The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1178 - 1157 - Probe Two

Chapter 1178: Chapter 1157 - Probe Two

Manbao subconsciously looked up at Tao Yi, but her gaze shifted beyond him to a woman leaning against the prison cell door, covered in wounds, staring at the bun in Bai Shan’s hand with wide eyes.

Manbao pointed to her and asked, "What did she do?"

Tao Yi turned to look at her, his brow furrowed for a moment before his expression softened, and after a while, he said, "Murdered her husband."

After pausing, he continued, "Her husband had a vicious habit of beating people, and then she poisoned him to death. This is a grave crime; she was sentenced to beheading."

Manbao and Bai Shan were stunned for a moment.

Following her gaze, Bai Shan looked at another paper bag he was holding, then handed it to Manbao, who took it and stepped forward to give it to the woman.

The woman was startled, instinctively holding onto the paper bag and looking up at Manbao.

Manbao smiled at her and turned back to Bai Shan’s side.

Bapo voiced his discontent, "Hey, wasn’t that for me? How can you just give it away to someone else?"

Bai Shan chuckled, "That bag was originally bought for us to eat. Master Ba, aren’t these five buns enough for you?"

Bapo’s gaze turned slightly sinister, but his face was smiling as he spoke in a delicate tone, "Enough, I suppose, but I was thinking about tomorrow."

Just hearing this voice, one could easily have a favorable impression, but Bai Shan was still squatting on the ground, staring at his face. Seeing his eyes, he felt a chill in his heart.

However, he smiled without revealing his feeling and said, "We’ll come to see our companions tomorrow, and we’ll bring you some more buns then."

Bapo then said, "Then don’t bring me these kind of buns to fool me again. The buns your family sends you are much tastier than these."

Manbao couldn’t help but squat down to look at the bun Bapo was eating, and remarked in surprise, "There’s so much meat in it."

Bapo quickly gobbled up the bun in his hands, and finally stuffed a big handful into his mouth saying, "But the flavor is not as good."

Bai Shan’s gaze deepened slightly, and nodding with a smile, he said, "No problem, I’ll bring you homemade buns tomorrow. By the way, Master Ba, did our friend sleep well last night?"

Bapo leaned against the prison door and asked with a laugh, "What, you didn’t go see them?"

Bai Shan smiled lightly, "Whether we went or not, wouldn’t Master Ba know?"

Bapo was slightly startled and looked up at Bai Shan. Realizing he had underestimated the young man after seeing him, he laughed and quickly caught on. After rubbing his greasy hand over his head, he said with a smile, "Right, you didn’t go. I vaguely heard people say that they were no longer allowing visits."

Bai Shan asked with a smile, "Besides that, did you hear anything else?"

The corners of Bapo’s eyes shifted subtly, glancing at the faint shadow by the entrance of the prison cell, but he kept a normal smiling expression and said, "What else? Just some rustling whispers. Anyway, you two were the talkative ones around here. Ah, now that you’ve left, I’m kind of lonely, Master Ba."

Bai Shan did not notice his covert glance, but as a physician, Manbao did.

Manbao slightly turned to look toward the entrance of the prison cell, seeing nothing but darkness there.

From behind Manbao, the female prisoner leaned against the wooden railing, took out a bun to sniff, also glanced at the shadows by the entrance, then lowered her head and began to eat slowly.

Bai Shan realized he would not get any information from Bapo, but he was not in a hurry, he chatted a bit more, and then took his leave.

Tao Yi escorted the two to the gate, waving his hand listlessly and said, "This dungeon has a gloomy aura, if there’s nothing important, better not to come. To deliver things, just send a servant."

Bai Shan smiled and said: "We’ve already stayed over before, so what’s a moment more of bad luck? Besides, we don’t have anything to do at home right now, so why not come here to see our friends? Lord Tao, the dishes Sixth Brother Zhou cooks are really delicious, do you want me to bring you some tomorrow?"

Tao Yi remained silent.

He was far more exhausted than Bai Shan and the others. Ever since the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, he had been keeping watch here every moment of the twelve-hour day, except for the occasional sneaking back home to freshen up. He’d been eating and living here and was already fed up.

However, the food from Bai Shan’s family did seem quite good.

Seeing him silent, Bai Shan took it as his consent, smiled, said farewell, and pulled Manbao onto the carriage.

As soon as the carriage curtain fell, Bai Shan’s smiling face faded, and Manbao’s calm expression collapsed too; both of them felt somewhat disheartened.

The carriage started rolling and rumbled along; when they were far enough away, Bai Shan said: "Bapo lied to us."

Manbao looked worried, "They won’t use torture on Xiang Ming, will they?"

Bai Shan thought for a moment, then shook his head, "No, the main overseers are still Lord Wei and Old Tang. They are not the type to use harsh interrogations, and besides, Xiang Ming doesn’t have anything to hide from them."

He lowered his voice and said: "I suspect they have moved Xiang Ming to another location?"

"Why?" Manbao asked, puzzled.

Bai Shan pondered and said: "To keep them safe, I guess. Xiang Ming’s situation is different from ours; he has attempted to assassinate the Prince of Yizhou. The Prince probably wants to kill him more than he does us, and it’s also possible that Xiang Ming knows some secrets of his."

Manbao reflected, "So they are even keeping it from us? Should we still come tomorrow?"

Bai Shan nodded firmly and said decisively: "Yes, we will come. If it’s for Xiang Ming’s safety, then why not go along with their play?"

Manbao agreed, "Especially since we have nothing to do recently anyway."

Bai Shan nodded again, "Exactly."

It’s true they had nothing else to do; early that day, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had gone to the Imperial Academy. Then Libationer Kong personally met him and approved a long leave for him to rest at home and recover his worn-out body from the time in prison.

Bai Shan, who had gained a bit of weight and whose complexion had become rosier, silently accepted the leave slip.

Libationer Kong had evidently noticed his physical condition and seemed somewhat reluctant to let him go, so before his departure, he called together the teachers from their Class A-3 and hastily assigned a pile of academic work to Bai Shan, giving him a list of texts to read once he got home.

The trouble was, Bai Shan had already read and memorized most of the assigned texts.

However, due to a subtle psychological reason, Bai Shan did not tell Libationer Kong and the teachers but silently took the list and assigned work and bid farewell to return home.

This made Libationer Kong and the teachers very satisfied with him. Scholarly Officer Wu, who had never been particularly fond of him, even escorted him to the gate of the Imperial Academy and patted his shoulder with a pleased expression.

Even though the assigned work seem voluminous, Bai Shan compared it to his vacation and knew it would be quite boring.

The two sat in the carriage, facing each other; Manbao lifted the curtain to glance outside and saw they weren’t far from Jishi Hall. They just needed to turn a corner and walk a little further. She immediately said: "Daji, let’s stop by Jishi Hall first."

"Why are we going to Jishi Hall? Didn’t you already go this morning and get all the medicines you need?"

Manbao said: "Since we are going back to the prison tomorrow, I might as well bring some ointment for that female prisoner."

Bai Shan did not object.