On the Difficulties of Escape in Ancient Times

Waited until the next morning.

After a night's rest, the women instantly regained their spirits. When they appeared in front of everyone again, they were all women from famous families, dressed and made up very appropriately.

The female members of the family went to pay their respects to the Queen first.

Da Zhou also said a few polite words and then let everyone do as they please.

The palace is located halfway up the mountain, with tall trees blocking out the sun, continuous mountains and towering ancient trees. Some courtyards are built against the mountain, while others are built by the water, each with its own scenery.

What satisfies the women most is that the temperature here is several degrees lower than outside, so they don’t feel unbearably hot even during the day.

Therefore, they all started to specifically look for people to chat with.

Mrs. Li naturally became the center of attention and enjoyed great fame for a time.

A maid came over and bowed to the ladies: "I greet the ladies. I am here on the orders of the Empress to summon the two ladies from the Minister of War's residence to speak to you."

Xiao Xiao and Xiao Zhou answered yes at the same time and followed the nanny.

Everyone couldn't help but envy Xiao. One young lady couldn't hold back her anger and said sourly, "Xiao is so lucky to have a mother-in-law as generous and tolerant as you, Madam, and a sister-in-law as broad-minded as Second Madam."

Everyone present agreed and felt that the Xiao family was truly blessed.

She was able to marry into the general's mansion from a peasant family. Although everyone understood that Madam Li did not want her eldest son to have any help from the Yue family, even if she was dissatisfied with Xiao, she would not make things too difficult for her.

The most he did was not to take Xiao out for walks, and not to teach her how to manage household chores and deal with interpersonal relationships.

But unexpectedly, Xiao Zhou would take such good care of her sister-in-law that she even took her to see the Queen.

Mrs. Li's smile was forced, and she felt extremely depressed.

These people had no idea that Xiao had once saved Da Zhou and that they almost kicked Da Zhou out of the house.

On the other side, the queen looked at her own sister first: "Seeing that you are in good spirits, I feel relieved."

Xiao Zhou took the opportunity to act coquettishly: "Then I also traveled thousands of miles for you."

Xiao Xiao felt that she was exaggerating a bit, and said weakly: "It's only a little over a hundred miles?"

Moreover, while sitting in the carriage, there was a constant supply of ice cubes in the ice jar, and fruits and snacks were supplied by the logistics troops.

Does she feel like she is enjoying it?

Xiao Zhou rolled her eyes at her and said, "You just want to ruin my show, don't you?"

After that, she stepped forward and hugged Da Zhou's arm and said coquettishly: "I am your biological sister, sister, you have to love me more."

Da Zhou couldn't help laughing: "How old are you? You can still say such childish words."

He patted her hand again: "Okay, I love you, you can play with us today."

After that, she complained to Xiao Xiao, "It's so boring in the palace. If I want to move around, people will stare at me, not to mention riding a horse or shooting arrows. You two should accompany me for a walk today. Let's go."

Only then did Xiao Zhou discover that the Queen had changed the phoenix robe she wore when she met them and was now wearing a set of Hu clothing.

She immediately let go of his hand and said in shock: "Sister, have you forgotten that my sister-in-law and I are both pregnant?"

The first three months are the most important time, so you must be careful to take care of the fetus.

If this wasn't her own sister, Xiao Zhou would have suspected that she wanted to harm herself and the baby in her belly.

Mrs. Zhou was also stunned for a moment: "Ah? Can't I ride a horse when I'm pregnant?"

She had never been pregnant, but she had heard from her maid that women from ordinary families would still work even if they were pregnant.

Some women, who were about to give birth, were working on the farm and had no time to go home, and some gave birth on the ridges of the fields.

Of course, most women in the inner house pretended to be weak when they were pregnant to attract their husbands' love. Therefore, Da Zhou couldn't understand why she was pregnant.

She just saw that Xiao Xiao and her sister both had rosy complexions and looked in good spirits.

And Xiao Xiao also told me yesterday that she practices archery every day and her skills are getting better and better.

Da Zhou took it for granted that riding a horse and shooting arrows would be no problem.

Xiao Xiao was stared at by her sisters, and could only weakly say: "Forget about riding a horse, archery is no problem."

In fact, she also wanted to ride a horse.

Especially for those who can drive, when they see a nice car, they will definitely feel itchy.

It's a pity that I can only watch from the sidelines, which is so torturous.

The Queen Mother was really relaxed, and before leaving, she made an appointment with them: "Let's continue archery tomorrow."

Xiao Zhou smiled awkwardly and refused: "I won't come. My feet are sore from walking. I want to lie down for a while tomorrow. Let my sister-in-law accompany you."

Although she wanted to be closer to her elder sister, her own life was more important.

Even though she didn't accompany them in archery, it was tiring to walk with them.

Xiao Xiao agreed immediately: "Okay, I always feel constrained when practicing archery in the mansion, it's more fun to shoot arrows outside."

The Queen smiled even more: "Yes, I think so too."

Little Zhou wanted to roll her eyes when she heard this: A summer insect cannot talk about ice.

The next day, after everyone paid their respects, the queen met Xiao Xiao and went archery together. Xiao Xiao then watched her ride a horse.

Of course, there were also two maids following the queen on horseback, fearing that something might happen to her.

A little further away, there were a dozen eunuch guards watching the surroundings, guarding against the appearance of wild beasts and assassins.

Although this summer palace is hidden, with so many people coming here in such a swagger, if someone is watching secretly, they will definitely know where they are staying.

Besides, there are many kinds of wild animals in the deep mountains and forests nowadays.

I heard that when the emperor and empress were preparing to come here to escape the summer heat, a group of people came here in advance to drive away the wild beasts.

It’s easy to drive away large animals like tigers, wolves and wild boars, but snakes and insects are more likely to be scary. They are good at camouflaging themselves in trees, so even if they are scared away, who knows if they will quietly swim back?

It is said that some colleagues have seen pythons as thick as their adult thighs, and also seen small green snakes as thick as fingers.

In just a short while, they used stones to quietly scare away several snakes and insects that wanted to hang out.

No wonder there was a large army guarding this place before and there was no shortage of meat.

The Queen rode her horse for a few laps, then dismounted and walked to Xiao Xiao's side: "The sun is getting brighter, shall we go back first?"

Xiao Xiao certainly wouldn't refuse: "Okay, let's go back and drink some lychee paste water."

This lychee paste water, like the wife cake without the wife, is actually made from black plum juice and tastes really good.

It should be said that there are really many summer drinks now, such as bayberry soup, five-flavor drink, perilla tea, plum wine, ginger honey water, kumquat balls, etc., which she never gets tired of drinking.

When the maids and the guards heard their words, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

No one expected that the Queen in this episode would be so lively and active. There were too many emergencies outside, which increased the difficulty of protecting them.

They all wished it wasn't so cool in the mountains and that the sun was a little brighter, so that they wouldn't walk around outside because they were tired of the sun.

On the way back, listening to the rustling of trees in the wind and smelling the fresh air of grass and trees, it was very comfortable. Something was wrong. Xiao Xiao stopped, sniffed, and hurriedly pulled Da Zhou: "Empress, something is wrong!" (End of this chapter)