The Birth Of A Villainess

After looking at the hairpin for a few seconds, Lin Xiaofei finally closed her hand and stood up. Qu Xing Xu followed her action and they walked side by side while the servants who were inside the hall stared at them uncertainty but they dared not follow them.

Even Bai Lu who was always beside her young miss and Gu Yan who was there for his master thought that it was better to let the two have some time together.

"Your family… They're quite an interesting bunch." Qu Xing Xu stated. He was intrigued by how the Lin family acted out today.

It wasn't rare for him to see a member of a family antagonizing someone of their blood since he also experienced that kind of hate and took care of all of them before they could try to raise their hand on him..

He knew he was ruthless to do that to his own family member but he had no pity nor mercy left in his bone when the cost of it will be his life.

Lin Xiaofei gave him a look before she nodded, "They are."

"You also think so?" Qu Xing Xu raised an eyebrow to her reply before he offered her a smile, "I thought you would not find them interesting but hate them since they appear to also have some hatred towards you?"

"Hate?" Lin Xiaofei found his question funny, "Why would I hate to keep the clowns that kept me entertained in this wide residence."

The Lin family was not a problem for her. Rather than a problem, they have some uses to her. For example, being her puppets in the play where she would watch them make a fool of themselves.

Qu Xing Xu chuckled. It made him wonder what kind of mindset does the young lady beside him has that she would think of her family as clowns and not hate them for what they kept on doing to her.

Even though it wasn't known by many, the truth behind the strained relationship between the fourth young miss of the Lin family and the rest of the members of the family was already known by some close acquaintance that witnessed it.

Thus, it wasn't hard for Qu Xing Xu to find out that Lin Xiaofei has never been in a good relationship with the Lin family when he tried to investigate her identity the first time they saw each other.

"Why do you keep on staring at me like that?" Lin Xiaofei suddenly asked him and snap him out of his thoughts.

Qu Xing Xu didn't realize that he had been staring at her since the time they stopped walking in front of the hall. Upon being reminded, Qu Xing Xu didn't turn away nor did he avert his eyes from her.

Instead, he continued to boldly look at her face that seemed to be drawing him to touch it.

Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, Lin Xiaofei suddenly had to step back. She subconsciously felt that if she didn't step back, this shameless man before her would do something that could make people frown or blush.

Seeing her adorable action to get away from him made Qu Xing Xu's playfulness come out as he stepped two steps forward towards her.

Lin Xiaofei frowned at this and decided turn around but she was held in place as she felt his paws on her shoulder.

"Like what?" Qu Xing Xu asked her with his voice sounding so magnetic that it pulls anyone to be drowned in their dreams.

Lin Xiaofei's eyes glared at him and said, "Like you're up to something bad."

Qu Xing Xu laughed hard at her words. He didn't deny her words as he reached his hand out to her hair and held a piece of it.

And before she could stop him, he leaned forward and kissed it. His face was too close for comfort and she stilled at his actions.

After he pulled backward, his eyes stared back at her eyes and said, "I won't deny that. But aren't you the same? Having a vicious woman as my wife, why wouldn't I think of doing the same thing?"

"That reminds me. What are you planning to do with Prince Jing? Are you going to kill him like that young lady Song or are you going to let him go?" Asked Qu Xing Xu which made Lin Xiaofei frown.

The thought of letting Prince Jing and the empress go never crossed her mind. The reason why she ended up being engaged to Qu Xing Xu was because of their rash actions and that's enough reason for her to think of some plans to destroy them.

However, at the moment she needed to do something else.

"Rather than asking me about Prince Jing… why don't we talk about the reason why you didn't tell me about the fact that I needed to live with you before the wedding?" Lin Xiaofei asked him back. She had never heard of any bride to be living inside the groom's residence even before the actual wedding.

It was given that she must learn and get used to the way things worked in the Qu residence, but shouldn't her training as the Duchess of Xin happen in her Lin residence?

Another, she noticed that Qu Xing Xu seemed to rush their wedding too much that she became suspicious of his real intention.

Thus, she reminded him, "Qu Xing Xu. I hope you didn't forget our contract. Although we are going to be married. It doesn't mean we have to really act like a real couple. We will only do that when we're in front of someone or when we're outside."

Qu Xing Xu finally stepped back, "Of course, I won't forget about it." He paused to look around before he said, "However, I would like to ask what would happen if either one of use violated one term of our contract?"

Lin Xiaofei stared at him and thought about it. There were only three things in the contract. The first term was that they should never fall for each other as it would be a hindrance to their plans. The second term, if ever there was one of them that felt the need to divorce, the other person wouldn't stop it and sign the divorce papers immediately.

And lastly, the third term was that even if they became officially married to each other, they shouldn't have any kind of physical contact with each other unless it was needed and in front of others.

Lin Xiaofei was confident that neither of them would violate these terms. Hence, she didn't give him a concrete answer as she returned to her courtyard to prepare for her departure tomorrow.

However, what Lin Xiaofei didn't consider was what kind of man Qu Xing Xu was and she would soon regret giving him a thoughtless answer. According to Qu Xing Xu's personality, the third term wasn't enough to restrain him and he might violate it as soon as she stepped into his residence.

A few minutes later, Gu Yan walked to where Qu Xing Xu was standing and informed his master that the empress was taken to the Cold Palace.

"Good." The smile on Qu Xing Xu's broadened before he looked at him, "I have another task for you."

"What is it, master?"

Walking back inside the hall, Qu Xing Xu said, "Make sure that the news that the Empress was sent to the Cold Palace won't enter Xiaofei's ears not until she enters my house or much better until the wedding is done."

He didn't want his efforts to take the crown away from the empress go to waste just to have Lin Xiaofei backing out from the engagement. He's heard of how she annulled her engagement with that Chu young master and he didn't want to end up like that.

Anyway, he might have to prepare himself by the time that Lin Xiaofei ended up knowing that it was him that made the empress go down her throne and she didn't have to go through marrying him to escape from the empress' slippery hands.

On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel gleeful as he couldn't wait to have Lin Xiaofei live with him inside his residence. He didn't have to worry about anyone looking at his woman nor kill the men who wished to marry her.

The moment she stepped into his residence, will be the moment she will become his.

Once his master left, Gu Yan who was given another task wanted to cry. He was known for his deadly skills in eliminating his master's enemies in the shadow and yet, his master gave him a task unfitting for him.

Sighing, Gu Yan wished he could go back to the days where he would pull the toenails of a spy and listen to their piercing cries inside the underground basement.

"Go and take all this to the young lady's courtyard!" He ordered the servants who came with him to carry the chests to the Lin residence.