As soon as Duoduo finished her class, she pulled Yingniang along to take a walk in the garden.
Seeing Duoduo come out, Lüdou hurriedly stepped forward and curtsied.
"Your Highness, the guards from the outer courtyard just came to report that the servant you bought has fainted from hunger."
Duoduo froze for a moment, suddenly remembering who Lüdou was talking about.
"Oh no! I completely forgot about Shitou!"
Duoduo's daily schedule was always packed full.
The people serving her and all her affairs were entirely arranged by the royal estate.
Shitou was in the front courtyard, and Duoduo had been entirely focused on helping her father solve his problems.
So, once Duoduo got busy, she completely forgot about her bet with Xiao Yi.
Shitou was also quite something; he hadn't even come to the backyard to look for her and had just stayed hungry all this time.
Yingniang was very curious. "How could that Shitou faint from hunger while living in the royal estate?"
Duoduo had no time to explain and just took off running.
"Yingniang, if I come back late, please help me ask the tutor for a leave of absence!"
"Duoduo, where are you going?" Yingniang asked, very worried.
"I'll be right back!" As soon as Duoduo's words fell, she had already disappeared from sight.
Lüdou chased after Duoduo, "Your Highness, slow down, or Nanny Li will scold you again later!"
Duoduo didn't even turn her head. "A life is at stake, saving him is more important."
The two ran to the servants' quarters in the front courtyard. Seeing Duoduo, the people in the room hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects.
"At ease, at ease!"
Duoduo looked around frantically. "Where is Shitou?"
A guard pointed to a bed at the very back. "Your Highness, over there!"
Duoduo looked in the direction the guard pointed and, sure enough, there was a small lump under a thin quilt.
Duoduo ran over and immediately smelled a foul, urine-like stench.
She pinched her nose at once. "So stinky!"
Lüdou, who had run over after her, also covered her nose with a handkerchief.
Not far from Shitou's bed sat two chamber pots, so naturally, the smell was terrible.
"Your Highness, why don't you step outside? I will go fetch a doctor to take a look," Lüdou managed to say with difficulty.
Even with their noses covered, every breath they took was filled with the suffocating smell of urine.
Duoduo hesitated for a moment, then lowered her hand.
"Someone come and take these things out!" Duoduo pointed at the chamber pots.
Hearing the order, one of the guards in the room immediately walked over and carried the chamber pots away.
After the chamber pots were removed, the odor in the room dissipated a little.
Ignoring Lüdou's attempts to stop her, Duoduo climbed onto the communal bed to check Shitou's pulse.
Shitou's pulse was very weak. Because of his impoverished background, he had grown up skipping meals, which made him look much smaller than his peers.
After starving for a few days now, his body was incredibly weak.
Duoduo pulled her hand back, her face full of guilt.
She sat cross-legged, lost in thought.
In this situation, she had to find a way to earn some silver.
Suddenly, Duoduo had a brilliant idea.
Her father had only said that she couldn't use her own monthly allowance to raise Shitou.
However, her father never said she couldn't borrow money first!
She could totally borrow the money to use for now, and then pay it back later once she earned some.
Duoduo's face instantly lit up with a beaming smile.
"Lüdou, take some money to the kitchen and have them boil some porridge for Shitou."
Lüdou was a bit hesitant. "Your Highness, if I leave, what about you?"
Duoduo pulled a cloth bag from her clothes. "I am going to perform acupuncture on him, so go and come back quickly."
"Yes, I will go right away!" Lüdou curtsied and hurried out.
The servants in the room all looked at Duoduo curiously.
Duoduo didn't move Shitou much; she simply inserted the silver needles into the hand she had just used to check his pulse.
Very soon, Shitou regained consciousness.
"Your Highness? This humble one greets..." Opening his eyes and seeing Duoduo, Shitou struggled to get up and bow.
Duoduo held him down. "Don't move, you still have needles in your hand."
Shitou then noticed the silver needles in his hand, and he immediately understood that Duoduo had saved him.
A look of guilt appeared on Shitou's face.
"Your Highness, it is all because this humble one is useless!"
Duoduo removed the silver needles and wrapped them carefully in a handkerchief.
She looked at the deeply apologetic Shitou, her small face tense. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
Shitou nodded. "This humble one knows his mistake."
Duoduo frowned. The way she looked right now was exactly like the Prince of Pingyang.
"Do you know exactly where you went wrong?"
Shitou knelt on the bed, his head lowered.
"This humble one is too useless, actually fainting from hunger."
"Your Highness, this humble one can guarantee that I will absolutely never faint from hunger again next time!"
"If I get hungry, I can drink water! Oh right, I also saw some edible wild vegetables in the garden."
"I originally planned to go pick them today, but I didn't expect to pass out after taking a nap."
Shitou lay on the bed, too embarrassed to look up.
The servants in the room all began to whisper among themselves.
"This guy is really something. He didn't go to the main kitchen to eat every day, and that's why he fainted from hunger."
"Exactly, did he do this on purpose just to win Her Highness's sympathy?"
"I didn't expect this kid to be so scheming!"
"No wonder he was placed in the bed at the very back!"
"He actually just said he was going to the garden to pick wild vegetables to eat? Is he dissatisfied with the food in the royal estate?"
"The food in the royal estate is so delicious, how could anyone despise it? Wait, didn't Her Highness just tell her maid to go boil some porridge? Let's see if he eats it later."
"He must be doing it on purpose! Grandstanding to attract the Prince's attention! This kid definitely has ulterior motives!"
"Her Highness is young and must have been deceived by him."
"Shh! Her Highness is angry! I'm leaving first."
Someone noticed that Duoduo's expression wasn't right, whispered a warning, and slipped out.
Duoduo pursed her lips, an imperceptible anger flashing in her eyes.
Seeing this, the other servants also greased the soles of their feet and slipped away.
In the blink of an eye, only Duoduo and Shitou were left in the room.
"Do they bully you normally?" Duoduo's tone carried the feeling of an impending storm.
Shitou had also heard the words of those people just now loud and clear.
His hearing was inherently better than that of ordinary people, so how could he not hear them?
Shitou raised his head and, sure enough, saw that Duoduo's face didn't look too good.
"Your Highness, please don't be angry, they are just talking."
Shitou understood very well that every place had its own cliques. As a newcomer, he was naturally an isolated individual.
"You are my servant! Other than me, no one has the right to bully you!"
Duoduo pursed her lips, her small face drawn tight.
"Your Highness, they just don't understand the situation and are making blind guesses."
"If you take it too seriously, you're only making things hard for yourself," Shitou comforted Duoduo.
Duoduo stared at Shitou, feeling very unhappy in her heart.
"I have been busy these past two days and forgot about your matters, that is my fault!"
"But you clearly could have had someone remind me, yet you didn't. Instead, you put yourself in this situation, and that is your fault!"
"You thought doing this would save me trouble, but in reality, you are trapping me in a position of injustice and unrighteousness!"
