Just as A Yao was about to get up, her mouth was covered by a small hand.

“Shh! Don’t talk!”

A little boy with a round head and a round face, covered in dirt, was looking around vigilantly.

After making sure that there was no one around, the boy withdrew his hand.

“Which family are you from? Why are you in the Prince Regent’s Residence now?”

Rong Ziling looked her up and down. “Then who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m a washerwoman in the Prince Regent’s Residence.”

“A servant girl…”

Rong Ziling rolled his eyes and suddenly hugged her arm with a sad face.

“My father married a new wife and wants to sell me. I sneaked out. Now I have nowhere to go. Sister, can you take me in?”

Rong Ziling reminded her of herself.

She and her mother had been dependent on each other for many years, but she had never seen her father. Her mother loved her very much. When she was in the Prime Minister’s Palace, she had protected her all the time but refused to tell her anything about her father.

She thought that her father must have done something to hurt her mother, which was why her mother was unwilling to mention him.

Perhaps through the same experience, she looked at Rong Ziling with a much gentler gaze.

“But this is the Prince Regent’s Residence. I can’t keep you here.”

Rong Ziling looked at her with tears in his eyes. “If we don’t tell anyone, no one will know.”

“But where do you live? We maids live in the big house. If I hide you in the big house, you will be discovered at any time.”

“I’ll hide in a corner of the backyard. Just bring me something to eat every day.”

A Yao hesitated. After all, it wasn’t a small matter to hide someone in the Prince Regent’s Residence.

If it was discovered, she and the child would be in serious trouble.

Seeing that she did not speak, Rong Ziling pleaded in a tearful voice.

“Good sister, please help me! I’ve already run out of the house. If I go back now, my father will definitely break my legs. I don’t want to be a cripple.”

In the end, A Yao couldn’t bear it. “Alright then! Hide well and don’t let anyone find out.”

“Well, I know sister is the best person.”

Rong Ziling praised A Yao a lot.

Rong Qianhan flew into a rage in the study.

“If you can’t even look after a child, what’s the use of having you?”

Song Yi lowered his head and didn’t dare to say a word.

“I will give you another day. If you can’t find the young heir, you can go and guard the border!”

“Yes.”

When Song Yi walked out of Rong Qianhan’s study, his back was wet with sweat.

Rong Qianhan sat in the study with a dark expression. His mind was filled with thoughts of Rong Ziling.

Rong Ziling was the son of his deputy general. Back then, the deputy general and his wife had died miserably at the hands of the enemy in order to save him.

When he returned, he brought Rong Ziling, who was less than a year old, to the Prince Regent’s Residence. He changed his surname to his and took care of him as his own son.

Some time ago, because he was going to marry Su Yuyan, he had temporarily arranged for Rong Ziling to stay in the other villa.

Today, he had sent Song Yi to pick up Rong Ziling, who had run off on the way back.

The thought of the four-year-old Rong Ziling being missing made him extremely agitated.

If something were to happen to Rong Ziling, how could he face the dead deputy general and his wife!

He got up irritably and walked out, intending to find him in person.

As soon as he walked out of the study, he saw Su Yuyan with her men.

“Are you hungry, prince? I’ve made you some snacks. Have a taste.”

“I don’t have time.”

Rong Qianhan glanced at her and continued walking out.

Su Yuyan did not take it seriously and stopped him. “I already know about the little heir. Didn’t you ask Song Yi to bring people to look for him? Anyway, he’s not your biological son. Why are you in such a hurry?”

“What do you mean?”

Rong Qianhan darkened his face.

No one in the Prince Regent’s Residence dared to mention Rong Ziling’s origin, but Su Yuyan did not realize how serious the situation was.

“If prince likes children, we can have one. It’s destined that you can’t raise him well. You don’t have to put in a lot of effort to raise him.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard these words, and it’s also the last time. Next time, you’ll have to go back to the Prime Minister’s Palace!”

After that, Rong Qianhan turned to leave.

Su Yuyan hurriedly stopped him and explained with a smile, “I, I didn’t mean that. I just want to give birth to a child for us.”

“No matter what you mean, I don’t want to see you now.”

With that, Rong Qianhan flicked his sleeves and left.

“Prince…”

Before Su Yuyan could finish her words, she could only watch Rong Qianhan walk away.

Suddenly, she smelled something familiar.

She sniffed carefully and asked Chun Ling, the maid beside her, “Do you smell anything?”

“It seems that the fragrance on the prince’s clothes is similar to that of A Yao.”

“It’s that bitch again!”

…

Dusk fell. After dinner, A Yao secretly hid a steamed bun and brought it to the backyard.

She bent down to look for Rong Ziling around and whispered, “Ling, come out for dinner.”

Hiding in the dark, Rong Ziling waited for a moment. Just as he was about to walk out, he heard hurried footsteps.

He quickly hid himself.

Su Yuyan came over with a maid and said, “Bring her here.”

“Yes.”

Chun Ling walked over to A Yao.

A Yao hid her hands behind her back and asked cautiously, “What are you going to do?”

Su Yuyan just snorted at her.

When Chun Ling tugged at A Yao, she tore off the steamed bun in her hand.

The white and round steamed bun rolled to the feet of Su Yuyan.

Su Yuyan bent down to pick up the steamed bun and said with a sneer, “You are getting bolder and bolder to steal things in the Prince Regent’s Residence.”

Just as Su Yuyan was worried about having no chance to find fault with her, the opportunity came.

“I didn’t. This is what I left in dinner. I’ll keep it until I’m hungry in the middle of the night.”

“If I say you stole it, then you stole it.”

“I…”

A Yao felt so wronged that she opened her eyes wide and swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

Her mother was still in the hands of Su Yuyan, so she was not qualified to talk back.

A vicious look flashed across Su Yuyan’s face. “Chun Ling, chop off her hand. Let’s see if she dares to steal again in the future.”

“Yes.”

Chun Ling went to the kitchen and soon came back with a kitchen knife.

A Yao looked at the kitchen knife and her face immediately turned pale.

Su Yuyan was a crazy woman. She would do what she said. It was really possible for her to cut off her hand.

Seeing Chun Ling getting closer and closer, A Yao quickly calmed down.

She looked at Su Yuyan with a gloomy face, “Miss, you cut off my hand, so I can’t wash clothes for you. Besides, you and Prince Regent have just gotten married. It’s not appropriate for the mansion to have red marks.”

When she mentioned Rong Qianhan, Su Yuyan immediately thought of how she had been bullied by Rong Qianhan and her expression grew even uglier.

Su Yuyan urged Chun Ling with a cold face, “Chun Ling, do it!”

“Yes.”

Chun Ling approached A Yao, grabbed her left hand with one hand, and raised the kitchen knife high.

Hiding in the dark, Rong Ziling felt his heart was in his throat. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to go out and save A Yao.

As soon as he took a small step out, he heard A Yao speaking in a firm voice.

“Miss, don’t you want to know what the prince told me about you when I was at his place today?”