All day long, the servants from the government office never stopped.
They kept tallying the number of people in the governed neighborhoods who unfortunately contracted smallpox.
From an initial few individuals, the number gradually increased to over thirty, then to hundreds.
Curiously, most smallpox outbreaks happened among wealthy and powerful individuals.
Among them, most of the first infected had visited the same brothel.
A small number of commoners got sick, but most of them were servants or attendants in the households of these wealthy individuals.
After returning to Ruizhu Palace from the stone forest, Bai Zhi’er.
Couldn’t wait to fall asleep.
She once again returned to the Book Collection Pavilion, searching for the whereabouts of the Wuxiang Pearl.
However, this time, not a single fairy appeared.
The little one still wanted to ask about the place she mentioned last time, where exactly it was!
Usually, whenever she appeared, the fairies would gather around to cheer up this one and only little treasure in the Heavenly Court.
But this time, for some reason, no one came by.
So Bai Zhi’er had to rely on her own efforts to search in the Book Collection Pavilion.
Ultimately finding nothing.
Unfortunately, there were billions of books in the Book Collection Pavilion.
The little one’s face was so anxious that two red marks were scratched across her soft cheeks.
"Mother~~" Finally, Bai Zhi’er sat on the ground, stretched out her small legs, and started to whine and complain.
"Help Zhi Bao, where is the Wuxiang Pearl, please, beautiful and pretty mother, answer!" she coaxed in a childish voice.
However, no one responded.
Golden dust danced through the Shu Pavilion, pleasant Immortal fog wafted back and forth.
Bai Zhi’er puffed her cheeks, crossed her small arms over her shoulders: "Mother! Wuo know you’re peeking, tell Zhi’er!"
At last she rolled to her feet, hands on her hips.
"Wuo is trying to save your husband! Such a big husband, are you really going to ignore him!"
A laughing yet exasperated gentle female voice echoed in the air—
"What are you saying, little one, that’s also your father."
Bai Zhi’er pouted: "Wuo is accompanying father through hard times now, just tell wuo, can the Wuxiang Pearl be found in the mortal world?"
Jing Jia’s voice was lovely and soft: "Yes, but it’s too far away. By the time you pitter-patter your little feet over, the people in the Capital would already be beyond saving."
"But—" she changed her tone: "Hasn’t someone already sent it to you?"
Bai Zhi’er blinked her big black bright eyes, utterly puzzled: "Hmm?"
At that moment, the little one turned over and woke up from the bed.
She had slept quite a while, and it was already dark outside.
By evening, Bai Xilie hadn’t arrived yet, and the inner hall was lit with warm, dim lamps.
Outside the hall, Qingmei’s voice drifted in.
"Strange, are these things the Princesses’?"
A little palace servant replied: "I don’t know, Lady, I just noticed them when I came in to light the lamps."
Qingmei pressed her lips together: "Maybe the Princess brought them here to play with, you may go, and I’ll ask once the Princess awakens."
As soon as she spoke, Bai Zhi’er’s little babyish voice rang out from within the inner hall.
"Sister Qingmei, you’re back!"
Immediately after, a pink little figure dashed out from the inner hall.
Bai Zhi’er charged barefoot into Qingmei’s embrace.
Qingmei laughed and hugged Bai Zhi’er tightly.
"Oh, my sweet Princess, you should wear some shoes, what if you catch a cold?"
She picked up the little one and was about to carry her to the inner hall to dress her.
Bai Zhi’er, however, turned her small head, her large watery eyes immediately spotting on the long table a pile stacked as high as a small mountain of yellow-green grass!
Atop it, there was also a big orange-colored big orange.
Bai Zhi’er rubbed her eyes with her small hands.
Was that the Wuxiang Pearl?