The Devious First Daughter

281 - 290

Hearing that the back door may not be sealed, Ning Huaiyuan hesitated for a moment, then walked to the back door which was just round the corner.

The back door of the Ningying Courtyard was facing the direction of the Bright Frost Garden. But when one came from that direction, one could not see the back door directly, because of a side room that was located there. Part of the room jutted out and hid the back door from one’s view. Only when one walked round the side of this room, then could one see the entrance of the backyard.

Most of the people came through the main entrance. Only the maids and the older female servants went through the back door due to the convenience.

Ning Huaiyuan had orders from Xia Yuhang today, so he had to go to the Cloud Reflection Courtyard to do a search. Xia Yuhang did not say what it was. He just asked Ning Huaiyuan to send Ning Ziying’s books to him. Ning Ziying liked reading books. These books were nothing special, so they were not part of her dowry.

They were not valuable ancient books, but the usual fiction books. People read them to kill time when they were idle, and no one would care about them. After Madam Ling and her daughter drowned Ning Ziying and her maid, no one really bothered about them. Of course, these things should still be piled up in the same place.

The narrow back door was indeed not wholly sealed, mostly because no one gave it a second look. So, a few bricks were laid casually across the door. If one removed the bricks slowly, it should not be a problem to enter, because the bricks were just randomly piled together.

However, when Ning Huaiyuan came over, he did not even think about doing that. He did not have a servant with him. As a noble young master, he could not remove bricks in person, as this would cover him with mud.

But he told Xia Yuhang yesterday that he would bring Ning Ziying’s old books to him by today. After all, Ning Ziyan’s current situation was not good. It was better to avoid making trouble over such a small matter. After making up his mind, he decided to get someone to remove the bricks from the back door.

After making up his mind, he strode back. When he passed by the tree, he found that Ning Xueyan was no longer there. He could not help looking over at the tree where she had just stood. He frowned slightly and walked over.

It was not long before he came across two young male servants . Thinking that the back door was not that big, he decided that the two of them would be able to move the bricks.

Ning Huaiyuan was not Madam Ling. He had thought that Madam Ling’s behavior of sealing the Cloud Reflection Courtyard was inappropriate, which was almost equivalent to telling others that some mystery underlied Ning Ziying’s death in the Cloud Reflection Courtyard. The courtyard had been sealed off when someone had just died. With the wall outside, it was almost impossible to cover it up totally

Now it would be even worse if everyone knew that he was going to remove the bricks from the back door.

The two young male servants were about 13 or 14 years old. They saw the sizes of the bricks at the back door and felt that it was not a big deal. So they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

.....

Ning Huaiyuan stood behind them and watched them work.

The first few pieces were removed easily. The bricks were laid entirely outside the back door, and the back door was closed. Once the bricks were removed, the back door could be seen. At that time, he could just enter the courtyard by asking the older female servant to open the door for him.

The back door was not big. The two of them stood in a row, and it was a bit of a squeeze. After removing the first few bricks, it was estimated that one could jump into it. Thus, one could stay inside, while the other took the bricks away. In this way, the work would be faster. So, a servant jumped into the small space.