The Devious First-Daughter

There were many gifts, including satin and clothing. Even there was a set of head-ornament of pearls. All of the gifts were placed on the table, occupying a whole table.

“Fifth Young Lady, these are all sent by the Third Young Lady. These are for girls. Madam Dowager said that there are only you and Fourth Young Lady, so she asked me to send these gifts to your place. In a moment, the Fourth Young Lady will come, and you two can choose.”

Mother Qin said that with a smile on her face while pointing to the gifts on the table.

Ning Xueyan picked up a piece of snow satin on the table, looked at it, and asked with a smile on her face, “Did Third Sister come back?”

Such delicate and smooth snow satin was made in somewhere in the south of the Yangtze River. Ning Ziying grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, so she knew how precious this kind of snow satin was. Even in the place of production, most of it would be sent to the capital as tribute. Ning Qingshan should send four pieces of snow satin to them. She was so generous.

“The Third Young Lady has not returned yet. She has to cure others before leaving. She is always so kind as she was when she was young. Madam Dowager asked you to choose some jewelry from the warehouse for Foggy Courtyard. We can’t make people feel that we have treated the Third Young Lady badly!” Mother Qin was in a good mood. The Third Young Lady not only sent gifts to the masters of every courtyard, but also gave her a great gift in private. So she thought Ning Qingshan was very good when she mentioned her at this time.

“Oh, Fifth Young Lady, these are given to Second Madam by Third Young Lady. The Third Young Lady is outside. She doesn’t know that Second Madam is dead. You can accept these gifts for her.”

Compared to the previous ones, the gifts Mother Qin pointed to now were rather shabby. On the top also was a piece of snow satin. It was light pink and shining. Under it was a tiny ornament box which almost could not be seen. All they could see was pink snow satin.

Ning Xueyan showed anger in her eyes, but then she immediately hid it behind her cold black jade eyes!

Madam Ming was Ning Zu’an’s co-wife. Although she was not the legal wife, she still could wear red clothes whose lace must be pink, so that these clothes could be distinguished from legal wife’s totally red clothes. But now the snow satin Ning Qingshan sent to Madam Ming was totally pink, the color belonged to concubines.

She looked down on Madam Ming and regarded her as an ordinary concubine!

She was adopted by Madam Ming. If Madam Ming was only a concubine, could she become the daughter born of legal wife?

Before arriving, she built her prestige by means of Madam Ming. The Third Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor really was not simple.

This was a humiliation to Madam Ming. Ning Xueyan regarded Madam Ming as her biological mother. How could she endure it?

Ning Xueyan touched the pink satin and knocked on it intentionally. Then she carried it and said to Mother Qin who was praising Ning Qingshan, “Mother Qin, this color is not suitable for my mother even if she was alive. Please take back these gifts with you!”

The light pink snow satin was directly showed to Mother Qin.

Mother Qin was surprised at first, and then embarrassed. Those servants who had worked in the manor for so many years knew that Madam Ming not only was the co-wife, but also once was Ning Zu’an’s legal wife. Compared with Madam Ling, Madam Ming was the perfectly justifiable wife of Ning Zu’an. Madam Ming was so proud, how could she accept the satin of this color?

“Maybe the Third Young Lady doesn’t know it, so that she made a mistake. Fifth Young Lady, you’re magnanimous, please don’t care about it. I will change one for you.” Mother Qin had been devoting herself to Ning Qingshan since she accepted a great gift from Ning Qingshan. Now when she realized that Ning Qingshan had made a mistake, she hurried to apologize for her with a smile on her face. She put the pink snow satin in the pile of gifts which would be given to Ning Xueyan. Then she wanted to find out a piece of totally red snow satin, but she failed. In the end, she could only take out a piece of snow satin of red and pink and pushed it to Ning Xueyan.

This meant that anyone would make a mistake about this kind of thing. If Ning Xueyan cared about it, it would appear that she was not magnanimous!

Ning Xueyan indifferently said, “Mother Qin, needn’t change. Just return these to grandmother and tell her that I thanked Third Sister for my mother. My mother is dead, and these gifts are unnecessary.” Then she looked at Ning Lingyun who just came in, and said, “This satin is not suitable for me and Fourth Sister!”

It did not matter if the pink satin was given directly to Ning Xueyan or Ning Lingyun first. But now it had been refused by Madam Ming. It would make people uncomfortable if it was sent to them again. Besides, different colors represented different status. If it was sent to Ning Xueyan or Ning Lingyun, others would think that it meant that the two Young Ladies would be concubines in the future.

Mother Qin was also in trouble for a moment. Looking at Ning Lingyun who was standing aside and thinking about something and Ning Xueyan who was smiling but in fact was cold and persistent, Mother Qin had to swallow her words.

The Fifth Young Lady in front of her was not the one who was ordered by others at will.

Mother Qin awkwardly said, “Yes, I will take it back in a minute. When Third Young Lady comes back, she will send another gift to the Second Madam.”

Ning Xueyan gently and politely said, “Mother Qin, it’s unnecessary. My mother is dead. She won’t care about it. Please bring my thanks to Third Sister.”

Madam Ming was dead, but Ning Qingshan still made use of her. What did she mean? If she really cared about Madam Ming, why didn’t she show up when Madam Ming was in trouble? The so-called Third Sister was more intimate with Ning Ziyan and Ning Yuling than with Ning Xueyan. Ning Xueyan wondered why Madam Ling did not adopt her at the beginning.

“Well… all right, I’m leaving!” Because of this mistake, Mother Qin felt dispirited, but she could not say more. She had stayed with Madam Dowager for a long time. Of course, she knew whatever she said now was wrong. Anyway, it was the Third Young Lady’s mistake that she sent the Second Madam a piece of pink satin.

Originally, Mother Qin wanted to help the Third Young Lady to cover up this matter. But now these gifts to Madam Ming were refused by the Fifth Young Lady. Madam Dowager would certainly know it. Fortunately, Madam Dowager would not blame the Third Young Lady if she explained well for the Third Young Lady. After all, the Third Young Lady was young when she left Lord Protector’s Manor and had been in the nunnery all the time, how could she know these rules? It was normal that she made a mistake.

Mother Qin had made up her mind that when the Third Young Lady came back, she would first tell her that the Second Madam was dead and the Fifth Young Lady also was not the original Fifth Young Lady.

Carrying the light pink satin and the tiny jewelry box, Mother Qin did not say more and left while frowning.

“Fourth Sister, you can take all these gifts if you like them!” Ning Xueyan looked at the gifts on the table with disdain. Just now, she had seen these gifts clearly. There actually were four sets of gift which were prepared for Ning Ziyan, Ning Yuling, Ning Lingyun and her. But she saw flaw on the same gifts of each set.

A piece of snow satin obviously was damaged; one corner of an ornament box collapsed; a fine fan was stained; the artistic design embroidered on one handkerchief was not good.

There were four sets of gift for four people. In the past, those worst ones must be left to Ning Xueyan!

It seemed that the Third Young Lady really did not know that Ning Ziyan had married, Ning Yuling had been sent away, and Ning Xueyan had come out of Bright Frost Garden.

Three years ago, Ning Qingshan was only a 13-year-old girl. But the Honored Consort Ya and the Third Prince had been remembering her for so many years; she had been famous in the capital; Madam Ling had been kind to her even though she was adopted by Madam Ming; Madam Dowager had been missing her all the time; people of the capital had been thinking that she was filial to Madam Ming even if in fact she was indifferent to Madam Ming in private. How could such a girl be simple?

Ning Xueyan even had a feeling that the Third Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor had been knowing everything happening in Lord Protector’s Manor.

The four sets of gift were sent to Madam Dowager first. There were too many gifts, so that no one noticed that some of them were damaged. Even though they found it later, they only would think that it must be servants who carelessly damaged them on the way. No one would think of the bad intentions of Ning Qingshan?

The four sets of gift were seemingly the same, but obviously one set of gift was flawed. If it had been before, the worst one would certainly be given to Ning Xueyan. When Madam Ling and her daughters saw it, they would think that Ning Qingshan stood by them. In this way, Ning Qingshan would please Madam Ling.

Now there were only Ning Lingyun and Ning Xueyan in the manor. As far as Ning Xueyan knew, Ning Lingyun was tart and mean and would not accept the flawed ones. Ning Xueyan, as a daughter born of the legal wife, would be inferior to Ning Lingyun who was born of a concubine if she accepted the flawed ones. Then how could she manage the whole manor and the household accounts for Madam Dowager? However, if Ning Xueyan did not accept them and argued with Ning Lingyun for them, she would be supposed to be insensible.

So, whatever Ning Xueyan would do was wrong!

Furthermore, others would not think that Ning Qingshan was wrong. They would only say that the Third Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor was generous and brought gifts to her sisters when she came back. However, two unpresentable Young Ladies actually argued for the gifts. It really was a shame!

Ning Xueyan did not want to come into conflict with the Third Young Lady. But if someone bullied her, she would not give in. She did not care how Ning Qingshan fish for fame and credit, but she could not step on her. Therefore, she gave all these gifts to Ning Lingyun without care.

She also knew how to show her generosity. So she neither fought for nor wanted these gifts and gave them all to Ning Lingyun.

If this had happened before, Ning Lingyun would be ecstatic and complacent, thinking that Ning Xueyan was afraid of her.

But Ning Lingyun, who had been taught twice by Ning Xueyan and secretly warned by Concubine Xu, was much more cautious now. She moved her feet and said, “Fifth Sister, I don’t want them. I’ll give it all to you.”

Ning Lingyun thought that Ning Xueyan pretended to refuse these gifts. So although she was unwilling to give up these gifts, she still reluctantly looked away. She was really afraid of Ning Xueyan, and dared not steal the show in front of her.

“I don’t like all these styles. Fourth Sister, take them all!” “Here is a token of Third Sister’s affection. If we ignore it, we can’t account for it in front of grandmother.” Ning Xueyan smiled faintly, turned back and sat down on the chair, then she said to Qingyu, “Qingyu, pack all these gifts for Fourth Sister.”

Ning Xueyan’s words made Ning Lingyun felt uncomfortable. Although she was not born of Ning Zu’an’s legal wife, she was indeed his biological daughter. However, she was not as important as an adopted daughter. How could Ning Lingyun, who had a good opinion of herself, not be depressed? This also reminded her of her childhood. When they were young, it clearly was Ning Qingshan’s mistake, but finally it was she who was blamed.

Three years had passed, Ning Qingshan must be more sophisticated! She needed to be more careful!

Qingyu skillfully packed all the gifts. Knowing that Ning Xueyan really did not want these gifts, Ning Lingyun no longer refused. She pretended to politely refuse, and then asked her maids to bring back all these gifts to her courtyard.