Chapter 267 - Someone Is Following Us
Ning Xueyan and her sisters walked along the street, enjoying the lanterns and laughing. After a short while, they met the housekeeper, who came over to tell them that they had booked room No. 9 on the third floor of Linjiang Restaurant. They had known they had booked a room, but they didn’t know which one it was.
“Ladies, Marquis and Madam Dowager have arrived, and you can come later,” the housekeeper said with a smile.
“All right. I will bring them to the restaurant soon,” Ning Qingshan nodded and said gently. She was the eldest one among the girls, so she made the decision. Ning Lingyun and Ning Xueyan would not disagree with her.
While Ning Qingshan was talking to the housekeeper, Ning Xueyan and Ning Lingyun continued to look at the lanterns.
“Fourth Young Lady, Fifth Young Lady, why is that person following us all the time?” Qingyu suddenly pointed at the corner not far away and asked Ning Lingyun and Ning Xueyan, “Does he want to hurt us?”
There was a bit of a distance between them and the man, so even though they raised their heads, they could not see the man’s face clearly. They only saw a young man in white clothes who was looking at them suspiciously.
“Third Sister, look, someone is following us all the time.” Ning Lingyun didn’t dare to make any decision now. Seeing the situation, she pulled Ning Qingshan, who was talking to the housekeeper, and whispered in her ears, pointing in that direction.
Although the housekeeper could not hear their words, he could see the man. He was old, so his vision was different from these young people. He could not see close things clearly, but he could see far objects clearly. He could see the man clearly and knew that he was the second son of the Xia family, who had caused troubles in the Ning family.
He couldn’t help feeling shocked. “What does he intend to do by coming here!? Although his eyes are not focused, he is looking at the girls. Only the three ladies are here, so who is he going to meet?”
Hearing Ning Lingyun’s words, Ning Qingshan lifted her head to look at the man. When she saw the white figure, she frowned and could not help cursing Xia Yudong for being a fool. “He has saved Ning Xueyan already. Is he waiting for another chance to do that again? If he keeps following us, Ning Xueyan will suspect him and it would ruin everything.”
Of course, at this time, she had not known that Xia Yudong had missed his opportunity to be a hero. When he saw that Ning Xueyan was harassed by the punks and was going to stop it as planned, he was hit on the back of his head. Before he could understand what had happened, he passed out.
When he woke up, he was pressed against the wall and questioned before he was released for no reason.
When he came out of the alley in embarrassment, everything was finished. Ning Xueyan had joined Ning Qingshan, and they were walking forward together.
The plan had failed and he had to tell Ning Qingshan. So Xia Yudong followed them, trying to find a chance to talk to Ning Qingshan. Even though he could not speak to Ning Qingshan, he had to talk to her maid. So he followed them all the way.
He and Ning Ziyan had repeated that they were framed in the accident that happened in Lord Protector’s Manor, and they even swore to God. Although Xia Yuhang said nothing, his expression was gloomy. Ning Ziyan had been locked in her yard. Even though he was not punished, he was scolded by his father.
After that, Xia Yuhang’s mother rebuked him and summoned his concubine to her yard. She punished his concubine to kneel on the ground until she passed out.
Xia Yuhang’s mother ordered her female servants to send his concubine back. They mocked him, saying that he was the son of a concubine. Xia Yudong was pissed off, but he knew it was inappropriate to quarrel with the hostess of the family.
In his opinion, the reason why he was treated like this was that he was the son of a concubine. So he wanted to be superior. At this time, Ning Qingshan sent him a message and showed him a way. In the letter, Ning Qingshan implied that Madam Ling should be blamed for what happened to Ning Ziyan and him.
They kind of suffered from their own actions. If the Xia family wanted to make trouble for him, he could use this to stop them.
For this, Xia Yudong became more grateful to Ning Qingshan, and also believed her as if he had found his backbone. So when something went wrong, he wanted to tell Ning Qingshan first.
“Tell that person that we are from Lord Protector’s Manor and to not follow us.” Today, Ning Qingshan took Caifen with her. Hearing Ning Lingyun’s words and seeing Xia Yudong, Ning Qingshan whispered to Caifen.
Because of Ning Lingyun, she could not say it too thoroughly. Fortunately, Caifen knew her and moved backward after nodding.
Seeing that Ning Qingshan sent her maid to deal with the man, the housekeeper frowned more tightly.
As Ning Xueyan twisted her mouth, a coldness flashed through her eyes. As if she did not see the housekeeper’s reaction, she returned to look at the lanterns. Ning Qingshan wanted her to be tied with Xia Yudong and impress her with a good figure. She asked her cousin to let go of Xia Yudong because she knew that Xia Yudong would tell this to Ning Qingshan.
Therefore, Ning Qingshan was the one who had kept in touch with Xia Yudong, not her.
Caifen returned after a while, but the housekeeper thoughtfully said goodbye to Ning Qingshan, and was going to report this to Ning Zu’an. Although it was not a big deal, considering that Ning Qingshan was going to marry the Third Prince, nothing wrong should not happen to her. If she did something wrong, she would get the whole family in trouble.
It was getting late, and there were more and more people on the street. They were walking together at first but were separated by a crowd rushing from the other direction. When Ning Xueyan looked back, she could find no one, not even Qingyu.
She had to listen carefully but there were all kinds of voices in the crowd and she could not hear if someone was calling her. She saw many strange faces, but none of them were from her own family. Was she lost?
Ning Xueyan carefully walked into the store next to her. She wanted to wait there for Qingyu. Once there were too many people and she got lost, she had to wait in the spot where she got lost and someone would come to find her. That was what Xia Yuhang had told her when she was lost on a Preliminary Eve and he found her after suffering greatly.
While she was thinking about this, she staggered and fell into a person’s arms. She tried to step back but a long arm wrapped around her and she was tightly pressed into the other’s chest. Then she smelled a unique fragrance.
She lifted her head in astonishment and looked into a pair of dark eyes. The man had a chiseled face and was staring at her, holding her waist tightly and smiling at her leisurely.
“What a coincidence! I actually met my girl. Let’s enjoy the lanterns together.” Ao Chenyi’s eyes became more watery and dark like two deep lakes.
“Lord, there are too many people here.” Ning Xueyan pushed him, looking at the crowd around them. She was not wearing a veil and could be easily seen.
“Then let’s find a place with fewer people,” Ao Chenyi lowered his head, and suddenly whispered in her ear.
Knowing that he had deliberately misinterpreted her words, Ning Xueyan was quite helpless. “I came out with my sisters and they were here before.”
She was warning Ao Chenyi that someone would come back and they should not reveal their relationship.
“That has nothing to do with me.” Ao Chenyi didn’t take it seriously, holding Ning Xueyan into the half-open door behind him, and his guards helped them make way.
Ning Xueyan was helpless, and she didn’t know what the prince wanted to do today. In order to avoid being seen, she had to bury her head in his arms. Thinking that there were guards surrounding them and it happened suddenly, it should be impossible to clearly see her face.
However, some men in black outside the crowd suddenly showed up and pointed their swords at Ao Chenyi, who was protected in the middle, and Ning Xueyan, who was in his arms. The guards had to stop the assassins, and they protected Ning Xueyan and Ao Chenyi to go through the door. After that, they could only hear the screams from outside.
Even though Ning Xueyan was a calm person, she could not help feeling frightened. She tried to push Ao Chenyi away to see what was happening outside and if Qingyu was coming back at this time!
“Relax, your maid won’t die.” Ao Chenyi didn’t hold her this time. He let her push him away, left her alone, and turned to go upstairs.
Such a proud person explained it to her. How rare! Thinking rationally, Ning Xueyan stopped. At this time, it was definitely inappropriate to open the door. There were many people outside, and once someone recognized her, it would be troublesome. She had not forgotten the gloomy eyes of the Third Prince when he doubted Ning Qingshan.
She was not Ning Qingshan, and Ao Chenyi had not too many scruples to hurt her.
After thinking about it for a while, she followed Ao Chenyi upstairs only to find that it was a separate private room. Ao Chenyi stood at the window with his back to her, looking at the scene below. This was the best position to view the scene.
Ning Xueyan walked over and quietly stood by his side. She pulled down the window screen at her side and looked down. The people in black were still fighting with the guards, their sword light flashing. The people had run away completely because no one dared to linger near such a murderous incident.
However, there were not only Ao Chenyi’s guards fighting against the men in black, but some people wearing different types of clothing were also fighting in front of the door.
“Are these people coming to kill you?” Ning Xueyan tried not to ask, but she failed.
“No!” Ao Chenyi squinted at her as he grinned. He turned around and stopped looking down and sat down on a wide chair.
“Are they…” Ning Xueyan sat down beside him and asked.
“Your cousin is the son of General Ming. He had visited you late one night in your room, and this time, he saved you like a hero. What a touching story!” Instead of answering, Ao Chenyi narrowed his eyes, staring at her slyly, and suddenly smiled with a weird face.
Ning Xueyan felt chilly under his gaze and was surprised by what he said. Her dark eyes tightened slightly. Ming Yuanhua appeared only once in her boudoir just after Ao Chenyi left. She had no idea how he knew about it. Did he have someone keeping an eye her?
She was feeling wrong about something. “What does he mean?”