Chapter 114: First Time Out of the Palace

the next day.

Before dawn, Yun Qin walked out of Xia'an Palace and headed towards Anding Gate.

When she arrived, the nanny from yesterday was talking to a eunuch.

Seeing Yun Qin coming over, she immediately glared at her, then turned and said something to the eunuch. The eunuch turned his head and looked at her with a cold look in his eyes.

When everyone's deadline had come, the nanny gave the eunuch a few words and walked into the palace. When she came to Yunqin's side, she snorted heavily.

Yun Qin lowered her eyes and pretended not to see it.

After she left, the eunuch also looked at Yun Qin carefully and snorted coldly, "You will get on the carriage of the palace you are from later. Remember your 'master' and spread this good reputation to your masters. Don't be unable to answer when you are asked which palace you are from. Do you understand me?"

The palace maids answered yes, and the eunuch led them out of Anding Gate.

After walking for a while along the long and deep palace road, I finally saw a palace gate and the road outside suddenly became wider.

The carriages from each palace were also waiting outside.

The one in front is naturally the queen, and the positions become lower as one goes to the back.

Yun Qin also thought that she would be assigned to which palace she was assigned to. After all, status was also linked to family background, and the lower the family background, the porridge shed would naturally be arranged closest to the outer city gate, and the more chaotic it would be.

But what Yunqin didn't expect was that she was arranged to ride in the carriage in Shen Daying's palace.

Seeing her look of shock, the eunuch snorted coldly, "Who told you to offend someone you shouldn't have offended? Hurry up and get up!"

Yun Qin thought about it and understood.

After all, everyone in the palace knew that Concubine Su had framed Shen Daying, and she, who had once been the "most loyal person" to Concubine Su, was naturally not liked by Shen Daying in the eyes of others.

But Shen Danying didn’t know it was her.

It was not until Yunqin got on the carriage and saw two palace maids sitting in it that she understood.

Presumably, Shen Danying was unwilling to completely lie, yet did not dare to be too special, so he sent people close to him and accepted the Queen's arrangement.

Seeing the two palace maids look at her with surprise at first and then displeasure, Yun Qin sighed in her heart.

She really has a connection with the Shen family.

Compared to others, it was fortunately the Shen family. She was more willing to donate porridge and do charity in the name of the Shen family.

Afterwards, two more palace maids got on, and the car was full.

Facing the gazes of several people, Yun Qin had already gotten used to it and just lowered her eyes and didn't care.

Soon, the carriage set off towards the bright light in the sky.

After leaving the palace, as the carriage moved forward, the surroundings gradually went from quiet to noisy.

Yun Qin listened carefully and realized that they had already arrived on the street. She turned her head, lifted the curtain behind her and looked out.

The streets are clean and tidy, with shops lining both sides. Just from Yunqin's glance, there are gold and silver shops, silk shops, restaurants, and even steamer shops emitting steam.

You can almost smell the aroma of the buns just out of the pot.

There weren't too many people on the road, but there was already a sense of fireworks.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Yun Qin felt both novel and somehow her nose felt a little sour.

"Hurry up and put down the curtain. We all represent the promise. How will we look if others see us?" A palace maid who was about the same age as Yun Qin shouted.

Yun Qin glanced at her without saying anything and lowered the curtain.

For her, this one glance was enough.

Seeing how docile she was, the maid was choked. She glared at her and said nothing more.

After passing another city gate, it became increasingly noisy outside. I could hear the shouting outside without having to lift the curtain to look, and I could smell more and more smells.

"Steamed buns, steamed buns fresh out of the pot!"

"Hey, Auntie, come and take a look. These are all freshly picked pears this morning!"

"Give me two pounds of pork, boss! No, I don't want you to find a good piece!"

It should be the morning market. Yun Qin's lips curled up slightly when she heard it.

After leaving the inner city, Yun Qin knew that they would soon reach their destination. She took out a small box from her arms, opened it, took out the contents and smeared them on her face.

Seeing her like this, the people in the carriage widened their eyes slightly, watching her face change from snow-white to waxy yellow bit by bit.

"This is turmeric powder." Seeing that they were all looking at her, Yun Qin explained, and then handed the box out and asked, "Do you want it?"

Several people looked at each other. Although they did not have Yun Qin's beauty, since they were able to enter the palace, they were not ugly. When there were many people around, it would be better for them to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Seeing that Yunqin didn't seem to have any adverse reactions after using it, a palace maid reached out to take it, smiled at her and thanked her.

Yun Qin also smiled and nodded.

The two palace maids of Shen Danying looked at each other. Although they disliked Yun Qin, they took the box and painted their faces yellow when they saw the rest of the people had painted themselves.

The people in the carriage looked at each other, and seeing how funny they looked, some of them couldn't help but burst out laughing.

This smile dispelled most of the silence and strangeness along the way, and the lively people began to chat in low voices.

After going a little further, the carriage finally stopped.

Hearing the noise and cries outside, Yun Qin knew something was wrong, and when she went out to take a look, she saw even more clearly.

The outer city wall can be seen from here. At a glance, the surrounding houses are mostly low and dilapidated, which is completely different from the scene Yun Qin had seen before.

The place where they got off was behind the porridge stall, where they could see stacked rice bags. Looking forward, they saw circles of people gathered outside the porridge stall.

Yun Qin could see from such a distance that the victims' eyes were shining as they looked at the food behind them.

It looks like a wolf that has been hungry for a long time, and it makes people scared just by looking at it.

If there hadn't been city defense officers and soldiers standing in front, pulling the ropes and driving them with swords, these people would have rushed over.

The porridge stalls are basically next to each other, and even those closer to the inside are only slightly better than here.

From Yunqin's perspective, even if there were disaster victims who could reach the capital, they would be very few, because they might be driven away or even killed by officials and dignitaries on the way.

One was to conceal the disaster, and the other was for the safety of the imperial city.

So she never expected that there would be so many victims.

In this case, the only thing that can be done is that the emperor orders that no obstruction should be given.

Yes, there had just been a civil uprising in the west. If we prevent the disaster victims from entering the capital, the same thing might happen again.

Even so, the fact that he allowed so many disaster victims to enter Beijing is enough to show that Huo Jinchi was a good emperor.

Yun Qin narrowed her eyes slightly, thinking that after the civil uprising, the court should have increased its disaster relief efforts. Even if they didn't receive this crop of grain because of the locust plague, the money and food they received should be enough to feed the people for a year. However, there are still so many disaster victims.

What worries Hawking Chi so much may not just be the disaster.

It is no wonder that he allowed the disaster victims to come to Beijing, because he wanted the dignitaries in the city to pay out of their own pockets to provide disaster relief to the court.

Faced with so many disaster victims, everyone panicked and did not dare to delay, so they quickly started to light a fire and cook porridge.

Yun Qin was busy chopping wood when she heard a voice coming from behind.

"Yunqin, why are you here?"

Yun Qin turned around and saw a handsome face. She was also surprised and asked, "General Shen?"