The branches swayed as fruit fell to the ground one after another.

Chu Changsheng used these fruits of varying color depths to create a garden touring painting.

“I still need some deep red fruit,” she said, her delicate eyebrows furrowing. “There’s too little red fruit.”

Chu Hongyu’s head leaned over: “Outside the wall of our rear courtyard, there are also many camphor trees growing. I’ll go pick fruit for you.”

“Elder Brother, you can’t even distinguish between light red, deep red, and water red.” Chu Changsheng cleaned her hands and stood up. “Elder Brother, stay in the rear courtyard to entertain the guests. I’ll pick the fruit myself.”

Xie Xian smiled with pressed lips: “Changsheng, I’ll go with you.”

“You two can’t climb trees—I’ll go help.” Xie Shiyun volunteered. In reality, he felt out of place staying here and would rather find something to do.

Meng Shen instructed the servants in the courtyard: “All of you follow along. Be careful not to let the young County Princess fall or bump into anything.”

Chu Changsheng had two personal maids by her side, plus a martial arts-skilled serving maid sent by the Yun family specifically to protect Changsheng.

Five or six servants clustered around their young mistress as they walked toward the outer wall of the rear courtyard.

There was a side door here. The serving maid had an old servant woman open the side door and stepped out first. Seeing no idle people outside, only then did she let the children come out.

Chu Changsheng looked at the tall tree, her eyes full of smiles: “Look, that whole cluster is all red.”

Xie Shiyun rubbed his hands together, rolled up his sleeves, and grabbed the tree trunk to climb up.

The serving maid hurried to say: “This tree is too tall—let this servant do it instead.”

With one leap, she jumped onto a tree branch, then continued upward. Soon, she reached the deep red fruit.

Just as she was picking the fruit, something unexpected happened.

Above her, a sudden gust of force attacked.

She looked up and saw a person dressed in green concealed among the leaves. If not for being this close, she wouldn’t have discovered them at all.

The green-clothed person drew a long sword from their sleeve and came at the serving maid’s face.

The serving maid quickly dodged, her arm getting slashed.

She rapidly reacted, shouting loudly: “Quick, take the County Princess back to the manor!”

Then with a side movement, she raised her left leg and kicked fiercely, immediately drawing the sword from her waist and pointing it mercilessly at the opponent’s heart.

When her sword was only inches from the opponent’s neck, another gust of force attacked from behind.

It turned out there was another person hidden in the tree shadows.

The serving maid had no time to dodge and was struck in the back, falling from the large tree and landing hard on the ground.

The children below the tree had long been frightened stiff.

One of the accompanying servants grabbed Chu Changsheng, also scooping up Xie Xian and Xie Shiyun, and hurriedly ran toward the rear gate of the prince’s manor while running and shouting: “Someone come quickly! There are assassins!”

Prince Pingxi’s manor had manor soldiers and shadow guards stationed all around, protecting the entire manor. As soon as something happened here, the manor soldiers had already received the news.

All the assassins hidden in the shadows emerged.

Not just one or two.

But dozens, nearly a hundred.

Wearing clothes of various colors, hidden in trees, in the grass, under the eaves…

The servants holding the three children hadn’t even run inside the manor gate when they were stabbed in the back by those assassins.

The gazes of those assassins swept back and forth over the three children. Finally, throwing caution to the wind, they grabbed all three children and hoisted them onto their shoulders.

“Quick, stop them!”

The manor soldiers and shadow guards rapidly gave chase. They had just chased out to the alley entrance when another wave of assassins attacked and blocked their path.

The banquet at the prince’s manor continued.

In the midst of toasting and drinking, Chengxu rushed in with an anxious face: “My Lord… Your Highness the Crown Prince, terrible news—the County Princess has been abducted!”

“What!” Chu Yi abruptly stood up, quickly following Chengxu toward the rear courtyard, saying coldly: “Immediately summon eight thousand elite soldiers, seal off the capital, and search with full force!”

Yun Chu also received the news. When she came from the banquet hall, her entire person was somewhat unsteady.

She could hardly believe that someone dared to abduct Changsheng right at the manor’s rear gate. Who exactly had such audacity!

“The manor soldiers who engaged the assassins face-to-face said those assassins didn’t speak the language of Great Jin, and their appearance was also somewhat different from people of Great Jin,” Chengxu’s voice was heavy. “This subordinate suspects they may be spies from another country…”

Chu Yi’s voice was ice-cold: “Where are those manor soldiers!”

The manor soldiers were severely injured—one had been stabbed in the waist and abdomen, but was still holding on. He tried his best to imitate the assassins’ manner of speaking.

“They’re people from the Dongling Kingdom!” Yun Chu’s eyes held terrifying coldness.

She only knew that over ten years later, the Dongling Kingdom would attack Great Jin, but she didn’t know that so early on, people from the Dongling Kingdom had already infiltrated the capital.

That group of people burned, killed, plundered, and committed every evil. She dared not imagine what kind of torture Changsheng would suffer falling into their hands…

“They came prepared.” Chu Yi gently gripped Yun Chu’s hand. “Chu’er, you go back and look after Brother Jue. I will definitely bring Changsheng back home without a hair harmed.”

Yun Chu looked into his eyes: “When Changsheng is afraid, the person she most wants to see is her mother. I want to go with you.”

The capital instantly went on alert.

All four city gates were closed, and all roads out of the city were sealed off.

The common people didn’t know what had happened and didn’t dare linger on the streets, hurrying home to lock their doors. But soon, searching officials and soldiers came, checking inside and outside every house…

In an inconspicuous courtyard, a horse carriage drove in.

Three unconscious children were thrown from the carriage.

Several people in the courtyard spoke in a language that people of Great Jin couldn’t understand.

“Damn it, why was the capital sealed off so quickly? Getting out of the city is a big problem!”

“Wasn’t it said this County Princess wasn’t a legitimate daughter and wasn’t valued by Prince Pingxi? Why dispatch so many people to seal off the capital?”

“We’ve been lurking in the capital for so long, planning for such a long time—don’t panic. Wait for the attention to pass, then it won’t be too late to leave the city.”

“So many people in the capital need to eat—they can’t keep the city gates closed forever. We’ll wait slowly for an opportunity. If we bring this County Princess back, we’ll have accomplished a great feat.”

“Although she’s not a legitimate daughter, she’s still the biological daughter of the newly appointed Crown Prince, the future Eldest Princess. Tsk tsk, this could be our Dongling Kingdom’s greatest weapon in the future!”

“…”

The sky gradually darkened.

Chu Changsheng only felt a headache, so painful it felt like her head would explode. She slowly opened her eyes, but all she could see was pitch darkness. She suddenly remembered—when she was picking red fruit behind the manor, assassins suddenly appeared. An assassin had forcefully struck the back of her neck, and she had fainted.

So now, was she in the assassins’ hands?

After becoming accustomed to the dark environment, her eyes could gradually see some things.

She saw two more people lying beside her. She called out in a low voice: “Xian, wake up. Shiyun…”

Xie Xian and Xie Shiyun touched the backs of their necks and slowly opened their eyes. After a long while, they adapted to the light.

“Where is this…” Xie Xian’s voice was full of fear. “Bad people captured us. What are they going to do? Are we going to die…”