The Devious First-Daughter

However, Madam Ling was too optimistic. If the man in the opera troupe hadn’t been here and Ning Xueyan hadn’t found out about his existence, Concubine Ma wouldn’t dare to say anything no matter how much she hated Madam Ling!

But the problem was there had been more than one person who had seen that man. Perhaps Ning Xueyan was planning something else by keeping quiet about this thing.

At this moment, Concubine Ma could risk anything as long as she could get her revenge.

She rested her eyes on the teacup on the table with the corner of her eyes turning red and went mad. Then she, having pointed at Madam Ling, suddenly pounced on Madam Ling and shouted, "Madam Ling, you evil woman. You will rot in hell!"

The direction Concubine Ma rushed at was Madam Ling’s face. So Madam Ling turned her head to dodge, which presented her ear right in front of Concubine Ma. Meanwhile, the embittered Concubine Ma who saw Madam Ling’s ear approach bit down without any hesitation. Then Madam Ling uttered a heartrending cry and the people in the room all freaked out.

They all came forward to separate them. Concubine Ma was frail now so she was pulled back easily. But she was too weak to stand still, only a single pull already made her faint.

Then the maids and older female servants all got panicky again.

Someone went to look after Concubine Ma, others checked on Madam Ling’s wound. Though Concubine Ma was weak now, she still managed to bite off a piece of flesh from Madam Ling’s ear. Madam Ling’s face was covered with blood right away, which made her look like a demon. There were someone screaming and someone getting flustered. Meanwhile, there was also someone who wanted to fawn on Madam Ling and pressed the wound for her. However, Madam Ling was hurt again due to the pressing, so she slapped the person who tried to please her...

Seeing the absurd scene in front of her, Madam Dowager was trembling all over out of anger. She was clear that what was happening now must be caused by Madam Ling again. She pounded the teacup toward Madam Ling violently. Suddenly, Madam Ling who was screaming due to the pain was startled and didn’t have the guts to make any sound.

"You, you wicked woman!" Madam Dowager almost hit Madam Ling with her walking stick.

"First Madam, Madam Dowager, something bad happened, happened to Eldest Young Lady!" An older female servant dashed in totteringly before the thing happened in the pavilion finished.

"Eldest Young Lady, what, what have happened to her?" After the constant strike today, Madam Dowager also felt shortness of breath. But she had to ask the situation of Ning Ziyan after seeing Madam Ling’s crumpled shape.

"Eldest Young Lady, Eldest Young Lady is losing her baby now!" After catching her breath, the older female servant shouted that.

Losing her baby?

"Go, let’s go have a look now." Madam Dowager couldn’t give any thoughts to Madam Ling and Concubine Ma right now. After giving the order, she rushed over to where Ning Ziyan stayed along with all the people. Meanwhile, Madam Ling who heard that something had happened to her daughter was unable to take care of her wound. She followed Madam Dowager with one hand covering her ear and went to the garden.

Those madams who had been waiting at the bottom of the rockery felt embarrassed to go up there but they never left the place either. They had almost heard all of the conversations. Though they were still puzzled about what had happened before, now they had heard clearly of the thing about Eldest Young Lady. So, the Eldest Young Lady, who had insisted on getting married regardless of one of her father’s concubine’s death?

They stared speechlessly at each other and couldn’t get what was really happening right now. Seeing Madam Dowager and Madam Ling getting out, those madams also followed after them.

Ning Xueyan walked by Madam Dowager’s side. She looked worried on the appearance; however, she was actually snorted secretly. "Madam Ling, Ning Ziyan, you two think you can set me up? Now you just become the victim of your own cleverness," she thought.

That imperial physician Wang who was good at gynecology was sent by Ao Chenyi to give birthday congratulations after she had written a letter to him deliberately.

Ning Xueyan knew that Ning Ziyan would occupy the doctor in the manor if she felt uncomfortable. Since the doctors in the manor were all unavailable, they would have to find a doctor outside the manor. And imperial physician Wang who was in the feast was the best choice. As long as Qingyu mentioned Concubine Ma’s condition to Ning Zu’an in a panic, he would invite imperial physician Wang to treat Concubine Ma for sure.

Then Concubine Ma’s false pregnancy would be revealed!

Also, Ning Ziyan had already foreseen that Madam Ling would drug Concubine Ma. For all these years, there were too many concubines in the Lord Protector’s Manor, and none of them had given birth to a child. Those who had been favored by Ning Zu’an had rather died at a young age or fallen into disfavor without a child.

Since Concubine Ma was becoming more and more dominant and Ning Zu’an favored her a lot, Madam Ling would definitely grab the chance to eliminate this threat!

The Spring Theatrical Troupe had used to perform in the area where Concubine Ma’s family lived for a long while. Concubine Ma had been a frequent visitor of their show. As time went by, she fell in love with the actor of the Spring Theatrical Troupe. They had even pledged to marry without parental consent and already slept together. The two young adults had thought that they would be with each other happily forever.

However, one day, Ning Zu’an had seen Concubine Ma on the street and got tempted. So he had sent someone to her home to inquire about her marital status. Being fancied by Lord Protector was such a great honor. Concubine Ma’s parents had been intrigued, as well as Concubine Ma. So she had gone back on her previous words with that actor. After packing up her simple luggage, she was sent to the Lord Protector’s Manor that night.

The relationship Concubine Ma had with that actor should have ended after that. However, Ning Zu’an was no longer a young man, which made Concubine Ma miss her previous young lover again. So she had sent letters and some silvers to the actor from time to time. In the course of their contact, not only hadn’t broken up with each other, they had even become closer.

Their affair had been known by Madam Ling. So she had decided to use this to threat Concubine Ma.

As for the matters with her cousins was actually a little dispute between Han Dazhuang (Mother Han’s son) and the Spring Theatrical Troupe and was not a bit deal. But Madam Ling had managed to make this thing bigger, which had given a motive for Concubine Ma to drug Ning Xueyan. And of course, the false pregnancy of Concubine Ma had been plotted by Madam Ling.

Ning Xueyan had asked Mother Han to inquire who Han Dazhuang had argued with. Then she found the existence of the Spring Theatrical Troupe. At last, she had followed up the clue and found Concubine Ma’s affair. The reason why Ning Xueyan had found out about that so easily might because Concubine Ma had been unguarded because Madam Ling had already learned this.

So Concubine Ma had even written the letters more frequently than before. Her maid Chunfang who had paid close attention to her discovered that easily.

"Mother, mother!" Seeing Madam Dowager and Madam Ling coming in, Ning Ziyan screamed to Madam Ling. She was covering her belly with one hand while crying loudly.

Madam Dowager saw that with her face turning sullen. With her displeased expression replacing her worried look on her face, she went back to the chair next to her and sat tight.

The reason why Madam Dowager became unhappy was that when Madam Dowager and Madam Ling had entered the room together, Ning Ziyan had simply ignored her grandma and kept calling Madam Ling.

"Ziyan, what happened? Are you all right? What’s the matter with her? Why has the servant said that she lost her baby?" Madam Ling rushed to Ning Ziyan immediately. Her ear had been bound up hastily, so she looked better than before although she was still in a mess. After that, she shouted to the doctor of the manor angrily.

She blamed the doctor of the manor for what had happened to her today. So she scolded him on purpose.

"Eldest Young Lady... has eaten something cold. She, she shouldn’t have eaten that when she’s pregnant!" The doctor of the manor jabbered that with his head lowered under Madam Ling’s glower.

"You b*stard. What you have prepared for Ziyan? How can she have a miscarriage!" Madam Ling got furious and slapped the maid who was standing by the bed fiercely. She had lost all of her impatience right now and only felt her chest moving up and down with anger welling up.

Madam Ling now looked at everyone with a ferocious look! Her brutal nature showed out completely!

"I, I have never prepared anything cold to the Young Lady." The maid fell on the ground while explaining for herself.

"You haven’t? Then why would Ziyan lose her baby? I know she has a strong body!" Madam Ling got even angrier. She pointed at that maid and started to curse.

"Grandma, why has my Eldest Sister had a miscarriage? Is there anything wrong with the diagnose?" Ning Xueyan asked Madam Dowager in a low voice.

Her words enlightened Madam Dowager and the other madams who were there.

Ning Ziyan had just been married for only a month. Even if she had been pregnant, it would be hard to diagnose. So it was unreasonable for her to lose a baby. Now judging from the expression on Ning Ziyan and Madam Ling’s faces, they seemed to have already known about her pregnancy.

Madam Ling who had also heard of Ning Xueyan’s seemingly unintentional words flew into a rage immediately. She considered Ning Xueyan’s words a provocation. "What did she mean by there is something wrong with the diagnose? Was this little b*tch trying to imply that Ziyan also pretended to be pregnant like Concubine Ma? She must have said that to irritate me!" After thinking of that, Madam Ling just couldn’t get a hold of herself anymore.

She was caught unprepared by all the things that had happened today. Even Concubine Ma had changed sides and bitten her. Madam Ling was already in a muddled state. And now that Ning Xueyan still provoked her and doubted if Ning Ziyan’s pregnancy was fake. So Madam Ling glared at the doctor of the manor with her teeth gritted, saying,

"Have you made a mistake? Was Ziyan pregnant or not?"

There was no doctor who would like to be questioned about their expertise. Although the doctor of the manor was afraid of Madam Ling, he still refuted with his head raised, "First Madam, although I am not the best doctor, I can still tell if a girl is pregnant or not. What’s more, Eldest Young Lady has already been pregnant for two or three months, you think I wouldn’t find out?"

For two or three months?

Ning Ziyan had only been married for a month but had already been pregnant for two or three months! After learning about that, all the people in the room were shocked.

"Hasn’t she just been married for a month?" Madam Dowager asked that doubtfully.

When all those women had rushed across the garden in a hurry including the wounded Madam Ling, they managed to draw more people’s attention. So right now there were even more people coming to watch the fun.

"Being pregnant before getting married. What about the rules in the Lord Protector’s Manor? That is so..."

"No wonder why she was so eager to get married. It turned out that she was pregnant. What have her parents taught her?"

"She must have a love affair stealthily. After all, the reason why she was born was because of her mother’s affair. That might be the tradition of her family." A madam sneered that while laughed with her hand covering her mouth.

Now everyone was looking at Madam Ling and Ning Ziyan cynically with a bit taunt in their eyes.

Madam Ling had already had a sinking feeling when she had listened to the doctor of the manor talking. Before she was able to stop him, the doctor had already told everything. And she got flustered right away. She and Ning Ziyan had tried so hard to cover this up. It never occurred to her that it had still been exposed in front of everyone. No wonder Madam Ling would be panic-stricken.

"Madam, my Eldest Sister was a self-disciplined girl and would never do anything that would humiliate our family. Every time her husband was here, my Eldest Sister went to see him with Sister Ziying. So they have never had a chance to meet privately." Ning Xueyan explained to those madams who were gossiping there politely.

With her pleasant voice and elegant behavior, Ning Xueyan showed an imposing manner when she talked, which made people admire deeply. She was still defending Ning Ziyan at this moment. It must because she had a close relationship with her sister. Those madams had already heard that Madam Ling had tried to set her up all the time. However, Ning Xueyan didn’t take advantage of Madam Ling’s perilous state. She was surely a virtuous girl!

Those madams all thought that in their hearts!