The Devious First-Daughter

Chapter 209 Fourth Prince Wants to Help Third Young Lady Vent Her Anger
“Third Prince, you’re kidding!” Ning Huaiyuan did not know what Ao Mingyu meant, so he had to find a pretext for not answering him directly.

“Third Brother, I’m scared! I wondered how you could marry both of the two wonderful girls. At least you should leave one to me! Now I know that you were just joking!” Ao Mingwan said in response to Ao Mingwan’s words with a smile and then shifted the topic quietly, “Third Brother, have all the assassins after the party been caught? Our uncle is urging us!”

This caused hatred flashing on Ao Mingyu’s mild face. He clenched his fists and the look in his eyes turned icy.

Ao Mingyu had been too busy recently because some assassins had tried to kill Prince Yi after the imperial banquet and also injured a number of high-rank official’s children. Ao Chenyi had killed all the assassins and ordered people to pile up the corps to publicize the assassination’s failure. However, he still kept asking Ao Mingyu to catch the assassins every day. He really pushed him too far!

But Ao Mingyu could not tell anyone, because it was his father’s stratagem. His father had told him that if they failed to provoke Ao Chenyi and cause chaos at the party, they should order the assassins to kill Ao Mingyu directly. They had plotted to have the assassins mingle with the imperial guards, and all the assassins had worn the same suits as the imperial guards. They had dispatched forty assassins in total, and now all their bodies were in the yard of the imperial palace.

Where could he find any other assassins?

“Those assassins appeared in all of sudden, so I think they must have allies to help them at the imperial palace. We need to check carefully. Even a slightest mistake will cause a disaster.” Ao Mingyu’s face darkened, as if he did not want to continue the topic.

Ning Huaiyuan was a smart person and he would not ask for a snub at this moment. Ao Mingwan did not want to annoy Ao Mingyu, so he did not ask anything about this anymore. Then the three of them began to talk about something else casually.

While they were chatting excitedly, Ning Xueyan returned her courtyard. The moment she stepped into the room, she received the invitation from Ning Qingshan. Ning Qingshan said that it was shining outside, so she wanted Ning Xueyan and Ning Lingyun to go to her courtyard to enjoy flowers and chat. After that, they would go for dinner together.

Ning Xueyan nodded. After freshening herself up and changing her clothes, she walked toward Ning Qingshan’s courtyard with Lanning.

Fourth Prince watched Bright Frost Garden through the telescope from time to time while chatting with Ao Mingyu and Ning Huaiyuan in the tall building. Suddenly, he caught sight of Ning Xueyan and he became excited at once. Seeing that the other two did not notice him, he quickly stood up quietly. He walked to the rail, as if he was enjoying the distant view, but in fact, his eyes were gluing on Ning Xueyan.

She deserved his love! No matter looking from which direction, she was so beautiful!

It was a pity that she was too thin! It was said that she had been living in the nunnery before, so she must have led a poor life there. That was why she was so thin and her face was so pale. The rumors said that Ning Zu’an liked her very much. However, no matter how well he treated her, she was only an adopted daughter. How could she be more favored than those biological daughters of Ning Zu’an?

At the thought of this, Ao Mingwan was a little indignant for Ning Qingshan.

After a while, he would tell Madam Dowager in a tactful way that he was fond of Third Young Lady, and he would let the others of the manor know that he cared about her and would not allow Fifth Young Lady to bully her anymore. He did not believe that she had fought with Fifth Young Lady for an account book as the rumors said. How could such a gentle and weak girl fight with the others for an account book? It must be that Fifth Young Lady had set her up on purpose with some evil intentions!

Ao Mingwan was planning to help Ning Qingshan vent her anger. He would make that Fifth Young Lady look stupid in front of people so that his beloved beautiful girl would vent her anger. However, he had never thought that he mistook Ning Qingshan for Ning Xueyan.

His telescope was moved along with Ning Xueyan’s movements and stopped when Ning Xueyan walked into a pavilion. There were already two girls inside. The girl in the gorgeous robe must be Fifth Young Lady. The clothes of the other girl, who sat next to her, were much plainer than hers, but she also looked beautiful and adorable. She must be Fourth Young Lady of the manor, the daughter of a concubine.

Ao Mingwan had known that Eldest Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor had married Xia Yuhang, and Second Young Lady had been sent to the countryside, so only three Young Ladies were left in the manor now. They should be the three in the pavilion. Ao Mingwan pitied even more for the girl he loved when he saw that the other two girls were much superior to her in both clothes and dressing.

Obviously, she was not treated as Ning Zu’an’s biological daughter, because her clothes and dressing were quite different from the other two. Her clothes were so plain and there was only one hairpin on her hair. On the contrary, even the daughter of a concubine had two hairpins on her hair. Ning Zu’an was so unfair!

Ao Mingwan was angry and all he was thinking was to help ‘Ning Qingshan’ vent her anger. Now Ning Xueyan had walked into the pavilion. Her eyes flickered slightly when she saw the other two chatting excitedly. What was more, Ning Lingyun even smiled at her intimately at the sight of her. “Is that because they have reached an agreement, Ning Lingyun was not nervous at the sight of me?” Ning Xueyan wondered.

After greeting each other and sitting down, Ning Qingshan suddenly began to size up Ning Xueyan. “Fifth Sister, you’re dressed beautifully today!” she said with a gentle smile.

In fact, Ning Xueyan had not dressed up. The plain whiteness was still the main color of her clothes. Embroidered with some small flowers, her clothes did not seem to be that plain. She had her hair brushed briefly. Since she would meet two princes, she should show her politeness. However, compared to Ning Qingshan’s gorgeous dressing-up, she looked too plain.

“Third Sister, you’re kidding on me! I know I’m poorly dressed, so Third Sister, please don’t make fun of me anymore.” Ning Xueyan smiled slightly. She sized up Ning Qingshan for a while and said gently with a smile, “Fourth Sister’s clothes are also very nice. Although they are not as eye-catching as Third Sister’s, they’re very beautiful!”

She praised Ning Lingyun by the way.

“Fifth Sister, I’m flattered! Ning Lingyun seldom said so little. With a blush face, she lowered her head and rubbed her handkerchief. At the thought of Third Prince, she could not stay calm any longer. She had a different feeling this time. She knew that Third Prince had praised her secretly, and maybe he was really fond of her. At the thought of this, she could not help but be blush, as if she was going to meet her lover secretly.

“Fifth Sister, you’re so sweet! We haven’t had such a fine day for a long time! Fifth Sister and I have almost recovered, so I ask you two to come here to chat. I have been back for a while, but I couldn’t find time to gather with you.” Ning Qingshan stood up, poured three cups of tea and pushed the tea cups to Ning Xueyan and Ning Lingyun.

Ning Xueyan smiled at Ning Qingshan and bowed to her slightly to show her thanks. “Third Sister, thank you for your tea. I have been thinking to chat with you, but I couldn’t find time either. I’ll make a toast to you with the tea you provided instead of wine. I wish our family a peaceful reunion after your return, Third sister!”

With that, Ning Xueyan raised the tea cup to Ning Qingshan with a slight smile and took a sip of the tea.

Seeing that she had raised her tea cup, Ning Qingshan and Ning Lingyun followed her suit and took a sip of the tea as well.

“Thank you, Fifth Sister. I’m sure your wish will come true. Third Prince and Fourth Prince will come later. It’s good news for our manor, because it means that the two princes think highly of our manor,” Ning Qingshan raised her head slightly and said, seemed inattentive, triumph shining in her eyes. Being favored by two princes, of course she was overjoyed.

“Both Third Prince and Fourth Prince will come for Third Sister. If not because of you, the two princes wouldn’t have thought highly of our manor.” Ning Lingyun seemed extremely smart and obedient at the moment and as soon as Ning Qingshan finished her words, she began to flatter her, her face full of admiration and adoration. Ning Qingshan seemed to enjoy the flattery very much.

She could not help looking at Ning Xueyan from the corner of her eyes. She meant to deal Ning Xueyan a head-on blow by asking her to come over. At the thought that she was favored by two princes and even Madam Dowager had to think highly of her, Ning Qingshan could not help being excited. The suddenly stepping in of Fourth Prince would bring great benefit to her.

At the critical moment, she could also take use of the favors of the two princes on her to suppress people of the manor. She believed that before long, Madam Dowager would ask Madam Ling to adopt her as her daughter and then she would become the principal wife’s daughter of the manor.

No matter she would marry Third Prince or Fourth Prince, she would definitely become the Consort of Prince.

A cold sarcasm crossing Ning Xueyan’s eyes at the conversation between Ning Qingshan and Ning Lingyun. Their minds were in sync, so they must have reached an agreement. She looked at Ning Lingyun’s cherry-red skirt embroidered with colorful butterflies for a while and then curved up her lips.

She had never seen Ning Lingyun wear this skirt before. It must have been made for Ning Lingyun before the Spring Festival. She wore it today obviously because she wanted to bring out the best in herself in front of the man who loved her. However, Ning Lingyun had been engaged to Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Had she still had feelings for Third Prince and tried to attract his attention by dolling herself up like this?

How dare she! Was she not afraid of offending the Commandery Prince Li’s Manor? Maybe Commandery Prince Li would do nothing to her, but nobody could guarantee that he would not get Commandery Prince Li’s Manor into trouble. Thinking about this, Ning Xueyan smiled even more meaningfully.

Ning Qingshan understood the psychology of others well. Both Concubine Ma and Ning Lingyun had been convinced by her and would like to follow her words.

“Third Sister, since the two princes will come together and both of them treat you well, I wonder which one you value more?” Ning Xueyan did not continue Ning Lingyun’s topic, but asked casually. She hooked her fair and slender finger around the handle of the cup and touched the cup gently, looking inattentive.

“Fifth Sister, how could you ask such a question? Nobody can stop the two princes from loving Third Sister. How can Third Sister choose any of them? It can only be decided by our Grandmother,” Before Ning Qingshan could say anything, Ning Lingyun had answered for her, looking righteous。

So Ning Lingyun must have totally been convinced by Ning Qingshan and she was on Ning Qingshan’s side intently. That meant Ning Qingshan had persuaded Ning Lingyun with a very attractive term. Could it because of Third Prince?

Ning Xueyan believed that Ning Qingshan must have convinced Ning Lingyun with the bait of Third Prince! Thinking about this, she sneered inwardly. Even Ning Qingshan herself could not find a way to settle the engagement between her and Third Prince. How dare she attracted Ning Lingyun with Third Prince? What made her so confident that Third Prince would definitely marry her?

It seemed that the involvement of Fourth Prince had not only given Ning Qingshan a little more confidence, but also made her so arrogant that she almost did not know who she was!

Fourth Prince wanted to marry her, but Third Prince began to hesitate. Ning Xueyan wondered if Ning Qingshan would be happy for such an ending.

By this point, it had never occurred to the three that Fourth Prince, Ao Mingwan, had mistaken Ning Qingshan for Ning Xueyan!