The middle-aged man broke into a cold sweat the instant a sword was pressed against his neck. He hurriedly put on an honest, harmless expression. “Ladies, let’s talk this over. I’m only a commoner. How could I possibly have any right to meet the Commandery Princess? Surely there’s been some mistake?”
Nan Yun simply stared at him without saying a word, but she pressed the sword a little harder against his neck. Blood immediately began to trickle down the blade.
A sharp pain shot through the man’s neck, turning his face deathly pale. He quickly gave in. “No, please, don’t do anything rash! I’ll go. I’ll go!”
A quarter of an hour later, Nan Yun and Nanxing brought the middle-aged man aboard the yacht.
As he looked at the strange objects inside, the man was inwardly shocked. The vessel was even more luxurious than he had imagined.
Nan Yun grabbed him by the collar and tossed him to his knees before Xi Qingyue. He happened to meet a pair of cold, mocking eyes—despite the fact that their owner had the face of an eight-year-old child.
Xi Qingyue was idly playing with a fruit knife. She glanced at the man and asked casually, “You work for the provincial governor?”
The middle-aged man hurriedly shook his head. “N-no, Commandery Princess. I’m just an ordinary citizen. I don’t know any provincial governor. You must have the wrong person.”
The knife in Xi Qingyue’s hand slipped “by accident” and landed with its tip buried barely half an inch in front of the man’s legs.
“Sorry. My hand slipped.”
The middle-aged man scrambled backward in terror. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he was secretly horrified. He had nearly lost a leg. This child was far too ruthless!
He had thought he might be able to argue and make excuses, but he never expected this little Commandery Princess to go straight for the kill. He had a strong feeling that if he refused to tell the truth today, he would not only die—he might even wish he were dead.
Xi Qingyue seemed completely unaware of his fear. She smiled brightly at him. “By the way, what did you say just now? I didn’t hear you clearly.”
For some reason, the sight of her smile only deepened the man’s terror. He dropped forward and began kowtowing repeatedly. “Commandery Princess, please spare me! I’m only a messenger! I’m a steward from the provincial governor’s residence. I came to Liucheng specifically to contact someone from Guangling Pavilion’s Dark Hall. I was only here to deliver a message. I haven’t done anything else!”
At the mention of the Dark Hall, Xi Weilan, who had been sitting nearby, flew into a rage. She immediately drew her pistol and pointed it at the man’s head. “You’re the one who sent people to kill us, you bastard!”
Xi Qingyue frowned and looked over at her. “Lan’er, don’t swear. You’re still young. We don’t use language like that.”
“Oh.” Xi Weilan acknowledged her, but she did not lower her pistol.
The middle-aged man was now too frightened to move. If only he had left the county office and gone straight out of the city! Few people knew him in the first place. Even if someone from the Dark Hall had exposed him, he could have escaped the city. How had he ended up falling into the Commandery Princess’s hands?
As he regretted everything, Xi Qingyue spoke coldly. “You’d better tell us everything you know, without leaving out a single detail. My sister is young and doesn’t have much patience. If her hand slips, your head will be blown apart. Would you like to find out?”
“Commandery Princess, please show mercy! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!” the middle-aged man cried out in a trembling voice. He was terrified that one careless movement from the child would cost him his life.
He knew that the two Commandery Princesses possessed hidden weapons countless times more powerful than those of the Dark Hall. He had seen the bodies of Dark Hall members before, including people whose heads had been blown apart. He did not want to end up like that.
Xi Weilan snorted, lowered her gun, and returned to the sofa. Then she began eating potato chips again, as if her earlier anger had merely been an act and had vanished in the blink of an eye.
The middle-aged man no longer dared to conceal anything. He revealed everything he knew.
“Commandery Princess, I truly wasn’t lying just now. I’m only a steward at the provincial governor’s residence. Whenever the provincial governor has an order, he sends me to deliver the message. I was also the one who received the children brought to the governor’s residence, but they were all handed over to the governor’s head steward. I truly don’t know where they went after that.
“Also, there’s more than one branch of Guangling Pavilion’s Dark Hall. The one in Liucheng is only one of them. I’m only responsible for making contact here. Different people handle the other locations. I know where several of the others are, but I don’t know whether they operate out of theaters, teahouses, or restaurants. Only the head steward and the provincial governor’s trusted confidants know everything.”
Xi Qingyue and Lu Jinshuang were both surprised by this revelation. They had never expected Guangling Pavilion’s Dark Hall to have more than one location. It seemed they had truly underestimated the provincial governor.
Xi Qingyue asked another question. “Aside from the Dark Hall, does Guangling Pavilion have any other branches? Where are the other Dark Hall locations?”
“Your Highness, I only know about the Dark Hall. But I’ve heard that Guangling Pavilion has only the Dark Hall. The others are all fronts meant to deceive people. The other Dark Hall locations are in Kuncheng, Sucheng, Jiangcheng, Haiyue City, and Xin’an City.”
At those words, Xi Qingyue’s eyes narrowed.
Xin’an City was Lu Qianning’s fief, and it was also the territory Xi Qingyue intended to claim as her own. She had never expected such an evil organization to have been planted there. Whoever was behind it was certainly bold.
Lu Jinshuang’s expression darkened as well. The Dark Hall alone was nothing to fear, but it abducted children everywhere. In Xin’an City, who knew whose name they might be using? If this hidden power was not eradicated, it would become a serious threat in the future.
The middle-aged man felt the temperature around him drop sharply and was so frightened that he hardly dared to breathe.
Xi Qingyue’s expression turned cold as she looked at him. She asked several more questions, but the man knew nothing about them, so she stopped questioning him.
“All right. Since you’ve told us everything, this Commandery Princess will magnanimously let you live.”
At those words, delight appeared on the middle-aged man’s face. At last, he would not have to die.
Xi Qingyue watched his expression and suddenly smiled. “Mu Jin, throw him into the water and let him soak for a while.”
Mu Jin accepted the order, grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar, and dragged him outside. The man did not take it seriously. They were beside the wharf, after all. Even if he was thrown into the water, he would not necessarily die. As long as he could stay alive, soaking in the water would be no big deal.
The next moment, he was thrown into the water.
Just as he was about to swim toward the shore, he realized that he could no longer move. His body began moving on its own, dragging him slowly toward the bottom while he lay face-down in the water.
That was not all. Every inch of his body began to ache terribly, as if he were being cut apart by a thousand knives. Yet there was nothing beneath the water except mud and silt.
The man was horrified. The pain was unbearable, and he wanted to open his mouth and cry for help, but all that greeted him was a mouthful of riverbed sediment.
Aboard the yacht, Xi Qingyue stood at the bow, watching the water below gradually turn red. The corners of her lips curved into a faint smile.
After killing so many people, treating children as merchandise, and even daring to send assassins after her, a man like that still wanted to live? What a ridiculous fantasy. Being cut to pieces was the fate such people deserved.
When Zheng Xinran arrived at the wharf with her parents, they saw Xi Qingyue standing on the yacht with a faint smile on her face, her gaze fixed on the increasingly red water below.
They stopped in front of the yacht, and Zheng Xinran politely asked one of the guards to pass on a message.
Xi Qingyue had already noticed the Zheng family. She waved down at them directly. “Come aboard.”
