The Devious First-Daughter

When Mother Han returned to the manor, the lights were already on. She greeted the gatekeeper and hurried into the Bright Frost Garden. Ning Xueyan was having her dinner. When she saw Mother Han coming in, she nodded and asked her to rest first, and then kept quiet while she ate and rested. Therefore, it was not convenient for her to talk for the time being.

Qingyu handed Mother Han a cup of tea, obediently. Looking at Mother Han’s face, she asked in a low voice, “Is there any news?”

Mother Han nodded joyfully, indicating that she would talk later. Qingyu retreated to Ning Xueyan’s side and served Ning Xueyan a meal, with Lanning.

Ning Xueyan did not eat much, so she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, after she ate a little. Then, Lanning and Qingyu began to clear up the dishes on the table.

“Mother Han, have you found out about that prescription?” Ning Xueyan looked at Mother Han’s happy face and asked with a smile. The matter of the incense had been made clear. It was the other kind of medicine with a fishy smell that Mother Han could not find out about, for some time.

“Young Lady, what a coincidence! When I went out to select a site for the shop, I saw a clinic. Due to some urgent matters at home, the doctor was in a hurry to go home. He asked me to check at the store. I casually asked him if there was any prescription for pregnancy, and I actually found it.”

Mother Han took out a prescription from her pocket and handed it to Ning Xueyan. Then she told her what the old doctor had said to her.

“Young Lady, the old doctor said that this prescription was actually not a good prescription for pregnancy. Most people do not dare to use it. Although the prescription can greatly increase the possibility of conceiving, the child’s life would be at risk. If something goes wrong, the expectant mother may have a miscarriage. Even if she lies in bed for ten months and gives birth to a baby, the child might turn out to be stupid or even die. There are even two-head monsters.”

“Did she make a mistake? It’s so extreme. How could the First Madam use this medicine?” Qingyu gasped and asked in surprise. Anyway, the prescription did not seem to be used by normal people. Even if the First Madam wanted to have a child, she would not have wanted a deformed or a dead child.

Moreover, there were monsters with two heads.

Seeing Ning Xueyan looking at her with a puzzled look, after she heard what Qingyu said, Mother Han added, “Don’t worry, Young Lady. To make it clear, I specially asked about the smell of medicine. It is said that it has a fishy smell because there is a woman’s human placenta in it. It smells worse than the general prescription. Moreover, with the human placenta, it may have been placed there for a long time and could be rotten, and it will have a fishier smell.”

The human placenta was the afterbirth of a newborn baby.

“No wonder the smell was so strong that day, and the smell in the room was so fragrant.” Qingyu was suddenly enlightened.

The heavy fragrance was to cover the fishy smell of Madam Ling’s medicine. Ning Xueyan had figured out why Madam Ling did not care about Ning Ziyan at all, when she pushed Ning Ziyan into the lotus pond. One of the reasons was that Ning Xueyan was no longer who she was before.

The most important reason was that she did not dare to get out of bed, because she could be pregnant and feared a miscarriage. Therefore, she would not be angry with Ning Xueyan because of Ning Ziyan. About the incense in the room, Ning Xueyan had already known that it was an aphrodisiac, on that day.

No wonder Mother Chen had invited Ning Zu’an to come over to suppress the evil spirits for Madam Ling, time and again. It turned out that she wanted to trick Ning Zu’an into sleeping with Madam Ling, so that she could have a baby. So many things had happened in the manor. It was said that Ning Zu’an had not visited Madam Ling’s Auspicious Clouds Courtyard for a long time, and the relationship between the two had fallen to a freezing point, because of what had happened in Cloud Reflection Courtyard. So, she used this method to trick Ning Zu’an into staying in the manor.

Mother Chen brought back the medicine from outside early in the morning, which made sense. Since the medicine was potent, the ordinary clinics would not be able to fill such a prescription. Even if they could, they had to do it secretly. Mother Chen could not get the medicine openly. Early in the morning was the best, because no one would notice as everyone would be sleeping. It was a good time to get the medicine.

“Young Lady, does the First Madam want to hurt you by using this medicine?” Lanning thought quickly and grasped the key point. She put down the bowl and chopsticks in her hands, and asked worriedly.

By reason, Madam Ling would not use this kind of medicine for herself. However, she was using it now. Madam Ling already had two daughters and one son, so she should not be too anxious to have a child. Moreover, even if she gave birth to a child like this, it was useless. The reason why she did this seemed to be obvious.

Ning Xueyan sneered in her mind. With so many things linked, Madam Ling’s meaning was obvious. She was using the baby in her belly to ease the relationship with Ning Zu’an. If she had a baby in her belly, Ning Zu’an could not ignore her. So did Madam Dowager. Ning Zu’an would try his best to protect her, even if there was something wrong in Cloud Reflection Courtyard.

This child would not be born. How could Madam Ling bring a child that was destined to be abnormal into the light of day? So this child would be aborted at a certain time. For this child who could be aborted merely by a slight movement, Madam Ling just needed to find a scapegoat.

Obviously, Ning Xueyan was the scapegoat Madam Ling was looking for.

If she blamed Ning Xueyan for her abortion, her reputation would be ruined, even if she was Prince Yi’s co-consort. How could the royal family tolerate such a person?

Madam Ling was really vicious!

“Qingyu, have you spread the news these days?” Ning Xueyan lowered her head slightly, and there was a hint of anger in her cold eyes. Madam Ling was always out to frame her.

“I have not mentioned anything yet. These days, I have been getting acquainted with a few older female servants in Auspicious Clouds Courtyard, and I just talked a little. I said that I heard about it from others that they saw a young male servant, who worked here more than a decade ago. It was said that he disappeared for no reason.” Qingyu went to Auspicious Clouds Courtyard almost every day these days to get close to those old female servants guarding the door and those doing heavy manual labor.

These people were all looked down upon by Madam Ling, so they were not Madam Ling’s henchmen. When Madam Ling was in a good position, they did not get any benefits. Now that Madam Ling was not in a good position, they were not under her tight control any more. Madam Ling was in bed all day long, and Mother Chen attended to all her needs.

Mother Chen needed to see to Madam Ling, so she did not have the energy to manage the courtyard. Most of the people became lazy and idle. Usually, they chatted and gossiped with each other, when they had nothing to do.

“Oh, take it easy. You can spread the news in the next couple of days.” Ning Xueyan nodded. She counted the days. Concubine Yu’s older brother should be returning soon, and he would definitely come over to see Concubine Yu. Concubine Yu was only a concubine, and she came from the new manor. She only had one serving girl, who was said to have been brought from the manor.

This girl was unfamiliar with the Lord Protector’s Manor. But these days, it was said that she had a good relationship with the older female servant, who guarded the door of the backyard. The two of them were eager to become godmother and goddaughter. It seemed that Concubine Yu was going to take action. In this way, she could meet her brother through the door of the backyard.

“Mother Han, will the doctor be leaving soon?” After giving instructions to Qingyu, Ning Xueyan raised her head and looked at Mother Han with her jet-black eyes.

“Yes, it was said that he had something urgent to attend to at home, in the countryside. He was about to leave, but he did not have time to bring his family away. So he left in a hurry.” Mother Han nodded.

“He did not bring his family along?” Ning Xueyan’s eyes lit up, and an idea immediately came to her mind.

“What? Is that person really coming back?” Madam Ling was shocked. She suddenly sat up from the bed and asked Mother Chen, who had just come in with her meal, with a pale face.

“It’s true. I heard from an older female servant who was guarding the door. It is said that someone from her family saw that person at the place outside the manor’s door.” Mother Chen did not look good either. The bad things in the manor happened one after another. Before the incident at Cloud Reflection Courtyard could be settled, the evil person had reappeared. They would be forced to their deaths.

“Didn’t they say that they could not find him that very year? Maybe he drowned in the river?” Under the light, Madam Ling looked very ill. However, when one took a closer look, one could see that her lips had turned livid.

When the matter broke out, it was beyond her expectation. Madam Ming did not even defend herself and looked at Ning Zu’an and her serenely, as if she was not the one who was “caught in the act of adultery in the bed” with the young male servant, but herself and Ning Zu’an.

She had hoped that Ning Zu’an would execute Madam Ming in anger. However, she did not expect that Madam Ming would give up her position as the Legal Wife. Even if she tried to provoke and make trouble in front of Ning Zu’an, she did not succeed. Ning Zu’an did not want to kill Madam Ming at all.

After everything was done, she searched for the young male servant named Fu Gui, but he was nowhere to be seen. Therefore, she asked two of her trusted subordinates, Mother Yun and Mother Chen to look for him, for a long time. However, the young male servant had disappeared without a trace. It was as if he had never existed.

There were rumors that the young male servant fell into the river and drowned. Someone found his clothes and shoes by the river, but nothing else was found. Madam Ling wanted to see his body, be it alive or dead, but that person just disappeared.

In the next one or two years, Madam Ling did not give up searching, but she could not find anything. Gradually, Madam Ling accepted that the young male servant had unfortunately fallen into the river and died. That was the best. Otherwise, she had to take action. As long as she thought that there was a piece of “evidence” in the young male servant’s hands at that time, she felt terrible.

She later checked the note, but no one had withdrawn the money. That was to say, the note with her signature and handprint was still there. As long as she thought of this, she would feel shivers all over her body. Therefore, she was more convinced that he had drowned in the river. Otherwise, he would have withdrawn the money, without keeping the note.

But now, the man had turned up again. How could Madam Ming not be shocked and scared? She moved her body uneasily.

“First Madam, don’t worry. You should take care of yourself. You might be pregnant now. In two days, I’ll ask a doctor to check it out. Then, you will get Madam Dowager’s and Marquis’s attention again.” Mother Chen thought she was going to get up, so she put down the things in her hands, and rushed over to comfort her.

The baby that might appear in the First Madam’s belly would be her trump card. She could not afford to make any mistakes at this time. If something terrible happened because of this, she could not afford it!