The sun had already moved from behind the bamboo forest to above the Martial Arts Training Ground, and it was estimated that it was about time to start practicing punches.

He changed the subject, telling how The Female Protagonist, after being transferred to the prefecture, encountered the first true major villain.

A powerful and influential family that had entrenched itself in the prefecture for many years, with deep roots and lush leaves, a family that even the imperial inspector dared not easily provoke.

On her first day as a new official, The Female Protagonist was given a warning:

A bloody human head was hung at the gate of her residence; it was a subordinate official she had just promoted the day before.

The maids in the residence were scared until they fainted, and the group of advisors behind her were deathly pale, but she was not.

"What did she do?" Dongmei asked subconsciously.

Zhou Ming spread his hands, a pained expression on his face: "Sister Dongmei, my legs have recovered, is it time to practice punches?"

She stared at Zhou Ming expressionlessly for three seconds, her gaze as if weighing whether to press him directly back to the ground.

Zhou Ming looked at her with an innocent face, pointing to the sun that had risen to the top of his head, his meaning very clear:

It is time to practice punches; this is the rule you set yourself.

She tapped her fingers on the back of her hand twice, and finally waved her hand: "No punching today, you squat for a while longer and continue the story."

"That won't do, my legs hurt when I hold the Horse Stance, and once they hurt, my brain gets messy, and I can't speak clearly."

"Then stand and tell it."

Zhou Ming was almost laughing out loud in his heart, but on the surface, he had an expression of having no choice, climbing up from the ground to pat the dirt off his buttocks, clearing his throat to continue the story.

After telling it for another hour, Zhou Ming began to feel dry-mouthed.

Looking at Dongmei, who was still spirited and listening with great interest, Zhou Ming became more and more certain.

When he watched novels and dramas in his previous life, why did he always think "I'll sleep after reading one more chapter" or "I'll do my homework after one more episode"?

Because the hook is there; you know the author is dangling you, but you can't help but want to know what happens next.

This is the human instinctive reaction to "to be continued."

As long as the hook is cast accurately and the rhythm is tightly controlled, no matter how good Dongmei is at fighting, she is still just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl.

In a world where even storybooks are only of the quality of 《False Crown Order》, his story is a nuclear-level dimensionality reduction strike.

One sat on a small stool leaning slightly forward, the other stood on the muddy ground speaking eloquently.

On the Martial Arts Training Ground, there was only his voice and the rustling of bamboo leaves, occasionally mixed with a question from Dongmei.

The two, one telling and one listening, did not know when the sun had moved to the zenith, hanging brightly there.

Unknowingly, the whole morning passed just like that.

Zhou Ming swallowed, moistened his dry throat, and felt that telling this for half a day was more tiring than actually squatting in the Horse Stance for an afternoon.

He looked at Dongmei with an innocent face: "Sister Dongmei, it's noon, I have to go back to eat. Can we tell the rest tomorrow?"

Then he saw the expression on Dongmei's face go through an extremely wonderful transformation process.

First, she was stunned, then incredulous, then angry, and finally settled on the edge of wanting to kill someone.

The picture book in her hand had already been crumpled, and Zhou Ming had no doubt that if it wasn't a picture book but his own neck, he would be being wrapped in a straw mat for burial right now.

But the story he told all morning was not in vain after all; even if Dongmei wanted to hear more, she shouldn't really beat him up over this, right?

"Fine," Dongmei squeezed the word out through her teeth, took a deep breath, and stared at him with eyes that seemed to be suppressing something.

"In the afternoon, continue in the afternoon. If you don't finish the part about the military power, you will hold the Horse Stance for a whole day."

After speaking, she hugged the picture book she had crumpled herself and strode out of the Martial Arts Training Ground without looking back, her pace as fast as if she were chasing someone.

Zhou Ming stood in place, rubbing his buttocks, which were a bit numb from sitting on the ground for too long.

The corners of his mouth curled up bit by bit, reaching an angle he couldn't suppress no matter what.

It worked.

No need to practice Monkey Fist or Horse Stance anymore.

The Eldest Miss asked Dongmei to drill him, and he turned the drill session into a storytelling show.

Thinking that for the next ten days or half a month, he only needed to sit on the ground and move his lips to get by, he felt that he was simply a Genius.

After lunch, Zhou Ming dawdled in the Kitchen for a long time.

He first flipped through the lunch ingredient ledger three times, then went to the stove to watch Liu Sandao stew a pot of pork rib soup, and even moved to the back door to watch a servant chop half a bundle of firewood.

Until Liu Sandao tactfully reminded him: "Steward Zhou, if you don't go to the Martial Arts Training Ground, I'm afraid Miss Dongmei will come to invite you personally."

Only then did he reluctantly straighten his two legs, pretending to limp, and move step by step toward the Martial Arts Training Ground.

Just as he reached the bamboo forest on the outskirts of the Martial Arts Training Ground, Zhou Ming felt that the atmosphere was a bit wrong.

Normally, the guards around the Martial Arts Training Ground would definitely wink and snicker a few times upon seeing him like this.

But today, these guards were standing straight, looking forward without squinting, their expressions solemn, their waist knives hung neatly, and they didn't even dare to take a deep breath.

Zhou Ming's heart skipped a beat, and his footsteps involuntarily paused.

Could it be that Dongmei was really angry because of the little tricks he played in the morning and had set up a big formation to deal with him?

When he bypassed the bamboo forest and walked into the Martial Arts Training Ground, he saw an extra chair under the old locust tree with a canopy-like crown in the center of the field.

A person was sitting on the chair, and he immediately understood why those guards outside had all changed their demeanor.

Empress Su Mingyue was sitting on that chair.

Today, she was wearing a smoky cyan plain jacket, with no embroidery on the whole body, only a very thin silvery-white trim pressed on the collar.

Her hair bun was tied more casually than usual, with a white magnolia hairpin slanted in it, and for the first time, a freshly picked gardenia was inserted next to it, with water droplets still on the petals.

Her left hand rested on the armrest, her right hand held a cup of tea, and she was lowering her head, gently skimming the foam on the tea surface with the lid.

Her posture was so leisurely that it was as if she were sitting in her own back garden enjoying the flowers, rather than sitting in the Martial Arts Training Ground full of swords, guns, and sticks.

A row of maids and matrons stood behind her, including Chunlan and Dongmei.

Chunlan was still her dignified and steady self, while Dongmei stood next to Chunlan, her hands obediently hanging in front of her, her head lowered, but the corners of her mouth hid a very, very shallow arc.

There were also a few second-class maids who didn't usually show up, all of them curiously peeking toward Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming's footsteps paused for a moment, a moment so brief that probably only he knew.

He continued to move forward, his two legs straight, knees not bending, maintaining that half-dead posture.

He stopped five steps away from Empress Su Mingyue, lowered his head, bent his waist, and bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, Eldest Miss."