Li Chenjiao lived a very comfortable life in the East Courtyard after the Fourth Master left the mansion.
Furthermore, since the Fourth Master left the mansion on the fifteenth, he was even exempted from the last greeting on the first and fifteenth of the month.
Li Chenjiao has always been someone who knows how to amuse herself.
Today she plays cards with the maids, tomorrow she plays shuttlecock under the eaves. When she gets tired, she goes to the small kitchen to watch Green Bamboo roast melon seeds. She doesn't go in, but just sits at the door with an embroidered stool brought to her. She sits at the door of the small kitchen, where Green Bamboo is busy and it's quite warm.
At night, Li Chenjiao would play with the little girl on the bed. The little girl was very active and could already sit up at five months old.
However, the little girl sometimes couldn't sit still and would fall down on the tatami after only a short while.
However, the little girl didn't cry or make a fuss. She just blinked and looked at her mother, Li Chenjiao, as if she hadn't realized what was happening yet.
Li Chenjiao was practically melting from the gaze; she was completely under the little girl's thumb every time.
Unable to contain himself any longer, he pulled the little girl into his arms and smeared drool all over her face.
The little girl wasn't afraid at all; instead, she kept giggling as she looked at Li Chenjiao.
It was as if she thought Li Chenjiao was playing a game with her.
Although Li Chenjiao was always afraid of the cold in October, it wasn't to the point where she needed to use charcoal.
Also, Li Chenjiao and the Second Princess have been playing a lot lately, and they tend to sweat easily when they play. The room is warm, and the sudden changes in temperature make them more susceptible to catching a cold and developing a fever.
Li Chenjiao felt perfectly fine drinking ginger soup every night before bed to warm herself up.
Lately, with the Fourth Master away from the mansion, the only time Li Chenjiao misses him is when she feels her bed is not warm enough as she falls asleep each night.
In autumn and winter, without the Fourth Prince as a de facto heater, it really feels a bit strange.
However, Li Chenjiao quickly came up with another idea.
With the Fourth Prince away, Li Chenjiao's wish to sleep with the Second Princess, which she had held since giving birth, was finally fulfilled.
However, when Li Chenjiao first brought it up, both wet nurses, Chen and Zhong, were strongly opposed.
Chen put it more tactfully.
“The concubine is not unaware that the second princess often gets up at night, which would disturb the concubine’s rest. Furthermore, if the second princess were to come and sleep with the concubine, it would seem that we servants are not doing our job properly.”
Since Li Chenjiao brought it up now, it proves that she already had a plan in mind, and she was just informing the two wet nurses, Chen and Zhong.
Someone as quick-witted as Granny Lin would have already realized that Li Chenjiao had made up her mind and had no intention of saying a word.
Sure enough, Li Chenjiao raised her hand and gently pressed it down to make a shushing gesture: "I understand, but Aman is my flesh and blood that I carried for ten months. Although I am usually quite leisurely, I wish I could be busier when it comes to Aman. If there is anything I can't handle, I will naturally have to trouble the nannies. At that time, I might have to trouble the nannies even more."
Li Chenjiao was telling the truth. If the Second Princess were in the other room, everything would be as before. But if she moved to Li Chenjiao's room at night, the nannies would inevitably experience some inconvenience.
The nannies might not be any more agile then than they are now.
Chen and Zhong had been in the East Courtyard for almost half a year, and they had already figured out the personality of this concubine. They also knew that going against their master would not end well, and in the end they could not go against Li Chenjiao's wishes.
Furthermore, both wet nurses could see that Li Chenjiao genuinely loved the Second Princess, unlike that Song Princess over there.
However, Song Gege didn't even bother to pretend anymore.
In the royal backyard, although they outwardly doted on their sons and daughters, in reality, each had their own distinct personalities. Hadn't Chen and Zhong seen enough of this in their lives?
However, this was the first time that Chen and Zhong, who had been wet nurses for so long, had ever seen a concubine who loved her daughters so much more than the princes.
Both Madam Chen and Madam Zhong have no doubt about the affection this concubine has for the Second Princess.
So when the Fourth Prince rushed back to the capital overnight before the New Year and returned to his residence, he didn't even bother to wash up before going to the East Courtyard. The first person he saw was not Li Chenjiao.
Instead, it was Li Chenjiao and her mother, who were sleeping soundly in their quilt.
Of course, that's a story for another time.
Li Chenjiao's bed was warm again, and there was a milky scent on the bed every time she woke up.
These peaceful days continued until the end of October, when finally a letter from the Fourth Prince arrived the day before his birthday.
Before, Li Chenjiao was just a princess, and she needed the servants in the front courtyard to give her hints before she could write to the prince. Now that Li Chenjiao has become a concubine, she can not only write to the prince openly, but she can also receive letters from him.
Yes, this time, in the letters that the Fourth Prince sent back, besides the usual ones to the concubines and the principal wife in the palace, there was also a letter to the Thirteenth Prince, who was still accompanying the Empress Dowager to relax at the Yuanmingyuan.
This time, the extra letter was from Li Chenjiao, the concubine.
This was the first time Li Chenjiao had received a letter from the Fourth Prince, which was quite novel for her.
However, after Li Chenjiao opened the Fourth Master's letter, she lost interest.
As expected, one shouldn't have any extra expectations for the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Prince did write a letter, but it contained only standard and formal words, such as instructing Li Chenjiao to be dutiful in the mansion and to take good care of the Second Princess.
The Fourth Master had said all those polite words he hadn't said to Li Chenjiao before, but now he was saying them all in this letter. However, Li Chenjiao felt annoyed by every word in the letter.
Li Chen snorted, unusually throwing a tantrum, and tossed aside the letter in her hand.
Qiu Hu dared not advise Li Chenjiao; at this moment, she could only carefully pick up the letter that Li Chenjiao had thrown on the ground.
She naturally understood that her master wasn't really angry, so she said, "Master, Fulu from the front courtyard came to ask, saying that he'll be sending a letter to Fourth Master tomorrow. What do you think?"
Li Chenjiao glanced at her and naturally understood that Qiu Hu was giving her a way out, but she didn't want to say anything else at the moment.
She looked at the letter that Qiu Hu had picked up and clicked her tongue very softly.
After a while, Li Chenjiao seemed to have thought of something, and Qiu Hu, who was standing nearby, was the first to look at her with bright eyes.
"Go and fetch pen and ink. I'll write a letter to the master right away. Also, take out the birthday gift I prepared for Fourth Master and pack it up. The weather hasn't been very sunny these past few days, so I don't know if it's dried yet."
Qiu Hu replied, "Yes, these past few days, the two maids, Lü Mei and Lü Ju, have been fanning themselves whenever they have a spare moment. I checked this morning and they're almost dry. I'll roll them up again tomorrow morning and send them to Fu Lu in the front courtyard along with the letter."
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