Li Chenjiao knew that going to suppress pirates was more arduous than the southern and northern tours, but she still felt sorry for the Fourth Prince when she saw his injuries.
Pregnancy makes one more prone to overthinking. She was initially so shocked by the sight of the Fourth Master's wounds that she didn't even realize how her tears had fallen. But when she realized she was crying, Li Chenjiao's tears flowed like a broken string of pearls, unstoppable.
The Fourth Master had just changed into clean clothes, but a small patch was soon dampened by his tears.
Fourth Master had never realized that Li Chenjiao could cry so much.
He raised his hand to embrace her, his shoulder bone supported by Li Chenjiao. Li Chenjiao's hand rested lightly on Fourth Master's arm, afraid of touching the wound on Fourth Master's left shoulder.
"It's my fault for making you cry like this... If you keep crying, Aman and Wanwan will be back soon, and they'll think I bullied you..."
As the Fourth Master spoke, he gently patted her thin back. Noticing that Li Chenjiao had become thinner, he subconsciously hugged her even tighter.
His breathing was intermittent, and his chest was filled with unspeakable, inexplicable, and inexplicable emotions, so full that it felt like it was about to burst.
Her slightly pointed chin rested against someone's shoulder, her eyes closed, tears welling up, and the two words lingering on her tongue were full of delicate pitifulness: "Not only..."
It wasn't just Aman and Wanwan who felt that Fourth Master had bullied her; the little one in her belly also felt the same way.
Fourth Master didn't hear clearly, so he leaned closer to ask, just as Li Chenjiao looked up and saw two tear-streaked faces.
The Fourth Master was about to ask Li Chenjiao what she had just said when he was stung by the tear stains on her face.
He gently wiped away the tear stains from the corners of her eyes with his fingertips. Her eyes were red from crying, and there were several red stains on the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose, making her look pitiful.
In the quiet, secluded room, the two embraced silently. Li Chenjiao cried silently for a while longer, until she was almost unconscious.
Tears flowed like a floodgate opening, unstoppable.
Fourth Master knew that Li Chenjiao's deep affection for him stemmed entirely from her heartache for him.
It's a very strange feeling.
When he spoke with his father in the Qianqing Palace, all he could think about was how to give a good answer that would satisfy his father.
When he spoke to his mother later, he didn't want her to worry, and he didn't let her notice his injuries at all. He understood his mother's concern.
However, when Fourth Master looked at Li Chenjiao's tearful eyes, he felt something different.
Fourth Master held Li Chenjiao's hand and gently comforted her, "Don't be afraid, they are more seriously injured than I am, they will be fine in a few days..."
Li Chenjiao's shoulders trembled slightly, and her tears stopped.
She was a little frightened. The way the Fourth Master spoke in such a gentle tone was really... unsettling.
The Fourth Prince was completely unaware, but he noticed Li Chenjiao tremble. He wrapped his arms around her and looked down at Li Chenjiao.
The slight impatience that Fourth Master showed when interrogating people was nowhere to be seen now; all his tenderness was now focused on coaxing Li Chenjiao.
After a long while, Li Chenjiao finally recovered.
After she recovered, she felt embarrassed. Her slightly bent knees were a little numb, so she simply buried herself in Fourth Master's arms and didn't move.
Fourth Master seemed to chuckle softly, his chest even vibrating slightly: "Not crying anymore?"
Li Chenjiao felt a little embarrassed for crying here for so long despite her age. She could only be thankful that Aman and Wanwan had not yet returned from the front yard.
As she was thinking this, she suddenly seemed to hear Aman's voice.
Li Chenjiao thought she must have misheard; there was still at least half an hour before the two children got out of school.
But a moment later she heard an even clearer voice coming from Wanwan.
"Why don't I see Mother... Is Eunuch Su here too? Oh? Father's back?"
Although Fourth Master was taking a bath because he was tired from the long journey, it was still daytime, and only Li Chenjiao and Fourth Master were in the bathing room, while the two children were outside...
And their current posture is really...
Li Chenjiao straightened up from Fourth Master's arms, her voice lower than usual: "I'm going to check on the children."
The Fourth Master's arms were suddenly empty. Before he could withdraw his hand, he hummed in agreement and stood up as well: "There's no need to tell the children about the injury."
Upon hearing this, Li Chenjiao's initially shy expression immediately turned into a reproachful one: "If you hadn't been injured, none of this would have happened!"
Yes, if Fourth Master hadn't been injured, she wouldn't have been crying her eyes out in his arms. In the end, it's all Fourth Master's fault! He doesn't take care of himself at all.
Li Chenjiao grew angrier the more she thought about it, so she glared at the Fourth Master again.
Even though Fourth Master hadn't done anything, he still touched his nose guiltily.
Li Chenjiao was slightly satisfied and turned to leave.
As soon as she stepped out of the clean room, Wanwan bumped into her head. Li Chenjiao instinctively protected her abdomen, but Wanwan was still small, and his head was only about the height of Li Chenjiao's thigh.
The second princess walked a little slower, and seeing this, she quickly pulled her younger brother back, but her eyes still couldn't help but peek inside.
Qiu Hu was already terrified by the Fourth Prince's hasty actions, which made her break out in a cold sweat.
Only when she saw the Second Princess pull the Fourth Prince away did her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, slowly settle down.
Li Chenjiao raised her hand to her lips in a shushing gesture: "Your father just got back. He's too tired and needs to sleep and rest right now. No noise allowed... Go talk to your mother."
The second princess was the first to nod in agreement. Although she missed her father a little, she knew that people should rest when they were tired. Every year during the New Year, when she and her mother returned from the palace, she was so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep. She understood that.
The Fourth Prince didn't actually miss his father that much. Children forget things easily. Although he still remembered that his father existed, he had been spending most of his time with his mother, his maids, and a few other children for the past month or two, so he didn't really miss his father.
So the Fourth Prince obediently followed Li Chenjiao to the flower hall.
Li Chenjiao asked again, "Why did you get out of school so early today?"
The second princess walked on the inside, holding her mother's hand: "Granny said Father is back and that we can leave school early, so my brother and I came back."
“Then I’ll be back…” Li Chenjiao, the mother, mischievously imitated the little girl’s sweet voice.
The little girl pouted, but still held her mother's hand tightly.
Fourth Master waited in the clean room for a while, and then Su Peisheng arrived.
Fourth Master glanced up at the table and saw it was Su Peisheng. He said irritably, "What did your Master Li say?"
Su Peisheng noticed the disdain in his master's eyes and lowered his head: "The concubine said that Your Highness should rest well, and... and even asked the kitchen to prepare lunch for you..."
Fourth Master pondered for a moment; it sounded like Li Chenjiao was still angry with him...
Su Peisheng waited a moment: "Master?"
"Go to the side room to rest."
The Fourth Prince did not want to think about the journey back to the capital; the mere thought of it made him feel tired.
Then let's listen to Li Chenjiao and go rest.
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