The Devious First Daughter

Chapter 34. The straw that breaks camel's back

"Yu Lian must have played some tricks. Otherwise Qing'er wouldn't have been sent to Bright Frost Garden. It seems Yu Lian cares about her sister very much," Ning Xueyan said coldly.

Before, everyone knew that Qing'er would have been safe if she was in Bright Frost Garden, because Ning Xueyan was the young master here, and even she had found that this maid was weak and unable to work, she wouldn't say anything. Moreover, Madam Ling, who was in charge of the whole manor had never liked Ning Xueyan, so she wouldn't care even if a maid missing in Bright Frost Garden, let alone a maid couldn't work because of her poor health.

That was why Yu Lian had managed to send Qing'er to Bright Frost Garden. She was so smart that nobody had found this before.

"What does Qing'er do every day?" Ning Xueyan asked lazily, narrowing her eyes. The sun outside the window shone on her body. She felt warm and a faint flush came over her cream-like face.

"She is a third-class maid. Normally, she should be in charge of some rough works like watering flowers and sweeping floor. However, after she had fainted that day, Mother Han had no other choice, but asked her to do some fine work which needed more delicacy, less strength. Thankfully, she was good at embroidering, so she did the work of a second-class maid, but got the salary of a third-class one," Lanning answered.

She and Mother Han came up with this idea. Since they could neither send her away, nor ask her to do rough works, they had to ask her to do some fine work so that she wouldn't be so tired.

"Did Yu Lian visit her?" Ning Xueyan asked, her lip twitched.

"Yu Lian visited her about once a week, but secretly. Sometimes, she would have brought some invigorator to her. I asked Qing'er about it and she told me that her family worried that she was too weak, so they brought it to her. She never told me that Yu Lian, the maid of First Madam was her sister." Since Ning Xueyan asked her about Qing'er last time, Lanning had paid particular attention to her.

"Lanning, do you think Yu Lian is beautiful?" Ning Xueyan smiled and suddenly changed the topic.

Lanning was surprised and wondered why Ning Xueyan asked her about this. "She is very beautiful and more beautiful than most maids in our manor," she answered.

"Then why hasn't she realized her dream?" Ning Xueyan raised her head and took a sip of tea quietly, a trace of sarcasm could be found in the depth of her dark eyes.

"Her dream?" Lanning thought for a while and the answer suddenly popped in her mind. "Because Yu Lian is scared of First Madam!"

"You're right. Because she is scared, she has no guts," Ning Xueyan said and the irony in her smile grew more intense. With her beauty, Yu Lian had always wanted to serve Ning Zu'an in the bed, but she dared not to do so, because she was scared of Madam Ling. Ning Xueyan knew something else which she had asked Xinmei to investigate.

Except for Yu Lian herself, there was another person knew about this too. However, even Yu Lian didn't know what that person was thinking about.

"Which one was embroidered by Qing'er?" Ning Xueyan asked, pointing at a pile of clothes beside her. In order to highlight her position, Madam Dowager had many clothes made for her.

Ning Xueyan preferred plain colors, so most of her clothes were light-colored. Madam Dowager asked her to embroider some small flowers on the skirt hem, so she left the work to the maids of Bright Frost Garden who knew how to embroider.

Lanning and Qingyu were responsible for this work, because they were not assured to let other maids touch the skirts of Ning Xueyan. They had asked the second-class maids to sew several handkerchiefs with the cloth left over from making skirts. But Ning Xueyan herself wouldn't use these handkerchiefs. During the Spring Festival, the Young Ladies in the manor would give silver ingots to the maids and servants as gifts. Ning Xueyan could ask someone to wrap the silver ingots in the handkerchiefs and knotted in beautiful shapes before giving them out. They would be more delicate than perfume satchels.