Chapter 441 A Lot of Trouble

Ning Xueyan guessed right. The Third Prince held a great feast in his own manor for the ministers who supported the Fourth Prince, but suddenly there was a blazing fire there. This news was sent to the palace urgently and the emperor was rudely awakened from his sleep. He immediately summoned the two princes to his side and scolded them severely. To be specific, his lecture was divided into three aspects: their country, their father and son, the emperor and his minister.

The Third Prince said that he had done nothing except for talking and drinking with those ministers. Unexpectedly, someone could not stand it and deliberately set fire to his manor. Hence, he aired his grievances in front of the emperor and kept begging him to find the arsonist to seek justice.

However, the Fourth Prince said that he did not know anything. He even had no idea that his people were invited by the Third Prince to have a drink. How would he know that it had something to do with him? It was so unfair.

Both of them claimed to be in the right about that. Later, Honored Consort Ya and Honored Consort Shu also heard about it. They hurried to kneel in the Imperial Study together with their sons. They cried and complained of being wronged, which gave the emperor a headache. In the end, the result was that the emperor only issued symbolic punishments for these two princes.

After that, the emperor scolded both Honored Consort Ya and Honored Consort Shu, then went straight to the Qiongfeng Palace of Honored Consort Xia.

After this farce, it was already midnight when Ao Mingyu returned to his manor. The servant sent by Mammy Luo was waiting for him at the door. When he saw Ao Mingyu getting off the carriage, he ran over and reported to him. However, after getting through the fire event and the emperor’s scolding, Ao Mingyu, an even-tempered man, was almost incandescent with rage now.

Ao Mingyu could not maintain his gentle smile anymore. When he heard that Ning Qingshan got into trouble again, he threw a cold glance at the servant, then ignored him and turned to go inside. Although the fire had been put out, there was still a lot of work to be done and everything was still in a mess.

When the servant of Lord Protector’s Manor saw that the Third Prince ignored him and went straight into his manor, he hurriedly grabbed a person behind him and asked, “Your Highness, does he… agree or not? Our Third Young Lady’s leg is broken. If it is not looked into soon, her situation might worsen.”

“Don’t worry. She won’t die soon. Now the palace gate is closed, so wait until tomorrow!” The man said sourly. If it were not for his master who had once cared about the Third Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor, he would not have talked to him at this time. Did he not see what was going on? He actually came here to cause more trouble.

After saying that, the man pulled his sleeve aside and hurriedly followed the Third Prince into the manor. Finally, they left that servant alone there.

The closed palace gate meant that the Imperial Physicians on duty were locked up in the palace, but not all the Imperial Physicians were there, on duty. The other Imperial Physicians lived outside the manor. Even if the servant of the Lord Protector’s Manor knew it was an excuse, he could not do anything about it.

It was messy at the gate of the Third Prince’s manor. A crowd of people were handling all kinds of affairs that night and the scene was chaotic. Nobody paid any attention to him. Only when it was dawn, did someone come out and take him to the doctor who was good at setting bones. Then they hurried to Cold Mountain Temple in the early morning to set Ning Qingshan’s bones.

In Cold Mountain Temple, Ning Xueyan woke up from her sleep and found that it was already bright outside. Lanning and Xinmei had been waiting by her bed for a long time. Hearing the sounds from the bed, they hurriedly lifted the curtain. When they saw that Ning Xueyan looked fine as she laid in bed, they smiled happily.

Ning Xueyan did not even know when she fell asleep last night. She only remembered having a talk with Ao Chenyi, but now she found that she was lying on the bed. She should have been carried over by Ao Chenyi.

After washing up and finishing breakfast, she lay back on the bed, then Lanning and Xinmei carefully applied the ointment on her body.

Xinmei was better at dealing with wounds than Lanning. She said reassuringly, while applying ointment on Ning Xueyan, “Fifth Young Lady, there should be no problem with your wounds. The ointment will prevent scarring, so you just need to have a good rest for a while.”

After a night’s sleep, Ning Xueyan really felt that she was fine. Her whole person had recovered a lot in strength. What’s more, she had breakfast by herself just now. Some wounds on her body were caused by scratches from tree branches. After applying the ointment and a night’s rest, she did not feel any burning pain now.

“How is it going over there?” Ning Xueyan pointed out of the window. That was exactly the direction of Ning Qingshan’s courtyard.

“She kicked up a fuss for a while. Later, I have heard that she is better, but the light over there has not been extinguished yet. In the morning, the Imperial Physician came to set the bone for Third Young Lady and Madam Dowager was also there then. Now it should have been done already. As for the rest, I am really not clear.” Although Lanning paid attention to Ning Qingshan’s movements, she had no reason to inquire about her news directly. Besides, Fifth Young Lady was still in a state of “being alive or dead”. As a personal maid of the Fifth Young Lady, it was really not convenient for her to go to the Third Young Lady’s courtyard.

Ning Qingshan’s foot was hurt yesterday. At that time, the sun was just setting and it was not that late, but the Imperial Physician had just come over in the morning. It seemed that the Third Prince had behaved perfunctorily toward Ning Qingshan because of the big fire last night. He ignored her condition and put it off till this morning. After all the delays, Ning Qingshan’s leg would take a longer time to recover.

Xinmei put down the ointment so she could wash her hands in the water basin by her side, then said in a low voice, “Fifth Young Lady, Prince Yi has told you to have a good rest these days. You don’t have to worry about anything else. The sacrificial ceremony on Granduncle’s side has already begun, but the opening ceremony will be held at the end. There is still about half a month or so, so you just need to show up then.”

Because of her special situation, it was reasonable to hold the opening ceremony at the end. Anyway, it was not so urgent now. Since Ao Chenyi asked Xinmei to tell her that, he probably wanted to say that he had already dealt with those things, so she just needed to take care of herself.

“Has Madam Dowager’s servant been stopped by Prince Yi?” Ning Xueyan thought for a while and said. She was injured and even if she could not be healed, Madam Dowager would definitely come to see her in person.

“Granduncle and Madam Dowager’s people were all stopped by Prince Yi. Later, Madam Dowager came in person again when Prince Yi was severely scolding Granduncle. He complained that Granduncle did not take good care of Fifth Young Lady and caused you to be injured. If he had not happened to go up the mountain, your body might not even have been found. Madam Dowager stood in the courtyard and listened for a while, then she left.”

Lanning made a cup of tea for Ning Xueyan with a smile, and also moved the back cushion for her, then said this saucily. She was in a good mood as she said that. At that time, Madam Dowager was outside the courtyard with a sullen face, which made Lanning very happy, when she saw that.

Granduncle did not take good care of Fifth Young Lady. She had grown up in the Lord Protector’s Manor, but they did not pay much attention to her and only let her go up the mountain with a few servants. Hence, the Lord Protector’s Manor took main responsibility for the Fifth Young Lady’s injury. At this time, they came here and would definitely have to face Prince Yi’s wrath. What’s more, Prince Yi’s imposing manner was astonishing. When Madam Dowager stood outside and heard the conversation, she was frightened and then left in disgrace.

She had seen Madam Dowager bullying Fifth Young Lady in the past, but now they finally had a chance to stand up with their heads held high at this time.

When Ning Xueyan thought of Madam Dowager being hesitant if she should come in or leave, she could not help laughing out loud. Madam Dowager was sinister and selfish and was also good at stabbing someone in the back. But now, she did not dare to say anything when she encountered this sort of happening.

She was the Madam Dowager of the Lord Protector’s Manor and also Ning Xueyan’s grandmother, but Ao Chenyi who was so powerful and decisive would not care about this. What’s more, if Madam Dowager really made Ao Chenyi angry, even if he did not bother about her, what would he do with Ning Zu’an?

With such scruples, Madam Dowager did not dare to offend Ao Chenyi. Since he did not allow her to visit Ning Xueyan, she would not come over again. So Ning Xueyan led an easy life for the next few days. During these days, Ao Chenyi had been here all along. He seemed to be very busy and only came to accompany Ning Xueyan at night.

Because they declared that Ning Xueyan was still in a coma, the doctors in the courtyard were busy writing out prescriptions and brewing medicine, which made the whole courtyard reek with the smell of medicine. At the gate of the courtyard, Ao Chenyi sent two guards over to stop those “irrelevant people”. Of course, the so-called “irrelevant people” referred to everyone else, except him.

Ming Feiyong was an official, so he could not stay long on the mountain. Fortunately, Ming Yuanhua was in charge of the sacrificial ceremony, so there was nothing amiss. Now that Madam Dowager was here, she could not pretend not to know about it. She had intended to feign illness, but Ning Xueyan was in a coma and Ning Qingshan could not move. If she, the only female who was in a normal state, pretended to be sick, the whole Lord Protector’s Manor would lose their dignity.

For the sake of Madam Ming, Ning Zu’an had already been punished by being made housebound by the emperor. Madam Dowager did not dare to make trouble about those kinds of things, so as not to make the emperor angry. Since she came here, she would offer incense to Madam Ming tomorrow to express her sincerity. Now Madam Dowager did not intend to hide it anymore.

There was no way to hide it. Many people had known about the Cold Mountain Temple’s dojo. What’s more, Ning Xueyan and Ning Qingshan met with an accident on the way to Cold Mountain Temple, one after another. At the moment, people in the capital city were talking about the Lord Protector’s Manor. They all knew that Madam Ling had framed the real Marchioness-Madam Ming, while Ning Zu’an was as blind as a bat and kept this wicked woman beside him.

It was a joke in the capital city that the principal wife had been treated as a concubine in the Lord Protector’s Manor. Many people even wanted to wait just to see this good show. Somehow the Xia Manor was also involved. In fact, it was very easy to figure it out because the Lord Protector’s Manor had married off two daughters of the principal wife to the Xia Manor. At that time, everyone had thought that the Xia Manor had gained a great advantage.

But now, they all felt that the Xia Manor had suffered a great loss. In fact, they were two daughters of the concubine and one of them was Xia Yuhang’s principal wife. Anyway, the Xia Manor was a victim. Besides, Xia Yuhang used to be known as a genius, but now he could not even take part in the Spring Metropolitan Examination because of the marriage with Lord Protector’s Manor.

For the sake of a concubine’s daughter, his reputation and future were ruined. It was not just simple bad luck. Xia Yuhang was the most promising son of Xia Manor, but he became so miserable because of his marriage with the Lord Protector’s Manor. Originally, he thought that he would have a better life after marrying a principal wife’s daughter. However, now he found that she was not only a principal wife’s daughter, but also a concubine’s daughter who had a vicious birth mother.

With such a birth mother, how could her daughter be a kind-hearted Young Lady, which set off a storm in the Xia Manor.