Chapter 2504 - 2478: Exhaustion

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a great day, and Manbao and her friends still decided to go out and search for food. After all, given the festival, there’s really a lot of delicious food outside.

As Manbao shared the things she bought with Bai Shan and others, she sighed, "It’s a pity Mingda and the others are still in mourning and can’t leave the palace to have fun."

Bai Erlang nodded, "It’s such a shame; we can’t even bring lanterns into the palace. I just saw a shop hanging palace lanterns made of fine silk, which are particularly beautiful, and the flowers painted on them are especially pretty."

As everyone chatted, they meandered to East Square, and Manbao looked around to get her bearings.

Liu Huan asked, "There are so many people here in East Square. What are we here for? To browse bookstores?"

"No, we’re here to look at the shop my family is about to buy."

The shop Zhou Lijun chose is the third-to-last one on a street, and because it’s near the end, there are fewer people, which is why it was so cheap.

But this is East Square, surrounded by profitable businesses, so although there are relatively fewer people here compared to other places, overall there are still plenty.

The shop isn’t very large, but it’s not small either. Like all the shops on this street, it’s a uniform two-story building. Zhou Lijun had already paid the deposit, and today the shop was being emptied, so she was here as well.

Manbao walked up and down and felt it was quite nice, so she said to Yin Huo and Liu Huan, "In the future, our shop will specialize in selling products like moisturizing cream. When your grandmother and sisters need to buy these, they can come here. Later, I’ll ask Lijun to make some cards for you, and with those, you’ll get a discount."

Liu Huan wasn’t interested in these things, but Yin Huo, who had been hearing about it nonstop from his sister recently, said, "Alright, thank you for your trouble then."

Manbao was just there for a quick look and handed over her share of the money to Zhou Lijun when she got back, as she was entering Daming Palace the next day.

These ministers could take a break during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the royalty couldn’t. Even though only the emperor’s lineage was in mourning, since the emperor was careful to observe mourning, others weren’t likely to indulge in too much fun under his watchful eye, right?

So, on the sixteenth, they went straight into Daming Palace. After all, besides, it’s not very interesting outside, and it’s tempting to watch.

This time, Manbao was the chief officer, with Imperial Doctor Lu as her assistant, along with Imperial Doctor Zheng and six medical assistants, including Liu Sanniang, who were locked inside with them.

They were all taking care of these royal relatives.

Changyu was the most familiar with Manbao. Though a princess, she’d occasionally gotten hurt while practicing with her whip, so being poked with a thick needle didn’t bother her much, though others cried terribly, turning the whole Daming Palace into a wailing ghost house.

The Crown Prince, who had come by decree to check on his siblings and comfort the royal relatives, was startled outside the wall. He asked Director Xiao, who accompanied him, "Are they alright?"

Director Xiao replied calmly, "They’ll be alright. The princes and princesses are pampered and probably aren’t used to the needles."

The Crown Prince thought about Zhou Man’s long and thin needle. Although it looked terrifying, it wasn’t very painful when used, so he wasn’t too concerned. He circled the wall, communicated with people inside across it, confirmed that the food and everything was adequate, and then went back to report.

When the emperor asked him, he said, "The siblings might be afraid of needles, so they cried for a while; there’s nothing else wrong."

The emperor nodded and didn’t think much of it.

But inside the wall, the children cried until their voices nearly went hoarse. Such a thick needle was inserted, and it had to draw blood, and the bleeding couldn’t be stopped immediately. Moreover, such dirty stuff had to cover it, which was terrifying.

Just one day was enough for Zhou Man to etch a terrifying mark in the hearts of the royal children under nine, making her their least favorite person. At least, they wouldn’t forgive her until their pain subsided.

Changyu clicked her tongue in astonishment, "Finally, someone dislikes you."

Manbao: "...You’re so happy that someone dislikes me?"

Changyu said, "It’s just unusual, you see, in the palace, the Empress likes you, the Crown Princess likes you, Noble Consort Yang likes you, lots of concubines like you, palace maids and eunuchs also like you, even the hardest to get along with Crown Prince likes you. I often wonder how you manage to make them all like you?"

Manbao happily replied, "Firstly, it’s naturally because I’m skilled; I can help them. Secondly, it’s naturally my personal charm. For example, being good-looking, having a good personality, etc. Otherwise, how come Director Xiao and the others can treat illnesses but can’t be liked by everyone? There’s the difference."

Changyu clicked her tongue. "I thought you were already conceited, but I didn’t expect you to be this conceited."

Manbao: "This is called knowing oneself, knowing oneself and others, that’s what it is."

Changyu didn’t want to talk to her anymore, sat cross-legged on the soft couch, beckoned a palace maid who had been inoculated and had bandages on her hands, and said, "Go cut a fruit plate, I want to eat fruit."

Manbao kindly advised, "Changyu, you should eat less. I just took your pulse and you seem to have signs of indigestion. Besides, it’s only been half a period since lunch, and you’ve already eaten half a plate of pastries."

Changyu couldn’t help but say, "But I’m bored, what else can I do but eat? Besides, now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is over, delicious fruits and vegetables won’t last long. If I don’t eat now, later I’d only be able to eat not-so-fresh ones from the ice cellar."

Changyu believed that one should eat when it’s time to eat.

"Why don’t you give me some hawthorn to eat? By the way, aren’t there fresh hawthorns now? Go, tell someone to wash half a plate for me."

Manbao: "...Eating fresh hawthorn when you’re already full will only make you feel more bloated."

Even if it aids digestion, eating half a plate will only make the already full stomach even more bloated, right?

In the end, Changyu couldn’t eat the hawthorn or the fruit plate. She could only follow Manbao around different rooms out of boredom to look after her sisters, cousins, nieces, and so on.

Changyu was the slowest to break out in pox, taking until the third day. Once everyone had poxed, Manbao and Imperial Doctor Lu got busy, taking turns to watch at night, which was much more tiring than at the estate.

They were simply too much trouble. Some of the younger princesses, princesses, little princes, and little princes couldn’t resist scratching, wanting to all day long.

Manbao and Imperial Doctor Lu wished they could tie their hands, feeling utterly exhausted.

Once everyone safely scabbed over the pox and dropped them, the two heaved a huge sigh of relief, eager to barricade themselves in and sleep soundly.

However, they couldn’t. They still needed to test whether they were truly immune to human pox. So, another seven or eight days were spent.

When Daming Palace reopened, it was already the first day of September. Manbao and Imperial Doctor Lu had dark circles under their eyes, clearly exhausted from this period.

After sending these ancestors out, when facing Changyu, who wanted to talk, Manbao, who had been nagged to death during this time of close companionship, immediately said, "I know, I’ll come to see you, and I’ll bring the ointment to you."

Changyu said, "Hm, am I someone who cares about one or two pockmarks? I’ve been whipped across my forehead while practicing with my whip. I meant, I see dark circles under your eyes and want to take your pulse to see if it’s the kidney deficiency and weakness you once mentioned..."

Manbao stretched out her hand to push her out, "You should go quickly, if you want to learn, I’ll teach you later. I still need to oversee the processing of items inside. If you don’t leave, will you stay to help me handle the clothes and cloth strips?"

Changyu turned around and left.