Chapter 91 Leaving the Palace
Xia Miaoyuan was completely focused on guessing what the queen was going to do. When the nanny helped her practice walking, she was absent-minded and fell several times in a row.
"Miao'er, let's go out of the palace for an autumn outing in two days. Are you happy?" When the queen saw her fall again, she hurried over and picked her up.
[Wow! It's an autumn outing outside the palace, great! ]
Xia Miaoyuan didn't care about the pain in her chubby legs and immediately became excited.
Three days later, the queen, the second prince, and Xia Miaoyuan set off in a carriage.
The three of them deliberately pretended to be ordinary people, and even used ordinary carriages of civilian style.
They only had seven or eight personal attendants with them, and the one hundred secret guards sent by Xia Zhengqi were divided into several groups, dressed as civilians, guarding them in front and behind. The
Lingyun Peak they were going to was in Wenzhou, 900 miles away from the capital. It would take three or four days for the carriage to travel non-stop from morning to night.
It was indeed a bit difficult for Xia Miaoyuan, a little girl who was less than one year old, to go on a long journey in a carriage. The queens knew this in their hearts.
However, considering the overall situation, it was also a helpless act.
But since the carriage left the palace, Xia Miaoyuan was full of energy all the way, either chattering or leaning on the window to look at the scenery. The queen saw that her daughter was not tired at all, and her originally worried heart finally let go.
[Wow! What a good smell! What is it?]
Xia Miaoyuan leaned on the window to look at the scenery, but suddenly she smelled a refreshing fragrance.
At this time, they had been traveling for half a day, and there were farmlands and crops or forests on both sides of the official road.
The second prince heard his sister's voice and also looked over.
There was a large osmanthus forest in front of him.
It was already late autumn, and the osmanthus trees were in full bloom with strings of light yellow or pure white osmanthus flowers.
"It's an osmanthus forest, mother, Miao'er, there is such a large osmanthus forest in front!" The second prince said happily.
[It turns out to be the fragrance of osmanthus! ] Xia Miaoyuan cheered in her heart.
"Fa...Fa...mama" Xia Miaoyuan squeezed out a few sounds with great effort.
"Miao'er, do you want the flowers on the tree?" The queen looked at her daughter lovingly.
Yes, yes, yes, Xia Miaoyuan nodded vigorously.
[Go to see osmanthus, pick osmanthus, I want flowers, mother! ]
"Stop!" the queen ordered.
The queen held Xia Miaoyuan in her arms and strolled in the dense osmanthus forest. Smelling the refreshing osmanthus fragrance, Xia Miaoyuan waved her little hands excitedly and babbled. Xia Miaoyuan
couldn't help stretching out her little hands, grabbed the osmanthus on the tree and pulled it down.
"Miao'er, no. This osmanthus forest must have an owner. We have to ask the owner before picking flowers."
"Where did this thief come from?!" A voice came over.
A little old man came over.
"Uncle, we are passers-by. We came down to take a look when we saw the osmanthus trees were so strange." The second prince explained with a smile.
[It turns out that they have an owner, so we can't pick them! ] Xia Miaoyuan let go, a little disappointed.
"Uncle, can we buy some osmanthus?" the queen asked.
"Of course, I planted these osmanthus flowers to sell." The little old man replied.
The queen took out a piece of silver from her purse and handed it to the old man.
"Oh, this is more than five taels, right?!" The old man put the silver to his mouth and bit it in surprise.
"Your Excellency, you can pick as many as you want!"
Hearing the old man say to pick as much as you want, the attendants immediately took a cloth bag from the car and got off. The queen took her son and daughter to pick osmanthus happily.
Sang Qi and Ying Xue also came to help.
[Hahaha, it's so fun! I pick, pick, pick!]
[Pick more, you must get your money back! If you don't pick more, you will lose money!]
Xia Miaoyuan sat on the shoulders of the second prince, her two little hands were busy.
The queen picked osmanthus flowers while listening to her daughter's voice, and couldn't help laughing.
In less than half an hour, the five people picked three bags full of osmanthus flowers.
The queen asked someone to put the bags on the roof of the car to dry, and then continued on her way.
"When we go back, mother will make you osmanthus cake with the osmanthus you picked, okay?" The queen smiled happily and hugged her daughter in her arms.
Since entering the palace, more than ten years ago, she has never been as free and happy as she is today.
"We can also dry the osmanthus flowers and make them into sachets, make osmanthus oil for your hair, and make osmanthus powder to make you smell good..."
The queen muttered, rubbing her daughter's chubby face with her nose, making Xia Miaoyuan giggle.
Along the way, the mother and her two children walked and stopped, visited the mountains and rivers, and enjoyed the freedom outside the palace.
On the morning of the third day, their carriage had just gone out for more than ten miles when they heard a noise coming from the front.
Xia Miaoyuan had just finished her feeding and was feeling sleepy. When she heard the noise, she woke up immediately.
[Hey! There's a melon!]
She broke free from the second prince's arms, leaned against the window to look out, and listened carefully.
"Let you run! Let you run!"
Several people, both men and women, cursed fiercely.
"Stop hitting me! Please!"
A young man begged miserably, with occasional screams in his begging.
[Oh no, someone was beaten up! ]
Xia Miaoyuan exclaimed.
She looked at the queen eagerly, as if she was expecting the queen to speak and go over to see.
"Go and see if anyone is committing a crime!" The queen opened the curtain and ordered Sang Qi.
Sang Qi rode on horses with several other guards all the way, guarding the carriage. She nodded to the queen, immediately pinched the horse's belly, and ran forward.
In just a cup of tea, Sang Qi ran back on horseback.
"Your Majesty, there are seven or eight people beating a young man on the roadside." Sang Qi reported.
"In broad daylight, you gathered all the adults? Is there any law?" The second prince frowned.
"Let's go and take a look!" the queen ordered.
The coachman galloped, and the two carriages arrived at the scene of the fight in the blink of an eye.
Xia Miaoyuan looked out and saw several people dressed as ordinary people surrounding a man and beating him.
"You unruly people, stop it! We have reported to the authorities, and the bailiffs will be here soon!"
The second prince jumped off the carriage and scolded the few people.
It's really effective, and the people stopped one after another.
The beaten young man stood up with great effort, and looked at the second prince with a pair of eyes.
"Help! Help me! They are beating me to death." The young man shouted hoarsely, as if grasping a life-saving straw.
"Shut up!" A big man glared at the young man fiercely, stretched out his dark and rough big hand, and covered the young man's mouth.
"Misunderstood, misunderstood, we are just disciplining our own children." A middle-aged woman in coarse clothes explained with a smile.