Madam Xie slowly stood up and took a deep breath.
This shows that she was still scared.
Her gaze was almost greedily fixed on the sable that was being blown by the north wind as Li left, and she gritted her teeth again.
She knew her chance had come when she found out in September that her period hadn't come.
Regardless, this is Fourth Master's own flesh and blood.
Like Lady Wu of the South Courtyard, wasn't she also not much favored by the Fourth Prince? It was only because she was lucky enough to have a child and gave birth to the eldest prince of the mansion that the Fourth Prince would always think of Lady Wu to some extent.
Madam Xie slowly walked towards her courtyard and gently placed her hand on her abdomen.
And now that the first three months have passed, it seems the baby in the womb is also taking care of its mother, as there haven't been any morning sickness symptoms so far.
However, when Xie went out today, she was very careful to wrap a binding band around her abdomen to avoid being noticed by anyone with ulterior motives.
The main reason why Madam Xie was still a little scared was that Consort Li had mentioned twice that she was ill.
Xie Hengyi was now suspicious that Li Shi had discovered something, and could only remind herself to be more careful when leaving the courtyard in the future.
Li Chenjiao returned to the East Courtyard, and as soon as she entered the courtyard, she couldn't help but want to take off her cloak: "It's so stuffy."
The sable fur sent by the Fourth Prince was indeed quite nice, and it would be very warm if made into a cloak, but it would still be a bit cumbersome to wear around the neck for a long time.
The two maids quickly helped Li Chenjiao up, and only after Li Chenjiao went into the house and lit a charcoal fire did they take off her cloak.
After Li Chenjiao sat down and caught her breath, Xiao Luzi respectfully presented her with the letter.
Li Chenjiao took a sip of sweet water and, seeing this, asked, "Who delivered the letter?"
Xiao Luzi replied with a smile, "Reporting to Master, it's a letter from Jiaozhou."
Then it could only be a letter sent by Li Chenjiao's father and mother.
Li Chenjiao was stunned: "So fast?"
After being granted the title of concubine, Li Chenjiao wrote a letter home, but she only managed to finish writing it and send it back in the last few days.
After becoming a concubine, Li Chenjiao no longer had as many reservations about writing letters to her family. However, she was still cautious and only wrote letters and sent them home when the New Year was approaching.
Logically speaking, the reply shouldn't have been sent so quickly.
Could something have happened at home?
Li Chenjiao's heart skipped a beat, and a rare feeling of panic arose in her heart. She hurriedly took the letter from Xiao Luzi and opened it.
As usual, the envelope contained a thick stack of letters, and at the bottom were large denomination banknotes. I wonder how long my father and mother had been saving them up.
Li Chenjiao felt relieved to see that there were silver notes tucked into the letter. If her father and mother could exchange them for silver notes of such denomination, then the family should be alright.
The servants, being quite perceptive, kept quiet.
The only sound in the room was the quiet rustling of Li Chenjiao turning the pages of a letter.
After flipping through the letter, Li Chenjiao breathed a sigh of relief once again.
Nothing was wrong at home, except that she and her father and mother seemed to be on the same wavelength and wanted to write some letters.
Although Li Chenjiao didn't slip silver notes into the letter she sent home, she still had her servants pack up some medicinal herbs that the Fourth Prince and Consort De had given her and send them home.
These are all medicinal herbs that Li Chenjiao doesn't need right now, but are very necessary for her father and mother.
The letters were naturally filled with expressions of reassurance and peace, just like Li Chenjiao's letters home, which were all about reporting good news and not bad.
"My sister-in-law is pregnant? What a coincidence!" When Li Chenjiao went to the capital for the imperial concubine selection, her brother's wife, Jue Luo, had not yet entered the family, and now she was pregnant.
Li Chenjiao said this to Qiu Hu, who was standing to the side.
Qiu Hu was someone Li Chenjiao had served since her days in the inner chambers. Hearing Li Chenjiao's words, Qiu Hu was quite surprised and then began to exchange auspicious words with Qiu Ci.
Li Chenjiao was indeed quite happy. Since becoming a concubine, in addition to having her own small kitchen, she finally had another thing that she felt was pretty good.
That means I have more opportunities to contact my family.
Li Chenjiao smiled brightly: "I'll pick out longevity locks and the like from the storeroom in advance, and have someone deliver them to the family before my sister-in-law gives birth."
Li Chenjiao had already anticipated this.
However, since Jue Luo was not present, Li Chenjiao could not know whether Jue Luo was carrying a boy or a girl, nor could she know whether the pregnancy was going well or not.
Li Chenjiao read through the letters one by one, but after reading them, she was somewhat puzzled.
In the letter, her mother kept reminding her not to be too flamboyant, but also not to be too weak and get bullied. The words her mother used to say when she was still a young girl also appeared in the letter. She also told Li Chenjiao to be careful not to offend any petty people in the mansion.
When her family wrote to Li Chenjiao last time, her mother seemed to have written the same thing. However, last time, her mother also subtly mentioned that Li Chenjiao should at least show some respect to the Fujin (wife of the deceased wife) on the surface.
This time, her own mother was more direct, simply telling Li Chenjiao to stay away from the Fujin and focus on her own affairs.
Li Chenjiao found it increasingly strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
After reading the letter, Li Chenjiao instructed Qiu Hu to keep it safe, and then waited for the letter she had just written to be delivered home, hoping that a reply would arrive during the New Year holidays.
While waiting for a reply, Li Chenjiao did indeed stay far away from the main wife, just as her mother had said in her letter.
It was winter again, and although Li Chenjiao wanted to see the red plum blossoms in the garden, she was afraid of the cold and too lazy to deal with anyone she encountered.
So they simply told Xiaoluzi and Dongsheng to go to the garden and pick a few red plum blossoms to put in the Qiushui bottle in the house whenever they had free time.
Li Chenjiao occasionally took a look and found it pleasing to the eye.
As for Madam Xie, after Li Chenjiao returned to the East Courtyard that day after paying her respects, she did indeed have Xiao Luzi keep an eye on Madam Xie.
However, Madam Xie remained ill and did not leave her home. The family physician had visited her once or twice and prescribed medicine, but she still did not get better.
Later, when the physician came to examine her pulse, Li Chenjiao also noticed Sun Langzhong's complexion and couldn't tell that he would cover up for Xie Shi.
How did Madam Xie manage to keep something from the imperial physician when something happened?
Li Chenjiao was curious for a moment, but couldn't figure it out, so she gave up on thinking about it.
At this moment, she only thought that Madam Xie did not want the people in the backyard to know about her pregnancy and arouse their jealousy, and she thought that Madam Xie would eventually tell them about her pregnancy.
By December 15th, Xie's pregnancy had reached four months.
However, since the Princess Consort was feeling quite unwell, she exempted everyone from going to the main courtyard to pay their respects.
This allowed the Xie family to escape once again.
But how long can they hide?
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