The wolves came too fast; the group had only run a few miles when they were overtaken by the wolves.

There's no other way but to climb a tree and hide for now.

Shen Mingzhuang first led He Wenqing up a tree and instructed Shuangyue, "Keep an eye on him and don't let him wander off."

Shuangyue was still anxious about how the Empress had saved her earlier, so she nodded firmly and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured."

Shen Mingzhuang turned his head and saw Ling Feng and Ben Yue with about ten people perched on lower branches, watching the wolf pack's movements.

For some unknown reason, the wolf pack did not immediately surround them, or even approach them; it seemed as if they stopped at a distance.

Ling Feng asked, somewhat puzzled, "Are you afraid of us?"

"Don't dream about it. If they were really afraid of us, they wouldn't have chased after us. They're obviously plotting something nasty!"

Upon hearing this, Ling Feng felt a chill run down his spine.

Although what lies before us are beasts, that is precisely what makes them all the more terrifying.

What a human is thinking, one might be able to guess to some extent, but what a beast is thinking is something a human might not be able to guess.

"Are we really going to have to eat trees?"

Ling Feng was also very uncertain at this moment.

Upon hearing this, Benyue also became somewhat anxious. Normally, when everyone was protecting the Emperor, they were all facing the same kind of people, experts against experts, and whether they could win or not was all out in the open. But this was facing beasts! The thought of being skinned and eaten by these beasts if they couldn't win made her even more anxious.

This fear is completely different from the fear of not being able to defeat an opponent; it is a fear that strikes at the deepest part of the human heart.

"What exactly are these beasts trying to do?"

Benyue looked at the eyes that shimmered in the darkness, emitting a green light, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

Shen Mingzhuang also noticed that the wolf pack seemed a bit strange. These wolves… “Not good!” Shen Mingzhuang said in a deep voice, “These wolves are surrounding us!”

When everyone looked back, sure enough, there was a green glow flickering in the dense forest behind them. Everyone's hair stood on end, and they suddenly felt a little dizzy.

This night in the capital was also quite unusual.

Shen Mingrong stayed at the Fang family's house all night. At dawn, a baby's cry suddenly came from the delivery room, but the sound was too weak, like a kitten meowing. Her heart immediately jumped.

The midwife opened the door, looking exhausted and dejected. She held a baby in her arms, who had been given some simple treatment. The baby was wet and wrapped in a bright red swaddle blanket with the character for "double happiness" on it. Upon seeing this, Fang's mother stepped forward and lifted the blanket to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.

"It's a girl?!"

Upon seeing that it was a girl, Fang's mother's face immediately fell, and she questioned the midwife without any politeness: "After all that trouble all night, it's just a girl?"

The midwife's face was extremely pale as she slowly said, "Madam... we couldn't save her; she suffered a postpartum hemorrhage."

In that instant, Shen Mingrong was somewhat dazed and took a step back. Lu Chengye was worried that something might happen here and frighten his wife, so he had already sent someone to ask the court for leave. Seeing his wife's reaction, he was only glad that he had been prescient. He then held Shen Mingrong tightly and gently comforted her, "You've said enough. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are all fate. Neither you nor I can control them. Physician Liu has been here all night. We have done our best."

Shen Mingrong knew that they should do their best and leave the rest to fate, but he never expected that after all their efforts throughout the night, they still couldn't save Shen Ming'e.

She's only twenty-one.

Shen Mingrong spoke as if to himself, or perhaps to confide something, and said somewhat dejectedly.

Yes, she was only twenty-one years old. Like a flower that had just bloomed, she was battered by wind and rain.

Shen Mingrong recalled that when she was a girl in her parents' home, Shen Ming'e's noisy nature often annoyed her. However, she was one of the few sisters who was not cunning. Even though she didn't like her personality, she would still come to play with her. She was a typical example of someone with a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

Therefore, in the Shen family, she got along best with Shen Mingzhuang, and second best with her was her noisy eighth cousin, Shen Ming'e.

Suddenly, a silent cry rang in my ears. The sound was like the helplessness of someone who was overwhelmed with grief and wanted to cry but couldn't. It was Liu Shi's voice.

Shen Mingrong took a deep breath. Of course, Madam Liu was heartbroken. Liu Wenxin was dead, and Shen Ming'e was dead too. She no longer had a daughter, only a young son.

When Fang's mother saw Liu crying uncontrollably, she felt a sense of bad luck. Thinking that Shen Ming'e had only given birth to a daughter after a whole night of crying, she was already unhappy. Now that she heard that Shen Ming'e was about to die, she was unmoved and instead found the crying in the courtyard very noisy.

Only Lin Shi and Shen Shuchun looked relatively normal. When Fang's mother saw this, she stepped forward and said to Shen Shuchun, "Father-in-law, now that the person is dying, do you think the Fang family or the Shen family should provide the coffin?"

Hearing this, Lin's eyes widened. This person wasn't even dead yet, and he was already asking who bought the coffin? Was he in such a hurry to be reincarnated?!

Even though she and Liu Shi didn't get along, she was still very displeased with the behavior of the other woman's mother at this moment.

"Hey, do you have something wrong with you? It's true that my Eighth Madam was a daughter of the Shen family, but she was also a daughter-in-law of your Fang family. Now she's gone because she was there to continue the Fang family line, and you're asking about a coffin? Don't you have any shame?"

These words showed absolutely no consideration for Fang's mother's feelings.

Fang's mother felt a burning pain in her face, but since the person had indeed died giving birth to a child for the Fang family, even if she disliked Shen Ming'e, she couldn't afford to offend the Shen family at this time.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!