Li Chenjiao didn't dare to utter a sound or move.
Firstly, her speaking at this time seemed somewhat abrupt, and secondly, given the self-cultivation of a favored concubine, how could she allow the Fourth Prince to be put in an embarrassing situation?
After all, the Fourth Prince didn't seem willing before dinner, but now that it was late at night, he reached out and touched the baby in his belly.
Li Chenjiao naturally wouldn't expose Fourth Master's mistake at this moment.
However, the baby in her belly had long since calmed down, and Fourth Master couldn't feel anything at the moment.
Li Chenjiao waited for a moment, and then the Fourth Master withdrew his hand.
The Fourth Master did not speak, and Li Chenjiao did not dare to open her eyes. She could only vaguely hear the Fourth Master sigh softly in the darkness.
Li Chenjiao closed her eyes, her dark eyelashes trembling slightly.
What is Fourth Master thinking right now?
Given Fourth Master's taciturn nature, Li Chenjiao was left to guess everything, but she wasn't a fortune teller and couldn't possibly foresee everything...
After a long while, Li Chenjiao sighed silently in her heart.
Being a favored concubine isn't easy.
However, when Li Chenjiao woke up the next day, she completely forgot about what had happened before she went to bed the night before.
The weather was getting colder on the first day of the first lunar month. After waking up and washing up, Li Chenjiao changed into a thick, light brown, dark-patterned padded jacket.
Li Chenjiao ate glutinous rice balls for breakfast. She had eaten them several times during the first month of the lunar year, but she had been mentioning them for breakfast these past few days.
After having breakfast, she sat by the small stove watching Qiu Hu and the others roast chestnuts and sweet potatoes. She could only watch, at most flipping through the bibs and little clothes the maids were embroidering for the babies in their bellies.
Since they didn't know whether Li Chenjiao was carrying a boy or a girl, the maids embroidered many different styles. However, upon closer inspection, Li Chenjiao noticed that she embroidered more styles for the prince.
The tiger-head shoes embroidered with green plum blossoms were especially adorable. Li Chenjiao touched the fine stitches on them. After the maids served roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts, she heard Xiao Luzi say that something had been delivered from outside.
Li Chenjiao was surprised for two seconds. Who outside would send her something?
After Xiao Luzi came in to report, it was learned that the New Year's gifts were sent by Consort Li Jia from Yuqing Palace and Consorts Zhao Jia and Cao from the Third Prince's residence.
This was Li Chenjiao's oversight. In previous years, she had not had close contact with Consort Li Jia and others, so she had never sent them anything.
At this moment, Li Chenjiao first glanced at the things they had brought.
Most of them are decorative items.
The gift from Consort Li Jia was a beautifully carved, painted nanmu wood rocking horse. It must be said that Consort Li Jia really put her heart into it, sending this item specifically for children to play with after learning that Li Chenjiao was pregnant.
However, Li Chenjiao waved her hand and directly had Dongsheng send the rocking horse to Aman. Sure enough, before long, bursts of laughter came from the little girl's room.
Li Chenjiao politely saw the person who delivered the gift off first, and even if she were to return the gift, she couldn't send it back immediately.
The concubine Zhao Jia sent over a small, clear glass ornament depicting red plum blossoms in the snow. Li Chenjiao had never seen such a large piece of glass before.
Zhao Jia's work was also thoughtful; the red plum blossoms in the snow perfectly matched the mood of winter.
Li Chenjiao couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement; the favored concubines were indeed generous with their spending.
The gift from Consort Cao was a black walnut wood openwork embroidered screen with persimmons and auspicious symbols. As expected of someone from the Cao family, the embroidery on the screen was clearly the work of Suzhou and Hangzhou embroiderers, and it was extremely lifelike.
After admiring the screen once, Li Chenjiao had Qiu Hu place it in the side room, and the ornaments sent by Zhao Jia were also placed in the empty space on the antique shelf.
However, Li Chenjiao was somewhat troubled when it came to returning the gift.
It's not that she doesn't have good things here, but the difficulty lies in the implications behind giving gifts.
Li Jia's situation was relatively easy to resolve. Li Chenjiao quickly selected a small-leaf sandalwood "Full House of Joy" round plate from the storeroom. This was a complete set of items, consisting of dozens of round plates of varying sizes, which were a gift from the Fourth Prince when Li Chenjiao was first invited to be named a secondary consort.
However, Li Chenjiao did not like these precious items when dining, so she stored them all in the storeroom.
Besides this, Li Chenjiao also picked out a purple-tipped brush, which was naturally not for Li Jiashi, but for Prince Hongxi.
Prince Hongxi will be six years old by the spring. I heard that His Majesty had allowed Prince Hongxi to study in the Imperial Study last year.
Li Chenjiao also selected two items of comparable value from both Cao's and Zhao Jia's households, and added some other items as well. Cao's household received a clear glass cat-shaped cup.
Li Chenjiao remembered that Cao Shi loved sweet wine, and fine wine naturally deserves a fine cup.
Li Chenjiao found a box of velvet flowers at Zhaojia's place. They were all patterns from the palace, but they weren't for them to wear; they were for the little princesses.
The second princess is still young, and Li Chenjiao usually has the nannies braid her hair into small pigtails. The little girl is very active, and hairpins and hair ornaments can easily hurt her.
During the New Year festival, the young girl went to the palace and wore some small velvet flowers and pearl hairpins. After only two days, Li Chenjiao noticed flower marks on the girl's face. Fortunately, they were just marks left by the pearl hairpins, not marks from the hairpins that had fallen and hit her face.
However, before sending the return gift, Li Chenjiao still asked Xiao Luzi to inform the Fourth Master in the front yard.
You could say Li Chenjiao is being cautious, or you could say she's playing the innocent card.
However, Li Chenjiao would only do this once in a row.
After returning to the front courtyard that evening, Fourth Master listened to Su Peisheng's report but didn't say anything. However, before leaving the front courtyard, he asked Su Peisheng to go to the storeroom and pick out a few more items to send to the east courtyard.
Su Peisheng followed the Fourth Master out of the front yard. He waited for a moment and then asked, "Is Master going to... Master Li's place in the East Courtyard today?"
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