Extra Story - The Young Lady and Her Wolf-Dog - The Queen

"What's all the fun about? Such a commotion."

A cool, somewhat languid voice came from not far away.

The voice wasn't loud, but it made the children in this corner of the garden tense up.

Huangfu Chengxuan was especially startled.

All their movements froze in place.

They whipped their heads around to look and saw, on the second-floor balcony,

the young lady of the Qin family, known to everyone in the entire Jingzhou social circle,

leaning against the railing, watching them with keen interest.

Behind her was the warm, bright light of the banquet hall.

And she stood at the boundary between light and shadow.

Like a queen descended from another world.

A flicker of surprise passed through Huangfu Chengshi's eyes.

The plan was disrupted.

He had calculated all possible spectators.

The old butler, his eldest uncle, his second uncle, even his grandfather himself.

He had only failed to account for her.

Qin Ya.

The proudest and most troublesome red peacock of the Qin family.

Why was she here?

And why did she speak up?

"Qin... Sister Qin Ya!"

Huangfu Chengxuan was the first to react.

He immediately put on an ingratiating smile.

The Qin and Huangfu families were of comparable influence.

But Qin Ya herself was absolutely not someone their junior generation could afford to offend.

Qin Ya was already someone who could sit at the same table as their fathers, discussing projects worth hundreds of millions.

She was the sharpest blade of that old fox of the Qin family.

And in their circle, she was notoriously a little hellion who thrived on chaos.

Provoking her had more severe consequences than provoking an elder.

"We... we were just fooling around."

Huangfu Chengxuan stammered an explanation.

But his foot instinctively moved off Huangfu Chengshi's body.

"Fooling around?"

Qin Ya descended the balcony steps.

Her slender, high heels crunched on the snow.

Making a crisp, rhythmic sound.

Step, step, step.

Each step seemed to tread on everyone's heartstrings.

Her gaze swept past Huangfu Chengxuan and landed on the child on the ground, covered in muddy snow, a trace of what seemed like blood still at the corner of his mouth.

"Your Huangfu family games are quite special."

Her tone betrayed neither joy nor anger.

But that condescending scrutiny made the half-grown children feel an inexplicable pressure.

They didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

"Pull him up."

Qin Ya's voice was still quiet, yet carried an unquestionable command.

Huangfu Chengxuan didn't dare disobey in the slightest.

He and another companion hastily hauled Huangfu Chengshi up from the snow.

Huangfu Chengshi steadied himself.

But he still kept his head down.

As if thoroughly frightened.

He seemed afraid to look at the others, and afraid to look at Qin Ya.

Long, damp bangs covered his eyes.

And concealed the momentary panic in their depths.

The plan had completely failed.

The old butler wouldn't be coming.

Everything he had prepared had vanished into thin air because of this woman's appearance.

He should be angry.

He should resent this meddlesome woman.

But he wasn't.

Not only was there no anger in his heart,

instead, a stronger, more unfamiliar emotion surged up.

It was curiosity.

It was probing.

Qin Ya walked step by step until she stood right in front of him.

A pleasant, slightly chilly fragrance drifted into Huangfu Chengshi's nostrils.

It wasn't the cloyingly sweet perfume of the noblewomen in the banquet hall.

It was a cool, aggressive scent, like snow and pine.

It was her unique scent.

He felt a cool hand lift his chin.

That hand was very pale, very slender.

The nails were trimmed clean and neat.

Painted with a red nail polish similar to the color of the blood at his lips.

Forced to look up, he met the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his life.

They were slightly upturned peach blossom eyes.

The outer corners were like hooks dipped in the deadliest poison.

When looking at someone, they held three parts indifference and seven parts amusement.

Those eyes held no sympathy, no pity.

Only a pure, scrutinizing gaze, as if she had discovered some interesting toy.

"Not bad looking, quite clean-featured."

Qin Ya released his chin.

Her voice still carried a hint of lazy amusement.

She took a handkerchief from the pocket of her red coat.

The handkerchief was white, with no pattern on it.

She used it to casually wipe the corner of his mouth, as if it were nothing.

But her movement was very gentle.

Yet it felt like a feather carrying a spark, lightly brushing past.

Huangfu Chengshi's body instantly stiffened.

He felt as if his heart had been tightly clenched by that hand.

"Alright, stop crying, acting like a little girl."

She clearly saw he hadn't shed a single tear.

But she said it anyway.

It was a kind of condescending, slightly teasing comfort.

Even more, it was a subtle declaration of ownership.

As if this little thing on the ground, at everyone's mercy,

from this moment on, was under her protection.

"Don't let me see you bullying this little thing again."

Qin Ya casually tossed the handkerchief, now stained with a tiny bit of blood, onto the snow.

She turned her head and said to Huangfu Chengxuan indifferently.

"Yes, yes, yes, we wouldn't dare," Huangfu Chengxuan nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

The other children were also too scared to make a sound.

Qin Ya paid them no more mind.

She didn't even glance at Huangfu Chengshi again.

She turned and walked away from the garden, her elegant yet dangerous heels clicking.

That dazzling flash of red soon disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

As if everything that had just happened

was nothing but an insignificant speck of dust she had casually brushed away.

She had appeared suddenly and left even more decisively.

Yet like a gust of wind, she had ruffled the still waters in Huangfu Chengshi's heart.

And yet, took not a single cloud with her.

After turning away, Qin Ya did not see the fleeting glint of sharp light in the eyes of the boy who had kept his head bowed.

Qin Ya's intervention was not part of Huangfu Chengshi's plan.

On the contrary, it ruined all his subsequent plans.

He had intended to use this opportunity to make Huangfu Chengxuan suffer a major loss in front of the whole family.

To have his eldest uncle severely reprimanded by his grandfather.

To make all those in this cold family who looked down on him taste the bitter fruit of their contempt.

But now, everything was ruined.

However, as Huangfu Chengshi looked in the direction where that flash of red had disappeared,

he felt not the slightest bit of anger at this unforeseen disruption.

Qin Ya left.

Huangfu Chengxuan and the others also slunk away dejectedly.

Before leaving, they didn't forget to glare fiercely at Huangfu Chengshi.

Their eyes held resentment, jealousy, and a hidden fear.

Soon, only he remained behind the rockery.

The world returned to silence.

Only the snow continued to fall soundlessly.

Huangfu Chengshi slowly crouched down.

He picked up the white handkerchief thrown on the snowy ground.