The women slept in the carriages at night, but Li Chenjiao was fine; she could fall asleep anywhere, and the maids went to the trouble of providing her with soft pillows.
I also brought a blanket. It was late April, and the carriage windows were tightly closed. Although it was a bit chilly at night, the blanket was just right.
Li Chenjiao slept quite comfortably that night.
This time, His Majesty's southern tour was mainly to inspect the Yellow River works, measure water levels, manage floods, and pay homage at the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.
To be more specific, we spent more time in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, so the first few days were naturally a bit bumpy.
The next day, Li Chenjiao woke up while the carriage was swaying. Qiu Hu used the cool water from the water bag to wipe Li Chenjiao's face, and the washing up was done in a simple way.
The women of the families were not in a position to groom themselves while on the carriage; in the words of the nobles, they were disheveled and unkempt. Naturally, they would not receive any invitations or requests for an audience.
Around noon, the carriage stopped for a while. Li Chenjiao asked Qiu Hu to lift the carriage curtain and take a look. They could see smoke rising from the chimneys in the distance, guessing that the imperial chefs were starting a fire.
They could make do with dry rations, but the Emperor couldn't be picky.
Li Chenjiao silently told Qiu Hu to pull the carriage curtain closed, then took a big bite of dry rations.
A day later, the dry rations had become quite hard.
Li Chenjiao chewed silently, and after a while she suddenly heard something knocking on the carriage window.
She glanced at Qiu Hu.
Qiu Hu stepped forward, lifting the carriage curtain to shield her master from view: "What's wrong?"
"Eunuch Su? Does Eunuch Su have any instructions for coming at this time?"
Li Chenjiao kept chewing, listening to Qiu Hu and Su Peisheng talking. After a while, she waited for Su Peisheng to leave before staring blankly at the fish soup that Su Peisheng had brought.
"This thing is really rare right now."
Qiu Hu carefully placed the fish soup on the table, sighing with admiration.
Li Chenjiao's eyes were practically popping out of her head: "Quick, quick, just in time to soothe my throat."
Between comforting her stomach and changing clothes, Li Chenjiao decisively chose to prioritize comforting her stomach.
After a day of eating dry rations, the bowl of hot fish soup that Fourth Master had someone bring was truly a precious treat.
Yesterday, Li Chenjiao sent some dried meat to Fourth Master, and today Fourth Master sent some fish soup.
As they went back and forth, Li Chenjiao sipped her fish soup and suddenly couldn't help but laugh.
It's great. Although the journey outside the manor was arduous, the lack of constraints made it truly enjoyable.
Bai Jia's carriage was right behind Li Chenjiao's. She might not have known that Li Chenjiao had gotten fish soup, but Su Peisheng had come two or three times in a row, and he was carrying something in his hand. Who wouldn't have noticed?
But what could Bai Jia say besides self-deprecatingly remarking, "Look at this, this is what it means to be favored"?
From the moment she learned that Consort Li was going to accompany her on this southern tour, didn't she already know in her heart that she was the one to be added to the list? After all, Consort Li was truly favored.
Three days later, the imperial procession finally stopped that evening, and everyone set up camp to rest.
The Fourth Prince finally returned to his original position from beside the Emperor.
Fourth Master's tent was half again as big as Li Chenjiao's carriage.
Bai Jia's tent was pitifully small.
When Bai Jia learned from Danqing that Consort Li had entered the Fourth Prince's tent, she simply waved her hand and said, "I know."
That was the last sentence.
I'm genuinely envious, but to actually ask her to do things that would make her vie for favor? Come on!
She failed when she went north, and now that she has the favored Consort Li, how could she possibly succeed? Is she dreaming?
If Bai Jia still harbored some hope before heading north last year, she now truly has no such thoughts left.
Bai Jia simply took this opportunity to relax.
With this in mind, Bai Jiashi herself felt much better.
Everything was relatively peaceful during the southern tour.
But this same day was April 30th.
In the house, new people enter the house.
Since they were newcomers to the household, everyone was informed early on that they should go to the main courtyard.
It was only at this point that Madam Song learned who the new bride was.
"Niohuru and Liu?" Song frowned as soon as she heard these two surnames.
After a long pause, she suddenly laughed again: "So that's why the Princess Consort kept it a secret for so long. It turns out that there really is an extraordinary person entering the mansion this time."
Suddenly she stopped rushing and, after a moment, changed direction: "Let's go through the garden today."
That would mean going in a really big circle.
Liu Xu paused for a moment, but finally obeyed and helped Song Shi walk towards the garden.
"There's still no word from Princess Wu's side," she whispered a reminder.
Unexpectedly, her master clapped his hands and laughed after hearing her words: "That would be even better. I was worried about not being able to meet her."
She wanted to see how the Wu family would react when they encountered her.
However, Song didn't run into Wu after going around in circles, but she did run into Liu, who had just entered the mansion.
Song naturally didn't know whether the other party was Liu or Niohuru, but didn't Liu introduce herself?
While Liu was paying her respects, Song took a quick look at her.
He was of average build, had a decent physique, was pretty, and had a reasonably good voice.
Upon closer inspection, Song unconsciously adopted a critical attitude.
The willow catkins on the side also dared to take a look.
The newly arrived Lady Liu is a different kind of beauty. Her spring qipao is thin, but you can still vaguely see her plumpness underneath. Her skin is not fair, but her eyebrows and eyes are heroic and spirited, which makes people feel comfortable just by looking at her.
She speaks without hesitation or ambiguity, possessing some of Wu Gege's straightforwardness, though lacking some of Wu Gege's gentleness and elegance.
But it also has a different kind of charm.
Liu Xu secretly clicked her tongue in amazement; this was something that the women in the mansion didn't have.
However, Madam Song clearly had no intention of saying much to Madam Liu at this moment. She casually remarked, "It's getting late. Don't be late for paying your respects to the Fujin." Then she headed straight for the main courtyard.
Liu, however, stared at Song's retreating figure for a long while before suddenly bursting into laughter.
Let's go.
After Liu also left the garden and walked towards the main courtyard, it was a while before hurried footsteps could be heard.
"That girl is really careless." It sounded like a girl's voice.
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