On April 30th, the backyard was calm and peaceful during the day.
The Princess Consort originally planned to hold a farewell banquet for the Fourth Prince before he set off from the mansion, but the Fourth Prince directly refused, giving the reason that it was inconvenient to drink alcohol on the day of his departure.
So there were no unusual little incidents in the backyard.
Just as Li Chenjiao had guessed, Fourth Master didn't go anywhere that night; he simply stayed in the East Courtyard.
Li Chenjiao thought for a moment, if Fourth Master were to come to the East Courtyard again today, he would probably be completely drained...
However, she can't handle it here either.
Let the Fourth Master get a good night's sleep by himself.
Li Chenjiao slept well that night. She hadn't slept well all night, and even though she took half a day's nap, she still felt like she hadn't slept enough. Today, since the Fourth Master wasn't coming, Li Chenjiao asked Granny Lin to keep an eye on things while she went to bed early to settle down.
Meanwhile, Fourth Master's sleep became less restful.
Or rather, the Fourth Prince is finding it even harder to sleep tonight.
But I have to set off with my personal guards tomorrow, and if I don't sleep well tonight, I won't have the energy to travel tomorrow.
The Fourth Master never knew how he finally fell asleep.
The next day, the Fourth Prince left the mansion quietly with his entourage. He got up very early, and the Princess Consort in the main courtyard was just getting up when he left.
Li Chenjiao was unusually awake in the East Courtyard. She thought that since it was the Fourth Prince's departure today, the Fujin would probably have everyone go to see him off, so Li Chenjiao got up very early.
But when the Fujin herself arrived at the front yard, there was no sign of the Fourth Prince.
Naturally, Li Chenjiao was able to sleep peacefully again.
She was asleep, while the Fourth Prince went into the palace first and kowtowed outside the Qianqing Palace. His Majesty got up, but the Fourth Prince did not make much of a fuss. After respectfully kowtowing, he led his men out of the Forbidden City.
Because this time the troops were transferred from the Fujian Navy, the Ministry of War did not allocate many men to accompany the Fourth Prince, only 500 cavalrymen. However, all of them were elite soldiers, and what was rare was that these 500 elite soldiers were all good swimmers.
This was someone the Emperor himself instructed the Minister of War to carefully select.
In addition, the Thirteenth Prince's father-in-law, Marhan, used to be the Minister of War. Even though he has now moved to the Ministry of Personnel, his connections from his time in the Ministry of War still work.
Before his departure, the Fourth Prince received a list of 500 elite soldiers who would accompany him. About 50 of them were circled in red ink; these were the trusted confidants whom the Fourth Prince would rely on this time.
This is the perfect time to win people over, but Fourth Master didn't do much. He wasn't usually a talkative person in public. Even in front of Li Chenjiao, Fourth Master would only occasionally become more talkative; he wasn't cold, but he certainly wasn't talkative either.
But the Fourth Prince's expression was never in words, but in actions.
For example, after leaving the capital, the Fourth Prince did not put on any airs. He ate and lived with the cavalrymen. Even when they were exposed to the elements, the Fourth Prince never frowned. After several days, some of the younger cavalrymen couldn't help but complain in private, but the Fourth Prince never said a word. Sometimes when they were camping in the wild at night, the cavalrymen could see the Fourth Prince reading by the fire. He was reading military books.
Immediately, the cavalrymen secretly held Fourth Master in high esteem.
In fact, in fact...
In reality, the Fourth Prince is indeed not afraid of hardship, but he is not so self-disciplined as to read military books. He is reading a storybook he took from Li Chenjiao's study in the East Courtyard. These past two days, the Fourth Prince has been reading a storybook about a woman disguised as a man infiltrating a military camp, but from the cover, it looks like a military book.
This was something only Su Peisheng and Fulu, who were standing behind Fourth Master, could see.
Fourth Master was finding joy amidst hardship. The journey from the capital to Guangdong was truly long. He had only been traveling for a few days, and his thighs were still a bit chafed and red. After all, he wasn't a soldier who spent every day on horseback.
But Fourth Master concealed it well, only secretly applying ointment to himself when he returned to the tent at night, using the ointment that Li Chenjiao had prepared for him before his departure.
A whole box of plasters.
As for gifts from others, Fourth Prince also brought some from his mother and Wen Xian, while the gifts from other sources were simply stored away in the storeroom by Su Peisheng.
Because the Fourth Prince had celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival before his departure, he gave instructions in advance on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival.
For the group of grown men, Fourth Master prepared meat dumplings and two large salted duck eggs, along with hard steamed buns. The cavalrymen drooled at the sight of the oily salted duck eggs.
This time, Fourth Master silently won over the hearts of the cavalry once again.
Food is the most important thing for people.
It was also the Dragon Boat Festival, but while the Fourth Prince was on his way to Guangdong, enduring wind and rain and traveling day and night, life at his residence was much better; at least he wouldn't be exposed to the sun.
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the two children's urge to wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) returned. Li Chenjiao didn't stop them; if the children loved wrapping them, then let them wrap them...
Because it was the Dragon Boat Festival, and presumably the Fourth Master had given prior instructions, the children were all given a day off.
However, the two children only remembered to make zongzi after noon. It was only when the kitchen sent over this year's zongzi that they saw them and remembered.
Li Chenjiao no longer craves zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), but she craves salted duck eggs.
At night, the mother and her two children ate zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), salted duck eggs, and finally enjoyed a cup of plum drink. Life was truly delightful.
Li Chenjiao felt a little nostalgic for Fourth Master.
For the past few days, she had been sleeping in a daze, so Li Chenjiao really had time to think about Fourth Master.
Looking up at the sky, Li Chenjiao thought for a moment about Fourth Master, wondering where he should be now, and whether it would be much darker by the time he returned...
After a jumble of thoughts, Li Chenjiao belatedly realized that, oh, she still missed Fourth Master a little bit.
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