Ruyi received Consort Zhang's letter and went to find Prince Duan with great joy. While she was happy, she was also a little scared. The prince's expression that day was terrifying.

But the glory and wealth quickly dispelled his fear. He smoothed his new clothes and his freshly oiled hands, smelling of fragrance, his face flushed with shyness and his eyes filled with affection. He soon went to the study. These past few days, Prince Duan had been staying in the inner room of the study and rarely went out.

She walked to the door, hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted her teeth and pushed the door open. The concubine had said there was no need to knock. The prince had recently taken to playing exciting games, as evidenced by Wei Ji. The concubine understood the prince best, and she had to listen to her. Now that the concubine had fallen out of favor, she had to rely on herself to regain the prince's affection. She certainly wouldn't dare to deceive her. For example, she had even given her the handkerchief that she and the prince had used to pledge their love. As long as she worked hard and had the concubine's support, becoming a concubine would definitely be no problem.

However, once inside, she called out softly, "Your Highness?" No one answered.

She called out several more times, "Your Highness... Your Highness..." but still no one answered.

She stepped over the screen into the inner room, only to find the bed empty. Panicked, she rushed out, only to see Prince Duan enter from outside, looking at her with an expression as cold as frost.

"You wretch!" Prince Duan slapped her hard across the face. "Where is the document?"

Ruyi was completely stunned. Prince Duan hit her hard, and she fell to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She tried to get up by pushing herself up with her hands, but Prince Duan kicked her far away. "You wretch, tell me! Where did you hide my travel documents?"

After speaking, Prince Duan walked up to her and roughly searched her body, but found only a handkerchief and nothing else. Prince Duan threw the handkerchief at Ruyi's face, "Where are the documents?"

"What document? This lowly concubine doesn't know anything about it." Ruyi managed to utter a few words, and blood gushed from her mouth as she finished speaking. Her heavily made-up face turned deathly pale.

At this moment, Leng Yang hurriedly came in from outside and said, "Your Highness, something bad has happened. The Second Prince has left the capital."

"What!" Prince Duan roared in fury. He drew his sword, which hung in his study, and thrust it at Ruyi. "That vile woman has ruined me!"

As soon as Leng Yang arrived, Consort Zhang followed. She was bare-faced and panicked. As soon as she entered the study, she saw Ruyi opening her mouth to ask her for help, but blood kept flowing from her mouth, and she couldn't say anything.

"Ruyi? What are you doing here? Your Highness, what happened?" Consort Zhang asked, pointing to the still bleeding sword wound on Ruyi's chest.

Prince Duan looked at her suspiciously, his eyes as cold as ice. "Shouldn't I be the one asking the concubine? Why is she in my study?"

Consort Zhang sniffed, the air thick with the scent of fragrance and blood, and tears streamed down her face. She walked up to Ruyi and questioned, "Ruyi, I have treated you well. These past years in the Prince's mansion have been so difficult, and I have relied on you so much. If you... you could have just told me, and I would have made the arrangements. What's so good about being a concubine? If you're willing, just say the word, and I will definitely marry you off in a grand and glorious way so you can be the lady of the house. Why do you have to try to climb into someone else's bedchamber? Do you know how much it hurts my heart to see you like this?"

Ruyi stared wide-eyed at Consort Zhang in disbelief, but Prince Duan couldn't see her. Consort Zhang blocked Prince Duan and Leng Yang's view. She gently placed her hand on Ruyi's body and pricked a needle into her body. Her eyes widened, and she tried to speak, but she had no strength left. Within two breaths, her head tilted to the side, and she died.

Consort Zhang's hands trembled as if she were extremely saddened, and she slowly touched Ruyi's eyes, but those wide-open eyes could not be closed no matter what.

She withdrew her hand, her eyes brimming with tears. Turning back, she seemed about to collapse at any moment, and said tremblingly, "Your Highness, even if Ruyi is no longer to your liking, you don't have to kill her. Just tell me, and I'll sell her off." As she spoke, she choked up so badly that she could no longer utter a complete sentence.

The two were talking about completely different things. Prince Duan still looked at her coldly, "Does the concubine really not know what good deeds Ruyi has done?" He asked, pointing to the handkerchief on the ground.

Consort Zhang picked up the handkerchief from the ground. "A dragon soaring through the sky?" The handkerchief was embroidered with a five-clawed golden dragon soaring through the clouds and sky. The embroidery was extremely exquisite, and it was a rare double-sided embroidery. She glanced at it for a few moments and asked in surprise, "Is this my mother's?"

Prince Duan did not answer. "Does the concubine truly not know?"

"Does Your Highness mean that Ruyi has the audacity to steal the handkerchief that Mother Consort and the late Emperor used as a token of their love?" She carefully wiped the bloodstains off the handkerchief, but she couldn't remove them no matter what she did. "It's dirty. I'll take it to wash it and return it to Your Highness in a few days."

At this point, she seemed to suddenly remember her purpose, and her face turned panicked again. "Your Highness, now that the Emperor has ordered the city gates closed, can we still go out? What should we do about the marriage between Nihong and the Wei family's young master? People in the capital are in a state of panic. Your Highness, please make a decision."

Seeing Consort Zhang's flustered appearance, Prince Duan gradually believed that she knew nothing about it. Yes, Ni Hong's marriage could not be delayed. Consort Zhang would not joke about her daughter's marriage. If something happened to her, Zhao Ni Hong could forget about marrying into the Wei family.

Thinking of this, he sheathed his sword and said gently, "Leaving the city requires documents. Consort, go back to the Marquis of Huainan's residence and ask your father-in-law to help you get a few documents so we can leave the city as soon as possible."

Consort Zhang's tears fell again. "Your Highness, what should we do about the marriage between Ni Hong and the Wei family's young master? If we leave, wouldn't we be delaying Ni Hong's life? Your Highness, if Ni Hong can enter the Wei family, it will be a great help to you."

Prince Duan was well aware of this principle, but time was of the essence, and he had to give up some things. "After returning to my fiefdom, I will find a good one for Nihong."

“What young master could be better than the young master of the Wei family? Your Highness, in my opinion, it would be better to give Ni Hong more dowry. Anyway, we don’t often return to the capital. Let’s just give all the properties in the capital to Ni Hong. She will have something to rely on in the Wei family.”

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