231. Detention

The servant immediately understood and turned around to walk quickly towards the direction where the carriages were parked in the backyard.

They were going to search the little dumpling's carriage.

The little girl was a bit uneasy. Uncle Li's smile seemed particularly stiff to her. She shook her head and said, "No, Uncle, Yue'er still wants to go home with the housekeeper."

She sensed something was wrong and didn't even want to stay any longer to talk to Shining Bean Prince about helping him. She just wanted to get back to her home, where she felt safe.

The steward also sensed something was wrong and stepped forward to block the little boy, his tone wary: "Steward Li, now that the young master has woken up and is alright, we won't bother you any longer. Where is Miss Tao, who was previously imprisoned in your mansion? We need to take her back with us."

"Take her back to the manor?" The gentleness on Uncle Li's face vanished instantly, and his tone suddenly turned cold.

He stopped pretending: "Butler, that's a ridiculous question! What kind of unheard-of Miss Tao did your Marquis of Beiding send to bewitch the young master and frighten him?"

"As a result, Miss Tao was captured, and you immediately sent people to rescue her!"

"I treated you like guests, with courtesy!"

"Now that Miss Tao has not only escaped with your help, but you have also killed two of our guards. And now you think you can leave safely? What exactly is the Marquis of Beiding's mansion up to!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen guards wielding long swords suddenly rushed in and surrounded the little dumpling and the steward.

The blade gleamed coldly, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

The little dumpling took a step back in fright: "Uncle, you...you've got it wrong! We didn't know, we didn't hurt anyone!"

"A mistake?" Uncle Li sneered. "The guard's body is still in the side room, and the silk fragments left at the scene belong to Tao Wanbi! If you hadn't planned this all along, how could a three-year-old child have killed two strong guards like us? And how could she have escaped from the mansion?!"

He roared, "Take him down!"

Dou Shichen immediately stopped them: "All of you, get out of here! Who gave you permission to attack the county magistrate!"

Although he didn't remember what happened before, he believed that the little dumpling was his friend and would never harm him.

But Li Bo acted as if he hadn't heard him and said to the servants beside him, "His Highness has just woken up and is still in the dark. Quickly help him back to his room to rest, lest he be misled by bad people!"

Two servants immediately stepped forward to help Dou Shichen back to his room.

Dou Shichen's face turned red with anger. He pushed the servant away forcefully and shouted, "I won't go! Uncle Li, let go of the county princess! She's my friend, she won't harm me! If you do this again, I'll tell my father!"

Li Bo, however, remained unyielding, insisting, "Your Highness, you are not lucid right now, but you will understand once you have rested! We must find out the truth today, and we cannot let the person who harmed you get away with it!"

He gave the guards a wink, and they immediately stepped forward, making the encirclement smaller and smaller.

The little girl looked at the scene before her, tears welling up in her eyes, feeling both scared and anxious.

She didn't understand why things had turned out this way.

Where did Sister Tao go?

Why did Li Bo insist that it was the key figure in the Beiding Marquis's mansion, the radiant young master Dou?

The steward shielded the little girl behind him and angrily said to Uncle Li, "Don't go too far! Our Beiding Marquis's Mansion is also a noble family, and our young lady is a county princess personally appointed by His Majesty. Have you thought about the consequences of detaining us without any evidence?!"

"The consequences?" Li Bo's eyes grew even colder. "Whether the Marquis's mansion and the county princess are more important, or the Prince of Zhennan, His Majesty surely knows very well. Today, no one is leaving!"

When Dou Shichen saw the guard reach out to grab the little dumpling, he pushed the guard's hand away and tightly protected the little dumpling behind him.

He glared at her, his small face full of anger: "Don't touch her! She's my friend, what right do you have to arrest her?"

Li Bo stepped forward and patiently advised, "Your Highness, that Miss Tao is from the Marquis of Beiding's family. Now that a murder has occurred, we are keeping Princess Fukang in for questioning in order to find out the truth."

"I don't care about the truth! If you dare to lay a finger on her, I'll write to my father and complain that you've bullied me!"

The little dumpling hid behind Dou Shichen, feeling both warm and flustered.

She hadn't expected the prince to protect her so fiercely, but Li Bo's eyes grew colder and colder, and the guards' encirclement was getting tighter and tighter. Clearly, such obstruction wouldn't last long.

Ultimately outnumbered, Dou Shichen was carried away by a strong servant: "Outrageous! What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel?!"

He kicked his feet desperately but to no avail. He could only watch helplessly as the little dumpling and the steward were carried by the guards to the woodshed, and then he flew into a rage of impotence.

-

The woodshed door was locked; this room was even worse than the one where Tao Wanbi was imprisoned.

The little dumpling peered through the crack in the door at the blurry light and shadows outside, her voice trembling with tears: "Grandpa Butler, will we be trapped here forever?"

The butler stopped banging on the door, gently patted her shoulder, and took off his outer robe to drape it over her shoulders.

He forced a smile onto his old face, but his voice betrayed his panic: "Miss, don't worry, Master and Madam must already know the news and will come to rescue us soon. The woodshed is cold, but at least there's straw. Rest here for a while and conserve your strength."

The little dumpling nodded, curled up in the haystack, and shivered as the cold wind blew in through the crack in the door.

She heard the housekeeper sigh softly in the corner.

The butler simply couldn't help but sigh.

The two of them were detained here without any problem, and the key point is that the Marquis of Beiding and his wife had no idea about it!

They had no idea when reinforcements would arrive.

Even if, by some stroke of luck, the Marquis of Beiding and his wife learned of their situation, the current situation...

Of those who could help them: Lin Fuman is lucky to even be able to survive on her own. Xie Wenling has left the capital. The princess and prince are too young. Qu Zijin is all alone, without any power of his own. Bai Qingzhong's arrival would be pointless...

The Beiding Marquis family, now completely stripped bare and without Xie Wenling's backing, is no match for the Zhennan Prince's Mansion.

The butler realized for the first time that although forming cliques and eliminating dissent were strictly prohibited, sometimes they were actually quite important.

-

The room of the Prince of Zhennan.

After Dou Shichen was escorted back to his room, he was so angry that he swept all the teacups and inkstones on the table onto the floor, scattering shards everywhere.

"Li Bo, you bastard! I'm going to find my father! I'm going to make him kick you out!"

Li Bo pushed open the door and came in. He looked at the mess on the floor but wasn't angry. He just squatted down and picked up the broken teacup pieces. He said in a heavy tone, "Your Highness, do you think this old servant wanted to do this? I just investigated. I heard from the servants that when Miss Tao was talking to you, she mentioned wanting to make someone disappear completely. Think about it carefully, who could that person be?"

Dou Shichen was stunned, and the blurry fragments in his mind suddenly became clearer.

It was as if a voice was saying, "Kill him."

He couldn't think of anyone before, but now, reminded by Li Boyi, he inexplicably thought of his father.

His face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled as he said, "You...you mean they want to kill my father?"

“I’m afraid so,” Li Bo sighed. “Your Highness, you must know that the court has been plotting against us for quite some time now.”

He said, "Think about it, the plan to send the heir to the capital was proposed by Xie Wenling, and he was in charge of it."

Xie Wenling was a confidant of the emperor and a cousin of the Marquis of Beiding.

"Miss Tao is someone we've never heard of before, yet she possesses such extraordinary abilities."

"This game must have been set up specifically for us!"

"First, let that Miss Tao control your mind so you can learn about the situation in our Prince's Mansion, and finally take down our Prince..."

"Just thinking about it makes me feel extremely dangerous!"

Fortunately, this old servant saw through all of this in time!

"This old servant kept the county princess alive in order to extract more information from her and protect you and the prince."

The anger in Dou Shichen's eyes was gradually replaced by fear.

He remained silent for a long time before finally stopping his shouting and commotion. He simply said in a low voice, "Then... then don't hurt the county princess. Ask her what happened and then let her go."

Seeing that he had agreed, Uncle Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief, nodded in agreement, and turned around to quickly arrange the follow-up matters.

But is that what he really thinks?

Would he do that?

Of course not.

Uncle Li returned to his room, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and quickly wrote a letter.

The letter claimed that Xie Wenling was colluding with the Beiding Marquis's family and intended to manipulate Dou Shichen, which would be detrimental to the Prince of Zhennan.

He requested that the Prince of Zhennan immediately send someone to eliminate Xie Wenling, while he would take charge of dealing with the Marquis of Beiding.

After finishing writing, he summoned his trusted aide and whispered, "Quickly deliver this letter to the Prince and make sure he takes action as soon as possible!"