Chapter 24 Show Mercy: Little Ruoyu stretched out her little hand for Zhao Linzhang...
Little Ruoyu stretched out her little hands, wanting Zhao Linzhang to hold her. Shen Yunrong was both amused and angry. She had worked so hard to take care of her, but as soon as her father came, he didn't want her as his mother anymore.
Shen Yunrong glanced at the meat on the table and casually asked, "Your Highness hasn't eaten yet, would you like to stay and join us?"
"Okay!"
Shen Yunrong had only mentioned it casually as a polite remark, but she didn't expect him to agree so readily. He usually eats fine food and would never eat such coarse food.
"I'm afraid this rustic food won't suit Your Highness's taste!"
"I've eaten dry biscuits and cold water to fill my stomach; I'm not that delicate."
Since he didn't mind, Shen Yunrong took the meat downstairs. A simple earthen stove had been set up in the courtyard, which served as their kitchen.
The meat was simply grilled with salt, and Shen Yunrong also cooked a pot of wild vegetable porridge.
In spring, wild vegetables were everywhere in and around the house. Shen Yunrong only picked the tender shoots, which her daughter could also eat.
Since her last illness, half of Shen's body has been stiff, and Shen Yunrong has been bringing her meals to her room.
The house was small, and she knew Zhao Linzhang wanted to stay for dinner. Feeling humbled, she whispered to her daughter, "Mother will just have some porridge. Take this meat and treat our distinguished guest well!"
"Mother, Brother Tie Niu brought over a lot of meat, and there's still plenty outside." Shen Yunrong helped her mother set out the food.
"It's all because your mother is useless!"
"You're saying that again! As long as you're still alive, I can call you 'Mother,' which is more valuable than mountains of gold and silver!"
After comforting his mother, Zhao Linzhang hurriedly fed his daughter porridge. Fortunately, his daughter was always well-behaved and quietly opened her mouth, waiting for Zhao Linzhang to clumsily scoop up the porridge and feed her small mouthfuls after it had warmed up.
She watched quietly, unwilling to break this heartwarming scene. If one disregarded his status, Zhao Linzhang was a qualified and responsible father.
She could be with them, father and daughter, and they were an enviable family. Unfortunately, her status was too low, and she dared not even dream of being part of their family!
Instantly regaining her senses, Shen Yunrong walked over and extended her hand: "Your Highness, let me do it. Please have your meal first!"
Still so polite and distant, Zhao Linzhang nodded helplessly. He fed his daughter slowly, and it took a long time for her to eat even a single bite.
Outside in the bamboo grove, Liu Hu was munching on a dry biscuit, choking and stretching his neck. Xiao Zheng quickly handed him the water bottle.
After taking a big gulp of water and catching his breath, Liu Hu complained, "Isn't Your Highness just asking for trouble? Why don't you just stay here and save yourself the trouble of traveling in the middle of the night!"
Xiao Zheng didn't even look at him, took a bite of the dry biscuit in his hand, and said in a low voice, "Do you have two heads?"
Liu Hu touched his forehead, puzzled: "No!"
"Shut up if you don't have any ideas!" Xiao Zheng snatched the water bottle from Liu Hu's hand, gulped down a mouthful of cold water, and followed his master's every command: east if he pointed east, west if he pointed west.
Liu Hu ate the remaining pancakes sheepishly, while keeping an eye on his surroundings, not missing a single sound.
Just as she finished feeding her daughter, a crisp sound came from her mother's room. Shen Yunrong put down the bowl and hurriedly got up, afraid that her mother would fall.
Zhao Linzhang followed behind her. As soon as they entered the small house, the broken pieces on the ground rolled under their feet. Like a child who had done something wrong, Mother Shen hurriedly explained, "It's my fault. I wanted to put the bowl away properly."
"Mom, it's alright. Sui Sui is safe and sound. Don't move, I'll take care of it!" Shen Yunrong breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her mother was not injured.
Imperial Physician Shen said that her mother only had a few months left to live, and she wanted her mother to live out her life in peace.
Regardless of what the villagers might say about her, she resolutely returned to the village her mother had always longed for.
She wanted to stay with her mother through her final days.
Zhao Linzhang stood awkwardly at the door, trying to make conversation: "Madam Shen wasn't scratched, was she?"
"Your Highness, I am fine. It is this rustic meal that has troubled you!"
Before Zhao Linzhang could reply, Shen Yunrong cried out in pain, her finger cut by a shard of broken bowl. Zhao Linzhang acted first, grabbing her hand to bandage it for her.
As if she had seen something, Shen Yunrong hurriedly tugged at Zhao Linzhang's sleeve, her voice trembling with excitement: "Ruoyu, Ruoyu!"
Zhao Linzhang looked back and saw that small figure, swaying as it stood up, stumbled and walked towards them step by step.
They didn't dare to breathe loudly. Watching their daughter stand up and walk towards them for the first time, Shen Yunrong completely forgot that Zhao Lin was holding her hand.
Zhao Linzhang stared intently at his daughter, even more nervously: "Ruoyu, slow down!"
Xiao Ruoyu rushed into Zhao Linzhang's arms. Only then did she realize that she had walked over by herself, and she buried her head in her father's arms shyly.
Zhao Linzhang bent down slightly, and Shen Yunrong was half-embraced in his arms. He held Shen Yunrong's hand with one hand and picked up his daughter with the other.
Little Ruoyu had never been so close to her parents at the same time. She stretched out her little hands and tried her best to wrap them around her parents' necks, hugging them tightly.
Shen Yunrong then realized that she was pressed against the man's warm and firm body, and could clearly feel the vibration in his chest.
The warm breath from Zhao Linzhang's soft breathing lingered around her neck, and Shen Yunrong's face flushed red to her ears. She used the excuse of holding the child to pull herself out of the man's embrace.
Mother Shen watched silently, then stared blankly at the broken bowl on the ground.
"You hold the child, I'll clean up!" Zhao Linzhang quickly picked up the broken pieces from the ground.
Shen Yunrong was too embarrassed to look at him, and walked outside with the child in her arms: "I'm going to wash the child's hands."
While feeding her, Xiao Ruoyu grabbed my hand, and my little hand was all sticky.
Zhao Linzhang turned around and greeted Madam Shen: "How has Madam been feeling lately?"
"Your Highness, this old woman has a request, but I don't know if I should say it?" Madam Shen seemed to have made up her mind. Her daughter was weak, and she hadn't been by her side for long. Her daughter dared not make a decision, but as her mother, she couldn't not help.
"Madam Shen, please speak!" Upon hearing this, Zhao Linzhang quickly straightened his posture.
“Yunrong, this child, has been frail since childhood. She is like a weed in this countryside, only able to survive in this rural area.” As Mother Shen said this, she saw Zhao Linzhang frown, knowing that he understood what she meant.
"Don't worry, Madam Shen, I am sincere. I want to marry her!" Zhao Linzhang said his thoughts for the first time, and cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Your Highness is joking. Yunrong is just a country girl. Her greatest blessing is giving birth to Ruoyu. There are countless women in the world who can bear children for Your Highness. Even if you favor her at first, what will happen when the Princess enters the manor in three to five years? She won't know how to say nice things. What if she offends the Princess? Your Highness is not often in the inner courtyard. What will become of her then?"
After saying so much in one breath, Madam Shen paused to catch her breath. Before Zhao Linzhang could speak, she continued, "Furthermore, Your Highness is of noble status and has eaten too many delicacies. Occasionally, you can eat some country vegetables to change your palate, unlike us who eat wild vegetable soup every day."
"Lady Shen, I am not that kind of person!" Zhao Linzhang blurted out, but his words sounded weak and powerless.
"This old woman knows that Your Highness is an upright man, but Your Highness is still under the Emperor and the Empress Dowager!"
Zhao Linzhang was speechless this time. His promise to marry Yunrong remained unspoken after Shen's mother brought up the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
Yes, he is a prince, and he doesn't care about status or family background. But how could the royal family not care? They might turn a blind eye if he took a woman of low status as a concubine, but if she became a wife, how could the royal family's reputation allow it!
Shen Yunrong helped the child wash her hands and let her play on the clean haystack. She then washed her burning face with cool spring water.
The strong, powerful heartbeat still echoed in her ears. She wiped away the water droplets and silently berated herself, telling herself not to overthink things. It was impossible for him and her to be together. He was only doing this because of the child and felt guilty towards her. She couldn't take his compensation as a genuine expression of his feelings.
After calming himself down, Zhao Linzhang walked out silently, threw the broken bowl in his hand into the bamboo basket beside him, and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you for your hospitality today. I will come to see the child again another day!"
He had just been all smiles, but suddenly his expression changed. He tried his best to hide it, but the observant Shen Yunrong noticed it immediately.
After Zhao Linzhang left, Shen Yunrong brought the child into the house and asked her mother, "Mother, did the Prince say anything?"
She had just come out carrying the child, and only the prince and his mother were in the room. I don't know why he suddenly felt so lost.
“Mother spoke to him and asked him to be merciful and let you go. Child, people say that once you enter the world of the rich, it’s like entering a deep sea. We ordinary people don’t have that kind of fate. If Tie Niu doesn’t mind, we can send the child away later and you and Tie Niu can live a good life together.”
The resolute voice of Zhao Linzhang before leaving still echoed in Shen's mother's ears: I am not that kind of person!
"Mother, you don't need to talk to him about this!" Besides, Zhao Linzhang might not even have feelings for her. It's like he's trying to make himself look good. She felt embarrassed. And what about Tie Niu? She had no intention of remarrying since she came back.
“I’ve been through this before, and I can see things clearly. If he didn’t have that intention, why would he bother to keep you in the Prince’s mansion and send us back and the child here?” Mother Shen said to her daughter seriously, moving her half-numb body.
"He said he made a mistake in making compensation."
“He’s just a prince. Even if he doesn’t do anything, we have nowhere to seek justice. Even if he really wants compensation, all the things he’s given us are enough!” Mother Shen regretted raising her daughter to be so naive. These things that outsiders could clearly see were completely obvious to her, but she was oblivious.
"Mom, you mean him...? No way." Shen Yunrong shook her head. Her daughter yawned in her arms, and she gently patted her daughter to lull her to sleep.
How could she not feel his kindness towards her, like a majestic tiger teasing a defenseless rabbit in a moment of good mood?
"It's good that you understand!" Seeing that she seemed to know everything, Madam Shen lay down with peace of mind.
"My daughter knows what to do!" The child in Shen Yunrong's arms was already asleep, with long, black eyelashes covering her little face.
If only her father weren't a prince, she could have been there to watch her daughter grow up.
And with great relief, the daughter's father was Zhao Linzhang, who would protect her and ensure a smooth life.
She carried the child to her mother's side, washed the pots and pans clean, opened the box and took out a ginseng root as thick as a finger. Since she had eaten someone else's flesh, she had to give them a return gift.
She wrapped it in coarse cloth, told her mother, and headed towards Tie Niu's house.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
