Chapter 573   Guaranteed to Be More Reliable

“Xueyan, you’re here. Come here, come here so I can take a look at you and see if you’ve gotten thinner.” The moment Madam Dowager saw Ning Xueyan step in, her face was immediately full of smiles as she beckoned her over. Ning Xueyan had never experienced such a warm welcome from her before.

Moreover, they had indirectly turned their backs on each other because of Ning Yuling’s incident.

She wasn’t very polite when she left the last time, but Madam Dowager’s big smile was devoid of any grudges as if she was truly just returning to the Lord Protector’s Manor. It was like the previous incident had vanished like smoke and no one cared about it.

Madam Dowager was indeed snobbish.

Suppressing the coldness in her eyes, Ning Xueyan put on a slight smile as she walked over to Madam Dowager and gave her a deep bow. She still needed the Lord Protector’s Manor at the moment. Ao Chenyi had arranged for this manor to be her backer and this manor seemed to be inextricably linked to what she wanted to investigate.

When Madam Dowager saw Ning Xueyan smiling and bowing to her without any trace of anger, she sighed in relief. It would be best if Ning Xueyan didn’t pursue Ning Yuling’s matter. Ning Yuling was dead anyway and they could just pretend that she never existed. Madam Dowager’s smile became even warmer as she took Ning Xueyan’s hand and made her sit beside her.

“Xueyan, why didn’t Prince Yi come with you?” Madam Dowager asked with a smile. She was disappointed when the maid came and reported that only Ning Xueyan would be returning. Even though Ning Xueyan was Princess Yi now, true honor would be him accompanying her to their manor.

“His Highness might be busy. He didn’t say anything when I left.” Ning Xueyan lowered her head and fiddled with her handkerchief somewhat helplessly. It was evident that she couldn’t decide for Prince Yi.

“It’s okay. His Highness has so many matters to attend to. He wouldn’t have the time to walk around with you.” Even though Madam Dowager was disappointed, she knew she had to persuade Ning Xueyan. They weren’t close to Ning Xueyan before, and their relationship was honestly quite poor, but now was the time to win her over.

“I can’t ask him. Why don’t you ask him?” Ning Xueyan said softly, her eyes glinting.

This reminded Madam Dowager. She immediately clapped her hands and told Mother Qin, “Hurry up and tell the Marquis to invite Prince Yi here.”

Even though Ning Xueyan had become Princess Yi, Prince Yi must have given her the position because of her family. Thus, the Lord Protector’s Manor might be able to do things that Ning Xueyan couldn’t. The thought of it made Madam Dowager smile even more widely. As expected, Prince Yi had only promoted Ning Xueyan because of them.

“Yes,” Mother Qin said. She stepped out of the room to look for Ning Zu’an so he could send someone to invite Prince Yi.

“Xueyan, has your health improved? You fainted for two days when you got married. Why don’t you ask the Prince to invite a few imperial physicians from the palace to examine you? We should eliminate problems at the root, after all. You must not let it affect the Prince’s future heirs. It’s a major event in your life, so you must not let any mistakes happen.”

Madam Dowager spoke affectionately and even reached out to caress Ning Xueyan’s hand. She looked as if she was terribly concerned about Ning Xueyan. Her every word suggested how much she cared for her.

It was natural that Madam Dowager would be so concerned about their heirs. Madam Ling had poisoned Ning Xueyan in the past and it was found out that the poison would ruin her fertility. From then on, Madam Dowager stopped having big expectations for her. She never mentioned heirs even when Ning Xueyan married Prince Yi as a consort later on.

On the one hand, it was because Ning Xueyan’s health had greatly improved and should be fine. On the other hand, it was because Madam Dowager was betting on the Third Prince. Ning Qingshan and Ning Xueyan were both consorts, but the former had a much greater chance. Moreover, Ning Qingshan was personally selected by the Third Prince and Honored Consort Ya. It was only natural for her to be favored. Ning Xueyan was just chosen by Prince Yi on a whim.

Even the timing of her marriage was a coincidence. It was said that it was thanks to a suggestion from an unknown favored concubine that Ning Xueyan was given the honor of marrying into the manor at the same time as the princess.

Madam Dowager didn’t think Ning Xueyan had any hope of gaining Prince Yi’s favor after entering the manor. Later, she even fainted twice on her wedding day. On their wedding night, Prince Yi would rather enter a titleless concubine’s courtyard than sleep with Ning Xueyan. These pieces of evidence made it clear that Ning Xueyan wasn’t favored in any way.

Thus, the matter of heirs was more of a pipe dream.

Things were different now. Ning Xueyan had become the princess. Even if she wasn’t favored, her status in Prince Yi’s Manor would be unshakeable as long as she gave birth to an heir.

Thus, nothing must happen to Ning Xueyan’s fertility. The importance of her giving birth had become much more important than before.

“I’ve been examined by a physician. He said that I’m fine and should recuperate slowly. I don’t think there’ll be any problems.” Ning Xueyan sounded uncertain, especially because she was frowning. No matter how one looked at her, she didn’t inspire much confidence.

Madam Dowager’s frown deepened. Suddenly, however, her eyes brightened.

“What about your dowry maids?”

“They’re fine. They’re waiting outside,” Ning Xueyan replied indifferently.

“Why are they waiting outside? Tell them to come in. Don’t be angry. All wives experience this. If they give birth to a son, you can raise the son as your own. A son that you raise personally is no different than your biological son. At least, you’ll have someone to depend on when you’re old.”

Madam Dowager said in a lowered voice.

“The first maid has been chosen, so I can’t add more maids at the moment. We can discuss this later.” Ning Xueyan couldn’t stand Madam Dowager looking like she was some brothel keeper, so she casually changed the topic.

“Where’s Fourth Sister? Why didn’t she come? When she gets married in the future, it’ll be inconvenient of us to meet.” She redirected the conversation to Ning Lingyun. Out of the people that she wanted to meet today, an important one was Ning Lingyun.

She didn’t see Ning Lingyun the last time she came. Seeing as Ning Lingyun was still not around this time, she must have been put on house arrest.

Madam Dowager was very unhappy at Ning Xueyan deliberately changing the topic away from the matter of heirs. Her expression sank and she was about reprimand Ning Xueyan as she typically would. Then, she immediately realized that Ning Xueyan was no longer the same Ning Xueyan as before; she couldn’t just scold or beat Ning Xueyan as she liked anymore.

Unable to vent her anger, Madam Dowager replied impatiently, “Your Fourth Sister is still grounded because of the Third Prince’s incident.”

Ning Xueyan’s beautiful eyes gleamed as an idea came to her, but she sighed. “Fourth Sister is still grounded? When she enters the Third Prince’s Manor in the future, would she think of you as biased?”

“How am I biased?” Madam Dowager asked, stunned.

“She’s also marrying the Third Prince, but she’s grounded just because he agreed to marry her. Besides, the Third Prince was the one who agreed to the marriage in front of Third Sister. Things always happen for a reason. Since the Third Prince has agreed, that means he has a good impression of Fourth Sister.”

Ning Xueyan smiled as she spoke softly.

Rendered speechless, Madam Dowager’s eyes glinted several times. She felt that Ning Xueyan’s words made a lot of sense. Whether or not Ning Lingyun had exploited the Third Prince, the Third Prince had nonetheless agreed on his own conviction in front of Ning Qingshan. That meant that he was interested in Ning Lingyun and was willing to protect her.

This showed that Ning Lingyun had a chance of being favored.

Madam Dowager was initially betting on Ning Qingshan, but Ning Qingshan was getting increasingly out of their control and even dared to mess with Ning Yuling and Ning Xueyan. It was her fault that Ning Xueyan was growing estranged from the Lord Protector’s Manor. Ning Xueyan was never close with them in the first place, and the incident not only cost Ning Yuling and Madam Ling’s lives but also cost Ning Huaiyuan’s heir position.

The main thing was that the incident brought them no benefit.

Madam Dowager truly loathed Ning Qingshan now, but no matter how terrible Ning Qingshan was, she was still the Third Prince’s consort. They had to show him respect. But Ning Lingyun? If Ning Lingyun was able to win his heart, she still stood a chance. At the end of the day, Ning Lingyun was truly of their blood.

Ning Lingyun was much more dependable than Ning Qingshan, and she couldn’t hurt her family because of Ning Qingshan.

The thought of it filled Madam Dowager with energy and calmed her expression. She told a servant nearby, “Invite Lingyun here. Tell her that Xueyan is back and that she should have a good chat with Xueyan. They’re sisters, after all. Getting married will take them on different paths and it won’t be easy to meet again.”

“Madam Dowager, allow me. Perhaps I’ll have to develop a good relationship with Fourth Sister in the future,” Ning Xueyan said, standing up with a smile.

“All right. Go and see her then. You’re sisters, after all. How can you not have a good relationship with her?” Madam Dowager was overjoyed when she saw that Ning Xueyan intended to have close ties with Ning Lingyun. If the two sisters could work together for the good of the Lord Protector’s Manor, that would be for the best. So, she easily agreed.

After leaving Madam Dowager’s Lucky Garden, Ning Xueyan and Xinmei went to Ning Lingyun’s courtyard. Lanning brought a few maids from Prince Yi’s Manor to clean up the Bright Frost Garden because Ning Xueyan would be going there to rest later. It had been a while since anyone occupied the yard, so a clean-up was in order.

Caiyun ran into Ning Lingyun’s room panting and saying excitedly, “Fourth Young Lady, Fourth Young Lady! The Fifth Young Lady is really here.”

“Ning Xueyan is here?” Ning Lingyun stood up abruptly in excitement. She had been cooped up here for so many days. Aside from Concubine Xu sending someone over every now and then, she didn’t have anyone writing her letters.

“Yes, it’s really her. I heard that she has become Princess Yi. Concubine Xu says that you should deal with her with care and that you can’t ever be willful anymore if you want to leave this yard,” Caiyun said, lowering her voice to pass on Concubine Xu’s message.

“Yes, I get it!” Ning Lingyun gritted her teeth but emotions were going haywire inside her. Ning Xueyan had become the princess! She really did it! It hadn’t been long since she entered Prince Yi’s Manor and yet she managed to become the princess. How could Ning Lingyun, who was desperate to climb up the ranks, not feel shocked?

It also made her feel surer of her loyalty. Compared to Ning Qingshan’s guarantee, Ning Xueyan was more reliable.