The Devious First-Daughter

The hall was dark and serene, without any light. It was empty and nobody could tell how big it was.

When the heavy door of the hall was pushed open, a frightening sound could be heard. With the wind blowing the curtain, it was chilling. Ning Qingshan was also scared, but she still forced herself to walk into the hall, while Caifen was left at the door.

The door of the hall was closed as instructed.

“Is… there anyone?” Ning Qingshan stopped, clenching the handkerchief in her hand tightly. As soon as the door closed, her surroundings were in darkness and she could not even see her own fingers.

“Scared?” The drifting voice seemed to come from all directions, but she could identify it was a man’s voice. The voice sounded weird, but it reassured Ning Qingshan.

“My identity might have been found out,” Ning Qingshan tried to calm herself down and said. It was a mysterious woman who had contacted Mammy Luo before but never shown her face. If she had something to inform Ning Qingshan, she would have told Mammy Luo to take a message for her. However, Ning Qingshan knew that the woman had a master who was supposed to be a man. Could this man be her master?

“That’s why you’re looking for me?” The drifting voice came again, which made people feel a kind of irony and surprise.

“You told me that I could contact you directly for something urgent! It’s really urgent!” After calming down, Ning Qingshan said with grievance.

Whenever she wanted to meet that woman for something urgent, she would let the pigeon off. Before she left home today, she had let off the pigeon with a note attached to its leg, saying that she would go to the Cold Mountain Temple today and wanted to meet that woman there to discuss something important. When she had been in her own room just now, she found a note thrown through the window, informing her to come to this Buddha hall.

Ning Qingshan was surprised that it was not the woman who had come this time, but a man, who might be the woman’s master. This excited her.

“Tell me, who discovered your identity?” The drifting voice was cold and it seemed that its owner was not very interested in what Ning Qingshan said.

“Ning Xueyan! Fifth Young Lady, Ning Xueyan of the Lord Protector’s Manor found out my identity. You must get rid of her, or my identity might be exposed and it would ruin your great plan,”

Ning Qingshan said, gritting her teeth. She hated Ning Xueyan so much and thought that Ning Xueyan had ruined all her plans. Since she met Ning Xueyan, she had always been at a disadvantage and everything had been against her. It seemed no matter what Ning Qingshan did, Ning Xueyan could find a way to deal with her. Ning Qingshan had planned to get rid of Ning Xueyan on her own, but unexpectedly, she had aroused Ning Zu’an’s suspicion.

Ning Qingshan had too many secrets, so she was nervous when she knew that Ning Zu’an was investigating her. However, compared to Ning Zu’an, she hated Ning Xueyan more. If it were not for Ning Xueyan, Ning Zu’an would not have suspected her. Therefore, she wanted Ning Xueyan dead. She must die!

To avoid that man’s refusal, she deliberately said something threatening, which meant that if he did not kill Ning Xueyan, his plan would fall through once she was exposed. Although she did not know why, Ning Qingshan could tell that this man was protecting her. That meant she was important. Therefore, she thought that the man would have to put up with her even she said something threatening.

“Pa!” A hand reached out in the darkness and slapped Ning Qingshan in the face. Ning Qingshan turned around and fell heavily to the ground. She immediately felt a burning pain in the corner of her mouth from where something warm flowing down. Being shocked and painful, Ning Qingshan covered her face with her hand subconsciously.

“Do you really think I can’t do without you, so I have to protect you? Do you believe I can kill you right now?” The cold voice drifted from somewhere and penetrated Ning Qingshan’s skin, which made her feel the strong killing intent instantly. Wasn’t this person protecting her all the time? Why did he suddenly become so violent?

“I… I don’t. I’m just afraid that other people will know it.” Her tone softened and her eyes were filled with horror.

Ning Qingshan was really scared. She had always thought that this man was protecting her, so she was not afraid when she heard his voice. However, now she was really frightened.

This man was unpredictable and did not play by common sense, so it was impossible for anyone to control him.

“Humph! You’d better be careful! If your identity is discovered by that person, maybe I’ll really…” The man warned with emotionless voice. Ning Qingshan felt someone’s hand touching her swollen face and two beams of cold light fixing on her. The hand was so cold, without a trace of warmth.

“Yes, I… I’ll be careful. I’m going to the imperial palace to attend the Beauty Contest soon. I’ll be more cautious after marrying Third Prince.” Ning Qingshan nodded hard and emphasized that she was useful. She did not dare to move and her body went stiff when the cold hand ran across her face and disappeared in the endless darkness.

“This man is so powerful!” she thought.

“Are you talking about Ning Xueyan?”

“Yes, it’s her!”

“I got it. I don’t want this kind of thing to happen again.” The drifting voice was so cold that Ning Qingshan was chilled to the bone.

It sounded that the man would deal with Ning Xueyan soon. “No, no, I’ll be careful not to arouse suspicion anymore.” Ning Qingshan felt relieved and answered subconsciously. She was so excited that she almost forgot her situation.

Ning Qingshan believed that as long as this man took action, Ning Xueyan had little chance to survive. “Ning Xueyan, how dare you go against me? You’re dead!” she thought.

No one responded to her in the darkness, as if that man had never been here. Ning Qingshan collapsed on the ground. After a while, she could not help asking in a low voice, “Are you, are you still there?”

Her voice was no longer as arrogant as before, but more fearful and pitiful. Even though people could not see her face clearly, they could feel as a weak woman, how helpless and scared she was now. She even changed into a pitiful look, like a wounded little rabbit.

Ning Qingshan had practiced this expression and movement many times in front of the bronze mirror. Although now her face was swollen and her mouth was broken, Ning Qingshan still believed that the man would pity her as long as he saw her as she was now. Men were born to pity for weak and beautiful women.

As this man was so powerful, she wanted to capture him.

After finishing speaking, Ning Qingshan maintained her current posture and quietly waited in the darkness with an expectant look in her eyes. She was waiting for the prey to hook. She could not see anything in the darkness, but she was sure that the man would definitely see her clearly. Otherwise, he could not have touched her face with perfect accuracy.

Unfortunately, she seemed to be wrong again. Nobody answered her at all in the darkness.

She suddenly heard someone knocking on the door of the hall. “Miss! Miss!” Caifen called her in a low voice.

“What’s the matter?” Ning Qingshan stood up with a trace of shame and anger on her face. She had not expected that the man had gone for a long time, but she was still sitting on the ground and waiting for his reply. So stupid!

When she pulled open the heavy door and saw Caifen standing at the door nervously, her face darkened.

“Miss, it seems that someone is coming over there. Shall we hide?” Caifen pointed at the lanterns in the distance and asked Ning Qingshan.

“Let’s go!” Ning Qingshan nodded and walked toward a path outside of the Buddha Hall. If people saw her here, gossips would rise again. She had heard just now that Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Li also came. It was so annoying. It seemed that he would appear wherever she went. What a nuisance!

“Miss, your face…” Caifen hurried to catch up with Ning Qingshan. When she suddenly saw a trace of blood on Ning Qingshan’s swollen face, she could not help screaming.

“Shut up!” Ning Qingshan said viciously and glared at Caifen coldly as if she was going to kill her.

Under her cold gaze, Caifen lowered her head in horror and did not dare to speak anymore. She followed behind Ning Qingshan carefully without saying a word.

“Miss, they’re gone.” Xinmei, who was carrying the lantern, stopped when she saw Ning Qingshan leaving with her maid, Caifen from a distance.

“We’ll just walk around here before leaving.” Ning Xueyan had come here on the pretext of looking for a handkerchief. She had been walking in front of Ning Qingshan, but after a while, Xinmei had told her that Ning Qingshan was gone.

Ning Xueyan had not taken it seriously at the beginning. However, when Xinmei told her that Ning Qingshan was not going in the direction of the hall where they were going to meet, she immediately became alert.

Ning Xueyan had never given up on her vigilance against Ning Qingshan. On the one hand, Ning Qingshan was really vicious. Like a poisonous snake always spying on people, she hid in a dark corner and waited for the right time to rush out and kill people. On the other hand, it was because of her mystery.

Although she could not be certain of Ning Qingshan’s identity yet, Ning Xueyan had a hunch that it was a big secret that had something to do with her previous life or this life.

She asked Qingyu to go to the main hall first. She then walked around the Cold Mountain Temple casually with Xinmei, carrying lanterns. Ning Qingshan had walked so fast and when Ning Xueyan wanted to catch up with her, she had already disappeared. When they arrived, before Ning Xueyan could find anything, Xinmei heard the sound of the door opening and closing. She looked carefully and found it was no other than Ning Qingshan.

From a distance, nothing seemed to be amiss with Ning Qingshan.

“Miss, shall we go to the hall and have a look?” Xinmei asked in a low voice while pretending to look for something on the ground. It was impossible for Ning Qingshan to appear in a dark hall for no reason. Thinking of Ning Qingshan’s mystery, everyone would want to find out what had happened.

“No! Just look for the handkerchief.” Ning Xueyan said in a soft and determined voice, fixing her eyes on the ground coolly.

This place was full of oddities, so Ning Xueyan did not think it was right to enter the hall at this time. How unwise it would be to expose herself in front of her enemies!

“Fifth Young Lady, are you looking for something? Let me help you!” A clear and loud voice came from behind them pleasantly. Ning Xueyan looked back and saw an enchanting and extremely beautiful face as well as a pair of lovely charming eyes in the lantern’s light.