Exile Queen is Beloved
Chapter 23 - Beiming Hills

The next morning everyone was preparing to continue their journey to the hill country of Beiming, where several people were seen hoisting their luggage onto horse carriages. Later, Emperor Yuan Shi and Queen Liu Qing will be accompanied by Prince Yun Shan as well as his younger sister Princess Yun Zhe. Now, it was the Queen and the Emperor's turn to ride on the chariot. Wu Zetian was serving the emperor's sentence which forbade him from leaving the room before they returned for the fault of his personal servant.

Emperor Yuan Shi looked so bright today, he did not even take his eyes off of Qing Er to the point of making the woman misbehave. "Today Qing Er is so beautiful" Yuan Shi said.

"I am indeed always beautiful all day long," Qing Er replied as she turned her face groggy.

"My prayer is only one, complete the mission so that I do not see this ridiculous thing again" said Nemo who sat in the window of the horse-drawn carriage.

Qing Er let out a long sigh. "How will you punish Consort Wu Zetian?"

"Maybe just lock him up in his palace and not let him out. Because, the queen mother will definitely protect her" Yuan Shi said as he leaned back. "His servant shall I punish thirty lashes and be cast out of the palace."

"Fair enough, why didn't he replace me in the cold palace?" qing Er asked as she looked at Yuan Shi.

"Don't you think the queen mother acted that way just because she was the widow of the previous emperor. He has a great power behind him that can instantly coup me in one action." Yuan Shi turned his head towards Qing Er then watched her closely.

"As long as there is me, what are you afraid of? They should be taught a lesson soon!" Qing Er said with excitement.

Yuan Shi chuckled and then fell silent again and did not answer Qing Er, as did Qing Er who was now leaning in tandem with her slow breath. Not long after, their entourage arrived at the hill that was most filled with fruit farmers.

Judging from the expanse of green that spoils the eyes, a number of strawberry plants neatly lined up. The best quality fruit here unfortunately can only be marketed in Beiming. Qing Er then got off her carriage with Yuan Shi. The two of them stood while staring at the vast expanse of several fruit orchards that were ready for harvest.

Yuan Shi saw the farmers start to approach him and saluted. Prince Yun Shan and his younger brother then stood on equal footing with the emperor and his queen. They greeted the farmers and immediately explained their arrival.

After conversing with the residents, Qing Er went to see the middle-aged women picking strawberries in an unspoiled manner, but if he sees it really takes a long time especially this garden is very far spread wide.

Yuan Shi suddenly appeared at the back of Qing Er. "Is there anything that worries the Queen?"

Liu Qing turned her head towards her husband then pointed the index finger at some women who were harvesting. "Isn't this way too slow? I hear their biggest problem is that these fruits do not have adequate storage space that can hold their crops for quite a long time. While the crops can not all be sold out, especially they only send it to the traditional Beiming market because the harvest is easily rotten when moved to areas where the weather is not as cold as Beiming."

"Then, what brilliant idea did Qing 'Er have?" ask emperor.

"I was just thinking about how if these fruits were shipped to Yuanqing, there was a traditional market center and these fruits were rarely found in Beiming it would be easier to sell these fruits there," answer Qing Er.

"Qing' Er is right, but the problem is that this fruit does not last long when it is in weather that is not as cold as Beiming. On a fairly long journey to Yuanqing this fruit will instead rot to get there" Yuan shi said.

"I have an idea, isn't there a snow hill? Why not use snow blocks to keep this fruit cool and fresh? That way, during the journey the quality of the fruit will remain awake." Liu Qing replied with excitement.

Qing Er nodded happily. "Of course," he said as he walked first past Yuan Shi.

Yuan Shi smiling proudly looked at Qing Er in front of him then walked together towards Yun Shan and Yun Zhe who were talking to the farmers.

"Has the emperor been looking around?" asked Yun Shan.

"Already, Queen Qing seems to have a good idea for the farmers here." Yuan Shi opened his fan wide and then flicked at him who was not overheating, just to style.

"Okay, we'll get everyone together." Yun Shan asked his accomplices to gather all the residents.

After everyone was present in front of Yuan Shi, Liu Qing immediately explained his goal. "I understand the distress you are experiencing, so I have various ideas that might help you more quickly and precisely in harvesting to sell the harvest."

"We are very grateful to Her Majesty the Queen, what ideas does Her Majesty have?" ask one of the residents.

"Because you are still harvesting fruit manually later I will ask some people to make a harvest tool that can directly take a lot of fruit." Liu Qing turned his head towards Yun Shan to find some people helping him, the man nodded wordlessly.

"Miss Su, do you want them to make agrobot?" asked Nemo on Qing's shoulders Er.

"If you can help me too may you," Liu Qing replied.

"No-no, finish it myself I have to recover again. Bye bye!" Nemo disappeared quickly.

"Then, in order for your crops to be sold in the outside markets especially Yuanqing I want you to collect some blocks of ice to keep the fruit fresh on the way. Princess Yun Zhe, make sure Beiming has a special horse carriage to send their crops to Yuanqing. Also, in order to minimize crop damage, it would be nice to send in the morning blind before sunrise so that the ice block does not melt easily." it was obviously Liu Qing who had stunned everyone with the ingenious idea he had, but the look on their faces seemed so doubtful as there was one other big problem.

"Are you not happy?" qing Er asked the residents.

"Look at the queen, in the snow hills there is the Dao Tribe that controls the region. Their tribe did not want any outside influence that could damage the heritage of the ancestors, no one dared to harass them because they could act cruelly at will." one of the residents complained as he advanced before Qing Er and Yuan Shi.

"Right, I almost forgot. Not even the empire can tease them," Yuan Shi replied.

Qing Er furrowed her brows then turned her head towards Yuan Shi while thinking. "I'll talk to them!"

"Empress!" hold Yuan Shi.