Chapter 21 Reluctance A thunderclap exploded on Zhao Linzhang's skull...
A thunderclap exploded on Zhao Linzhang's head. Before he could ask any more questions, Shen Yunrong collapsed in his arms, exhausted, along with the child she was holding tightly, who was not even half the size of Xiao Siliang.
"Guards! Quickly return to the manor and summon the imperial physician!" Zhao Linzhang shouted.
Shen Yunrong slowly woke up to find her arms empty. Startled, she sat up abruptly. The bed and screen in front of her looked familiar; this was Zhao Linzhang's bedroom.
She didn't have time to put on her shoes and tried to run out to find her daughter.
She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, or if her daughter was alright. How could she have fainted!
Hearing the commotion, Xiao Qiu saw Shen Yunrong about to rush out and quickly helped her up, saying, "Miss, Miss, please slow down!"
"Xiao Qiu, where is my child? How is she?" Shen Yunrong, disregarding her disheveled appearance, grabbed Xiao Qiu's arm and asked anxiously.
"Miss's fever has subsided, and the imperial physician said there's nothing seriously wrong!" Only then did Xiao Qiu notice that Shen Yunrong wasn't even wearing shoes, so she turned around and went inside to get her shoes.
"Where is she? I'm going to see her!" Shen Yunrong slipped on her shoes with Xiao Qiu's help.
"The prince is with him right next door!" Xiao Qiu pointed to the left.
The afternoon sun of spring was shining brightly, falling on the man sitting to one side, casting his shadow that stretched to the doorway.
Zhao Linzhang stood ramrod straight, his hands holding the most precious treasure in the world, his eyes fixed on the child without daring to blink.
She was initially anxious to see her daughter, but when she saw the baby sleeping peacefully in Zhao Linzhang's arms, she paused in her tracks.
Hearing footsteps, Zhao Linzhang looked up from the child's face and said in a hoarse, low voice, "You're awake!"
“The child…”
"He had a high fever and convulsions. The imperial physician prescribed antelope horn, which brought down the fever. He just needs to rest for a few days." Zhao Linzhang looked directly at her, his eyes filled with expectation and a hint of unease.
Shen Yunrong took her daughter from Zhao Linzhang's arms. The daughter's breathing was even, no longer labored. Her little face wasn't unusually red. Shen Yunrong touched her daughter's face with her forehead and confirmed that she no longer had a fever.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for saving my daughter!" Shen Yunrong said calmly, as if everything had settled down. She accepted whatever the prince wanted to do with her, and she accepted being separated from her daughter. She only hoped that the prince would treat her well in the future, considering that her daughter was his own.
"Why didn't you say so sooner!" Zhao Linzhang looked into her bloodshot eyes, which were filled with turbulent emotions.
“I’m not sure. Your Highness is of noble status, and that person was dressed in coarse cloth.” Shen Yunrong stopped patting the child’s hand and lowered her eyes.
Zhao Linzhang stood up and sighed. He had disguised himself as an ordinary mountain dweller and had been tracking bandits for several months, getting tanned dark. When he returned to the capital, even the emperor almost didn't recognize him.
"You mean that night, I finally realized I was the father of the child?" Zhao Linzhang looked at the frail woman in front of him, her head bowed and eyes lowered, like a white crane with its neck bent.
"I saw the sachet you took out; it has ingot-shaped clouds that I embroidered on it." How could there be such a coincidence in the world? They look so similar, even the sachets are exactly the same.
Zhao Linzhang pressed his hand to his chest, feeling as if something was about to explode. He clenched his fists, bent his knees, and knelt down.
Startled by his sudden movement, Shen Yunrong jumped up while holding the child.
"Your Highness, what's wrong...?"
“I, Zhao Linzhang, have always acted with integrity and have never committed such a despicable act. You can hit me and kick me to vent your anger, or if you’re still not satisfied, stab me a few times with this!” Zhao Linzhang took out a dagger and presented it to Shen Yunrong with both hands.
Even if Shen Yunrong didn't say anything, Zhao Linzhang knew how much suffering and grievances a woman had endured after giving birth out of wedlock.
Shen Yunrong dared not accept such a title, and hurriedly knelt down as well: "It was not Your Highness's fault, it was my own ignorance that I did not know that the vine was so poisonous. I could have pushed you away that day." Shen Yunrong's voice became softer at the last sentence, and her face was flushed.
Zhao Linzhang pulled her up: "Just tell me what you want, and I, Zhao Linzhang, will grant it all."
Shen Yunrong raised her misty eyes, and the child in her arms squirmed uncomfortably as she suddenly knelt down and stood up.
She glanced down at the child, then boldly met his deep, dark eyes.
"I just want my child to be safe and sound; I don't want anything else."
"good!"
"Can I take the child home?" Now that things have come to this, it is no longer appropriate for her to stay in the Prince's mansion.
"The child is still sick, let's wait until the child is better." Zhao Linzhang looked at her and the child calmly.
Shen Yunrong nodded, suddenly thinking of her mother. She wondered how anxious her mother must have been, having brought the child out like this for so long.
"Your Highness, could you please send someone to deliver a message to my mother?"
"Madam Shen is already at home. I had Liu Hu bring her over last night."
Shen Yunrong hadn't expected Zhao Linzhang to be so thoughtful. Now she could only stay at the mansion and let her daughter recover.
"Can I hold her again?" Zhao Linzhang carefully stretched out his hands. This little one with his blood flowing through her veins, he really had a daughter.
He was the child's father. Shen Yunrong handed the sleeping child to him, and the child suddenly smiled sweetly in his sleep. Zhao Linzhang and Shen Yunrong couldn't help but smile along with him.
Have you chosen a name for the child?
"We only chose the nickname Nini." Shen Yunrong shook her head. Before the child was born, she and her mother had been busy making a living. Thinking that the child was too young, they hadn't seriously given her a name.
“Yu means beautiful jade, so how about naming our daughter Zhao Ruoyu?” Zhao Linzhang pondered for a moment. He had thought about this name all night after learning that he had a daughter.
"Ruoyu!" Shen Yunrong murmured softly, her voice much sweeter than Nini's. She called out to her daughter, "Ruoyu!"
Since she was the prince's daughter, she naturally had to take his surname, Zhao, and Shen Yunrong quickly accepted her daughter's surname.
Zhao Linzhang did not blame her. Looking at her daughter's gentle and loving expression, she realized that even her daughter's name sounded so beautiful here. This was exactly the kind of life she had always wanted for her daughter.
Perhaps in the future, when Zhao Lin marries the princess, he will treat her well, considering that his daughter is the prince's first child.
Zhao Linzhang shifted his gaze from the child's face and saw that Shen Yunrong's eyes were filled with tears. He was startled; did she dislike this name?
"If you don't like it, we'll find another one."
"No, Zhao Ruoyu, it sounds beautiful!" Shen Yunrong wiped away her tears shyly.
She should be happy that the prince is willing to acknowledge the child, as she can spend a few more days with him.
"You can stay at Qingfeng Courtyard and take care of the child. There's a wet nurse at Siliang's place to look after her," Zhao Linzhang said, making sure she wasn't worried about Siliang.
Shen Yunrong nodded. With her daughter in this condition, she was no longer able to nurse the young master. She hoped that in the future, the young master would take better care of her daughter, considering that she had also nursed him.
Zhao Linzhang held the child tightly, reluctant to let go, until Shen's mother was brought over by a maid, at which point he reluctantly handed the child back to Shen Yunrong.
"I have something to do, I'll come see the child later." Zhao Linzhang said goodbye to Shen's mother and made an excuse to leave, leaving the mother and daughter behind.
"Daughter, what happened?" Last night, her daughter took the child to see a doctor but didn't return for a long time. Just as she was about to go look for her, Liu Hu and several people knocked on her door and then she was invited to the Prince's Mansion. She knew nothing about it.
"Mother, Nini's father is a prince!" Shen Yunrong put her daughter on the bed and turned around to say.
"What!" Mother Shen exclaimed in shock, her mouth agape.
Shen Yunrong briefly recounted the whole story in a few words. After listening, Shen's mother murmured for a long time, "This is the child's good fortune!"
Tears streamed down Shen Yunrong's face. She knew that acknowledging her father was a good thing for her daughter, but she still felt heartbroken and couldn't bear to part with him.
No one knows a daughter better than her mother. Mother Shen hugged her daughter tightly and said, "We are doing this for the child's own good. This royal family is of high status. How could they allow you to stay here without a name or status?"
Shen Yunrong understood all of this, but afraid of waking the child, she only dared to cry softly.
"Mother, after the child recovers, we'll go back to Shenjiazhuang." Their father's grave is there; it's their root.
"Mmm!" Mother Shen's eyes also filled with tears as she lovingly stroked her daughter's long hair.
Little Ruoyu woke up whimpering. Seeing the unfamiliar tent ceiling, she pouted and was about to cry. Shen Yunrong quickly wiped away her tears and picked up her daughter, saying, "Ruoyu, be good. Mommy is here."
"Oh, right, Mother, the Prince has named Nini Zhao Ruoyu."
"Zhao Ruoyu!" Mother Shen read aloud, wiping her eyes with her sleeve and smiling, "That sounds lovely! Our Nini will be a noble lady in the future!"
Little Ruoyu leaned her head against her mother, blinked her eyes, and reached out her little hand to clutch her mother's clothes tightly, as if afraid that her mother would leave again.
"Good boy, Mother is here." This dependent look made Shen Yunrong unable to hold back her tears again.
"The child is just alright, don't scare her. There's no stove here, let me go make some rice porridge for Nini." Mother Shen looked around, the huge courtyard was magnificent, but she couldn't see where the stove was.
"Mother, let me feed the baby!" It's only for a few days, and the little boy won't drink her milk anyway, so let her be selfish for a few more days and let her daughter drink her milk for a few more days.
This is the only thing she can give her daughter now.
"I'll go see what I can feed the baby!" Mother Shen nodded, but then worried that her breast milk wouldn't be enough for the baby.
Shen Yunrong slowly unbuttoned her clothes, revealing her full, round breasts. Xiao Ruoyu looked at her curiously, having already forgotten what they were.
Feeling heartbroken and guilty, Shen Yunrong gently taught the child how to eat. Her nature made Xiao Ruoyu quickly understand, and she lowered her head and sucked hard.
She took two bites and then let go, looking up at her mother. Only after confirming that her mother was smiling and telling her to eat more did she lower her head again.
Shen Yunrong's heart ached as her daughter, only a few months old, was so careful even when drinking her mother's milk. How could her child be so sensible?
"You will always be your mother's precious child. It's not that your mother doesn't want you. Just listen to your father and grow up well. Even if your father marries a new mother, you must still be obedient." Shen Yunrong knew that her daughter wouldn't understand, but she still kept talking.
Zhao Linzhang was carrying a food box containing rice oil and red date and yam soup that Xiao Qiu had brought from the kitchen. He met her halfway there, took the food box from her, and missed them as soon as he left.
He was taking the opportunity to deliver food back when he suddenly heard Shen Yunrong's words at the door. He stopped in his tracks, his hand gripping the food box so tightly that the veins bulged.
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