The Devious First-Daughter

Suddenly, the cart stopped, as if it bumped against something. “Have I reached my destination?” Concubine Ma wondered.

Soon, the barrel began to shake again, as if being lifted by someone. Sensing this, Concubine Ma became more assured. She held her breath in the barrel and did not dare to move at all.

The barrel landed firmly, as if being placed on a cart. Then the cart was pulled away. At the beginning, the barrel shook a little, but not seriously. Based on the distance they had traveled, Concubine Ma estimated that they had left the Lord Protector’s Manor. She felt a little relieved. It was really convenient to come out of the manor at this point!

After some time, the cart stopped and the barrel was lifted again. Concubine Ma listened carefully, but heard nothing. It seemed everything was extremely quiet outside. Then something very heavy was hung over the barrel and Concubine Ma felt that under the weight of it, the barrel was likely to fall. Before she could do anything, the barrel suddenly rolled out in the air horizontally.

With a bang, Concubine Ma felt the barrel being thrown into somewhere. The water gushed into the barrel with a splash and the barrel sunk into the depth of the water rapidly. A barrel should not have sunk at such a speed in water!

“Heavens!” Concubine Ma screamed subconsciously and was about to get out the barrel. She realized that the barrel had been tied with an iron block and thrown into the water.

The water rushed in and soon the barrel was full. Concubine Ma could not even stand up and she sank rapidly with the barrel. In her last waking moment, she realized that she was going to die. She had never thought that she would die the moment she had just fled the Lord Protector’s Manor.

If she were given a chance to choose again, she would not accept the gold, and she would not follow the other’s words to frame Ning Xueyan. Then she might not lose her life.

A woman in white stood by the river, watching the barrel sink with a relaxed look. Now there were no more bubbles came out from where the barrel sank. If nobody else had witnessed this, the barrel with an iron block on it and the body of the Lord Protector’s Manor’s concubine might never be found out.

“What a stupid woman! She even thought about getting the second batch of gold. Now she can only ask the king of the hell for it!”

The woman turned to the road beside her and disappeared soon. Only a middle-aged cart driver was left on the bank. He was in a coma beside a cart, on which there were several big barrels.

After a while, this man woke up. He touched his head, wondering why he had suddenly fainted here. He did not find anything wrong and pulled the cart forward along the river bank. He would reach his destination after crossing one more road.

A building made of bamboo stood in a bamboo forest. Although it was in winter, it still looked fresh and elegant.

The woman in white showed up. She walked into the bamboo forest and came over to the building. After going upstairs, she stopped behind a bamboo curtain.

“Master, it’s done!” The woman in white stood there respectful and then bowed to the person in the room, a gentle smile on her beautiful face.

“Are you sure Third Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor is the one we are looking for?” An elegant and alluring man’s voice rang out behind the curtain.

“Yes. I think she is!” the woman answered after a short moment of hesitation.

“You think? You must make sure of it!” With a snort, a powerful energy wrapped in killing intent rushed out and hit the woman. The woman’s feet felt like jelly and she got down to the bamboo floor on one knee with a bang with a trace of blood at the corner of her lips.

“Got it. I will try my best,” she gritted her teeth and answered with difficulty, covering her chest with her hand.

“Continue to investigate. I don’t want to hear any uncertain answer, and I don’t hope such a thing happen again.” The alluring voice became much gentler and sounded so elegant and melodious.

It was as if he had not been annoyed just now.

“Got it. I’ll look into the situation thoroughly!” the woman answered and nodded hard.

“You can leave now!” The man’s voice became cold again.

“Yes, master! I’m leaving now.” The woman in white sentimentally looked at the tall and straight figure through the bamboo curtain and then staggered downstairs, covering her chest with her hand.

After a while, a slender hand lifted the bamboo curtain and an extremely beautiful man appeared on the platform of the bamboo building, his bright green clothes fluttering in the wind. He threw the fan in his hand to the air and then caught it again.

A brilliant and charming smile appeared on his face. However, if people observed carefully, they could tell although he was smiling, he was not pleased.

Concubine Ma was missing! This time, the maid did not dare to report to anyone without making sure of it, so it was not until noon the next day that the news spread. By that time, Concubine Ma had been missing for the whole night.

Ning Zu’an asked his men to search every corner of the Lord Protector’s Manor, but they found neither Concubine Ma nor her body.

This time, of course, nobody said her missing had something to do with Fifth Young Lady of Bright Frost Garden.

Third Young Lady had stopped Fifth Young Lady at the gate and accused her of trying to help Concubine Ma escape, but later, Concubine Ma was found at Madam Dowager’s courtyard. This news had spread all over the manor.

Concubine Ma had been at odds with Fifth Young Lady and she had tried to poison Fifth Young Lady before. Therefore, the servants of the manor did not believe that Fifth Young Lady would help Concubine Ma to escape. They thought Third Young Lady must have misunderstood, that was why she had said this.

Now Concubine Ma disappeared quietly from the manor, and it could not have anything to do with Fifth Young Lady. Fifth Young Lady was still very young and she was so weak. Besides, she seldom went out. How could she make Concubine Ma disappear without arousing attention? Although someone said that Lanning had gone to Concubine Ma’s courtyard yesterday after Fifth Young Lady and Third Young Lady had argued at the gate, someone else proved that Lanning had been there to warn Concubine Ma, because Concubine Ma behaved strangely and she was probably to flee.

It was Bright Frost Garden’s servant who had found her yesterday!

Therefore, Concubine Ma was more likely to have escaped by her own.

Now some sensitive people became suspicious about Third Young Lady. It was obvious that Concubine Ma had tried to escape on her own will. Since she had offended First Madam, and people who knew Madam Ling well could tell that Madam Ling would not let go of Concubine Ma after she was released from the Buddha Hall, it was normal for Concubine Ma to have come up with an idea of escaping.

But why had Third Young Lady said that Fifth Young Lady had something to do with her escaping? Fifth Young Lady had little contact with Concubine Ma, so it was impossible for her to help the latter to escape. Besides, Third Young Lady’s servant had been very aggressive when she accused Fifth Young Lady at the gate, saying that Fifth Young Lady was unfilial and immoral because she was going to help Concubine Ma leave the manor and meet her lover.

Could Third Young Lady really have something to do with Concubine Ma’s missing? Unlike Fifth Young Lady, Third Young Lady was close with Third Prince. Third Prince was so powerful, so it would be a piece of cake for him to take away a concubine from the Lord Protector’s Manor.

If that was the case, why had she stopped Fifth Young Lady at the gate yesterday?

It was said that Concubine Ma had been very close with Third Young Lady’s maid, Caifen, recently. They had talked secretly from time to time, as if they were plotting something.

Under somebody’s deliberate guidance, the servants of the manor gradually associated Concubine Ma’s missing to Ning Qingshan.

At Lucky Garden…

Now only Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an were sitting in the room. After serving the tea for them, Mother Qin exited respectfully. She closed the door when she walked out. She did not leave, but still stayed at the door.

She was smart and she knew that she should not listen to such conversations. Although Madam Dowager did not ask her to leave, she still stepped out consciously.

She was clear that the more she knew, the sooner she would die.

“Don’t waste time looking for Concubine Ma any more. She is just a concubine. Give her family some silver and put the matter to rest.” Since only the two of them in the room, Madam Dowager put down her teacup and put things straightforward.

Although Concubine Ma was only a concubine, she was different from those servants bought by the Nings, and the masters of the manor could not end her life at will. Otherwise, if the rumors spread out, it would be very disadvantageous to the Lord Protector’s Manor. The manor had been in a lot of trouble recently.

“Mother, don’t worry. I have given some silver to Concubine Ma’s family and hinted them that Concubine Ma had eloped with another man. Her family members won’t come here to make trouble.” Ning Zu’an nodded, an angry look crossing his eyes. He had almost forgotten what Concubine Ma had done before, but to his surprise, she escaped from the manor today! Ning Zu’an had asked his men to investigate carefully, and they found out that Concubine Ma actually had an affair with an actor!

He had been cuckolded for a long time! Thinking about this, Ning Zu’an could not hold back his anger.

“Don’t be upset about it anymore. After all, she’s just a concubine. I reminded you to be cautious with people from poor families when you were about to bring her in, but you didn’t follow my words and insisted on marrying her as your concubine,” Madam Dowager said unpleasantly.

She had objected to Ning Zu’an’s bringing Concubine Ma to the manor, but Ning Zu’an had repeatedly promised that Concubine Ma was a pure woman, and although her family was not rich, her background was clean. But what had she done since she came to the manor? She had tried to poison Yan’er, and she had fought Madam Ling, and now she even escaped! She had brought a lot of trouble to the family!

“Mother, I know I was wrong, but Madam Ling is really…” Ning Zu’an realized that he had made a mistake, so he shifted the topic and tried to talk about something else, but Madam Dowager cut him off impatiently.

“It’s useless to talk about that now. You should keep our manor in order. What do you think about Shan’er? Yuan’er said that Third Prince was very angry at that point, but he didn’t punish Shan’er and only took away Shan’er’s maid, who had taken all the blame for Shan’er.”

Madam Dowager’s brows knitted tightly. She had been trying to avoid talking about that matter. She had strongly opposed to keeping Ning Qingshan in the manor, but Ning Zu’an had insisted on keeping her, so he had adopted Ning Qingshan as his daughter. However, Madam Dowager was still worried that something bad would happen to the manor because of Ning Qingshan. At the thought of this, she had no appetite to eat and could not fell asleep.

She had a feeling that Ning Qingshan was a hidden trouble, and she would get the whole manor into trouble sooner or later.

“Mother, calm down. I knew clearly about what happened years ago. We won’t have any trouble because of this child. Since Honored Consort Ya is sincere to have Shan’er her daughter-in-law, I can tell she also approved our adoption of Shan’er. Don’t worry about it anymore. Third Prince seemed to be very angry, but in the end, he did nothing to Shan’er.”

Ning Zu’an was also uneasy, but he still tried to comfort Madam Dowager.

“I hope so!” Madam Dowager nodded with a heavy heart and let out a long sigh. If Grand Tutor Ya had not asked them for help, she would not have accepted Ning Qingshan. No matter how smart and obedient Ning Qingshan was, Madam Dowager would not treat her as her own granddaughter. She decided to unite the imperial family by marrying her own granddaughters to the princes. “Zu’an, do you think that Fourth Prince really has feelings for Yan’er?”