The Devious First-Daughter

How could all of them be clean? Now four of the five account books had been found clean, so Ning Qingshan became nervous and sweat beamed from the tip of her nose.

There was only one account book left. The last one must be the stained one!

The maid picked up the last account book and shook the dust off it. She then piled all the account books up and held them firmly in her arms before turning to leave.

“That’s impossible! Why none of them was stained?”

She was a hundred percent sure that the stained page would be exposed, but that didn’t happen. Although Ning Qingshan had always been shrewd and seldom showed her true feeling in front of others, she froze there. She looked in the direction the maid left blankly and opened her mouth, trying to ask the maid to stop so that she could check the account books again. Fortunately, her reason prevented her from doing such a foolish thing.

Although she had planned carefully, nothing happened as she had expected. The huge difference made her well-prepared smile disappear in the blink of an eye.

“What’s wrong with you, Third Young Lady?” Madam Dowager’s brows knitted when she looked at Ning Qingshan who was in a trance. Ning Qingshan didn’t seem to be herself today! Now she was even gluing her eyes on the account books. Why was she so interested in them?

Madam Dowager glanced at Mother Qin, and the latter immediately understood what she wanted. She walked over and held Ning Qingshan by the arm. “Third Young Lady, are you feeling sick and need to go back to rest? You just came back yesterday, and you have to help Madam Dowager greet guests today, so I think you must be tired.”

Obviously Madam Dowager wanted her to go back to Foggy Courtyard.

“No, Grandmother! I’m not tired!” Ning Qingshan said subconsciously and squeezed out a smile. She had been greeting the guests at the flower hall just now, so if the others knew that she was sent back to her place, they would laugh at her.

“Are you serious?” Madam Dowager asked coldly.

“Grandmother, I’m not tired!” Ning Qingshan pretended that she didn’t understand Madam Dowager’s hint. Now she no longer showed any doubt, because she knew what she had done had aroused Madam Dowager’s suspicion, and she dared not take any more drastic actions. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

She had planned to make Ning Xueyan look stupid in front of others, but she failed. Besides, Madam Dowager was asking her to go back now. Of course she was not content. She would be Third Prince’s wife and if Third Prince inherited the throne, she would be the empress! How could she be driven back like this? If she followed Madam Dowager’s order and went back to her place, she would never establish her dignity in front of the others again.

“Grandmother, the guests at the flower hall are still waiting for Third Sister.” Ning Xueyan walked over and explained for Ning Qingshan with a smile, without a trace of displeasure on her face.

Everyone thought that Ning Qingshan knocked over the account books on purpose. Ning Xueyan should feel embarrassed when the account books dropped onto the floor, but she didn’t mind at all, and she was even defending Ning Qingshan now. What a generous person Fifth Young Lady was!

“Qingshan, you can leave for the flower hall to greet the guests now. Don’t surprise anyone and make a fool of yourself.” Ning Qingshan knew what Madam Dowager was hinting, and she blushed. But to her surprise, what Madam Dowager said next made her even more ashamed that she couldn’t hold up her head. “Mother Qin, accompany Third Young Lady to the flower hall. You should correct her immediately if she does anything wrong,” Madam Dowager said.

Ning Qingshan knew that Madam Dowager wanted Mother Qin to watch her. But since she had made mistakes just now, she didn’t dare refuse her.

If it were the other Young Ladies, they would have been ashamed and offered to go back to rest.

Ning Qingshan wasn’t an ordinary person. She insisted on not going back. She looked calm, as if she didn’t understand what Madam Dowager was hinting. She then bowed to Madam Dowager with a smile and left the room.

“Grandmother, I have to leave now. I need to go to the kitchen and check if everything is ready and if anything needs to be added,” Ning Xueyan said to Madam Dowager and took leave.

Madam Dowager was very satisfied with Ning Xueyan’s performance today. Hearing that she wanted to go to the kitchen, she smiled and waved to her to leave.

Ning Xueyan bowed to the other old ladies in the room and then walked out, smiling.

“Madam Dowager, Fifth Young Lady is just like you when you were young. She is generous and calm. That’s how a lord manor’s Young Lady behaves.”

“Sure enough! Madam Dowager, you were a well-known noble lady when you were young, and so was your niece. It seems your granddaughter is even more outstanding than you two. She deserves to be your granddaughter by blood. She is so excellent because she carries the blood of your family.”

Ning Xueyan was a little surprised when she heard the sighs from the old ladies.

Madam Ming was also a well-known lady?

Then why did she die so miserably? Ning Xueyan hadn’t found everything out what had happened years ago. When she asked about something, even her uncle, Ming Feiyong, would shift the topic on purpose. And Mother Han, the personal Mammy of Madam Ming was reluctant to tell her when she asked the same question.

Ning Xueyan knew Mother Han was loyal, but she wondered why she hid the secret from her.

“Miss, Xinmei is already there!” Qingyu suddenly showed up from nowhere. She walked to Ning Xueyan and reported to her in a low voice.

Ning Xueyan nodded slightly. Then she walked toward the kitchen with Lanning and Qingyu. Since she excused herself to look in the kitchen, of course she would.

But she stopped at a junction. She looked at the direction of the junction and sneered. After a while, she turned her head and ordered, “Lanning, go and check if there’s anyone will come over.”

Ning Qingshan followed Mother Qin to the flower hall on the left, and the way they took was different from the one to Foggy Courtyard. Since the account books were on the way to Foggy Courtyard, Ning Qingshan wouldn’t feel assured and she would definitely arrange someone to check. But she had no henchman with her and only Mother Qin was being with her now, so she was unable to openly order someone to check for her.

But she wouldn’t give up easily, and she would find a way to arrange her people to check the account books. What Ning Xueyan was looking at was the only way to Foggy Courtyard.

Lanning was smart. She raised her head and looked in the direction to Foggy Courtyard along with the gaze of Ning Xueyan, and then she immediately understood what she meant. She nodded and walked toward the junction.

Since Ning Qingshan only left a little bit earlier than her, Ning Xueyan guessed that she was about to arrive at the flower hall now. Even Mother Qin was watching over her, Ning Qingshan would find a way to arrange someone to check the account books on the way.

Ning Xueyan thoughtfully looked down the path for a while and then turned to the kitchen on the other side. It was not far from Foggy Courtyard to the kitchen. It would only take a few minutes from where she was to the kitchen. What was more, it was unnecessary to pass by the road of the inner courtyard. So it was really convenient.

It was also the center of the inner courtyard of the Lord Protector. Although Ning Qingshan was an adopted daughter, she was very popular, so the location of her residence was much better than that of Bright Frost Garden.

The moment Ning Xueyan returned to Bright Frost Garden, Xinmei had already been there for some time. Seeing Ning Xueyan come in, she opened the food box with Qingyu and took out the dishes one by one. What was placed on the bottom layer was a bowl of cooked fish soup. The color of the soup was white and apparently it had been cooked for a long time. There were some chopped scallions on the fish, and when the soup was taken out, a delicious smell wafted in the air.

Ning Xueyan was hungry as well. She ate a small bowl of rice Qingyu handed to her and put the empty bowl on the table. Then she washed her hands and rinsed her mouth.

“Did anybody say something when all the fish were used to cook soup?” Ning Xueyan asked casually.

“Nobody said anything except for the older female servant whose surname is Li. She said that they were told to cook both braised fish and steamed fish the day before. She didn’t understand why the order was changed today. When I asked her who told her to braise the fish, she faltered. Lanning gave her a good scolding,” Qingyu said and laughed. After Lanning coming out from the kitchen, she walked into it to check again to ensure that no braised fish would be served today.

Bright Frost Garden was different from it used to be and Ning Xueyan seemed to be running the manor. Although it was Madam Dowager who made the final decision, everybody could tell that Fifth Young Lady’s status was much higher than before, so no one dared to contradict her. Even Madam Ling’s servants didn’t dare to protest her and they would do everything she ordered. Obviously, Madam Ling had ordered her people not to make troubles.

“Investigate the background of the older female servant whose surname is Li, and how did she become the servant of our manor. Maybe you can start your investigation from Mammy Luo,” Ning Xueyan said slowly. She took the tea cup from Qingyu and took a sip of the tea, looking at the steam rising.

Mammy Luo was the most capable servant of Ning Qingshan. She had hit it off with all the older female servants of the manor one day after she arrived, so apparently she was a person of great ability.

Xia’er was too reckless, so Ning Xueyan thought that compared with her, Mammy Luo was much more difficult to deal with and she was the key person.

“Yes. I’ll ask someone to investigate it soon.” Qingyu nodded consciously. Now she and Lanning took most responsibilities of the inner courtyard, and Xinmei was only in charge of something outside of the manor or something special. Ning Xueyan had already told Qingyu, Lanning and Mother Han about Xinmei’s identity.

“Xinmei, how are things at Foggy Courtyard?” Ning Xueyan turned to Xinmei and asked.

Xinmei nodded and praised Ning Xueyan secretly. In her mind, her master was by no means ordinary, and the average noble young ladies couldn’t match her in terms of the bearing and calmness.

Hearing Ning Xueyan asking her, she walked over and answered in a low voice, “Miss, I stayed there and saw the maid come in, holding the account books. There was nobody else in the room, and the maid left after talking for a short while with the older female servant who was on duty at the door. I immediately unpeeled the cover of the account book and then stopped by the kitchen to bring your lunch here.”

“Where’s the cover?” Ning Xueyan asked.

“After I came back, I have burnt it with several booklets which had been abandoned by you. Then I asked someone to clean the ashes and opened the window to let the smoke out. Miss, you can’t smell the smoke now, can you?” Xinmei said with a smile.

“That’s fine. Since all traces were covered up, even if Ning Qingshan wanted to shift the responsibility to me, she can’t find any evidence,” Ning Xueyan thought.

She stood up with a sneer on her lips. Ning Qingshan thought that Ning Xueyan would fall into in the trap she had carefully laid out, but she could get nothing except for taking the consequences. No matter what happened, Ning Xueyan wouldn’t give up the power to manage the manor before the end of the year.