Nan Shiying’s slender fingers turned the pages of the book. The orange candlelight flickered, casting her finger’s shadow onto the pages, a line across the paragraphs.
It was past midnight. Tonight, it seemed, nothing would happen.
She closed the book, slipped off her outer robe, and lay down on the bed.
She slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, Nan Shiying woke from her dreams. Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the room. In the golden beams, a whisk floated, bobbing up and down.
She got up, put on her outer robe. The waiter had delivered hot water early. After washing up, she opened the door. Xuan Yi was waiting outside. “Young master, the master has already gone for breakfast.”
Nan Shiying nodded and walked downstairs. At a glance, she saw the poison elder sitting in the center of the main hall, eating breakfast. She walked over and sat beside him, casually picking up a bun and putting it in her mouth.
There weren’t many people in the hall in the morning. The waiter leaned lazily against the counter. Suddenly, the inn’s door was kicked open. A group of burly men, surrounding a pale, weak-kneed young master, barged in. As soon as they entered, one of them kicked over a stool.
"Clang~"
The stool clattered to the ground, shattering into pieces.
The waiter jolted awake. Seeing the swaggering young master at the front, his face turned instantly white, three shades paler than the young master’s supposedly weak complexion.
“Young Master Qin, what’s wrong?”
The innkeeper, hearing the commotion, hurried out from the backyard. Upon seeing Qin Shaoyang leading a group of burly thugs, radiating menace, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He rushed forward, bowing obsequiously.
“Get lost!”
Qin Shaoyang slapped the innkeeper across the face. The innkeeper was sent sprawling to the ground. Qin Shaoyang then planted his foot firmly on the innkeeper’s shoulder, pressing him down with all his might.
“Go, drag his daughter here for me.”
Qin Shaoyang waved his hand, and several thugs charged towards the backyard.
The innkeeper heard this and his eyes blazed with fury. He had only one daughter, barely fifteen this year, not yet of age. She had been lovely as a child, and as she grew, she became even more beautiful and delicate. For the past year or two, he had kept her confined to the backyard, rarely letting her out. How could this bully have seen her?
If his daughter were to be abducted by this villain, then… then it would surely mean certain death.
“Young Master Qin, Young Master Qin, my daughter is but a willow’s grace, how could she be worthy of you, sir? Please be magnanimous and spare my daughter. I beg you, I kowtow to you.”
The innkeeper’s upper body was pressed to the ground by Qin Shaoyang’s foot, only his head could move. He lifted his head and kowtowed heavily, again and again. His forehead began to bleed from the repeated impacts, but all he received in return was the man’s almost ferocious cold laugh. “Your daughter is of course not worthy of me, she is merely a plaything. What talk is there of worthiness or unworthiness?”
The innkeeper’s eyes turned red. Suddenly, he heard his daughter’s piercing cries and, disregarding everything, pushed himself up, trying to get off the ground.
However, although Qin Shaoyang looked frail, he was still a young master of the Qin household. Even with the aid of medicinal concoctions, he had achieved the level of a third-rate martial artist. The strength in his foot was far beyond what an ordinary civilian could resist.
“You dare to resist? I’ll make you resist, I’ll make you resist!”
The innkeeper’s resistance was met with the man’s enraged curses and kicks. He raised his foot and delivered a series of brutal kicks to the innkeeper’s body, his arrogance reaching an extreme.
His shouting echoed throughout the entire hall. Those eating breakfast in the hall had long since cowered to the side. Only in the center, the old man and the young woman were still eating their meal with complete focus.
Qin Shaoyang’s guards grabbed a young girl and dragged her out as if she were a dead dog. In the struggle, the girl’s collar was torn open, revealing a small patch of fair skin.
“Tsk, look, how white!”
Qin Shaoyang half-crouched, grabbing the innkeeper’s hair and forcing him to look at his daughter. A lewd smile played in his eyes, instantly ruining Nan Shiying’s appetite. She casually threw the half-eaten bun in her hand. The bun, imbued with a gust of wind, struck the guard’s chest as if hit by a heavy fist. The burly man’s eyeballs bulged, and his hands instinctively released the girl’s wrist. He knelt on the ground, clutching his chest.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events. The waiter rubbed his eyes, staring blankly at the half-eaten bun that had rolled onto the floor, then looked up at the red-eyed, contorted thug. He subconsciously swallowed.
If it weren’t for the fact that it was a bun from his own inn, he would have almost believed it was stuffed with bricks.
Qin Shaoyang had not expected anyone in Xiling Commandery to dare to interfere in his affairs. It was simply seeking death!
He smashed the innkeeper’s head heavily onto the ground and gazed darkly at the fair-faced youth sitting in the center of the hall. Seeing her exquisite features and elegant demeanor, a trace of sinister intent flashed in Qin Shaoyang’s eyes.
A comely and delicate plaything, indeed.
Seeing how he was looking at the Wangfei, Xuan Yi slowly drew the sword at his waist, his eyes glinting with chilling killing intent.
Qin Shaoyang saw the guard beside her draw his sword and a look of utter arrogance spread across his face. “Draw your sword? Does anyone in this world dare to draw a sword before this Young Master? Good, very good.”
Qin Shaoyang pointed at Nan Shiying’s nose and commanded, “Take down that ignorant young man for me.”
“Yes!”
The thugs charged towards Nan Shiying.
Although Xuan Yi’s sword was not as skilled as Ying Yi’s, it was more than enough to deal with these low-level thugs. Without even moving from his spot, he killed all the thugs.
Blood flowed across the ground. The bodies of the thugs lay within a meter of the table, and even their blood had the good sense not to splatter towards the table.
Amidst the blood, Nan Shiying picked up her teacup, gently blew away the floating tea leaves, her demeanor calm and collected, her eyelids barely lifting.
“You, you actually dare to kill my Qin family’s dogs?”
Qin Shaoyang’s eyes were wide with rage. There was no fear on his face, only the fury of having his pride wounded.
Nan Shiying tsked. She beckoned to the little girl who had collapsed on the ground. The girl’s face was streaked with tears, her body trembling with fear. But seeing the young master who had saved her beckoning, she gritted her teeth and tried to push herself up, but her legs refused to obey, too weak to stand.
Nan Shiying had watched with cold detachment, with no intention of helping. The girl looked young and delicate, like a fragile flower, but she was tenacious. Seeing that she could not stand, she simply gave up trying and began to crawl forward with all her might.
The path she crawled towards Nan Shiying was filled with blood. The reflection of blood in her eyes sent tremors through her pupils. She had bitten her lower lip until it bled, yet she felt no pain.
Only when the little girl crawled to her feet did Nan Shiying bend down, grab her arm, and, without much gentleness, pull her up and place her on a stool.
She lowered her head and asked with a smile, “Who is that brain-dead person over there?”
“And what is this Qin family?”