The Devious First-Daughter

Bright Frost Garden was the most cheerless among the three courtyards. By now, no master of the manor had visited Ning Xueyan. Madam Dowager had only asked a servant to bring several kinds of medicines to her, and Ning Zu’an had done nothing at all, as if he had forgotten that one of his daughters at the Bright Frost Garden was ill out of panic.

Of course Ning Xueyan had little hope that they would come to see her. She had fallen into ill because she was injured and she was too weak. The first night she was carried back to the manor, she had been delirious with fever. In her semi-comatose state, she felt as if she were in her mother’s arms, so gentle and tolerant. Therefore, after midnight, she had slept soundly. The next day, although she was still feeble, her fever had gone down.

The medicine Ao Chenyi had given her was very effective, and her wound scarred quickly after using it. Lanning carefully applied the medicine powder on her wound. Ning Xueyan frowned in pain, and her teeth almost got into her flesh.

“Miss, if it hurts too much, just shout it out. I have checked outside and found nobody,” Qingyu said, felt distressed. She then held up a basin and began to clear the medicine power around her wound.

“I’m okay. The pain will go away soon.” Ning Xueyan relaxed gradually and leaned against the big cushion behind her weakly.

The medicine from Ao Chenyi should be a cure for knife wounds. It hurt badly the moment the medicine powder was applied on the wound, and people without strong-willed could not bear the pain. But after a short while, the pain would subside, and even her shoulder was not that pain. Because she had been injured and gotten a fever, she had not recovered yet. After a short while, she felt weak all over.

“Miss, I checked the wound just now, and found the scar began to harden. It seems you’ll recover in a few days,” Lanning said with a smile, while skillfully wrapping the gauze for Ning Xueyan. She felt relieved. She had almost scared to death when she helped Ning Xueyan out from the courtyard of the imperial palace. At that point, Ning Xueyan’s face had been ashen and could not walk firmly.

Now although she still looked pale, compared with the other day, she was much more energetic.

Lanning and Qingyu felt relieved.

“I’m recovering pretty quickly. What’s going on at the Foggy Courtyard?” Ning Xueyan closed her eyes and asked, leaning against the cushion weakly.

“It’s said both Third Prince and Fourth Prince sent gifts to Third Young Lady. Because of this, Madam Dowager visited her. After returning to her courtyard, Madam Dowager also asked her servant to send many nutritious medicinal materials,” Qingyu answered. Then she muttered in discontent, “Madam Dowager hasn’t come to visit you yet. I wonder who she thinks her granddaughter is!”

“She never cares about who is really her granddaughter. She only takes the one who can bring the biggest benefits to the Lord Protector’s Manor as her own granddaughter.” Ning Xueyan smiled faintly. She opened her eyes and continued, “Besides, it’s good for me that they will not come to visit me. Otherwise, if they know that I was injured by the arrow, I’ll be in trouble.”

No one of the Lord Protector’s Manor really took care of her!

After her rebirth, Ning Xueyan was even more aware of it. If they cared about her, they would not have waited until now. The moment when Ning Ziying died, she had cut off the kinship with all the people of the Nings.

So she did not care about their attitude to her. Ning Qingshan was much valuable than the useless Fifth Young Lady now, so it was normal that Madam Dowager paid much attention to Ning Qingshan. But she was surprised that Fourth Prince, Ao Mingwan had also given the gifts to Ning Qingshan. Although she had been far from them that day, Ning Xueyan had found that Honored Consort Shu seemed to talk to Ning Qingshan unkindly.

And she had also found that Honored Consort Ya’s face darkened.

So she knew that must be something she did not know. Thankfully, she needed not to worry about that, because Ning Qingshan was the person concerned, not her. What she needed to do was watching what was going on and adding fuel to the fire just in time.

After the palace banquet, Ning Qingshan and her were at daggers drawn. With the nature of Ning Qingshan, she would not let go of her. Of course, Ning Xueyan did not plan to avoid her.

“I wonder whom Third Young Lady wants to marry. Third Prince or Fourth Prince?” Seeing Ning Xueyan not being annoyed, Qingyu shifted the topic and asked.

She was not the only one who had doubts about this. Many servants of the Lord Protector’s Manor thought in the same way.

“I don’t know. Maybe she wants to sit on the fence!” Ning Xueyan said casually. She looked at Qingyu from the corner of her eyes and joked, “Since you care so much about Third Sister, how about go to the Foggy Courtyard and asked her for me? Then I can prepare the gift in advance. Otherwise, if she suddenly makes the decision, I may have no time to prepare it.”

“Don’t do that, miss. Please! If I go there, maybe you’ll have to come to save me,” Qingyu said with a sad face, looking scared. She picked up the used bandage and walked to the window. There was a brazier, and all the bandages which had been replaced each time would be burned in it, and then thrown away together with ashes of other things.

But because of this, sometimes, the smoke in the room would be stronger than normal.

Fortunately, Bright Frost Garden was located in the most remote part of the manor. Now the other two important people had been injured, nobody would pay attention to this place.

At the point, the door curtain was lifted and Mother Han walked in. She stood at the gate for a moment. After the chill had left her, she walked over. Seeing Ning Xueyan look good and even can joke with the two maids when she leaned against the cushion, Mother Han could not help smiling. Thinking about how weak Ning Xueyan had been when she got a fever, she was still nervous.

Ning Xueyan was born to be weak. Although she was much better than before, she could not compare with the others. Furthermore, she had gotten injured this time. If she was not careful enough, a combination of injury and illness could kill her!

“Mother Han, did you get them?” Ning Xueyan raised her smiling face and asked.

“Miss, those people really pushed me too far. I have told the shopkeepers of those shops that you needed it, but only Mr. Lu and the other two shopkeepers have tried their best to look for them for you. Although they didn’t find them, they said they would immediately inform me when they get it.”

When talking about this, Mother Han could not hold back her anger. Those shops were all Madam Ming’s dowry. Now none of the shopkeepers took Fifth Young Lady as their master. Moreover, they found all sorts of excuses to deny her these things, and some of them even said that Second Young Lady had ordered these, so they could not give them to Ning Xueyan.

Only Mr. Lu, the shopkeeper of Tonghetang Pharmacy would like to help her for the sake of Madam Ming. After rummaging the whole shop, he did not find the stuff that Ning Xueyan needed. He promised that he would inform Mother Han to pick them as soon as the stuff arrived.

“Mammy, that’s normal. Madam Ling has managed the shops for so many years, so of course she has replaced most of the former shopkeepers with her henchmen. Now those people only take Madam Ling as their master. Maybe they even don’t know these shops were my mother’s dowry. And it’s impossible that they will follow my instruction.” Ning Xueyan smiled slightly. She did not feel surprised at all.

This was a matter of reason. Madam Ling was such a ruthless woman, so of course she would not keep any Madam Ming’s men to help Ning Xueyan. As for Mr. Lu, he must have something special about him, so Madam Ling had not replaced him yet. Fortunately, she had sent Mother Han to the shops only to test the shopkeepers’ attitude, not really wanted something.

Their attitude was related to her next move.

“Which are the other two?” Ning Xueyan asked with a smile, a trace of coldness appeared in her jet-black eyes.

“Mr. Wang of the candied fruit shop and Mr. Yu of the fabric shop. They didn’t say that much, but I can tell that they really want to find them for you. After rummaging for a long time, they didn’t find them. They apologized to me and asked me to give these to you.”

Although those things were not valuable, at least, they showed their sincerity.

“What did they give me?” Ning Xueyan asked curiously. She turned her head playfully with a smile.

“Mr. Wang of the candied fruit shop gave me several cans of precious candied fruit. It was said they didn’t have much of it in his shop. A shop assistant was reluctant to give them to me, saying that they only have several cans of them in their shop. Mr. Yu wasn’t that generous. Although he picked several rolls of precious cloth for you, he had many of this kind of cloth in his shop.

Mother Han said while taking out the candied fruit cans from her pocket, “I have put the cloth on the table of the outside room. Miss, do you want to have a look at them?”

“No.” Ning Xueyan shook her head slightly, smiling faintly. She looked at the cans of candied fruit and asked, “These are Mr. Wang’s rare candied fruits?”

“Yes. Miss, when the shop assistant saw me off, he reminded me to be careful and not to break the can. Otherwise, you would not be able to taste such delicious candied fruit,” Mother Han answered seriously without any suspicion.

The faint smile on Ning Xueyan’s face changed to a sneer. “Mammy, be care of Mr. Wang. Don’t tell him any truth. Otherwise, he will definitely tell what you said to Madam Ling.”

Ning Xueyan might have never seen such kind of candied fruit, so she might think it to be precious. However, Ning Ziying had eaten a lot of it, because she liked the taste. Whenever Xia Yuhang visited the Lord Protector’s Manor, he would have brought some to her. Although this kind of candied fruit was expensive, it could not be taken as rare!

Obviously, the shop assistant had said and acted under the shopkeeper’s secret instruction. Otherwise, how could a humble shop assistant question his leader’s decision? Since the candied fruits were going to be given to their master, how could he be so reluctant? They had just been acting in front of Mother Han. It seemed Mr. Wang was a very tactful person.

“Miss, you mean Mr. Wang was acting in front of me?” Mother Han was not stupid, and she immediately understood what she meant.

“Mother Han, I saw this kind of candied fruit when I was at Cloud Reflection Courtyard. They’re not precious at all!” Lanning stopped what she was doing and walked over. When she saw the candied fruits, she said disdainfully.

“Mr. Wang is so cunning! Miss, I thought that he took you seriously, so he gave these to you. I didn’t expect that he was a typical mean person!” Mother Han said angrily. Mr. Wang had even kept her waiting outside for a long time. Now she knew he had just acted in front of her.

“Mammy, relax. Since he likes to act, I’ll act with her in a few days,” Ning Xueyan smiled slightly. Although she had not recovered yet, at least she was freer than Madam Ling. When she was better a few days later, she would be able to go to the shop under the guise of relaxation.

“How about the two shops of the Nings?” Ning Xueyan suddenly changed the topic and asked about another thing she had asked Mother Han to do.

“Oh! I just wanted to report it to you! I really found some secrets there!” Mother Han suddenly recalled an urgent matter at Ning Xueyan’s reminder. She cried out, slapping her thigh.