The concubine was charming and alluring, and the ruthless prince coaxed her day and night.

Chapter 124

Thinking of that muffled groan just now, Xu Jiaojiao could guess that Prince Chen was seriously injured.

If it weren't for the need to avoid harming her, Prince Chen wouldn't have spent the entire night soaking in that icy pool, putting himself in poor physical condition.

Judging from the speed of the Prince of Jin just now, hand-to-hand combat in this era requires a very high level of physical fitness; even a slight deficiency could be fatal.

Xu Jiaojiao's nose tingled, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him: "Is Your Highness badly injured?"

Zhao Yunzheng remained silent for a moment.

That bastard Lao Wu really went all out; he was indeed seriously injured. If Ying Yi hadn't been with him, he probably would have been done for.

But a man is a man of steel, he bleeds but does not cry, there is no reason for him to complain about his pain in front of a weak woman, and besides, he does not want Xu Jiaojiao to worry about him.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yunzheng smiled and comforted Xu Jiaojiao: "I am fine, but you, why did you disobey and run in when the hunting grounds are so dangerous?"

Xu Jiaojiao also fell silent for a while.

Prince Chen has always been straightforward and speaks his mind without hesitation. His slight pause had already given the answer before he replied "no problem".

To prevent her from delving deeper, he even steered the conversation away from the main issue and shifted the focus to her.

The more he avoided the topic, the more upset Xu Jiaojiao became.

She understood Zhao Yunzheng's strength and self-respect as someone in a position of power, so she didn't press him further.

She pursed her lips and looked at Zhao Yunzheng with sincere eyes: "The soldiers who returned from the hunting grounds said that you were ambushed and lost your trail at the cliff. I was worried about you, so I came."

Zhao Yunzheng was deeply shaken.

He knew that Xu Jiaojiao was always intelligent and would know that the hunting grounds were full of dangers, but she was so delicate and still came without hesitation. How could he not be moved by her?

If he had previously been bothered by the phrase "it's just acting" and had even doubted Xu Jiaojiao's sincerity, now, seeing the disheveled Xu Jiaojiao standing before him, all his doubts had vanished.

Zhao Yunzheng's eyes were full of pity, but his tone was full of reproach: "Silly Jiaojiao, do you really not trust me? Do you think I will really die in the hunting grounds?"

Upon hearing the word "death," Xu Jiaojiao's heart skipped a beat. She quickly stood on tiptoe and covered Zhao Yunzheng's lips with her hand: "Pah! Pah! Pah! Your Highness will not die! Your Highness is still going to be the father of my child, I will not allow Your Highness to die!"

She paused, then pursed her lips, her eyes filled with the grievance of being misunderstood: "Your Highness, you have always been thorough in your actions. I never thought that you would lose your vigilance in the hunting grounds, nor did I ever think that you would be defeated by the schemes of treacherous villains."

Xu Jiaojiao's tone was sincere, quite different from her obsequious manner, which made Zhao Yunzheng a little suspicious: "If that's the case, why did you still enter this hunting ground?"

Hearing his question, a sly glint appeared in Xu Jiaojiao's eyes: "If I didn't come, how could Prince Jin have shown up?"

Zhao Yunzheng narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Xu Jiaojiao.

A moment later, he laughed.

He found it both unbelievable and completely unsurprising that Xu Jiaojiao would say such a thing.

"So you guessed that I was using a counter-strategy to lure out the person behind the assassin?"

Xu Jiaojiao nodded slightly: "I guessed a little bit. It is precisely because I trust you that I was able to guess. I just don't know if my decision to enter the hunting grounds on my own disrupted your plans?"

Zhao Yunzheng couldn't help but chuckle: "So you deliberately entered the hunting grounds? Just to help me lure out the person behind this?"

Seeing that Prince Chen had guessed her ultimate purpose for this trip, Xu Jiaojiao smiled shyly: "I wonder if this counts as my heart being in sync with Your Highness's?"

Zhao Yunzheng felt both surprised and delighted.

Unexpectedly, Jiaojiao, an ordinary woman born into an ordinary family, was actually good at strategizing and using schemes.

He really struck gold!

Zhao Yunzheng made no attempt to hide the joy in his eyes, and his smile brightened: "Jiaojiao did a great job, at least saving me half a day."

My original plan was to use Jia Rong to lure out the person behind it all.

Jia Rong is impetuous and restless. If he hasn't heard from me for a day and a night, he will definitely be impatient and personally lead his men to the hunting grounds to find me.

Once she goes out, it will inevitably cause a great commotion and attract attention, so the fifth brother dares not do anything to her.

But the Fifth Prince wouldn't miss the opportunity to test Jia Rong, so as long as Jia Rong finds this cliff, the Fifth Prince will definitely appear, and I will then be able to confirm whether he is truly the person behind it all.

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Xu Jiaojiao's eyes crinkled with a smile: "It's good that I can help Your Highness~"

Even so, Zhao Yunzheng still felt uneasy about letting Xu Jiaojiao put herself in danger.

He pursed his lips, his eyes serious. "Don't take such risks again. If it weren't for me and Shadow One guarding this secret passage and overhearing your conversation with Fifth Brother, you would have surely died this time."

This is true.

Although Xu Jiaojiao guessed that Prince Chen would be guarding the vicinity, and also guessed that Prince Jin would use her to trick Prince Chen, she really did not expect that Prince Jin would be so crazy as to push her off the cliff.

She knew she was in the wrong and remained silent.

Yingyi, who had taken a blood-replenishing pill, had recovered considerably: "Master, now that we've confirmed that the one who made the move was Prince Jin, should I immediately lead my men to close the net?"

Zhao Yunzheng pondered for a moment: "Fifth Brother has already noticed something amiss. It won't be long before this place is searched. Let's leave the secret passage first, and we can talk about other things after we get out."

Yingyi nodded slightly: "Yes!"

Using the dim candlelight in the secret passage, Zhao Yunzheng led Xu Jiaojiao out through a maze of twists and turns.

At the end of the secret passage was a cave. Shortly after leaving the cave, Zhao Yunzheng brought Xu Jiaojiao to the familiar bamboo courtyard.

While walking, Zhao Yunzheng briefly recounted to Xu Jiaojiao the entire story of how he was ambushed.

There were more than twenty assassins who ambushed him. These were all well-trained and chose to act when everyone was tired at noon.

At that time, most people were eating dry rations and resting, which was also when everyone's vigilance was at its lowest.

At that time, Zhao Yunzheng and Yingyi, who had barely slept all night, were also planning to find a place to rest.

The assassins attacked ruthlessly and swiftly. Even though Zhao Yunzheng had made ample preparations and had his shadow guards hidden in the hunting grounds beforehand, he still lost two shadow guards before finally managing to kill all the assassins and capture two of them alive.

The so-called brown bear does not actually exist.

The brown bear carcass was prepared in advance by Zhao Yunzheng to create the illusion of a horrific and chaotic scene, making people instinctively think the worst.

In addition, the traces that extended to the edge of the cliff were also Zhao Yunzheng's doing, with the purpose of luring the person behind it over there.

As for why it's at the edge of a cliff, it's because there's a natural dark cave at the bottom of the cliff.

Zhao Yunzheng had already thoroughly surveyed the entire hunting grounds months ago and modified the cave, turning it into a natural shelter and eavesdropping room…