Chapter 577   She Saw the Past More Clearly

She really didn’t feel that she was protected so well that she could not be hurt.

In her previous life, she was so well protected by her parents. When she was in the regions south of the Yangtze River, she had almost no worries. Being carefree, she thought that as long as she was kind to others, others would also be kind to her, but the reality was that she ended up dead because she was too kind and believed others too much.

“Or my mother thought that I will have the right to know my family background only when I am killed.” She looked up at Mother Han with her slightly red eyes while biting her lips.

“Miss, Miss, I, your old slave, will tell you all. I’ll tell you all, okay?” Seeing that Ning Xueyan was so sad, Mother Han had great grief and cried so sadly that she couldn’t get up.

“Mother Han, I know my mother made the decision for my good, but will I be really happy if I don’t know about it? What if the marquis has learned it? Or what if there is something else about my family background? Mother Han, you know there was a fierce war at that time, so would the baby hidden in Lord Protector’s Manor like this be really ordinary?”

Ning Xueyan helped Mother Han up, but her eyes were peaceful and sad.

Seeing her look, Mother Han became sadder and sadder. Her miss had been going through suffering. Although her madam wanted to protect her wholeheartedly, she could not even take care of herself in Lord Protector’s Manor, so how could she keep her miss safe? Since her miss was young, she had been bullied so much by the second young lady and even despised by the servants of the mansion. Maybe her madam was really wrong.

So, she didn’t conceal the past anymore. After sitting steady with the help of Ning Xueyan, she told all the past affairs as they had happened.

Regarding the specific matters, Mother Han could not remember them very clearly, but she knew that after her madam met someone stealthily that day, she took her to the manor outside the city. After arriving there, her madam told her that she wanted to pretend to be pregnant and a child should be brought to her later. At that time, she was quite shocked and almost fainted. How could one do the thing of taking a stranger as a family’s offspring?

But she couldn’t hold her stance when facing Madam Ming’s persuasion. Madam Ming said that Ning Zu’an had disappointed her. At that time, Madam Ling had been brought to the mansion, showing that she was closely allied in opinion and feelings with Ning Zu’an in every aspect, as if Madam Ming was the one who made them break up. She always found fault in Madam Ming, but Ning Zu’an didn’t even ask about it. Sometimes, he even directly said that he stood in line with Madam Ling.

Therefore, the matter was settled in this way. As for the pregnant woman who was raised in the back of the manor, Madam Ming asked Mother Han to pay more attention to her, just saying that this was one of her old friends and her husband was a nobleman from the previous dynasty, but now it was not convenient for her to show up in public. As a weak woman, she could not take her child with her during wartime, so she agreed to leave the child to her.

That was what Madam Ming had said, but Mother Han was still worried and visited the woman secretly. At first glance, she knew that the two people waiting on her outside were from a great family because they treated people very politely, but she never saw the madam, who seemed to have been nourishing her fetus in poor health.

Later, the child was born and sent directly to Madam Ming, who then returned the Lord Protector’s Manor.

“Mistress, my madam said to me again and again that I should never leak the information of this matter. Mistress, you are from a noble family of the previous dynasty, but I don’t know if your biological parents still have any enemies now. If your identity is found, you might fall into a deadly situation.”

“So I have been keeping the madam’s words in mind. Even when you asked me, I dare not disclose a bit of it,” Mother Han said as she wiped away his tears.

“Where did those, those people go later?” Ning Xueyan had already known that Mother Han probably didn’t know the whole of the inside story; otherwise, she would have been so surprised after hearing what she had said and would not have been just sad.

“I’m not quite sure. When we returned to the mansion, I had lots of things to face, but I couldn’t let the marquis know about this. I just explained the premature birth of the madam. After all this was done, I went to the manor secretly again, but the people there told me that those few people had left a long time ago.”

Mother Han wiped away her tears and recalled.

She thought that the thing was over at the time. The leaving of those people was the best result; otherwise, if Ning Zu’an found it out, it would be a disaster.

“So many years have passed. Haven’t you collected any information about them?” Ning Xueyan’s heart suddenly became cold, and a faint wry smile appeared on her lips, but she didn’t know what she was expecting.

“No. I even worked out a secret plan, asking the manor keeper to keep an eye on it. I told him that if he saw those few people again, he must come and tell me, but no news came to me after so many years passed,” Mother Han shook her head and said with slight guilt. She was really worried that the matter of her madam and her miss would be found, so she had been watching that place.

“Did my mother leave... anything... like a keepsake?” Ning Xueyan looked at Mother Han with her very deep eyes, where there was some sadness that could not be hidden.

“Yes... yes, mistress, wait. Let me bring it to you.” Mother Han stood up, wiped away her tears, and walked out.

After a while, she came in from outside, closed the door again, and took out a small sachet from her chest.

She looked at Ning Xueyan solemnly and said, “Mistress, the madam said that if you’ve learned your family background and known you are not her biological daughter... I should, should give this to you. I haven’t checked out what is inside, so I don’t know what it is.”

The sachet was sealed. The silk thread outside of the sealed opening was very old. Ning Xueyan loosened it and saw that the inner part was relatively new and had a much brighter color. Seeing these traces, she knew that what Mother Han said was true.

After all, what happened back then had connections with too many things. If it was not handled properly, it was likely to cause a disaster, so it was excusable for Madam Ming not to have told Mother Han the whole story.

“Mother Han, you may go back now. I want to be quiet for a while.” Holding this half-opened sachet, Ning Xueyan stopped opening it and bit her lips, feeling excited and sad, but she couldn’t tell what exactly it was. She just felt the discomfort and bitterness in her nose.

Now she was sure that she was the daughter of the empress of the previous dynasty. Who could have imagined that after turns and twists happened, she was still the daughter of the empress of the previous dynasty, even had a relationship with the previous dynasty, and she and Ning Ziying were even biological sisters?

“Mistress, then I’m leaving now. Please take a good rest. No matter what, you must remember that the madam always loved you most.” Mother Han’s eyes were red again, and she went back to her memory: Her madam brought her mistress up from such a little child; for her good, her madam even directly accepted the accusation of having an affair with someone without arguing with Madam Ling, which led to her giving up of the official wife’s position.

If it weren’t for her little mistress, her madam would have defended herself and would not have refused her eldest brother’s wish to help her out. But she chose to give up because she was worried that if this matter was further investigated, it might get something involved and expose the thing she had done earlier, so she bore all the suffering alone.

Mother Han thought that her little mistress could grow up safe and sound only with such protection, but no one expected Madam Ling and her daughter to be so vicious. Whenever they had a chance, they wanted to kill her little mistress. If her madam had not tried her best to protect her, she might have died a long time ago. Remembering the sadness, Mother Han couldn’t control herself, but she was afraid that this would affect Ning Xueyan’s mood, so she turned and left.

The sachet was not big. No matter how slowly Ning Xueyan went to open it, she finally opened it. The sachet was delicate. As for the embroidery method, her mother had related it to her in the regions south of the Yangtze River. It was the one that was popular in the palace of the previous dynasty. Since the empress liked it, it became fashionable at that time, but the fire in the palace burned many buildings and also killed lots of embroidery women.

Nowadays, not many people knew this embroidery method, but her mother happened to be one of them. Ning Ziying knew a little of it, but her skill was not refined. The sachet was the sample that her mother used to teach Ning Ziying to learn embroidery methods. At that time, she embroidered a similar one, the one in Hua Yunheng’s hands.

It looked almost the same as this one, but it was too rough to match this one. She could only find a trace of faint similarity from this one.

“Wait, similarity!”

Ning Xueyan was stunned. That sachet, which Hua Yunheng asked for and took away, was the same as the one in her hands, the one her mother had given her as a sample. At that time, Hua Yunheng was still living in her home, but he was indifferent to her when he just came.

Later, she gave him a sachet. It seemed that from that time on, Hua Yunheng began to treat her more and more nicely, not the one looking at her coldly with somewhat disdain and indifference anymore. Then she treated him as her biological brother, and her relationship with him became better and better.

But now there was a chill in her heart, and a sharp look appeared and vanished in her eyes. It was not that she wanted to think like this, but that she had to think about a few things like this.

It turned out that the Hua Family guessed her identity, the princess of the previous dynasty, first before deciding whether to get betrothed with her or not.

In fact, Hua Yunheng’s so-called deep love was just a joke. She remembered that when she left him at the time, she was just 8, and he was only about 12. Would he keep missing that little girl?

The so-called previous engagement might just be a verbal agreement. Later, the Hua Family discarded the engagement for unknown reasons. As a matter of fact, Hua Yunheng and the Hua Family had been plotting against her and Ning Manor.

Sure enough, the deep love and the deep meaning were just a joke. Even the repetitively mentioned matter of going to Lord Protector’s Manor for worship was just a drama of deep affection. Maybe the drama was performed for her to watch or some right people in the eyes of Hua Yunheng. The person had died, so he could say anything he wanted because no one would object.

What people saw was the affectionate childe who remained faithful unto the end, but no one would expect that this was just a show for everyone to watch.

But this was fine. At least, she saw the past more clearly. Then, the bitterness on her lips turned into a fierce taunt. As she pulled hard, the sachet was opened. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, seeing an extremely familiar accessory.