The Devious First-Daughter

Both of her granddaughters, whom she had bet great hope on, were seriously injured. Fortunately, they were out of danger now. Nevertheless, Madam Dowager was still worried. One of them had internal injuries, and the other one had broken her leg. Now it was hard to tell which one was in a worse state, but they were both in a wretched state anyway. Thinking of this, Madam Dowager felt worried.

There came Ning Zu’an’s message after investigation from the bottom of the mountain. He only said that those involved in the accidents were all dead. No one knew what had happened. Maybe they were really accidents. It was hard to believe that both of her granddaughters had such accidents. But so what? With the facts in front of her, Madam Dowager had to accept bad luck without complaint.

Commandery Princess Xianyun had only stayed at the Cold Mountain Temple for a night. After all, she was going to get married soon, so it was impossible for her to stay here longer. Therefore, after seeing Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan the next day, she went back home with the servants of Lord Peace’s Manor.

“Madam Dowager, you can go back now. It’s getting late.” Mother Qin went to hold Madam Dowager in an attempt to help her up. It had been a long while since Madam Dowager began to kneel in the hall and worship the Buddha in the morning.

The hall was remote and quiet. These days Madam Dowager liked coming here to worship the Buddha and chant scriptures quietly. She looked more relaxed than she was in Lord Protector’s Manor, which made Mother Qin feel relieved. Since a series of things happened to Lord Protector’s Manor, Madam Dowager had been in poor health and got a headache from time to time.

“It’s still early. We are in no rush.” Madam Dowager opened her eyes and gently pushed away Mother Qin’s hands. She counted the Buddha beads in her hand one by one, looking quite peaceful.

“It’s about time for lunch. The Fifth Young Lady has sent someone to ask if you would like to go to her yard and have lunch with her?” Mother Qin advised Madam Dowager. She thought it enough for Madam Dowager to chant scriptures for the whole morning as an old lady, and was worried that Madam Dowager would be physically and mentally exhausted if she kept kneeling.

“What about the Third Young Lady?” Madam Dowager still asked with her head down.

Mother Qin paused for a while and said, “The Third Young Lady has been in a bad mood these days. The imperial physician came a little late, so there might be some problem with her leg. As a young lady, she naturally finds it unbearable.”

Ning Qingshan had been in bad temper these days indeed. She lost her temper from time to time and got furious easily. When the imperial physician from the imperial palace offered medical treatment for her, he told her that it was a little late and the delay in treatment might result in minor lameness. Of course, she was also likely to be cured. Anyway the situation was not optimistic, and she needed to prepare herself for a bad result.

“She blames me for not having invited the imperial physician here for her. But I’m not qualified to invite the imperial physician here. The Third Prince was responsible for all this. She should vent her anger on the Third Prince. I thought that as a smart and pretty girl, she could definitely find favor with the Third Prince. Now she seems to be no match for Xueyan. She’s not my biological granddaughter after all, so she can’t be really close to me. I’ve raised her for all these years and treated her better than I treated Xueyan. But now she blames me for all this. What an ungrateful person!”

Madam Dowager snorted, opened her eyes, and said angrily. At the thought that she went to see Ning Qingshan yesterday but was treated coldly by her, Madam Dowager got furious. Compared with Ning Xueyan, she had paid more attention to Ning Qingshan and treated Ning Qingshan even better than she did to Ning Xueyan.

“Madam Dowager, the Third Young Lady is young and not sensible. She just lost her mind after encountering such a sudden misfortune. Besides, didn’t the Third Prince send the imperial physician over? I heard that the Third Prince’s Manor was on fire and in chaos that night, and the imperial palace was probably alarmed. In this case, the Third Prince still remembered the Third Young Lady. It can be seen that he actually cares about her.”

Seeing Madam Dowager open her eyes, Mother Qin knew that Madam Dowager had finished her worship today. She helped Madam Dowager up and comforted her.

“If it weren’t for the Third Prince, how could she, an adopted daughter, could be even more arrogant than a legitimate daughter in the manor?” Madam Dowager snorted and said, glancing at the Buddha in front of her. Behind the curling up smoke, the Buddha statue looked merciful and composed. So she put her palms together devoutly and kowtowed to the Buddha again.

“Madam Dowager, would you like to go to the Fifth Young Lady’s courtyard and have lunch with her?” Mother Han asked as she helped Madam Dowager turn around and walk out of the hall.

Now Madam Dowager would most like to reconcile with Ning Xueyan. However, Ning Xueyan’s room was full of peculiar smell of medicine even when she was not taking the medicine. Madam Dowager really didn’t like this smell.

“I’m not going. Tell Xueyan that I’m praying for her in front of the Buddha and might go back later, and ask her to have lunch first. When I’m done, I’ll go to see her.” Madam Dowager shook her head. The smell of medicine in Ning Xueyan’s room was so strong that she had no appetite. Although she would like to get close to Ning Xueyan, she felt extremely uncomfortable to have lunch there.

Anyway, there was no difference to go there after lunch.

“Okay, I’ll send someone to tell the Fifth Young Lady later.” Mother Qin knew Madam Dowager’s mood, so she nodded at once.

“Instruct the embroidery girls to speed up their work. It’s impossible for Xueyan to make any embroidery in her current state. She can’t be belittled by others after marrying into Prince Yi’s Manor. We should prepare more kinds of stuff like pouches and sachets which she can grant to the servants in Prince Yi’s Manor. Xueyan is a co-consort after all, suppressed by the consort. So we should prepare more these kinds of stuff for her.”

Madam Dowager said with a sparkle in her eyes. As a shrewd old lady, she could definitely see through why Commandery Princess Xianyun came to Cold Mountain Temple on purpose. Commandery Princess Xianyun was afraid that Xueyan was favored by Prince Yi, so she specially came here regardless of her identity as a bride, who was about to get married, and felt relieved after hearing that Prince Yi had returned to his manor.

Commandery Princess Xianyun wanted to work with Ning Xueyan to deal with Prince Yi’s favorite concubine, but was afraid that Ning Xueyan would win favor with Prince Yi at the same time. So she came to Cold Mountain Temple on purpose at this time. Commandery Princess Xianyun deserved to be the most outstanding Young Lady of the Empress Dowager’s original family. She was such a scheming and capable girl that she would definitely become Ning Xueyan’s formidable enemy at the end.

“I think the same way. A few days ago, I’ve sent someone back to our manor to instruct the embroidery girls to speed up their work. We can’t put the Fifth Young Lady in a disadvantageous position when she just marries into Prince Yi’s Manor.” Mother Qin knew about Madam Dowager’s thought of putting Lord Protector’s Manor in the first place. Since the Fifth Young Lady now seemed to be the most helpful to Lord Protector’s Manor, Madam Dowager would definitely put the Fifth Young Lady in the first place.

Madam Dowager had treated the Second Young Lady in the same way when she did all she could to cultivate the Second Young Lady before. Every time the Second Young Lady needed anything, she just needed to say it and could get all she wanted ahead of anyone else. Regarding the thoughts of the other Young Ladies, they were not in Madam Dowager’s consideration. Whoever could bring the greatest benefit to Lord Protector’s Manor was the greatest master of Lord Protector’s Manor.

It was the reason why the Second Young Lady humiliated the Fifth Young Lady and even almost killed the Fifth Young Lady several times, but Madam Dowager said nothing about that. In Madam Dowager’s opinion, the Second Young Lady would marry into the royal family in the future. She couldn’t be too kind, or she would be suppressed by other women. The Fifth Young Lady was a grindstone for the Second Young Lady, which could teach the Second Young Lady many things.

Regarding whether the grindstone would be destroyed or not, it was definitely not in Madam Dowager’s consideration. Besides, there was another important reason. Madam Dowager kept avoiding mentioning it, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t care about it. Mother Qin had witnessed what had happened that year. But as Madam Dowager’s loyal servant, she certainly stood on the side of Madam Dowager wholeheartedly.

“Madam Dowager, what’s that?” Suddenly, there was a flash of light across the corner of her eyes. Mother Qin helped Madam Dowager stand still and pointed to a corner of the wall.

The two of them had just left the hall and were about to turn to the other side, but they saw a glimmer in the corner of the hall. It was not bright, but the sun happened to be hanging above their heads and some light was bent and happened to shine upon the place where they stood. If they stood in other places, they might not have been able to see it.

“Let’s go and have a look. Is it dropped by someone?” Madam Dowager asked. From a distance, it looked like an accessory hanging on a small bush in a corner of the hall.

Hearing Madam Dowager’s words, Mother Qin went over and picked up the jade pendant hanging on it. She examined it, and her face changed dramatically. She presented it to Madam Dowager and said, “Madam Dowager, look at it. I’m not sure. This jade pendant seems…”

She was so scared that she said in a trembling voice, could not finish her sentence and almost loosened her grip of the jade pendant.

It was a nice piece of jade. Looking at it, it was crystal clear without any flaws. The accessory hung on it was a bit old and light yellow, looking a little dim. Nevertheless, it couldn’t hide the value of the jade pendant. Everyone could tell that it was a nice piece of jade with an exquisite accessory. It could only be carved with extraordinary skills.

It was just like the double-sided embroidery of the previous dynasty, which had disappeared now.

“Is it… the one belonging to Marquis of Ping’an?” Madam Dowager grabbed the jade pendant and looked at it carefully with her face as pale as snow.

“I also think that it looks that one, but I’m not sure.” Mother Qin looked at it carefully again and said in a low voice. She felt that it looked like that one just now, but she couldn’t make sure for a moment. The jade pendant in Marquis of Ping’an’s hand should have been taken back. At that time, she took a look at it in Marquis of Ping’an’s hand, but couldn’t see it clearly.

So she didn’t dare to be certain at this moment.

“It’s not that one belonging to him!” Madam Dowager looked at it again and said with certainty. Madam Ling had given the jade pendant to Marquis of Ping’an before. However, Marquis of Ping’an and Madam Ling met in secret later and were caught by her in the Buddha Hall. Neither Marquis of Ping’an nor Madam Ling dared to mention it anymore. Afterwards, Marquis of Ping’an handed over the jade pendant, and then it fell into Ning Zu’an’s hands from then on. It was impossible for it to be dropped here.

“Madam Dowager, does it mean that it has nothing to do with us?” Mother Qin breathed a sigh of relief. She was scared out of her wits with her forehead covered with cold sweat just now.

“Not necessarily…” Madam Dowager gnashed her teeth and looked around quickly. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, she held Mother Qin’s hand to signal her to go back.

They were in a Buddha hall where people hurried back and forth. No one knew who would show up in the next moment. If the conversation between them was heard, they would get into trouble. Madam Dowager certainly would not disclose her secret here, so she did not say anything else. Mother Qin understood and continued helping Madam Dowager walk toward her yard as if nothing had happened.

Because of the jade pendant which appeared suddenly, both Madam Dowager and Mother Qin left in a hurry, so they didn’t notice someone standing at the door of the diagonally opposite hall.