The Devious First-Daughter

"Young Lady Ziying thought that her mother had bought all the brocade for her, but she didn't know that some of the brocade used to be her mother's belongs and she just left it to Young Lady Ziying. Moreover, most varieties of the brocade her mother left had stopped production a long time ago. They are very precious and we can't find them in the market now. Young Lady Ziying's mother left the brocade as her daughter's dowry, so I dared not to give them to anyone else."

Since she had mentioned the brocade, Mother Wang decided not to hide anything about it from Ning Xueyan anymore, so she told her everything she knew about it.

"Some varieties of the brocade has stopped production?" Lanning was surprised. She had seen the two big cases which contained the brocade among a pile of cases, and she knew that the brocade was the dowry that Ning Ziying's mother had prepared for her daughter, so she had never opened them to organize the stuff inside.

"Why did Sister Ziying's mother prepare the brocade for her?" Ning Xueyan asked, her eyes bright and cold.

She had thought the two cases of brocade were ordinary. She followed her mother's instruction and had never used the brocade. However, she had never expected that Xia Yuhang had long wanted it for himself.

"I don't know the reason. Madame told me that these two cases of brocade were prepared for Young Lady Ziying and I should have locked them before Young Lady Ziying got married. She said I could tide up the brocade after Young Lady Ziying's marriage."

Mother Wang thought for a short moment and added, "I felt something wrong when Madame told me about that. I have been thinking about the reason for Young Lady Ziying's death recently, so I thought of the brocade."

"Mammy, when did you become Sister Ziying's wet nurse?" Ning Xueyan asked after thinking for a while.

Mother Wang answered subconsciously, "She was about two or three years old."

Her face flickered the moment she finished speaking. She stopped talking and looked at Ning Xueyan cautiously. Before Mother Wang came to the Ning Manor, it was another wet nurse who had been feeding Ning Ziying. But Ning Ziying's mother didn't allow Mother Wang to tell this to anyone else, and told her to say that she was the only wet nurse of Ning Ziying if someone asked her.

Even Ning Ziying didn't know that she had already been two or three years old when Mother Wang became her wet nurse.

"Relax, Mother Wang. I have known about this all along. I just want to know where the wet nurse of Sister Ziying has gone," Ning Xueyan said. Although she had proved her guess, she didn't show anything abnormal on her face. Her eyes were bright and clear and it seemed that she really had known everything before Mother Wang told her.

It was impossible for a rich family to look for a wet nurse for their children when they had already two or three years old.

"Fifth Young Lady, I don't know the whereabouts of that wet nurse. I thought maybe they were not satisfied with her, so they employed me." Mother Wang hesitated for a short moment and explained.

Except for Mother Wang, the other people around Ning Ziying told her that Mother Wang was the wet nurse who had brought her up. Nobody told her that she had been bred by another wet nurse before she was two or three years old.

If only Mother Wang hid this from her, it might be because she wanted to flatter her young master. However, why did her own mother and everyone around her didn't want her to know anything about her former wet nurse? They must be concealing an important secret which concerned her.

Obviously, Mother Wang didn't want to tell Ning Xueyan more about Ning Ziying's former wet nurse because she had to follow the instruction of her master, Ning Xueyan's mother, though she had already died.

Ning Xueyan knew that Mother Wang still kept a wary eye on her and she should be more patient if she wanted to know more secrets from Mother Wang. She smiled and stopped talking about this topic. She then asked Mother Wang about her injuries and told her to stay in bed to pretend to be injured seriously. Then she stood up and walked out.

It was no use worrying. She was sure that she would unravel the mystery of her last life.

Lanning walked out following her. They went to the principle room and then entered the inner room. She brought the lunch for her master. Ning Xueyan was hungry after a busy morning, so she ate some food and rested for a while before lying down on the bed in the service of two maids.

Everything was quiet in the room, but Ning Xueyan couldn't fell asleep. She couldn't help thinking of the brocade. Hadn't Xia Yuhang and Madam Ling killed her until the day before the wedding ceremony just because they wanted to take the brocade? It didn't seem to make sense.

But according to her intuition, that might be the reason.

But even though the brocade was precious, it couldn't be more valuable than the bank notes. How could Xia Yuhang refuse to accept the bank notes and grab the brocade? She was confused. Since it was impossible to find the answer in a short time, she could only uncover the truth bit by bit.

People in the city laughed at Lord Protector after the news about the engagement between the Marquis of Ping'an's Manor and the Lord Protector's Manor had been spread. They thought that the Lord Protector's Manor was too unruly and even the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li had been the object of their conversation. The Consort Dowager of the Commandery Prince Li was annoyed by this, so she arranged someone to visit the Lord Protector's Manor.

Lord Protector's Manor responded quickly. They announced that the engagement between the Lord Protector's Manor and the Commandery Prince Li Manor as well as the Marquis of Ping'an's Manor had been decided long ago, not after Madam Ming's death. They also asked someone from other clans and the Nings to prove that people of the Lord Protector's Manor had ethics.

In the early morning, Ning Xueyan was awakened by Lanning. It was snowing outside. The crystal snowflakes floated down from the air and looked so beautiful.

Ning Xueyan sat in front of the window and chatted with Lanning.

At this point, Xinmei came in. Although she held an umbrella, her robe was still covered with snow. She put down her umbrella in the corridor and shook off the snow from her robe before walking into the room.

"Miss, Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li came to our manor and marquis is greeting him in the hall. In addition to him, someone else came as well. It's said they would serve as witnesses to the marriage between Second Young Lady and Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li," Xinmei said. She had gone to the front courtyard to inquiry about the visiting of these people, and she was told that they were the "witnesses" that Ning Zu'an had invited who would prove the rationality of the marriage of Ning Yuling and Ning Lingyun.

"Hasn't Marquis of Ping'an come yet?" Ning Xueyan narrowed her eyes and asked.

"Not yet. I heard that someone was sent to invite Marquis of Ping'an this morning, but because Marquis of Ping'an stayed late last night, he couldn't get up early," Xinmei answered with a mocking smile. She knew why Marquis of Ping'an stayed too late the night before. She had gone to the Marquis of Ping'an's Manor yesterday and she heard that Marquis of Ping'an doted on the two Beautiful Ladies who had just been sent to his manor.

The two beauties came from a brothels and they were very popular. Ning Xueyan had asked Xinmei to buy them and sent them to the Marquis of Ping'an's Manor. They were so charming, and Marquis of Ping'an was fascinated by them soon, so it was no wonder that he couldn't get up early this morning.

"Has Ning Yuling been released?" Ning Xueyan asked, a coldness flashing in her eyes. Madam Dowager had only locked Ning Yuling up for a few days. Since she was Madam Dowager's favorite grand daughter, even she had been so rude, Madam Dowager was still reluctant to punish her.

"Knowing that Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li would come, Second Young Lady refused to show up. She is pretending to be ill now," Xinmei said.

"How about Fourth Young Lady?" Ning Xueyan smiled. Ning Yuling didn't like Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li and she was a proud person, so Ning Xueyan wasn't surprised when she heard the news.

"Fourth Young Lady dressed up and went to the garden on purpose. I heard that she asked the servants to heat up a pavilion and she was playing the zither and enjoying flowers in it." Although Xinmei just gone to the front courtyard once just now, she had inquired all the useful information.

Everything seemed to be undergoing as what Ning Xueyan planned. What she needed to do was wait and see how those people were going to take the bait!

The idea of playing the zither and enjoying the flowers beside a stove was not bad!

Ning Xueyan played with a hairpin in front of her dressing-case with a smile. "Go and observe what Ning Lingyun will do next. Then come back to report to me," she ordered.

"Yes, Miss! I'm going right now" Xinmei nodded and was about to leave.

Suddenly, she heard Ning Xueyan call her name, so she stopped. Ning Xueyan tapped her finger on the table and said, "It's not urgent. You can have a rest first and I'll ask Qingyu to prepare some snacks for you. It's about lunch time, so Ning Lingyun won't have much time to stay with Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li before noon. She just wanted to attract Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li and impress him. Even if she wanted to do anything with him, she will have to wait until after lunch."

"But Marquis of Ping'an..." Xinmei was a little worried.

"Marquis of Ping'an can't arrive before lunch," Ning Xueyan snorted. Of course Marquis of Ping'an couldn't come early. The two Beautiful Ladies came from brothels, so they were much skillful in serving men in the bed. Besides, Marquis of Ping'an was a lecher. It would be good enough that he could come later.

There was enough time for Ning Lingyun to seduce Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li.

At the moment, Ning Lingyun was sitting in the Changfang Pavilion. Thick curtains surrounded three sides of the pavilion, so it didn't seem to be cold inside. She chose to wait here because it was the only way to the inner courtyard, everyone would pass by here if they wanted to go to the inner courtyard from the front courtyard.

"Miss, Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li is coming. I stole a look at him. He is very handsome, much more handsome than Eldest Young Master. And he was polite to people. Obviously, he is an educated and reasonable nobleman. I haven't seen a man more handsome than him," Caiyun said. When she recalled the moment that Princely Heir smiled at her when he saw her, her heart beat faster.

If her master could merry Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li, she might also have the opportunity to serve him in the bed. Caiyun had never seen such a handsome man before, and most importantly, he smiled at her. Thinking about that, she blushed and her heart thumped.

"Did Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li smiled because he saw me?" she wondered.

"Is he more handsome than Third Prince?" Ning Lingyun asked. She had never seen Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li before. She didn't want to merry Marquis of Ping'an, so she came up with the idea to seduce Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. If she had other choices, she wouldn't have done this. Her face turned red when she heard that Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was an extremely handsome man.

"Yes, he is even more handsome than Third Prince. The maids of the front courtyard were all shamelessly peeping at him. Miss, if you marry to Princely Heir in the future, you must be careful of those maids and don't allow them to serve Princely Heir in the bed casually."

Caiyun was angry at the thought of the maids with flushed faces. "Princely Heir will be the husband of Fourth Young Lady, how dare those b*tch have any illusions about him?" she thought. She had totally forgot that she was the one who was crazy about Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li.

"He is coming!" A young maid came panting.

"Princely Heir is coming?" Ning Lingyun asked excitedly. She hadn't expected that Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li would have been so outstanding. This made her more determined to manage to marry him, instead of Marquis of Ping'an. There was nothing worse than marrying Marquis of Ping'an in the world! So she immediately straight up and put her fingers on the zither.

"Marquis suggested Princely Heir to take a stroll in the garden, but..." the maid answered panting.

However, before she could continue, Caiyun cut her in. "Come here to serve Young Lady," she said and pulled the young maid over. She stuffed the fruit bowl in her hands and asked her to stand behind Ning Lingyun. Then she stood on the other side of Ning Lingyun and pretended to be arranging a bunch of plum blossom on the corner of the zither platform.

The white plum blossom was still in bud with petals slightly open. It was the most charming moment for any flowers and no one could resist this beauty.