The Devious First-Daughter

Previously, Ning Xueyan already thought that the two of them should have joined hands. Since Ning Huaiyuan went to Ning Qingshan’s place now, next they would probably make all efforts to deal with her. Testing family connections with blood drops in the Cold Mountain Temple had eliminated the opportunity to frame Madam Ming. Therefore, in order to turn Ning Huaiyuan into a wife’s son again, they would have to make Madam Ling a co-wife.

This was almost impossible. As for the current situation of Madam Ling, as long as she did not give the word, the woman would have no chance to be a co-wife. It was not that as a daughter, she could interfere with the affairs of his father’s wives and concubines, but mainly that Madam Ling murdered Madam Ming and she was the only daughter of the latter.

So, if she came out to say a few words, these words would be more useful than the words of anyone.

As long as she allowed Madam Ling to be a co-wife by claiming that Madam Ling was also hoodwinked at that time and family love should be taken into consideration, Ning Huaiyuan would still be a wife’s son and could still justly be the Princely Heir of the Lord Protector’s Manor.

Of course, she should admit in the name of Madam Ming that what Ning Huaiyuan said was what Madam Ming said, but she previously refused Madam Dowager’s proposal, so this proposal should not be mentioned again.

“But what else apart from this? Are there not any other solutions?” Ning Xueyan rolled her watery eyes and faintly felt that there was another possibility…

Prince Yi arrived extremely suddenly, and Ning Zu’an was just in his study at that time. Hearing Prince Yi’s arrival, he was shocked and hurriedly went out to welcome him. At the same time, he also asked someone to inform Madam Dowager.

When Ning Xueyan arrived at Madam Dowager’s invitation, Ao Chenyi had already been in the great hall of the Lord Protector’s Manor, occupying the most distinguished head seat with a few eunuchs and royal guards standing behind him. On the resplendent reddish-black brocade robe were spider lily patterns of the beautiful blood-red color, which dazzled the eyes of Madam Dowager so much that although she was on the right-hand seat, her heart could not help shivering a few times.

Deterred by this flamboyant blood-red prince’s robe, both Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an would not dare to look at the beautiful but gloomy and cold face of Ao Chenyi.

He leaned against the back of the wide main seat as if nothing had happened, so that the owner of the Marquis’s Manor and the Madam Dowager of the inner courtyard all had to sit on the right-hand seats, but he seemed not to know that the two of them were seniors of his co-consort. He glanced at the two people carelessly but did not say a word for a short moment, making the parlor’s atmosphere become so solemn and serious that the people’s heartbeats could almost be heard.

When she came in, Ning Xueyan saluted Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an first and then naturally went to the center of the parlor to salute Ao Chenyi. “Prince Yi.”

As her voice sounded in the solemn and serious great hall, the sense of terror that the people’s heartbeats could almost only be heard then disappeared. Madam Dowager wiped her forehead unconsciously. In only a short while, she had a sweat on her forehead. Although Prince Yi did not say anything, she seemed to sit on pins and needles.

Since Prince Yi had that kind of imposing manner, Third Prince was much less comparable to him in imposing manners.

“Did he mean just now that our mansion’s people offended him?” Madam Dowager’s heart could not help shivering. “Those who dare to offend Prince Yi will surely end up in bloody death. No one in this… Marquis’s Mansion should have offended him, right? Is it Ning Xueyan’s affair?”

Madam Dowager was hesitant.

“I went to the palace to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal the day before yesterday.” Sure enough, Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an instantly could not keep sitting anymore as they heard the first few words of Ao Chenyi, and they looked up suddenly. “You are about to marry, but why did you go to break off the betrothal? This, this is too much!”

If someone else said these words, Ning Zu’an would dare to punch him. The emperor had issued the imperial edict, and the date had been set so near the present time. Who dared to go to the palace to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal? Did he want to die? But it was Prince Yi who said these words. Ning Zu’an did not dare to utter a single word, but his face turned quite red.

He just felt ashamed and helpless. The daughter of his Lord Protector’s Manor would only be the co-consort, and even so, the betrothal was still asked to dissolve. How ashamed he was! Not to mention that Ning Xueyan would be ashamed to show herself in public due to the breaking of the betrothal, he, the Lord Protector, would feel too ashamed to appear in public in the future.

These few eunuchs became more silent and breathed more lightly, imagining that they were not there. Only Ning Zu’an and Madam Dowager stood there inharmoniously, looking ridiculous. At this moment, even Madam Dowager’s face had turned red.

Only Ning Xueyan still stood there naturally, and her thick eyelashes were slightly drooped as if she did not hear the deterrence from Ao Chenyi’s words.

“You have an opinion, Madam Dowager and Marquis Ning?” Ao Chenyi’s beautiful eyes gave off a chill of evil, which fell on the two people.

Anyone would have opinions on such a thing. This was absolutely a humiliation to the Lord Protector’s Manor, but either Madam Dowager or Ning Zu’an could not say a word when they felt the cold, bloodthirsty momentum of Ao Chenyi. They were not only speechless but also bowed their heads. Truly, they had been suppressed.

“Later, the emperor repeatedly told me that Fifth Young Lady of your mansion was generous, gentle, pleasant, and talented. He told me that it was difficult to find such a talented and beautiful lady and anyway I could not miss such a good lady because of something.” Ao Chenyi didn’t want their answer and willfully continued his talk with a smile in his beautiful eyes, but his icy cold momentum was relaxed.

At last, he even said to Ning Zu’an politely, “Why not Madam Dowager and the marquis sit down and talk?”

He had no sense of being a guest and simply regarded the great hall as his Prince Yi’s Manor.

Ning Xueyan put on a light smile as she rolled her watery eyes. “This person… is extremely arrogant indeed.”

Ning Zu’an and Madam Dowager had already felt that it was uncomfortable to stand there, but they two had stood up on their own, so they felt too embarrassed to sit down at once. Now when they heard the words of Ao Chenyi, they did not have to stand so conspicuously anymore. Immediately, they sat down and said with a flattering smile, “Yes, yes, thank you, Prince Yi.”

As for the something Prince Yi mentioned, they pretended not to hear it.

“Since my elder brother, the emperor, tried his best to persuade me and I also took the gentle and generous characteristics of Fifth Young Lady into account, I gave up my request. Of course, I came here today specifically to see my co-consort and also hope that the Lord Protector’s Manor will not make “something” happen again, or it will be regarded as a deliberate act of setting your manor against my elder brother, the emperor. Disobeying the imperial edict will end up with the whole family or clan killed.

The prince was about to marry, but he even came here to see Ning Xueyan and claimed her to be his co-consort as if Ning Xueyan had been married into Prince Yi’s Manor. If the speaker had not been Prince Yi who had overwhelming power in the imperial court, Ning Zu’an would have broken the table with his fist, but when directly facing this one, he did not dare.

Just now, Ao Chenyi’s handsome face was still with a genial expression, but it suddenly turned cold. He drew up his thin, long eyes, showing a trace of anger. Especially when he said the last few words, the kind of faint bloodthirsty momentum made Madam Dowager lightly shudder involuntarily. No matter how rich her experience was, she was a woman of inner chambers, after all.

Surely, the so-called “something” referred to the thing that Ning Ziyan and Ning Yuling plotted against Ning Xueyan.

“There won’t, won’t be such things again.” Stared at by Ao Chenyi with a cruel look, Ning Zu’an had to show his attitude. Now, he ended his initial small plan completely, for he clearly understood what Ao Chenyi said: If anything unpleasant happened to Ning Xueyan again before she got married, that was as an act of looking down upon the emperor and the imperial edict. If anyone had such a crime, it was enough to get his house searched, his properties confiscated, and his clan exterminated.

Compared with his and his family’s possessions and lives, getting Princely Heir’s position for his son was not an urgent business.

“Very good, then I accept the apology of the Lord Protector’s Manor. Now please let my co-consort walk with me, and let me see if I need to visit the palace again to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal,” Ao Chen Yi took it for granted and said.

Ning Zu’an almost spat a mouthful of blood and died on the spot.

“Apology? When did I express my apology? What does the Cold Mountain Temple’s incident have to do with me? It is his married daughters’ incident. It should have relations with the Xia Manor. Why was I dragged into it? If anyone should apologize, it should be Xia Tian of the Xia Manor. They are all his son’s concubines, aren’t they?”

However, Ning Zu’an didn’t dare to say these words, and he had long learned that this Prince Yi before him was moody and unpredictable. By referring to the thing that he boldly visited the palace to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal, he could see that the prince did things outside of the box. Even though others were dissatisfied, they would not say it. After all, this was a marriage granted by the emperor. Can anyone ask the emperor to take back his order and slap himself in the face?

Unexpectedly, this person was simply very dissatisfied and went straight to the palace to trouble the emperor, and the emperor seemed to have no way to handle him but to coax him by nicely saying that Ning Xueyan was gentle, generous, and talented, but how could he, her father, not know about it?

The emperor had persuaded him, right? This problem had been solved, hadn’t it? Why did he have to come and see her himself as if he would have to make trouble in the palace again if he was not satisfied? He knew that the emperor had been dissatisfied with him. If Prince Yi went to the palace again to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal, he believed that the emperor would kill him.

Ning Zu’an thought that he would better spit blood and die.

No matter what Ao Chenyi said now, Ning Zu’an thought he was right, as long as this prince would not go to the palace to ask for the dissolution of the betrothal and make the emperor slap himself in the face.

“Yan’er, you accompany the prince to see the few precious peonies newly sent in our yard.” Ning Zu’an started talking nonsense. Although those peonies did exist, they were ordinary peonies. Therefore, Ning Zu’an regretted it as soon as he said these words. Most importantly, these flowers were planted in Ning Qingshan’s place, and it was she who had asked for them from Honored Consort Ya.

“Let Prince Yi go to the Foggy Courtyard of Ning Qingshan? What does this mean?” Ning Zu’an’s face turned blue and white repetitively, and he could not continue his talk anymore.

“Okay, I like peonies best. You truly know what I want, Lord Protector! Then let Fifth Young Lady lead the way.” Ao Chenyi stood up, looked at Ning Zu’an with a faint smile, and said with some interest.

Ning Zu’an was dumbfounded. “How can I deal with this?” It was easy to let Ao Chenyi enter the garden of Ning Qingshan, but these words were not good to her reputation if they were spread. Unfortunately, this was what he proposed, so he did not dare to change his words and only had to glance at Ning Xueyan, hoping that she could propose to change it to another place, but Ning Xueyan kept her head down at the moment and never saw Ning Zu’an’s hint.

He thought about it reluctantly, and a cold sweat had appeared on his forehead.

Madam Dowager stood aside. Seeing that Prince Yi had stood up, she also knew that he could not change his words anymore because he had said them. Now the most important thing was that they could not provoke Prince Yi, for fear of arousing the matter of dissolving the betrothal again, so they could no longer care about other things.

Like Ning Zu’an, Madam Dowager also valued the honor and wealth of the Lord Protector’s Manor. As for the reputation of Ning Qingshan, it was not important than the safety of the whole Lord Protector’s Manor, right?

Madam Dowager deserved to be a senior of rich experience. Immediately, she thought of a new way, then she turned around, and said to Mother Qin who was standing on the side in a low tone, “Go! Let Third Young Lady hurriedly leave the Foggy Courtyard and go to my Lucky Garden to rest.”

Mother Qin nodded and ran away swiftly.