Chapter 436 Find Qingyu
The imperial guards almost surrounded the hillside. Ao Chenyi’s broad carriage was parked on the hillside, and he sat in it. Blood was all over the place. Those were the punks on the street, together with the two punks before. However, they were all alive when they came, but now none of them was alive. All of them were killed by Ao Chenyi.
“Your Highness, they still haven’t found her. But they found a few pieces of cloth just now, and they seem to belong to the Fifth Young Lady.” Eunuch Zhu reported cautiously, while lowering his head without daring to breathe heavily. Despite his master’s calm look, after serving his master for this long, how could he be unaware that his master had been extremely angry at this moment?
“Keep searching.” Ao Chenyi’s cold voice came from the carriage. Although Eunuch Zhu didn’t see his face, he could feel his bloodthirstiness.
“Your Highness, His Majesty asked you to go back to the palace a moment ago. Do you want to go back first and allow me to stay and lead them to keep searching?” Eunuch Zhu said with his head covered with sweat. Even so, he had to say that. The emperor had issued an imperial decree. His master would definitely enrage the emperor if he didn’t go this time. Last time his master didn’t go to meet Xianyun Commandery Princess on purpose and thus to displease the emperor at the end.
“I’m occupied with official business and have no time to go there,” Ao Chenyi said impatiently.
“Your Highness, but His Majesty…” Eunuch Zhu wanted to persuade Ao Chenyi to go, but was interrupted again by him. Ao Chenyi’s voice was soft with a trace of gloomy coldness, “Eunuch Zhu, you’re my servant. If you keep saying this, I won’t allow you to continue serving me.”
“Plop!” Eunuch Zhu knelt with fear and said with big sweat dripping off his forehead, “Your Highness, I don’t dare. I don’t dare!”
Of course, he knew there were some things that he could say, while there were some things that he couldn’t. However, Seeing the Prince insist on staying here, he found it useless to feel anxious, so he tried to persuade the Prince to go back. Now thinking about it, he had certainly offended the Prince. As someone serving the Prince, how could he say something like that?
He was Prince Yi’s servant as well as Prince Yi’s henchman. In normal times, even the eunuchs serving the emperor were respectful to him. Of course, they did that because of Prince Yi. If it were not for Prince Yi, he would be nothing. So he said, “Your Highness, it’s my fault. I’ll stop mentioning it. Please forgive me.”
He could remind the prince of being careful of displeasing the emperor, but he didn’t need to persuade him to do anything. The prince had his own idea of handling it.
“Humph! Get whipped ten times after returning,” Ao Chenyi said coldly.
“Okay, got it.” Eunuch Zhu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Prince Yi had shown mercy to him by punishing him in this way, so he didn’t dare to have any other thoughts.
“Your Highness, we’ve found a girl dressed up as a maid. She seems to be the Fifth Young Lady’s maid. She’s down the hill, and other guards were bringing her up with a stretcher.” A guard climbed up in a hurry, came up to the carriage, and knelt down.
Between males and females there should be a prudent reserve. Although she was a maid, her master might be the Fifth Young Lady Ning. Thus, the imperial guards were particularly cautious. In order not to ruin her reputation, they didn’t dare to directly hold her in arms, but found two pieces of wood, made a stretcher by putting them together and put her on it. The guards behind were bringing her here. This guard ran fast and came to report the news in advance.
“Is she alright?” Ao Chenyi nodded and blinked his deep eyes.
“Nothing serious. Only her legs have been injured. Except for this, she’s fine,” the guard replied. Meanwhile, two guards came over, carrying a simple stretcher on which a girl dressed as a maid was lying. Eunuch Zhu took a careful look and saw Qingyu’s face. He had seen Qingyu before, so he immediately exclaimed in surprise.
“Your Highness, she’s really the Fifth Young Lady’s maid.”
“Bring her here and sprinkle the water on her to wake her up.” Ao Chenyi’s voice was pleasant but chilling, without a trace of warmth.
The imperial guard didn’t dare to treat his order lightly and asked someone to get some water in a hurry. After getting water, he poured it on the fainted maid recklessly.
Such a big basin of water was poured on her abruptly, and it was not summer. Qingyu shivered with cold and immediately woke up. Receiving Ao Chenyi’s hint, Eunuch Zhu threw his cloak to Qingyu, and she subconsciously wrapped herself in the cloak tightly.
“Where’s your master?” Before she could realize what was going on, she heard a cold and treacherous voice from above. Qingyu raised her head with a pale face and looked into a pair of cold and charming eyes. The coldness in them made her shiver again.
But she immediately screamed, “Master, my master…” After looking around in panic but finding no one else rescued, she turned her head hurriedly with her face instantly turning completely pale. “Your Highness, save my master. My master jumped out of the carriage with me just now, but we failed to keep holding our hands later.”
She had become completely clear-minded at this moment. Pointing at the track of the carriage rushing downward, she said anxiously, “It should be the spot where my master and I jumped out of the carriage.”
The Fifth Young Lady jump out of the carriage with this maid? Eunuch Zhu sighed with relief on the side. The Fifth Young Lady’s life should not be in danger. Nevertheless, the maid was not seriously injured, but just had a few bruises on her body. Besides, she didn’t show any sign of suffocation when sitting up suddenly. It could be seen that she shouldn’t be injured in the sinews or bones.
It seemed that the Fifth Young Lady was a decisive person. She must have jumped out of the carriage with her maid after finding there was something wrong with the carriage. Otherwise, the maid couldn’t have been injured so slightly. It was normal that they failed to hold on to each other and fall down to different places. After all, as two weak girls, it was normal for them to loosen their grip in that situation.
Thinking of this, Eunuch Zhu wiped the cold sweat on his head and even showed a faint relieved smile. Suddenly he realized something, looked up hurriedly and looked into the Prince’s cold eyes. He immediately lowered his head and dared not look around. Fortunately, the Prince seemed to be more tolerant than before. Otherwise, he would receive more punishment after returning.
That was what Eunuch Zhu was thinking. He secretly attributed the credit to the Fifth Young Lady Ning. Although the Fifth Young Lady Ning hadn’t been found yet, he could tell that she was very likely to be alright based on the maid’s good condition.
Mammy Luo hurried into the courtyard and lifted the curtain. She saw Ning Qingshan embroidering by the window, accompanied by Feilian and Caifen.
Hearing the door curtain lifted, Ning Qingshan looked up. Seeing that it was Mammy Luo, she waved to Caifen and Feilian beside her. They put down their needlework and left. After they went out, Mammy Luo walked up to Ning Qingshan and whispered in her ear, “Young Lady, it’s done. I heard that the area has been blockaded.”
“Did she really fall to her death?” Ning Qingshan showed delight on her face, but asked with uncertainty. Ning Xueyan, who had been suppressing her all the time, finally died so easily. She didn’t dare to believe it, so she asked again.
“It’s true. The imperial guards have been sent out. I heard that Prince Yi happened to pa.s.s by there, and he went to investigate it in person after hearing about it. Therefore, our lackeys could only watch from a distance. But there is still no news of finding her yet, so something terrible must have happened to her. It has been a long while since she fell down. If she is really alright, how can they still not find her yet?”
Mammy Luo said with a smile. The Fifth Young Lady had fallen from the mountain in her carriage, and she had pa.s.sed out in the carriage before. How could she survive? Nevertheless, in order to get more precise information, she had asked someone to watch the imperial guards from a distance and thus to figure out the situation. Since the Fifth Young Lady hadn’t been found yet, it could only mean that something terrible had happened to her.
“Great, that’s great!” Ning Qingshan was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly burst into laughter. She couldn’t hold back her laughter for a moment, and even clutched her stomach and crouched down, out of breath.
Caifen and Feilian couldn’t hear their conversation inside. Nevertheless, after hearing Ning Qingshan’s laughter suddenly, they looked at each other, lowered their heads and continued doing their work, as if they didn’t hear anything.
“Young Lady, Young Lady, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!” Seeing that Ning Qingshan lost control and laughed out loud without caring about decency as if suffering from hysteria, Mammy Luo was startled and anxiously reached out to pull Ning Qingshan in a hurry. In her memory, Ning Qingshan had never lost her composure like this.
“Mammy Luo… I’m… I’m fine… I just think… it’s too funny… That little b.i.t.c.h Ning Xueyan… She’s said to be… equivalent to… the consort… since she could marry into Prince Yi’s Manor together with the consort… The d.a.m.ned old hag… treats her as a treasure. But now she died… in my hands… Go against me? She’s seeking her doom!”
Ning Qingshan stood up with a smile. As she gradually calmed down, she wiped her tears coming from laughing with her handkerchief and showed a trace of scornful sarcasm and viciousness. She easily killed Ning Xueyan by making use of Ning Huaiyuan’s immoral thoughts and provoking him with a few words. How could she not think it simple?
The little b.i.t.c.h Ning Xueyan finally died. Sometime later, she could give Madam Dowager advice to find a few witnesses to reverse what had happened to Madam Ming. After all, Madam Ming and Ning Xueyan were both dead. No matter how powerful Ming Manor was, they were outsiders and had always been in a tangle with Lord Protector’s Manor. As long as she could provide a few witnesses who could prove that Madam Ling had been framed, they could do nothing about it.
After Madam Ling become the Marchioness again, she would certainly become the legitimate daughter of Lord Protector’s Manor again. Who would remember Ning Xueyan, the dead b.i.t.c.h? Moreover, even if Madam Ling’s status was promoted again in the future, it was impossible for her to have any status in Lord Protector’s Manor. The two daughters of Madam Ling were completely not promising. So she would be the most distinguished Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor in the future.
When the time came, the d.a.m.ned hag would have to curry favor with her and the entire Lord Protector’s Manor would fully support her. With the support of Lord Protector’s Manor on the surface, the support of Grand Tutor Ya and Honored Consort Ya in secret as well as some power of that one, it would even be not difficult for her to be the Empress in the future, not to mention to be the consort of the Third Prince. Thinking of the bright future, Ning Qingshan couldn’t help feeling complacent.
Ning Xueyan was dead, and everything would be under her control from now on!
“Young Lady, do you want me to inform the Eldest Young Master now?” Mammy Luo asked after Ning Qingshan calmed down.
“No, thanks. I’ll go to meet my good brother soon. After all, the Lord Protector’s Manor will be under our control from now on. As brother and sister, we should talk it over, right?” Ning Qingshan raised her eyebrows complacently and sat in front of the dressing table. After instructing Caifen to help her freshen up and dress up again and changing a new dress, she walked slowly to Ning Huaiyuan’s study.
She should certainly get such a piece of good news from her “good brother”, otherwise, Ning Huaiyuan would doubt why she got the news so soon. Of course, Ning Qingshan didn’t expect that Ning Huaiyuan would “take actions” so quickly. She had thought that he would do it on Ning Xueyan’s way back. Unexpectedly, he made Ning Xueyan smashed to pieces in such a short time.
It seemed that her “good brother” was quite powerful! It was quite beneficial for her to keep in touch with him. Although Lord Protector’s Manor was in the charge of Ning Zu’an now, the successor would definitely be Ning Huaiyuan…