The Devious First-Daughter

Chapter 216 We Have Found Concubine Ma

“Fifth Young Lady, how dare you help Concubine Ma escape? You’re trying to dress her as an ordinary maid and bring her out our manor. How could you... be so unfilial and immoral?” Mammy Luo decided to put things straightforward. She shouted, pointing at a shivering maid in the last row, whose face could not be seen clearly at all.

“Concubine Ma?” Ning Qingshan looked like being scared. She stared at Ning Xueyan and murmured, “Impossible! How could that happen? Fifth Sister, Concubine Ma is our father’s concubine and everything about her should be decided by our father. You, you know how serious the consequence will be, don’t you?”

Hearing what she said, the two older female servants following behind Ning Qingshan turned to the maid in the last row and looked at her with gleaming eyes. Concubine Ma’s maid had reported that Concubine Ma was missing in the morning. She said that Concubine Ma had been very upset recently and she could not fall asleep at midnight. She had repeatedly mentioned a man’s name and it seemed that she wanted to escape from the manor.

Therefore, as soon as the maid had found out that Concubine Ma was missing, she reported it to Madam Dowager. Flying into a rage, Madam Dowager dispatched two older female servants of her courtyard to look for Concubine Ma everywhere. These two capable servants were asked to check everyone going out at all the gates to intercept Concubine Ma. They happened to bump into Ning Qingshan on the way, so they came here with her.

The had thought that they might not be able to find Concubine Ma. However, as soon as they arrived at the gate, they found something wrong with the maid following behind Fifth Young Lady.

When they were talking, a luxurious carriage stopped at the gate. Third Prince, Ao Mingyu, came out from the carriage. Seeing that people were arguing, he stood beside the carriage door with a slight frown and did not come over.

Several guards came out of the carriage following behind him. Seeing that he did not move ahead, the guards stood behind him quietly.

Ignoring the aggressive Mammy Luo, Ning Xueyan turned to Ning Qingshan calmly. “Third Sister, so you came here to intercept me on purpose?” she said slowly with a smile.

“Fifth Sister, what are you talking about? I happened to bump into the servants our grandmother dispatched to look for Concubine Ma when I was going out for some business. Fifth Sister, these are not that important. But how could you help Concubine Ma escape? Concubine Ma will die if she flees privately. Why are you trying to help her meet her lover privately? Don’t you know that you will ruin our father’s and our manor’s reputation by doing so?”

Ning Qingshan looked both sad and angry when she spoke, and every word seemed to hit the key.

It was extremely shameless if a daughter helped her father’s concubine escape to meet her lover and make her father a cuckold!

“Third Sister, why are you so certain that I have something to do with Concubine Ma’s missing?” Ning Xueyan asked, looking calmly.

“Isn’t she Concubine Ma? Fifth Sister, it’s useless to argue. Since Concubine Ma is caught on spot, you’d better confess to our grandmother and father. Anyway, Concubine Ma should take the main responsibility and you have little to do with it.” Ning Qingshan persuaded in a soft voice earnestly. She stared at Ning Xueyan, looking sincere.

Everyone thought that Ning Qingshan was thinking for the sake of Ning Xueyan by persuading her to confess her fault to Madam Dowager and the marquis. They thought that she was really gentle and sensible. Compared to her, Ning Xueyan’s behavior was not only hateful but also ignorant. She was really stupid! How dare an unmarried noble Young Lady help a concubine do such an immoral thing?

Her own reputation would be ruined because of this!

No noble childe would like to marry such a woman!

Only Ning Xueyan saw that Ning Qingshan was not looking at her, but at the gate. Ning Xueyan had noticed Ao Mingyu standing there just now, so obviously, it was exactly what Ning Qingshan had hoped.

However, it was useless even though she had acted perfectly. She had been pretending to be a gentle and generous elder sister of Ning Xueyan to Ao Mingyu’s face, but she had missed the point. Ao Mingyu would not trust her as before after the Note Event at the imperial palace and her concealing of her injury.

Ning Qingshan was smart, but she was destined to be ruined by her own wisdom!

“Fifth Young Lady, please allow me to take Concubine Ma away. Madam Dowager is waiting for her!” an older female servant from Lucky Garden bowed to Ning Xueyan and said coldly. Then she was going to pull that maid.

“Why are you saying that the maid of our courtyard is Concubine Ma?” Xinmei asked. She reached out and stopped that older female servant.

“Mammy Luo told us that we would see Concubine Ma here. I was a little surprised that we really saw her! Now we have caught her on spot and even Third Young Lady has recognized that the maid was Concubine Ma. Fifth Young Lady, are you still trying to argue?” Being stopped by Xinmei, the older female servant said in an ironic tone. She had served Madam Dowager for a long time, and she had never liked Ning Xueyan. Now Ning Xueyan’s status was much higher than before, so she did not dare to offend her, but she still looked down upon Ning Xueyan from the bottom of her heart.

“Why do you believe what Third Young Lady said, but ignore what Fifth Young Lady said? Do you mean that Third Young Lady is the master of our manor and Fifth Young Lady is not?” Lanning said resentfully.

Mammy Luo could not stay calm any more when the two eloquent maids questioned them one after another. She lost her temper and snorted. “Since Third Young Lady has a decent manner, of course the servants of our manor will take her as the master. On the contrary, what Fifth Young Lady is doing? She has not only abased herself to be so close with a concubine, but also tried to release the concubine to meet her lover. How shameless!”

Mammy Luo shouted at Lanning and Xinmei angrily. Seeing that neither of them dare to say anything more, she felt very relieved.

“How dare you! What are you talking about?” Ning Huaiyuan strode over from an intersection. He shot Mammy Luo a cold glare, looking angry.

He was surprised that the older female servant of Ning Qingshan was such a big-mouth person. How dare she stood at the gate and said that his father got cuckolded? How GROSS!

The two sisters had been quarreling at the gate and a servant kept on saying that his father’s concubine had tried to escape from the manor to meet her lover. What a disgrace it would be to the marquis! “What’s going on?” Now Ning Huaiyuan could not hold back his anger any more. He looked at Ning Xueyan coldly, waiting for her explanation.

Ning Xueyan was not surprised at Ning Huaiyuan’s sudden appearance. Looking at his angry face, she felt even a little funny. Ning Qingshan’s older female servant had repeatedly said that Concubine Ma was going to escape from the manor to meet her lover. It was a disgrace to the whole manor. As the only son of the manor, Ning Huaiyuan had to say something to maintain the manor’s reputation. He must have stood there and watched for a long time!

Obviously, he had not planned to show up. However, Mammy Luo had been talking about Concubine Ma’s fleeing and her affairs with another man, so Ning Huaiyuan could not hide himself anymore and had to show up to calm things down.

It might not be a bad choice. After all, he had to face the problem.

“Fifth Sister, Brother Huaiyuan is asking you. You’d better tell him the truth. It’s not worth hurting your sibling affection for such a thing!” Ning Qingshan said anxiously, as if there was really deep sibling affection between Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Xueyan.

“Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Qingshan are playing the carrot and stick trick!” Thinking about this, Ning Xueyan burst into laughter. “Brother Huaiyuan, so you feel the same way like Third Sister and take it for granted that I’m going to bring Concubine Ma out our manor privately? Why are you so certain about this? Did somebody tell you in advance that the maid was Concubine Ma, and you came here to catch her on spot when she was about to pass the gate?”

“Nonsense! You two, bring the maid here!” Ning Huaiyuan looked at Ning Xueyan thoughtfully and shouted angrily, a complicated look in his eyes. At Ning Huaiyuan’s command, two young male servants were about to catch that maid.

“Wait!” Ning Xueyan shouted with a grim look. Xinmei and Lanning, who were standing behind her, reached out and stopped the two young male servants.

Seeing that Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Xueyan had an argument, Ning Qingshan was very pleased, but she did not show it on her face. On the contrary, she looked surprised, as if being scared. “Fifth Sister, how dare you disobey our elder brother’s order? He will be the Lord Protector in the future!” She covered her lips with a handkerchief and turned her face slightly toward the gate.

She had looked into the mirror countless times and she knew that she looked the most delicate and charming when she turned her face slightly. No man could stay calm at the sight of such a beautiful, gentle and adorable lady like her.

Looking from Third Prince’s direction, she was as charming as she looked herself in the mirror. She was confident that Third Prince would make the correct choice after comparing her, a Young Lady as gentle as water with Ning Xueyan, who was so stupid and stubborn.

“Fifth Sister, what do you mean?” Ning Huaiyuan’s face darkened.

“Nothing! I just feel weird. Why the doorman said that you and Third Sister had reserved the carriages and all the rest ones were out of order when I needed a carriage. After we had been at the gate for a while, Third Sister came here to catch Concubine Ma with several servants and they insisted that Concubine Ma was hiding in my maids. Then you showed up, and before getting this straight, you were going to take my maid away. Wasn’t it all designed?”

Everything matched so perfectly that everyone would doubt that it had been designed. Nobody would believe that it had not been carefully designed, because none of these seemed to have happened by accident.

Each step was closely connected, as if everything had happened naturally. No one would feel suspicious about a single step. However, when people took a panoramic view of the situation, they would feel that these perfectly interlocked events were more likely to be carefully designed.

“Are Third Young Lady and Eldest Young Master conspiring to set Fifth Young Lady up?” the crowd at the gate wondered, feeling confused. Their eyes wandered over the three of them and could not tell who was lying.

Ning Xueyan was neither humble nor arrogant when she spoke. The smile on her lips was breathtakingly charming, but people could not feel a trace of warmth from it. Like a snow lotus blooming at the top of an iceberg, she looked noble, pure and extremely beautiful.

Nobody dared to look straight into her eyes.

Leaning against the carriage with his arms crossed in front of his chest, Ao Mingyu could not help looking at Ning Xueyan, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

For the first time, he found that the delicate and weak girl had such a powerful aura. Ning Qingshan had been well-known for her gentleness and generosity. However, compared to Ning Xueyan’s calm, she seemed to be a little nervous. Ao Mingyu even felt Ning Qingshan shivering under Ning Xueyan’s gaze.

After hearing what Ning Xueyan said, everyone was silent.

Ning Huaiyuan cleared his throat and was about to speak when he suddenly saw an older female servant running to them. She shouted, “Eldest Young Master, Third Young Lady, Fifth Young Lady, we have found Concubine Ma, and she is being with Madam Dowager now!”

Everyone was shocked at the words. They all turned to the maid, who was standing in the last row behind Ning Xueyan, trembling.

Since Concubine Ma was at Madam Dowager’s Lucky Garden, who this maid was?