Chapter 433 A Sudden Change and a Sudden Shock
At the critical moment, Ning Xueyan grabbed the half-open door with her hand. She pulled her body forward with all her strength. Fortunately, she managed to stabilize herself at the last moment.
At this time, Qingyu also freed one hand to pull Ning Xueyan’s hard into the carriage so that the latter, who had half of her body thrown outside, could return when the carriage suddenly stopped.
“Young Lady, what… what happened?” Qingyu was still in shock. She held Ning Xueyan’s hands tightly and asked in a panic.
They had walked along this road several times before. Regarding the time, they should be on the road leading to Cold Mountain Temple. Since there were more people going to the temple for incense, the road up to the mountain was relatively large, and no accident should happen normally. However, when Ning Xueyan was thrown out of the carriage just now, she saw her carriage b.u.mping into a tree on the wayside. The carter must have fainted, sitting on the shaft. Ning Xueyan didn’t know if he was dead or alive, but in a flash, she saw two men outside, who looked very suspicious.
Judging from their clothes, they didn’t seem to belong to a decent family.
“There’s someone outside.” Cold sweat appeared on Ning Xueyan’s forehead. She pinched Qingyu’s hand as she bit her lower lip. At this time, she couldn’t be chaotic. Although she had two carriages with her, after hers had run for a while, they must have deviated from the original road. There were two older female servants sitting in the second carriage, but they might not catch up with them.
Qingyu and Ning Xueyan were both vulnerable, and the only male was the carter, who was lying on the ground, not knowing whether he was alive or dead. The situation in front of her was extremely dangerous. Her horses were startled and her carriage was smashed for no reason. What’s more, some strange men were watching her. It seemed that something wrong was happening.
Before she could say anything, she heard the sound of footsteps. She took Qingyu’s hand and dragged her down to lay down in the carriage as if she had been knocked unconscious. Qingyu was not stupid. When she received Ning Xueyan’s hint, even though she was in a panic, she immediately lay down next to Ning Xueyan and rested half of her body on Ning Xueyan’s, covering most of her body.
“How are they? Are they dead?” A hand reached out and opened the door. A man with fair skin stood at the door, with his chest half-revealed. He looked like a ruffian, like one of the most common ruffians on the street.
“Not dead, I think.” Another voice sounding cleverer came from behind him. It was a short man with a sharp mouth who was dressed the same as the former one. He looked like a rogue who was wearing the words “I am a bad person” on his face. Looking from his point of view, he could only see Qingyu’s face. Ning Xueyan was pressed down by Qingyu, so her face could not be seen clearly.
When Ning Xueyan fell down, she covered her face with half of her sleeve. Looking from the outside, they could only see a long sleeve and her beautiful hair. The inside was dark, so it was not clear when they looked into the carriage under the sun.
“Do you want to kill them now?” The taller one looked at Qingyu and touched her face with his hand. He said with a lecherous smile, “She’s quite beautiful. It’s a pity for her to die in this way.”
“Why a pity? The people behind are coming soon. It will be troublesome if we are seen by others. We’d better hurry up and get them out of there so that we can get the money, and not be discovered by others.” The shorter guy impatiently pushed the tall man’s hand away and looked at the road behind him as he spoke.
The purpose of their action today was to kill the people inside. If others found out that the two women did not die in the accident, the two rogues would be in real trouble. The man who ordered them had said that if they were discovered, no one could protect them.
“It’s a pity that both the lady and the maid are so beautiful. The maid is so pretty, so the lady should not be ugly. Why don’t we take them away first? Anyway, the carriage had turned over. If they disappear, who would know?” the tall man suggested. Looking at Qingyu’s face, he seemed to be reluctant to give up.
The maid looked as beautiful as the No.1 prost.i.tute in the brothel whom he was unable to have a look at on ordinary days. Looking at the hillside beside the carriage, they found that it was not very precipitous, but they couldn’t see the bottom. If the carriage rushed down, even if it didn’t slide down very fast at first, it would definitely crash in the end.
This was much more convenient than a cliff. At least, it would look more like they had accidentally slipped down.
“Once we get money, we can have any woman we like. If there is no one in the carriage, it will be troublesome. Look at her dress, it is completely different from our clothes. If anyone sees that we have a lady from a n.o.ble family with us, they will definitely find us in less than three days. You think we can touch her?” The short man scolded him.
The tall man smiled and refused to give up. He said, “So what if she’s from a n.o.ble family? We’ve played with girls like her before. That family also could not do anything to us last time. The girl’s reputation had been ruined, and her family would rather she had died than find her and take her back.”
“Bullsh*t, how could it be the same? That family was just an ordinary rich family. This one is different. They have a n.o.ble t.i.tle. We might lose our lives. No matter how good-looking they are, our lives are more important than that.” The short man sneered.
“So, you’re going to push them down?” the tall man asked reluctantly.
“Hurry up, come on and help.” The short man became more and more impatient. He turned and left the carriage. It seemed that he wanted to turn to the back and push it down the slope.
Under the long sleeves, Ning Xueyan narrowed her eyes and watched the movement of the two people. Since she was in the dark while they were under the sun and she had the long sleeves on her face, the two people outside didn’t notice that she was looking at them with her eyes open all the time. She didn’t dare to move rashly because she was afraid that the two people would take more extreme measures after discovering that.
From the conversation between the two people, she knew that today’s matter was by no means accidental. Someone secretly planned to kill her. Except for those in Madam Dowager’s courtyard, only the people in her courtyard knew that she was going to Cold Mountain Temple. She had asked Lanning to check out Bright Frost Garden again and again, so it was unlikely that her people had spread the news.
So it had to be from Madam Dowager’s people. But Madam Dowager was relying on her, so it was impossible for Madam Dowager to do anything to her because there was no conflict of interest between them. In this case, Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Qingshan were the only ones who could arrange everything in such a short period of time. It was by no means possible for an ordinary woman like Ning Qingshan to do such a thing.
She thought Ning Huaiyuan was the only one who had hidden in Madam Dowager’s courtyard before. Even if Ning Huaiyuan wanted to deal with her, he would not take action so fast. But what if Ning Qingshan was involved? What if she had fanned the flames of this? Ning Qingshan and Ning Huaiyuan had been close to each other recently, so Ning Qingshan would go to Ning Huaiyuan’s when she was free, claiming that she wanted to check Ning Huaiyuan’s injury.
Now Madam Ling was inferior to a concubine since she had been demoted. It not only impaired Ning Huaiyuan but also Ning Qingshan, who was recorded as Madam Ling’s daughter. Ning Qingshan made herself the Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor in order to fight for the position of Third Prince’s wife. But in the end, Ning Xueyan fought back and Ning Qingshan had to be a co-consort instead of a wife. As the daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor, she was truly wronged.
But now, Ning Qingshan was no longer the Marchioness’s daughter because of Madam Ling. Could a co-consort’s daughter be a prince’s concubine? So Ning Huaiyuan or Ning Qingshan should be responsible for this, or they did it together. However, she had no time to figure out who had plotted against her at the moment.
The tall man looked at them reluctantly when he saw the short man walking ahead. Just as he was about to leave, Ning Xueyan let out a soft moaning sound as her long lashes fluttered. The long sleeves covering her face moved away and then she lifted her head slightly. She looked at the tall man, who was standing at the carriage in a daze, and asked, “What… what happened?”
Her voice sounded delicate and she looked exceedingly beautiful. Her long eyelashes as well as her watery eyes looked girly. The tall man, who was about to leave, immediately felt shocked and couldn’t move. He didn’t expect such a gorgeous little beauty to be in the carriage.
As if she had seen everything clearly, Ning Xueyan blinked as her face turned paler. She looked at the man in front of her timidly, but no one noticed her raised hand and the fierce look hidden in her eyes. At this time, the only one she could rely on was herself. Her enemies were two males, so she was no match for them. She had to be waiting for this moment.
“If I can’t take them down by force, I have to do it by using a strategy!”
Even though she had been reborn, Ning Xueyan had never experienced something like this. Although she was confident, her hands and feet trembled a little unconsciously. In the current situation, if she could not save herself, she would have to die. If someone else planned to kill her, of course, she would not wait to die.
“Who… who are you?” the girl asked in a sweet voice, sounding confused and scared, which was exactly in line with Ning Xueyan’s current ident.i.ty and situation. Which Young Lady could stay calm in such a situation?
The girl was as beautiful as jade, sweet, and delicate. Ning Xueyan was trying to get up with her arms, but it was difficult because most of her body was pressed under Qingyu’s. When she supported herself with her elbow, timidly, she looked like a lotus in the wind, which made people feel sorry for her.
“Little beauty, do you want to get up? Let me help you.” At this time, the tall man had already been fascinated by Ning Xueyan’s beauty. He reached out to push Qingyu away, trying to pull the little beauty toward him. The carriage was not big and Qingyu was lying at the door. Although she was very thin, she still weighed dozens of pounds. It would take him a lot of effort to push Qingyu away.
The tall man squatted down subconsciously and pushed Qingyu hard with his hands. His attention was all on Qingyu, but he didn’t forget to flirt with Ning Xueyan. He said dissolutely, “Little beauty, wait a minute. I’ll push the maid off, and then I’ll take good care of you.”
In the carriage, Ning Xueyan coldly looked at the tall man. Under her sleeves, she slightly raised one hand and leaned against the brocade bench inside the carriage. Then she found the gold b.u.t.ton on the blood bracelet with the other hand and pressed it down hard.