The Deposed Crown Prince had Three Lifelong Regrets - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

In the seventh year of Zhizheng, on Xinghua Street, all alleys were packed with people.

The air was filled with the fragrance of wine. The ancient opera stage stood majestically, its eaves carved with lifelike flowers and birds. Beneath the four corner columns, actors playing the main roles (Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo, Chou) took the stage in turn, using voice to convey emotion and emotion to guide the voice.

“All of them are fickle, shameless people, silk robes cannot hide their base character. Sweet words are thrown everywhere, their copper stench is full of hypocrisy. A desirable person is hard to find, friendship is broken, and the heart is turning to ash.”

“But younger sister, you are truly blessed, finding An Xiucai, a soulmate who is close to your heart. You will marry when he passes the Imperial Exam, and you, sister, will jump out of this world of vice forever.”

A bombastic operatic singing style interrupted Lu Fengmian’s train of thought. She hesitated and then walked out, moving lightly and slowly to get behind a crowd of people.

The flow of people jostled and pressed against her. In an instant, she was wedged between two sides of the crush, serving as the human filling in the dough of a dumpling.

Just when she thought this was the worst of it, someone suddenly burst into the crowd.

The person supporting Lu Fengmian sensed the sudden movement and sharply turned to scan the area. Upon seeing the newcomer, her pupils suddenly constricted, but she swallowed the shout that was about to escape her lips.

Zhu Lingwei rushed over, frantic, without even time to look back and see how close her pursuers were.

She squeezed into the crowd, moving through it like a fish. Her two long legs pumped wildly, her legs running ahead and her body struggling to follow.

Suddenly, her wrist was seized. The backward force almost made Zhu Lingwei fall. She frantically tried to pull away from the thing that was restraining her.

“Follow me.” Lu Fengmian scanned the crowd for assassins disguised as common people.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Zhu Lingwei reluctantly calmed down and took a proper look at the person who blocked her.

Good heavens, wasn’t this her former study companion?

They say there is a way out for everyone, but running into her today meant they were both doomed.

Zhu Lingwei struggled hard to break free, only to find that this seemingly frail young girl possessed such great strength, as if she were as stubborn as nine oxen.

“If you want to die, don’t drag me along! I am going to inherit the throne! If you cause my death, your entire clan should be executed!”

She said, exasperated.

But the other person seemed intimately familiar with the streets and alleys of the capital. Regardless of whether it was a narrow alley barely wide enough for a rat, or a passage covered by stalls, Lu Fengmian managed to circle around with twists and turns, yet still identify the direction.

Eventually, the two reached a water passage.

By this time, they had run far from the original opera stage. The Imperial Guards should have been deployed long ago.

Thus, although she was drenched in sweat and panting heavily, hope gave her energy.

Lu Fengmian took off the silver hairpin on her head, released the hand she was pulling, and vigorously used the sharp tip to stab the hemp rope tying the boat. The water rippled continuously, but the lotus leaves remained poised and graceful.

Their figures were reflected in the water, slender and beautiful.

The boatman was terrified and uncertain. At first, seeing their proper attire, he thought it was a big business deal, but he never expected them to be boat-snatchers.

“You, you are going too far!”

“Help! Quick, someone help! Who will administer justice for me? Whose little girl are you? Is there no law in broad daylight?”

Lu Fengmian was gasping for breath, with no time to wipe away her sweat. And the person she was rescuing was impatiently stomping her feet, pacing back and forth between the bow and the stern.

This was not a good place to evade enemies. The possibility implied by the saying “at the end of the mountains and rivers, doubt whether there is a road” could be eliminated here.

Turning back was to face the difficulty head-on, knowingly walking toward the tiger in the mountain.

Plunging forward without turning back was truly seeking death. In an environment surrounded by water, rowing away was no different from doing nothing.

The noise gradually increased from far away, and then the boat’s bow suddenly dipped as a fierce-eyed assassin boarded the plank.

The knife was raised and slashed horizontally at the two of them. Zhu Lingwei was quick and agile, twisting her body left and right, dodging the first few strikes.

But this was ultimately not a long-term solution. Her mind quickly turned.

Trying to bypass the assassin and get ashore was too risky; she might die before she even got out. So, it was better to jump into the water and gamble on survival.

The water below was cluttered with weeds, the surface covered by lotus pods, and her swimming skills were good. Maybe she could hold out until the soldiers came to rescue her.

However, just as she was taking a deep breath to adjust her mind, Lu Fengmian shoved her into the water.

With a “plop,” water splashed half a meter high.

Zhu Lingwei’s heart was filled with conflict, and for a brief moment, she cursed the Lu family’s ancestors eight generations back.

The small bamboo boat was about to fall apart, emitting a sharp sound like fingernails scraping bark. Lu Fengmian stumbled and sat on the plank, her eyes bloodshot, her hands clenching tighter and tighter onto the bamboo.

The minute pain in her fingertips was nothing compared to the imminent death, so she didn’t even notice that her fingernails were nearly tearing off.

The assassin wore extremely plain cloth clothes and a dark blue headscarf. If one ignored the look on his face, he was no different from an ordinary hardworking citizen.

A cold glint flashed. One after another, people boarded the dilapidated boat. The person closest to Lu Fengmian raised his blade high but hesitated before bringing it down.

This reaction kept Lu Fengmian terrified.

The light and shadow flickered in her eyes. More frightening than being stabbed with several bloody holes was the possibility that the traitors were connected to her or someone she knew.

She swallowed her saliva and began to quietly shuffle backward.

But there was more than one assassin. The person holding the knife quickly made up his mind.

The blade fell straight down. Lu Fengmian rolled to the side and dodged the blow. She intended to use the momentum to fall into the water but found her hair was seized, and she couldn’t move.

Excruciating pain shot through her scalp. A sensation of explosion tore a bloody path through her heart, and her lines of reason collapsed. Faced with imminent death, all that was left was madness. Like a frenzied cat whose fur was scalded, she struck out wildly without any technique.

She saved this person for the sake of kindness and for the honor of her family.

If the other party truly had no obligation or enmity toward her, she would never have risked her life to save her. But if the other party only had a debt of kindness, she would only have run to report to the officials and then knocked over tables and benches to cause panic, buying the person time to live.

Only the combination of kindness and self-interest allowed her to remain unwavering in her decision at this moment.

Blood stained her clothes. Before the blade could go deep, an arrow piercing the air already passed through the assassin’s chest.

The blood of the other person sprayed onto Lu Fengmian. She sat frozen on the spot, like a quail scared out of its wits.

The continuous swoosh sounds followed, and the people in front of her fell one after another.

The soldiers had arrived; they were saved.

Many assassins jumped into the water, but arrows could not be fired directly into it. The water was murky, and both the Crown Prince and the bandits were below, which made the rescuing soldiers hesitate.

Lu Fengmian crawled to the edge of the boat. She had countless cuts on her body. Because the wounds were caused by sharp blades, the cuts were fine and bled slowly. She looked terribly disheveled, but the severity of her injuries was not obvious.

Time seemed to freeze. The water below churned, and the people on the boat were anxious with anticipation.

Zhu Lingwei held her breath to the extreme. Just as she was about to surface to breathe, a sudden, heavy weight intensified on her ankle.

Perhaps the food in the Imperial Kitchen was too monotonous, and eating too much deer antler and duck blood made her temper irritable. Faced with disaster, she only wanted to kill someone to vent her frustration.

She trembled with rage, and when angry, the air stored in her cheeks grew thinner. In a moment, she was already rolling her eyes and her face was turning purple from being suffocated.

Her right ankle was constantly sinking, the weight increasing one after another.

The feeling was intensely unpleasant, as if it wasn’t the weight of one person, but three or four people pressing her down together.

The water around her churned. Zhu Lingwei couldn’t spare the attention to discern the situation, and by the time someone wrapped their arms around her, she was too weak to struggle.

All she could see were the constantly rising bubbles.

After ten years of relentless torment, when she breathed again, she finally inhaled fresh air. She sucked it in almost greedily, the refreshing feeling of rain after a long drought.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough.” Zhu Lingwei propped herself up with her hands, spitting out several mouthfuls of water.

Vaguely, a person with a messy appearance rushed toward her, but they were held back by a guard before getting close.

Zhu Lingwei wanted to laugh. Even though she knew the Zhao girl was probably not with the people who wanted to kill her, she couldn’t help but suspect that the girl wanted her dead.

Pushing away the guard’s hand blocking the way, she weakly stroked the other person’s cheeks and said fiercely, “You truly wanted my life.”

Lu Fengmian was dazed and quickly waved her hands.

The reaction of a certain assassin flashed in her mind, and cold sweat broke out on her back.

“My study companion, leaving the Imperial Palace has made you increasingly…” Zhu Lingwei trailed off with a headache, changing the subject with a weary and numb expression, “Return to the palace.”

She was escorted away from the lakeside. Lu Fengmian was not so lucky and would have to undergo a series of inquiries and investigations before possibly being allowed to return to the Zhao manor.

If only the other person could have shown some mercy and said a few words to exempt her from punishment.

But she didn’t.

“Oh right, let her go back. She is my savior,” Zhu Lingwei said listlessly. “I will thank her properly another day.”

Her emotions were like a roller coaster, up and down. Lu Fengmian breathed a sigh of relief and bowed in gratitude.

By the time the Crown Prince’s people escorted her to the entrance of the Zhao manor, she still hadn’t fully recovered. She thanked them without enthusiasm and walked through the main gate as if she had lost her soul.

The assassination caused a huge commotion for the security detail. As soon as she entered, she was first questioned by the maids and young ladies, and then walked to the main hall, where she was verbally assaulted by her uncle and aunt.

“So young and already lacking decency. You are a disgrace to your deceased mother.”

“Alas, the wind and snow in the Imperial City are fierce. Every step taken is a broken bone. Although there are many nobles, you must know how to be humble and flattering. Your thoughts are simple, and though your manners are good, it is not easy to make a good name for yourself there.”

Voices, both angry and conciliatory, constantly surrounded her. Lu Fengmian harbored resentment in her heart but couldn’t find a reason to hate them, and secretly accepted the scolding.

Her mother died early, and her relatives raised her. It was not easy for them to do this much, and she shouldn’t demand more.

Lu Fengmian was like a stray dog. Only her maternal grandmother kept slamming the table, unable to listen to these ridiculous words any longer, and called her granddaughter, still in the prime of her youth, to her side for comfort.

“Ah, don’t listen to their nonsense. They are purely trying to annoy and confuse you. If you really listen, you’ll fall for their tricks.” Her maternal grandmother gently patted the top of Lu Fengmian’s head.

The two uncles standing nearby felt disgraced but had no choice but to force a smile.

Seeing her two uncles smile, Lu Fengmian quickly forced a smile in return. As she smiled, she felt a pang of bitterness, and two lines of clear tears unconsciously fell.

This caused a sensation. Countless older women and maids rushed to comfort her. The relatives spoke with flattering sweetness, their faces plastered with appropriate smiles, praising her to the clouds in a few words.

But Lu Fengmian knew they were all just trying to appease her, and her two lines of clear tears were also half-genuine. A few drops of tears in exchange for a peaceful life in the future was indeed a sure-win deal.