Chapter 53: Facing Danger, She Actually Did Something Like This

This was the first time Song Shiwei had ever faced such a situation.

She instinctively took a few steps back, her face laced with panic. Who could have sent these assassins?

With no time to overthink, only a single thought echoed in her mind: she could not let these assassins succeed!

Watching the assassins draw closer, she took a deep breath, then stealthily retrieved a large handful of poison from her spatial storage and shoved it into the hands of Ling Ze, Father Song, and the others.

"I prepared this poison in secret!"

Forcing herself to calm down, she said in a low voice, "If the assassins get close, scatter the poison."

Ling Ze and the others tucked the poison into their robes and immediately split into actions.

Ling Ze shielded Song Shiwei and the others as they retreated, while the rest engaged the assassins.

The two sides instantly clashed in a chaotic brawl.

The clashing of swords and blades mingled with the dull thuds of fists slamming into flesh.

These sounds caused the hearts of Song Shiwei and the others to constrict with every beat.

Frightened and unsettled as Concubine Liu and the others were, they clamped their hands tightly over their mouths, not daring to let out even the tiniest sound.

The assassins outnumbered them considerably, attacking from multiple directions.

A few assassins managed to break through the defensive line and charged directly toward Song Shiwei and her group.

This made Song Shiwei's brow twitch violently. She gripped the poison in her hand fiercely, ready to scatter it at a moment's notice.

"Ling Ze!"

With her other hand, she grabbed Ling Ze, who was moving to intercept the assassins, and shook her head gently. "You alone cannot hold off this many assassins."

There were seven or eight assassins here, and more kept rushing in. Ling Ze could not possibly stop them all by himself.

Therefore, everyone had to pull together in this situation.

"Rest assured, Eldest Miss Song, someone will come to rescue you all very soon." Ling Ze's gaze was resolute, showing seemingly no fear of death.

Unable to bear the thought of him dying to protect them, Song Shiwei grabbed him again. "Don't be reckless!"

With no time for lengthy explanations, she urged, "Father, you and the second brother take everyone and stand at different positions. Let's keep scattering the poison—take out as many of them as we can!"

Father Song and Song Mingting immediately directed the family members to take up positions around the perimeter while continuously scattering the poison.

Not far away, Song Shilan stared at the scene with venomous malice, urging inwardly in her heart: *Kill that wretched girl Song Shiwei! Hurry up and kill her!*

As long as Song Shiwei was eliminated, her father would remember her virtues and make her the legitimate daughter, allowing her to complete her plan in the shortest possible time.

However—

Upon seeing the brightly colored poisons, the assassins decisively retreated.

And they retreated a very safe distance away.

With the poison spread so densely over such a large area, they feared they would be poisoned the moment they stepped near it.

"Stop scattering it!" Song Shiwei cried out upon seeing the assassins fall back.

Father Song and the others halted their actions.

"They aren't death squads," Father Song narrowed his sharp eyes and said with certainty. "If they were death squads, they would have charged forward regardless of the consequences."

"If I'm not mistaken, this batch of assassins must be hired killers kept by someone."

Hearing this, Song Shiwei's very first thought was Princess Anning!

Who else would dare to send assassins out so blatantly, other than Princess Anning?

Still, had something happened recently? Princess Anning was actually this desperate to have her entire family killed.

"I advise you all not to throw your lives away," Father Song looked calmly at the assassins and raised his voice.

"You know better than anyone else: if you kill our family, you won't receive a reward from your master—you'll only meet a dead end."

"What is safer and better at keeping secrets than dead men?"

Unmoved, the assassins stared at the Song family with the eyes of men looking at corpses.

They wanted to see just how much poison the Song family actually had.

"Are you waiting for our poison to run out?" Father Song smiled faintly. "I'm afraid those who are coming to save us will arrive before our poison is spent."

His composure unsettled the assassins, who began to doubt whether reinforcements were truly on the way.

"Attack!" the lead assassin shouted loudly. "Today, either the Song family dies, or we do!"

At these words, the assassins lunged forward once more.

Song Shiwei and the others prepared to scatter their poison again.

Just then, a sharp whistle pierced the air.

A short arrow, imbued with ferocious momentum, pierced straight through the head of the lead assassin.

*Clang!*

The blood-stained short arrow fell to the ground and rolled a couple of times.

With his eyes wide in lingering regret, the lead assassin slowly collapsed to the ground.

He died with everlasting grievance.

Before the remaining assassins could react, countless short arrows rained down from the sky, densely surrounding them from all sides.

The assassins frantically waved their long swords in defense.

However, the volume of short arrows was simply overwhelming.

In less than the blink of an eye, every single assassin had been executed.

Leaving behind a ground covered in corpses and blood.

The archers, hidden in various vantage points, revealed themselves and swiftly cleaned up the bodies and blood on the ground.

Finally, only the faint scent of blood lingered in the air.

Seeing this, Song Shiwei let out a massive sigh of relief.

She raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead and put the remaining poison back into her spatial storage.

It seemed she would need to purchase a great deal more poison once they reached the next town.

"Ling Ze, thank you all for your help this time," she expressed her gratitude to Ling Ze with utmost sincerity.

Ling Ze had just uttered a polite "You're welcome" when Madam Song came stumbling over toward him in a frantic rush.

"Madam Song?"

Looking deeply shaken, Madam Song said, "Might I ask you to pass a message to the Prince of Ding?"

"Just say that my Shiwei... Wu wu wu!"

Father Song clamped a hand firmly over her mouth and forcibly dragged her aside.

"Please excuse this, Ling Ze. My mother was terribly frightened." Though her face remained calm, Song Shiwei was sighing heavily on the inside.

They had only just survived an assassination attempt, yet instead of considering how to secure their safety moving forward, her mother wanted to seize this opportunity to make her a concubine to the Prince of Ding.

Song Shiwei could no longer tell whether her mother genuinely cared for her or merely wished to use her as a tool to achieve her own ambitions.

A flicker crossed Ling Ze's eyes, and he smiled. "It's quite alright."

"Eldest Miss Song, get some proper rest. We are stationed nearby, so just shout if you need anything."

Song Shiwei nodded in acknowledgment.

Watching Ling Ze depart, she slowly sank to the ground to soothe her exhaustion and agitation.

"Eldest Sister, are you alright?" Song Mingxuan and Song Mingyu ran back at top speed.

"Eldest Brother! Third Brother!" Sensing her eldest sister's mental weariness, Song Shiyue spoke up first, "We are completely fine."

She shot a subtle warning look at her two brothers.

Catching her hint, Song Mingxuan and Song Mingyu refrained from asking questions they shouldn't.

"As long as you're safe," Song Mingxuan said, setting his mind at ease. "Third Brother and I are fine as well."

"Third Sister, sit down and rest for a while."

Something beyond just the assassins must have happened just now; otherwise, her eldest sister wouldn't look so utterly exhausted.

Song Shiyue cast a furtive glance at her eldest sister, then leaned in close to her two brothers, speaking in an extremely hushed whisper.

"Eldest Brother, Third Brother, just now... Mother seemed to want to have the Prince of Ding's subordinates pass a message to him, forcing Eldest Sister to become the Prince of Ding's concubine."