Chapter 22 Leaving "Cough..." Zhao Linzhang, afraid of startling her, cleared his throat...
"Cough..." Zhao Linzhang cleared his throat, afraid of startling her.
Upon hearing the sound, Shen Yunrong hurriedly gathered her clothes, picked up her daughter, and turned around. Zhao Linzhang, who had just said he had something to do, was standing at the door, carrying a food box.
"This is for Ruoyu. Do you think she can eat it?"
Ruoyu and Siliang are only half a month apart, but Siliang is much older than Ruoyu. This is something the kitchen prepares especially for Siliang every day, and we don't know if our daughter can eat it.
Zhao Linzhang saw the small patch of snow-white skin that hadn't been covered up in time, his ears turned red, and he dared not look directly at it.
Still grieving the loss, Shen Yunrong got up and took the food box. Inside was a bowl of rice oil made from fried rice that had been cooked until it was slightly browned, and a sweet and fragrant yam and red date soup.
"These are all foods that children can eat, thank you, Your Highness!"
These are the foods the young master usually eats; his daughter hasn't tried them yet. She carefully fed her daughter a bite, and Xiao Ruoyu smacked her lips a few times, her eyes lighting up as she pointed with her little finger, wanting more.
This was the simplest food in the Prince's mansion, yet her daughter ate it so happily. Shen Yunrong felt a pang of sadness seeing this, and she became even more determined to keep her daughter there.
"Slow down, all of this is yours, and there's more if you need it!" Zhao Linzhang felt a pang of bitterness. This was his own daughter, and eating a bowl of porridge was like eating the finest nectar.
Xiao Ruoyu ate most of the porridge and half a bowl of yam. Seeing her round little belly, Shen Yun dared not let her eat any more.
Little Ruoyu neither cried nor made a fuss. After eating her fill, she curiously looked at Zhao Linzhang.
Zhao Linzhang's eyes welled up with tears as his daughter looked at him. He leaned down and said in a voice he himself didn't even realize was very careful, "Ruoyu, I'm your father!"
As if she understood, Xiao Ruoyu stretched out her hands to him. Zhao Linzhang was flattered and quickly picked up his daughter. Seeing his daughter give him a sweet smile, he couldn't help but smile too.
When Shen Yunrong looked up, she saw the father and daughter with the exact same smiles and the same dimples.
The daughter had never met her father, yet their expressions and smiles were identical; blood ties are truly amazing.
Her heart was pricked by something soft.
Zhao Linzhang glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and the look in his eyes when he looked at his daughter dimmed considerably. The child's mother wanted to leave, and he couldn't force her to stay!
The pain in her heart brought tears to Shen Yunrong's eyes. She glanced at her daughter, who resembled her father so much, and said firmly, "Your Highness, I will have to trouble you with Ruoyu from now on!"
"You're leaving her?" Zhao Linzhang couldn't believe she could bear to leave her after all the suffering she had endured for this daughter.
"This servant only hopes that Your Highness will remember that I had this child in a moment of desperation to save someone. I hope that you, my future princess, will treat her well." After saying this, Shen Yunrong turned her head away in embarrassment. She would dream about that day from time to time.
"You don't need to leave. Ruoyu is my daughter. No one dares to make things difficult for her." Zhao Linzhang lifted his daughter higher, anxiously wondering how to keep her here.
"I don't want her to know that her mother is a slave!" Shen Yunrong shook her head. How could the future princess tolerate her? And she was unwilling to spend her whole life as a slave in the palace. She would rather go back to Shen Family Village and be a poor herb-gathering village woman.
"I will marry you!" These words finally revealed Zhao Linzhang's innermost thoughts. He felt a sense of relief as he nervously looked at the woman in front of him with red eyes.
Shen Yunrong smiled self-deprecatingly after hearing this: "Your Highness is too kind. I am just a country girl from the mountains and would not dare to presume to be worthy of such a place."
She used to want to marry someone from a similar social class, like her father and mother, to support each other through thick and thin, living a simple and honest life.
Zhao Linzhang's marriage to her was more like taking her as a concubine than marrying her. She would have to share a husband with many other women, like twin flowers, yearning for his favor day after day in the small courtyard. She didn't want to live like that.
She knew she was neither talented nor virtuous, so why would Zhao Linzhang, a prince, take a liking to her? It was only for the sake of the child that she had no choice but to give her a title. What would others think of her daughter in the future?
As Zhao Linzhang watched her shake her head and back away, his heart sank to the bottom.
He said that marrying her was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Why should he marry a noblewoman? Why can't he marry the woman he likes?
The idea instantly grew wildly in his mind, like weeds after a spring rain.
“You’re not marrying above your station!” Zhao Linzhang held his daughter in one arm and pressed his hand against his heart, which was pounding in his chest. “You’re a good girl!”
"Your Highness, you don't need to feel guilty. I was half wrong that day." Shen Yunrong didn't want to talk to him about such things anymore. It was unbelievable that a prince would marry a village girl.
Zhao Linzhang was about to speak again when Chen's mother's voice rang out from the doorway: "Goodness, this palace is bigger than our village! I couldn't find the kitchen at all. I asked a kind young girl, and she pointed it out..."
Mother Shen was holding a bowl of porridge when she saw Zhao Linzhang present, and she swallowed the rest of her words.
She held up the bowl of porridge and was about to kneel down: "Your Highness!"
"Please get up, ma'am!" Zhao Linzhang quickly pulled his hand away from his heartbeat and helped his mother up.
"Ruoyu has eaten her fill. You all must not have eaten yet. I'll go and tell the kitchen to send some food over." Zhao Linzhang picked up his daughter and was about to leave. With him there, Shen's mother was clearly uncomfortable, or rather, panicked.
As he passed Shen Yunrong, he asked cautiously, "May I carry Ruoyu out for a walk?"
He was his daughter's father, so why couldn't he? Shen Yunrong nodded and helped his daughter tuck the bib into her chest.
Unlike Xiao Siliang, Xiao Ruoyu was not afraid of Zhao Linzhang at all. She rested her little head on her father's broad shoulder. She was still a little listless after recovering from her illness, which made her look even more obedient and lovable.
Zhao Linzhang lovingly carried her out, and only after watching the father and daughter's figures disappear into the distance did Mother Shen regain her voice.
"His Highness has truly accepted Nini!"
They toiled in the mountains, living honest and simple lives, never imagining that one day they would have a connection with such a noble royal family.
"Mother, we'll go back in a couple of days." Shen Yunrong took the bowl from her mother's hand and placed it on the table. The bowl contained clear porridge, and next to it was the golden rice oil left over from her daughter's meal.
She looked down at the two bowls of porridge. Even if her daughter wasn't favored here, it was still a million times better than when she went back to Shenjiazhuang with them.
"Good, good, it's good that you can think positively!" Mother Shen comforted her.
As darkness approached and her daughter still hadn't returned, Shen's mother grew increasingly anxious, and Shen Yunrong was even more impatient. Unable to sit still any longer, she comforted her mother before getting up to go out and look for her child.
Xiao Qiu stayed by her side the whole time, unaware of where the prince had taken the young lady.
As soon as they left Qingfeng Courtyard, they heard Xiao Siliang's giggling laughter coming from Wangyue Tower. Shen Yunrong hadn't seen the young master for several days. She was sure her daughter was safe in the Prince's Mansion, so she wanted to see what the young master was playing that made him so happy.
She quietly went inside, and the maids, upon seeing her, all curtsied in unison: "Miss Chen, the Prince is inside!"
Shen Yunrong returned their greetings. With the prince here, her daughter should be here too. She felt at ease and slowly walked in.
When Xiao Siliang saw Zhao Linzhang and his two children sitting on a thick fox fur blanket, he laughed heartily as he saw playmates of similar age to him for the first time.
The laughter startled Ruoyu, who turned around, pouted, and wanted Zhao Linzhang to hug her.
"Ruoyu, this is your brother Siliang. Don't be afraid. Siliang's mother's surname is Liang, and his father named him Siliang. From now on, he will be your brother, and he will protect you just like your father!" Zhao Linzhang held his daughter, his voice gentle.
Shen Yunrong then understood the origin of the young master's name. Seeing the big brother and two little ones, and Zhao Lin constantly saying that the older brother should protect the younger sister, she couldn't bear to go in and disrupt this scene of fatherly love and filial piety.
When Xiao Siliang spotted her, she burst into tears and stretched out her arms, wanting her to hug her.
Xiao Ruoyu turned her head and saw her mother. She whimpered and pushed Zhao Linzhang away, struggling to lunge towards her.
The serene scene was instantly shattered. Shen Yunrong rushed into the room, hugging one crying child and the other crying child, so she had to struggle to hold one in each arm.
As Zhao Linzhang looked at them, he felt a sense of peace and tranquility, as if this was the greatest fulfillment in life.
Unfortunately, Shen Yunrong was unable to leave as she wished two days later. Her daughter recovered, but her mother fell ill.
Zhao Linzhang invited Imperial Physician Shen, who had treated his daughter, to treat Shen's mother. She had been suffering from chronic illness for many years and had been sustained by sheer willpower. Once that will was gone, Shen's mother became bedridden.
Imperial Physician Shen shook his head: "The oil is almost gone, like a lamp running dry. We've done our best and left the rest to fate!"
Shen Yunrong refused to believe that she and her mother were going home. Her mother had suffered for her all her life, and she was finally able to have a few days of peace. How could God treat them like this?
Zhao Linzhang stopped the imperial physician who was about to take his leave: "Lord Shen, please think of another way!"
"Your Highness, it's not that this old minister doesn't want to, it's just that!" The old imperial physician said helplessly, bowing his hands and saying, "Then this old minister will give it a try, but this medicine requires ginseng that is over a hundred years old."
"Don't even mention a hundred years, even five hundred years, a thousand years, I will go and find it!" Zhao Linzhang summoned Steward Tan and immediately went to open the storeroom to retrieve the old ginseng.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Shen Yunrong cried, her voice hoarse. She had been gathering herbs in the mountains for many years and knew that this century-old ginseng was priceless. It concerned her mother's life, and she would repay the prince's kindness by serving him like a slave in the future.
"It should be Madam Xie who is thanking me. Without her, there would be no Ruoyu." Zhao Linzhang expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the old woman, for she had overcome all difficulties to bring his daughter into this world.
Shen Yunrong knew that he had investigated everything and should know that it was her mother who stopped her from having an abortion and took her far away from home so that she wouldn't have to endure people's gossip.
After eating the entire century-old ginseng root, Mother Shen slowly regained consciousness and laboriously reached out her hand: "Rong'er, let's go home!"
She missed the dilapidated wooden door in Shenjiazhuang, the paper and pen treasured by Yunrong's father in the mud house, and the green hills where Rong'er's father was buried from the doorway of the house.
They've been out for too long; it's time for them to go back.
"Okay, Mother, let's go back!" Shen Yunrong cried so hard she could barely breathe. She immediately took her mother back.
Zhao Linzhang felt as if a hole had been torn in his heart, a cold wind howling through him. He comforted them in a hoarse voice, "I'll arrange everything and send you back!"
This was the old man's last wish.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
