The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

When Fu Rou mentioned sweet cakes again, everyone perked up their ears.

Fu Rou sat on the edge of the bed, her face somewhat bitter, and said, "Tian Gao is a woman of few words but efficient in her work, which is why she is trusted by the Lord. The only suspicious thing is that she has not been at the Zhe Xian Lou for very long."

"But to say that she was the one who poisoned me, sigh... I find it hard to believe... but... we can't let any possibility go unnoticed."

Lu Xiaosan lowered his head and pondered, "When I went to the kitchen just now, she saw me return, but she looked completely calm. Could it be that she already knew...?"

"Seeing is believing; there's no point in us speculating." Wen Ying, being a kind-hearted doctor, couldn't help but feel indignant for this girl she had never met.

Wen Ying was exhausted after treating everyone's poison, so the group took care of her and let her rest in bed for a while.

After she recovered, the four of them went to the Sweet Cake Room together.

No matter how much I knocked, no one answered. I thought the door was locked, but it opened with just a gentle push.

Looking inside, everything was polished to a shine, and the jewelry and cosmetics that should have been on the table were replaced by a solitary vase.

The bedding was also entirely white, unlike the bright reds and greens worn by courtesans. It was neatly folded and placed on the narrow bed.

Fu Rou gave a helpless smile. "I'm really not surprised at all."

"No wonder the door wasn't locked. If a thief came, he could just take the bedding home and smell it," Lu Xiaosan laughed.

“Let’s check here first to see if there’s any poison or anything…” Fu Rou added.

“This isn’t a good idea…and…it’s so clean here, it doesn’t look like there’s anything there…” Wen Ying said.

"Then let's do as Miss Wenying says and go find her first," Fu Rou said with a smile.

The four of them arrived at the last kitchen door and heard a "thump, thump, thump" sound coming from inside.

Upon entering, I saw Sweetie dressed in simple black clothes, chopping vegetables in front of a counter.

At that moment, the two of them, relying on muscle memory, involuntarily stepped forward, one helping to pick the vegetable leaves and the other helping to wash the vegetables.

Sweet Cake was taken aback. "You...are you all alright...?"

When he turned around, he saw Fu Rou and a blonde beauty smiling at him from behind.

Sweetie quickly bowed and said, "Sister Furou..."

Fu Rou stepped forward to support her and said softly, "Didn't I already tell you that you don't need to go through these formalities when you see me?"

Wen Ying walked up with a smile and said happily, "Hello."

"You... hello...we..."

"Oh, this is Miss Wen. Miss Wen is holding a token and is a distinguished guest of our Three Palaces," Fu Rou said.

Upon hearing this, Sweet Cake immediately knelt down, saying, "Greetings..." before being pulled up by the two men.

Wen Ying exclaimed in surprise, "Get up, get up! What is the charm of this Three Venerable Palace? I haven't even revealed my card yet, and you've already performed such a grand ceremony."

"It is against palace rules, please forgive me, sir," Sweet Cake said coldly, her head bowed.

Wen Ying sighed helplessly, rubbing her forehead, "It's the adults again..."

As Chang'an picked some vegetable leaves, he couldn't help but ask Lu Xiaosan, "Brother, what are these Three Palaces?"

Lu Xiaosan pursed her lips, "I don't know, but it does seem to intimidate the people in the building."

"Alright, alright, we've come here to ask a few questions," Fu Rou said.

"Sweet Cake will answer all your questions!"

Fu Rou paused, hands on her hips, and said, "You saw it too, the clown came back unharmed and said that the poisoner was someone else."

"And Miss Wen has come here precisely to help him find out the real culprit who poisoned him."

Wen Ying nodded proudly.

So Sweetie lowered her body even further, looking ready to obey orders at any moment.

"On Qixi Festival, were the three of you really the only ones who went in and out of the kitchen?"

Yes, I can confirm that.

Fu Rou slowly paced back and forth. "So, during that time, did you come into contact with anyone? Was there anyone who seemed rather strange, and who happened to give you something?"

Sweet Cake remained calm, shaking her head. "Although I met a lot of people during that time, it was all because of unavoidable trivial matters. As for anything they gave me..."

Sweet Cake pondered for a moment, then finally shook her head in response.

Wen Ying narrowed her eyes into crescent shapes and smiled, "Then let me help you clear the toxins from your body first."

Seeing her smile, Sweet Cake's expression brightened for once, "Okay... um..."

Sweet Cake let out a muffled groan and fainted in Fu Rou's arms behind her.

All three of them were startled at the same time.

Aside from Chang'an, Lu Xiaosan usually interacted most with Tiangao. Seeing her suddenly knocked unconscious by Furou, he couldn't help but feel angry and shouted, "Hey! Why did you knock her out!"

Fu Rou ignored him and started touching Tian Gao's body, searching through her.

Wen Ying and Chang An both looked astonished, but Lu Xiaosan turned extremely angry and rushed to her side to stop her.

Fu Rou turned half of her beautiful face to the side and said to Lu Xiaosan with a wicked smile, "I won't harm her. I'm doing this to clear her name. Besides, she's my subordinate. I don't need you to tell me what to do."

Seeing that Lu Xiaosan was still fuming, Fu Rou cast a cold glance at her again: "Don't forget, if it turns out it wasn't Tian Gao, then the two of you are the prime suspects."

Fu Rou ignored him and continued searching Tian Gao's body, from her outer clothes to her inner shirt, until she revealed Tian Gao's snow-white skin, which was covered with a few drops of fragrant sweat.

Chang'an subconsciously turned her head away and stopped looking, but Lu Xiaosan did not shy away at all. Instead, she stayed by Tian Gao's side, glaring at Fu Rou. Whenever she saw Fu Rou doing anything to harm Tian Gao, she would immediately stop her.

In reality, how could Fu Rou possibly have any intention to harm her? Even if she did, Lu Xiaosan wouldn't have had time to stop her. All he had was his wishful thinking and his so-called sincere heart towards his friend.

Wen Ying watched everything from the sidelines, a smile on her face, but for some reason, she felt a mixture of joy and worry.

In the end, all Fu Rou could find was a rag she always carried with her...

She sighed and dressed Tian Gao again. "It seems the poison is unlikely to be found in the building; it has most likely been destroyed."

Wen Ying walked up with a smile, "Let me detoxify her first." After saying that, she began to detoxify Tian Gao just like before.

Sure enough, strands of black gas were squeezed out, and the sweet cake was also poisoned.

After expelling the poison, Wen Ying felt a little tired. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and said to Fu Rou, "How about I expel the poison from the other girls in the building first? In case they suddenly have a relapse..."

“But… wouldn’t that be the same as telling the murderer that we’re here to find him? That would basically mean we’ve failed,” Fu Rou said.

"Oh... what should we do..."

Lu Xiaosan finally couldn't help but shout, "We'll deal with the rest later! I'll continue to take the blame!"

"The most important thing now is to prevent them from suddenly succumbing to the poison and losing their lives, not to use these high-sounding words to evade the real problems!"

Wen Ying's eyes lit up, and she looked at Lu Xiaosan with a smile, murmuring, "Brother Lu, who repays evil with kindness, looks really cute."

Fu Rou lowered her head and thought for a while before finally saying seriously, "Then I'll do as you say and save their lives first."

“Then let’s take Sister Sweet Cake back to her room first, and then we can treat the other girls,” Wen Ying said happily.

Fu Rou looked worried and sighed, "Alright, but in that case, it's unlikely that we can investigate further by looking at the poisoning."

"Could it be that only one of the three of us could have poisoned him?" Chang'an asked.

“Only the three of you have ever worked in the kitchen. If the murderer wanted to poison someone, there's no way they could have bypassed you… But after all this work, we haven't found anything from you… Sigh, where should we even begin our investigation now?” Fu Rou said.

"No!" Chang'an firmly rejected her.

Hearing the firmness in his voice and seeing him intently staring at the stove, the others said, "I think I already know who the fourth person in the kitchen is..."