Meng Abao, brandishing a knife, shouted, "Help! Protect the Empress!"

"Someone come here!"

But no one came even after calling out dozens of times.

“Ah…Ah Bao…” Meng Ruoyun pointed in a panic at the corpses lying haphazardly outside the door.

Meng Abao's expression changed. "Let's go, sister, let's go quickly!"

Meng Ruoyun panicked and turned to leave, clutching her child. At that moment, the assassin swung his knife, which was about to pierce Meng Ruoyun's back. Meng Abao instantly lost his voice, his legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground—

A dark figure stepped forward like a ghost, also dressed in black. Meng Huaiyi wielded his knife and directly cleaved the blade aimed at Meng Ruoyun.

Meng Ruoyun felt a chill run down her spine. Only then did she turn around in surprise. After realizing what had happened, her legs were so weak that she couldn't even stand up.

"Kill!" Meng Huaiyi shouted, and dozens of black-clad guards rushed in, engaging in fierce combat with the intruders.

Meng Ruoyun held the child, her head hunched over, not daring to look up.

All around were sounds of killing, the sound of knives cutting clothes, the sound of piercing flesh, and... and faint sobs. Who was crying?

Meng Ruoyun didn't know.

But gradually the sounds of killing stopped, and Meng Ruoyun thought it had stopped before she looked up.

A masked man raised his knife in front of her, but the next moment his arm holding the knife was severed from the shoulder, blood gushing out. The arm slammed onto Meng Ruoyun's skirt, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted without even screaming.

After wiping the blood-stained knife with a cloth, Meng Huaiyi put it back in its sheath.

He then instructed the maidservant who was huddled to the side, "Help your mistress out."

"Yes...yes." The maid nodded, her legs trembling.

A palace maid supported Meng Ruoyun, while two others helped Meng Abao, whose legs were weak and who was still crying from the fright of what had just happened.

...

The villa was brightly lit by torches, and even though the bandits had been killed, the emperor would naturally not stay in the villa any longer under such circumstances.

The members of the royal family were led onto the carriage with a mixture of protection and surveillance, causing widespread panic throughout the night.

Because the young prince had been assassinated, Bai Qing was worried and only allowed Consort Yun to carry the child into his carriage.

He then said to the head steward of his attendants, "Has the princess arrived? There's no need to pack up the valuables on the mountain. Tell the princess to come quickly and get into my carriage."

Just as the chief steward was about to nod, a horse neighed from behind the crowd, followed by a woman's cry of alarm: "The princess has been kidnapped!"