Li Chenjiao originally thought that the first person she would see after getting off the carriage would be the Fujin (principal wife). She had thought about how she should react when she saw the Fujin, but to her surprise, she did not see the Fujin.

She did see two maids from the main courtyard. Upon seeing this, Yu Ru first went forward to greet the Second Prince, and then went to apologize to the Fourth Prince.

Li Chenjiao also went to pick up the two children, so she didn't listen carefully to what Yu Ru said to the Fourth Master. She only vaguely heard words like "illness," but she didn't hear clearly.

Li Chenjiao didn't hear what the Fourth Master said. She paid attention to the two children's spirits. After sitting in the carriage for half a day, the two children were a little listless. However, neither of the children snuggled into Li Chenjiao's arms. Instead, they stood on either side of Li Chenjiao, wrapping their arms around their mother's arms.

Not far away, Yu Ru first had the wet nurse take the Second Prince back, and then she personally went to supervise the unloading of the trunks.

Fourth Master turned to look at Li Chenjiao. He raised his hand, an instinctive action, but the next second he withdrew it.

"You're pregnant, don't stand there, go back and have your meal. I've ordered someone to watch over things here." Fourth Master's hand slowly lowered. At this moment, everyone was busily unloading the chests and trunks. Some people noticed the commotion here, while others didn't care at all.

Seeing this, Li Chenjiao also showed concern for the Fourth Master: "Your Master, be careful not to aggravate the wound." She didn't say anything more, but she also raised her finger and pointed to the Fourth Master's abdomen.

The Fourth Master gave a soft "hmm," and his lowered hand twitched slightly, making a gesture that only the two of them understood—a gesture to shoo someone away.

Li Chen chuckled, glanced back at Fourth Master, and then led the two children toward the east courtyard.

Song's gaze unconsciously shifted as she watched Fourth Master and Li standing face to face in the distance. Although she couldn't hear what they were saying, she inexplicably felt that no one else could interfere in the relationship between Fourth Master and Li.

Song lowered her eyes, her emotions a mixture of resentment, envy, and annoyance, which ultimately turned into a sigh.

How could she be content with this? To resign herself to dying in the backyard at such a beautiful age was something she was truly unwilling to do. However, the Fourth Prince was not the kind of person who would favor someone simply because of their beauty. Otherwise, the Xie family back then, and the Niohuru family now, would have already made it big.

Song knew that the Fourth Prince liked people who were well-behaved, so she kept a low profile for the past two years. However, her low profile did not earn her even a little bit of the Fourth Prince's favor.

Madam Song stopped looking and said, "Alright, let's pack up the trunks and head back."

Bai Jia glanced at Wu Shi behind her. She remembered that the next two days were the day of the First Prince's... She didn't look at her deliberately. After a couple of seconds, she looked away. She had noticed the commotion in front of her, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She didn't care at all and was actually quite happy to see it happen.

Li Chenjiao returned to the East Courtyard. Although the west side hall of Cangzhuo Hall in Changchun Garden was large, it was still not as comfortable and pleasant as the East Courtyard.

Granny Lin and Pingniang had already prepared everything in advance. However, since Li Chenjiao and the children were not around, Granny Lin would have to take care of the persimmons and frozen pears.

The persimmons are fine, but the frozen pears need to be walked around every day.

Lin Mama first welcomed the mother and her two children back. She personally watched the eunuchs carry the trunks back, and she quickly noticed the extra person.

"What is that?" Granny Lin asked Qiu Ci.

Li Chenjiao had already taken the two children into the inner room to rest. Qiu Ci replied, "She was the maid who served the master in Changchun Garden, named Baozhen. The master agreed to let her stay by his side to serve him, which can be considered as filling the vacancy left by Lülan."

Upon hearing this, Granny Lin nodded slightly and quickly withdrew her scrutinizing gaze: "Have you investigated the details thoroughly?"

Qiu Ci said that she had become quite familiar with Bao Zhen recently, and she smiled and said, "If someone's background wasn't clean, they wouldn't be here. But with Granny keeping an eye on everything, I can relax quite a bit."

Seeing that Qiu Hu was free, he called out to Qiu Ci, and Qiu Ci quickly went over.

After all the trunks were packed, Li Chenjiao overheard Lin Mama mentioning that there were several more trunks than when she left, likely gifts from His Majesty.

Li Chenjiao first sent the two children to play with Dongli, while she listened to Lin Mama talk about other things.

Nothing much has changed in the household over the past month or so. Lin Mama only mentioned that the Princess Consort's health doesn't seem as good as it was a while ago, and she doesn't know why.

For more than a month, he had basically not left the main courtyard. Even the Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival were handled by his servants, and the Fujin (wife) did not show up.

Li Chenjiao hummed in agreement. Now that's settled, both the Fourth Prince and his wife will need to recuperate and will be exempt from receiving guests.

I just don't know what will happen on the day of the Golden Banquet. It's impossible for the Fourth Prince and his wife to not show up, and for her, a mere concubine, to eagerly enter the palace.

I wonder if this year's Golden Awards will be any different from previous years.

However... Li Chenjiao herself was pregnant, which could be a good excuse to feign illness.

...

Back at the manor, everything was no different from that at Changchun Garden. However, Li Chenjiao did not frequently go to the front courtyard. Instead, Su Peisheng or Fulu would bring her some food and ask about her appetite.

On the day of the Golden Festival, the Fourth Prince did not go to the palace; the Emperor exempted him directly. However, the Princess Consort still went to the palace. Li Chenjiao was not in good spirits; her pregnancy was indeed not easy.

However, Li Chenjiao's pregnancy was not so advanced that she could not walk, so she still brought her child into the palace on the day of the Golden Banquet.

These days, Prince Zhi and the Third Prince are the most prominent figures in the imperial court, while the Eighth Prince has gradually faded into obscurity.

That day, His Majesty stayed at the Third Prince's residence for quite a while before returning to the palace, almost in the evening.

The Third Prince was riding high, and even his Third Princess Consort, Dong E, was trembling with pride. Before entering the palace, she met Li Chenjiao and the Princess Consort, and happened to run into Dong E. Dong E was beaming with pride, a stark contrast to the Princess Consort.

The princess's complexion today is obviously due to excessive makeup; it's obvious at a glance.

Li Chenjiao didn't get involved in the verbal sparring between the two; she only winked at Zhaojia and Cao, who were behind Dong'e.