Chapter 241   The Broken Pearled Hair-pin

Maybe because Madam Dowager suddenly called her name, or maybe because Madam Dowager looked too serious with her darkened face, when Ning Xueyan raised her head and looked at Madam Dowager, her hands trembled and the sheet immediately slipped from them and happened to drop at Ming Feiyong’s feet.

Ming Feiyong was sitting on the left of Madam Dowager and Ning Xueyan was also standing beside Madam Dowager.

It had happened so suddenly. When Madam Dowager had called out the last word of Ning Xueyan’s name, the sheet had dropped to the floor. Ming Feiyong bent over and picked it up before Madam Dowager could say anything else.

Ming Feiyong flicked it after picking the paper up. After looking through it, he said with a sneer, “Madam Dowager, do you want me to show it to the court and ask the Ministry of Justice to identify if it is real?”

It was very easy to identify the authenticity of the dowry list, because the signatures of the two families on the sheet could not be forged. Both Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an had signed on the list when the dowry was brought to the manor and at the bottom of the list were their signatures.

Ming Feiyong raised the paper high in front of them. He was happy at the sight of signatures of Madam Dowager and Ning Zu’an on it.

Normally, people would not deny the facts, but Madam Dowager was different from them. Ning Xueyan knew a person as selfish as Madam Dowager would not give back the shops and other items in the list easily. After all, these were worth a lot of money.

But whether she wanted it or not, she had to give them back!

As Ning Xueyan had expected, at the sight of the dowry list, Madam Dowager froze for a few seconds and then became a little panicked. However, soon, she recovered her composure. “Yan’er, you might have gotten the wrong one. Is this list really left by your mother?” she asked.

She narrowed her eyes and stared at Ning Xueyan when she spoke this. She paused for a short moment when spoke every word with coldness in her eyes. She was warning Ning Xueyan that if she dared to say ‘Yes’, she would definitely be seriously punished. Since Madam Dowager could do nothing to Ming Feiyong, she had to pressure Ning Xueyan.

She was quite sure that Ning Xueyan would not dare to contradict her. If Ning Xueyan said that list was not Madam Ming’s dowry list, Ming Feiyong could not argue with them anymore. After all, it was Ning Xueyan, not Ming Feiyong, who would heir to the property in the dowry list.

If she were the same Ning Xueyan, she would say as the Madam Dowager wished after being threatened. However, she was quite different from what she used to be now, because that timid girl, Ning Xueyan, had already died after Madam Ming.

As if being scared by Madam Dowager, Ning Xueyan turned her head and checked the list carefully. “Grandmother, you suspect this is not my mother’s dowry list? Impossible! It was found by Mother Han, and there are your and my father’s signatures on it. It should be true,” Ning Xueyan confirmed after several careful checks.

Seeing that Ning Xueyan did not figure out her hint, Madam Dowager grew angry. “Check it carefully! If you mistake it, you will be severely punished for your attempt to defraud the other’s property!” she said, gritting her teeth.

“Defraud the other’s property? The dowry is Madam Ming’s. How can her daughter inherit her mother’s dowry as an attempt to swindle others out of their property? How shameless Madam Dowager is!” Ning Xueyan thought, a coldness flashing in her eyes. She had thought that Madam Dowager would threaten her after she showed the dowry list, so she had found the countermeasure in advance.

After rebirth, she was totally different from Ning Ziying, the kind and soft-hearted girl, who was so easily to be tricked!

Her jet-black eyes blinked a few times with anxiety, as if she also doubted that she had mistaken it or maybe Mother Han had taken the wrong list. She reached out and was about to take the paper from Ming Feiyong. “Mother Han took the wrong list? It’s impossible! Everything my mother left is taken care of by Mother Han, so she shouldn’t have taken the wrong one,” she said hesitantly.

She seemed to be talking to herself, and reaching out her hand naturally. Madam Dowager was very excited. “If Ning Xueyan gets the list, I will find a way to have her give it to me. Then I can tear up the paper on the pretext that it is the wrong one. Without evidence, Ming Feiyong can do nothing to us!” she thought.

Ning Zu’an knew what Madam Dowager was thinking about. Although he did not approve of it, he did not protest. He frowned slightly and did nothing, going to wait and see what Madam Dowager would do next.

Ning Xueyan’s hand almost touched the paper in Ming Feiyong’s hand and Ming Feiyong did not seem to be wary of her. Seeing her reaching out, he passed the paper to her and asked, “Yan’er, it’s said Prince Yi also said yesterday that the shop was your mother’s. Is that true?”

He mentioned what Ao Chenyi had said casually yesterday. Hearing this, Madam Dowager’s heart thumped.

Why had Prince Yi, Ao Chenyi, talked about it? Ning Zu’an froze for a while and then stopped them in a hurry. If it was someone else who had mentioned it, Ning Zu’an would not care about it. However, he must take every word Prince Yi said seriously, even if it was only a blurt out.

Prince Yi was extremely powerful. If he was offended, he would retaliate against his opponent by any means. Ning Zu’an knew that compared to his political future, the property was not that important.

“Wait a moment!” He must say something. He was in a hurry when he spoke and he could not help raising his voice. He was trying to prevent Madam Dowager from making a move, but to his surprise, Ning Xueyan was scared at his words. She drew her hand back quickly, as if it had been burned.

Her body waved a few times and she almost fell to the floor. Fortunately, Lanning, who was standing behind her, had quick reflexes and caught her in time. Before she managed to stand firmly, something shiny fell off from her hair. With a clear metallic sound, it dropped to the floor and separated from a hair-pin in front of people.

The pearled hair-pin was broken!

It was not a big deal to break a pearled hair-pin, but as soon as Madam Dowager saw the pearl, her face turned pale. It was not an ordinary pearl, but a South Sea Pearl!

There were a few South Sea Pearls in the manor, but she had never given any of them to Ning Xueyan. Therefore, the South Sea Pearl on Ning Xueyan’s hair-pin must be the one she had gotten from Prince Yi yesterday.

South Sea Pearls were round and flawless, and people could tell at a glance. Obviously, this pearl could not be used anymore. A small piece of it was missing when it had hit the floor just now. The consequence would be serious to have broken the thing from Prince Yi!

“Yan’er, when did you have this hair-pin made?” Madam Dowager swallowed hard and asked difficultly, pointing at the pearl on the floor.

“Grandmother, Prince Yi gave me the pearl. Later, I happened to pass by a jewelry shop, so I asked the people there to design a hair-pin for me and embed a South Sea Pearl on it. The shop assistant brought it to me last night after finishing it. It was plain and elegant, so I pinned it on my hair today. Unfortunately, it was broken!” Ning Xueyan said regretfully.

She crouched and tried to put the broken hair-pin and the pearl together, but obviously, they could no longer match each other perfectly.

“Prince Yi gave the pearl to you?” Ning Zu’an asked anxiously.

“Yes! Someone tried to blackmail us when I was at our shop yesterday. When I was dealing with that swindler, Prince Yi walked into our shop. He specially gave me a box of South Sea Pearls,” Ning Xueyan explained in a soft voice.

Ning Zu’an’s face turned pale. Who would dare to break Prince Yi’s things so casually?

“Prince Yi also said that the shop was your mother’s? he continued.

“Yes, Prince Yi mentioned this. Father, if you don’t believe me, you can ask Mr. Yu, the shopkeeper of the cloth shop. In addition to him, some passers-by and the shop assistant were also present. There were many people watching,” Ning Xueyan said calmly. She then picked up the pearl and the hair-pin and stood up.

Madam Dowager might take Madam Ming’s dowry forcibly because of her greed, but obviously, Ning Zu’an would not do this. He knew that the consequence would be serious if he offended the bloodthirsty devil, Ao Chenyi. Sometimes, Prince Yi did not follow anyone’s words, so it was useless even though Ning Zu’an was the emperor’s favored subordinate.

Ning Xueyan glanced at Madam Dowager’s greedy face and then at Ning Zu’an’s frowned brows. Finally, her eyes fell on Ming Feiyong. She blinked to him secretly. She had analyzed the situation in the letter she wrote to Ming Feiyong yesterday.

“Marquis, Madam Dowager, since even Prince Yi said that those shops belonged to my sister, he must have his reason. I will show this evidence to him.” Ming Feiyong stopped talking. He then put the dowry list in his pocket, stood up and was about to leave.

Obviously, he was going to sue the Lord Protector’s Manor.

Moreover, Prince Yi would also get involved in this matter. He might not testify for Ming Feiyong in court, but at the thought that the pearl was broken only one day after he had given it to Ning Xueyan, he might fly into a rage. Prince Yi was a moody person, if he was annoyed, many people might lose their lives. Although he was not the emperor, people were more afraid of him than of the emperor because of his ruthlessness. Nobody could tell whether he would be happy or angry next second.

Ning Zu’an made a quick decision. He stood up and reached out to stop Ming Feiyong. “Mother, just give Yan’er everything listed on the sheet. After all, they were left by her mother,” he said to Madam Dowager.

“But...” Madam Dowager could not bear to give away such a large fortune. She hesitated and her face flickered. She had planned to give all the property to his grandson, Huaiyuan. If she gave all the dowry to Ning Xueyan, it would no longer belong to Lord Protector’s Manor when Ning Xueyan got married in the future. She felt sad at the thought that Lord Protector’s Manor could get nothing from it.

Thankfully, unlike Madam Ling, although Madam Dowager was greedy and she wanted to take Madam Ming’s property, she knew what was more important. Since Prince Yi was so powerful and cold-blooded, they could not afford to offend him.

She suddenly remembered that the servants had told her yesterday that Prince Yi had specially told Ning Xueyan to ask him for help if she had any difficulty. Although she did not know why Prince Yi favored Ning Xueyan so much, Madam Dowager knew that he might help Ning Xueyan in this matter. If Prince Yi was annoyed, everything could happen.

After all, money was less important than life! If they could not even keep their lives, they would not enjoy the glory and wealth anymore.

“Yan’er, if these shops are really your mother’s, you will be in charge of them in the future. Although Madam Ling did not behave properly, she took over the accounts because your mother did not want to take care of the shops.” Hearing what Ning Zu’an said, Madam Dowager changed her mind and said with a smile, looking very amiable.magic