Manbao left the main hall and turned towards the side hall, where Imperial Doctor Liu and Imperial Doctor Zheng were speaking with Bai Shan. The three decided to make do in the side hall that night.
As soon as Manbao arrived, Imperial Doctor Liu asked, "Is the Crown Princess all right?"
"She’s fine, it’s just labor pains."
Imperial Doctor Liu had already anticipated this and wasn’t nervous at all. He asked, "Has it just started?"
Manbao nodded.
Imperial Doctor Liu sighed, "Then it will be so ti. She might not give birth until tomorrow."
He turned to Bai Shan, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "Does Young Master Bai wish to stay in the Eastern Palace?"
Bai Shan smiled, "Tomorrow is a rest day, so I have nothing to do. It’s inconvenient to go in and out of the Eastern Palace now, so I’ll stay here."
Imperial Doctor Liu glanced at Zhou Man, shook his head, but said nothing.
Imperial Doctor Zheng saw that the palace attendants had already put blankets on the beds, so he took off his shoes and sat on the bed, saying, "It’s getting colder, we should sleep quickly, lest we have no ti to rest if the Crown Princess delivers tomorrow."
Manbao glanced at him, "You won’t be entering the delivery room, how could you be more tired than ?"
Imperial Doctor Zheng, "Then shouldn’t you be resting now? What are you doing here?"
Of course, she was here to check on Bai Shan.
Imperial Doctor Liu coughed lightly, interrupting them, "I’ve prepared two ergency prescriptions. Please take a look to see if there are any issues."
He said, "They might not be needed, but it’s best to prepare the dicinal ingredients."
This way, if anything happens, the dicine can be quickly brewed and administered. Sotis saving lives is about timing—acting a few monts earlier might save soone from the grips of the King of Hell.
Manbao looked them over carefully and handed them to Imperial Doctor Zheng, saying, "I have no objections."
Imperial Doctor Zheng also reviewed them; the prescriptions were good, so he had no objections either.
Seeing their agreent, Imperial Doctor Liu nodded, pulled the screen over to shield the bed, and sighed, "Alright, let Young Master Bai sleep on the couch since he’s young. We’ll sleep on the bed. Don’t stay up too late talking."
Bai Shan agreed, not wanting to disturb them in the room, pulling Manbao outside to speak under the corridor.
Seeing she was still carrying her dicine box, he asked softly, "Why, are you worried soone might tamper with your dicine box even here in the Eastern Palace?"
Manbao said, "Better safe than sorry. Think about how many incidents have arisen because the Crown Prince has no children since last year. Now that the Crown Princess is about to give birth, we must be even more cautious."
Bai Shan sat on the railing, patting beside him for her to sit. Fortunately, there was no wind now; although the night was cold, they were dressed warmly enough.
Bai Shan extended his hand, holding hers in both hands, warming her instantly.
Manbao chuckled softly.
Bai Shan asked quietly, "Will the Crown Princess give birth safely?"
Manbao whispered, "No one can say anything with absolute certainty, but the fetus is in the right position, well-nourished, not too big, and she is in good health. Her age is reasonable, so it should be fine."
Actually, Manbao was a bit nervous herself. She whispered, "Doctors treat illness, not destiny. Even if everything seems fine, unexpected incidents can occur during childbirth. What we need to do now is prevent those incidents."
"In childbirth, the greatest fears are an improper fetal position and major bleeding. The forr has been ruled out, and for the latter, acupuncture not only alleviates pain but can stop bleeding—I will keep a constant watch on it." Manbao, thinking of sothing, picked up her dicine box and opened it, taking out her acupuncture needle pouch.
Bai Shan saw her handling the needle pouch and asked, "What’s up?"
Manbao lowered her voice, "Last ti, wasn’t my needle pouch tampered with? I’ve grown into the habit since then—the needle pouch in the box is not the one I use, I carry the one I use."
Manbao touched her sleeve, actually taking the pouch she commonly used from the system, and softly said to Bai Shan, "I switch the pouch after every use, so nobody knows I’m using this pouch for each consultation."
Manbao took out the needle pouch from the dicine box, exchanging it for the one from her sleeve, closing it when she recalled that the dicine box was handed to her by Xu Yu, causing her to pause before taking out that pouch from her sleeve, and opening it to examine the needles inside.
In the dim light, she couldn’t identify anything wrong, so she continued examining needle by needle.
Still, nothing seed amiss.
Manbao sniffed, bringing the needle pouch closer to sll it carefully, and noticed a faint scent of dicine.
Sotis, to enhance acupuncture’s effectiveness, dicine is used with needles, giving them a slight dicinal scent.
But she hadn’t used this pouch in the past two months, so why the dicinal scent?
Manbao sniffed again, and couldn’t hold back from calling "Keke" in her mind.
Keke had already started checking when she took out the needle pouch, and upon hearing her query, it said, "Needles three, four, six, seven, eight, nine have been swapped."
Manbao imdiately took out the third needle—these are frequently used, chosen for their precise length—and examined it closely, unsure if it was her imagination, but she felt the needle’s color seed darker, though it might just be the lighting.
Bai Shan saw her scrutinizing it thoroughly and leaned in to look too, speaking after a while, "I don’t see any difference. Is there a problem with this needle?"
Manbao looked at him, returning the needle to its pouch, expressionless, "Not noticing it is just right, because even I, who frequently uses these needles, can’t easily tell."
Keke bragged, "I detected a substantial residue of dicine, though the composition hasn’t been fully scanned yet. Would you like to spend points to commission a higher-level scan?"
Forget it, Manbao thought as she wrapped the needle pouch, knowing there’s an issue suffices; the drugs that can cause difficult birth or affect both mother and child aren’t many, easy to ponder.
Manbao’s gaze turned cold, and her consciousness dipped into the system, allocating points to Keke, saying, "Start monitoring Xu Yu now, and continue until the Crown Princess safely delivers."
Keke agreed, took the points, and extended its surveillance, stretching all the way to the room Xu Yu was staying at in Chongwen Pavilion to watch her.
Xu Yu had already washed up and was just slipping into bed after removing her outer garnt.
Unaware the system was monitoring her secretly, she stared at the canopy above for quite so ti before closing her eyes and placing her hands on her chest to sleep.
Xu Yu slept deeply till dawn, not a sound disturbing her, leaving Keke bored enough to split its attention and remark to the restless Manbao, "She’s much calr than you are—didn’t do anything all night, sleeping soundly."
Manbao felt her points were wasted.
It was entirely different from monitoring the Crown Prince; when watching the Crown Prince, she’d always gain sothing daily; Manbao found it quite engaging. But Xu Yu was different.
Overall, Manbao spent points to have Keke monitor her four tis, each lasting no less than three days, but never gleaned anything.
She went about her daily activities as usual, without any anomalies.
Even Keke found it dull, let alone Manbao, whose ti was so valuable she couldn’t possibly keep watching her recordings?
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