The Devious First-Daughter

“Grandmother!”

“Grandmother!”

The moment they entered the room, Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan bowed to Madam Dowager.

“Get up.” The smile was back on Madam Dowage’s face. She then introduced the old ladies beside her to Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan, and they bowed to these old ladies, with smiles.

“Madam Dowager, are they the granddaughters you have hidden away? How beautiful they are! You’re so lucky to have two such fairy-like granddaughters!” an old lady in a brown garment said in admiration.

“Sure enough! Look at them! If I have just one granddaughter like them, she will surely be the apple of my eye. But you have two! Madam Dowager, you’re really lucky!” another old lady in a blue garment with a slanting collar said in agreement.

On the whole, Ning Qingshan looked more outstanding than Ning Xueyan. Women looked their best at sixteen. Ning Qingshan was gentle and graceful, and her face was as beautiful as a peony in full bloom. That, together with her well-proportioned figure, made her look stunningly charming.

On the contrary, Ning Xueyan did not look that charming at first glance. She was younger and was not as well-developed yet, and her face and lips looked pale. But if people observed carefully, they would find she had delicate features, and her watery, jet-black eyes were very attractive. It was obvious that after one or two years, she would turn into an extremely beautiful lady.

By then, even Third Young Lady could not compare with her.

All these old ladies’ eyes were sharp, and they had figured out that the two young ladies had potential, so they kept on praising them. They heard that Third Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor, could likely become Third Prince’s wife. Although Fifth Young Lady, who had never shown her face in public before, was still very young, from her pretty face and graceful aura, they could tell that she would have a promising future.

Hearing the praises from the old ladies, Madam Dowager became even more delighted.

“You flatter them too much. They are just two young girls and they do not know much yet. You’ll spoil them by saying so,” Madam Dowager said, smiling.

While they were chatting, a steward walked in. He asked Mother Qin something. Then Mother Qin whispered in Madam Dowager’s ear, and after a while, Madam Dowager nodded.

“Grandmother, let me serve you during dinner,” Ning Qingshan said gently, with a smile. She knew that Madam Dowager had ordered the steward to serve the meal.

“Good, you are a filial girl!” Madam Dowager nodded, with a smile.

There were only several people in the living room of the main house. After Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan helped Madam Dowager and the other old ladies to their seats, the maids began to serve the dishes. Ning Qingshan was quite familiar with such occasions. She was highly regarded by Madam Dowager and Honored Consort Ya, because she knew when and how she should speak and act.

She stood beside Madam Dowager respectfully, and helped her to choose her food during the dinner. She was considerate and her movements were fluid.

From the thoughtful and elegant way she behaved, everyone could tell that she had been well trained. She knew which dishes Madam Dowager favored, merely at a glance from her, and she picked and placed them onto her plate, from time to time.

While Madam Dowager was having dinner, Ning Qingshan peeked at Ning Xueyan discreetly. She did not believe that Ning Xueyan, who had hidden herself in Bright Frost Garden for years, would know much about table manners. But when she raised her head, she saw Ning Xueyan acting as gracefully as she did. Ning Qingshan’s smile was frozen in place.

Was this girl who was so well behaved and graceful, the same as the unsociable and inexperienced Ning Xueyan? How did she manage to behave so well, and was even more graceful than her? Ning Qingshan had practiced hard at her manners for three years at the nunnery, so she was confused when Ning Xueyan was able to perform even better than she did. Meanwhile, all the old ladies were looking at Ning Xueyan in admiration.

What kind of training could have produced such a well-behaved girl? Her manners were almost exactly in accordance to the rules of etiquette! From this point of view, the Lord Protector’s Manor’s upbringing rules were very strict!

Ning Xueyan saw Ning Qingshan’s frustrated face. She knew that Ning Qingshan had proposed to serve Madam Dowager during dinner, because she wanted to humiliate her. Ning Xueyan had been in Bright Frost Garden for years. She did not have any upbringing Mammy to teach her, and even her reading and writing had been taught by Madam Ming, so she was not familiar with the court etiquette at all.

Although Ning Xueyan was not familiar with that, Ning Ziying was.

Since she was a young child, Ning Ziying’s mother had put in a lot of effort in her etiquette training. She pointed out Ning Ziying’s slightest mistakes. The strict, almost harsh training made her cry many times, but after that, she had to re-practice her training, according to her mother’s requirements.

Her mother did not stop her training until she was so familiar with the manners that she seemed a natural at it, and the grace seemed to have emanated from inside her. Unfortunately, not long after that, her mother died from an illness. So it was impossible for her to disgrace herself in front of others, in terms of table manners.

Even though Ning Qingshan had undergone four or five years of hard training, Ning Xueyan had spent even more time on learning in her last life.

Ning Qingshan was elegant and skillful, but Ning Xueyan looked more graceful and noble, and her smooth movements were a joy to behold!

Ning Qingshan could hardly keep her smile.

“Madam Dowager, both your granddaughters are so cultivated. Could you please tell me what kind of upbringing Mammy you have hired?” another old lady asked curiously. It was impossible for the two young ladies to have learned such standard etiquette from an ordinary upbringing Mammy. If she knew what kind of people their Mammies were, she wanted to hire them for her manor, to train her granddaughters.

“Madam Han, you’re flattering the Mammies. They are nothing special, but as my granddaughters practice hard, I don’t need to pay much attention to their training,” Madam Dowager answered with a smile.

She knew that Ning Qingshan’s upbringing Mammy was Mother Luo, but she was surprised that Ning Xueyan had performed so well. She had intended to let Ning Xueyan set off Ning Qingshan’s excellence, and she had never thought that Ning Xueyan would behave even better than Ning Qingshan did! Ning Xueyan did not have any upbringing Mummy, so she could only give Madam Han a vague answer.

Those old ladies did not know that Madam Dowager had no idea who Ning Xueyan had trained under, and they thought that she did not want to give them the name of the upbringing Mummy, so they did not ask anymore. They were not young, and they knew they should not persist in their questions, if someone was reluctant to answer them.

“It’s said all the female guests in the inner courtyard were greeted by Third Young Lady. Although she is still young, she is already so capable! Madam Dowager, you’re so lucky!” an old lady deliberately shifted the topic.

“She is just a little girl, and what she can do is very limited. I’m old and not as energetic as the young ones, so I asked her to assist me.” Madam Dowager smiled, and sighed.

“Grandmother, you’re not old at all! Nobody will think that you’re my Grandmother when people see us together. Maybe some of them will even think that we’re sisters,” Ning Qingshan joked.

Everyone in the room burst into laughter.

“You’re so sweet! I don’t have that much energy left. How can I look like your sister? How can you have such an old sister?” Madam Dowager laughed.

“Of course that’s possible! If you take greater care of your health, you may even look younger than me! Someone may think that you’re my younger sister, if we are out on the street!” Ning Qingshan flattered her. Her eyes were fixed on Ning Xueyan. “Fifth Sister is more capable, so you trust her with all the account books of our manor. I’m not that capable, so I am only able to accompany you for dinner.”

Everyone knew she was joking, but obviously she was flattering Ning Xueyan as well. Madam Dowager thought that she was sincerely building the momentum for her sister, so her smile became softer.

Madam Dowager had never liked Ning Xueyan before. However, after Ning Xueyan stopped hiding herself away in Bright Frost Garden, her talents gradually began to show, and Madam Dowager started to admire her. She had not regarded Ning Xueyan as her own granddaughter, but when she found that Ning Xueyan was so outstanding, she gradually changed her mind.

After all, she was her granddaughter, and compared to her other granddaughters, Ning Xueyan was the closest to her, in terms of blood ties. If she was able to marry into a powerful family, it would be very helpful to the Lord Protector’s Manor. With the change of her attitude toward Ning Xueyan, Madam Dowager wanted to push her to the forefront as well.

She had planned to give only Ning Qingshan the opportunity to show off today, but after thinking it over, she decided to include Ning Xueyan as well, so she had asked both of them to meet these old ladies. Seeing Ning Qingshan flattering Ning Xueyan, she thought that Ning Qingshan was not only smart, but also generous.

“Oh? Fifth Young Lady is so young, but she already knows how to check account books and manage the manor! She is really no ordinary lady!” All the old ladies were surprised. It was not because only very few children were able to do something for their manors, but most of the time, they were only in charge of something less important.

As for the current Lord Protector’s Manor, Madam Ling was still in the Buddha Hall, and Madam Dowager was too old, so if Fifth Young Lady was actually in charge of the finances, she should be the one running the whole manor! Even ‘capable’ was not enough to describe her ability! The old ladies had thought that it must be one of Ning Zu’an’s extremely capable concubines who was managing the manor, when they visited and found everything was in order.

To their surprise, the person who was running the manor was Ning Xueyan, the youngest daughter of Ning Zu’an!

Ning Qingshan had naturally diverted everyone’s attention to Ning Xueyan.

Ning Qingshan was really cunning! She knew the adage, “he who climbs high will fall heavily.” She spoke highly of Ning Xueyan, so if the stained page of the account book was found by Madam Dowager later, Madam Dowager would be even more disappointed in her. She did this because she hoped that Ning Xueyan would fall out of favor with Madam Dowager, and look stupid in front of these old ladies. Then she would never be able to hold her head high, in front of anyone.

“I’m not good at checking account books. Mostly, it is grandmother who makes the final decision. If there is something that I do not understand, I will ask Third Sister and grandmother,” Ning Xueyan raised her head and said softly. She was neither humble nor arrogant when she said this. She looked generous and amiable, mild and modest, so it was easy to make people feel good about her.

She knew that Ning Qingshan would not let her off so easily, and she would definitely shift the topic to the account books, so she had thought out her countermeasures, beforehand.

“Third Young Lady knows how to manage accounts too?” an old lady asked with a smile, after hearing what Ning Xueshan said.

“Yes. Third Young Lady is capable. She assisted me to check the account books for some time, three years ago. I’ll ask her to assist Fifth Young Lady. Otherwise, Fifth Young Lady will be too tired at having to deal with so much work, alone.” Madam Dowager remembered that Ning Qingshan had helped her run the inner courtyard three years ago. Although Madam Ling had called the shots most of the time, Madam Dowager had intentionally trained Ning Qingshan, so she had learned from Madam Dowager how to manage the manor for some time.

Since Madam Dowager had mentioned this, Ning Qingshan knew she could not say that she knew nothing about taking charge of the accounts. Otherwise, other people would think that she was too hypocritical. So she said modestly, “I just learned a little from grandmother!”