"You saw Fifth Young Lady with a man?" Ning Lingyun asked excitedly, widening her eyes.

"Yes, miss. That man is young and very handsome. Moreover, I saw Fifth Young Lady vomit holding a tree once; it looked like she was..." the older female servant paused and dared not to continue. Ning Lingyun was very excited.

A man had taken Ning Xueyan out of the Lord Protector’s Manor! Most importantly, she was about to vomit! She must have been pregnant! Hearing such a shocking secret about Ning Xueyan, Ning Lingyun couldn’t control her joy.

If not because of Ning Xueyan, everything would have gone smoothly as she plotted. Although she reached her goal finally, everyone in the manor looked down upon her. Thinking about this, she wanted to kill Ning Xueyan.

She hadn’t expected that if she had got her way, it would be a terrible disaster for Ning Xueyan. Because if that was the case, Ning Xueyan would have only committed suicide to prove her innocence or married Marquis of Ping’an, which would make her live no better than die.

"Good! I’ll visit Fifth Young Lady right now." With that, Ning Lingyun put on her cloak and was about to walk out.

"Ning Xueyan is not in her room now. If I go to her place and prove it in person that she is out at the moment and report it to Madam Dowager, then she couldn’t hide the secret of having an affair with a man from others!" Ning Lingyun thought.

"Miss... wait! The man looked very aggressive. If he finds out that you blew the whistle, he might kill you!"

Seeing Ning Lingyun was serious to reveal them, the older female servant was anxious. She immediately grabbed Ning Lingyun’s cloth.

The older female servant had hidden in a corner just now when the handsome man found her. She almost fell to the ground under the cold gaze of the man. She had been in the Lord Protector’s Manor for some time, so she knew such a man couldn’t be ordinary. If Fourth Young Lady exposed Fifth Young Lady’s secret, that man must be annoyed, and Fourth Young Lady might lose her life because of this.

Since he was able to freely come and go of the inner courtyard of the Lord Protector’s Manor, it would be a piece of cake for him to take someone’s life.

"I’m not scared. It’s the Lord Protector’s Manor here. I don’t believe that he dare kill me here!" Ning Lingyun would never miss such a good opportunity, and she believed that the guards of the Lord Protector’s Manor were capable enough to protect her.

"Miss, you should think it over. No guards found him come and go of our manor just now. I believe that it wasn’t his first time to do this. However, nobody else in our manor has found him before, so he must be no ordinary. If you annoy him, he might hurt you and even kill you. It won’t be worth it."

The older female servant knew that Ning Lingyun planned to rely on the guards of the manor, so she tried to persuade her to give up this idea. She clung to her dress and didn’t want her to go.

At the thought of the man had found her in the corner, the older female servant began to regret to have told the secret to Ning Lingyun. She worried that something bad might happen.

Hearing what she said, Ning Lingyun began to fear too. She was sure that she would enjoy an extremely distinguished and prosperous life in the future, so it was not worth dying for Ning Xueyan. She thought the man who took Ning Xueyan away must be a desperado. On the contrary, she was going to be the Consort of Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li soon, so her life should be much more precious than a desperado.

But she didn’t want to let go of Ning Xueyan easily. She thought for a while and walked back to the room. She paced back and forth in her room and then whispered in the older female servant’s ear, looking confident. The older female servant widened her eyes and nodded hard.

The next day...

Ning Xueyan found herself in her own bed when she woke up. She blinked and then stared the ceiling blankly for a while before she recalled that she had been taken away by force by a prince who seemed not in a good mood. She should thank God that the moody prince hadn’t left her in the snow.

"Miss, you have woken up!" Hearing a faint sound coming from inside, Lanning lifted up the curtain and brought the toiletries which she had already prepared for a long time to Ning Xueyan.

It was late in the morning, so after freshening herself up, Ning Xueyan walked to Madam Dowager’s place accompanied by Lanning to present her respects.

To her surprise, she saw Ning Lingyun in the Lucky Garden.

Obviously, Madam Dowager was not friendly to Ning Lingyun. However, for the sake of the Commandery Prince Li’s Manor, she didn’t drive her out, but chatted with her absentmindedly.

Since it had been decided, no matter what she would do to Ning Lingyun, the result couldn’t be changed. And she knew that Lord Protector’s Manor would definitely marry Ning Lingyun to Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li after so many unexpected things had happened. Otherwise, if any rumors got out, the Lord Protector’s Manor would become the laughingstock of people.

Nobody had expected that Ao Xian would have really fallen in love with Ning Lingyun. Since it was the case, Madam Dowager didn’t want to change anything. But she was still mad at Ning Lingyun. Although she had no evidence to prove that it was Ning Lingyun who had plotted everything the other day, she knew that Ning Lingyun would be the biggest beneficiary of this.

Compared to the benefit of the whole Lord Protector’s Manor, they could only sacrifice Ning Yuling.

"Hi, Xueyan! Grandmother just talked about you. Why did you come so late?" Ning Lingyun said in a coquettish tone. She came over and wanted to hold Ning Xueyan’s hand. Her attitude seemed to be abnormally polite.

Ning Xueyan moved a little to the side and dodged Ning Lingyun’s hand quietly. She bowed to Madam Dowager who was sitting on the principle seat and said, "Greetings, grandmother!"

She didn’t think she was late, because it was at this time that she had come to show her respects to Madam Dowager before.

"Raise your head. Have you eaten breakfast?" Madam Dowager asked with a dark face. She wasn’t in a good mood because so many things had happened recently. Furthermore, she had to administrate the manor in these days. As an old lady, she didn’t have enough energy to deal with so many things, so she looked weary.

Normally, if Ning Xueyan said she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, Madam Dowager would have asked her to go back.

However, it seemed that she couldn’t leave that easily today, because Ning Lingyun was here too.

How could Ning Lingyun, a ’warm-hearted’ Young Lady let go of her so easily? She came over, wiggling her waist exaggeratedly. She grabbed Ning Xueyan’s hand and said with a smile, "Grandmother, since Xueyan hasn’t eaten breakfast yet, how about ask her to eat with you?"

Madam Dowager looked at Ning lingyun, showing no emotion on her face. But Ning Lingyun was still smiling at her.

"Xueyan, just stay here and eat something with me." Madam Dowager shifted her gaze from Ning Lingyun and nodded to Ning Xueyan.

Although she didn’t mention Ning Lingyun, she didn’t say that Ning Lingyun couldn’t have breakfast with them.

The maid standing beside her immediately brought two sets of tableware for them.

The two Young Ladies sat beside Madam Dowager, one on the left, and another one on the right.

Ning Xueyan straightened herself up and looked at Ning Lingyun, a flicker of doubt in her eyes. Ning Lingyun had changed a lot recently since Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li had sworn to marry her. She didn’t need to follow Ning Yuling and flatter her any more.

Sometimes, she seemed even more arrogant than Madam Dowager!

Ning Xueyan smiled slightly. She didn’t show her disdain on her face, but in her opinion, Ning Lingyun was no more than a villain with a temporary success.

She knew Ning Lingyun wouldn’t have been so warm to her for nothing, so she planned to wait and see what this woman would do next.

"Grandmother, Xueyan and I haven’t had breakfast with you before. We’re so lucky to have such an opportunity this morning. Don’t you think so, Xueyan?" Ning Lingyun was flexible and she said with a smile. She picked up one of Madam Dowager’s favorite snacks with chopsticks and placed it on the plate in front of Madam Dowager.

The way she acted just now was quite similar to what Madam Ling had acted in front of Madam Dowager.

It seemed Ning Lingyun admired Madam Ling so much. She had always been nervous when she was being with Madam Ling, but obviously, she had completely learned the way Madam Ling spoke and acted. From her aura, an outsider might think that she was the daughter of First Madam by mistake! She didn’t seem to have realized that the marriage between her and Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li didn’t mean that her status in the manor was higher than before. It would be nothing at all if not because the Lord Protector’s Manor got into trouble recently.

Something disgraceful had happened to the Young Ladies of the manor one by one, so Madam Dowager needed a decent wedding to show to the outsiders.

Both of Ning Ziyan and Ning Yuling’s marriages were not going well, so if there were something unexpected happen to Ning Lingyun, nobody would like to marry the Young Ladies of the Lord Protector’s Manor!

But Ning Lingyun didn’t think that way. She thought that she was extremely important in the manor now and nothing could be done without her.

But from the indifference in Madam Dowager’s eyes when she looked at Ning Lingyun, Ning Xueyan could tell that Madam Dowager wouldn’t have thought highly of the daughter of a concubine if she had any other choice.

Although Madam Ling’s family was rich and powerful now, Madam Dowager still thought she wasn’t decent enough, so as far as Madam Dowager was concerned, a concubine’s daughter like Ning Lingyun was even less important than a high-class maid.

"Just put it there. I don’t want to have it," Madam Dowager said coldly. Then she asked a maid to pick another piece of snack from the other side for her. Obviously, she was trying to embarrass Ning Lingyun.

Ning Lingyun was shameless. She seemed unconcerned by Madam Dowager’s indifference. After all, her target was Ning Xueyan today. She turned her head and looked at Ning Xueyan unscrupulously; an arrogance appeared on her face. She knew that Madam Dowager didn’t like her, but she must be here today, because she was going to reveal Ning Xueyan’s scandal in front of Madam Dowager!

"Ning Xueyan spoke and acted like a saint girl when she knew I was trying to seduce Lord Protector’s Manor, but now look at her! She has had an affair with a man for a long time and she is pregnant! She has disgraced the Lord Protector’s Manor!" Ning Lingyun thought.

She picked up a haw jelly with her chopsticks and put it on the plate in front of Ning Xueyan.

Pretending to care about Ning Xueyan, she said, "Xueyan, have this. The haw jelly is sour and sweet. It’s very delicious. It’s said that you didn’t have an appetite and couldn’t sleep well lately. Oh, I also heard that you liked sour food and you vomited yesterday in the morning. Is this all true?"

Hearing that, Madam Dowager who was sitting on the principle seat was surprised. There was something sharp in her clouded eyes. She looked at Ning Xueyan with a dark face, but said nothing.

"Vomited?" Ning Xueyan wondered what Ning Lingyun was going to do. She looked at Ning Lingyun and said indifferently, "Fourth Sister, you must have heard someone wrong!"

"Impossible! An older female servant of mine saw you vomit last night. Xueyan, are you sick? You’re so young. You should keep yourself safe and sound." Pretending that she knew nothing about Ning Xueyan’s ’affair’, Ning Lingyun turned to Madam Dowager and said, "Grandmother, please ask the doctor of our manor to diagnose for Xueyan. She may be seriously ill."

Madam Dowager wouldn’t have taken her words seriously before. However, at the moment, she was a little suspicious. She looked at Ning Xueyan and hesitated for a while. Then she nodded and ordered Mother Qin, who was standing beside her, "Go and fetch the doctor of our manor."

With that, she slammed her chopsticks onto the table. Then she stood up and walked toward the inner room.