The Devious First-Daughter

The small sedan chair was the most ordinary one, and the person standing beside it was only Xinmei. The sedan chair was moving along the winding mountain path that stretched far, and the path became remoter as they traveled. After a long time, it stopped in front of a small temple. The barren mountain path, the dilapidated nunnery gate, and the various weeds all showed that this remote place was rarely visited.

On top of the gate were written “Qingming Nunnery”. These characters looked quite old, and some of their strokes had even fallen off, showing that they were much too broken, but they were in great harmony with the dilapidated gate.

Xinmei went over to knock on the door, and an old nun then came out. After exchanging a few words with her, Xinmei came back. Next, Ning Xueyan got out of the sedan chair and went with Xinmei after the old nun. They didn’t stop until they reached a dilapidated room. Then, the old nun bowed respectfully to Ning Xueyan and retired.

Dressed in old clothes, Mother Chen came out from inside. When she saw Ning Xueyan, she bowed hurriedly. She was the one who had been asked to serve Madam Ling.

Ning Xueyan waved her hand but did not look at her at all, and went straight through the entrance, where there was some weed on the door.

Xinmei signaled Mother Chen to go outside with her, staying far away from the door. If this had happened in the past, Mother Chen would not have listened to her, but now she did not dare to utter a word to protest and went out silently.

The outside was bright with sunlight, while the inside of the room was dim. Madam Ling was sitting on the bed, pale-faced and shaggy-haired. Ning Xueyan had not seen her for only a few days, but she had become so old that the former could almost not recognize her at first glance. She had aged more than a dozen years in just a short time.

Seeing Ning Xueyan come in from the door, Madam Ling immediately widened her eyes to study her as if she could almost not recognize her, clearly showing shock in her eyes.

“Do you think it’s so unbelievable to see me still stand here alive now?” Ning Xueyan raised her brows, and her eyes and brows were filled with coldness.

“Little bitch, you…” Madam Ling, who was awake suddenly, immediately pointed at Ning Xueyan and shouted angrily.

“Since you now still have the strength to shout, shout for a few more moments. Don’t you want to know the result of your two daughters who had plotted against me?” Ning Xueyan interrupted her after a sneer.

“What, what have you done to them?” Madam Ling, whose face turned pale and who could not care about shouting, looked up and asked in a trembling voice.

“It’s not that what I have done to them, but that they were hoisted by their own petard. Madam Ling, when you went to grab this marriage, did you expect that your daughter would be a concubine someday and get abandoned by Xia Yuhang?” Ning Xueyan said coldly and could not help exposing hatred in her eyes.

The blood was so bright that day. She, who could almost not feel herself because of the pain, was heavily pressed into the water. Forced by suffocation, she struggled painfully, but everything she did was useless. Finally, she could only see a corner of the pale sky through the bright-red water. At that moment, all the people’s faces were pale and also bright-red.

“You, you are lying. This would not happen to Yan’er. Yuhang loves Yan’er, and he would never do the thing of turning a wife to a concubine.” A touch of ferociousness appeared on Madam Ling’s face and then vanished as if she was persuading herself.

“Someone could favor a concubine and kill his wife, and someone could kill a human for the sake of grabbing a marriage from someone else, so how could it not be possible for Ning Ziyan’s position to be lowered to a concubine? She wanted to degenerate and had a tryst with someone, but she was found. This is much more serious than the crime Ning Ziying committed in the past! Since there is irrefutable evidence, even if Ning Ziyan wants to defend herself, she can’t make herself clean.”

Ning Xueyan gave a cold smile and looked at Madam Ling mockingly. At that time, Madam Ling used the former’s painting to declare her guilty and then drowned her in the lotus pond, making her fall into the fate of death with a false charge. In contrast, Ning Ziyan’s life was now speared by the Xia Manor even after she was found on the bed with an adulterer, and this could be an explanation to the Lord Protector’s Manor.

“How, how could you know that?” At first, Madam Ling was sad and then became terrified, looking at Ning Xueyan in horror. As for Ning Ziying’s case, no one but she and her two confidants knew it. Many people went there at that time, but apart from Mother Yun, Mother Chen, and Ning Ziyan, they were all killed by her with different means later.

“Is, is it Mother Yun, the old fucking woman, who did it?” Madam Ling suddenly came to her senses and screamed.

“Madam Ling, you deliberately framed Ning Ziying and killed her, but God knows what you did. Now, your daughters’ result is what they deserve. You wanted your two daughters to frame me so that you could be the marchioness again. Unfortunately, not only did this plan fail, but your two daughter’s future has also been affected.”

Ning Xueyan raised her brows and pressed step by step. “The event of testing family connections with blood drops was arranged. Did you think that I am not Ning Zu’an’s daughter? Unfortunately, my blood and your second daughter’s merged into each other.”

“Impossible, impossible, how was it possible?” Madam Ling shook her head sorrowfully, looking like a lunatic. Clutching the tattered cotton wool under her, she kept screaming.

“How was it not possible? Madam Ling, your daughter has lost all standing and reputation, your son will never have the chance to succeed the Lord Protector’s position, and your descendants will be the children of the concubines forever, so what could you use to compare with me, the daughter of the marquis and his wife? Now, I am the biological daughter of my father and his wife, and your two daughters are a concubine’s valueless daughters and worthless concubines.”

Ning Xueyan’s voice gave off an eerily chill that prevented people from breathing in the dim room. Each and every word she said just hit Madam Ling in the heart.

“No, how could it be like this? My daughter is the wife’s daughter, my son will be the future marquis, and I should be the person who enjoys the honor.” Madam Ling shook her head frantically, showing the unusual cruelty and viciousness in her eyes.

“You are not… You are not the daughter of the marquis and his wife, and Yan’er and Ling’er are. You are not! Blood-dropping was not accurate, and it was false. It must be false! Ah, it might not necessarily be false. Your blood merged with Ling’er’s, but it is not necessarily to say you are the daughter of the marquis. You are the daughter of Madam Ming, and Madam Ming and the marquis are cousins. This blood test is not accurate, not accurate!”

Madam Ming’s wild voice was with a sharp crying tone, and her hair was hung loosely behind her head, looking quite unkempt. She shook her head madly like a lunatic, and her words were vague and illogical, but she still seemed to see light suddenly, looking completely crazy.

Ning Xueyan looked at her quietly. When she saw that Madam Ling’s hair became unkempt due to her head-shaking, looking more like a crazy old woman, she said, “Madam Ling, today’s situation is the result of the cause you made yesterday. Or perhaps you can wait and see how more miserably your daughters will die then!”

After finishing these words, she did not look at her anymore. She turned around and walked out of the room, but she heard the high-pitched frantic voice coming from behind. “Ning Xueyan, Ning Xueyan, come back, come back!”

Ning Xueyan walked out of the room without a pause. Seeing that Mother Chen hung her head and shoulders standing under the porch, she stopped.

“Fifth Young Lady.” Mother Chen gently came over to salute her, and the nursemaid’s clothes were no longer those shining ones she wore when she was in the Marquis’s Manor in the past.

“Mother Chen, when someone from the marquis’s manor came here several days ago, how long did the person talk with Madam Ling?” Ning Xueyan stood at a high spot and looked at Mother Chen coldly.

“For, for a while, a short while. Eldest Young Master asked someone… to send some clothes.” Hearing Ning Xueyan’s question, Mother Chen knew that Ning Xueyan must have learned something, and then she answered in a stuttering tone.

Madam Ling asked her to go outside and chat with the older female servant for a while at that time, and Mother Chen then knew that it might not be simply a matter of sending clothes.

As expected, Fifth Young Lady came today. Although she was not in the room, she heard Madam Ling’s words said with a high-pitched voice. The information they contained was never only a little, so when she saw Ning Xueyan now, she felt quite guilty, working hard to curl up and not daring to look at Ning Xueyan’s black jade-like eyes that seemed to be able to see everything through.

“The environment here is not bad, and you can live here for a lifetime, Mother Chen,” Ning Xueyan said gently, seemingly referring to something. As soon as she finished these words, she walked outside. Xinmei turned around and followed her silently. The two of them left Qingming Nunnery silently, just as they came here a while ago.

“Live here for a lifetime?” Mother Chen suddenly turned ashen. Since she came here, her life had changed completely. This was a barren and very broken courtyard, so how could she be willing to spend her whole life here? When she served Madam Ling previously, she was her confidant and could get a relatively handsome salary.

If she could leave here, it was enough for her to live well and peacefully for the rest of her life with the money, and she would not need to serve others, but now she had been punished for coming here to stay with Madam Ling. Of course, the marquis’s manor meant that she should serve Madam Ling. If Madam Ling could go back, she would surely have the chance to get a promising future, but what if she could not go back?

Mother Chen did not dare to think about it. Just now, she concealed the real situation of Eldest Young Master sending someone here so that Fifth Young Lady got angry. If Madam Ling would never be in power, she would really have to die with her in the deserted wild mountain.

She was not willing to end like this. She had money and a nephew who was filial to her, so why should she endure hardships here? Why should she live with Madam Ling to death here?

She gritted her teeth and shot a look at the doors that were merely closed, giving off a kind of insidious light. If Madam Ling had a chance, she would follow her; if Madam Ling did not have a chance, she would do her best to atone for her crime by doing good deeds to absolutely make Fifth Young Lady satisfied…

The sedan chair was raised and started moving. In the sedan chair, Ning Xueyan closed her eyes slightly and knitted her thin and curved brows. Of course, she did not come here today only for stimulating Madam Ling. Surely, Madam Ling contributed most to the idea of setting the trap by Ning Ziyan, but what she was confused about was that why Madam Ling had gotten the idea of asking her to test family connections with blood drops.

So, she did her best to stimulate Madam Ling with words. Expectedly, the illogical words of Madam Ling seemed to reveal another piece of information, which she had never thought about before. “If that is true, how could this… be possible!”

With her face turning slightly pale, she looked a little tired, trying her best to remove the little suspicion on her mind. “Possibly, I thought too much, and then I had this feeling. That fact hardly exists. In my memory, Madam Ming was sedate, but the words of others say that Madam Ming was proud and shining. It’s impossible for such a woman to do such a thing.”

Nine Xueyan instantly vetoed this idea because that was bringing disgrace to her…

“Xinmei, let’s go and see Mother Wang,” Ning Xueyan stamped her foot lightly on the floor of the sedan chair and said softly. A touch of light appeared and vanished in her black jade-like eyes. “Mother Wang should perhaps have information!”