The weak princess is super fierce

Chapter 1008 has been revised again.

The following day, Meng Shisan took Baozhu out to browse bookstores again, while Meng Renping left the mansion to work and went directly to the East Palace.

He arrived early, before Li Shou had even reached the Wenhua Hall: "Your Highness..."

Li Shou gestured for him to sit down: "Is there something important?"

"What Your Highness wishes to know?" Meng Renping sat down in the chair to the left of the main seat.

Li Shou glanced at Chang Qing, who immediately understood and retreated outside the hall.

"Did Yaoyao mention to Your Highness the person she dreamed about?" Without any preamble, Meng Renping went straight to the point.

Upon hearing this, Li Shou knew that Meng Shisan had mentioned the fragments of the dream to Meng Renping, and nodded slightly, saying, "Yes, we did. Did Yaoyao say that she dreamed of a woman who seemed to be her, yet wasn't?"

“It was a dream about a woman, but Yaoyao is certain that the woman in the dream was Meng Ying,” Meng Renping replied. “It seems that when Yaoyao mentioned it to His Highness earlier, she was not yet certain that the woman in the dream was Meng Ying.”

"Was it Meng Ying?" Li Shou recalled the scene when Meng Shisan told him about the fragments of his dream. "Why would Yao Yao dream of Meng Ying? According to Yao Yao, Meng Ying was a person from the time of the First Emperor, which is more than a hundred years ago. How could she dream of him? Did Yao Yao have any explanation for the reason?"

Meng Renping shook his head: "No."

He discovered that he couldn't answer any of the prince's questions.

The fourteen bookstores I visited yesterday were mostly large, well-established bookstores in Beijing. The remaining fourteen bookstores I'm going to visit today are small bookstores that aren't very popular.

Baozhu said, "Miss, the locations of these bookstores are not very good. There are a few that I've never even heard of, just by looking at the locations."

The fact that even Baozhu had never heard of this place shows how remote it is, so Meng Shisan was mentally prepared beforehand.

However, once she arrived at the place, she realized she had underestimated how remote it was.

To the south, Pinglu Ward, adjacent to Anmo Ward.

Before arriving at the place, Meng Shisan could hardly imagine that the two neighborhoods were so close. Anmo neighborhood was so lively and bustling, while Pinglu neighborhood was so deserted and sparsely populated.

"Are there not many permanent residents in this neighborhood?" She was a little confused.

Baozhu had only looked up the bookstore's location. She rarely came to Pinglufang, after all, she was the personal maid. If her mistress didn't come, and her mistress didn't need to know, she wouldn't come or know. Now that her mistress was asking, she couldn't answer.

Meng Shisan then decided that the master and servant should walk around, observe, ask questions, and listen, so that they might be able to learn something.

It's afternoon now, and this is the tenth bookstore I've visited today.

There was no signboard, just a storefront. Inside, a young man was minding the shop. There were no customers, and he was half-lying down behind the counter, dozing off.

The master and servant entered the shop and found that it was quite deep, with two rooms in total. It seemed that half of the small courtyard attached to the back of the shop had been partitioned off to place bookshelves so that more books could be displayed.

“Miss, this shop looks old, but it has quite a lot of books.” Baozhu’s words finally woke up the young man who was guarding the shop.

He was the shop owner. He looked up and saw a female customer enter the shop. The woman's clothes and appearance were something he couldn't afford to offend. He didn't dare to look at her for too long, for fear of offending a noble lady. He, a poor guy, would be in deep trouble.

So the shopkeeper stood up and respectfully greeted her, "Miss, please take your time looking around. If you need anything, just ask, and I will answer to the best of my ability."

"Are you the owner or the employee?" Meng Shisan asked. The owner replied, "My shop."

"I'd like to find some history books from the time of the First Emperor. Do you have any?" Meng Shisan thought that since the shop owner was a professional, he should have some knowledge of the books in the shop. If she asked and the shop owner really knew, she could save herself a lot of trouble flipping through the books.

"History books about the founding emperor?" The shopkeeper was taken aback. This was the first time a customer had so specifically requested books from a particular period. He thought for a moment, "I seem to have seen a few, but it's been too long. I'm afraid I'll have to look for them... I don't know how long it will take."

He paused, then added the last sentence.

He was afraid of keeping the young lady waiting too long, which would anger her and leave him in trouble.

"Okay, then I'll trouble the shopkeeper to look for it. I'll wait." So be it. In the past two days, Meng Shisan had asked the shopkeeper or the shop assistant to help her find the book whenever she entered a shop, and she had to wait every time. She was used to waiting.

The store has three walls, each lined with tall and stable bookshelves. Looking around, all three walls are densely packed with books, and there are also bookshelves in the middle, row after row, arranged very neatly and in a very organized manner.

Compared to the bookstores Meng Shisan had visited before, these were much neater and more orderly, regardless of size.

It's rare to find a shop owner who is also very particular.

Seeing that Meng Shisan was a young lady from a wealthy family, the shop owner specially brought over a clean stool for Meng Shisan to sit on while waiting, and even asked if she wanted tea.

Meng Shisan shook his head, and he gave up, turning around to seriously search for the history book she wanted.

She sat on the stool, her eyes following the shop owner's every move.

Baozhu was even more straightforward; she stayed by the shopkeeper's side and assisted him, hoping to find the book as quickly as possible.

So Meng Shisan saw that when the shopkeeper was searching at a lower level, Baozhu would rummage around with him, and when the shopkeeper was searching at a higher level, Baozhu would help him hold the wooden ladder steady as he climbed.

The shopkeeper had assumed that a noble lady's maid would be aloof and unapproachable, but he was surprised to find that the young lady he met today was very approachable and the maid was so considerate. This made him even more eager to find the book.

He secretly thought to himself: If I can get this lady the book she wants and close this deal, then opening the shop today won't have been in vain.

After lunch, Li Shou took Chang Qing and left the palace incognito.

Chang Qing was somewhat worried about this: "There are still so many memorials in the Wenhua Hall. If Your Highness abandons them and quietly leaves the palace, what if His Majesty finds out, and what if His Majesty finds out the reason for Your Highness's departure? I'm afraid His Majesty's prejudice against Miss Meng will deepen..."

“You said it yourself, it’s prejudice.” Li Shou sat in the large vehicle, driven by Tong Chen, while he and Chang Qing sat in the passenger compartment, exchanging words from time to time.

Chang Qing sighed, "Your Highness is not afraid, but what about Miss Meng? What about the Meng family?"

These words were too serious, so Li Shou had to look at Chang Qing: "But what kind of shady dealings has Chang Zhu heard from Father Emperor?"

"Your Highness once said that His Majesty's will is also very important." It was His Highness who reminded Changqing before, so how come the same situation is now being interpreted as a bad influence?
"Speak frankly, I'd like to hear it," Li Shou said.

Chang Qing then quoted Chang Zhu verbatim: "Chang Zhu bribed a young eunuch serving by the side of Imperial Attendant Tong, saying that His Majesty had recently changed the list of Crown Princesses again..."

Chang Zhu hesitated to speak, and he was still hesitant to speak at that moment.

Before leaving the palace, Chang Zhu did not say anything more to him. Those who understood, understood. Chang Zhu understood, and he understood. There was no need for further words. Both of them knew perfectly well what had been changed.

Similarly, Li Shou understood Chang Qing's hesitation.