The Devious First-Daughter

“Miss, let’s go to the back room. It’s not safe here.” After running to a safe place, Xinmei stopped.

Ning Xueyan was out of breath as she ran with Xinmei. Her pale face glowed with a faint blush, and she could not speak, but only nodded. This place was indeed unsafe. It was too close to the fire, and everyone was running around. Now many Young Ladies were walking toward the back wing rooms under the escort of their maids.

The Buddha hall was all burned, so of course nobody could burn the so-called first stick of incense there.

When Ning Xueyan caught her breath, Xinmei and Qingyu escorted her to the backyard. After staying a little far away from the fire, Ning Xueyan calmed down. The guest rooms in the backyard were far away from the halls in the front, so although the front hall burned so badly, the fire could not spread to the backyard.

After turning another corner, they would arrive at the guest room zone. Many Young Ladies had come back and waited in their own rooms, while the childes had gone to the front yard to help put out the fire with their servants.

The fire was so strong that even though these Young Ladies had returned to their guest rooms, no one dared to sleep. They trembled by the window, hoping that the fire would go out soon. This night was bound to be a sleepless night.

In this weird atmosphere, Ning Xueyan did not sleep either. She sat in front of the bed for a while before walking to the window to watch the fire outside.

After sending Ning Xueyan back, Xinmei went out to inquire about information and had not returned yet, leaving Qingyu to make tea for Ning Xueyan in the outer room.

“Miss, hurry up! Something terrible happened!” The door was slammed open and Qingyu rushed in with a pale face. She pulled Ning Xueyan’s hand and ran out. “Miss, I saw some men in black rushing into the guest rooms…” she whispered breathlessly.

Before she could finish speaking, they heard a sharp scream coming from the courtyard next to them.

“Miss, run!” Hearing the scream, Qingyu sped up and pulled Ning Xueyan out of the room. Meanwhile, all the other Young Ladies who had heard the scream also ran out. However, they suddenly saw a group of men in black rushing to them with sharp swords in their hands. The Young Ladies immediately scattered, screaming.

The men in black also scattered to chase them.

Since there were assassins in the guest rooms, no one would dare to stay here. Besides, there were only women in the backyard, and men had gone to the front yard to put up the fire.

Holding Qingyu’s hand tightly, Ning Xueyan did not escape. She hid in the shadow of the corner, and did not dare to move at all.

Just now, she had seen Ning Qingshan rushing out of the room with her maid with a triumphant look on her face. Ning Qingshan had specially looked at the door of Ning Xueyan’s room before mingling with the panicked Young Ladies who were running for their lives. At that time, an assassin had already rushed to Ning Xueyan’s room. If she had not escaped early, she would have been caught by the assassin in the room.

“Miss, what, what should we do?” Even though Qingyu was much experienced than before, she had never seen anything like this. If Ning Xueyan had not held her hand tightly and she was not willing to leave Ning Xueyan alone, Qingyu would have run away long ago!

Hiding in the shadow, Qingyu could not help shivering, with the upper teeth bumping against the lower teeth all the time.

Ning Xueyan was sure that the incident was premeditated. The fire had been set in the front yard, and the noble childes and their servants as well as the guards would definitely bring people there to help put out the fire, leaving only those noble Young Ladies or the first maids in the backyard, who seldom did rough work.

Therefore, none of them could resist the assassins’ attack.

Ning Xueyan even confirmed that these assassins had been staying here for a long time. Otherwise, how could they rush in when almost everyone had entered the guest rooms. Due to her poor health, Ning Xueyan had been walking behind everyone, so she was the last to return to the guest room.

What did they want? Why did they wait until everyone had returned to their rooms?

Running away was not a bad idea, but Ning Xueyan knew her own physical conditions well. She would definitely be out of energy after running for a while, so she would be caught first. That was why she had stopped, turned around and pulled Qingyu to the shadow behind the wall where there was a large fish tank. The two of them were small, so nobody would find them easily if they couched there.

All they could do was pray that the people in the front yard would get the news and come back soon.

As for her current situation, whether running away or staying here was actually very dangerous. However, she would definitely be caught if she ran out, and there might be a hint of vitality if she remained here. She had had a glimpse of those men in black just now and noticed that there were dozens of them. Now most of them had gone to chase the other Young Ladies, and only a few were left.

The danger was relatively small to stay here. As long as she held on for a while, the people in front would come back and the few men in black would definitely escape. Then she would be safe.

However, sometimes, things would not go as people expected. They suddenly heard footsteps coming from the rooms. Apparently someone was coming. The shadow of death fell upon them at the sound of the light footsteps. Undoubtedly, that person was coming in the direction where they were hiding.

Ning Xueyan pinched Qingyu’s sweat-stained hand, lowered her breath as smoothly as possible, trying to avoid revealing her whereabouts. At this moment, she was really nervous and her heart beat fast. The person should be not far from them, just a few steps away.

He was approaching step by step.

Ning Xueyan loosened Qingyu’s hand, reached out and touched her own hairpin. If she remembered correctly, the hairpin on her head was the one she usually wore. What was special about this ordinary pearl hairpin was that it had a sharp end. Ning Xueyan had almost been attracted by this unremarkable hairpin as soon as she saw it.

Because it gave her a sense of security.

Holding the sharp hairpin tightly in her hand, she listened carefully to estimate the distance of the man from them by the footsteps. It seemed that he was very close to them, so close that almost right in front of them. She bit her slips hard with determination in her eyes, a trace of warm and fishy liquid oozing from the corner of her mouth. The footsteps were close to her ears. She could not just sit and wait for death!

“I can’t die without struggling as I did in my last life!” she thought.

This time, no matter who wanted to kill her, she would make that person die with her.

However, something unexpected happened. Qingyu jumped out abruptly, bumping heavily against a man in black, while shouting at somewhere in front, “Young Lady, hurry up!”

The man in black had not thought that a daredevil maid would have suddenly jumped out. Being knocked back two steps, he tripped somewhere and fell to the ground. When he was about to stand up, he found himself pinned to the ground by the maid.

Qingyu continued to shout at somewhere in front anxiously while holding the man in black hard. The man suddenly jumped up and rushed forward to chase the Young Lady who was not in front at all, dragging along Qingyu.

How could Qingyu take such a risk? If she fell into the hands of this man in black, she would almost have no chance to survive.

Ning Xueyan’s brain was almost blank. How could Qingyu do this? Subconsciously, she ran out of the shadow to chase Qingyu, who had been pulled away by that man. After running out the door in a hurry, she saw Qingyu being dragged to the backyard.

Regardless of concealing her whereabouts, nor of her physical strength, Ning Xueyan chased her up. She would not let Qingyu be taken away by those people, and she would no longer let the people around her die for her. In her last life, she had watched Xiang’er being beaten to death in order to protect her, and then drowned in the lotus pond.

In this life, she would no longer let anyone around her die for her!

Breathing violently, she felt heartbroken. Tears streamed down her cheeks while blood at the corner of her lips dripping to her clothes and to the ground.

Unknowing where she got the strength, she chased after Qingyu desperately and finally arrived at the back hill.

“I almost missed someone here!” With a hoarse voice ringing by her ear, a man in black appeared in front of Ning Xueyan. Looking at the beautiful girl in tears in front of him, the man was stunned, and then he became overjoyed. He had not imagined that he would have been so lucky to find such a beautiful girl here.

Ning Xueyan focused all her attention on Qingyu now. When she saw someone blocking her way, she shouted angrily, “Get out of my way!”

Since all she was thinking about was Qingyu at the moment, she had no fear of the man in black in front of her.

“Little beauty, you look so good even when you’re angry. I didn’t expect to meet such a beautiful girl like you. How lucky I am!” The man in black said with a flash of wickedness in his eyes.

“You want to go against all the noble families? You’re playing with fire!” Ning Xueyan knew what he meant and shouted angrily.

“Little beauty, don’t worry! No one will know this. When I sell you to the brothel in the future, your family will put you to death without our help. Who will care what you have suffered?” the man in black said triumphantly. The noble families valued the reputation the most. If Ning Xueyan got defiled, she would definitely die.

No one would care how she had lost her virginity.

Of course, this man only said this to frighten Ning Xueyan. The order they had received was that they could kill a few maids by the way. This girl was so beautiful, so he did not want to let her go. Anyway, he could excuse himself by saying that he thought it was a maid. It was normal to make mistakes in the darkness.

Although it was a pity to destroy such a beautiful girl, compared with his own life, he still felt that it was safer to kill her after getting what he wanted.

“I’m from the Lord Protector’s Manor. I don’t believe you dare to do anything to me!” Ning Xueyan managed to calm herself down and said, clenching the hairpin tightly again. She widened her eyes to look for opportunities while distracting the attention of the man in black.

“Lord Protector’s Manor? Which Young Lady are you?” The man was stunned and stopped walking to her.

“Yes, I’m the Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor.” Ning Xueyan had not expected that the man would have stopped at her words. She paused for a moment and said firmly.

“You look like you’re only 13 or 14 years old at most. So you must be Fifth Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor! What a pity! Such a beautiful girl will be destroyed soon!” The man in black sized up Ning Xueyan and suddenly understood something. He then continued with an indifferent smile, “It’s useless even though you’re the Fifth Young Lady of the Lord Protector’s Manor, because none of you is useful except for that one.”

With that, he reached out and was about to pull Ning Xueyan.