smashed his brush pen and rushed downstairs without looking at Ning Xueyan and Lanning.

Through the second-floor window, Ning Xueyan saw him walking out of the book shop. He was so angry that he even stop copying the book!

“Miss, what shall we do?” Watching the young man going away, Lanning became anxious. They had come to the shop for Ning Huaijing. How could he be so impatient and leave so soon?

This bag contained more than just homely clothes and books.

“Give the bag to the shop owner and ask him to turn it over to Ning Huaijing of the Qingyun Academy.” Ning Xueyan smiled slightly with satisfaction. She was pleased because Ning Huaijing did not seem to be happy when he heard that Lord Protector’s Manor had brought something to him. The coldness in his eyes upended his gentle image, but it made Ning Xueyan more satisfied with him.

She did not need an overly kind person. If he was too kind, he would end up as miserable as Ning Ziying.

It seemed that Ning Huaijing also hated Ning Zu’an, just like Ning Xueyan did, so he would be an ideal person to help her to deal with Ning Zu’an.

It seemed that Ning Zu’an loved Madam Ling very much and to make Madam Ling his wedded wife, he had even played tricks and degraded his previous wedded wife. However, nobody would have thought that Ning Zu’an had another bastard. This young man looked about Ning Huaiyuan’s age and there could not be much difference in their age. After his birth, Ning Zu’an had never mentioned him in front of people and nobody knew who he was.

Afterward, he went to the Qingyun Academy to study. Although Qingyun Academy was unremarkable in the capital and could only be regarded as a third-class academy, many students went there to study. Therefore, the tuition could not be cheap. Ning Huaijing had studied in this academy since he was very young, and by now, he had been studying there for almost ten years. His classmates only knew that his family was poor and his mother was a widow. In addition to this, they knew nothing about him.

As he grew older, he began to help his teacher to copy books at the book shop. If he had spare time, he would read some books to acquire knowledge.

After a few years, he was kind of well-known in the Qingyun Academy. Not only the teacher thought highly of him, but the classmates respected him as well.

Ning Xueyan had been suspicious about Ning Zu’an, so she asked Lanning to go to the Qingyun Academy to seek information about a student whose surname was Ning. Lanning told her several students’ names. When she heard Ning Huaijing’s name, Ning Xueyan had a feeling that he was the man she was looking for. She heard that Ning Huaijing would stay at the book shop for a while every day, so she specially came here to meet him.

Now she was very satisfied with him.

Because of Ning Huaiyuan, nobody could bring Madam Ling down. Since Madam Ling was Ning Huaiyuan’s mother, Ning Xueyan was sure that Madam Ling was almost invincible in the future. However, if without Ning Huaiyuan, or Ning Zu’an had another son who was more outstanding than him, Ning Huaiyuan might not become Princely Heir of the Lord Protector’s Manor in the future.

Now she needed to approach Ning Huaijing gradually and put him off his guard little by little.

Ning Xueyan knew that she should be patient and it was unnecessary to act in a hurry. She would let the others know this person at the right time. She wondered what Madam Dowager would think when she was told that she had another grandson outside the manor.

They gave the bag to the accountant of the book shop. Of course, the accountant knew his master’s favorite student. He immediately promised that he would turn over the bag to Ning Huaijing when he heard that what in the bag were some clothes and books from Ning Huaijing’s family. From the way Ning Xueyan and Lanning dressed, the accountant could tell that they were from a rich family. He was a little surprised because he had never heard that Childe Ning had any rich relatives. However, since they did not want to tell him, he did not dare to inquire more.

Ning Xueyan got in the carriage with Lanning and asked the driver to bring them back to the Lord Protector’s Manor directly. After returning to the manor, she went to Madam Dowager’s courtyard to offer her greetings.

Madam Dowager was a little surprised when she saw Ning Xueyan coming back so early. “You went to Lord Guardian’s Manor, didn’t you? Why did you come back so early?” she asked.

Madam Dowager looked out the window and estimated that it was not noon yet, so she was surprised about Ning Xueyan’s coming back.

“The two Young Ladies of the Lord Guardian’s Manor had a quarrel, so all the guests went back to their manors,” Ning Xueyan explained softly. She knew that she could not hide this from Madam Dowager, because soon, the news would spread throughout the capital. Of course, she would not hide the news for Heng Yuwan.

“The two Young Ladies quarreled in front of so many people?” Madam Dowager asked with a frown. She was surprised that the Lord Guardian’s Manor was so unruly. The two Young Ladies had gone too far to fight in front of the guests. No matter how much they hated each other, they should solve their problems privately.

“They quarreled for a while, and then Second Young Lady pushed Eldest Young Lady into the river,” Ning Xueyan told her the story briefly.

“Lord Guardian is becoming more useless and cannot even well discipline his daughters! Don’t be close to the people from such families. They treat the concubine’s daughter even better than the wedded wife’s, so it is no wonder that their families are declining.” Madam Dowager reminded with a look of contempt as if she would abase herself if she had any connection with the Lord Guardian’s Manor.

Ning Xueyan was scornful at Madam Dowager’s pretentious words with a trace of sarcasm crossing her eyes. Madam Dowager did not seem to have realized that the Lord Protector’s Manor was no better than the Lord Peace’s Manor while accusing the others. To some extent, the Lord Protector’s Manor was even more shameless. However, people had not found out all their dirty businesses yet.

After saying goodbye to Madam Dowager, Ning Xueyan returned to Bright Frost Garden. Qingyu brought a basket of food from the kitchen to Ning Xueyan when she knew that she had been back. It happened to be lunchtime. After a busy morning, Ning Xueyan was really tired. Since her trip was so fruitful, Ning Xueyan was in a good mood and took a little more food than usual.

After Ning Xueyan finished her lunch, Qingyu cleared the table and handed an invitation card to her.

“Miss, Fourth Prince’s men brought it to you, saying that Fourth Prince wanted to invite you to watch the lantern show on the Little New Year.”

These were traditional customs to put the lanterns into the river, enjoy the lanterns and race dragon boats on the Little New Year. On that cheerful day, people would be less constrained and even the noble Young Ladies did not have to wear the curtained hats when they went out. Furthermore, they could hang out with their friends and stay out late.

It was heard that the brave men would confess his love to his beloved girl that day and the girl would not think that he was offensive.

Ning Ziying had watched the lantern show on the same day in three consecutive years. Every year, Xia Yuhang would accompany her to watch the show. However, he had only celebrated the festival with her alone in the first year. In the following two years, Ning Ziyan was being with them. Although Ning Ziying did not know the affairs between Xia Yuhang and Ning Ziyan, she had felt that the lanterns were not as attractive as before.

It would be her first time to watch the lantern show after rebirth. She had never thought that Fourth Prince would send the invitation card to her.

“Send the invitation card back to Fourth Prince. Thank him for his invitation and tell him that I will watch the lantern show with my sisters of our manor,” Ning Xueyan gave the invitation card back to Qingyu and said calmly.

Of course, the masters of the Lord Protector’s Manor would watch the lantern show on this festive occasion. Although Ning Xueyan had never been out with the others of the manor on the same day in the previous years, she knew that Lord Protector would reserve tables in the restaurants on both sides of the lake where the dragon boat race would be held. After watching the lantern show, they would watch the dragon boat race there.

She had learned it from Ning Ziyan. Obviously, as a lonely girl who was only a relative of the Nings, Ning Ziying had not been qualified to watch the dragon boat at the restaurant.

“Miss, I’m afraid that Madam Dowager will be unpleasant if you refuse Fourth Prince’s invitation at such a moment,” Qingyu said uneasily, looking at the invitation card in her hands. Madam Dowager’s servant, Mother Qin, had brought the invitation card to her, so obviously, Madam Dowager had known about this and acquiesced in accepting Fourth Prince’s invitation. Therefore, it might annoy Madam Dowager if Ning Xueyan sent the invitation back.

Ning Xueyan was clear what Madam Dowager was thinking about and knew that she would not miss any opportunity to curry favor with the imperial family. She leaned back and said with a sneer, “If Madam Dowager’s servants ask about this, just tell them that the Beauty Contest is coming, so it is improper to have too much to do with the imperial members. Otherwise, we may make more enemies.”

It seemed that Ning Qingshan would definitely marry Third Prince. People from other manors would not like to see another Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor being so close with Fourth Prince. The result of the Beauty Contest was unforeseen, so Madam Dowager would not want to make so many enemies for the moment.

Qingyu was much more experienced than before, and she immediately understood her master’s intention. “Got it. I will ask Mother Qin to tell Madam Dowager about what you said right now. Can I give the invitation card back to Mother Qin by the way?” She thought for a while and asked, putting away the invitation card.

“Okay! Let Mother Qin transfer the message to Madam Dowager and let her think about the wording on her own,” Ning Xueyan said with an idle smile. She was satisfied with Qingyu’s inferences.

She did not want to have anything to do with the Third Prince and Fourth Prince for the moment. The Lunar New Year was coming, so she would be very busy. It was easier to find out some problems by the end of the year.

For example, the problems with the account books.