"Mother, it wasn't my idea, it was Father's."
Mengyao's aggrieved explanation only made the Empress laugh in exasperation:
"If you hadn't kept pleading, would the Emperor have had this intention?"
"I...Mother, how about I go see His Highness myself?"
"Hehe, Mengyao, do you think the Emperor would personally go to handle this matter if he entrusted it to Prince Zhen?"
The Empress looked at Mengyao with a knowing expression and sneered:
"You still want to go with Prince Zhen? To spend every day together on the journey?"
"I didn't, I didn't..."
Mengyao covered her face, looking at the Empress with a wronged expression. Unfortunately, the Empress was a woman, and she wouldn't feel sorry for Mengyao's look.
"Get back to the Crown Prince's residence. You are not to leave the residence without my order."
This is essentially grounding Mengyao.
"Mother..."
Mengyao insisted, but the Empress snorted coldly:
"If you say another word, you'll be confined to your room."
"Mengyao, you should be glad your belly is working, otherwise, I wouldn't mind crippling you!"
The Empress's gaze fell on Mengyao's stomach. If Mengyao hadn't been pregnant, she would have wanted to cripple this woman.
Mengyao stiffened for a moment, then carefully placed her hand on her lower abdomen.
The Empress looked at her cautious demeanor and sneered.
When Mengyao returned, she was covered in a cold sweat. The two girls were very quiet in the car, not daring to say a word.
"The Empress actually thinks of me that way?"
Mengyao couldn't understand why the Empress was so interested in her when she clearly didn't mean it that way.
"Your Majesty."
Yingchun hesitated for a moment, then advised, "Actually, it's not just the Empress, the Lady has also said..."
If one person thinks that way about her, it might be that person's problem, but now that everyone is talking about her like that, hasn't the Crown Princess reflected on herself?
"I..." Mengyao closed her eyes. Now that she couldn't leave the Crown Prince's residence, what would happen to her pregnant belly?
She wanted to pretend it was real, not just let Meng Qing give birth.
She couldn't get pregnant before, and now that the Crown Prince is missing, can she still have her own biological child?
Although Meng Qing is related to her by blood, she is not hers after all.
She wants a child with the King of Zhen, but now that everyone disagrees with her, her desire has only grown stronger.
Mengyao felt a sharp pain in her face as she touched her swollen cheek. The Empress had gone too far. She hadn't done anything wrong; she was just worried that her husband would plead with the Emperor for mercy. Why was the Empress hitting her?
...
The prince waited in the mountains for three days, and they ate very little.
The guards hunted two pheasants, but they dared not roast them, so they had to cook them in a cave.
There will still be smoke, but much less.
Now that it's rained, finding firewood is also a problem.
In the end, the prince got to eat it, but it was undercooked and tasteless.
These were the most difficult days of the Crown Prince's life.
On the fourth day, the guards who had gone out finally returned, but they were badly injured. They were discovered at the foot of the mountain and another fierce battle ensued.
His small package contained some dry food and medicine.
"Your Highness, I have already contacted them, and they will arrive by tonight at the latest. I was worried, so I returned first. This is..."
He handed the package he had risked his life to protect to the Crown Prince, and then breathed his last.
The prince's eyes were bloodshot. "Ouyang Zhen, you're really ruthless."
Once I get out, I will make you wish you were dead!
The Crown Prince was thinking viciously when Su Mu took the package, opened it, and took out the medicine to change the Crown Prince's dressing.
It was raining that day, and with no medicine and the treatment being rather rough, the prince's wound became severely inflamed. The wound swelled up, and Su Mu was alarmed.
"The bodyguards are more experienced," he said with a stern face.
"Your Highness, the pus in this wound must be drained, otherwise applying medicine will be useless and it will still not heal."
Su Mu looked at the person who spoke:
"Come here."
"But we don't have any anesthetic here. If we drain the pus, it will hurt a lot."
"I can."
The Crown Prince was unusually firm for once, and Su Mu hurriedly said, "Hurry up, the Crown Prince's health is the most important thing."
The prince had expected it to hurt a bit, but when it actually happened, the pain made him gasp for breath, and he almost bit his tongue several times.
"Your Highness, why don't you chew on something?"
The guards were alarmed and knew this wouldn't do, so they quickly offered their advice.
After thinking for a moment, Su Mu realized they had nothing to bite on, so he handed over the knife handle.
The Crown Prince doesn't have much to worry about right now; saving his life is the most important thing.
The prince was in so much pain that he ordered them to tie him up. But there were no ropes available, so they had to take off his belt.
To drain the pus and blood, the slightly healed wound had to be cut open first. The dagger fell, and the prince broke out in a cold sweat from the pain, but that wasn't the worst of it.
They made an incision and the guards began to clean out the pus and blood; the process was excruciatingly painful.
Su Mu and the others felt sorry for him, but they had no other choice at the moment.
The prince's wound needs to be treated; his men will arrive later.
The whole process lasted for more than half an hour, and the prince fainted three times from the pain.
After the medicine was finally applied, the prince looked as if he had been pulled out of the water.
Fortunately, the matter was resolved. Su Mu handed over a steamed bun, which was the first thing they had seen people eating in the past few days.
Things that the crown prince would normally not even bother to look at now suddenly seemed like rare delicacies.
Soon it got dark, and the prince still couldn't get up.
He sent someone to wait for his men near the foot of the mountain as they came up.
But even as it approached midnight, no one came.
The crown prince was anxious, and the people who had gone ahead to inquire about the situation had already rushed over.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Quick, run!"
The man had been stabbed in the abdomen, and bright red blood was everywhere.
"They're here again. Our men have all been stopped, and they're all dead..."
It's too far away; you can't see it at all from the mountain.
The crown prince's expression changed, and Su Mu asked anxiously:
"They're all dead?"
"Yes, they're coming soon, Your Highness. Hurry up and get into the mountains."
"But there are tigers in these mountains!"
They encountered this when it was raining that day, and several people were killed or injured.
“But…those people are assassins, someone must have put a bounty on His Highness’s head.”
Su Mu and the Crown Prince were both stunned. There were only four or five of them, with assassins behind them and tigers inside. How could they escape?
But staying alive is the most important thing; he can't just sit and wait to die.
The prince was carried away again as they fled for their lives.
After one night, only Su Mu was left by his side.
Looking at the cliff in front of him, and then at the dozen or so men in black behind him.
The prince's face was ashen.
"It was Ouyang Zhen who sent you!"
The crown prince spoke with absolute certainty, and the leader of the men in black looked on indifferently, without even removing his black veil.
"Your Highness, does this situation seem familiar?"
This situation...
The crown prince suddenly remembered that many years ago, he had also received news that Prince Zhen had been forced to jump off a cliff by his men.
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