“Fifth Young Lady, please, please save me! Please!” Seeing Ning Xueyan walking out, Concubine Ma suddenly knelt on the ground at the gate and said with tears in her eyes.
“Concubine Ma, what are you doing? You can just tell Fifth Young Lady if there’s anything she can help. Seeing you kneeling down here, other people will think our master is bullying you!” Mother Han was experienced. She took a few steps forward and stood between Ning Xueyan and Concubine Ma. She comforted and persuaded Concubine Ma.
“Fifth Young Lady! Fifth Young Lady, if you don’t help me, I will kneel here until I die!” Concubine Ma managed to get rid of Mother Han’s hands and began to cry loudly.
“Mother Han, since Concubine Ma doesn’t want to say and likes to cry here, just let it be!” Ning Xueyan said indifferently and stopped Mother Han. She then turned and was about to walk into her room.
Concubine Ma was a little surprised when she saw that Ning Xueyan was about to leave without talking to her any more. She was anxious and stood up in a hurry. “Fifth Young Lady!” She called her in a sad voice, tears streaming down.
“Concubine Ma, you can tell me what you want clearly when you calm down. If you are trying to threaten me to do anything that I can’t do, you can leave now,” Ning Xueyan said, looking at Concubine Ma coldly with her icy and dark eyes.
Under her gaze, Concubine Ma felt uneasy. It seemed that Ning Xueyan had seen through her. She immediately turned her head slightly and said humbly, “Fifth Young Lady, I, I’m not that kind of person. I really need your help, Fifth Young Lady.”
“Say it!” Ning Xueyan was patient. She turned around and looked at Concubine Ma indifferently.
“Say it… here?” Concubine Ma was surprised. She then looked back.
She was at Bright Frost Garden’s gate now. When she knelt down just now, some people had stopped to watch, even including a few maids passing by. Therefore, it was inconvenient to say something secret here.
“We can say everything in public. Besides, Concubine Ma, I don’t think there is anything you have to hide from people. So please put it straightforward. Otherwise, Concubine Ma, the others will think that you did this because of Junior Concubine Xu. As a junior, I can’t help you with this,” Ning Xueyan said politely and distantly.
Every one of the manor knew that Junior Concubine Xu was Ning Zu’an’s favorite concubine now. And recently, he had been staying with Junior Concubine Xu every night. Concubine Ma had been involved in a lot of troubles before. Although she had managed to prove her innocence, she had something to do with it. In Ning Zu’an’s opinion, without Concubine Ma, Madam Ling would not have been down to this degree.
Concubine Ma had sworn that she had never had an affair with another man, but Madam Ling was certain that she had, although without any direct evidence. Any man would be annoyed and felt unpleasant at such news. Besides, Ning Zu’an had married Junior Concubine Xu, who compared to Concubine Ma, was new, pure, gentle and obedient.
So in any case, Concubine Ma would be out of favor.
Most people of the manor were snobbish, so when Concubine Ma became down and out, nobody wanted to talk to her. Because Concubine Ma had made a scene last time, Madam Dowager was mad at her as well. Now Concubine Ma had to be humble and cautious in the manor.
It was abnormal that she had knelt at the gate of Bright Frost Garden and cried loudly.
“Fifth, Fifth Young Lady, I, I really need your help for something private. It’s about my family, so it’s inconvenient to talk about it here,” Concubine Ma said in tears. She wiped tears with a handkerchief while speaking in hesitation, as if she was too shy to say it because it was her family business.
Seeing that Concubine Ma seemed to be in a dilemma, some maids and older female servants could not help feeling sorry for her. Concubine Ma’s family must really get into trouble. Maybe Concubine Ma wanted to give some money to her parents, so she had come here to ask Fifth Young Lady for help. It would be too embarrassing to say such things in front of so many people!
Fifth Young Lady had gone too far that she was even forcing her to reveal her family’s difficulties in public!
Ning Xueyan looked at Concubine Ma coldly. Concubine Ma had not only forced her to agree to help her, but also spoken in such a miserable tone, as if Ning Xueyan was bullying her. Obviously, she came to Bright Frost Garden to act!
“Your family met with some difficulties? If you didn’t come to me for the theatrical troupe, I may be able to help you.” Ning Xueyan suddenly walked close to Concubine Ma with a smile. When she said the “theatrical troupe”, she lowered her voice. She smiled thoughtfully while looking at Concubine Ma’s face with her jet-black eyes.
Concubine Ma’s face blushed, and then turned pale. She raised her head and looked at Ning Xueyan in a panic.
Now she just remembered that Ning Xueyan was clear with the affair between her and her lover.
“Concubine Ma, let’s talk inside.” Ning Xueyan gave way to her politely and gestured her in, as if she did not notice Concubine Ma’s pale face.
“No… I won’t. Fifth Young Lady, I, I suddenly remember that… I don’t know if that person said is true. Maybe nothing bad happened to my family!” Concubine Ma refused to get into the room almost subconsciously. She was in a panic and she spoke disorderly. How could she have forgotten something so important? Ning Xueyan knew her secret!
The Fifth Young Lady in front of her was no longer the one who had been so timid and bullied by others at will.
“Oh? So you got the news about your family from others? You’d better make sure of it. If this causes some unnecessary trouble, your family may really get into trouble! Concubine Ma, don’t worry. Since you’re still Lord Protector’s concubine, nothing serious will happen to your family!” Ning Xueyan said meaningfully with a slight smile.
Everyone thought that Ning Xueyan was comforting Concubine Ma. However, for Concubine Ma, the words were just like thunders. “Since I’m still Lord Protector’s concubine, nothing serious will happen to my family! Is she hinting that if I were not Lord Protector’s concubine, something big might happen to my family?” Concubine Ma thought.
“I, I, I have nothing to bother you now. Fifth Young Lady, thank you for comforting me!” With that, Concubine Ma bowed to Ning Xueyan in a hurry and turned to leave with her maid. She left in such a hurry that she almost ran away.
Ning Xueyan winked to Xinmei and Xinmei followed behind Concubine Ma quietly.
Concubine Ma’s appearance became a sensational affair and soon every one of the manor knew it. At first, they thought that something big had happened, but later, they knew that the rumors were exaggerated. In fact, although Concubine Ma had knelt down and cried a lot in the beginning, she had not done anything before leaving Bright Frost Garden in a hurry. Nobody knew what she wanted to do. Maybe Concubine Ma was trying to make trouble again!
Her panic made other people think that she must have done something evil and worried to be found out by people.
Concubine Ma was so nervous and she was not in a mood to care about the rumors. She had been thinking to escape from the manor before, but now she realized that she made a mistake. How could she be so stupid to follow that person’s words and do this? She should have known that Fifth Young Lady was not easy to mess with.
“Concubine Ma, why did you come back so soon?” As soon as she arrived at a quiet path, she heard a contrived voice ring out.
It was Caifen, a maid of Third Young Lady. She came here to convey Third Young Lady’s message to Concubine Ma.
“You, you can tell Third Young Lady that I, I don’t want to leave the manor!” Concubine Ma turned around and said seriously, looking at Caifen.
“So you are willing to be out of favor and end up being inferior even to a maid? Then you will have to lead such a miserable life for the rest of your life! What a pity! You’re so pretty, and wherever you are, you’re the most charming one among people. There are so many places you can go after leaving the manor. It’s impossible for anyone to catch you!”
Caifen’s face went icy when she heard Concubine Ma refuse her suggestion, but soon her attitude changed and she spoke in an exaggerated intimate voice.
At the thought that she might be ignored by Ning Zu’an all the time if she continued to stay at the manor, and when she grew old and died, nobody would know her body rotten in the backyard of the manor, Concubine Ma could not help clenching her fists. “No! I’m still young! I don’t want to die in the backyard of the manor at such a young age!” She shouted inwardly.
But it was not that easy if she wanted to escape. She wondered if Third Young Lady would really help her.
Seeing that Concubine Ma was hesitating, Caifen took two steps forward and whispered in her ear, “Concubine Ma, don’t worry. My master will definitely help you. You know that both Third Prince and Fourth Prince think highly of her, so in any case, she will be a Consort of Prince. Of course it won’t be difficult for her to protect you. Besides, marquis won’t turn his back on her for such trifles.”
With Ning Qingshan’s current status, she had no problem to protect a concubine of Ning Zu’an. Every one of the manor knew that the two princes thought highly of her. Therefore, compared to Ning Xueyan, a nobody, Ning Qingshan was more likely to win.
However, as Ning Xueyan knew her secret, Concubine Ma did not dare to make an enemy of her.
“Is Third Young Lady really willing to help me?” Concubine Ma asked in hesitation.
Caifen’s face darkened. “There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you don’t want to pay the price, you’ll get nothing. If you follow Third Young Lady’s words, she will help you to leave safely and prepare the passports you need to run far away from the manor!” she said.
She could leave if she wanted. But before that, she had to do something for Ning Qingshan.
“But Fifth, Fifth Young Lady is very smart. I, I’m afraid of being found out by her!” Concubine Ma stammered. She did not seem to have more choices.
“Be found out by her? So you came back after only saying a few words at the gate just now? If Third Young Lady knew it, you wouldn’t have any chance to escape. And you will have to stay at the manor until you die. It’s said First Madam is going to be released from the Buddha Hall. Since marquis doesn’t like you as before, how can you win First Madam?”
Caifen sneered. Seeing her white teeth shining, Concubine Ma was almost desperate。
Hearing that she was going to report to Ning Qingshan, Concubine Ma grabbed Caifen by the hand and pleaded, “Please… don’t tell Third Young Lady. I’ll think it over. I’ll think it over.”
“My master is not that patient. Just tell me “yes” or “no”. My master said that even if you did something wrong, marquis couldn’t find you after you escaped from the manor, so he could do nothing to you. You don’t have to worry about your family. Since marquis is such a high-rank official, how can she be so mean to get your family into trouble. The Lord Protector’s Manor can’t afford to be laughed by the outsiders!”
Caifen said as per Ning Qingshan had told her. Ning Qingshan had told her to say this if she saw Concubine Ma come back in disgrace. Now she knew that her master’s concern was justified. Concubine Ma was too useless!
