Chapter 132: Nightingale

"Uh... let go!" The little ginseng struggled violently. Goodness, this girl was way too strong!

Seeing that the little ginseng was on the verge of foaming at the mouth, Fu Bao finally let go.

"Well? Did you see anything?"

"You nearly killed me! Give me a moment to recover," the little ginseng panted, shaking its head.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

The little ginseng said nothing.

"I took a look today, and the little princess seems a bit strange, doesn't she?" The little ginseng stroked its chubby chin, feigning mystery.

"I knew there was something fishy. That vacant, dazed look in her eyes just isn't right."

"It feels like she's been bewitched by something."

"A fox spirit!" Fu Bao immediately thought of bewitchment. But wait, do fox spirits like chubby people?

"Uh! It's possible, though it could be something else. Fox spirits have such overpowering demonic energy that they couldn't possibly enter the Imperial City," the little ginseng said, pulling out a peach—stolen from who knows where—and taking a bite.

"Then what could it be?" Fu Bao was puzzled. The dragon aura in the Imperial City was so potent that ordinary demons wouldn't dare step foot inside.

"Hmm... I think tomorrow you could send that fat bird to scout for information," the little ginseng suggested, clearly plotting against the duck again.

Fu Bao remembered that a few years ago, the duck had almost been caught by her great-uncle while stealing fish from the Imperial Garden. She wondered if it would be dangerous this time.

"Hey... won't it get caught?"

"Nah, it's done this a million times. Don't worry," the little ginseng waved a hand to reassure her.

"Hmm... alright."

The next day, it took the little ginseng quite a while to sweet-talk the duck into the palace. As for how it got in, it flew, of course.

Fu Bao went to the Royal Villa again, but this time she went alone. The Chen family's young miss had been grounded by her father because Liu Fei'er and her flashy entourage had been robbed the moment they stepped outside yesterday. Sigh! She had told them not to carry so much stuff. Poor things.

Old Man Chen, worried that his daughter might run into trouble, decided it was safer to keep her locked up at home.

Fu Bao set off on her little donkey. Lately, Red had been spending its time staring at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle; its melancholic expression was so pathetic that Fu Bao couldn't bear to lead it out.

"I have a little donkey, and I never ride it..." Fu Bao sang, setting off happily with the tune of a runaway.

Upon arriving at the villa, Fu Bao felt as if the little princess's soul had almost left her body; she was just giggling mindlessly.

"What... what happened to her? Why is she so happy?" Fu Bao poked the little princess's chubby cheek. No reaction. She tried again. Still nothing.

Fu Bao was speechless.

"Is this how you take care of the princess?" Fu Bao slammed her hand on the table and scolded the palace maids standing to the side.

"Miss Lin, the little princess was personally tended to by her nanny and her personal maid, Cherry, yesterday. We really don't know what happened," a young maid whimpered, feeling wronged.

"Where are they, then?" Fu Bao knew those two.

"In the next hall."

Fu Bao was confused.

When Fu Bao saw the nanny and Cherry lying in a heap, laughing with such a lewd, dazed expression on their faces, her face darkened. This definitely wasn't the work of a fox spirit. What kind of fox spirit would target an old woman?

"How did even these two end up like this?" Fu Bao rubbed her throbbing temples, speechless.

"Stop! Don't run!"

"Hey, what is that?"

"How can something be so round? And when it can't outrun you, it just curls into a ball and rolls away?"

"Quick, catch it! Grab its ears!"

Hearing the commotion in the courtyard, Fu Bao felt her headache worsening.

Fu Bao rescued the fat rabbit from the group of men and brought it into the hall.

"Did you sense anything? Tell me, quick!" Fu Bao gripped the fat rabbit's ears and hissed fiercely.

The fat rabbit tucked its ears, slipped out of her grasp, jumped off the wooden table, and marched aggressively into the inner chamber, head held high.

Fu Bao was stunned. Was this rabbit greased?

"Miss Lin, this..." the young maid stammered, watching the rabbit jump into the inner chamber, terrified that it would disturb the princess.

"It's fine. You stay here and keep watch. I'll go catch it," Fu Bao said with a wave.

"Yes."

Meanwhile, after several years, the duck had once again snuck into the Imperial Garden. It lurked in the lotus pond for a long time, snatching a few carp to eat, and waited. It could sense demonic energy here.

"You tell me, where did it go? I've been looking for ages and still nothing. It's so strange—it was locked in its cage, so how could it just vanish?" A coquettish voice drifted over.

The duck, which had been stretching its long neck, instantly retracted it, peeking through the dense lotus leaves at the newcomers.

When the duck saw who it was, it nearly foamed at the mouth and died.

She was too ugly. The duck’s eyes were offended. The woman was the Emperor’s "favorite concubine," Consort Li—whose name, ironically, meant "Beautiful Consort."

As for why he married this "great beauty," it was because she was the only granddaughter of Grand Secretary Su. More importantly, she could cook exquisite dishes, which held the Emperor firmly in her grip. Thus, the unscrupulous Emperor added yet another "beloved concubine" to his harem.

The duck thought: *What a terrible taste he has!*

The Emperor: "My beloved concubine truly cooks the most delicious meals."

"Tell me, where could Parrot have gone? It's been so long, and you useless servants haven't even found a single feather," Consort Li fretted. Her little pet, a beautiful nightingale gifted by the Emperor—rumored to be a tribute from a foreign land—had gone missing.

Oh, and the bearded foreigners had said it could sing, too.

Sigh! She didn't know why it had disappeared. She had treated it so well, feeding it the best food and drink every day, and teaching it to speak. Every time it spoke, she had been moved to tears. How could such a clever little bird just get lost?

"Your Ladyship, don't worry, we will definitely find it. Parrot is so smart, it will surely come back," her personal maid consoled her.

"I hope so," Consort Li sighed, resting her chin in her hand and staring at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Oh! Isn't this Consort Li, who lost her beloved bird? Looks like you still haven't found it," another unknown woman chimed in.

The duck hid in the lotus pond, watching the two women trade barbs, full of life, before they started bickering.

"Pah! The Emperor clearly loves my hibiscus cakes the most."

"Nonsense! The Emperor clearly loves my drunken shrimp the most."

"..."

Everyone else thought: *The Emperor likes soy-braised pork hocks the most.* (The chef uncle: "Yes! My soy-braised pork hocks are the Emperor's favorite!")

Having seen enough of the show, the duck snatched a few fat fish and slipped away to find Fu Bao.

...

"Little White, did you find anything?" Fu Bao was lying under the bed, watching the fat rabbit poke around. A moment later, it dug out a feather.

"Huh? A feather? How is there a feather here?" Fu Bao held the yellowish feather in her hand.

"Could it be... a crow?" Fu Bao exclaimed.

Little White thought: *Even an idiot knows crows have black feathers.*

"Tsk, tsk. Whatever it is, it's definitely not anything good. I have to catch it," Fu Bao said, pinching the feather.

Because of the little princess's condition and the Empress being too busy with palace affairs to come over, Fu Bao decided to stay and keep the little princess company. The little princess had been clingy with Fu Bao since she was small, and the maids all knew it.

After feeding the little princess, Fu Bao bundled her up tightly in the quilt, tied one end of a rope to the princess and the other to her own wrist, and then drifted off to sleep.