Chapter 468   Ignore the Difference between the Legitimate and Illegitimate Children

Their blood dripped into the water in the bowl. At first, they respectively floated in the east and west, but after a while, they slowly approached the edge of the bowl and merged in the end.

Since Ning Yuling felt her arm pricked by a needle unexpectedly, she had looked disconcerted. She had expected that their blood could not merge, because Ning Ziyan had told her that the little bitch Ning Xueyan had changed a lot and might actually be someone else. Otherwise, it made no sense that such a cowardly and timid person would become like this.

Ning Xueyan was completely different as if she was reborn in flames.

In the past, Ning Xueyan had never fought back or talked back and always allowed Ning Yuling to humiliate her. She could only tremble and even be unable to utter a complete sentence when forced into a corner by Ning Yuling. However, the current Ning Xueyan seemed to be completely different. Perhaps she was a fake indeed...

Ning Yuling had expected such a result that she had been looking at the two drops of blood in the water with her eyes widely opened. At the moment when the two drops of blood merged, she heard a buzz in her head. Ning Xueyan’s identity turned out to be real! How could it be real since she had changed dramatically in such a short time?

Madam Dowager also looked sullen. She stared blankly at the two drops of blood in the water and didn’t know which result she had been expecting. She had mixed feelings, both disappointed and delighted.

“The water is from the well and used by everyone in Cold Mountain Temple, and the bowl is cleaned every day. Second Sister, do you believe that we are biologically related now?” Ning Xueyan didn’t look at Ning Yuling. She lowered her eyes and focused on the bowl of water. It seemed that only the bowl of water was what she cared most about.

Meanwhile, the so-called relatives present, such as Ning Yuling, Madam Dowager and others, were less important than this bowl of water.

Her grief almost infected everyone present. They involuntarily looked towards Madam Dowager on hearing her words.

Her words were abrupt, but didn’t seem abrupt compared with what Ning Yuling had done before. Thinking of Madam Dowager’s ambiguous attitude before, they felt pity for Ning Xueyan.

Verifying blood affinity by dripping the blood into the water to see if the two drops of blood merged meant that Ning Xueyan was distrusted, and it was a shame for her to be forced to do so. Moreover, it happened in front of the solemn memorial tablet. As her grandma, Madam Dowager didn’t even try to stop it and just let Ning Yuling kept stirring it up with her words.

The Fifth Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor was forced to have a blood test by her family members. Lord Protector’s Manor was so callous that love and respect among their sisters were just bullshit. Even Madam Dowager, as an elder, was unkind and not protective towards this granddaughter at all.

Thinking of the rumors before, people doubted that the Fifth Young Lady Ning, who was said to be the only legitimate daughter of Lord Protector’s Manor, was even inferior to a servant in Lord Protector’s Manor! Ning Zu’an hounded his legal wife (Ning Xueyan’s mother, Madam Ming) to death because of his favorite concubine, Madam Ling who was so vicious, so even if she was a legitimate daughter, she lived such a miserable life.

There was no one in the manor protecting her. More and more people felt pity for Ning Xueyan, while considering Lord Protector’s Manor unkind. Such a family deserved so many scandals. They made a concubine the legal wife and a son born out of wedlock the legitimate son. They could do anything absurd.

“Xueyan, come here. I know that you’ve been wronged. It’s not anyone else’s fault, but hers. Come and turn her over to the court. Daring to set up the legitimate daughter of our manor, she’s seeking death.” Madam Dowager said amiably to Ning Xueyan, and then harshly shouted at the middle-aged woman kneeling on the ground.

Of course, Madam Dowager was standing by Ning Xueyan’s side with a clear-cut stand at this moment. The gaze at her of several madams, who were standing at the door to watch the farce, made her realize that something was wrong. If she hadn’t some expectations just now, she would have stopped it. Now she probably had been considered unamiable, so she certainly felt anxious now.

“There’s no need to do that. Grandma, is it really important who set me up?” Ning Xueyan still didn’t look up, but she seemed to have lost all interest in life and showed deep tiredness in her soft voice. She pushed the bowl containing blood towards Ning Yuling, and then carefully looked at the blood in the bowl.

She didn’t cry or make any scene. She was extremely quiet and gentle, but it made people feel more pity for her.

She intended to stand up with Xinmei’s help, but when she just stood up, she suddenly became limp.

“Young Lady, Young Lady!” Xinmei reached out to hold Ning Xueyan in a hurry and cried out anxiously.

“Hurry up and help my cousin to the side for a rest.” Ming Yuanhua hurriedly came over, supported her from the side, pointed to the door of the side hall and said. A novice monk had already walked over and opened the door. The two of them, together with several servants, ignored Madam Dowager’s presence as an elder and helped Ning Xueyan to the side hall on their own.

It was supposed to be a lack of etiquette. Both Ming Yuanhua and Ning Xueyan were Madam Dowager’s juniors, so they had to report to Madam Dowager before doing that. But at this moment, no one felt anything wrong. Madam Dowager treated her granddaughter so indifferently and heartlessly that it really chilled everyone’s heart.

“Fifth Sister, I didn’t mean it. It has nothing to do with me. I...” Ning Yuling explained, flustered. The development greatly went against her expectation. Their plot went wrong in the last step. Looking at the scared middle-aged woman, she found that they had missed a link.

According to her and Ning Ziyan’s plan, it would be found out that Ning Xueyan was not the biological daughter of their manor. At this moment, the middle-aged woman would claim that Ning Xueyan had a birthmark, but Ning Xueyan didn’t have it. That was to say, Ning Xueyan was still Madam Ming’s daughter. However, since she was Madam Ming’s daughter but her blood and Ning Yuling’s blood couldn’t merge, it only meant that there was something wrong with Ning Xueyan’s identity.

In this way, Madam Ming would be proved to be unfaithful, while the middle-aged woman could get away from it. The plot was closely linked and almost flawless.

However, the most important link of the plot went wrong, so the following links all went wrong. If the middle-aged woman was sent to the government, she would inevitably give up her and Ning Ziyan’s names. At the thought of this, Ning Yuling became extremely anxious and looked out unconsciously.

She hoped that Ning Ziyan could show up at this moment and at least bring the news that Ning Xueyan had a private meeting with a man. By the time such news came, at least Ning Xueyan’s reputation would be ruined. At that time, no one would notice what the middle-aged woman had done.

As she expected, someone came in and should bring the news from Ning Ziyan. As long as Ning Xueyan’s scandal was exposed, what she had done here would be left aside. At the thought of this, she felt relieved and calmed down, and then stopped Madam Dowager, who also looked sullen and intended to get up to see Ning Xueyan.

“Grandma, look, someone else comes from outside. I’m wondering if Eldest Sister has anything to tell us. Let’s wait for a while.”

Ning Yuling suggested that they should leave Ning Xueyan, the decent legitimate daughter of Lord Protector’s Manor who had passed out, aside and wait for a maid of Ning Ziyan, the daughter of a concubine. Madam Dowager felt embarrassed with no need to look at other mesdames’ faces. She knew that what had happened before had driven a wedge between her and Ning Xueyan. Now she was eager to draw Ning Xueyan over to her side.

Throwing away Ning Yuling’s hand, Madam Dowager said with an unpleasant look, “I don’t think that she has anything important to tell us. You can wait here. I’ll go to see Xueyan now.”

“Grandma, wait a minute. Maybe Eldest Sister really has something important to tell us.” How could Ning Yuling let Madam Dowager go at this moment? She reached out again anxiously to drag Madam Dowager’s sleeve.

“Grandaunt, please wait and see what the Eldest Young Lady and the Second Young Lady are up to. You should handle the elder sisters’ business first. Xueyan won’t be able to have a rest peacefully until they finish their farce.” No one knew when Ming Yuanhua showed up at the door of the side hall. He coldly watched what was going on in the hall, and said with cold eyes.

He said politely and suggested that Madam Dowager should handle the elder sisters’ business first. His words seemed to be reasonable, but thinking them over, people would find that they were not reasonable actually. Aristocratic families laid stress on treating the legitimate children and illegitimate children differently. In the entire Lord Protector’s Manor, Ning Xueyan was the only legitimate daughter at the moment, while Ning Ziyan and Ning Yuling were not even ordinary illegitimate daughters.

How could they be so bold to make trouble? Now the legitimate daughter had passed out and was lying inside. The maid sent by an illegitimate daughter was even more important than the fainted legitimate daughter? How much Lord Protector’s Manor ignored the difference between the legitimate and illegitimate children and disobeyed proper rules so that the two outrageous sisters could be so bumptious?

“How dare you stop me! If you think that Ziyan has something important to tell you, just wait here on your own.” Embarrassed by others’ gaze, Madam Dowager rebuked Ning Yuling harshly with a flap of her sleeve, while her face turned red. She just heard a few of the words in low voices at the gate of the main hall, though she did not hear clearly, even so, she still blushed unconsciously.

She had felt displeased with the fact that Ning Yuling set her mind on being someone’s concubine. Now she became even more displeased. She only felt that Ning Yuling was not only shameless but also brainless. Stirred up by Ning Yuling, she let Ning Xueyan have the blood test in front of so many people. Others must consider her unamiable.

Thinking of this, with her veins protruding, Madam Dowager intended to walk away regardless of Ning Yuling. She really hated that Ning Yuling decided all by herself. Of course, she chose to forget her expectation that the two drops of blood wouldn’t merge. If so, Huaiyuan would become the legitimate son of Lord Protector’s Manor again.

Compared with the legitimate son, the legitimate daughter was much less important.

Therefore, Madam Dowager did not stop Ning Yuling just now. But now, things went contrary to her wishes. Not only did she fail to get the result she had expected, but she was also considered an unamiable elder. How could she not be angry?

“Grandma, eldest sister really has something important to tell us. Please wait for a while,” Ning Yuling said in a low voice. Seeing that the maid, who ran over, was about to enter the hall, she was afraid that Madam Dowager would really leave and then there would be no one influential enough here. So she revealed a hint in her words.

“What’s the matter?” Madam Dowager immediately understood what Ning Yuling meant. She stopped and raised her eyebrows with a cold sparkle in her eyes.

“Grandma, please leave, leave after hearing it...” Ning Yuling said eagerly, while involuntarily showing a joyful and complacent look.

“Madam Dowager, Madam Dowager, something happened. Something serious happened!” The maid ran over with sweat all over her face. She pushed away the crowd in the hall and shouted in panic before coming up to Madam Dowager.

“What happened? Say it!” For fear that Madam Dowager would not ask, Ning Yuling asked hastily before Madam Dowager said anything. Madam Dowager clearly saw the delight in her eyes.

“The Eldest Young Lady has done wrong. Madam Dowager, please go and have a look. The Eldest Young Lady has been caught in the private meeting with another man.” As expected, asked by Ning Yuling, the maid only focused on answering without noticing the volume of her voice. On hearing her words, the whole hall fell into silence.

Ning Yuling was shocked and stunned. She felt cold all over as if she had been poured by cold water from her head to her toe. Before she could react, she was slapped violently, making her stagger and fall to the ground heavily...