Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 1037 - 1035_1

Chapter 1037: Chapter 1035_1

"Ah!" The Empress Dowager toppled backward!

Shocked, Du Yijin forgot to react!

Xiao’er had anticipated such an outcome and signaled Yang Liu to be prepared when she was lifting the Empress Dowager. As she did so, she purposely inclined towards Yang Liu’s direction causing the Empress Dowager to scream and the next second, fall into Yang Liu’s arms.

"Empress Dowager, you’re safe!" Yang Liu said nonchalantly to the Empress Dowager, who kept her eyes tightly shut.

The Empress Dowager had been truly terrified. After a while, once she realized she hadn’t tumbled down the mountain or been injured and there was no pain anywhere, she finally slowly opened her eyes.

"Put me down!" The Empress Dowager was unable to feel secure until her feet were firmly on the ground!

All present, except for Xiao’er, Yang Liu, and Yang Mei, sighed in vast relief! The frightening scene had utterly terrified them!

Yang Liu expressionlessly set the Empress Dowager down.

"Grand Empress Dowager, my strength is clearly greater than the Crown Princess’, and we’ve never done this before and lack experience. This oversight almost caused you to fall! Luckily, my maid reacted quickly, saving you from danger. To prevent a recurrence of such a situation, allowing me to carry you up to the Guanyin Temple alone!"

"Unnecessary!" The Empress Dowager decisively refused without thought! She was not about to put her life at risk again! Trust her benevolence? She didn’t believe one bit!

If Yang Liu had failed to catch her, she would have rolled down the cliff to her doom!

How useful could it be to make life difficult for those two without her own life!

If she lost her life and the two of them were still living well in this world, then wasn’t she at a huge loss!

The Empress Dowager was convinced that if she lost her life, Xiao’er and Du Yijin could still survive by blaming the servants—she had seen and done such things many times!

After listening to this, Xiao’er looked worried: "But what about without me carrying you up the mountain? After all, you came here because of us! I feel quite guilty! You have to worry and work hard."

Xiao’er purposefully used her own reasoning to block her. She found it distasteful to make light of or threaten others with one’s life! It harmed both oneself and others—wasn’t it just because she’s an esteemed Empress Dowager, and even if they had an accident, they wouldn’t dare let her be involved, that she came up with this method to torment herself and Du Yijin!

She wanted to let her know: when you dare to risk your lives, death might be right there, staring at you! This time, it was all a scare, but next time with someone else, they might not be so lucky!

The Empress Dowager was quite frightful and, having listened to Xiao’er’s words, her usual arrogance had faded, but that was because she didn’t even have the strength to get angry. She looked up at the mountain path, which was overwhelmingly steep and desolate, and looked back at the base of the mountain, barely having covered the first half. The Empress Dowager was also worried about what to do next!

Everyone was silent, waiting for the Empress Dowager’s decision.

The Empress Dowager was somewhat reluctant to ascend the mountain, only worried that Guanyin would blame her for not reaching the half-way point. Had she known, she would have brought more people. There were plenty of opportunities to teach them a lesson, why did she have to risk her own life in such a dangerous place!

The Empress Dowager examined those she brought—old and weak, how could she trust them to carry her up the mountain!

She then looked towards Xiao’er and Du Yijin’s direction— she dared not consider these two!

Yang Liu seemed to be a reasonable choice. She practiced martial arts, and she had caught her just now. The Empress Dowager pointed to Yang Liu: "Carry me up the mountain!"

"Yang Liu, you carry the Grand Empress Dowager up the mountain. Although your martial arts training means you are stronger than the average girl, the mountain road is rough, and we’re nowhere near halfway. We don’t know how long it will take to reach the top. When you’re tired, and can’t stand it any longer, you must speak up. Remember that the safety of Empress Dowager’s life is the priority, you understand?"

The words made the Empress Dowager’s face lose color. She thought for a moment and gave orders to one of her accompanying eunuchs: "You return and fetch several people to come here, they will help me down the mountain later!"

Upon hearing the order, the eunuch quickly ran down the mountain: not being responsible for carrying the Empress Dowager up the mountain was too good to be true!

After he had descended, the Empress Dowager turned to Xiao’er, "Didn’t you say you’re strong? Then you and your maid will carry me up the mountain! When you get too tired, figure out a solution!"

"As you wish, Grand Empress Dowager!" Xiao’er obediently responded. Under the circumstances, Yang Liu would have to carry her. Otherwise, they couldn’t just leave the Empress Dowager half-way up the mountain. And in case of an accident, who would be responsible?

After all, the Empress Dowager was an Empress Dowager. If an accident did occur, though Xiao’er and Du Yijin wouldn’t be in mortal danger, the maids and servants would not escape. Xiao’er didn’t want to get others killed because of her, so even if she didn’t want to deal with her, she had to!

In fact, many hidden guards were following Xiao’er, but she couldn’t have them come out to carry the Empress Dowager up the mountain. Otherwise, if the Empress Dowager knew Shangguan Xuanyi had arranged hidden guards to protect her, who knows what she’d think!

But these hidden guards wouldn’t come out to do such things, unless she was in mortal danger.

The Empress Dowager got heavier and heavier each year since the former emperor passed away. Except for skin care, she basically did not diet. She ate whatever she wanted and had a physique that easily put on weight. So how could she not gain weight with such eating habits!

After carrying the Empress Dowager for several hundred meters, Yang Liu was sweaty and exhausted.

"Alright, Yang Liu, let’s take a break." Xiao’er immediately proposed.

Feeling utterly worn out, Yang Liu stopped, carefully setting the Empress Dowager down.

At this point, they had ascended more than halfway, and there was less than half the journey to the Guanyin Temple. However, the last stretch was the most difficult!

Except for the Empress Dowager and Xiao’er, everyone was panting heavily!

The nannies and maids next to the Empress Dowager, carrying many offerings, were also struggling. After the Empress Dowager sat down, she still instructed them to pour water and get food, depriving them of even a moment’s rest—it could be said that they were absolutely worn out!

Xiao’er handed the water bottle to Yang Liu, who drank directly from the mouth of the bottle.

This water was from Xiao’er’s space, a lot of which she had stored earlier, which could replenish some strength.

After everyone had a little rest, and after regaining a bit of strength, Yang Liu continued to climb the mountain.

This time, Yang Liu carried the Empress Dowager up to the Guanyin Temple.

The Empress Dowager heaved a sigh of relief. Had she known earlier about the strength of Shen Xiao’er’s maid, she would have asked her to carry her up the mountain directly, thus sparing herself the repeated shocks!