CHAPTER 1753: CHAPTER 1753: GROW UP QUICKLY

If not for Jianqi waking up and guarding against Rendong, she would have already fallen in a pool of blood.

Rendong was already captured, and the dark guard promptly dislocated her jaw. She mumbled incoherently, "Do you think you can escape? You will die sooner or later!"

Bai Ruozhu sneered coldly, "Everyone dies. As for when I die, you cannot decide, but I can decide your life or death right now."

The mockery in Rendong’s eyes quickly turned into pain. She struggled a few times, then her head tilted, and she died.

Bai Ruozhu gritted her teeth, regretting that she had learned nothing. She looked at Rendong, then at the corpses of the other assassins, quickly discovering the problem.

"They were poisoned beforehand, and the poison would take effect at a certain time. If they weren’t death warriors, then someone had coordinated with them to provide the antidote after completing their task." Bai Ruozhu frowned and said, "Send people to search in the city; we must find the person who coordinated with them."

"Yes."

Jianqi gave a few orders, and the dark guard quickly left, while Jianqi carefully examined Rendong’s body.

As he examined, he suddenly bent down and tapped a few times on Rendong’s face, then sharply tore off a human skin mask.

"She’s not Rendong? Then when exactly was she replaced?" Bai Ruozhu exclaimed; she didn’t notice any difference between the current Rendong and before.

"Perhaps it was when Rendong was first arranged by your side that she was replaced." Jianqi’s face was dark; it was their carelessness.

Bai Ruozhu’s head spun quickly; if Rendong was arranged by her side to assassinate her, why was there no earlier attempt?

Could it be?

Bai Ruozhu dared not speak out; could it be that the palace discovered the person who poisoned the emperor, so the other party acted?

But it seemed incoherent, unless the other party knew she had disrupted their plans, and out of rage, they sought to kill her.

"Little Master!" Nanny Zhang’s voice came from behind. The door of another room was pushed open, and Little Dengdeng rushed out.

Bai Ruozhu no longer wanted to deal with these messy conspiracies. She instructed Jianqi to settle Huang Qin and hurriedly walked towards her son.

She squatted down and hugged her son, covering his eyes, and said chokingly, "Don’t look, mother will take you back to the room and tell you a story, okay?"

Little Dengdeng vigorously pulled his mother’s hand and cried, "Mother, I want to see if you are okay; I did not protect you well."

Bai Ruozhu couldn’t hold back her tears; her son was still so young, yet he knew how to take responsibility.

"Come, let’s talk inside." Bai Ruozhu pulled Dengdeng towards the room.

Nanny Zhang looked apologetic, "Madam, I couldn’t hold the little master."

Bai Ruozhu smiled at Nanny Zhang, "No, I want to thank you for protecting Dengdeng."

"I told the little master that if he went out, bad people would capture him to threaten you. The little master is very sensible; he’s a smart child." Nanny Zhang was somewhat emotional; other children might have cried out of fear.

Bai Ruozhu pulled Dengdeng inside, closed the door, and said, "Dengdeng, don’t look at those things. You’re still young; you need to first learn to protect yourself."

Dengdeng nodded vigorously, then worriedly asked, "Mother, are the little siblings alright?"

Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched. Well, at this moment, she wouldn’t argue whether they were sisters.

"They’re fine; everyone is good."

"Mother, I’m useless and couldn’t protect you." Dengdeng pouted and suddenly started crying.

Bai Ruozhu heartily hugged her son and comforted him, "You’re still young; you need to first learn to protect yourself. You see, today you did very well, didn’t you? When mother was your age, she couldn’t even protect herself."

Dengdeng felt a little better, pouted, and said, "I want to grow up quickly to protect mother and siblings."

Siblings...

Alright, considering her son’s filial and responsible nature, she wouldn’t fuss with him.

"Then you need to eat well and sleep well so you can grow up quickly. It’s early now, hurry back to bed, or you won’t grow tall." Bai Ruozhu helped Little Dengdeng lie back on the bed.

Little Dengdeng clung to his mother’s clothes, asking pitifully, "Mother, will you stay with me tonight?"

"Alright." Bai Ruozhu instantly agreed. Her son was frightened; she couldn’t bear to leave anyway. Let the ancient rules go to hell.

By the time the other members of the Bai Family received the news and hastily arrived, Bai Ruozhu was already asleep with her son in her arms. Lin Ping’er went inside and saw the two sleeping soundly, and then went out relieved, telling Bai Yihong and others outside the door, "It’s alright, everyone go rest; don’t disturb their sleep."

Bai Zepei looked at Jianqi and waited for the others to leave. Jianqi recounted the events in detail to Bai Zepei.

"The residence needs a thorough investigation." Bai Zepei’s face was very cold, as though covered in frost.

"Yes."

"Also, investigate the maid, Huang Qin, to see if there are any issues. Tomorrow I’ll choose two new maids for the little sister." Bai Zepei added.

The next morning when Bai Ruozhu woke up, there were two new maids standing outside the room. The two were not particularly noticeable, but their backs were straight, showing they were martial artists.

Bai Ruozhu was startled and asked Jianqi, "Where did these two come from?"

"They were sent by the second master early this morning." Jianqi answered.

The two maids quickly greeted Bai Ruozhu and introduced themselves; one was Min Xiang, and the other Min Ju.

Bai Ruozhu found it strange; she had never seen her second brother with maids before. How did two suddenly appear, and they were skilled in martial arts?

Thinking carefully, she could guess who sent them.

It was likely arranged by the emperor days ago for Bai Zepei, just afraid of arousing suspicion from the other party, so he didn’t immediately send them to Bai Ruozhu. Now there was a good reason.

The disturbance from the previous night was significant enough to alert the imperial guards, so many households in the city quickly learned of it.

By noon, a group of youths came together to visit Bai Ruozhu, including Tang Feng, whom Bai Ruozhu hadn’t seen for a long time.

Others included Chu Hai, Ding Guangji, Diao Yao, Gu Xue’an, and Bai Qizhi.

The group surrounded Bai Ruozhu, asking about her wellbeing and the identity of the assassin. Bai Ruozhu shrugged her shoulders and said, "It should be someone sent by King Rui; he must hate Achun to death."

The common people outside didn’t know the anomaly during King Rui’s sacrificial ceremony was orchestrated, but how could these aristocratic youths not know? They could guess it had something to do with Jiang Yichun.

"When is Jiang Yichun coming back? He should protect his own woman, shouldn’t he?" Tang Feng suddenly spoke with a hint of discontent.

Bai Ruozhu looked at him, feeling that he was full of fire and somewhat irritable, unlike his usual charming carefree self.