It was midsummer at Lingyan Temple.
Shen Lianxiang carried the little prince, who was crying loudly from hunger, and hurried into a meditation room under the guidance of a maid so she could feed him.
The baby was only three months old and could not go hungry for long. His little face was red from crying, and his body was covered in sweat.
As soon as she entered the room, she could not worry about anything else and quickly lifted her clothes.
Because of the hot weather, she had walked all the way from the main hall and was drenched in sweat. Even the clothes on her chest were soaked.
She could not feed the little prince like this. She needed to clean herself first.
The maid, Taorui, looked around the room and realized there was no water prepared. She quickly went out to fetch some.
Just then, the little prince wet his diaper again. There was not even a clean one to change him into. Green Willow anxiously cursed,
“How are the servants doing their jobs? Not a single thing for the little prince was prepared in this room.”
“If the nanny finds out, she’ll skin them alive.”
“Shen Nanny, watch over the little prince first. I’ll go back to the carriage and get what we need.”
With that, she ran out like a gust of wind.
Lianxiang was uncomfortable as well. Milk was already leaking, but she could not feed the little prince yet. The baby cried with his mouth wide open, almost heartbroken from hunger.
The little prince was the youngest child of the current Emperor and Empress. Not only was his status extremely noble, but the Crown Prince and Prince Zhenguo also treasured and cared deeply for their younger brother from the same mother.
When Prince Zhenguo learned that the Emperor and Empress had given birth to the little prince while traveling in Guangling, he immediately rushed there without rest.
Because the Empress was an older mother and her health was weak after childbirth, the Emperor took her to Lake Heart Island to recover. Since the little prince was still very young, Prince Zhenguo stayed in Guangling to look after him.
Today was the Dragon Boat Festival. The prince, who had been handling military affairs in Mo City, specially returned to Guangling and brought the little prince to Lingyan Temple to pray for blessings.
If anything happened to the little prince because of hunger, or if he became ill from crying too much, her entire family might suffer the consequences.
Lianxiang was extremely anxious and heartbroken for the child. Sweat poured from her body even more heavily, running down from her neck and chest.
It was like water. Even after soaking her handkerchief, she could not wipe it all away.
She noticed a teacup on the table. With no better choice, she expressed some milk into the cup and fed it to the little prince.
The baby was starving and drank eagerly.
He quickly finished the entire cup.
While Lianxiang was preparing a second cup, the door suddenly opened with a creak, and someone walked in.
Thinking it was Taorui, she did not even look up.
“Miss Taorui, you’re finally back. Please help me wipe this off. The little prince was so hungry that I had to feed him from a cup.”
All her attention was on the baby.
When the person standing at the door did not move, the usually gentle woman anxiously urged,
“Miss Taorui, come quickly. The little prince can’t wait.”
As she spoke, she raised her head.
A cold, handsome, and extraordinarily noble face suddenly appeared before her.
The face was both unfamiliar and familiar. She had just seen him in the main hall.
It was Prince Zhenguo.
Lianxiang immediately froze. Panic and confusion filled her face as she instinctively turned away.
The prince knew she had brought the little prince away to feed him.
Why had he come to the room where the little prince was resting at this moment?
Her mind went blank.
She was so embarrassed that her whole body felt as though it were burning.
“Your Highness… this servant is feeding the little prince.”
The room was small, and there was no screen dividing it. From the doorway to the bed was only a few steps.
Had he seen her expressing milk just now?
But she had no time to think about that.
What worried her most was whether the prince had seen her feeding the little prince from a teacup and would punish her for it.
Yun Suiwu stood at the doorway, tall and elegant.
His cold, emotionless eyes, deep as an icy lake, fell sharply upon Lianxiang’s sweat-soaked back. His brows furrowed slightly.
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across her damp figure.
Her thin, loose clothing had been soaked by sweat and clung tightly to her body.
The moment he entered, he had seen everything.
His face darkened.
He hated most of all when servants used improper and shameless methods to attract attention and climb into favor.
And she was the boldest one he had ever seen.
“You have a lot of courage.”
His voice was low and freezing cold.
Lianxiang trembled in fear. Holding the little prince, she immediately knelt.
Sweat ran continuously down her slender neck.
“Please… forgive me, Your Highness. This servant was covered in sweat and needed to clean herself before feeding the little prince.
“Miss Taorui has gone to fetch water.
“The little prince was simply too hungry, so… I took the liberty of expressing milk into a teacup and feeding him that way.”
Her voice was soft as water.
Because she was frightened, it trembled slightly, making her sound especially weak and pitiful.
Yun Suiwu frowned even more.
This young wet nurse was pretending to be innocent and pure.
“Who allowed you to bring the little prince into my meditation room?”
So this was actually the prince’s private room.
No wonder there was nothing prepared for the little prince here.
“Your Highness, this servant… didn’t know. Miss Taorui and the others brought me here.”
Lianxiang was so frightened that she nearly lost her senses.
Her face turned pale.
Her body shook uncontrollably as she knelt on the floor. The teacup in her hand nearly spilled.
Fear almost brought her to tears.
She had only arrived at Lingyan Temple recently and had no idea where the little prince’s room was.
Who would have thought that, in their panic, Taorui and Green Willow had brought her to the prince’s room instead?
At that moment, the little prince, unable to get any more milk, burst into loud cries again.
Panicked, Lianxiang quickly fed him the remaining half cup.
But the baby finished it almost immediately and began crying once more, clearly unable to wait any longer.
“Your… Your Highness… this servant has never been here before and doesn’t know the way to the little prince’s room. And the little prince… really can’t wait that long…”
Her entire voice shook, and she sounded close to tears.
She looked especially pitiful.
Yun Suiwu remembered that one of the wet nurses had suddenly fallen ill during the journey and had been replaced.
The new wet nurse had only arrived shortly before the prayer ceremony began.
In that case, she truly would not know which room belonged to him and could only follow the maids attending the little prince.
Perhaps she really was innocent.
His eyes darkened.
Suppressing his anger, he looked her over once before lightly gesturing toward the teapot on the table with his chin.
He was telling her to use the spring water in the teapot to wash away the sweat before feeding the little prince.