Chapter 381 Rescuing the Princess
The guards driving the carriage tightened the reins, spurred the carriage to the other side, and slowly brought the horses to a stop.
After stabilizing the carriage, he turned to the people inside and asked, "Princess, are you and the two young masters alright? I deserve to die!"
Inside the carriage, Yun Zhaoxue asked, "What happened?"
The guard said, "Someone suddenly darted out from in front, but please rest assured, Your Highness, there was no collision; she fell on her own."
He was driving slowly at the corner when the other vehicle suddenly darted out, startling him so much that he fell. It wasn't his fault, was it?
Instead of experiencing the expected pain, Zhao Zhenrou slowly lowered her hand. Hearing the guard's address, she murmured, "Princess? Which princess?"
She knew most of the royal princesses; if she did, she might be able to ask them for help.
The palace maids behind her had caught up, one grabbing her arm on each side and leading her away.
Zhao Zhenrou couldn't see the person inside the carriage, so she could only shout loudly, revealing her identity, "Let me go! I am Princess Zhenrou! Let me go! I don't want to become a nun..."
When Yun Zhaoxue heard the other person call her a princess, she initially thought the other person had intellectual disabilities and was just making things up.
All the royal princesses were captured and taken to the enemy camp when Kyoto fell.
When I lifted the curtain, I realized the person looked somewhat familiar.
And those who captured her were dressed as palace maids.
Searching the original owner's memories, there was indeed a Princess Zhenrou who looked exactly like her.
She handed the baby in her arms to Hongzao, "Zhenrou?"
The princess frequently visited the palace. As a child, she served as a study companion, learning music, chess, calligraphy, and painting alongside the other princesses. She recognized the person before her as Princess Zhenrou.
Zhao Zhenrou recognized her too. They were about the same age, and Yun Zhaoxue often visited the palace, so they had played together before.
Zhao Zhenrou struggled and ran towards the carriage, crying, "Cousin Xue, is that you? Please save me, I don't want to be a nun, sob sob sob..."
How did you get back to Lin'an?
Zhao Zhenrou briefly recounted their escape to her, saying, "Cousin Xue'er, please, for the sake of our sisterhood, save us. I don't care if I'm not a princess, I'd rather be an ordinary person."
"You just said you didn't want to become a nun. Were they forcing you to become one?"
Zhao Zhenrou cried and said, "Yes, Cao, the old woman who served Consort Yun, told us to shave our heads and become nuns, to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist prayers in front of the Bodhisattva to cleanse our sins."
Yun Zhaoxue handed her her handkerchief. "Don't cry. You are all suffering people. What crime have you committed? I'll take you to the palace to see the Emperor. You can plead with him for mercy."
At this moment, Granny Cao also arrived with her people.
Yun Zhaoxue asked, "Granny Cao, what's going on?"
"Your Highness, how could those few weak women who had fallen into the enemy camp have escaped from those wolves and tigers? Perhaps they were instructed by the enemy to return as spies to harm our Great Zhou. Your Highness has already shown kindness by sparing their lives."
“We are not spies; we escaped on our own. Marshal Xiao and the soldiers of the Hebei Army can attest to that.”
Granny Cao sneered, "Even if you weren't spies, you'd still lost your innocence. To protect the royal family's reputation, the Imperial Concubine had no choice but to send you to a nunnery to save you from being scorned by the world. You should be thanking the Imperial Concubine."
"I..." Zhao Zhenrou felt that there was some truth to it and had no words to refute it.
Yes, she has lost her innocence, which is a disgrace to the royal family. If she doesn't become a nun and enter a Buddhist monastery, she will die.
"Forcing a teenage girl to become a nun, and then expecting others to thank her?" Yun Zhaoxue admired this old woman; she was a master of brainwashing. It wasn't their fault that they were forced to lose their virginity.
“Zhenrou, you are also victims. You are innocent and do not need to clear your name of any sins. I will take you to the palace so that you can plead with him for mercy.”
Zhao Xuan values his reputation, so he wouldn't ignore his own sister's plea to him.
Yun Zhaoxue sent the carriage to the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, and instructed Hongzao and Lüzhi to take the two children back, and then take Zhao Zhenrou to the palace.
Today is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Lingyin Temple is holding a Dharma assembly, and people are going to visit to pray for the safety of their relatives and the well-being of their families. It is said that the prayers are very effective.
When men go to war and face danger, their families go to pray for peace and reassurance.
She wanted to take her two children out for a walk, so she took them to Lingyin Temple to pray for peace and blessings for the whole family.
At the palace gate, Zhao Zhenrou got out of the carriage, frightened, and lowered her eyes, not daring to look at the people around her.
"Cousin Xue'er, will my brother really help me?"
The meaning of Consort Yun might be the same as Zhao Xuan's.
If that's the case, going to the palace to plead for mercy would only bring shame upon oneself.
The palace in Lin'an was built temporarily and was not as large as the capital. It only took about an incense stick's time to get outside the palace.
They waited in the hall, and a palace maid went in to report to Zhao Xuan.
Before the palace servants could come out to announce her arrival, Yun Jiaoyue arrived.
"Zhenrou is back? Look how thin you are, you must have suffered a lot."
When Zhao Zhenrou saw her smile, she felt a chill and instinctively wanted to hide behind Yun Zhaoxue.
But the palace etiquette she had learned since elementary school taught her not to do so, so she curtsied to her. "Zhenrou greets the Third Noble Consort."
"Good sister, no need for such formalities. You've suffered so much, but you've survived a great calamity. Good fortune is yet to come." Yun Jiaoyue stepped forward, grasped her tightly clenched hands, and patted the back of her hands.
The contrast between her before and after is puzzling.
Zhao Zhenrou felt a chill run down her spine and quietly withdrew her hand.
"Is Zhenrou still blaming me because Granny Cao took you to the nunnery? Actually, it was all a test. There are spies planted in the palace by those with ill intentions who want to harm the emperor or the princes and princesses of the empress. I was worried, so I took this drastic measure to test them. If you are still angry and resentful, then scold me or beat me to vent your anger."
Having said all that, Zhao Zhenrou dared not blame her anymore.
"Zhenrou wouldn't dare. It was Furou who led us to escape. It's just a pity that she disappeared while trying to distract the pursuers, so we really aren't spies."
"I believe in you, sister-in-law. You have passed the test. I have already had a palace prepared. Let's go, I'll take you to see it and see if there's anything else we need to add."
Yun Jiaoyue looked at Yun Zhaoxue: "Big sister, do you want to come with me?"
"No, you guys go ahead, I have something to do and need to go back first."
Fearing being secretly executed, Zhao Zhenrou desperately clung to Yun Zhaoxue as her lifeline, "Cousin Xue'er, if you have time in the future, could you come to the palace to see me often?"
"Alright, you can come find me outside the palace if you have the chance."
Tears welled up in Zhao Zhenrou's eyes, and she nodded vigorously, "Mmm."
She turned her head away to wipe her tears and said, "Cousin Xue'er, there are four other sisters outside who are in the same boat as me. Could you please arrange a place for them? If so, could you find them a job so they can support themselves?"
She felt like she was walking on thin ice in the palace, afraid that she wouldn't be able to protect them; it would be safer outside the palace.
"If they are willing, I can arrange a place for them. Take care."
Zhao Zhenrou dawdled, reluctant to leave.
The palace maid urged, "Princess, please."
There were four women waiting outside the palace in a carriage.
Their hearts were pounding with anxiety, hoping that the princess would meet the emperor, restore her status as a princess, and allow them to also enter the palace and have a place to go.
When he didn't see Zhao Zhenrou come out, his face turned deathly pale.
Does the princess no longer want to care about them?
Yun Zhaoxue asked, "What are your plans for the future?"
They had heard of Yun Zhaoxue's 'reputation' and were somewhat intimidated by her, so they stammered, "Reporting to, Your Highness, the fate of our family members is unknown, and we have nowhere to go."
They had several relatives in Lin'an or nearby cities, but they dared not go to seek refuge with them because they were captured by the enemy and their innocence was violated.
It would tarnish the reputation of the women in their family, and going there to seek refuge would only result in being driven away.
They knelt down and begged Yun Zhaoxue: "Princess, the four of us have nowhere to go. Please take us in. We are willing to serve you like cattle and horses to repay your kindness."
"Both the young master and the princess are good people. The young master saved us once in Dingzhou. Please, princess, save us again. We kowtow to the princess." As he spoke, he began to kowtow repeatedly, his forehead covered with old and new wounds, not a single unscathed spot, which looked rather frightening.
Yun Zhaoxue helped them up, saying, "Don't bump your heads anymore, get up, don't hurt your heads."
What are you all good at?
"We are skilled in playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and music."
"She can also do embroidery."
"I can also do accounts."
"Me too, me too..."
They were the legitimate daughters of the family and were raised from a young age to be the mistresses of the household. They not only had to learn music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but also how to manage the household and run the shops. Accounting was an essential skill.
Some restaurants or brothels hire people to play the piano.
But having just gone through those terrible things, they probably don't want to show their faces in public.
Yun Zhaoxue searched the original owner's memories and found that she had seen the four of them at a palace banquet. Those who could enter the palace to attend banquets had fathers with high-ranking official positions, and most of them were legitimate daughters, so it was not surprising that they knew these things.
I asked for their names, and the surnames all matched. If we plan to reuse them in the future, I'll send someone to check them more carefully.
"I'm planning to open a soap factory with someone, and we're short-handed. Would you be willing to come and help out? Food and lodging will be provided."
The group kowtowed again, choking back tears, and said, "We are willing, we are willing, thank you, thank you, Princess."
"Get up. All the bad things of the past are in the past. Live a good life from now on."
"Thank you, Princess!"
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