The Devious First-Daughter

It was exactly the moment that Ning Xueyan had been waiting for!

Looking up at Madam Dowager with her dark-jade-like eyes, she slowly dropped the words one by one after clearing her throat. “Grandmother, how could Mother Han take advantage of my lowly status?”

Madam Ling once said that by taking advantage of Ning Xueyan’s power, Mother Han encouraged her son to commit violence and he beat up Concubine Ma’s brother.

This thing that happened to Mother Han was the reason Ning Xueyan had been drugged. What Mother Han had done annoyed Concubine Ma, and hence, brought a fatal disaster to Ning Xueyan.

However, if Ning Xueyan was even unable to protect herself, how could Mother Han take advantage of her power?

In one sentence, Ning Xueyan argued clearly that Mother Han was being framed by Madam Ling.

Then the entire house fell into a weird silence. Cold sweat was already forming on Madam Ling’s forehead. It was so unexpected to everyone that Ning Xueyan would make such a big leap. Originally, everyone’s attention was focused on the servant who had cursed Ning Xueyan. But now, all their eyes fell upon Mother Han.

With tears in her eyes, she looked quite sad and her voice sounded mournful. She looked at Ning Xueyan with kindness and love. How could she be an arrogant person? Even the woman kneeling beside her looked much more ferocious than her.

“Madam Dowager, judging by the status of the Fifth Young Lady in your manor, how could her personal servant take advantage of her power? It seems that you’ve caught the wrong person!” Off to the side, Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor saw the farce clearly. She sneered slightly with her lips rising.

“Consort Dowager, no… How could they take the wrong person? They all said that it was Mother Han.” When this thing came down on her head, she had to bite the bullet and explain.

Everything that happened was all linked together. If one of those things went wrong, then the following things wouldn’t follow. How dare Madam Ling let others know the inside story!

“Mother, even an inferior servant can humiliate me at will. She rained down curses on Lanning’s head only because Lanning mentioned me. No one spoke up for me. In this situation, who would choose to stand on the side of Mother Han?” Ning Xueyan asked indifferently. She lowered her eyes slightly to cover the indignation at the bottom of her eyes.

An unfavored mistress with a servant who was despised by others—if anyone wanted to frame her, it would just be a piece of cake.

“I…” Madam Ling was stumped and was unable to find anything to say.

“Mother, the life or death of Mother Han was decided just by a few people’s words. Then why can’t the truth we saw before us explain everything? Does Mother also think that we should find a few more people to verify it?” Ning Xueyan lifted her lips a little and sneered slightly. Her eyes fell upon Madam Ling without blinking or avoiding her.

That kind of deep and hellish aura came at her from all sides. Madam Ling was so intimidated by this aura that she could not utter a word.

The facts were displayed in front of them. None of those servants who had come just now had spoken a word on behalf of Ning Xueyan. They all came here with the attitude of just watching the fun. And judging by those people’s cavalier attitudes, everyone present could realize the status of Ning Xueyan in the Lord Protector’s Manor.

Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor was present, so Madam Ling couldn’t just turn things upside down, even if she was eager to do that.

“The rules in the Lord Protector’s Manor are really different. The Fifth Young Lady was drugged by someone but her personal loyal servant was punished for it. The daughters in the Lord Protector’s Manor are really cheap. No wonder that the Second Young Lady was capable of doing such a degrading thing. Because that was the way she was brought up!” Unable to watch anymore, Consort Dowager spoke in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Madam Ling, apologize to the Fifth Young Lady.” Upon hearing what Consort Dowager had said, Madam Dowager made a quick decision.

Madam Ling’s face changed greatly. She turned to look at Madam Dowager with disbelief, but all she saw was her ice-cold eyes.

She bit her lips and her face turned pale. All the muscles in her face were shaking. She was a Marchioness but now she was asked to make an apology to her daughter, which was meant to be a kind of humiliation—a terrible humiliation!

She would not only make an apology but also lose her dignity as Marchioness.

Her dignity had already been trampled on once when she was in the palace. But that was in the palace, and the one who had trampled on her dignity was the queen, the most distinguished woman in the whole country.

But now, the one who had trampled on her dignity was the little bitch that she despised the most…

In that room, there was only silence, a weird silence!

Ning Xueyan had gotten up with someone’s help and now she was standing beside Madam Dowager. A maid served a cup of hot tea and brought it to Madam Ling’s side.

Madam Ling picked up the teacup with her trembling fingers and forced herself to stay calm. Seeing that Ning Xueyan stood still, she had to walk over to her. She said while gritting her teeth, “Xueyan.”

Ning Xueyan just looked at her indifferently but her fists clenched unconsciously. She tried hard to restrain herself from slapping the face of Madam Ling. Her hot blood rushed into a hell of tumult, and finally, her blood became quiet and deep. “This time, I just taught her a lesson. I’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future.”

“Madam Ling wanted more than my life.”

“I misunderstood you before…” Madam Ling handed the tea to Ning Xueyan but her eyes were full of hatred!

“Mother, you indeed had listened to the rumors and misunderstood me. I hope that you can help me find the person who drugged me. Now that we know it isn’t Mother Han, who told those rumors to you?” Ning Xueyan asked naturally and then took the tea from Madam Ling’s hands without embarrassing her too much more. After this, Madam Ling’s dignity in the manor would suffer a great loss.

In addition, she still had the following moves.

Madam Ling almost could not hide the hatred in her heart, and she replied dryly, “Yes, I have misunderstood you. It won’t happen again. I will find out who is so vicious!”

Ning Xueyan looked at her and said word by word, “Mother, I didn’t blame you.”

“I will certainly not only blame it on you, but also, I can’t wait to drink your blood and eat your flesh…

“One day, Madam Ling, you will pay for your vicious deeds.

“Hopefully, you can slowly endure the process until you reach the end. I hope you can have enough strength to withstand the blows that will come one after another…”

“Well, well. That will be all for now. Yan’er, since that matter has nothing to do with Mother Han, it has to be re-examined by your Mother. Perhaps, Concubine Ma was wronged too,” Madam Dowager stood up and said.

“Grandmother, what did Concubine Ma say? Did she insist that Mother Han was the person who drugged me?” Ning Xueyan frowned and asked. Although Mother Han had gotten out of the trouble by taking this opportunity, she was not willing to let Concubine Ma go because what had happened with Concubine Ma was really a great coincidence.

There was no story without coincidences. Ning Xueyan was more likely to believe that Madam Ling must have planned it for quite a long time!

“The manor always has physicians to treat concubines in each house. Why didn’t they find out that Concubine Ma was pregnant before? But immediately after something happened to her, they told others that she was pregnant. All this must have been specially designed by some people.

“According to the timeline, this trap could only be used after I was poisoned to death. That should be in half a year. So they might not able to use the trap, which is supposed to be used six months later.

“No matter how Madam Ling is exceptionally adept in trickery, she couldn’t know that I would suddenly challenge her in Cold Mountain Temple!

“Madam Dowager came back in a hurry, so Madam Ling must have used the trap she had designed before, but it was just not in the time that she had planned…

“Now that the situation is reversed, I should first see how Madam Ling and Concubine Ma will explain it.”

“Concubine Ma has always been living deep in the Lord Protector’s Manor. Maybe she made a mistake in thinking that person was Mother Han’s son. I will send people to find out if this thing really happened,” Madam Ling said with a chagrined look.

It seemed that she was regretting it, but in fact, she helped to exculpate Concubine Ma from the trouble. She made it clear that Concubine Ma did not know the truth. Thus, they could just insist that they got the wrong person.

“Do you mean Concubine Ma got the wrong person, so she gave the medicine to Yan’er?” Madam Dowager asked quickly because this result was the best one. If all this was done merely by a concubine, it would not injure Lord Protector’s Manor’s dignity too much.

“The concubine in Lord Protector’s Manor was really bold. When she wanted to hurt the daughters in Lord Protector’s Manor, she could do it without knowing all the facts. Is it because the rules in Lord Protector’s Manor are quite different from the others?” Consort Dowager always piped in when Madam Dowager was satisfied. Besides, now she really wanted to give support to Ning Xueyan.

Her words were extremely sharp. Merely a concubine dared to do such a vicious thing, but they could do nothing to her now.

“You’re right. We must find out who did this!” Madam Dowager’s eyes glittered and she finally had to say something.

While they were talking, a maid wearing the clothing of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor suddenly came in. She walked up to Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li and whispered a few words in her ear. Then the face of Consort Dowager abruptly changed.

She immediately turned her head. Her eyes glaring, she shouted at Madam Dowager, “Where is the Second Young Lady in your manor?”

Madam Dowager went blank for a second because she did not understand what Consort Dowager meant. Frowning, she asked Madam Ling, “The Second Young Lady, where is she now?”

“Ling… Ling’er is now in Buddha Hall. After returning from Cold Mountain Temple, she knelt alone in Buddha Hall.” Madam Ling drew back her neck, defending subconsciously.

In the face of Madam Dowager, how dare she say that she actually acted to the contrary and let Ning Yuling return to her own courtyard long ago!

“Buddha Hall. Well, what a great Buddha Hall! Madam Ling, please take me to Buddha Hall to see if your Second Young Lady is really there!” Consort Dowager stood up, full of hatred. With angry flames burning in her eyes, she stared at Madam Ling, which really bewildered Madam Ling.

But how could she agree when she heard that Consort Dowager wanted to go to Buddha Hall? Because at this time, there was not even a shadow of Ning Yuling in Buddha Hall.

“Consort Dowager, B-Buddha Hall is the place where Mother prays to Buddha. You… That’s probably not a very appropriate for you to go, right?” Madam Ling looked embarrassed and put the blame on Madam Dowager.

Buddha Hall was indeed the place of Madam Dowager. Usually, Madam Dowager liked praying to Buddha and copying Buddhist scriptures there, etc. She valued Buddha Hall so much that she usually did not like others to go in.

Upon hearing Madam Ling say that, Madam Dowager also felt somewhat unpleased.

“Grandmother, Consort Dowager has something to do there. Let’s go find out the truth!” Ning Xueyan said gently in the ear of Madam Dowager. She lowered her voice further and added, “Grandmother, where is the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li?”

This question reminded Madam Dowager so that she could not sit still. “The reputation of Ning Yuling has become so bad now. I was thinking about marrying her off to a petty official or someone without real power who only had the title of nobility after three or five years when this thing faded. As long as Ning Zu’an is there, he can at least give her peace in her lifetime.

“Nothing more can go wrong at this time!

“The reputation of the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li being a playboy is well-known. If she gets involved with such a person, then I really have no way to help her.”

“Let’s go and check it out together!” Madam Dowager was unable to wait at this time. She stood up instantly and was about to go outside.

“Mother!” Madam Ling’s head was covered with sweat because of anxiety. She stretched out her hand to stop Madam Dowager. She forced a smile and said, “Mother, please wait for a moment. Ling’er has been kneeling for so long that Buddha Hall is already a mess. Let me send someone to clean it up and then Mother and Consort Dowager can go there to check.”

At this time, she only wanted to delay them and try to send a message to inform Ning Yuling.

“Are you trying to send a message to her?” One sentence from Consort Dowager froze Madam Ling’s smile successfully.

“There is no need. I’m going there now.” Madam Dowager immediately pushed Madam Ling away. Then she brought her people and walked toward Buddha Hall with Consort Dowager.