The Devious First-Daughter

Ning Xueyan felt comfortable with the coldness when she spread out the ointment on her wrist.

After the ointment became a little dry, she pulled down her sleeve and stood up with a smile. “Lanning, we should go out to meet people now. If we stay at the backyard on this joyous occasion, the others may think that we did something disgraceful and dare not to show up in public.”

All the maids in the room understood what she was hinting, and they all laughed.

Without any hesitation, they helped Ning Xueyan dress up again. Ning Xueyan asked Xinmei and Qingyu to stay at the courtyard and walked out with Lanning. To her surprise, as soon as she arrived at the courtyard gate, she saw Third Prince and the others coming over. Ning Xueyan could not help frowning. She really did not want to see them.

Therefore, when they told her that they mainly wanted to have a look at the buildings of Bright Frost Garden and by the way ask for a cup of tea here, Ning Xueyan said tactfully that she had to go to the front hall to check if Madam Ling needed help to treat the guests, and she had no time to serve the two princes.

“Then let’s go to the outer courtyard together. Fourth Brother and I were planning to visit the Marquis just now,” Ao Mingyu answered first.

Ao Mingyu said immediately. His smile was still so gentle as usual and what he said sounded reasonable. Since they would pass by the flower hall where the female guests gathered, it was normal that they went the same way as Ning Xueyan.

Fourth Prince and Ning Qingshan immediately agreed with Third Prince. They were all smart and knew that Fourth Prince had said coming to see the building was just an excuse, so nobody mentioned it again.

Third Prince and Fourth Prince were the most distinguished princes among the emperor’s sons, so many people thought that they were very likely to succeed to the throne. Prince Yi, Ao Chenyi, was only the emperor’s younger brother, so the emperor would not willing to have his brother, instead of his son, to be his successor.

Therefore, a few ladies and Young Ladies with sharp eyes were excited at the sight of Third Prince and Fourth Prince coming. They walked out to offer their greetings to the two princes one after another.

The statuses of the ladies and Young Ladies, who sat near the door were not very high, so they would not miss such an opportunity to curry favor with the princes. Besides, if their daughters could show their faces in front of the two princes in advance, they might be pleasantly surprised in the Beauty Contest.

Rather than having their daughters become the concubines of the old emperor, the noble families were more enthusiastic to marry them to the young princes. The young princes represented the future and the opportunity. Therefore, every family wanted to seize this opportunity. Even if their daughters could not be the wedded wives of the princes, it would be okay to become their co-consorts or even concubines. In any case, they could enjoy great honor and wealth in the future.

Seeing the ladies and Young Ladies near the door walking out, the others in the room also followed their suits. Madam Ling and a few distinguished ladies were talking in the innermost part of the room and were surprised when they saw the others going out one by one.

Madam Ling was triumphant because she had just gotten the news that the two princes had been attracted to Orchid Garden and even heard a woman’s scream coming from the room. Madam Ling thought that Ning Xueyan had been caught on spot by the two princes when she was with a man while her clothes were in disarray. Since Ning Xueyan had fallen into her trap, Madam Ling felt utterly relieved.

“Although Ning Xueyan is smart, she is only an inexperienced girl and is no match for me at all!” Thinking about this, she was very proud of herself.

“What? Fifth Young Lady and a man were together in the room with their clothes in disarray? And they were caught by the two princes on spot?” Madam Ling shouted, seemed to be in great shock. She turned around and stared at the maid, who was reporting to her.

The noble ladies around her had been talking excitedly. Now they all turned to her and quieted down at once.

Madam Ling seemed to have realized that she had blurted it out and she shouted at the maid angrily, “Nonsense! How could Fifth Young Lady meet a man privately? There must be some misunderstanding. What the two princes saw… might not be real!”

She spoke this tactfully as if she was defending Ning Xueyan and she deliberately said that Third Prince and Fourth Prince had seen might not be real. If what both the two princes had seen was not real, what could be real? Moreover, she framed Ning Xueyan skillfully by stressing that Ning Xueyan had met that man ‘privately’.

The maid was so scared that she immediately knelt in front of her. “I’m sure it was Fifth Young Lady! I, I dare not lie. Fifth Young Lady is still at Orchid Garden now. Madam, if you don’t trust me, you can have a look in person,” the maid said, panicking.

She trembled, as if she was extremely frightened. Worrying that Madam Ling might misunderstand her, she immediately explained to her in a hurry.

The incident had happened at the inner courtyard and this maid was the one who had swept the ground in the beginning and then led Third Prince and the others to the Orchid Garden. After Third Prince’s guard kicked the door open, she had only glanced into the room and happened to see Ning Ziyan covering the clothes with her hands in panic and from behind her, a terrible scream ringing out.

It was this maid who had led Xia Yudong into the room. Ning Ziyan’s clothes had been in disarray when the others appeared at the door. Therefore, it was impossible for her to prove her innocence.

The maid knew that the outcome was definitely settled, so she did not dare to stay there to see what would happen next and ran out in a hurry to report it to Madam Ling. She did not know that Xia Yuhang stayed at Orchid Garden after the incident.

“Marchioness, you told us that this Fifth Young Lady was even more outstanding than Third Young Lady. I’m surprised that she is so ‘outstanding’!” a noble lady beside her could not help mocking her. She had been a little irritated when Madam Ling was talking about how excellent Third Young Lady and Fifth Young Lady were just now. She did not dare to gossip about Third Young Lady. However, she would not miss the opportunity to gossip about this ‘outstanding’ Fifth Young Lady.

“I’m sure there must be some misunderstanding! The maid is stupid and she must have made a mistake!” Madam Ling said and with an awkward smile. Her smile was a little stiff, and obviously, she was trying to hide something from the others. Before the noble ladies could say anything, Madam Ling whispered in Mother Chen’s ear for a while, as if she wanted to ask Mother Chen to put the matter to rest secretly.

With that, she kicked the maid kneeling on the floor heavily and said angrily, seemed to be very disappointed in her, “Get up! Go and serve Fifth Young Lady! Don’t blather before you see it clearly next time. How could you say such kind of things at will? Don’t you know it may ruin Fifth Young Lady’s reputation?”

It seemed that she had treated Ning Xueyan as her own daughter and was trying to protect her reputation wholeheartedly.

Madam Ling really wanted to ‘catch’ Ning Xueyan on the spot and humiliate her in front of more people. However, she knew that Madam Dowager would immediately rush to the scene to destroy the evidence when she knew what had happened. If Madam Ling went there, Madam Dowager would suspect her. Therefore, she pretended to be defending Ning Xueyan. It would not cause Madam Dowager’s suspicion and it would give her good fame.

Honored Consort Ya had sent a message to her from the imperial palace, saying if she performed well, the emperor might recover her Marchioness.

Honored Consort Ya had informed her the good news as a reward for adopting Ning Qingshan as her daughter. They had reached an agreement secretly, so Madam Ling knew what Honored Consort Ya meant.

Therefore, for the so-called ‘good performance’, Madam Ling had to be more generous and calm at such a moment.

Anyway, the little b*tch, Ning Xueyan’s reputation had completely been ruined. She would either marry a concubine’s son or die. Thinking of this, Madam Ling did not think it was necessary to go against Ning Xueyan, so she pretended to be generous in front of people.

However, she did not know at the moment that instead of Ning Xueyan, it was her own daughter, Ning Ziyan, who had been found out to have an affair with a man at the inner courtyard.

“Got it! I, I dare not to talk nonsense. It was not Fifth Young Lady. I am sure it was not Fifth Young Lady,” the maid said in a low voice with tears in her eyes. Although she felt pain and sore, she did not dare to protest. Obviously, she had been wronged but did not dare to go against her master.

While they were talking, they suddenly heard someone outside say that Third Prince and Fourth Prince had arrived. Those noble ladies and Young Ladies in the flower hall rushed out to offer their greetings to the two princes when they saw them. The noble ladies who were sitting at the innermost part of the room became anxious. Since their daughters and nieces would also attend the Beauty Contest, of course they wanted to go out to curry favor with the two princes.

Then they all stood up and walked outward.

Madam Ling was shocked when she heard that Third Prince and Fourth Prince were outside, but her surprise immediately turned to joy. She rolled her eyes and became more excited. Even God was helping her! She had been a little upset because she could not find an excuse to go to the inner courtyard just now, but now since the two princes who had witnessed what had happened were here, it could not be better! Even if she mentioned it a little bit, everyone would believe Ning Xueyan having an affair with that man.

She then winked at the maid kneeling on the floor. The maid left obediently and Madam Ling walked out following those noble ladies with a triumphant look.

The ladies and Young Ladies rushed out of the flower hall. Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan had already been pushed to behind the two princes and drowned in the crowd. Ning Xueyan especially retreated a little and stopped at an ideal place where she could hear what the others in front of her said without them noticing.

She had not been fully developed yet, so she was not tall enough to be seen at a glance in the crowd. Besides, she was trying to avoid others’ attention. Therefore, Madam Ling would not have expected her to pop up here. Even if she had thought of it, she could not find her easily in the crowd.

Ning Qingshan behaved tactfully as usual. After greeting several Young Ladies and ladies, she took a few steps backward and made way for others generously. She was talking with some Young Ladies, but glanced at Third Prince from time to time. Although she was not happy, she acted to be generous.

“Third Prince, Fourth Prince, greetings!” Now Madam Ling walked out of the flower hall. She came over to the two princes with a smile and was about to bow to them.

“Marchioness, you are too polite! Fourth Prince and I are hanging about and we are going to visit the marquis after a while,” Third Prince said politely with a smile, reaching out to stop Madam Ling from bowing. It was obvious that he still treated her as the First-class Marchioness.

It made Madam Ling very happy, her smiling face as brilliant as a flower.

Fourth Prince, Ao Mingwan, waved his hand to greet her with a smile, but did not say anything. If someone observed his expression carefully, he would saw a trace of sarcasm in his eyes. He knew the woman who had an affair with that man at the backyard was this Marchioness’ daughter.

“Princes, I apologize for Yan’er for what happened just now. I am so… surprised. She has never behaved like this before.” The smile on Madam Ling’s face faded away and she looked at the two princes awkwardly. Although Third Prince had stopped her, she still made them a deep bow apologetically.

She said this vaguely and mentioned someone’s name. Besides, she bowed to the princes so seriously. This made the ladies who knew nothing about what had happened at Orchid Garden felt very strange. They could tell that something big had happened, but who was she talking about?

Those ladies who had learned the news just now were clear that Madam Ling was talking about Fifth Young Lady. “She denied that Fifth Young Lady had caused the accident, but from her look, Fifth Young Lady must have an affair with that man. The two princes in front of us witnessed what had happened, so although she was the distinguished Marchioness, Madam Ling had to politely ask their forgiveness,” they thought.

These noble ladies believed that Madam Ling had bowed to the two princes was also because she did not want them to spread the news. It seemed that it was true that Fifth Young Lady had met a man privately! The noble ladies exchanged looks without saying anything, and they knew what each other was thinking about.