The Devious First-Daughter

The half-closed door was pushed open. Madam Ling struggled to hold back a burst of pain and looked at the door. What appeared in front of her was indeed Ning Xueyan’s face. She lifted her leg as if she was about to come in. Madam Ling gritted her teeth and sat down on the ground heavily. She only felt a terrible pain coming from her lower abdomen. The pain made her scream and roll to the ground. Red blood immediately spread from the lower part of her body.

“Fifth Young Lady, you… how can you do this…” The shout turned into a scream. Not only at the entrance of the room, but also outside the courtyard, there was a sound. Outside the courtyard, Vice Minister Ling also heard it and hurriedly came in after a servant, accompanied by Mother Qin, who was Madam Dowager’s henchman.

When Vice Minister Ling Huanian came to the manor, the messenger could not find the Marquis, so he reported to Madam Dowager. No matter what happened to Madam Ling, Ling Huanian was still the assistant minister. Besides, Madam Ling was pregnant. Madam Dowager was worried that Madam Ling might talk nonsense, so she asked Mother Qin to accompany Ling Huanian.

As soon as they arrived at the gate of the courtyard, they heard Madam Ling’s screams and a cry of pain. Ling Huanian’s face changed instantly. He immediately rushed into the courtyard. When he arrived, he saw Ning Xueyan standing at the gate with her maid, while Ning Zu’an was inside, with his hands clasped behind his back, looking gloomy.

Then, he looked inside and saw his sister rolling on the ground in pain, amidst a pool of blood. He immediately became furious and rushed over to push Ning Zu’an away. He picked Madam Ling up from the pool of blood and shouted, “Doctor, call the doctor quickly.”

The doctor, who was also scared to death, came over hurriedly. He asked Ling Huanian to put Madam Ling on the bed first, and then he felt her pulse.

“Marquis, your Young Lady is so vicious and heartless. She did not even think of her baby. This… this is unreasonable.” Putting down Madam Ling, Ling Huanian glared at Ning Xueyan angrily. Then he turned to Ning Zu’an and pointed at Ning Xueyan.

Although he did not see what happened just now, the scene in front of him and the words he heard outside the courtyard gate, were enough to tell that Ning Xueyan had pushed Madam Ling down to the ground, so that the child in her belly could not be saved. Looking at Madam Ling’s current appearance, he knew that the situation was not good.

“Your Excellency, did you see me push Madam Ling just now?” Before Ning Zu’an could speak, Ning Xueyan asked him coldly. There was a hint of sarcasm in her black jade-like eyes. Madam Ling and her brother really had a tacit understanding. As soon as Madam Ling had an accident, Ling Huanian instantly put all the blame on her.

If she had lifted her leg and gone in, she would have found it hard to clear herself. Unfortunately, Madam Ling did not see this clearly. Ning Zu’an was behind Ning Xueyan at that time. Before she could lift her feet, Madam Ling had already fallen to the ground. Then, Ning Zu’an pushed her away and entered first.

Ning Zu’an saw that she did not touch Madam Ling at all. How could it be possible for her to have pushed Madam Ling? So, Ning Zu’an did not say anything when he saw Madam Ling falling to the ground. He just looked at her with a gloomy face, to see what was going on. Coincidentally, Ling Huanian thought that Ning Zu’an had just arrived, so he did not pick Madam Ling up immediately.

That was how the misunderstanding occurred.

If Mother Chen had not fallen at the door, she would definitely have come in first to inform Madam Ling. Then, Madam Ling would know that Ning Zu’an and Ning Xueyan were here together, and would not have done such a dangerous thing. If Madam Ling had not seen Ning Xueyan lifting her leg, Madam Ling would not have thought that Ning Xueyan was coming in.

Beyond her expectation, Ning Zu’an followed closely behind Ning Xueyan.

“Madam, Madam, what is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?” Mother Chen also heard the scream. She suddenly realized something. Ignoring the pain in her waist, she hurriedly pushed Qingyu’s hands away, clasped her waist with one hand, and rushed in. When she saw Madam Ling lying on the bed, without knowing whether she was alive or not, she immediately cried in an exaggerated manner.

After crying for a while, she immediately turned to Ning Xueyan. Suddenly, she knelt down in front of Ning Xueyan and kowtowed. “Fifth Young Lady, please spare Madam Ling’s life. Although Madam Ling made mistakes, the child in her belly is innocent. She wants to apologize to you. Why can’t you tolerate Marquis’s child? That is the Marquis’s child.”

Although she was asking Ning Xueyan for help, she managed to say it in such a way as if Ning Xueyan had deliberately pushed Madam Ling and made her miscarry.

Mother Qin looked at Ning Zu’an, who was standing at one side with a gloomy face, and then at Ning Xueyan, who was not panicking at all. She did not come up to make trouble. Instead, she stood in a corner. Unlike Ning Zu’an, Madam Dowager hated Madam Ling to the core. It was not because Madam Ling had harmed Madam Ming, but because she thought Madam Ling was stupid.

Since Madam Ling could not be the Marchioness, the grandson that Madam Dowager cared about most had become a concubine’s son. Would a concubine’s son inherit the Lord Protector’s Manor? It was not necessary to have a legal son to inherit the title. However, if a concubine’s son inherited the title, the same aristocratic families would look down on them. He would be lower than the sons of other noble families.

At the thought of this, Madam Dowager wanted nothing more than to beat Madam Ling to death, so as not to harm her grandson. Madam Dowager did not like Madam Ling, and Mother Qin was Madam Dowager’s henchman. Therefore, she did not like Madam Ling either. Seeing Ning Zu’an there, she stood there for a while. After thinking for a moment, she hurriedly left to report this to Madam Dowager.

Even though Madam Dowager did not care about Madam Ling, she still cared about the child in Madam Ling’s belly.

“You mean I intended to kill the child in Madam Ling’s belly?” Ning Xueyan looked at Ling Huanian, who had been silenced just now, and then looked at Mother Chen, with sarcasm on her face.

“Fifth Young Lady, I know that Madam has done something wrong and harmed Madam Ming. It happened so long ago. Even if Madam Ling made some mistakes, she did not kill Madam Ming. She has always been kind to Madam Ming. Our Madam provided for whatever the Bright Frost Garden needed. Fifth Young Lady, your things are as good as the other Young Ladies’. Why can’t you tolerate Madam Ling and the child in her belly?”

Mother Chen raised her head and burst into tears. Her face was full of grief and indignation, as if she was defending Madam Ling against an injustice. She did not see what had happened in the room before she heard Madam Ling’s scream. She thought that it must be the Fifth Young Lady who entered the room first. When she was at the gate of the courtyard, she saw that Marquis was still outside the gate.

As long as the Fifth Young Lady entered the room and Marquis was still at the gate of the courtyard, it would be convenient for Madam Ling to act. She did not have enough time to inform her of the Marquis’s arrival before, so she felt quite guilty. She was afraid that Madam Ling would find trouble with her when she woke up. Therefore, she put in all her efforts to make a scene and perform at this time.

As Marquis and the Vice Minister were there, the Fifth Young Lady could not do anything to her. She said that Ning Xueyan deliberately pushed Madam Ling and wanted to kill the child in Madam Ling’s belly.

Ning Xueyan looked down and waited for Mother Chen to stop speaking. Then she ordered coldly, “Qingyu, slap her in the face!”

Qingyu, who was furious, took two steps forward and slapped Mother Chen in the face. Mother Chen was stunned. She covered her face in shock and looked at Ning Xueyan in disbelief. How dare the Fifth Young Lady slap her in front of the Marquis?

“How dare you! Marquis, your daughter is too vicious. If you don’t give us justice today, let us go and see His Majesty now, and tell him how harshly the people of Lord Protector’s Manor have treated Madam Ling. Now, you even could not let go of a child who has not been born yet.”

Seeing that Ning Xueyan had beaten Mother Chen, who was trying to redress an injustice for Madam Ling in front of him, Ling Huanian became furious. Although he had always listened to Ning Zu’an, he did not care about anything else at this time. He retorted and glanced at Ning Xueyan with contempt. The evidence was there. He did not believe that the emperor would support the Lord Protector’s Manor.

With such a thing today, it was possible that his sister could return to the position of Marchioness because of this disaster. How could Ling Huanian let such a rare opportunity go? He immediately had an idea that it could not be settled privately. He must let the Fifth Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor take the blame.

Ling Huanian had thought whether he would offend Prince Yi because of the Fifth Young Lady, who was about to become Prince Yi’s co-consort. Prince Yi had no tenderness toward women, and he had killed countless, beautiful palace maids. Ning Xueyan was so vicious. If this affair was exposed, it would be impossible for her to marry into the royal family. Maybe Prince Yi, who was capricious, would kill Ning Xueyan directly.

His words only made Ning Xueyan sneer. “Lord Ling, what is justice? Madam Ling toppled my mother from the position of the Legal Wife and plotted with others to harm my mother. How could she say that she has always cared about us in the Bright Frost Garden? If so, why did my mom not have a funeral when she died? She almost treated my mom as if she was an ordinary concubine?”

“Your Excellency, do you want to know how Madam Ling plotted to murder my mom? My mom died for no reason. She was in good health. Why did she not recover after she entered Bright Frost Garden? How could a person, who used to be healthy, get sick all of a sudden and die in the end? Your Excellency, do you have something to explain to Lord Protector’s Manor?”

Ning Xueyan pressed on at every stage. Madam Ming’s death must be due to unnatural causes. However, she could not find the cause. Anyway, she must have been poisoned.

“Intoxicating Peach Blossom, the Beautiful Lady gets drunk on the peach blossom. Lord Ling, I wonder if you have ever heard of it.”

Ning Xueyan stared into Ling Huanian’s eyes as she said this, word by word. She did not believe that Madam Ling did it alone. Not everyone could get hold of this kind of poison. According to Madam Ling’s behavior, this poison must have been sent to the Lord Protector’s Manor through Lord Ling.

According to Madam Ling’s character, it was inevitable for her to do this. Some things that she could not and would not show would be done by the people of the Vice Minister of Justice’s Manor for her. Nobody would know that Madam Qian had come with the other things when she went to the manor.