Seeing Ning Lingyun"s smiling face, Ning Xueyan realized that someone had seen her when she was at Cloud Reflection Courtyard. Besides, the person was one of Ning Lingyun"s old female servants. But it seemed that Ning Lingyun was too sensitive. How could she judge her to be "pregnant" just because she retched a few times?
"Fourth Sister, I don"t know what you are talking about. But I wonder how you knew what happened in Bright Frost Garden," Ning Xueyan said. She stood up quietly and glanced at Ning Lingyun coldly.
Since Madam Dowager had put down her chopsticks and was about to leave, they felt uneasy to sat there any longer.
Hearing what Ning Xueyan said, Madam Dowager stopped for a short moment, but soon, she continued to go to the inner room. She had never liked Ning Lingyun. Thinking about what had happened to Ning Yuling and what Ning Xueyan had said, she hated Ning Lingyun more. As the daughter of a concubine, she had gone too far to watch her sister, a Young Lady who had been born by a madam.
"Xueyan, you may not aware of your sickness. As your sister, I should care about you. If you"re not satisfied with me, just vent your anger on me. Anyway, I did it for your health," Ning Lingyun said. At the thought of Ning Xueyan"s "affair" would be revealed soon after the doctor came, Ning Lingyun couldn"t help but be more excited. "Ning Xueyan"s status in the manor is much lower than Ning Yuling, and Madam Dowager has been paying attention to ethical rules, so maybe she will sink that b*tch into the pool!" she thought.
Staring at Ning Xueyan"s belly, she hinted.
She was glad because once the doctor found Ning Xueyan was pregnant, Madam Dowager would ask someone to punish her. What she needed to do was add fuel to the fire and ask Madam Dowager to kill Ning Xueyan. Then she would be the only Young Lady left in the Lord Protector"s Manor. Moreover, she had a rich and powerful fiancé, so even Madam Dowager didn"t like her, she could do nothing to her.
Thinking highly of herself, Ning Lingyun was confident that even if First Madam had come out from the Buddha Hall, she couldn"t do anything to her either.
The more Ning Xueyan protested, the more Ning Lingyun thought she was diffident. She rushed into the inner room and said to Madam Dowager, "Grandmother, look at her! It"s obvious that she has already had symptoms, but she is still trying to hide. How can such a thing be hidden?" Madam Dowager was sitting in the room with a dark face.
Ning Lingyun had gone too far, and she was almost saying that Ning Xueyan tried to hide the disgraceful thing on purpose.
Ning Xueyan looked at her coldly. Madam Dowager shouted, "How dare you!"
At the same time, she raised her hand and slapped Ning Lingyun"s arrogant face hard. When her palm landed on Ning Lingyun"s face, Ning Lingyun"s smile froze. She looked at Madam Dowager who was in rage shockingly.
She had thought that she would make a great contribution to the manor if she exposed Ning Xueyan"s "affair".
However, Madam Dowager had been in a bad mood recently and she had nowhere to vent her anger. Ning Ziyan, Ning Yuling and Ning Lingyun herself were all caught up in scandals related to a girl"s reputation. Ning Lingyun was rubbing salt into Madam Dowager"s wound by reporting her of Ning Xueyan"s scandal. So it was no wonder that Madam Dowager lost her temper.
Ning Xueyan would be punished if she really had an affair with a man, but Ning Lingyun would come to no good end to reveal such a thing to the others.
Madam Dowager stared at Ning Lingyun with sharp eyes. She looked mighty and angry, but inside, she wasn"t as strong as she looked like. "You"re just a concubine"s daughter who can never get on the stage. How dare you ignore the rules of our manor and spread rumors here? Without the support of the Lord Protector, even though Ao Xian wanted to marry you, you can"t become Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li"s wife, and you would be his concubine at most. Do you think that Ao Xian will contradict Commandery Prince Li"s Consort Dowager because he wants you to be his wife, not his concubine? Dream!"
Madam Dowager had always had an aversion to Ning Lingyun, but she never lashed out her without mercy like this. Feeling ashamed, Ning Lingyun covered her face with her hands and protested, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Grandmother, I"m not lying. All the servants of our manor have seen what she did. Even if I didn"t say it, other people will know it sooner or later. Why are you blaming me? Do you mean that if I didn"t expose the secret, she can behave like this openly?!"
Now Ning Lingyun had thrown caution to the wind. She was angry because Madam Dowager took Ning Xueyan"s part. So she spoke loudly on purpose, and finally, she began to cry. Obviously, she wanted to attract attention from other people and let everyone know what was happening here.
With a snap, Ning Lingyun was slapped hard on the face again. She was stunned.
Madam Dowager was surprised too. She raised her head and looked at Ning Xueyan"s cold face, a complex expression flashing in her eyes, but she didn"t say anything.
"Ning Xueyan, how dare you beat me?" Ning Lingyun almost immediately rushed over as soon as she found that it was Ning Xueyan who slapped her. She stared at Ning Xueyan fiercely, gritting her teeth. She knew that Ning Xueyan would protest her, but she hadn"t expected that she would have been so aggressive even when Madam Dowager was present.
"I slapped you because you were talking nonsense! How dare you say that all the servants in our manor have seen what I did? Grandmother should cut off your tongue when the doctor proves that I have no physical problem after diagnosis so that you won"t talk nonsense in the Commandery Prince Li"s Manor after the marriage. Otherwise, you might cause disaster in the future and even the Lord Protector"s Manor would get into trouble because of you!"
Ning Xueyan stared at Ning Lingyun coldly, and there was a mighty aura around her. Ning Lingyun dared not to look into her eyes, so she turned her head away subconsciously. She felt a coldness rush into her body from the top of her head.
Hearing what they said, Madam Dowager"s face became even darker. She looked at Ning Lingyun silently, falling into thought.
Ning Lingyun had a bad feeling and her face turned pale. She wasn"t an impulsive person. Hearing what Ning Xueyan said, her joy had been replaced by fear. How could Ning Xueyan not be pregnant? The old female servant had seen her retch beside a tree and a man who was staying with her took her out of the manor.
"Fourth Sister, dare you promise that what you said about me is true? And if it isn"t the case, you agree to have someone to cut off your tongue?" Ning Xueyan said with a faint smile, staring at Ning Lingyun. It sounded like she was joking with her, but Ning Lingyun figured out the malevolence in her words.
She trembled under the gaze of the black-jet and jade like eyes. Ning Xueyan"s eyes were as cold as ice and there wasn"t a trace of warmth in them. Ning Lingyun was too scared. Of course she dared not to make such a promise. She suddenly recalled that the girl in front of her had sabotaged her plan and set her up last time.
"I, I heard this from the others," she muttered. Under the pressure of Ning Xueyan"s mighty aura, she didn"t dare to be arrogant again. She was in a panic and her heart beat fast. She hardly knew what to do.
Madam Dowager"s eyes became even sharper. She had thought that Ning Lingyun was a smart person at least, because she had managed to win an opportunity for herself to marry Ao Xian. It would be a great honor for a concubine"s daughter to marry Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Being able to get Ao Xian to marry her meant she was capable. Maybe she would be more useful than Ning Yuling, who was hated by Ao Xian.
That was why Madam Dowager had tolerated Ning Lingyun"s arrogance for such a long time. However, now she found Ning Lingyun was stupid too and she didn"t seem to be smarter than Ning Yuling because as a concubine"s daughter, she was challenging a madams" daughter groundlessly before she became the wife of Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. On the other hand, Ning Xueyan, whom she had never attached importance to behaved much better than Ning Lingyun in terms of both tolerance and calmness.
No matter whether Ning Xueyan had an "affair", Ning Lingyun was already lost.
Among the Young Ladies of the manor, except for Ning Ziyan who had married and Ning Qingshan who didn"t stay in the manor, Ning Xueyan was the smartest. Besides, Third Prince"s Manor had shown their intention to marry Ning Xueyan, so Madam Dowager had changed her mind. If Ning Xueyan wasn"t pregnant at all, she would pay more attention to her training in the future. Maybe she would be very useful to this family.
At this point, Mother Qin brought the doctor in. Ning Xueyan stretched her arm fearlessly. The doctor felt the pulse by putting his fingers on one of her wrist, and then on the other one. After a short while, he turned to Madam Dowager and said, "Fifth Young Lady isn"t sick, but she is a little weak, so she needs to take more nourishment."
"That"s all?" Ning Lingyun asked anxiously, widening her eyes.
"Fourth Young Lady, what do you mean?" the doctor looked at Ning Lingyun in confusion. He knew the Fourth Young Lady in front of him was mean.
"Can Xuyan bear a baby in the future? How about her cold womb problem?" Madam Dowager heaved a sigh of relief when she knew that Ning Xueyan wasn"t pregnant. She asked the doctor, ignoring Ning Lingyun.
The Lord Protector"s Manor couldn"t stand any blow any more!
"Fifth Young Lady"s cold womb symptoms haven"t disappeared yet, but they are lessening. After a period of recuperation, she maybe recover," the doctor answered cautiously. He had diagnosed for Ning Xueyan before, and he knew that the symptoms wouldn"t disappear that easily.
Hearing that cold womb problem of Ning Xueyan might be cured, Madam Dowager was delighted.
The Young Ladies of the manor had gotten into trouble one by one, and even the engagement between Ning Yuling and Third Prince was canceled. So if Ning Xueyan could marry Third Prince, even if only as a co-consort of his, it would be a good thing for the Lord Protector"s Manor. But as Ning Xueyan had the cold womb problem, Madam Dowager didn"t dare to marry her to Third Prince. She worried that if Ning Xueyan couldn"t bear a child because of her physical problem, Third Prince would be annoyed and get Lord Protector"s Manor into trouble.
Since there were possibilities for Ning Xueyan to recover, of course, Madame Dowager was excited. But she didn"t care about another Young Lady, because she was not related with her by blood. Madame Dowager"s dark face lit up immediately. She waved to the doctor and told him to prescribe some medicines for Ning Xueyan.
"Fourth Sister, how did you know that I haven"t been feeling good in the morning, and I have been sleepy lately? And how did you know that I vomited?" Ning Xueyan pulled down her sleeves and asked with a smile, looking at Ning Lingyun.
"I, I, I heard these from others!" Ning Lingyun knew she had misunderstood, and now she extremely regretted. She thought that she should have looked into the matter before revealing it.
"Fourth Sister, you"re really something! You could even know what happened in Bright Frost Garden!" Ning Xueyan said coldly, the smile on her face disappeared.
She was hinting that Ning Lingyun had arranged someone to ask for her information in the Bright Frost Garden. Madam Dowager was furious at the thought of the daughter of a concubine dare do this. Seeing that Ning Lingyun was still protesting, she shot a glare to her, eyebrows raised. "Apologize to your sister! If you dare to stir up troubles again, we will send you to Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li before he holds a wedding ceremony for you. We"ll wait and see if he will plead Commandery Prince Li"s Consort Dowager to allow you to be his wife!"
Hearing that, Ning Lingyun"s face turned paler. She swayed several times and almost fell to the ground. It seemed Madam Dowager had the plan to send her to Ao Xian to be his concubine. "No!" Ning Lingyun cried inside. She had plotted so long time, and she would never reconcile herself to be a concubine!
According to Ao Xian"s personality, if she had been sent to him, he wouldn"t cherish her and let her be his wife.
"Xueyan, I"m sorry! I made a mistake. I won"t make such mistakes again!" Ning Lingyun wasn"t as cruel as Ning Yuling was, so she relented at the sight of Ning Xueyan bowing to her to show the sincerity of her apology.
"Fourth Sister, it"s not a big deal to have misunderstandings between sisters. But we"ll get into trouble if the rumors got out of our manor and caused the misunderstanding of outsiders," Ning Xueyan said calmly.
Ning Lingyun began to tremble when he heard what she said, plus, Madam Dowager was staring at her coldly, seemed to be planning something about her. She had a feeling that she was falling to the h.e.l.l, and all her joy and arrogance had been replaced by fear.