The Devious First-Daughter

As soon as they passed, a servant jumped in and slipped. Then they saw a dark, red bloodstain under the door. Some people said that it was the place where the young male servant had hit his head. How could the bloodstain darken so soon after his fall? It was certainly a strange phenomena.

When another servant pushed the door open and entered, a few bricks fell from it. Although they did not hurt their heads, they were hit on their arms and screamed in pain.

In theory, no matter who had left the bricks, it had already injured many people. How could such a thing happen? Thinking about this, they all had an eerie feeling about the place.

After that, everyone was trembling with fear. They were afraid that if they were careless, they would get into trouble. However, there was still a servant who had been hit by another brick. This was quite normal. While working, one would inadvertently hurt themselves or others, because of carelessness.

However, this injured man said that he saw a white shadow flashing past, before the brick in his hand dropped and hit another person in the foot.

Sometimes, this was how rumors started. Anyone with a guilty conscience, would get extremely ill at ease once the rumors spread. Then, they would even think that the weakness in the feet and hands had something to do with ghosts and gods. They felt that they had no strength, and their eyes wandered from time to time. They always felt jumpy and found it hard to work. Later, they did not even dare to lean against the door and shrank back in fear.

They finally removed the bricks at the door. All of them were sweating, and their faces were pale. Once the steward said that their work was done, they quickly disappeared. It was said that one or two of the timid ones fell sick after they went back. For a while, the dead Young Lady Ning Ziying’s name was again circulated in the Lord Protector’s Manor.

It was said that she died an unjust death, so she could not go peacefully to the netherworld, and her soul wandered around the yard all the time. Therefore, the First Madam had asked people to seal up the yard.

The Eldest Young Master had ordered someone to open the door, and then this disaster happened.

When Ning Ziying came to the Lord Protector’s Manor, she kept a very low profile. Most of the servants did not know why there was another young lady and where she came from? They knew nothing about her, except that she was an orphan daughter of the Ning family, and came to seek refuge with the marquis, who was the patriarch of the Ning family.

Ning Ziying only brought a maid and a wet nurse. Then, she lived quietly in the inner courtyard of the Lord Protector’s Manor. She did not have much contact with the other people in the manor. She did not need to greet the Madam Dowager and the First Madam. Therefore, few people knew about her existence in the manor, during those three years.

Sometimes, when they saw her together with the Eldest Young Lady and Master Xia, no one felt that anything was wrong.

But to everyone’s surprise, she jumped into the lotus pond, the night before the wedding of the Eldest Young Lady and Master Xia. This made people suspicious. Why did she commit suicide? Thinking about their close relationship with her, it was a little fishy.

The maids and older female servants, who had seen this young lady, said that Ning Ziying was very beautiful, much more beautiful than the well-known Second Young Lady, at that time. How could such a beautiful lady commit suicide at a young age? It was something very strange, indeed.

However, at that time, the situation in the manor was too chaotic. The First Young Lady got married, and the Second Madame died of an illness. Then, the First Madam was punished for this matter... all these things happened, one after another, so it was forgotten. Later, someone said that an older female servant and a maid disappeared in the Cloud Reflection Courtyard, so it was said that there was a ghost in the Cloud Reflection Courtyard.

These rumors were deliberately spread in private, but those masters, who had their hands full, did not know.

After Madam Ling asked people to build the wall, more rumors were spread. One was that the First Madam had a guilty conscience, and perhaps the young lady did not die due to jumping into the lotus pond. However, they were only rumors, after all. Many people did not believe them, because there was no particular evidence.

But now, it was different. Some of them were injured, some were sick, and some were said to have seen ghosts. For a time, the rumors in the manor were rampant. Even Madam Ling heard about these rumors in the Auspicious Clouds Courtyard.

“First... First Madam, what should we do? Will... will she come for us?” Mother Chen had helped in carrying out the murder of Ning Ziying. She was so scared that her face turned pale. She stood in front of Madam Ling, quivering with fear.

Just now, several maids and older female servants in the courtyard were gesticulating wildly. She thought that something had happened, so she followed them and asked. Hearing that the Cloud Reflection Courtyard was haunted, she was scared and rushed back to report to Madam Ling.

“It’s impossible. How could there be a ghost? When Ning Ziying was alive, she was not able to face up to us. How could she come back ... ” Although Madam Ling’s face was blue and red, at least she was calm. She gritted her teeth and said, “Someone must have deliberately made such a mess. Go and ask who was the one who wanted to go into the Cloud Reflection Courtyard, and who asked to remove the bricks.”

In her opinion, it must be that person who was deliberately trying to stir things up, by pretending that there were ghosts. When she found that person, she would never let him or her go!

“First Madam, it’s, it’s the Eldest Young Master. He... he wanted to go to the Cloud Reflection Courtyard to find something, so he asked people to move the bricks.” Mother Chen had already inquired about it, so she knew that Ning Huaiyuan was the one who started all this trouble.

“Why did he go to the Cloud Reflection Courtyard? Did someone ask him to go?” Madam Ling asked gloomily.

“I heard from Eldest Young Master’s servant that Master Xia wanted to get something from the Cloud Reflection Courtyard. So, he is helping him to get it,” Mother Chen answered.

“Bang!” Madam Ling threw the teacup in her hand, onto the marble floor. It was smashed to pieces immediately. She said angrily, “What does Xia Yuhang want to do? Could it be that he can’t bear to part with that girl? Did he regret marrying Yan’er? Now that she’s dead, does he want to remember her by keeping her stuff?”

“First Madam, this may not be the reason. Master Xia has always been very solicitous about Young Lady Ziying’s things.” Mother Chen hurriedly tried to soothe her.

This reminded Madam Ling about Xia Yuhang’s behavior. At that time, when the dowry was delivered to the Manor, the servants came back to report that Xia Yuhang, as the groom, had personally, with some people, gone to check the dowry. He even looked through it from time to time, as if he was looking for something. However, his eyebrows were always furrowed.

The servant who delivered the dowry was shocked as he thought that Childe Xia was not satisfied, so he came back to inform Madam Ling.

“Mother Chen, is there any mystery in that” Madam Ling’s eyes were wild. At that time, she did not think too much about it as she was preoccupied with her plans of killing Ning Ziying. Now, she felt that something was wrong, and her heart was filled with all kinds of emotions.

“First Madam, I also don’t know what he wants. In a few days, it will be the Lunar New Year. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Eldest Young Lady, as a bride, will return. Then, you can ask her directly.”

Mother Chen was just a servant of the inner courtyard, so she did not know much about what was happening outside. She had to shift the topic from Xia Yuhang to Ning Ziyan. She knew that Madam Ling had been worried about Ning Ziyan since that thing happened. She lost all desire for food and drink, because she was afraid that something terrible would happen to Ning Ziyan.

Therefore, after hearing her what she said, Madam Ling nodded and felt that it made sense. However, the situation at the Cloud Reflection Courtyard was not optimistic. After thinking for a while, she asked, “Can I invite some Taoist priests or monks to conduct a religious rite? After all, it seems weird.”

“First Madam, you can’t! If there is a Taoist priest or someone else during the Lunar New Festival, Madam Dowager will be unhappy. Besides, it might make things even worse at the Cloud Reflection Courtyard? We can’t let others spread more rumors.” They had committed a guilty deed. After that, no one took care of Ning Ziyan’s affairs, because not many people knew about her.

Therefore, this matter could be suppressed in the manor, and nothing serious happened. Otherwise, it was bound to arouse suspicion as to why Ning Ziying would commit suicide by jumping into the lake the night before Ning Ziyan got married.

“Ask Housekeeper Zhang to investigate. If anyone dares to gossip and spread rumors about the Cloud Reflection Courtyard, he or she will be severely punished.” Madam Ling said fiercely.

“Yes, I’ll go now. How about the Eldest Young Master?”

“Let Yuan’er do as he wishes.” Madam Ling had made up her mind at this time. She would let Xia Yuhang do what he wanted. When Ning Ziyan came, she would inquire about her. The rumors about the Cloud Reflection Courtyard in the manor had to be suppressed. At this time, she felt a little regret. At that time, she had been impulsive and asked people to build the wall that surrounded the Cloud Reflection Courtyard, and this action had been widely discussed.

Now that she had the bricks removed again, it seemed like she was trying to cover it up.

However, this did not seem like the usual rumors. Fear grew in people’s hearts. Even if it was suppressed by force, the fear in their hearts could not be controlled. If they did not speak about it openly, it would just fill a lot of people with fear. They might suddenly lose control and their fears would erupt.

What’s more, this matter had gone too far to be kept under wraps. Although it did not take a long time for Madam Ling to suppress it, everyone in the manor knew it, except for Madam Dowager Liu, who had been cultivating herself in the courtyard and did not care about anything. Many people, who initially did not pay any attention to it, suddenly began to take note of Cloud Reflection Courtyard. After all, it was scary should it really be haunted.

Ning Huaiyuan came back after lunch. His servants had been warned before he came back, so no one complained to him. Since Ning Ziying moved in, Ning Huaiyuan had never been here. When he entered the door, he felt unhappy when he saw the wild grass growing on the ground.

When he entered the room, there was dust everywhere. Even a slight movement made all the dust fly up. How could they turn it over? They walked around in the inner room, but they did not find any books. However, in the outer room where the maid sat, they discovered that there were two books on the ground. They picked up and flipped through the books. They were Commandments for Women and so on.

They found nothing else, so they picked up the two books and left the Cloud Reflection Courtyard.

The books were delivered to Xia Yuhang that night. Sitting under the lamp in the study, he looked at the two books in front of him in astonishment. His eyes were full of complicated emotions. The air was so stifling that he found it hard to breathe. After a while, he reached out his hand and turned the pages.

The notes were written in a small seal script of the plum blossom. He had not seen this kind of handwriting for a long time, so his hands twitched and trembled slightly. He slowly touched the words and found that the ink marks were not old...