After a half-day journey, the convoy came to the paddock. Craftsmen who had set out a few days in advance set up four or five tents in the open space for the concubines of the Son of Heaven and the families of officials to rest, as well as as as temporary kitchens and warehouses.

The kings and courtiers gathered in the largest tent among them, rested and drank tea, and talked about where to hunt for a while.

The queen led the concubine and the relatives of the officials to divide into smaller tents on both sides, and the ladies and ladies of the officials stepped forward to meet the queen and the concubine one by one. The queen smiled at each other, but the concubine was absent-minded, looking cold and lazy.

The queen didn't ask Yu Mingzhi to accompany her alone, and the wife of Gu Zhongyi, the Chinese scholar, took her to know the ladies of each family. Mrs. Gu looked kind, kind and thoughtful, and whispered to her the relationship between each lady's husband and Qin Ji.

When they came to Mrs. Zhao, they heard a soft snort.

Mrs. Zhao raised her chin proudly and looked at the two people in front of her with disdain, while the women gathered with her more or less smiled and spoke politely to Mrs. Gu.

"It turns out that Qin Sheren's fiancée looks like this." Mrs. Zhao opened her mouth and said, her appearance is not inferior to the harem concubines, it seems that they have a better chance of winning this time.

Yu Mingzhi felt that her eyes flashed and she noticed something wrong. She smiled lightly, didn't speak, and continued to pretend to be quiet and introverted, and Mrs. Gu came forward to talk to Mrs. Zhao.

Although Mrs. Gu is kind, she also looks at people. When he met a person like Mrs. Zhao, his tone changed abruptly and he competed with her.

"I heard that Fifth Young Master Zhao mistook a woman from a good family for a person in the Qinglou at the door of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion yesterday, and made a mockery, the woman was humiliated and embarrassed, and almost killed someone, and afterwards took the son of Shangzhou Assassin Shi to blame." She looked sympathetic and sarcastic, "I wonder how it's handled now?" Mrs. Yue is the eldest daughter of the county lord, but she is not easy to mess with. ”

Mrs. Zhao was originally proud, but when she heard that this matter was not easy to hide, Mrs. Gu said it in public, and her face suddenly turned pale.

"That's just a misunderstanding, the two parties can make it clear together, Mrs. Gu, don't talk nonsense and defile the lintel of my Zhao family."

"Am I dirty?" Mrs. Gu smiled lightly, "It's obviously Ling Lang, right?" ”

Mrs. Zhao looked left and right, fortunately, most of the people were flattering the queen and the concubine, and the people who heard about it were the ladies who had close relationships with her. She didn't want to continue to entangle with Mrs. Gu, she was afraid of telling more of the inside story, so she snorted coldly, "Don't bother with it", after speaking, she shook her sleeves and turned away.

There was no one else around, Yu Mingzhi pretended to be curious and asked, "Something happened to the Zhao family?" ”

Mrs. Gu gloated, "Who called him a tutor?" Looking at the scenery, in fact, it has already begun to rot in the bones. Miss Baozhi, you don't need to be polite when you touch the people in their family, the more polite you are, the more they will step on you. Qin Sheren is favored by the emperor and is an important minister of the country, how can he allow such villains to ridicule and insult. ”

Yu Mingzhi said: "Baozhi remembers. ”

Mrs. Gu patted the back of her hand with satisfaction, in terms of the identity and situation of the Qin Sheren, what she needed was not a simple virtuous and virtuous wife, but a steady, intelligent, and knowledgeable virtuous helper.

At this moment, the neighing of horses and a commotion were heard outside. The palace people came to tell the news, saying that the monarch and his party set off to hunt in the forest.

As is customary, a small area was also enclosed in the paddock for the ladies to hunt and have fun, but the prey was rabbits and pheasants, and birds of prey were not allowed in.

The queen was in high spirits and was about to go, but the concubine was still lazily leaning on the chair, eating the sweet fruits from the Western Regions.

"Miss Guo, looking at your dress today, it's a pity not to ride a horse and hunt." The queen beckoned and asked Yu Mingzhi to come close and speak, "You can go with me." Let's try to see who catches more prey. ”

Yu Mingzhi, as the "daughter of a merchant", looked embarrassed, "But I don't know how to sword and bow, I'm afraid I'm going to make the queen laugh." ”

The queen said: "It's not in the way, you can just follow us to learn." There were a lot of days in the paddock in the future, so it's interesting to just sit and watch. ”

Yu Mingzhi owes herself, "That folk girl is better than obeying her fate." ”

She was going, and Mrs. Gu, who was entrusted by Qin Ji to take care of her, naturally had to go with her. But she was now wearing a long, wide-sleeved skirt, and it was extremely inconvenient to hunt on horseback, so she had to change into her boots. When she hurriedly changed back, she didn't want the queen and the others to have taken the lead and left a small back in the distance.

She hurriedly beckoned to the maid, "Bring the horse quickly!" ”

Mrs. Zhao leaned against the door of the tent, watching Mrs. Gu ride away, hooking her lips and smiling, determined to win.

The scenery of the place where the paddock is located is already good, and with the continuous correction of some people later, it is even more picturesque and pleasing to the eye. Yu Mingzhi rode a horse and followed the queen, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and couldn't help but feel relaxed.

Soon, they were taken to a sparse forest, where rabbits and other small animals could be seen running through the bushes.

The ladies talked and laughed, and the queen specially sent a female official to teach Yu Mingzhi to shoot arrows and make knives.

When Yu Mingzhi was in Xiangzhou, he had already learned these things with his father, although he was not proficient, but he could hunt a few game. For now, she had to pretend to be unfamiliar and follow the female officer to fiddle with the bow and arrow.

The queen had taken the lead in hunting a pheasant, and everyone kept praising her.

Suddenly, an agile figure fell into their eyes.

It is a fawn with smooth and shiny coat, it walks leisurely in a small clearing, the sun falls, and the white dot pattern on its body is like a blooming plum blossom.

"What a beautiful fawn." The queen sighed, her eyes lit up, and she was reluctant to leave when she fell on the fawn.

Suddenly, the forest made a "click" sound of dead branches breaking, and the fawn straightened its neck, its ears moved, and then ran forward quickly.

"Oops, ran away!" One of the ladies cried out in disappointment.

"Let's chase it!" The queen's interest was even higher, and she rode her horse after her.

The ladies and female officials were afraid that she would make a mistake, so they hurriedly chased after her.

The female official who was with Yu Mingzhi was even more worried about the queen's safety, and hurried to catch up with her after giving an explanation.

Yu Mingzhi didn't want to be separated from them, so he followed.

The originally sparse forest became denser and denser the deeper it went, and the figures in front of them flashed behind the trees, but they disappeared in the blink of an eye. She frowned slightly, and took advantage of the fact that there was only Zhu'er beside her, and hurriedly chased after her.

The steed jumped over a stream and jumped into a slightly open spot, where a wild boar looked at the horse's hooves and ran past. She looked at the fat boar that had scurried into the bushes and was silent, and suddenly became aware of the sound of horses' hooves behind her.

She looked back and saw a tall steed crashing straight into her.