Chapter 97: Inspection of the flags. The moon sets and the sun rises, the sun sets and the moon shines. Five days...

The moon sets and the sun rises, the sun sets and the moon shines. Five days later, we will prepare to set off to tour the Mobei grassland.

It was just dawn, the newly grown green grass on the grassland was still covered with morning dew, and there were already many people and horses in front of the king's tent.

The personal soldiers and guards rode on their fine horses and formed a line. The attendants shuttled back and forth among them, some leading good horses, some holding objects, all busy and bustling.

Dozens of large banners fluttered in the breeze. There were yellow banners with red edges that symbolized Tushetu Khan, and goose yellow banners that symbolized the princess. These were specially embroidered by Mu Xue's order, and were used to indicate identity on the grassland. They were embroidered with a phoenix.

Zhou Qiniang looked up and saw the large flag embroidered with a phoenix, and murmured, "The princess really made this flag."

The phoenix pattern was drawn by her at the request of the princess when she was on the grassland. At that time, she just thought it was an ornament for making clothes. She didn't expect that it would be embroidered on such a large banner. It looked so majestic.

The stewards, assistants, and servants behind him were a little uneasy. The old steward of the Fan family said, "Young Madam, should we go find someone to say hello first? It seems that Aunt Yunqi is here."

"That's what you said."

Zhou Qiniang looked around among the attendants, but could not see Yunqi. As someone the princess relied on, she was very busy, and it was not so easy to find her now.

After looking for a while, Zhou Qinnan finally saw someone familiar and called out the name of a round-faced maid, "Jia - Jiaya".

The maid suddenly heard someone calling her, and she stopped in confusion, looked over, and smiled in surprise: "Mr. Zhou, why are you here?"

Two years ago, when Zhou Qiniang was on the grassland, in addition to painting for the princess, she also taught in the princess's school, teaching some simple painting. At that time, Jia Ya was also in the school, so she called her teacher.

Jia Ya told the little girl to continue working, and she walked over quickly: "Are you here alone? Where is Master Fan? I only heard that Wang Erbazi from Dashengkui came, but I didn't hear that you guys came, otherwise I would have gone to look for you so early."

"I brought my family here to escort the goods. As for my husband, he is in the capital city, busy with copper matters for the princess and has no time to come, so I had to come." Zhou Qinnan held Jia Ya's hand and said lightly.

In fact, if you look deeper, the truth is not that simple. As the saying goes, every family has its own problems. In the Fan family, with so many children, they have to make plans for all aspects. Seeing that Mr. Fan's health was getting worse, the brothers continued to perform.

Fan Yuqi was young and could not compete with his brothers, so he was sent to the princess in Mobei. Who would have thought that after two years, he would have made great progress and was highly valued by Mr. Fan, which made the other families have ideas. Hearing that Fan Yuqi was working in the capital and could not spare time to escort the goods north, two of his brothers planned to send their confidants to replace him.

Zhou Qiniang had followed Fan Yuqi on the grasslands and had gained some experience. She knew the importance of things, so she went against the crowd and led the shopkeeper and his staff to escort the goods. She happened to meet Da Shengkui who was also going north in Guihua City, so they followed him.

After hearing this, Jia Ya smiled and said, "It's just right that we are going to follow the princess to find the green grassland. You can also go with us to have a look. The scenery in the north and south is different. Both are very beautiful. Mr. Zhou will definitely be able to draw a beautiful picture when he sees it."

As they were talking, they heard a faint commotion. Turning back, they saw the felt curtain of the king's tent being lifted. They all knew that the Khan and the princess were about to come out of the tent.

Jia Ya hurriedly pulled Zhou Qiniang's hand forward and said, "Come with me and kneel in front of me. Maybe you can greet the princess later."

The two of them squeezed to the front row, among the line of the princess' maids. A moment later, they saw the Khan and the princess walk out of the royal tent, and everyone outside the tent knelt down to greet them.

Servants had already brought horses and were helping their masters ride.

The white horse led in front of the princess had a golden bridle. It was the one given by the Queen Mother, and it was just the right horse to ride in alternation with the previous white horse.

Mu Xue was just about to mount the saddle when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a woman dressed in Han costume among the people kneeling to pay their respects, so she took a closer look.

"Zhou Qiniang?"

Zhou Qiniang agreed, raised her head, showed a humble look, and bowed again. "I, your humble wife, greet the princess."

"Get up," Mu Xue smiled, "Is everything okay at home?"

"Princess, I am grateful for your care. Everything is going well at home."

Mu Xue nodded. After all, there were so many people that it was inconvenient to chat, so she just said, "Just follow them and join the maids, and talk too."

After saying this, she sat down on the horse and pulled the reins forward.

The sun had risen, and the golden sunlight shone on the grassland, making the grass look particularly green. The team set out in a mighty procession. The Khan and the princess rode side by side, followed closely by their personal soldiers, and then by their entourage, caravans, etc., and wherever they went, there was the sound of horse hooves.

Zhou Qinnan and Jiaya got on a horse-drawn cart together. There were two other girls inside, and they all called each other Mr. Zhou.

Being treated with respect like this, Zhou Qiniang unconsciously relaxed a little. After returning to her hometown and returning to the rear house, people around her only called her the Fifth Young Lady, while her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law called her the Fifth Daughter-in-law. They had been calling her that since she got married, and she didn't think it was a big deal before, but now that she heard others calling her Mr. Zhou, she felt that it was more pleasing to the ear.

Jia Ya held her arm and asked her affectionately, "Can you spend some time with your child when you go back this time? Has he grown taller? It's good for him to grow up."

"Yes, he has grown a lot taller." Zhou Qiniang gestured to indicate his height and said, "He speaks very well and can call me mom. I even taught him a little Mongolian."

When talking about children, her tone was still a little melancholy.

He had not been home for a long time. When the wet nurse appeared in front of her with the child, the child looked at him steadily with a pair of grape-like eyes, without any special expression. Children have bad memories, and he didn't remember, he didn't remember that this person was actually his mother.

The nurse wanted her to hold the baby, so she coaxed the baby forward and said, "Your mother is back, let her hold her."

But the child was just unwilling. After being held by her for a while, he immediately twisted away and hid behind the nurse like a little beast, looking at this person.

Zhou Qinnan was about to cry at that moment, but her mother-in-law was there, and she was afraid of scaring the child, so she just held back her tears and took out many toys she brought back from the grassland, one by one to amuse the child.

After two or three days of coaxing, the child finally gradually became close to her, willing to sleep in her arms and willing to call her mother.

The child's small hands pulled her hair and asked in a tender voice, "Mom, where did you go before?"

"Mom followed Dad to the grassland to do business."

"Is the grassland big? Is it beautiful?"

"It's so big that you can't see the end of it."

"Then tell me about the grassland, okay?"

"Okay, I'll tell you."

Zhou Qinnan patted him gently and told him about what she had seen and heard on the grassland until the child fell into a deep sleep.

After returning home, I happily spent a long time with my children, feeling happy in my heart. It seemed that life was back on track.

This means paying respects to the mother-in-law every day, serving her meals, taking care of the children, and chatting about trivial household matters, such as how many clothes to make this winter.

all is well.

Only sometimes I would dream of being on the grassland, drawing for the princess and receiving her praise, or teaching students and receiving some respectful glances.

But after waking up from the dream, I heard the child calling his mother sweetly, and I thought, forget it.

What really made her feel painful again was not that she had to be separated from her children for a long time. But when she led her family and friends to walk on the grassland again, she suddenly realized that she did not feel the same heart-wrenching pain as she did last time because of leaving her children. Although she was still sad, she was also mixed with a hint of joy.

She felt a little ashamed of her joy.

Zhou Qiniang pursed her lips and changed the subject: "You? Have you continued to study, learn calligraphy and painting these days?"

"I've been learning it sporadically." Jia Ya said, "I can even recite the Thousand Character Classic now!"

Another maid came over and asked, "Did you bring your brushes, inks, and paints? The princess will surely be able to paint a good picture when she goes out on this inspection tour."

"Of course I did."

…

We walked and talked all the way and soon arrived at a flag.

The advance troops had already been notified, so the Zasak of the banner led a group of Zhangjing, Canling, and Zuoling to come to greet them.

Seeing the royal flag approaching, Zasak stepped forward quickly, knelt down and bowed his head: "Zasak Saji of the Left Wing Middle Banner, I pay my respects to the Khan and the princess."

"Get up."

Dorji pulled the reins, the black horse snorted and stopped, and told them to get up. He turned over and got off the horse, but did not go straight to Zasak. Instead, he turned around and stretched out his hand to Muxue on the horse's back to help her get off the horse.

Mu Xue smiled, held his warm palm, and with his help, she got off the horse.

Several Zhangjingzuolings nearby saw this and exchanged glances. Zasak also smiled.

It seems that the Khan has special respect for this princess.

Otherwise, there is no need to show such courtesy in front of your own people to show your seriousness.

Wine and food have been prepared in the big tent.

Muxue and Dorji sat down together and exchanged a few pleasantries. Muxue glanced at Dorji, who understood and said directly, "Enough of the small talk. Tell me about the situation of our banner."

"Yes, Melen Zhangjing has made preparations in advance. This is the general situation of my flag..."

Mu Xue sat aside, quietly listening to their reports on flag affairs. How were the livestock last year, how the grass grew... and so on, probably like that.

While listening, she sorted out the current structure of the banner. For example, under the Jasak, there was an assistant taiji as the second in command to help handle matters. The banner Zhangjing focused on executing the Jasak's orders, which was equivalent to managing military and daily administration, while the Melen Zhangjing was more in charge of economic and livestock matters.

After listening to Dorji's conversation with them, Muxue looked at the Melunzhangjing and said, "I also brought some merchants with me this time. It's rare for merchants to come to your banner, right? You can inform the herdsmen to come and see if there is anything they need before the merchants leave."

Meilunzhangjing said happily: "The herdsmen? Are they very happy? There are indeed few merchants here."

Not only the herdsmen were happy, but also the eyes of several military governors and deputy commanders present were bright. Merchants were rare on the grassland, and they could only take advantage of opportunities such as the Nadam Festival to go to the Kulun Commercial Street in the royal court to buy goods.

Coincidentally, this time the princess actually brought the merchant with her.

As he said this, he called on the captain to immediately go among the herdsmen to spread the news that the merchant had arrived.