Madam Dowager arrived at Buddha Hall with a group of people. When they got there, she found that no one could be seen at the entrance of Buddha Hall and the door was slightly closed. She did not think much about it and asked Mother Qin to open the door at the moment.
The door was pushed open heavily and the maids who stood ahead immediately screamed while covering their faces. Madam Dowager was standing in the middle and could not see it at first. After the maids scattered, the scene inside was immediately presented in front of everyone.
There was a man, a fat and ugly old man, lying on the ground in Buddha hall. He was sleeping while holding Madam Ling in his arms.
“This… this… Go… go to separate them quickly.” Seeing that, Madam Dowager was so shocked that she almost fell down. The muscles on her face trembled and her fingers shook unconsciously. She gritted her teeth and whispered to Mother Qin, asking her to separate them quickly so that no more people could see it.
The Marchioness lay in Buddha Hall while holding a man. If this were to be spread out, everyone from Lord Protector’s Manor would lose face.
Mother Qin knew Madam Dowager’s intentions immediately. She entered Buddha Hall quickly and was about to close the door.
“What happened to mother?” Ning Xueyan muttered because she stood behind them and did not see it.
She stood quite close to Ning Yuling. Both of them were behind the crowd and could not see the front.
Ning Yuling only heard the maids ahead scream, and later Madam Dowager said something she did not hear clearly. When she was trying to figure out what it meant, she heard Ning Xueyan mutter. Immediately, she became startled and pushed aside the two older female servants in front of her while screaming, “Mother, mother, is something wrong with her?”
No one expected that she would suddenly rush out. And Madam Dowager, who was standing ahead, was almost pushed down. The maids and older female servants around her were in a hurry to help her. It was instantly in chaos. Some were squatting, some were standing, and some were half-squatting. All kinds of gestures could be seen.
Mother Qin, who wanted to close the door to deal with the incident inside, was knocked down by the door, which was opened suddenly. She held her waist while groaning in pain and could not get up for a moment.
When the door was totally opened, Ning Yuling suddenly stopped calling Madam Ling. Without the person in front, the people outside immediately saw the two people who were hugging each other inside. Furthermore, Madam Ling happened to open her eyes and look around blankly. Then she looked at the startled Ning Yuling. She still did not know what was going on.
Madam Ling stayed in Buddha Hall all the time. At noon, she enjoyed the meal taken from the kitchen. After that, she got bored and fell asleep.
She did not expect to see so many people when she woke up.
“Ling’er, what happened?” Madam Ling became serious and asked Ning Yuling with an unhappy face. She thought that Ning Yuling had caused trouble again.
Before Ning Yuling could answer, a hand was stretched out suddenly from Madam Ling’s back and she was pulled into the man’s arms. A drunken man muttered behind her, “Beauty, what happened?”
Madam Ling heavily bumped into a strong and soft chest. She subconsciously pushed backward and felt it was soft. Only then did she realized something wrong. She turned around in shock and saw a man’s old and fat face. Immediately, she screamed with alarm and subconsciously struggled to push the man away.
Unfortunately, she was too shocked to get up for a while. Furthermore, she was pulled by the man so that she fell into his arms again. But in other people’s eyes, it was she who deliberately threw herself on the man.
Seeing that her always holy mother was hugging an ugly old man and that the two had no shame and misbehaved in front of so many people, Ning Yuling stood there with changing expressions. She could not endure it anymore. She pushed aside the people behind her and rushed out while covering her face.
“Ling’er…” Madam Ling subconsciously cried out while pushing aside the man. When she saw Madam Dowager’s fierce face, her face immediately turned pale, as if her head had been splashed with cold water.
Madam Ling turned around, reached out, and slapped the man’s fat face severely. “Mother, Madam Dowager, I… I don’t know what’s going on. I… I don’t know this man. How… how could he be here?”
She was in a hurry to prove herself innocent and did not see the man’s face clearly. The man beside her was the Marquis of Ping’an. How could she have never seen him before?
Madam Dowager took a long breath to suppress her anger. Then she said to Mother Qin, who had made great effort to stand up, with a gloomy gaze, “Go to… go to invite the marquis over and ask everyone else go out.” Domestic shame should not be made public. So she could not vent her anger now.
Mother Qin immediately drove the people out and asked someone else to invite Ning Zu’an.
Ning Xueyan took a step forward, held Madam Dowager’s cold hand, and said with concern, “Grandma, sit here first. I’ll call someone in to serve you!”
“I don’t need that. Don’t go out. Help me sit over there.” Today, Madam Dowager was so frightened that she was limp and could not walk. But she did not want more people to see the scandal of Lord Protector’s Manor. So she had to let Ning Xueyan support her. Anyway, Ning Xueyan also saw it and was her granddaughter, who was closer to her than others.
“Yes, Grandma!” Ning Xueyan agreed. She and Mother Qin supported Madam Dowager on both sides and helped her walk to a chair on the side of the small Buddha Hall.
The Marquis of Ping’an, who had been neglected, was woken up by Madam Ling’s fierce slaps. Immediately, he turned to Madam Ling with a dizzy mind and angrily shouted at her while covering his face, “Who? Who dares to slap me?” At present, Madam Ling was the closet to him. It seemed most likely that Madam Ling had slapped him.
“Who are you?” The Marquis of Ping’an was still in a daze now and had not recovered his senses.
“You… you. Who led you here? This is the Buddha Hall of Lord Protector’s Manor. Not everyone can come in!” Madam Ling recognized the Marquis of Ping’an at this time and was very frightened by that. She never expected the Marquis of Ping’an to be here. At present, both of them were in an awkward situation. So she hastily gave a hint to the Marquis of Ping’an.
“The Marchioness of Lord Protector’s Manor?” The Marquis of Ping’an touched his dazed head and sensed that something was wrong. He looked around and saw a small Buddha statue that always could be seen in the Buddha Halls of some manors. Although he was not aggressive, he also knew that something had happened and hurried to explain.
“I don’t know why I’m here. Someone brought me here to rest!”
“Marquis of Ping’an, tell me who led you here?” Madam Dowager’s face was gloomy and her sharp eyes fell on the Marquis of Ping’an. But she still was calm when she asked the Marquis of Ping’an. She had suppressed her anger.
In order to prevent this matter from being spread, Madam Dowager had driven out all maids and older female servants. Now there only were Mother Qin and Ning Xueyan, who would certainly not gossip about this at random.
“I… I can’t remember because I was drunk at that time… It seemed to be a maid. Yes, it was a maid!” The Marquis of Ping’an did not dare say that it was his young male servant who led him here. After thinking about it, he decided to dump the blame on a maid of Lord Protector’s Manor. After all, only women were allowed to enter the womenfolk courtyard of Lord Protector’s Manor freely.
The Marquis of Ping’an did not know the truth and could only speak casually. Ning Xueyan, who was standing aside, looked at Madam Ling, who was tidying up herself in a hurry, with a cold smile on her face.
This kind of matter could not be clarified if there was no reliable witness!
Similarly, they could not say that the Marquis of Ping’an and Madam Ling had a personal relationship for the same reason. But that was enough…
“You can’t remember? Marquis of Ping’an, would you like to call over all the maids of Auspicious Clouds Courtyard? I wonder if you can find out who it was if all of them are here.” Madam Dowager gave a sneer.
Madam Dowager’s remark was extremely unpleasant to hear. She stared at the Marquis of Ping’an and Madam Ling and almost believed that they had a private relationship.
It was no wonder that Madam Dowager suspected them. Although the two did nothing when they were lying together, Madam Ling had given the Marquis of Ping’an a jade pendant before and the Marquis of Ping’an could not explain why he was here. Madam Ling had the ability to send such a secret item as a jade pendant to the Marquis of Ping’an, who then could threaten Lord Protector’s Manor with it. How could Madam Dowager believe that it was a misunderstanding?
“Mother, it’s really not me… I, I don’t know why. I was so sleepy after lunch today that I leaned over here to nap. I didn’t expect to see this after I woke up. I… I don’t know why the Marquis of Ping’an is here… He, isn’t he supposed to have left already?”
Madam Ling was shocked and turned pale. “Mother, I really know nothing!”
“You were sleepy after lunch and you didn’t know what happened afterward? Do you mean that someone deliberately drugged in your food?” Madam Dowager coldly hummed and pounded the table angrily while looking at Madam Ling with fierceness. Her eyes were full of disgust for Madam Ling. There were no outsiders, so she did not need to pretend to like Madam Ling.
“Mother Qin, bring in the older female servant who delivered food today.”
“Yes. She works in Lucky Garden and happens to be here now. I’ll ask her to come in.” Mother Qin nodded, went out, and soon brought in an older female servant.
On seeing the angry and gloomy Madam Dowager, the older female servant was very scared and knelt down as soon as she came in.
Madam Dowager asked her slowly, “You delivered Madam Dowager’s food today. Is there anything wrong today?”
“I… I carried the food over. As usual, I guarded the food prepared for the First Madam all the time and did not leave for a while,” the older female servant answered while trembling. If it was caused by the food, she could hardly absolve herself of the blame.
“Bullsh*t. There must be something wrong with the food. I never felt so sleepy after eating. But today I lost consciousness after eating it. There must be something wrong with the food.” The more Madam Ling thought about it, the stranger she felt it was. She believed that there had to be something wrong with the food.
“Did you come across anyone unusual who came to talk to you on purpose?” Madam Dowager continued to ask.
“Did someone talk to me?” Madam Dowager’s words reminded the older female servant. Her eyes brightened suddenly and she hastened to reply, “Yes, Madam Dowager. Today someone deliberately talked to me. She hasn’t spoken to me in the last few days. But today, she came to talk to me for a long time. At that time, First Madam’s food was ready and I was putting it into baskets.”
“Who?” Madam Ling did not expect that the path would wind along mountain ridges. She immediately seized the hands of the older female servant with excitement.
If Madam Ling could find out that it was someone who framed her today, she would get rid of this matter. Moreover, she had an intuition that the person who framed her was Ning Xueyan. Although she was standing behind Madam Dowager and said nothing, Madam Ling could clearly see mockery in Ning Xueyan’s eyes when she occasionally raised her eyes.
“The maliciousness in your eyes can’t be hidden. Little bitch, how dare you frame me? I’ll make you come to a bad end.”
“Mother, don’t hold her too tight. Otherwise, she’ll die!” Seeing Madam Ling’s hateful eyes fall on her, Ning Xueyan smiled softly and reminded her gently.
