CHAPTER 1134: CHAPTER 113 GIFT

Seated in the carriage, Young Manager Zheng squeezed in to sit next to her.

Manbao silently exchanged gazes with him.

Young Manager Zheng cleared his throat and said, "Doctor Zhou Junior, am I right to think that Auntie Shang hinted you were going to enter the palace again tomorrow?"

Manbao nodded, "The Empress granted me an invitation to participate in the Empress Dowager’s Thousand Autumns Banquet."

Covering his chest, Young Manager Zheng felt a complex rush of emotions. Though he had guessed it earlier, he still felt shocked to know for sure.

He was both envious and bitter, "My uncle has been working as a medical practitioner for so many years, and for such a grand banquet, he can only stay on duty at the Imperial Hospital."

After a pause, he added, "Actually, even the head of the Imperial Hospital can only be on duty within the premises."

Manbao asked, "Why?"

Young Manager Zheng sighed, "After all, we medical practitioners are considered a rank below those officials. We’re just there to treat people."

Manbao frowned slightly, although she disagreed inwardly, she did not express it and instead asked, "What usually happens at the Empress Dowager’s Thousand Autumns Banquet?"

Young Manager Zheng had never attended, so how could he know?

However, he speculated, "At a banquet, it’s generally about eating and drinking, right?"

Manbao felt it made sense. After all, at a birthday banquet, though the food might be limited, she had experienced one before – have a meal, present a gift, exchange a few words with the birthday celebrant, make them happy, and the banquet would be over.

The only difference was that the people who attended the Empress Dowager’s banquet were not the same.

Young Manager Zheng got off at the entrance to Jishi Hall and said to Manbao, "Doctor Zhou Junior, I won’t be able to accompany you to the palace tomorrow, so please be careful on your own."

Manbao nodded in agreement.

Manbao checked the time in her system and said cheerfully to Daji, "Let’s go, we’re off to pick up Junior Brother and the others."

By the time they arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Academy, Bai Shan and the others hadn’t finished school yet. Manbao sat in the carriage and took out paper and pen from the medicine chest to make a list of things to buy.

Just as Bai Shan and the others arrived, she finished writing her list.

Liu Huan greeted her enthusiastically and asked, "Where are you going to play today?"

Manbao said, "We’re going to shop in town today."

Liu Huan asked, "What are you buying?"

"Some toys for my friends." Manbao happily told Bai Shan, "The Empress gave me several invitations. Tomorrow, we can go to the Empress Dowager’s Thousand Autumns Banquet together."

She then took out the four invitations, handed one to Bai Shan and one to Bai Cheng, kept one for herself, and gave the remaining one to Yin Huo who was standing aside.

Yin Huo was startled and accepted it in a daze.

With empty hands, Liu Huan looked around and then at the invitation in Yin Huo’s hands, "What’s the use of this for you?"

Yin Huo had already put it away and said to Manbao, "So shall we meet at the palace gate tomorrow?"

Manbao nodded.

Liu Huan insisted, "But you can already enter the palace, why do you need another invitation?"

Bai Shan replied irritably, "Has he ever been into the palace before?"

"He hasn’t," said Liu Huan, "but isn’t that because he’s physically frail? Entering the palace requires one to perform rituals and to stand the whole time. His family fears he could not withstand it, which is why they don’t let him go to the palace."

Manbao said, "His health is now good enough for him to enter the palace."

She turned to Yin Huo and added, "Since you can enter the palace anyway, you can use the invitation, or just keep it as a souvenir if you like. I think the characters on it are pretty well written, and the painting is also nice."

"Of course, they’re nice," Bai Erlang interjected, "Those invitations were written and drawn by our senior students who were specifically chosen for their good handwriting."

Manbao surprised, "Huh, do students of the Highest Institute have to do things like that?"

Bai Shan didn’t think there was anything unusual. "The students from our Imperial Academy are often drafted to copy some stuff, it’s all normal."

While they were talking, they climbed onto the horse carriage, and Liu Huan squeezed in too, curious about the things Manbao was going to buy.

Manbao knew what Mingda wanted, so she went straight to the main street, hopped off the carriage, and began choosing.

For instance, some small dragonflies, wooden swords, or uniquely shaped pen holders, wooden horses, and other good-looking pieces like hairpins and bracelets. Manbao bought two sets of everything, planning to put them in beautiful woven baskets when she got back—one set for Mingda and another for Princess Changyu.

Liu Huan nagged on the side, "Since you got him an invite, why didn’t you get one more for me?"

In one ear and out the other, but when Manbao couldn’t take it anymore, she said, "You can definitely get into the palace, your family won’t stop you."

Liu Huan then turned to ask Yin Huo, "Will your family stop you?"

Yin Huo nodded, "Yes."

"So how will you leave the house tomorrow?"

"I’ll take a carriage."

Liu Huan: ...

Bai Shan turned to ask, "Should we come and pick you up?"

Yin Huo was about to shake his head but then didn’t, instead asking, "Do you guys get up that early?"

"That’s nothing hard for us, we always get up very early to go to the fairs."

Yin Huo then smiled, "Alright, then come and pick me up from my home."

Liu Huan was green with envy, "I’ll go with you all, it just so happens our houses are not far apart, you can call on me when you come to pick him up."

Bai Erlang found him very strange, "You used to dislike Yin Huo, why now do you always want to hang out with us?"

Liu Huan stiffened his neck, "Didn’t you guys have issues with him before, too? Besides, I don’t like him, I like you guys."

When the three of them heard this, they found his reasoning solid, so they patted his shoulder and agreed.

It wasn’t until they got back home that Mr. Zhuang saw how they had sorted out the toys and hadn’t mentioned the most important matter, so he asked, "What are you planning to give to the Empress Dowager when you attend the Thousand Autumn Banquet?"

Their bodies stiffened, and they all looked up from the woven basket, "We have to give gifts?"

It was then that Manbao finally realized, "Right, we’re not going with an elder, and no one’s giving gifts on our behalf, we need to give them ourselves."

Bai Shan frowned, "But how do we give?"

Bai Erlang said, "They’re the Imperial Family, it’s not like we can give cash gifts, right? Should we buy something? But aren’t many shops closing now, and what would we even buy?"

Manbao also started to feel troubled but then remembered, "Mingda seems to have embroidered the character for ’longevity’ for the Empress Dowager."

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang looked at her at the same time, "Can you embroider?"

Manbao shook her head, "But I can write, how about we find a very beautiful piece of paper and write the character for ’longevity’ on it?"

Bai Shan: "Just write one? Shouldn’t we write ninety-nine?"

Bai Erlang: "It must be written well, do we even have enough time now?"

Mr. Zhuang coughed lightly and asked, "Where are you going to find beautiful paper at this hour?"

The three of them looked at each other. Bai Erlang glared at Bai Shan hard, and Bai Shan glared back before turning to look at Manbao.

Manbao blinked and nodded, "I’ll figure out the paper, but what about the writing?"

Mr. Zhuang then looked at Manbao, "What paper will you use?"

Manbao said, "I have a collection of good paper given to me when I was seeing patients."

Mr. Zhuang nodded; he knew that Manbao, now mingling with the influential, often received nice things as gifts.

Seeing that she had managed to deflect the topic, Manbao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.