Chapter 432 Indecisiveness Leads to Disaster
Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Qingshan separated at the gate of Lucky Garden and went back to their own places, looking normal. However, compared with the calm Ning Qingshan, Ning Huaiyuan looked more worried. He had not fully recovered from his injury and Ning Zu’an was still angry with him. Plus his biological mother was exposed to have created a big scandal—she made a huge mistake—to frame Ning Xueyan in front of Ning Zu’an.
His status had also changed from a legitimate eldest son to a concubine’s eldest son, and he had no idea when he could become the Princely Heir. How could he take it lying down?
“Elder brother, are you really not going to avenge my mother? Is it really a coincidence that she has fallen into such a dilemma? Not to mention the other things, no matter how stupid our mother was, she could not have done such a stupid thing. Is there anything more impossible than slandering Fifth Sister in front of our father? Although she did this, don’t you think there is something fishy about it?”
He felt like Ning Qingshan’s words were still resounding in his ears. She spoke to him ironically while looking at him when they were eavesdropping on Madam Dowager and Ning Xueyan. Ning Qingshan’s warm and soft breath was almost in his ears. Her charming eyes were full of ridicule like a graceful temptation.
It was just like the seemingly pure girl in the past days who affectionately called him “brother”, with full affection and temptation in her eyes. Although he was a naive young boy who couldn’t understand the affection in her eyes, he despised her feeling.
Even though Ning Qingshan was not his biological sister, she was the daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor, which meant that she was his sister. It was also because he had always arrogantly ignored the affection in Ning Qingshan’s eyes and her intimacy that he was relieved when she demanded to go to the nunnery. He only regarded Ning Qingshan as his third sister.
He thought that he was n.o.ble and unsullied, so he didn’t like what Ning Qingshan had done. But he didn’t expect that the feeling he despised most had unconsciously grown in his heart.
The charming girl under the plum tree not only amazed the Fourth Prince but also him. It might be because he believed that she was Ning Qingshan that he didn’t feel much burden in his heart. Instead, he even felt relieved. Since Ning Xueyan was not his biological sister but had feelings toward him…
However, it had never occurred to him that the girl under the plum tree was not the affectionate and gentle Ning Qingshan, but Ning Xueyan, who had been hiding in Bright Frost Garden. She was so unknown to the public and mediocre that he would not have thought that the Fifth Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor was the most amazing one in his whole life.
And his heart had fallen into depravity!
The most important reason for helping his mother deal with Ning Xueyan was to destroy her. In order to cover up his ugly mentality, the best way was to make Ning Xueyan disappear from the Lord Protector’s Manor. Therefore, he made full use of Junior Concubine Xu in the trick of the witchcraft. He even had an affair with her, which was something he had never dared to imagine before.
Unfortunately, in the end, nothing happened to Ning Xueyan, but Junior Concubine Xu was exposed. Later, his father found out about the affair between him and Junior Concubine Xu. When his father came over and kicked him, he knew it clearly. He was trembling all over. His father knew it. How could his father know it? Because he had been so careful, he didn’t believe that his father could find some evidence.
Then his father detested him, and everything that happened later caught him off guard. Ning Qingshan imitated Ning Xueyan’s handwriting and wrote him a letter, making a date with him. He thought for a long time with the letter in his hand, struggling. In any case, it was inappropriate for him to go, but he still did in the end.
Under the dim light of the moon, looking at the white figure, he was overwhelmed by mixed feelings. When he could not help revealing his emotion, he realized that it was not Ning Xueyan, but Ning Qingshan.
Sitting in his study, he looked up dazedly with gloomy eyes. There were several points that Ning Qingshan was right about. Everyone believed that he would be the future Princely Heir of Lord Protector’s Manor. Even though his father detested him recently, he had never said that he would make his second brother the Princely Heir. Therefore, the position would be his and could not be taken away by others.
The existence of Ning Xueyan not only made him realize how despicable he was but also became his biggest obstacle. Ning Qingshan was right. He should not allow Ning Xueyan to be alive, ever.
“Eldest Young Master, Third Young Lady sends this fabric to you. She wants you to choose one and she will make clothes for you,” a young male servant came in with a maid and said. Ning Huaiyuan knew this maid. She served Ning Qingshan. His eyes fell on the tray in her hands.
Indecisiveness leads to disaster. Ning Qingshan was reminding him not to be soft-hearted.
He randomly chose a piece of fabric and nodded to signal the servant girl to leave. He thought with a gloomy face and angry eyes as he called a servant in. He spoke to the servant, who dared not disobey him and left with a nod.
Ning Xueyan got into the carriage with Qingyu. This time, she would avoid the whirlpool of the Lord Protector’s Manor when she held a memorial ceremony for her mother. Since she was about to marry into the Prince Yi’s Manor, so it was reasonable for her to do such a thing for her biological mother. Now Madam Ming’s reputation was rehabilitated and she was the real Marchioness, so the memorial ceremony should be upgraded.
There were some things that she couldn’t prepare well before, so she left Xinmei behind, who would send these things to Cold Mountain Temple later.
The scandals about the Lord Protector’s Manor happened one after another, so it was natural for Ning Xueyan to take a low profile to go out at this time. Therefore, in addition to the two older female servants in the second carriage, only Qingyu and Ning Xueyan were in the front one. Although Qingyu was not as dependable as Lanning, she had become clever.
This time, the worshiping ceremony was for Madam Ming, so Qingyu naturally had to be at present. She had also asked Lanning to inform Mother Han since they had a master-servant relationship after all. If Mother Han and Qingyu had not protected Madam Ming and Ning Xueyan in Bright Frost Garden at that time, they would have had an even harder time or had died early. Mother Han and Lanning were all loyal.
“Young Lady, Madam has finally rehabilitated her reputation. Madam Ling, that vicious woman, should have been punished. She should have been sent to h.e.l.l long ago,” Qingyu said with red-rimmed eyes.
She had witnessed Madam Ling and her daughter torture Madam Ming and Ning Xueyan. At that time, in the manor, no one spoke up for them. They all pretended that nothing had happened. Even when she sought help in Madam Dowager’s yard, crying, to report that the Second Young Lady wanted to push Ning Xueyan into the water to drown her, no one paid attention to her.
Before she could see Madam Dowager, she was beaten away by two older female servants with sticks. They said that she was talking nonsense and if she kept doing this, Madam Dowager would beat her to death. The words were not empty threats because she could see the cruelty in the two older female servants’ eyes. They were in charge of punishment in the courtyard and they had beaten many servants to death.
Madam Dowager sent them away because it was obvious that n.o.body in the manor cared about Ning Xueyan’s life. So many people saw it, but none of them cared. They all pretended to be blind. If Ning Xueyan had not gotten lucky, she would have died many times.
Ning Xueyan didn’t answer her. She just lowered her head, feeling peaceful inside. She was reborn in order to seek revenge on Madam Ling and her daughter. She had foreseen the result. In the last life and this life, Madam Ling and her daughter didn’t only owe her one life, so even if she had to lose her life again, she would seek revenge from them.
She was not a saint and couldn’t return good for evil. Since she climbed up from h.e.l.l, she was both Ning Ziying and Ning Xueyan. In any case, she had to complete her mission. It was for Ning Ziying, for Ning Xueyan, and for Madam Ming. At the moment of her rebirth, she was the real Ning Xueyan.
Seeing that Ning Xueyan did not speak, Qingyu wiped her tears away and asked worriedly, “Young Lady, will Madam Dowager still send people to the temple to force you to record Eldest Young Master as Madam’s son?”
Not only Ning Xueyan but also her maids knew Madam Dowager’s purpose of summoning her to Lucky Garden just now. At this point, this was the only reason that Madam Dowager treated Ning Xueyan so well. Ning Xueyan couldn’t find anything else except for this reason, but she wouldn’t agree to this anyway.
Although Ning Huaiyuan did not directly interfere in this matter of Madam Ling and her daughter torturing Madam Ling and Ning Xueyan, he sat back and looked on coldly as a bystander time and time again. Wasn’t he a helper? Madam Dowager was asking too much if she wanted to record Ning Huaiyuan as the son of Madam Ling. Of course, the people of Bright Frost Garden stood on Ning Xueyan’s side unanimously.
“No, she won’t. No matter how shameless she is, she doesn’t dare to say such things in front of Uncle, and…” Ning Xueyan sneered and looked up with coldness in her eyes. “And Madam Ling had poisoned Madam Ming. If this matter leaked out, Ning Zu’an would not be able to keep his t.i.tle. Even if Madam Dowager wants Ning Huaiyuan to inherit the t.i.tle, she doesn’t dare to risk losing it.
“If she irritates Uncle because of this, she will lose more than she’ll gain.”
Qingyu was relieved when she heard Ning Xueyan’s words. But later on, another thing hit her. When she got into the carriage, Lanning had said something to her and she almost forgot about it. She said, “Young Lady, Lanning said that someone was inside Madam Dowager’s room just now. It seemed that someone was eavesdropping.”
“Someone was in the room?” It reminded Ning Xueyan. She was a little confused just now, but she didn’t pay attention to it for a moment. Qingyu reminded her and she suddenly remembered that if there was someone else in the room, it couldn’t be anyone but Ning Huaiyuan. Madam Dowager would only let Ning Huaiyuan stay in the room and eavesdrop.
Maybe Ning Qingshan was there as well. She heard that recently Ning Qingshan always stayed with Ning Huaiyuan. Thinking about it, Ning Xueyan’s face suddenly changed. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something when she only felt that the carriage had suddenly sped up. She heard the carter pulling the horse, crying, and some hurried hoofs. “Are the horses frightened?”
Before Ning Xueyan could react, the carriage seemed to have been hit by something. It suddenly fell to the ground and then heavily stood back up. Then it shook violently for a while as someone screamed. Ning Xueyan was pushed out from behind before she could say anything as Qingyu cried out in her ear.