Chapter 173 - 173 Life-Saving
173 Life-Saving
The snow didn’t stop. Snowflakes with ice grains cracked against the roof tiles.
She was looking at a wall outside the house, but Juan Bi could roughly guess that she should be looking in the direction of the guest courtyard.
No, or rather—
That Young Master Xia.
Young Master Xia, whom they had been thinking about, was standing motionless in front of a window in the guest courtyard, quietly looking in the direction of the main courtyard.
His charming phoenix eyes were as dark as ink and as deep as a pool.
A few snowflakes landed on his long green eyelashes, and there seemed to be a few tears on them.
His red lips curled slightly in an enchanting smile, but there was no warmth in his eyes. They were colder than the wind and snow, making the smile on his beautiful face seem more like a mask.
Dressed in red and with a red jade hairpin in his bun, he was as coquettish as the Red Spider Lily on the other side of the Yellow Spring. A demonic and dangerously contradictory aura surrounded him.
The house was dark and unlit. A strong wind blew, and white snowflakes floated from the window like silver moonlight.
10 feet behind him, a young manservant stood in the ink-black shadows. He was silent, as if he were a ghost without a presence. He lowered his head respectfully, not daring to look up at the young man in front of him.
An old figure entered silently from the back door, his passage not affected by the darkness of the house at all.
The silver-haired old man walked past the young man with vigorous steps and stopped three steps away from Young Master Xia. The snowflakes on his body quickly turned into water droplets.
The old man bowed and cupped his fists as he reported in a low voice, “Young Master, everything has been arranged.”
“I walked around this farmstead just now and checked carefully. These are all ordinary country bumpkins. There are old, young, and strong servants, but none of them is trained. At most, a dozen strong men have a strong aura.”
“I discovered that some carriages came here more than an hour ago, but they’ve all left. From the looks of it, they’re returning to the capital. It’s snowing heavily tonight, and those ruts are almost covered.”
“I also heard from a few villagers that the wind is strong tonight. The main family asked us to close the doors and windows, lock the horse pens, extinguish the lights, and burn the fire. They said to rest early.”
“Now that the lights are out, the people in this manor should have rested.”
In the last sentence, the old man raised his eyes slightly and looked at the young man’s handsome face in front of him. His sharp old eyes flashed with cold killing intent.
Water droplets of snow slowly fell from the old man’s sleeve, soaking the ground below.
The faint ticking was almost inaudible under the sound of the snow outside.
“She’s smart,” Young Master Xia said in a low voice. It sounded like praise, but it was also thoughtful.
A chuckle that was like a snowfall of ice floated out of his coquettish lips, making anyone who heard it shiver.
“…” The old man looked up at him again in confusion. His heart was in his throat, and he was nervous.
“She can tell,” Young Master Xia said firmly. His lips curled into a smile as he casually broke off a red plum by the window.
There was a blood-red ring on his slender and flawless fingers. The ring resembled red jade or metal, and there were detailed and complicated patterns engraved on it. Its bright red color made his hand look cold and white.
He stared in the direction of the main courtyard.
At this moment, there were still some lights flashing in this huge manor. It was like a pearl in the endless night, tempting people to fly into the fire.
The old man and the others behind him also followed his gaze in the direction of the main courtyard.
The old man’s pupils dilated, and a solemn expression appeared on his face. At this moment, he finally realized what Young Master meant.
The owner of this manor had actually discovered their intentions. Had she seen through their identities, or…
Forget it, it didn’t matter what it was!
In the blink of an eye, the old man’s expression changed several times, from surprise and solemnity to killing intent.
Only Young Master Xia’s expression did not change as he stood in front of the window. His fingers gently twirled the delicate red plum. The red petals trembled slightly, and a few snowflakes floated gently between his fingers.
He smiled again, sly and feminine. His voice was like a song as he said, “Interesting.”
He was smiling, but the smile never reached his eyes.
Whether the other party had discovered any clues or not, it was meaningless to him.
There was only one word left. “Death.”
His eyes had been very calm from the beginning, like ice that had been frozen for a thousand years, or like he was looking down at all living beings from the clouds. All living beings were ants, and no one could enter his eyes.
The smile on his lips deepened, like the bewitching hell flower that bloomed instantly in the night, red and lustful, more dazzling than the red plum between his fingers.
The cold wind blew twice, roughly sweeping up the broken branches on the ground and slamming them into the stone steps nearby. The leaves scattered and shattered.
Young Master Xia slowly turned around and changed the topic. “Has our Third Prince left the capital?”
There was an extremely subtle change in his tone as he said it—intimate and soft, like an ice sword wrapped in frosting.
The old man composed himself and suppressed the matters of the manor beforehand. His mind returned to the serious matter of this trip, and he replied respectfully, “Young Master, he has already arrived at the Seven Mile Pavilion.”
“He’ll be here in half an hour.”
The old man’s pupils shone in the darkness.
After finishing his business, he stood quietly with his head lowered. His movements and expressions were all respectful.
In the thick, ink-like darkness, the old and the young stood still like two blood-stained long knives with a murderous aura.
There was silence.
The sound of falling snow outside the house became clearer and clearer, and a murderous aura spread.
Young Master Xia’s hand that was holding the red plum fell leisurely and he said indifferently,
“It’s time.”
His tone was casual. He casually threw the delicate red plum down, scattering it in an arc like a drop of blood.
The other two men beside him immediately understood his order.
Kill!
Even though he did not say who to attack, the old and young men present all understood what he meant.
This sentence determined that none of the hundreds of lives in this manor would be spared.