Eunuch Wu quickly complied, instructing the palace maid escorting Manbao to take good care of her as she left the palace.
Waiting until Eunuch Wu left, Manbao carried her dicine box towards the gate of the Eastern Palace. As she stepped out, she told the maid accompanying her, "Sister, you can return now. I can walk the rest of the way myself."
"It’s better if I see you out of the palace," replied the maid.
Manbao smiled and said, "It takes more than four quarters of an hour to go back and forth. I know the way very well; just follow the palace wall straight ahead. Besides, it’s getting late, and you’ll soon have dinner in the palace. If you accompany , the food will get cold when you return, and eating cold als in this weather isn’t good for the stomach."
The palace maid hesitated for a mont, but then bowed and gratefully said, "Safe travels, Doctor Zhou Junior. I will return now."
Manbao nodded and watched her leave with a smile, then turned to look at Lord Tang, who was walking leisurely ahead, seemingly wanting to stretch each step into three.
She ran to catch up with him, carrying her dicine box.
Hearing the thudding footsteps, Lord Tang stopped and turned back with a smile.
Manbao ran up, breathless from the weight of the dicine box.
He smiled and asked, "Why didn’t you bring a dicine boy into the palace with you?"
Manbao shook her head and said, "The risk is too high. I’m fine on my own."
Unable to resist, Lord Tang reached out to help hold her dicine box, but Manbao didn’t let go, thanked him for his kindness, and said it was manageable as long as she wasn’t running with it.
Lord Tang smiled and let go, saying, "You’ve beco much more sensible now."
Manbao smiled slightly and curiously asked, "Why did you co to the Eastern Palace, Lord Tang?"
Lord Tang smiled and said, "I heard you got engaged to Bai Shan? You can call Senior Brother along with him." Manbao followed suit, "Senior Brother Tang."
Lord Tang nodded with a smile and then answered her question, "I’m here by order to investigate so things in the Eastern Palace."
Manbao almost thought the Crown Prince had been caught, but then Lord Tang said, "You’ve been to the palace; you should know about the Crown Prince’s drunken incident."
Manbao nodded in a daze.
"The Crown Prince’s wine was swapped; this is a major event. That day, only the type of wine was changed. If we don’t find out who’s behind it, what if soone adds sothing to the wine in the future?"
Manbao said, "Wine with sothing added can still be sent before the Emperor?"
Lord Tang thought for a mont; it wasn’t easy, but of course, at this mont, he had to exaggerate the situation, so he said, "Who knows?"
He and Manbao continued walking leisurely along the palace wall and asked, "Has the Crown Prince’s temper improved lately, has he troubled you at all?"
Manbao shook her head, "Even when his temper is bad, he rarely bothers ."
Lord Tang couldn’t figure out if the Crown Prince had a good or bad temper.
Since when did this little girl learn how to respond to inquiries?
Lord Tang turned to look at her.
Manbao looked up at him with a silly smile and asked, "Senior Brother Tang, have you found anything?"
Lord Tang shook his head, "Too much ti has passed, and the people in the Eastern Palace don’t rember much, what can we find out quickly? The Crown Prince is not willing to see either."
He smiled and said, "I wanted to ask you if you’ve heard any rumors, considering you now frequently go in and out of the Eastern Palace."
Manbao was incredulous, "Isn’t the Crown Prince the victim? How would I know about sothing harming the Crown Prince when I co and go in the Eastern Palace?"
Lord Tang said, "The banquet hall was cleared long ago, a palace maid serving wine died, the others know nothing, and those attending were all high-ranking officials; I’ve been getting stalled the past two days. After thinking it over, maybe the Eastern Palace holds more clues."
"Why?"
"If I can’t find the culprit, I must check with the victim; after all, enemies understand each other best. Besides, if one plan didn’t work, there must be another."
Manbao thought of the rooster gem. According to the Crown Prince, it was given after the banquet as a gesture from his subordinates, so...
Lord Tang had been observing her expression and seeing her thoughtful look, he asked lightly, "Did you rember sothing?"
Manbao was about to speak, suddenly started, and shook her head repeatedly, "No, I didn’t rember anything."
This sounded suspicious.
Facing Lord Tang’s seemingly all-knowing gaze, Manbao tensed up, feeling that discussing such matters face to face with him wouldn’t be wise.
She tightened her grip on the dicine box and imdiately said, "Lord Tang, I have things to do, so I’ll go first, you walk slowly."
Lord Tang held her by the back of her collar to prevent her from running, saying, "You’re really heartless; you were just calling Senior Brother, and now it’s Lord Tang again."
Manbao said, "If you don’t let go, I’ll go find Madam Tang as soon as we’re out of the palace."
Lord Tang imdiately let go but quickly matched her pace, smiling, "See, the patrol guards ahead won’t et us in at least fifty-eight breaths, and it’ll take a hundred eighty breaths for the next patrol to arrive, so you can quietly tell the secret, and no one will know."
Manbao shook her head, "There’s no secret."
Lord Tang laughed, "Even if you don’t tell , we’ll have walked from the Eastern Palace gate to the palace gate for over two quarters of an hour, do you think others would believe we said nothing?"
He said slowly, "You must know, our connection goes way back; during the Prince of Yizhou’s case, I provided cover for you, everyone in the capital knows we’re on good terms with you and Zhangbo."
Manbao couldn’t help but slow down her pace, asking, "So you did that on purpose earlier?"
Lord Tang shook his head, "Not at all; I was walking slowly in the corridor. If you wanted to avoid , you could have had the palace maid escort you out; we’re friends after all, I wouldn’t make things difficult for you."
He said, "But as you sent her away and then ca to call Senior Brother and pried information from , I told you everything I knew. You can’t tell nothing, can you? That would be too wicked."
Listening to this, Manbao felt she indeed seed wicked, but she rembered well how Lord Tang used to coax information out of her.
Manbao looked at him suspiciously, "Did you really tell everything?"
"Actually, no," Lord Tang admitted candidly, "but there’s too much information. What kind of news do you want to hear? Ask, and I’ll tell you."
Manbao had many questions but didn’t speak imdiately. Seeing Lord Tang smiling mischievously, she felt she could only ask one question. If she asked too many, she would regret it today, so she pondered for a while before asking, "It’s strange. Why is His Majesty having you investigate this after half a month, when he didn’t seem to be probing earlier?"
"Good question," Lord Tang laughed, "because His Majesty suspects that the Third Prince isn’t the one behind this, and wants to find out who really is."
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