Chapter 300 - Accident, a Fire in the Buddha Hall

Chapter 300 Accident, a Fire in the Buddha Hall

Ning Xueyan quietly retreated to the shadow behind her and looked at Xia Yuhang coldly.

“Elder Brother!” The delicate Young Lady seemed to have seen the savior and immediately cried with reddish eyes. Before she could speak, tears rolled down. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief, lowered her head and wiped her tears.

“Cousin Yuhang!” Ling Xue also called out in a low voice. She looked at Xia Yuhang in front of her in a daze, and then at the delicate Young Lady who stood behind him, confused.

“Eldest Young Master, our Young Lady was in poor health and could not walk too fast, so we walked behind the others slowly. However, this Young Lady suddenly rushed out from behind, bumped against our Young Lady and broke her bracelet. This is a gift from our Young Lady’s grandmother and it’s the first time for her to wear it today. How can she explain to her grandmother after returning to our manor?”

The maid who followed the Young Lady said angrily, pointing at the bracelet that was broken into two pieces on the ground as evidence.

“Well, it’s nothing serious. I’ll explain to our grandmother when I go back. Don’t worry,” Looking at the bracelet on the ground, Xia Yuhang said gently to the wronged and sad Young Lady standing aside.

The maid was still somewhat unconvinced. “It’s too much! How could a noble Young Lady act in this way?” she whispered angrily while squatting down to pick up the bracelet.

Being accused by the maid, Ling Xue’s face turned pale. Looking at the delicate and weak Young Lady, who was still wiping her tears secretly, as if she had been greatly wronged, and then at the Young Ladies and childes who were watching them, she felt a little embarrassed.

“I just broke the bracelet by accident! Why are you acting like I’m bullying you?” Ling Xue’s face blushed with embarrassment and anger.

“Hey, why are you so aggressive? Did my master offend you or blame you? You broke my master’s bracelet, but she didn’t even say anything. It’s normal that she showed her grievance at the sight of our Eldest Young Master.” The maid was annoyed by Ling Xue’s arrogance. She rose to her feet and stood in Ling Xue’s way, as if she was afraid that Ling Xue was going to beat her master.

It was humiliating for Ling Xue. She was Vice Minister of Justice’s daughter. How dare the maid to treat her as a scoundrel!

Xia Yuhang came over and patted the Young Lady on the shoulder. “Well, it’s all right. Leqian, don’t cry. It’s okay. Our grandmother won’t blame you,” he comforted her softly.

Leqian was his younger sister. She was timid since childhood and rarely showed up in front of people. She had not expected that she would have met the fierce woman, Ling Xue this time.

“Elder brother!” Perhaps Xia Yuhang’s comfort had worked. Xia Leqian raised her head with reddish eyes and walked closer to him timidly. She did not even dare to look at Ling Xue.

“It’s all right. Do you want to have a rest first? I’ll send someone to call you when the time is nearly up,” Xia Yuhang said gently.

Xia Leqian nodded. She left the hall and walked toward the guest room, following the maid obediently.

“Miss Ling, my sister is timid. I hope you can forgive her if she did something wrong,” After Xia Leqian walking away, Xia Yuhang turned around and said to Ling Xue calmly.

“I, I…” Although Ling Xue was cheeky, she felt embarrassed now. She had bumped against Xia Leqian and broken her bracelet, but now Xia Leqian’s brother was apologizing to her! Seeing the half-smiling faces of the crowd, she knew that they must be laughing at her secretly.

The look on her face kept changing. When she was in embarrassment, she suddenly saw Ning Huaiyuan coming out of the wing room. She could not help crying and called Ning Huaiyuan with grievance, “Cousin Huaiyuan!”

Ning Huaiyuan had walked in front of the crowd just now. He had not taken it seriously when he heard something seemed to have happened behind him. However, after taking a few more steps, he heard someone talking about the Lord Protector’s Manor. He then stopped with a frown. He looked around and saw Ning Qingshan not far away from him, but did not find Ning Xueyan. Therefore, he turned and walked back.

However, to his surprise, he did not see Ning Xueyan, but saw Ling Xue here. He froze for a while and turned to Xia Yuhang.

“It’s not a big deal. The girls ran into each other accidentally.” Xia Yuhang nodded slightly.

Ning Huaiyuan knew Ling Xue’s character very well. “Ran into each other? It must be Ling Xue’s fault. And she might also have gotten the Young Lady of other manors into trouble,” he thought. However, Ling Xue seemed to be fine all over, so he knew that she was not hurt.

“Well, since nothing happened, let’s go to the front and have a rest.” Ning Huaiyuan sighed. He had to meddle in this matter, because Ling Yi had hung out after sending his younger sister here and asking Ning Huaiyuan to take care of her.

Ling Xue was too ashamed to say anything. She followed Ning Huaiyuan to the wing room with grievance.

Since there was nothing interesting to watch, all the onlookers left. But Xia Yuhang did not move, as if he had seen Ning Xueyan in the shadow.

Since he had seen her, Ning Xueyan did not hide, but walked out gracefully. The girl walking out from the shadow had a pale but extremely delicate face. Under her long eyelashes, were a pair of jet-black eyes that were beautiful and moist, as if being covered with a layer of mist.

However, the smile on her lips was distant and indifferent.

“Eldest brother-in-law,” Ning Xueyan bowed to him and smiled slightly.

“Fifth Young Lady, why did you stay alone in the back?” Xia Yuhang asked gently. The light of the hall was flickering in his eyes which made people unable to tell what he was thinking.

“How is my eldest sister? I haven’t seen her since last time.” Instead of answering his question, Ning Xueyan talked about Ning Ziyan with a smile. After the accident, Ning Ziyan had not shown up in the Lord Protector’s Manor yet.

“She is a little uncomfortable. Fifth Young Lady, if you are free, you can come to our manor to see her and chat with her. She is so boring.” Xia Yuhang invited her with a soft smile.

“I… I’m not in good health, so I think I’d better not go. I’m afraid that I might infect my eldest sister and make her as sick as I am.” Ning Xueyan shook her head and refused. She did not think there was any sisterhood between her and Ning Ziyan. Of course, she did not believe that Ning Ziyan would take the initiative to invite her to the Xia manor.

“It’s okay. You two can relax together and talk with each other. It might be good for both of you,” Xia Yuhang still persuaded patiently with a gentle and graceful smile, as if he did not understand what Ning Xueyan meant.

Ning Xueyan glanced at him with a slight coldness on her face. “I’m sure I’ll visit my eldest sister when I have a chance in the future,” she responded casually, wondering what happened to Xia Yuhang. She did not think that she had anything to talk to him.

With that, she lowered her head and walked toward the wing room, hiding the coldness in her eyes.

In her previous life, she had lost herself in his gentleness. During the three years they had been together, she had thought that he loved her from the bottom of his heart. She had even told herself that she would make him happy and follow every word he said after marrying him. However, she had gotten nothing but died a miserable death. It all because she had believed the words of the wicked by mistake due to lack of the experience of judging people.

With such a painful experience, she would not make the same mistake again after rebirth. Ning Ziying had just died not long ago, but Xia Yuhang had already had both a beautiful wife and a concubine. He must have forgotten what he had promised Ning Ziying and of course, he would never know that Ning Ziying, who had been drawn into the lotus pond that day, had been reborn with hatred.

Seeing that Ning Xueyan had already gone to the wing room, Xia Yuhang’s eyes flashed with something that soon disappeared. With a gentle smile on his face, he then walked toward the wing room slowly, keeping three paces behind her.

As it was rare to have such an opportunity to relax, the people in the room were talking excitedly. Although the Young Ladies were a little shy, because their brothers were also there, they did not feel uneasy. Therefore, they were more cheerful than usual. Ning Xueyan found a chair in the corner and sat down.

The room was very warm with a few stoves in it, people could feel the warmth as soon as they came in. Ning Xueyan sat on the chair lazily. She was not in good health, so normally, she had already fallen asleep at this moment. She leaned against the back of the broad chair with her eyes closed and was going to nap for a while. When the time came, she would burn the first stick of incense and then go back to her room to sleep.

She did not sleep well because she had the dream that had not appeared for a long time.

In her dream, beaten black and blue, she was pushed into the lotus pond by those evil servants under the command of Madam Ling and Ning Ziyan. Through the bloody twisted water, he clearly saw the ruthlessness in Xia Yuhang’s eyes.

Suddenly, the cold lake began to burn inexplicably. In the wild fire, the palaces were collapsing and everyone was running wildly in horror. Ning Xueyan seemed to have seen herself running. People were running in front of her and the flame almost burnt her face. She could clearly feel the heat.

It seemed that someone was calling her and shaking her, trying to push her away anxiously. However, she felt that her body was so heavy and she could not move at all. She saw a figure in the fire, wondering what made her so sad that she could not even breathe. The heavy feeling almost crushed her.

“Miss, miss… Hurry up! Something’s wrong!”

“Something’s wrong?” Ning Xueyan could tell that the voice was just in her ear. She was shocked and suddenly opened her eyes. Looking at Xinmei’s face in front of her, she could not come back to her senses for the moment.

Why did the scene she had never experienced suddenly appear when she was drowned in her dream. And just now, she had felt that it was not a dream, but real.

“Miss, hurry up. There’s going to be a fire! Let’s go!” Seeing that she was still in a daze, Xinmei pulled her up and hurried out.

“What happened?” Ning Xueyan stood up and ran out with Xinmei. Hearing the scream and seeing the Young Ladies beside her staggering out behind their maids, Ning Xueyan was really awake. She asked while running behind Xinmei.

Xinmei was fast, but she did not exceed Ning Xueyan’s limit. “I don’t know either. It’s said an oil lamp in the hall of the palace beside us fell down and caused the fire. It was too late when people found the fire and it is about to spread here now, “she explained while trying to avoid bump against people.

Qingyu followed them closely.

It was not until they had rushed out of the palace that Ning Xueyan found that the other side of the hall, where they were going to burn the first stick of incense was on fire. The fire was very strong and had been burning for a while. Many people rushed over, trying to put out the fire, but judging by the current situation, they could neither put out the fire nor stop it from spreading.