Chapter 20 She is your daughter. Holding her breath, Shen Yunrong...
Holding her breath, Shen Yunrong dared not utter a sound. She heard Steward Tan's voice: "Your Highness, this servant will go and bring you some hangover soup!"
Zhao Linzhang's noticeably low and hoarse voice replied, "Mm!"
Just as she feared, Shen Yunrong wished she could burrow underground. Now she was caught in a dilemma: to leave or to stay.
She tried her best to shrink her arms and legs, making herself appear to blend into the wall. She prayed that God would quickly put Zhao Linzhang to sleep so she could sneak out in the dark.
Heaven did not hear her prayers. Zhao Linzhang lay fully clothed on the bed, then suddenly sat up, fumbled around on the bed for a while, and then fell silent again.
Shen Yunrong thought he was asleep, so she quietly peeked out.
Steward Tan lit a candle, making the room brightly lit. She could clearly see Zhao Linzhang sitting on the bed, kissing something he was holding, looking blissfully intoxicated.
Zhao Linzhang turned his face away, and it was as if a thunderbolt had exploded in Shen Yunrong's mind. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she forgot to breathe for a moment.
She saw that Zhao Linzhang was kissing a sachet, a sachet that she was very familiar with.
She loved to embroider clouds on the sachets she made, which resembled gold ingots.
Her mother once mocked her, saying that she was obsessed with money and even had to embroider a cloud into the shape of a gold ingot.
She had inexplicably felt that the prince resembled the unconscious man on the mountain. Now, her personal sachet was in his hands. Ever since that day on the mountain, the sachets she embroidered no longer had ingots or clouds.
She was so shocked that her mind went blank, and she forgot where she was. The doll in her hand fell to the ground with a crisp thud in the silent night.
Zhao Linzhang, half-drunk, used his keen intuition to grip the sachet and shout, "Who is it?"
As if a knife were pressed against her neck, Shen Yunrong moved to the side of the bed, her face pale. She opened her mouth but could not utter a sound of begging for mercy, her knees stiff as two pieces of ice.
"It's you!" Zhao Linzhang threw down the sachet and rolled off the bed. "It really is you!"
Zhao Linzhang did not fly into a rage as Shen Yunrong had expected. His gaze softened, and his undisguised joy was evident in his expression.
Shen Yunrong wanted to take a step back, but Zhao Linzhang was faster than her. He grabbed her shoulder and felt the warmth of her skin through her thin spring dress under his palm. She wasn't dreaming.
"It really is you, I'm not dreaming!"
If it weren't for the refreshing scent of wine emanating from Zhao Linzhang and his slightly tipsy eyes, Shen Yunrong would have doubted that he was actually drunk.
She didn't know what he was dreaming about. Trembling, she tried to explain why she had entered his bedroom, but before she could utter a sound, her soft, moist lips were sealed with his. His hot breath, carrying the smell of alcohol, sprayed heavily on her face, and his nostrils were filled with the unique, masculine scent.
Shen Yunrong trembled, not expecting Zhao Linzhang to suddenly kiss her. Coming to her senses, she struggled fiercely like a startled fawn.
The drunk man was incredibly strong, holding her captive so she couldn't struggle.
Enraged, she bit the tongue that had darted in so deeply.
Zhao Linzhang released her in pain, and Shen Yunrong took the opportunity to slip away, bumping into Steward Tan who was delivering hangover soup at the door.
Her chest heaved violently, she gasped for breath, her face was deathly pale, and her mind was in complete chaos. Before Steward Tan could ask why she was in the Prince's room so late at night, she had already dashed into the darkness.
Suppressing his curiosity, Tan Zhongxin entered the prince's bedroom, where a tall figure stood motionless before the bed.
Tan Zhongxin tried calling out, "Your Highness, the hangover soup is ready."
As if waking from a dream, Zhao Linzhang turned his head and looked around, but the pretty girl was nowhere to be seen.
It turned out he was really dreaming, and today's dream felt so real that he didn't want to move an inch.
Shen Yunrong was distraught and terrified. That man really was a prince. If he found out, he would have another daughter.
He was forced to appear against his will as a daughter. Xiao Siliang's father had saved the prince's life, which was why he treated him like his own son.
If he despises his daughter, she is the laughingstock of his life. How could a prince like him have a daughter with a village girl?
She dared not even think about how she would live after losing her daughter.
She lay awake until dawn, and only when she heard the maid get up did she suddenly stand up. She could no longer stay in this Prince's mansion.
She quickly packed a few clothes and needed to find an excuse to leave the mansion before Zhao Linzhang regained consciousness and went home.
After hearing Shen Yunrong's request, Steward Tan glanced at the tightly closed door with some difficulty, as the prince had not yet woken up.
He didn't know what had happened last night that would cause this young wet nurse to leave the palace. What would happen if the prince woke up and looked for her?
Shen Yunrong was so anxious that she was about to cry again, so she pretended that her child at home was sick.
Steward Tan finally softened and nodded: "Miss Chen, go and come back quickly!"
Shen Yunrong clutched her wildly beating chest and boarded the carriage that was leaving the Prince's Mansion.
Zhao Linzhang woke up very early. He lay in bed recalling his dream from the previous night, and could vividly smell the woman's fragrance and feel her soft, trembling body as he embraced her.
He was truly obsessed; he genuinely believed the wet nurse to be the girl from that day.
He sighed and called Xiao Liu to prepare to wash up. He felt a sharp pain and licked his tongue. When did he get hurt last night?
Just as Zhao Linzhang stood up, Steward Tan came in: "Your Highness, Liu Hu and Xiao Zheng have returned!"
Before the New Year, Xiao Zheng unexpectedly learned that Shen Rongniang had returned to Shen Family Village. Who was the wet nurse in the Prince's Mansion?
The person was introduced by Liu Hu. Fearing that someone might be impersonating Rong Niang, he went to Shen Family Village to investigate in person.
Zhao Linzhang was unimpressed when he learned of this. He thought the young wet nurse in the Prince's mansion was too timid to dare to use someone else's name.
As Liu Hu slowly uttered that name, Zhao Linzhang accidentally dropped and shattered his teacup.
"You're saying the lady in the manor is Shen Yunrong!"
Liu Hu was drenched in sweat, unaware that the person they had been searching for, whether by teleportation or other means, was right under their noses.
Zhao Linzhang closed his eyes to calm his wildly beating heart, then quickly got up and ran to his bedroom.
Where the girl from last night's dream appeared, there lay a rag doll. A sharp crack echoed in his heart, and Zhao Linzhang shouted, "Tan Zhongxin!"
Steward Tan rushed over: "Your Highness!"
"Was it her last night?"
Zhao Linzhang's question left everyone confused, but Tan Zhongxin knew exactly who this "she" was.
"This servant saw Miss Shen rushing out of her room last night!"
"Why didn't you say so sooner!" Zhao Linzhang's chest was about to explode. He strode over the threshold: "Where is she?"
"Your Highness, Miss Shen's child is seriously ill, so she asked for leave early this morning and went home!" Steward Tan was startled by Zhao Linzhang's outburst and stammered in response.
"A child?" As if remembering something, Zhao Linzhang immediately turned to the stable: "Prepare the horses!"
Shen Yunrong knew she had a bad mouth, and even if Zhao Linzhang found out and kicked her out of the manor today, she wouldn't dare to say that her child was sick.
The daughter was indeed sick, her face flushed with fever. Her elderly mother held her and kept comforting her. Seeing her daughter, she asked in surprise, "How did you know the child was sick?"
Mother Shen wanted to ask someone to send a message to Shen Yunrong, saying that the little girl had been sick for several days and had not gotten better after taking medicine. She didn't even have the strength to cry every day and would fall asleep after drinking a few sips of water.
If things continue like this, how will she face her daughter if something happens to the child?
"Mother, have you seen a doctor?" Shen Yunrong put the matters in the Prince's mansion out of her mind; nothing was more important than her daughter.
"I saw a doctor, and he prescribed medicine, but I haven't gotten better after taking it for a few days," said Madam Shen, pointing to the unfinished bowl of medicine on the table.
Touching her daughter's burning forehead, she hugged her daughter and rushed out of the room: "I'm going to find another doctor!"
If one doctor can't cure her, then we should see another doctor. We can't just watch our daughter stay sick like this.
Chen's mother called out anxiously from behind, "Blanket! Wrap Nini in a blanket!"
Shen Yunrong went straight to the most famous Huichuntang, a place that was usually only accessible to wealthy families, where a single consultation cost one tael of silver.
Shen Yunrong couldn't care less about the money right now. The child twitched in her arms like a seizure, which startled her so much that she shouted for a doctor before even stepping into the Huichuntang.
An old man in the hall slowly got up, glanced at the child in Shen Yunrong's arms, and then looked her up and down.
Shaking his head, he said, "This child's face is flushed, his jaw is clenched, he's breathing heavily but not exhaling much. Go back and prepare for his funeral!"
Shen Yunrong's body went limp and she almost fainted. Heartbroken, she knelt down with a thud: "Doctor, please save my daughter, she's still so young."
"It's not that I don't want to help, it's just that..." The old doctor shook his head. "Ordinary families can just have another child, especially a girl!"
Shen Yunrong kowtowed heavily: "Doctor, I have money, please have mercy and save my daughter!"
"It's not about the money. It's just that this child is beyond saving, even a god couldn't save him. If we had come a day earlier, I might have been able to give it a try!" The old doctor felt the child's pulse, shook his head, and sighed.
Shen Yunrong refused to believe it. She stumbled to her feet. How could her precious darling, the one she would give her life for, be beyond saving?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind: Zhao Linzhang, the child's father, was a prince; he must have a way to save the child.
He turned and rushed out, heading straight for the Prince's Mansion.
Along the way, she kept asking people if there was a carriage to take them, but people saw that she was disheveled and looked like a madwoman, and they all avoided her.
Shen Yunrong dared not delay any longer. Since there was no carriage, she ran on her own two feet, ignoring the surprised looks of others, and ran wildly with her child in her arms.
She had never felt the journey was so long. Every movement of the child in her arms filled her with panic. She kept kissing the child, saying, "My child, my child, you will be alright. Mother will take you to find your father to save you!"
Before she could even burn an incense stick, she was too exhausted to run any further. She dared not stop, gritting her teeth and striding forward. Her vision grew increasingly blurry, and she could not tell if the sounds around her were human voices or the wind.
The shouts grew closer, and the blurry figure in front of her slowly became clear. The man on horseback dismounted in front of her and ran to her. When she saw that it was Zhao Linzhang, who looked anxious and surprised, Shen Yunrong stumbled and almost fell. Fortunately, Zhao Linzhang caught her steadily.
Before Zhao Linzhang could speak, Shen Yunrong, holding her daughter in one arm and clutching Zhao Linzhang's clothes with the other, cried out, "Please, save the child! She's your daughter too!"
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