Chapter 12 Despair The stable was smelly and cold, a place that had always treated her and…
The stable was smelly and cold. Why did Granny Li, who had always been kind to her, suddenly change her attitude? Shen Yunrong couldn't understand. She had always been kind to others and had never had any intention of harming anyone. How could they treat her like this?
Even if she really did something wrong, she should be punished without hesitation.
However, she was falsely accused of seducing the prince, a charge she refused to admit to even in death, as she had never harbored such thoughts.
Bound and unable to move, Shen Yunrong watched the sky slowly darken and closed her eyes in despair.
The sound of her daughter crying echoed in her mind, and she woke up with a start. She couldn't die.
She slammed her head against the wooden gate of the stable, resting when she got tired, and then continuing to slam it.
When it was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, a voice suddenly called out, "Who is it?"
It sounded like Xiao Liu's voice. Shen Yunrong, as if she had found a lifeline, sobbed and cried out for help.
The entire backyard was filled with Li Mama's people, and no one dared to save her.
Xiao Liu came to see the foal that the palace had bestowed upon the prince. It was a long-haired, short-legged horse sent from the Western Regions, intended for the young master to ride and play with when he grew up.
Xiao Liu liked it the first time he saw it and would come to see the pony whenever he had time.
Hearing a noise from the stable, from the small fodder compartment, Xiao Liu, being brave, went over and looked over the low wall.
Using the tinderbox in his hand, Shen Yunrong, bound like a rice dumpling, huddled by the door, looking at him with only her eyes filled with tears.
“Nanny Chen, how could you?” Xiao Liu’s voice stopped abruptly as he heard footsteps approaching.
"That woman won't starve to death if she doesn't eat or drink for a day!"
"The higher-ups have instructed you not to say anything and just make sure no one gets away."
Shen Yunrong recognized Uncle Zhang's voice in the background, and her face turned ashen.
They were all slaves to their superiors. No matter how close they were, it couldn't compare to a single word from above, especially since they had no close relationship with each other.
Xiao Liu extinguished the tinderbox and hurriedly told her, "Wait for me!"
Then he quickly disappeared into the darkness of the stable.
The two drivers glanced at her, saw she was still alive, and left to drink, relieved.
Xiao Liu rekindled hope in her despair; now only the prince could save her.
After an unknown amount of time, she heard disordered footsteps approaching. Shen Yunrong was startled awake, thinking it was the person who had saved her.
When the stable door was opened, she was dragged out and confronted by the head of the group, Granny Li, who hadn't come to rescue her. She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
"Hurry up and sell her as far away as possible!" Seeing her frantic struggle, Granny Li had a slight change of heart and said, "Don't blame me. You've offended a powerful person. If they want you dead, it'll be as easy as crushing an ant! There's a cause for every grievance, and a debt for every debt. It's just that you were born with such a seductive appearance."
After saying this, Granny Li waved her hand, and the two old women threw the struggling Shen Yunrong heavily onto the carriage.
The carriage pulled away from the back gate of the Prince's mansion. Shen Yunrong felt nauseous from the jolting, but she stopped struggling. She knew that if she left the mansion this time, she would truly have no chance of survival.
She knew she was pretty since she was a child. The villagers in the small village were kind and only praised her. She never expected that being good-looking would be a disaster in the royal palace.
Fortunately, when she went back last time, she gave all the silver she had saved to her mother, and this money could support them for another year or two.
The bumpy ride made her feel like her bones were about to break. Two old women sat in the carriage watching over her. Shen Yunrong thought about many things, feeling weak and listless. Apart from her concern for her mother and child, she was not afraid of death.
With her mind in complete disarray, Shen Yunrong only realized what it looked like as she was being dragged off the carriage. She knew they were going to sell her somewhere by boat!
"The snow is too heavy today, the boat can't sail!" an old woman complained after a while.
"What are we going to do? The nanny instructed us to send them away today!"
“If she’s sold off cheaply to that kind of place, I don’t know if she’ll even survive. Why don’t we do a good deed today and let her leave with a clear conscience?” After the old woman finished speaking, she looked up at the weeds on the bank.
Shen Yunrong listened to every word without missing a single one, and even felt somewhat grateful to the old woman who was going to clear her name before she passed away.
"This isn't a good idea, what if we get..."
"Look at her like this, it's hard to say whether she'll even make it through tomorrow."
Shen Yunrong was indeed in despair. She stopped struggling and looked at the gray sky. Her mind was frozen and she couldn't think of anything. The huge panic dissipated, leaving only a silent lament for the injustice of the world.
Shen Yunrong had resigned herself to her fate, closed her eyes, and let the two old women push her into the icy river.
A furious roar: "Stop!"
She thought she was hallucinating, so she opened her eyes and saw a dark figure moving quickly. Soon, the dark figure was in front of her; it was a person riding a black horse, but she couldn't see his face clearly.
"How dare you touch my men!"
This sentence made Shen Yunrong open her eyes wide. It was Prince Zhuang, Zhao Linzhang. She sobbed and called out to him. She was saved. This man seemed to have fallen from the sky, more powerful than any god or Buddha she had prayed to thousands of times.
Everything went black before my eyes, and I finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted.
All she knew was that she was in a warm embrace and had been saved, so she let herself faint peacefully.
Zhao Linzhang was so angry that his chest felt like it was about to burst. These traitorous lackeys had betrayed him while he was away!
"Your Highness, spare us! We were just following orders from Granny Li!" The two old women and the coachman knelt down, trembling, begging for mercy.
With one arm around the unconscious person, Zhao Linzhang used the other hand to wield his dagger and cut the ropes binding Shen Yunrong.
Then he picked her up, his voice icy: "Take them all back to the palace and lock them up!"
Shen Yunrong was half asleep and half awake when she found herself lying in a soft bed with a lot of noise outside. She only remembered that she was supposed to be sold off by that Miss Xue, so how did she end up lying in bed perfectly fine?
She struggled to get up, and the noise outside gradually cleared up.
"Granny Li, I respect you because you were part of my mother's dowry, and I have never mistreated you over the years. You are getting old and forgetful; you have forgotten that this household belongs to the Zhao family, not the Xue family!"
Zhao Linzhang had never been so angry. If Xiao Liu hadn't come to report the news, he wouldn't have known that the Prince's mansion had been sold.
"Your Highness, this old servant was blinded by greed and greed. Please forgive this old servant this time!"
Shen Yun had never seen Granny Li beg for mercy in such a humble and submissive manner.
“Granny Li, you were my mother’s maidservant during her dowry. I have always respected you. Now that you are old, you should enjoy your retirement!” Zhao Linzhang’s eyes were filled with disappointment.
"Your Highness, Xiao Jiu, I was wrong!" Li Mama cried, tears streaming down her face. She was truly wrong.
"It's good that you know you're wrong. The Prince Zhuang's mansion can't keep a big shot like you!"
"Your Highness, this old servant was wrong!" The heart-wrenching cries of Granny Li sent a chill down Shen Yunrong's spine; the vicious look on Granny Li's face when she sold her off was still vivid in her mind.
"Wrong?" Xue Mingxin had already returned, and Zhao Linzhang was seething with hatred: "I still consider the master of this mansion to be surnamed Xue!"
"Your Highness, this old servant has watched you grow up since you were a child, and everything I have done is for your own good!"
"For my own good?" Zhao Linzhang scoffed. "Overstepping your bounds? Acting first and reporting later?"
"Your Highness, you should be accompanied by a noble lady, not a woman of such lowly status!"
"I'm really giving you too much credit!" Zhao Linzhang looked at the maid his mother had brought with her when she entered the palace from the Xue residence, wondering what made her think he was so easy to manipulate.
"Guards, escort Granny Li back to the Xue residence. I have no such treacherous servant."
Hearing this, Shen Yunrong felt dazed and confused, her body sometimes feeling light and sometimes heavy as a mountain. She trembled, wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep.
"Why hasn't she woken up yet?" Zhao Linzhang asked worriedly, looking at the young wet nurse whose face had become thinner in just one day.
The imperial physician, Shen, carefully said, "Your Highness, this young lady has been exposed to cold and has been excessively frightened, which is why her high fever persists!"
Zhao Linzhang flew into a rage, sending away half of the servants from the Prince Zhuang's mansion. He even went to the palace to request an imperial decree, ordering the Xue family to strictly discipline their daughter and urging Lord Xue to find a suitable husband for Xue Mingxin as soon as possible, since the eldest daughter was always visiting Zhao Linzhang's mansion.
These two sentences were a slap in the face to the Xue family; everyone knew that Xue Mingxin admired Zhao Linzhang.
Shen Yunrong slept fitfully, occasionally waking up to hear a deep male voice asking the maid if she was awake.
As the anger in her chest subsided that day, she felt that her life had been too tiring, and she had almost never been able to sleep so soundly without having to worry about making a living.
She lost her father at a young age, and her mother was in poor health and unable to farm. Fortunately, they lived at the foot of Wanglong Mountain, where there were various medicinal herbs. Her mother would take her to dig up the herbs, dry them, and sell them to pharmacies.
She grew up with many stumbles and setbacks. Her mother, who needed to take medicine all year round, put her marriage on hold because she had told every suitor that she would take her mother with her when she got married.
The tears that welled up as she recalled the nights she often woke up hungry as a child and the hardships of a nomadic life after having her daughter, fell again after they dried, wetting her pillow.
Zhao Linzhang saw that she had been unconscious for several days. In the past, he would ask the maid before leaving, but today he was a little anxious. Had he returned too late? What else had those people done to her that made her cry like this in her unconscious state?
Thanks to the sudden heavy snowfall, he turned back halfway and encountered the letter that Xiao Liu had sent him.
Otherwise, this little wet nurse would probably be dead. Thinking of those scoundrels who bully their masters, it's no wonder that Xue Mingxin found out so quickly that he had adopted Siliang as his godson. Did he really think Zhao Linzhang was a fool? Xue Mingxin has a lot of nerve.
He had always thought she was a young girl, and he had made it clear that he would not marry her. He was reluctant to marry her because she was the daughter of his mother's brother, and he was ashamed to do so. This gave her the audacity to do such a thing.
It turned out that his most trusted nanny, Li, had tipped him off. He respected her because she was a maid his mother had brought from the Xue family, to the point that he made her forget that she was in his Zhao Linzhang Prince's mansion and not surnamed Xue.
"Don't worry, I've dealt with all those who harmed you." Zhao Linzhang saw her frown and was secretly pleased to hear him speak. He then said, "Siliang has been crying for days, looking for you."
When Shen Yunrong heard the young master's name, she wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt stuck shut.
"And your daughter is also waiting for you. I'll have Liu Hu deliver rice, flour, and charcoal to your house."
Hearing her daughter and mother's voices, Shen Yunrong struggled to open her heavy eyelids.
Zhao Linzhang sat beside her bed, but to his surprise, she actually listened to him. Her eyelids twitched slightly, and she opened her eyes and woke up.
"Quickly, summon a doctor! She's awake!"
"Your Highness!" Shen Yunrong's voice was hoarse after not eating or drinking for several days.
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