Chapter 70 – Who Is The Victim?
As long as the thing of Ning Yuling was not exposed, what should she be afraid of? Therefore, she certainly had no psychological burden at all and walked at the front.
The group of people walked up to the door of the Chinese Flowering Crabapple Pavilion. Before they arrived at the door, they heard the love-making sounds of a man and a woman coming from inside. The face of Consort Dowager changed greatly. She winked at the servant beside her. Before Madam Ling could react, the servant already went ahead and kicked the door open. Then, the group of people rushed in together. Only Ning Xueyan took two steps back.
So many people appeared in the room all of a sudden, which greatly frightened the two people who were making love on the bed.
As the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was a man, he reacted faster. He pulled the quilt over himself and left Ning Yuling outside. Screaming, she tried hard to pull the quilt.
"You little bitch, you failed to seduce Xian’er last time. This time, you did such a shameless thing again. Do you still want to marry into the Commandery Prince Li’s Manor in a decent manner?" As expected, Consort Dowager saw Ning Yuling in the Chinese Flowering Crabapple Pavilion. She was so angry that she nearly began to vomit blood. She walked up to Ning Yuling and slapped her violently in the face.
Madam Ling was scared silly. It never occurred to her that the woman who was entangled with the man in the room would be Ning Yuling. Seeing her tangled up with the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li with messy clothes, a mouthful of blood nearly sprayed out of her mouth. Her hands were trembling and she could not utter a word.
Madam Dowager was so angry that she could only sit torpidly on a chair nearby. She pressed her crutches hard to the ground with the veins on her forehead popping out.
With a gloomy face, Madam Dowager Liu stood next to Madam Dowager, wearing a blank face.
"Ah, who are you? Why is it you, the dissolute dandy?" Ning Yuling was knocked backward so she hit the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Looking back subconsciously, she looked right into the face of the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. She pulled her clothes from the side and hurriedly put them on her naked white body.
"You... Are you that bitch Ning Yuling?" The Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was also putting on the clothes by his side. He widened his eyes and yelled at her.
"You... Did you just call me a bitch?" After shuffling her clothes on, Ning Yuling pointed angrily at the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li and scolded him in hatred while trembling with a pale face.
"Why can’t I call you a bitch? You even dared to say that I am a dandy. Even if I am a dissolute dandy, I am much better than you, a promiscuous woman. I only wanted to take a break here. Then you came to throw yourself at me. For fear that I would refuse you, you even covered up your face. Ning Yuling, you are cheap enough." The Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li threw the veil from the bed and cursed in rage.
He only believed himself to be a romantic man but could not stand being called a nasty man. Therefore, he pointed at Ning Yuling and cursed her sharply. He even threw out the veil as the evidence to prove that Ning Yuling was a bitch.
Looking angrily at the two half-dressed people, the eyes of Madam Dowager almost popped out of her head. "You, you..." She failed to catch her breath and almost passed out because of that. Madam Dowager Liu was in a hurry to appease her.
"Mother, Mother, it wasn’t me. I didn’t want to come here. It was the little bitch Ning Xueyan that wanted to date him. I was framed by them." Faced with a situation like this, Ning Yuling felt ice-cold from head to toe. All of a sudden, she threw herself before Madam Ling. Holding Madam Ling’s hands, she burst into tears.
"Mother, it was the little bitch Ning Xueyan who wanted to go on a date. I came here to check it out, so I wore a veil. But I didn’t expect that he... he actually grabbed my... my..." While crying loudly, Ning Yuling shouted. "Mother, I was set up by that little bitch Ning Xueyan."
At this moment, Ning Yuling got wise and realized her situation. Miao’er told her that the Third Prince asked Ning Xueyan out. But why did she see the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li only but not the Third Prince? Why it was not the Third Prince? If it was the Third Prince, she would not be afraid even if they were caught. After all, the Third Prince had to give an explanation to Lord Protector’s Manor. She simply did not believe that the Third Prince wouldn’t take the responsibility.
But now, this person was the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Thinking of what Madam Ling told her yesterday about the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li when she returned to the manor, how could Ning Yuling be willing to marry him for nothing? Thus, she surely would insist that the person who wanted to date the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was actually Ning Xueyan.
"Second Young Lady, you again tried to blame your fifth sister for a shameless thing you did. I really don’t know where your brain is!" Madam Dowager Liu could not help rebuking before Madam Dowager started to say something.
The other people in the room also showed sarcastic looks on their faces. Covering their mouths, they all laughed secretly. Even the few servants in Lord Protector’s Manor could not help eyeing the Second Young Lady suspiciously because she really made a shameful scene today.
The Fifth Young Lady had just returned to the manor. Later on, she stayed the entire time with Madam Dowager without leaving. Therefore, why did the Second Young Lady say that the Fifth Young Lady framed her? Out of everyone in the manor, who didn’t know what the Fifth Young Lady’s character was?
"Second sister, are you talking about me?" Ning Xueyan walked in slowly from the outside. Covering up the coldness in her eyes, she looked at Ning Yuling, who was now sitting weakly on the ground in silence.
"You... It is you... It must be you!" Ning Yuling screamed uncontrollably. She could not conceal her jealousy towards Ning Xueyan.
Knowing that she could not control her mood now, Ning Xueyan narrowed her eyes and asked softly, "My second sister, are you really not sober now? I just went back to the manor. How could I know you weren’t in Buddha Hall but in the Chinese Flowering Crabapple Pavilion? Even if I really wanted to harm you, I would have had to know these things first. Besides, I really couldn’t be in two places at the same time."
Her words reminded Consort Dowager, who then turned her head immediately and said to Madam Ling ferociously, "Madam Ling, you reassured me again and again that your very well-behaved delicate daughter fainted in Buddha Hall and then returned to her courtyard to rest, right? But now, who is this person? Is she a famous prostitute from some brothel?"
Consort Dowager’s words were extremely sharp. Speaking like that, she totally took Ning Yuling as a cheap whore.
Previously, Madam Ling had repeatedly said that Ning Yuling was in poor health, but now Ning Yuling was caught on the spot.
"You... Miao’er, you can tell us. Tell us. Is it this bitch who told you that the Third Prince was going to meet that little bitchy Ning Xueyan?" Ning Yuling went mad. Pointing at Miao’er, who stood by the side at a loss, she shouted loudly.
This time she even mentioned the Third Prince!
The faces of Consort Dowager, Madam Dowager, and Madam Dowager Liu all became gloomy and cold. Now all of them turned around and looked at Miao’er.
Being stared at by so many people, Miao’er immediately knelt down with a bump.
Miao’er was shocked and scared. She only knew that bad things had happened to the Second Young Lady and it was related to the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. Thus, neither the Second Young Lady nor Madam Ling would let her go.
"Miao’er, you are the personal maid of Ling’er. The Second Young Lady was originally resting in her own courtyard. Why did she come here? Was she framed by someone? Or is it you who deliberately played a dirty trick and set your mistress up? You must tell us everything honestly. You must make yourself clear today because Lord Protector’s Manor cannot tolerate black-hearted people like you."
After the initial shock, Madam Ling’s mind suddenly clarified. Staring at Miao’er, she reproached her angrily.
It seemed that she was rebuking Miao’er and she wanted her to tell the truth. But in fact, she was threatening Miao’er.
Madam Ling gave Miao’er two choices. The first choice was that Miao’er had been set up by Ning Xueyan. The second choice was that Miao’er had been framed Ning Yuling. Either way, Ning Yuling was the victim.
Madam Ling was in charge of the backyard of the whole Lord Protector’s Manor. So she could easily decide a slave’s life and death as she wished. Moreover, Ning Xueyan, the Fifth Young Lady, had always been looked down upon by the people in the manor. Miao’er stayed by Ning Yuling’s side all the time so she also bullied Ning Xueyan often in the past. How could she fear Ning Xueyan?
Even the new servants of Lord Protector’s Manor knew which one they could offend and which one they couldn’t.
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Miao’er thought about this a little while and then she made her judgment. She immediately pointed at Ning Xueyan and said in a trembling voice, "Yes, I... It was... it was the Fifth Young Lady who had me lie to the Second Young Lady and lure her here. The Fifth Young Lady gave me a large amount of money so I became greedy. I just needed to trick the Second Young Lady into staying in this room for a while. I thought it was nothing serious."
Her words caused an uproar!
All the suspicious eyes turned toward Ning Xueyan!
Off to the side, upon hearing what Miao’er had said, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li learned that Ning Xueyan had instigated Miao’er to lure Ning Yuling here. With a surge of angry flames rushing up, he dashed over to Miao’er with big strides and kicked her. Staring at her, he scolded loudly, "You cheap maid, you got that vamp into my bed only for a little money and harmed my reputation. Are you looking for death?"
Miao’er’s body was kicked over. She covered her chest and had a ghastly pale face. However, she still gritted her teeth and said, "It has nothing to do with me. The Fifth Young Lady asked me to do so. I dared not disobey her order."
Consort Dowager saw that the face of Miao’er changed dramatically because of the kick. Lest something bad happened to the witness, she shouted to stop the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. "Xian’er, stop!"
"Grandmother, Lord Protector’s Manor has bullied me again and again. I feel really upset and angry." Now his face was red with anger. With his face red and his neck swollen, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li straightened his neck and spoke angrily.
He was not annoyed because he had been caught. He only felt disgusted as if he had swallowed a fly at the thought that Ning Yuling also had an affair with that poor man. That bitch Ning Yuling pretended to be bashful before him as if it was her first time to make love with a man, which made him cherish her a lot. When he thought of all these things now, he only felt sick.
This bitch was so good at acting. He had dealt with women for so many years, but he was also fooled, which was a great shame to him!
"Xian’er, rest assured, Lord Protector’s Manor will certainly give us an explanation." Consort Dowager pulled him to sit down. Now the matter had developed to this point—whether it was Ning Xueyan who had lured Ning Yuling here or Ning Yuling who had misbehaved herself as an unmarried girl and had thrown herself at Xian’er, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was relatively innocent.
No matter what the facts were, the Commandery Prince Li’s Manor would not lose.
Seeing that Miao’er spoke in the way as she had expected, Madam Ling felt overjoyed in her heart. Thus, she turned her head to Madam Dowager. She cried while wiping her tears with a handkerchief. "Mother, the facts are in front of us. It was the vicious Fifth Young Lady who greatly envied Ling’er and lured her here deliberately. She has ruined Ling’er’s reputation. Mother, you should support Ling’er and shouldn’t let the Fifth Young Lady go."
Ning Yuling, who had collapsed to the ground, took the cue from Madam Ling’s eyes and then she cried louder and louder.
"Grandmother, grandmother, you have to uphold justice for me!"
At this time, she was truly sad because her reputation had been ruined. But actually, the most important thing was that the person who ruined her reputation was the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li, who she despised the most. How could she not be sad? For a while, she even choked with sobs. But she also glanced viciously at Ning Xueyan out of the corner of her eyes and nearly grinded her teeth to pieces secretly.
She wanted Ning Xueyan to die miserably...