Chapter 8 Assassination Attempt Even after finishing dinner, Shen Yunrong didn't...

Shen Yunrong did not see Zhao Linzhang until after dinner.

She was filled with anxious thoughts, wondering if the prince would think she was disrespectful to him, and that she had only acted rashly.

Unable to see him, she had to nurse the young master, and besides, as a wet nurse, it wasn't appropriate for her to go looking for the prince herself.

Zhao Linzhang took a cold bath in late autumn to extinguish the evil fire within him.

Liu Hu came in carrying a tray with food on it, and cold water droplets were still dripping from Zhao Linzhang's forehead.

"Master, the lunch you ordered has been served." Liu Hu often couldn't understand his master's thoughts, unlike Xiao Liu who knew his master inside and out. Unfortunately, since they were away from home, Xiao Liu had to stay in the palace to look after the prince's study.

Just now, while we were having a perfectly fine meal in the front yard, the prince suddenly wanted to come back to take a bath and ordered the food to be brought back to the room. He had heard from the kitchen that the young master had spilled hot soup on the prince, so he just needed to change his clothes and had to have the meal in the room.

Zhao Linzhang didn't speak, but nodded to Liu Hu to put down the tray. As Liu Hu was about to take his leave, he suddenly asked, "Did you have Xiao Zheng personally verify that Shen Rongniang?"

“Miss Shen? Yes, Your Highness. Xiao Zheng inquired about her personally. She was a child bride from a butcher’s family in Shenjiazhuang. Last year, she married the butcher’s mentally challenged son. The butcher’s family disliked that she had given birth to a girl and kicked her and her child out.”

"Fool!" Zhao Linzhang clenched his fists, truly experiencing what it meant to have a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung.

"She couldn't stay in Shenjiazhuang any longer, so she came to the capital with her only remaining elderly mother to find her relatives." Liu Hu told the Prince of Zhuang everything that Xiao Zheng had found out.

"Okay, you can go now!" Zhao Linzhang rubbed his temples. His background was clear; no one had assigned her this task.

The sensation he felt from her touch seemed to return. His face darkened. She really was a widow. He might as well take her; it would be a good way to cure the remaining poison in his body.

After dinner, Zhao Linzhang asked Liu Hu to bring Shen Yunrong to him. He had desires for her and wanted to take her as his concubine. He had been single for so many years that he had developed a kind of ailment from being single and spent his days having absurd dreams.

Liu Hu quickly brought the person over and closed the door.

Shen Yunrong knelt down with a thud: "Your Highness, I didn't mean to today. I touched what I shouldn't have in a moment of panic. Please forgive me!"

Zhao Linzhang said in a hoarse voice, "Get up. Come here. How do you intend to make me forgive you?"

Shen Yunrong looked up in surprise upon hearing this. There was no smell of alcohol in the air, and the Prince Zhuang did not appear to be drunk. Why would he say such a thing to her?

"Tell me how you expect me to forgive you?" Zhao Linzhang waited for her to come closer, then got up and slowly approached her.

"Your Highness, if you wish to hit or scold me, I will endure it." Shen Yunrong leaned back while kneeling, her fingers clenching the hem of her dress. Having never interacted with a man before, she didn't know what the Prince Zhuang meant. Only her womanly intuition told her that something was amiss, that the Prince Zhuang's words were inappropriate.

"I won't hit you or scold you, what I want is..."

"Fire!"

Before Zhao Linzhang could finish speaking, a commotion arose at the door, and someone shouted that there was a fire.

The tenderness on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a deep frown. He pulled Shen Yunrong up, saying, "Go and see the child!"

Shen Yunrong's fear receded like the tide, and her worry for the young master made her run as fast as she could. The maids in the room were panicked and at a loss. Shen Yunrong ran to the crib, picked up the sleeping child, and was rushing to the door when she felt a chill on her neck.

A woman with her head covered scolded her: "Don't move, or you'll lose your head and have to behave."

As Zhao Linzhang watched the fire being extinguished, a woman's angry shout came from behind him: "Zhao Linzhang, you killed my father and brothers, today you will pay for your crimes in blood!"

Zhao Linzhang turned around abruptly upon hearing the sound, only to see a masked man holding a dagger against Shen Yunrong's neck.

He felt that the fire tonight was a bit strange; how could it be such a coincidence that the fire started on the very day he arrived at the village?

"Who are you?" Zhao Linzhang narrowed his eyes and quickly scanned the surrounding environment.

"On Wanglong Mountain, Prince Zhuang is truly a forgetful man!" Every word the veiled woman spoke seemed to spark with fire.

"Are you the daughter of that bandit leader?" Zhao Linzhang remembered that the bandit leader had a daughter who had been captured. They searched everywhere for her but couldn't find her. They thought that she was a girl and couldn't cause any trouble, so they were soft-hearted and didn't pursue her.

Unexpectedly, she came to me of her own accord.

"If you want to avenge your father and brothers, then come at me! What kind of hero bullies women, children, and the elderly!" Zhao Linzhang said as he moved closer.

The masked woman saw through his intentions and shouted, "Don't come any closer, or I'll kill her!" With that, she forcefully slashed the knife into Shen Yunrong's fair neck.

Instantly, blood gushed from that fair and smooth neck.

Zhao Linzhang's heart skipped a beat. He said sternly, "She was just a wet nurse. When did you outlaws start killing innocent people indiscriminately?"

"Indiscriminate killing? You dog of a traitor, you've killed even more innocent people! If you want me to release her, stab yourself in the back!" the masked woman said through gritted teeth.

Shen Yunrong felt no pain. The little boy in her arms woke up and was whimpering, almost crying. She was completely focused on the child, afraid that the masked man would hurt him.

"Young lady, the child is innocent. If you want to kill, kill me and let the child go." Shen Yunrong's voice trembled, her only thought was to get the child away from the sharp blade.

“His father is Zhao Linzhang, so he is not innocent.” After saying this, the masked woman turned her blade and was about to stab the child.

Shen Yunrong was heartbroken. She hugged her child tightly and bent over, wanting to use her own body to shield the child from the knife.

The child burst into tears, but the expected pain did not come. Shen Yunrong opened her eyes and saw Zhao Linzhang grabbing the knife with his own hands, blood dripping from his palms.

No one knows how he made his move, but she and her child were already far from the masked woman's blade, and Zhao Linzhang pulled them into his arms.

"Don't be afraid, with me here, no one can harm you!" Zhao Linzhang stood proudly with them in his arms, looking at the masked man like a general commanding thousands of troops on the battlefield, his sharp eyes narrowed, his whole body exuding murderous aura.

"Liu Hu, capture them alive!"

The masked woman lost her hostage and was defeated by the guards of the Prince's Palace in a few rounds. With a knife to her neck, she raised her head and Liu Hu dislocated her chin.

"He wants to bite a poisonous plant and commit suicide!"

The masked woman cried out in despair, and Shen Yunrong was so frightened by this sudden turn of events that she dared not move. Only after the child squirmed uncomfortably on her body did she realize that she was nestled in Zhao Linzhang's arms.

A strange yet familiar cool scent lingered in her nostrils. The lingering fear of escaping the knife wound had not yet dissipated. Her limbs were weak, and holding the child tightly had taken all her strength. She was unable to leave Zhao Linzhang's arms.

"Interrogate her thoroughly!" Zhao Linzhang frowned as he looked at the trail of blood winding down Shen Yunrong's neck. "Go and fetch a doctor immediately!"

Accompanying them was a doctor from the Prince's residence, who arrived shortly afterward.

“She’s bleeding.” Zhao Linzhang had one arm around Shen Yunrong and the child, and pointed to the wound on her neck with the other.

His hands were covered in blood, and only then did everyone realize that the prince was also injured.

The doctor was about to stop the bleeding for Zhao Linzhang, but he turned his head toward Shen Yunrong and said, "I am fine, let's treat her first."

The child in Shen Yunrong's arms was taken away by the maid, and she also left Zhao Linzhang's arms. Upon hearing this, she hurriedly said, "This servant is alright, but Your Highness's hand is bleeding so much. Doctor, please treat Your Highness quickly."

Her words were filled with anxiety and worry. Zhao Linzhang gave her a deep look; she seemed to care about him a lot.

The doctor chimed in, "The young lady's bleeding has stopped; we'll apply medicine soon. Your Highness, please stop the bleeding first!"

Zhao Linzhang then had the doctor apply hemostatic medicine and bandage his palm.

When Shen Yunrong sprinkled the hemostatic powder on the wound, the previously painless wound suddenly stung with a burning pain. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much and couldn't help but groan.

A hint of annoyance flashed in Zhao Linzhang's eyes. He had been too careless and had allowed the female thief to injure him.

"Young lady, your wound is shallow. Apply medicine once a day and avoid getting it wet. It will be fine in a couple of days. Your Highness, your wound is deep and will require more time to heal."

After the wound was bandaged, Liu Hu, having interrogated the assassin from tonight, rushed over to report.

"Your Highness, this woman is the daughter of the bandit leader. She escaped last time, but tonight we captured her and three accomplices." Liu Hu reported while sweating profusely. These captured bandits had been lying in ambush at the Prince's mansion for a long time. The mansion was heavily guarded, so they couldn't find a way to assassinate them. They followed them all the way to this manor.

For such a long time, as the leader of the guards of the Prince's Palace, he was completely unaware, which led to this dangerous situation today.

After reporting back, Liu Hu knelt down on both knees: "It was all my dereliction of duty, please punish me, Your Highness!"

"They're in the shadows, we're in the light. Whether we're on guard or not, get up!" Zhao Linzhang's tone changed: "Letting her in almost hurt Siliang is dereliction of duty. Go down and receive twenty strokes of the cane, and be fined a month's salary."

"Yes, thank you, Your Highness!" Liu Hu seemed quite pleased with himself despite accepting the punishment.

When Shen Yunrong heard that Liu Hu was going to be beaten, she was worried and wanted to plead for him. Liu Hu seemed to sense her thoughts, nodded to her to comfort her, and then went out to receive his punishment.

The two exchanged a glance and a nod, which Zhao Linzhang noticed, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Are you very familiar with Liu Hu?" Zhao Linzhang couldn't help but ask. If she had any relationship with Liu Hu, he wouldn't want to take her away.

As he spoke, a heavy feeling settled in his chest. A woman already had someone she loved, and Zhao Linzhang was not one to force someone into doing something against their will.

"I... I'm just a neighbor of Brother Liu. Brother Liu takes good care of my daughter and me, and I'm very grateful to him." Shen Yunrong was afraid that Zhao Linzhang would misunderstand that Liu Hu had used his connections to get her a job in the Prince's mansion, and that she would implicate him.

Seeing how nervous she was, Zhao Linzhang felt a tightness in his chest again. He hadn't seen her this nervous when he was injured.

The baby's wailing rescued Shen Yunrong from the eerie atmosphere. The maid, sweating profusely from comforting the child, said, "Your Highness, the young master is hungry!"

Shen Yunrong quickly took the child and curtsied to Zhao Linzhang: "This servant will go down to feed the young master."

Zhao Linzhang nodded, watching Shen Yunrong carry the child and quickly enter the inner courtyard. He rubbed his throbbing forehead helplessly.