Shen Danqing took Shen Baozhu and several guards with him to the outskirts.
On the way, Shen Baozhu huffed angrily, "Eldest brother actually suspected that I misheard. I didn't!"
Actually, Shen Danqing shared the same thought as Shen Heqing. He also thought Shen Baozhu had misheard. Gods and immortals were too illusory.
But Shen Danqing wouldn't refute Shen Baozhu. He said in a gentle tone, "Since we're in a hurry, the carriage will speed up. It may not be very stable. Let second brother hold you, Baozhu."
Shen Baozhu obediently reached out her hands and was held in Shen Danqing's arms.
Sure enough, as Shen Danqing had said, the carriage jolted all the way in order to pick up speed.
Fortunately, the group managed to reach the Su Family Workshop before nightfall. Following Shen Baozhu's memory, they quickly found the spot where she had hit the black-clad men.
Those black-clad men were still lying on the ground, with gold nuggets of various sizes scattered around them.
At a single glance, Shen Danqing understood why Baozhu had said they were gold. The scattered stones on the ground looked so much like gold...
"Second young master, look! These seem to be real gold!"
A guard's shout interrupted Shen Danqing's train of thought and made everyone tense up.
Shen Danqing quickly walked over. He bent down to put Shen Baozhu on the ground and then picked up one of the nuggets to examine it carefully.
Shen Baozhu imitated her second brother and picked up a piece of gold too.
This gold nugget was bigger than her hand. Shen Baozhu could only hold it with both hands. She looked around and saw there were many even bigger gold nuggets.
"Wow, so much gold!"
[Is this the king's gold? It's not even one-tenth the size of the king's gold!]
Amid the Dragon King's confusion, the subtitles of the True Lord Qingyun slowly appeared: [It should have been extracted by the divine artifact.]
[The divine artifact extracted the king's super-large gold nugget into such a small piece. What kind of divine artifact is this? It's like a swindler!]
[It's okay. The king is not short of gold!]
As these words faded, a gold nugget as tall as Shen Baozhu suddenly appeared in front of her.
[Here's a little gift for you.]
Shen Baozhu reached out and poked the gold nugget. She looked blankly at the huge object in front of her. What a big little gift!
She was a bit at a loss. She tugged at Shen Danqing's sleeve and said, "Second brother..."
Shen Danqing's mind was in a whirl. Holding the gold nugget in his hand, he was filled with shock. It really was gold!
And there was gold all over the ground!
Shen Danqing considered himself not a money-loving person, but so much gold still made him feel dizzy.
Hearing Shen Baozhu call him, Shen Danqing quickly turned around and saw a whole gold nugget.
He instinctively pulled Shen Baozhu behind him and looked around warily.
"This is a little gift from the immortal for Baozhu, but the little gift is too big. Baozhu seems unable to carry it..." Shen Baozhu said with a frown.
How could she carry such a big gold nugget back home?
A little gift from the immortal for Baozhu...
Immortal... little gift...
These two words echoed in Shen Danqing's mind. Thinking of the gold all over the ground and the big gold nugget that had suddenly appeared beside them, he finally realized a fact. His younger sister had really met an immortal!
He tried his best to control his excited emotions. "Baozhu, let's take the black-clad men back first. Leave these gold nuggets in the Su Family Workshop. We'll come back to carry them tomorrow when it's dawn."
Shen Baozhu nodded obediently.
...
In the study of the main courtyard of the Princess Mansion.
"Did Baozhu really meet an immortal? Mother, I'm not a three-year-old kid. You don't need to amuse me," Shen Heqing said indifferently after hearing the Princess Jingning's description.
A look of helplessness flashed across Princess Jingning's eyes. "You. If only you had Danqing's temperament."
"Use your head and think. The poison Bai Xinrou gave Baozhu was the 'Poison of the Foolish Wretch'. There's no antidote for this poison so far, but Baozhu is alive and kicking."
"Last time you were poisoned. You've been poisoned for so many years. You know very well how capable Imperial Physician Liu is. Could he have developed such an effective prescription?"
"And yesterday, Baozhu ate two plates of pastries in a row. Do you think that's possible?"
Shen Heqing was left speechless. As for the last question, he stammered, "I thought it was because Baozhu had grown taller, so her appetite had increased."
Princess Jingning became even more helpless. She simply told Shen Heqing the conclusion. "Forget it. Just remember one thing. Baozhu is protected by an immortal."
"Tell Su Qian to stay in the Princess Mansion at ease. I've already told Hong Shen. She'll investigate the people who tried to assassinate Su Qian tomorrow."
"If the Shen Family School asks you when you'll go back to class, just fob them off. There aren't many decent people in the Shen family. You don't need to go to that family school."
"Wait until your grandfather comes back and ask him to find a better tutor for you."
Shen Heqing nodded one by one. He asked curiously, "I heard that small country is good at medicine. Grandfather is having a hard time in this battle. Can he come back this year?"
Thinking of the drawings in the picture album, Princess Jingning said to herself, "Don't worry. He definitely can."
"Heqing, can you get into Shen Yunfeng's study?"
After Shen Heqing's reminder yesterday, Princess Jingning had thought a lot. She focused on Shen Yunfeng's study.
It seemed that over the years, Shen Yunfeng had always treasured his study. He never allowed the servants to enter. Even for the daily cleaning, it was always the steward and Granny Sun who did it.
Princess Jingning wasn't interested, and the others weren't qualified.
But getting into the study was a piece of cake for Shen Heqing. He nodded. "Sure. I often go to the study to read books."
Princess Jingning guessed that Bai Xinrou was just someone for Shen Yunfeng to amuse himself with. There was someone he truly loved in Shen Yunfeng's heart, and the secret might be hidden in the study.
Shen Heqing was greatly surprised. "Shen Yunfeng has a true love? Being liked by him, that true love is so unlucky!"
This remark made Princess Jingning laugh. She handed the picture album in her hand to Shen Heqing and told him to copy the last few pages as soon as possible.
...
In the front courtyard.
Since the kitchen was busy preparing the dinner for the main courtyard, the steward had fussed around for a long time but still couldn't get the kitchen to spare a portion for him. He had no choice but to go to the restaurant outside to buy some.
The steward placed the dishes on the table one by one and couldn't help but say, "Master, why don't you just tell the kitchen that you didn't go to the main courtyard for dinner and ask them to spare some food?"
Shen Yunfeng's face was extremely gloomy. He said in a cold voice, "Do you want everyone in the mansion to know that the princess even invited Concubine Yun and her son to have dinner but left out me, the princess's husband?"
Hearing the hostility in Shen Yunfeng's tone, the steward thought to himself that something was wrong. He quickly knelt down. "This servant didn't mean that."
Shen Yunfeng didn't say a word. He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.
It wasn't until he finished his meal that he helped the steward up. "You and I have known each other since childhood. I naturally trust you. How's the matter with Xinrou going?"
The steward's body trembled slightly. He said nervously, "It's a bit difficult. I've bribed a lot of people. Only then did the yamen servants agree to tell this servant that Miss Bai's case is involved in several other cases. There's a criminal on the run, impersonating someone else's identity, poisoning and attempting to murder. Even the second wife of the Shen family sent someone over and asked Miss Bai to pay back all the money she's spent over the years..."
"I really can't save her. I can only make sure Miss Bai has a better time in prison."
Hearing that Bai Xinrou couldn't be saved, Shen Yunfeng secretly let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt a bit of secret delight. He had been kind enough to Bai Xinrou. He had spent 50,000 taels of silver but still couldn't save her. It was only because Bai Xinrou was so useless!