"What does he want from you?" Zhu Dan asked.

"The Second Prince invited me to a teahouse. Because I have some influence among poor scholars, the Second Prince wants us all to pledge our loyalty to him. If we don't comply, he will kill me. I had no choice but to agree."

"However, he is extremely suspicious. Since then, I have always been under surveillance. Today, I only managed to get rid of the people following me so that I could come to see Your Highnesses in a hurry."

His expression was grave as he looked at Lu Xiaoyun and Zhu Dan: "I urge both Your Highnesses to be wary of this man. The Second Prince is not as harmless as he appears. If he can think of forcing a commoner to pledge allegiance to him, then there are probably many ministers in the court who are also his men."

Guo Shaoning stood up; he had to leave. "These past few days, only one person has been monitoring me, which is why I was able to get away for a while. However, I am worried that the Second Prince might be making some plans. I urge both Your Highnesses to be careful."

Lu Xiaoyun and Zhu Dan exchanged a glance and nodded to Guo Shaoning.

Zhu Yu was quite displeased to see them acting like this again. He glared fiercely at Zhu Dan and said, "Look again, look again, and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Zhu Dan ignored her, not wanting to argue with a "young woman": "Zuo Xiu."

Zuo Xiu entered: "Your Highness."

"Send him out the back door, be careful."

Zuo Xiuying should have left with Guo Shaoning.

Therefore, on the day of the imperial examination, arrangements should be made around the examination hall.

The three of them then discussed the layout around the examination hall again.

Half an hour later, Lu Yuyan returned with Ruoling, who had been strolling around.

As soon as I stepped out of the restaurant, I heard the sound of galloping hooves approaching from afar.

Everyone looked in that direction. It was Qi Yu. Upon seeing Zhu Yu, she immediately dismounted, her face extremely pale: "Miss, something terrible has happened! The Duke has been seriously injured by assassins from the Chen Kingdom and is unconscious. He has been carried back to the manor. Please return to the manor immediately, Miss."

Where is my brother?

"The young master suffered a minor injury, nothing serious, and has already returned to the manor. He has instructed me to bring you back immediately."

"good."

Lu Xiaoyun and Zhu Yu both turned pale and hurriedly walked outside. Lu Xiaoyun aggravated her wound and cried out in pain, staggering to the ground.

Zhu Yu rushed to help them up, but being a woman, she was not strong enough. The others were a little too far away to help them up, and they could only watch helplessly as the two of them fell to the ground.

Zhu Yu's body landed squarely on Lu Xiaoyun's injured leg, causing her to twitch in pain. Those nearby seemed to hear the cracking sound of bones breaking, and bright red blood gushed out instantly.

Zhu Dan was startled by the scene and immediately went forward with Lu Yuyan and the others to help her up.

Qi Yu and Li Feng, their faces pale, went to help Zhu Yu up.

The area in front of the restaurant was in chaos.

Upon hearing the news, Feng Yan also rushed over from the Prince An's residence.

Zhu Yu then instructed, "Feng Yan, you and Qi Yu escort Princess Ruoling back to the palace."

"Yes," they both replied in unison.

Jiang Chuan brought the carriage over, and several people helped Lu Xiaoyun and Zhu Yu into the carriage. Zhu Dan took the reins from Qi Yu's horse and hurriedly headed to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion with them.

Standing at the window of the second-floor teahouse, Zhu Heng watched this scene with great pleasure. He raised his teacup towards the flickering star in the sky, then tilted his head back and poured the slightly hot tea down his throat.

Even God is on his side!

As dawn broke, people on the street saw Prince An being carried out of the gate of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion by his personal guards, and then getting into a carriage to return to Prince An's mansion. Blood seeped through the gauze wrapped around his injured right leg.

Upon arriving at the gate of Prince An's residence, Prince An did not dismount from the carriage. Instead, he opened the main hall gate and led the carriage directly into the residence.

It is clear that His Highness Prince An's leg injury is extremely serious, and he will not be able to get out of bed for at least three or four months.

Meanwhile, Physician Jiang, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, was woken up from his bed in the middle of the night by the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and invited to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Physician Jiang did not come out of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion until dawn.

Mr. Lu, the doctor from the Prince An's mansion who was said to have extremely high medical skills, also stayed at the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and he has not been seen coming out for a long time.

One after another, imperial physicians entered the gates of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and soon they came out one after another with solemn expressions and shaking their heads.

People in the streets and alleys were talking about it: "What's going on? Why are so many imperial physicians entering the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion? Has something happened?"

Another person said, "It is said that the assassin who tried to kill the emperor on the Lantern Festival was a spy from the State of Chen. The Duke of Zhenguo was in charge of the investigation. Yesterday, he discovered that the assassins were hiding on the north hillside. The Duke of Zhenguo led his men to capture them, but they were ambushed. The Duke was hit by several arrows."

The first person to speak turned pale upon hearing this: "Ah, then, is the Duke's condition not good? Look at the faces of these imperial physicians, they don't look right."

"Sigh, it's pretty much a done deal. Look, even the Emperor has sent Imperial Physician Jiang. He's been here for seven or eight hours since he entered the mansion last night, and he still hasn't come out of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. I'm afraid we're in trouble."

"There's also Mr. Lu from the Prince An's Mansion. It's said that Mr. Lu is incredibly skilled with the Nine-Turn Resurrection Needle, able to revive the dead and heal bones. He didn't even come from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion."

If even these two medical giants are helpless, the Duke of Zhenguo is likely in grave danger.

The people were restless. Since he was ten years old, the Duke had been guarding the southern border with the old Duke. For decades, he had never returned to Shengjing. He had been guarding the gates of the Great Zhou Dynasty and had made great military achievements.

"The imperial examinations are just a month away, who would have thought that something like this would happen?"

"However, although the Duke was ambushed by the assassins, he also captured all the spies from Chen. General Qi's expedition of 200,000 Northern Army troops to Chen can be considered to have a legitimate cause."

The people shook their heads and sighed with regret.

After the servant finished recounting the news he had overheard at the entrance of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, Zhu Heng's mood became even more cheerful.

Zhu Yu is lame. Even if he recovers, the imperial examination will be held in a month. No matter how brave he is, his lameness will not hinder him in the slightest.

The Duke of Zhenguo is seriously injured, and it is uncertain whether he will survive.

Those assassins from Chen State really helped him a lot.

A staff member in the mansion whispered, "Your Highness, why don't you do what Prince An and the Fifth Prince did and visit the Duke of Zhenguo at his residence?"

Zhu Heng immediately got up; he was going to go and personally confirm whether the Duke of Zhenguo was truly going to die.

He ordered a carriage to be prepared, changed into a plain robe that had been scented with incense for two hours, removed the jade crown from his head and replaced it with a simple hairband, and then went to the palace.

Zhu Yu and Zhu Dan were not afraid of being accused of forming cliques and currying favor with the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, which commanded 200,000 troops. Zhu Yu, the usually low-key second prince, was a lazy prince who only knew how to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures. He would need his father's permission to visit a high-ranking official in the hospital.

When Zhu Heng arrived at the door of the Imperial Study, he heard the old emperor questioning Imperial Physician Jiang: "Jiang Lianying, I don't want to hear what you have to say. You have done your best. No matter what, you must save the life of the Duke of Zhenguo, at all costs!"

"Your Majesty, this old minister is incompetent. The Duke's injuries are too severe, and this old minister truly has no way to help him." Imperial Physician Jiang's voice was clearly trembling with tears.