The Devious First-Daughter (Web Novel)
Chapter 62: The Sick Civet Cat

Chapter 62 The Sick Civet Cat

It was an older female servant who came in a hurry. Ning Xueyan saw clearly that her clothes were the same style and color as that of those older female servants who stood behind the Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor.

“I’m sorry, Young Lady.” Seeing that she had hit a Young Lady, the older female servant didn’t dare to neglect and rushed to apologize.

Those who could go in and out of the residence of Honored Consort Ya were not ordinary people.

“It’s all right.” Ning Xueyan faintly said. Seeing the older female servant going into the courtyard after wiping sweat, Ning Xueyan narrowed her eyes and smiled.

Ning Xueyan came back in time.

The older female servant rushed to the corridor and stopped. She knew that the Honored Consort Ya was in the house, so she dared not rush in and only peeped from the doorway. A maid standing behind the Consort Dowager saw the older female servant and told the Consort Dowager. She knew that there must be something serious had happened, otherwise, the older female servant wouldn’t have come here.

Consort Dowager asked people to call the older female servant in. Ning Xueyan also came into the room at this time and stood behind Madam Dowager.

“Consort Dowager, Xue’er is missing and Princely Heir is in a rage.” The older female servant came in and report, trembling with fear.

Xue’er was the snow-white civet cat!

The civet cat was always kept beside the Consort Dowager, but the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li would take care of it in person when he was at home. Usually, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li cared about nothing, except the civet cat. Once, he was very angry because of the missing of the civet cat and beat several servants to death in the end.

Remembering the ferocious appearance of Princely Heir, the older female servant could only come here to ask for help.

Hearing that her grandson was furious again and fearing that he would make more troubles, Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor was eager to leave. She stood up and said goodbye to Honored Consort Ya.

“Grandmother, the Consort Dowager is gone. Should we…?” Ning Xueyan saw it, smiled, and said in Madam Dowager’s ear.

A scandal just happened to Ning Yuling yesterday so that Madam Dowager felt shameful and didn’t want to see others. So she wished to leave early. But the Consort Dowager and Honored Consort Ya made no mention of leaving, so Madam Dowager didn’t say she wanted to leave first. Now when she heard Ning Xueyan’s words, she immediately understood. She stood up and said she also wanted to leave.

Something happened to the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li, so Honored Consort Ya didn’t persuade Consort Dowager to stay. And Madam Dowager was also agreed to leave.

When Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor and Madam Dowager went out together, a servant ran to Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li and said they had found the whereabouts of the civet cat. The Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li heard that his civet cat was found in the courtyard of womenfolk and went there with a group of servants.

So the two groups happened to meet at the door.

“Xian’er, where are you going?” Seeing that Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li rushed to the place of womenfolk with some servants in a fierce manner, the Consort Dowager got angry and asked an older female servant to stop him.

Although the members of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor were relatives of the emperor, those madams here also came from noble families and the Young Ladies came with them were born by the legal wife. Yesterday, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li just offended Ning Yuling. If he offended anyone today, Consort Dowager wouldn’t be able to help him.

“Grandmother, just now a servant told me that Xue’er is there. I just want to have a look.”

“You just want to have a look? Then why there are so many people with you?” The Consort Dowager scolded him, pointed at a large group of people following the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li with anger.

There was a large group of people, and most of them were men. If they offended those Young Ladies, they all would get into trouble.

“You all go back.” Following Consort Dowager’s gaze, Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li suddenly found that there were so many people behind him. He waved his hands and drove most of them away. He was in a hurry to find Xue’er. Just now he only said that he would take all the people with him so that they couldn’t find Xue’er quickly. But he was not aware that so many people had come.

Most of the people who left were young male servants of Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li and only a young male servant and several maids were left.

“You go back too. I’ll find Xue’er for you.” Looking at so many people and her grandson who was standing in the middle, Consort Dowager frowned. In front of her was the womenfolk place, and she was really not confident of her grandson.

“Grandmother, we have to be fast. Xue’er will disappear again if we’re late. I’ll leave as soon as I catch the cat.”

Knowing what his grandmother was worried about, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li said with impatience.

Such a thing happened to him yesterday and he was scolded by Consort Dowager in the evening. So the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li felt dull and was in no mood to flirt with women.

When they were talking, suddenly a cry came from ahead. “Ah! How can there be a wild cat?”

“What, a cat?” Hearing that there was a cat, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li stopped talking nonsense with the Consort Dowager and directly rushed to there. Therefore, the Consort Dowager had no choice but to follow him with servants.

When they turned around and saw the door of the second courtyard, a maid rushed out with a pale face. She saw the Madam Dowager who was following the people of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor and rushed over in a hurry. “Madam Dowager, there’s… there’s a big wild cat.”

“A wild cat?” Madam Dowager also recognized that this was Ning Xueyan’s courtyard. She rushed forward and asked the maid. Yesterday, they just antagonized the Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor. So Madam Dowager hoped nothing would happen to them today.

“Qingyu, calm down. What’s the matter?” Ning Xueyan came out from the back of Madam Dowager and asked Qingyu softly.

“Young Lady, there’s a big cat. But it seems that it’s going to die… I… I’m scared to death.” Qingyu calmed down and hurriedly said, pointing to the courtyard.

“What does the cat look like? What does it mean that it’s going to die?” Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was very worried.

The people who followed him immediately held their breath and dared not gasp. If it was the civet cat, the Princely Heir wouldn’t let them go.

“It’s a snow-white cat!” Before Qingyu’s words were finished, the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li pushed her away impatiently and rushed into the courtyard.

“Where?”

“It’s over there!” Qingyu followed him in and pointed to a tree in the back right corner of the garden.

The crowd looked over and saw a snow-white civet cat lying there and struggling painfully. Its white fur was stained and it wasn’t as beautiful and glorious as before.

But it was not like a dirty wild cat!

Especially, there was blood on its body!

The Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li was the first to rush over and asked, frowning and pointing at the dregs under the civet cat. “What’s this?”

“They are dregs of the medicine that our Young Lady usually takes, and they were buried under this tree. But I don’t know where the wild cat came from and why it dug up the dregs.” Qingyu answered with fear.

“How can the dregs make Xue’er so uncomfortable? Is there anything mixed in them?” Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li squatted down, looked at the screaming civet cat rolling around, and shouted angrily.

“Princely Heir, they are really my medicine dregs. Is there anything poisonous in my medicine dregs? However, it’s possible that it ate something before and felt painful when it came here so that it scratched around.” Ning Xueyan came out from the back of Madam Dowager and said, neither humble nor pushy.

“What did you feed Xue’er today?” Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li turned to the maid who was in charge of the civet cat’s food.

“Princely Heir, how can I feed Xue’er on other things? It ate as usual. I even tasted it to check if it was hot before feeding.” The maid cried out with grievance. “Princely Heir, I’m sure that Xue’er ate as usual today. After the meal, the civet cat was still all right.”

“Maybe other people of your manor fed the cat!” Ning Xueyan implicitly reminded.

That sounded like she was shirking responsibility!

Everything was okay if Ning Xueyan didn’t say that. Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li burst into rage as soon as he heard Ning Xueyan’s words. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the pale and emaciated girl in front of him, then looked at Madam Dowager. Suddenly, he remembered that this was the Madam Dowager of Lord Protector’s Manor and the Young Lady was Ning Yuling’s younger sister.

Remembering that he had been badly scolded by his grandmother yesterday, the Princely Heir became very angry. Now, something bad had happened to his beloved civet cat and the Lord Protector’s Manor wanted to pass the buck. Therefore, Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li became angrier and vented all his anger.

Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li hadn’t wanted to take it too seriously. But he was irritated by Ning Xueyan’s words and decided he had to figure out this matter!

“Here, go and fetch the doctor of our manor. I’ll figure out what’s in this pile of residue and what makes my civet cat uncomfortable. If it’s the fault of Lord Protector’s Manor, you have to explain to me.”

Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li angrily said.

It seemed that he would never give up before figuring out this matter.

Ning Xueyan knew that her words had worked. So she stopped talking and quietly retreated, as if she was frightened by Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li.

“Consort Dowager, how about we sitting down to talk about it? Maybe Xue’er has eaten something else in the courtyard so that it’s uncomfortable now.” Madam Dowager had to stand up and persuade Consort Dowager. Her words, showing a sort of weakness, meant that it might be the responsibility of Lord Protector’s Manor.

But she also wanted to express that it had nothing to do with the dregs.

Madam Dowager was anxious. She clearly knew what was in the medicine residue. If it was disclosed, it would be another big scandal to Lord Protector’s Manor. Domestic shame shouldn’t be made public. Although Madam Dowager also hated Madam Ling, she was never willing to make it public that Madam Ling poisoned Ning Xueyan.

“Madam Dowager, since it’s not clear now, we’d better call in the doctor.” At this time, Consort Dowager of Commandery Prince Li’s Manor calmed down. She waved hands and asked maids to invite the doctor.

Their neighbors were all disturbed by the noise. Several madams came curiously with some Young Ladies. When they saw the civet cat rolling and screaming, some timid Young Ladies covered their eyes and shivered with fear.

And those madams looked at the medicine dregs with doubts.

How could normal residue make a cat scream like that?

“Consort Dowager…” Madam Dowager was so anxious that sweat broke out on her head. She also wanted to persuade the Consort Dowager. However, the Consort Dowager was persistent this time and directly interrupted Madam Dowager.

“Don’t worry, Madam Dowager. This matter is unclear now. So we just wait for the doctor to check Xue’er. If it’s the fault of us, I’ll ask Xian’er to apologize to you.” The Consort Dowager said. Apparently, Consort Dowager would punish the Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li. In fact, she reminded Madam Dowager that if it was the fault of Lord Protector’s Manor, they had to give a satisfying explanation to Commandery Prince Li’s Manor.

A scandal happened to both of them yesterday and Commandery Prince Li’s Manor greatly lost face.

In Consort Dowager’s opinion, it was Ning Yuling who misbehaved and seduced her grandson so that Commandery Prince Li’s Manor lost face too.

When they were talking, the doctor had come. He squatted down and looked at the residue on the ground, face darkening.