The Devious First-Daughter

While she was serving him with tea and water, the Emperor’s men arrived.

In one massive stroke of coincidence, this scene was witnessed by everyone.

“Forget about Moqin. Her scandal isn’t a big deal. But Ning Qingshan...” Grand Tutor Ya was similarly irritated at the mention of Ya Moqin, but she was nevertheless his granddaughter. Now that her granddaughter had lost her position, he should at least have her give birth to the heir.

In a rare display of disobedience toward Grand Tutor Ya, Honored Consort Ya said unhappily, “Father, how can I explain it? If you hadn’t sent Shan’er to the Lord Protector’s Manor back then, this wouldn’t have happened.”

At the core of the matter, the adultery of her son’s concubine wouldn’t have happened had Grand Tutor Ya not sent Ning Qingshan to the Lord Protector’s Manor. Ning Qingshan was a wife-born daughter and much smarter than Ya Moqin. Honored Consort Ya thought that she was the only one who could help her son. Ya Moqin might also be her niece, but she wasn’t good enough for her.

Ya Moqin was like a madwoman. She didn’t even think it through before running to Ao Mingyu’s room. Not only did she sabotage Honored Consort Ya, but she also ruined Ao Mingyu’s reputation.

“Forget about Ning Qingshan. What’s there to say? She’s already dead... She had always been a clever one. I thought if the Lord Protector adopted her, she would be able to marry Prince Xiang as Lord Protector’s wife-born daughter and my granddaughter and give Prince Xiang’s Manor massive support. Who would have thought that she would end up like this?”

Grand Tutor Ya sighed. He had great expectations for Ning Qingshan and wanted her to marry Prince Xiang. Little did he expect such an outcome. Both he and Honored Consort Ya refused to believe that she would have an affair with another man, but the problem was that Ao Mingyu had given her a lot of leeway at that time. She could come and go with ease, and Prince Xiang’s Manor was in chaos then.

No one knew when she went missing and they had no way of investigating it either. As for the two men who had an affair with her, they were beaten to death on the Emperor’s order that very night. Even if he wanted to investigate, he couldn’t.

“Mother Luo said that Shan’er was the princess of the previous dynasty and under someone’s protection. I wanted to use these forces to aid Yu’er but now that’s just a pipe dream,” Honored Consort Ya said. She wanted to forgive Ning Qingshan because she was her niece and wouldn’t do such a thing. Another reason was that Ning Qingshan claimed that she had someone’s support and that she was the former Grand Elder Princess.

Honored Consort Ya and Grand Tutor Ya had been aware of this a long time ago. Ning Qingshan was their family, and naturally, they knew this was an unchanging fact. However, it was beneficial for them to have someone mistook Ning Qingshan for the Grand Elder Princess. They allowed her to misunderstand without reminding her, just so they could slowly gain control over that group of people and use them.

Unfortunately, the people were cunning. They would disappear without a word at the slightest hint of disturbance on their end. Grand Tutor Ya didn’t learn anything even after planting spies around Ning Qingshan, and those spies would always vanish like they did this time. He had a man tail Ning Qingshan, but that man did nothing during the incident and vanished again.

“Keep Mother Luo around for now. You don’t have to tell her Ning Qingshan’s true identity. Just let her misunderstand. She has seen a woman in white or whatever, hasn’t she? We’ll keep her around. Maybe she’s still useful. But you can kill the two maids. I don’t think they’re that loyal to Ning Qingshan.”

Grand Tutor Ya spoke slowly. Following the string of inexplicable events, the biggest victim was Ao Mingyu. His reputation was ruined because of his connection with the two scandals. His body was ruined and was still unable to get out of bed. His power was also damaged. Minister Xia, a secret ally of Ao Mingyu because of Xia Yuhang, had been stripped from his position and exiled to his hometown. This was a considerable blow to Ao Mingyu.

“All right. That’s all we can do for now.” Honored Consort Ya nodded. She was helpless, too. She looked at Grand Tutor Ya and couldn’t help but say, “Father, if there’s nothing wrong with Wu Yao, make it so that she’s not living beside our manor. To put it bluntly, Shan’er is gone and the truth about the former Grand Elder Princess has been revealed to be dead. There’s no point in keeping her alive.”

“Don’t worry about this!” Grand Tutor Ya retorted, looking uneasy. “She’s a relative after all. It’s not nice to chase her away as soon as we finish using her.”

“A relative? Father, my sister-in-law has brought up the matter with me more than once. She heard that the rumors about Wu Yao are bad. A widow always invites a lot of gossips. My brother is the kind who would go wherever he pleases. Wu Yao seduced her brother-in-law without caring for the reputation of my sister-in-law and Manor Ya! You call her a relative? You should think of a way to chase her away. We can’t let a widow like her hurt my sister-in-law’s heart.”

Honored Consort Ya might not like Ya Moqin, but she had to mention this matter no matter what. She had met Wu Yao before. She used to think that Wu Yao was a proper aristocratic lady and Wu Yao seemed gentle and elegant. The reality was that Wu Yao had no bottom line whatsoever. Honored Consort Ya had long known about Wu Yao’s affair with her brother.

She wasn’t just doing this for her sister-in-law but the reputation of Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor as well. Grand Tutor Ya’s Manor was her son’s strongest backing. If rumors of a scandal were to spread, the first victim would be her son. She had no choice but to say this.

“All right, I get it. I’ll take care of it.” Grand Tutor Ya nodded, stood up, and excused himself.

Honored Consort Ya’s frown deepened as she watched her father leave. If she heard his father correctly, his voice was very harsh earlier. Were the rumors true? If they were, then it would be troublesome...

Ning Xueyan woke up refreshed the next day, especially after hearing the rumors that Xinmei had relayed. She even had an additional half a bowl of porridge as she attentively listened to Xinmei repeat the rumors. This showed how good of a mood she was in.

She was no Virgin Mary, after all. After what Ning Qingshan did to her, she felt very happy to see Ao Chenyi return the same favor to Ning Qingshan. She also knew why Ao Mingyu forgave Ning Qingshan; it was likely because Ning Qingshan revealed that she was the former Grand Elder Princess.

She used her identity as a bargaining chip for her life.

This wasn’t a bad move by Ning Qingshan, and it was the right time too. If she revealed it and used it well, it might just save her life. However, what she didn’t know was that almost everyone had already known that Ning Ziying was the former Grand Elder Princess. That meant that she was just a fake.

Perhaps Wen Xueran made the same mistake at first, but he used that mistake to his advantage and manipulated Ning Qingshan into thinking that she was the honorable former Grand Elder Princess. To her, using her identity as a bargaining chip was an undeniably good move, a near completely safe move.

Unfortunately, she didn’t realize how low of a value she had. She wasn’t valuable enough for Ao Mingyu and Honored Consort Ya to risk everything. Perhaps, as a fake, she was still useful for drawing Wen Xueran out, but this purpose of hers wasn’t enough to make Ao Mingyu and Honored Consort Ya go against the Emperor.

So, Ning Qingshan died and she didn’t figure out her real identity even until the moment she died. No one would risk much to save a fake former Grand Elder Princess like her.

Ning Xueyan believed that Ao Chenyi had dealt with her kidnapping incident on her behalf. Her chastity would have been ruined after the kidnapping but fortunately, only Ao Chenyi and a few of their trusted aides knew. She wasn’t at all worried that others would know about this.

Xia Manor was over and done with. Minister Xia was no longer a minister. Xia Yuhang was stripped from honor and barred from ever becoming a court official. With such a verdict, he had lost all hope of becoming a court official. It would be the same even if Ao Mingyu became the Emperor; he could never disobey his father’s will so blatantly.

Even if Ao Mingyu wanted to use Xia Yuhang again, he would have to do it in the dark. That was possible until Ning Qingshan’s scandal was exposed. When Xia Yuhang and Ning Qingshan colluded to harm her, they must have met privately and discussed. It was unlikely that they didn’t leave any clues behind. Ning Qingshan must have fallen into a trap.

If Ning Qingshan was fine, Xia Yuhang could have claimed that he was asking her about Ao Mingyu’s injury. After all, he couldn’t enter someone’s residence as he pleased. But with Ning Qingshan gone, he would never be able to explain his role in the collusion clearly. It remained a question if Ao Mingyu would still use him without misgivings.

The episodes of her past life, it seemed, had come to an end. From now on, her life would no longer revolve around revenge. That was also why she had an additional half bowl of porridge.

She put down the bowl of porridge and wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. “What’s going on with Commandery Princess Xianyun?” she asked. Even now, she was more used to calling that woman Commandery Princess Xianyun. Xinmei said that Commandery Princess Xianyun was injured in the assassination last night and among the dead were a few of her dowry maids and older female servants. It was said that the assassins misunderstood that Ao Chenyi was with her.

Since she was in the Moon-embracing Tower, her Pear Flower Garden was naturally empty. So, the assassins went to Xianyun’s Bright Mind Garden that was brightly lit at the time. They charged in and injured and killed several people in the chaos. Among the injured was Commandery Princess Xianyun.

“Master, she’s fine. She just can’t get out of bed for the time being. Mother Ruan has just reported back. The physician had visited the consort to bandage her wounds.” Xinmei nodded with a smile. She was on Ning Xueyan’s side, so naturally, she was happy to see Commandery Princess Xianyun—who had harmed Ning Xueyan—in bad luck.

Ning Xueyan nodded and smiled, and her eyes narrowed. She stood up. “Get ready. We’re going back to the Pear Flower Garden.”

The episodes of her past life had come to an end, but those of her present life were vivid in her mind. She hadn’t dealt with Hua Qiuying’s letter yet, had she? She couldn’t believe that Ao Chenyi, with his stinky expression looking like someone owed him almost 1,000,000 taels, would still have such rotten suitors. It upset her indeed...

Most importantly, this rotten suitor of his was no simple character either. Ning Xueyan, as Princess Yi, felt that she had the responsibility to remove this difficult suitor from the core.