Chapter 61: Hunting Ground...
More than forty servants from the Marquis's Mansion dressed in short blue cloth robes rushed forward with sticks in their hands, led by Huo Siyuan, who rode a tall horse and charged ahead.
His riding posture was a little stiff, with a long sword hanging crookedly on his waist. The moment Li Yunheng saw him, he pretended to draw the sword and roared.
"It's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Come with me and protect him!"
Huo Siyuan yelled at the top of his lungs, and the servants behind him, armed with sticks and weapons, all rushed towards the man in black and started fighting, delaying the assassin's chance.
Huo Siyuan's horse was frightened by the smell of blood in front and turned around on the spot. He held the reins tightly and didn't dare to get close. He could only wave desperately at Li Yunheng from five steps away.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince!" Huo Siyuan finally managed to rein in his horse, but his sword slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground with a clang. His face instantly turned red.
"I, I am the second son of the Marquis Wenxin's mansion. I was originally leading my servants to collect rent west of the city. When I reached the edge of the woods, I heard some noise and thought it might be bandits... but when I arrived, I discovered that it was actually His Highness who was being assassinated."
As Huo Siyuan spoke, he dismounted and went to pick up his sword, but he did so in a hurry and tripped over a dead branch. He fell awkwardly on the grass, his clothes covered with fallen leaves.
Li Yunheng looked at the flustered young master of the Marquis's Mansion. He saw that his hair was disheveled and his face was covered with grass debris. He didn't look like a noble young man at all.
But the servants he brought with him stopped the men in black in time, giving them a chance to catch their breath.
"I see." The shock in Li Yunfeng's eyes gradually turned into gratitude. "Luckily you arrived in time, otherwise I would have been in danger. I really want to thank you for saving me."
Hearing this thank you, Huo Siyuan's heart suddenly filled with joy.
But the next moment, a man in black who had escaped the net suddenly jumped out from behind the tree, and attacked Li Yunheng's back with his knife.
"Oh no, Your Highness, be careful!" Huo Siyuan's roar suddenly changed tone.
He had no time to think at all. He was only thinking about saving the prince. In an instant, he didn't know where he got the strength from, and he rushed towards Li Yunheng madly, blocking the knife.
"Ah!" The moment the sharp blade pierced his right shoulder, he screamed and knocked Li Yunheng over, and the two of them rolled into the bushes together.
The knife cut a deep wound an inch long on his shoulder blade. In the blink of an eye, blood soaked through his shirt and dripped down his elbow onto the prince's astonished face.
The man in black also sprained his ankle when he landed. Cursing, he continued to draw the dagger from his waist, but was hit on the wrist with a stick by a servant from the marquis's mansion who came rushing over.
"Catch him! Don't let the assassin run away!" Huo Siyuan half-lay on Li Yunheng, his voice filled with tears due to the severe pain.
The blood from his right shoulder continued to flow, staining the python pattern on Li Yunheng's chest dark red, but he still forced himself to look up and asked anxiously: "Your Highness... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but you, Second Young Master Huo!" Li Yunheng's eyes flashed with shock and emotion. He didn't expect that Huo Siyuan would risk his life to protect him.
He hurriedly tore off his sable fur coat to stop the bleeding.
Soon, the sound of reinforcements' horses' hooves came from afar.
Huo Siyuan was in so much pain that he was losing consciousness. He finally let go of his worry and cursed inwardly.
It is true that he was protecting the emperor and saving the prince, but he didn't expect to be stabbed. What a loss!
"Quick, lift Mr. Huo onto the carriage!"
As soon as the reinforcements arrived, Li Yunheng didn't care about anything else and personally supported Huo Siyuan's back and gave orders to the guards.
Before he fell unconscious, Huo Siyuan heard him shouting in anger, "Return to the palace immediately and ask the head of the Imperial Hospital to wait. If anything happens to Second Young Master Huo, I will hold you responsible!"
Only then did he feel relieved, closed his eyes and fainted.
In the Marquis's Mansion, Liang Weiyuan sat at the pearwood desk in the central kitchen, flipping through the monthly salary details sent by the accounting office.
After Yu was confined to her house, her account still showed five taels of silver for rouge every day.
She frowned slightly, and just as she was about to write a note with her pen, Zhu Shu knocked urgently on the carved wooden door.
"Miss." Zhu Shu flashed in, with dust and catkins from the road still on his temples, and hurriedly reported to Liang Weiyuan.
"The Second Young Master brought over forty servants with him. They wore short blue cloth uniforms, and their arms were bulging with weapons."
"I followed them all the way to the west of the city, but going further would have been inside the royal hunting grounds. I was afraid of being discovered, so I didn't dare follow them anymore and had to turn back."
Zhu Shu was puzzled and felt a little uneasy: "Miss, could it be that the Second Young Master has some bad plans? We must be on guard."
"Hunting ground..." Upon hearing this, Liang Weiyuan murmured and stroked the tip of the pen.
My thoughts wandered far away, and soon I remembered something.
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