Upon hearing Fourth Master's words, Su Peisheng quickly withdrew to retrieve the birthday gift that Li Chenjiao had sent along with the letter.
The birthday gift was wrapped up tightly, but from a distance, the Fourth Prince could vaguely make out that it was a scroll or something similar.
Fourth Master frowned, realizing that Li Chenjiao wasn't the type to tinker with or collect famous paintings and ancient works, so it could only be that Li Chenjiao painted them herself.
Su Peisheng was holding the things, ready to unpack them himself before presenting them to the Fourth Master.
Unexpectedly, the Fourth Master glanced at him lightly, his eyes calm yet seemingly disdainful of Su Peisheng's lack of tact.
Su Peisheng obediently presented the items and watched as the Fourth Master opened them himself.
After removing the layers of outer wrapping, the first thing revealed was indeed a painting scroll.
The Fourth Prince paused for half a second, and Su Peisheng quickly followed up, "This servant seems to smell ink."
"Among the painters from Southeast Asia, this kind of ink painting is particularly skilled. Father Emperor praised these ink paintings for being so lifelike, as if the people in the paintings had come to life. I remember that the First Consort also commissioned a painter from Southeast Asia to paint a portrait of the Second Prince?"
Su Peisheng responded, "Oh, now that you mention it, I just remembered. That painting is still hanging in Consort De's palace. Every time you visit, she praises it."
Su Peisheng could tell from the smell of ink that it was an oil painting, so he naturally tried his best to please his master.
Fourth Master naturally recognized the smell. He slowly unrolled the scroll, and the smell of ink became stronger, wafting towards him. Similarly, the entire scroll was revealed to Fourth Master.
The scene in the painting is familiar; it is the small courtyard outside the East Courtyard.
However, there are some differences. There are no red plum trees planted outside the east courtyard where Li lives. The red plum trees stand tall and proud in the wind, and you can also see some white snow.
Snowflakes covered the eaves of the courtyard. Fourth Master leaned closer to take a look and then touched the painting: "It's not all oil painting."
The snow on the eaves and the snowflakes about to fall on the plum blossoms were both painted with light ink.
Fourth Master snorted: "She's just trying to fool me."
It's neither Western nor Chinese.
After saying this, Fourth Master raised his hand and stroked the traces of snow foam in the painting: "Your painting skills have finally improved somewhat."
Su Peisheng stood to the side watching, and suddenly said, "This plum tree is quite interesting."
Fourth Master glanced at it a couple more times, then suddenly frowned.
He watched the plum tree branches and the direction of the plum blossoms, and suddenly stretched out his palm.
Su Peisheng realized what was happening and exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!"
Fourth Master raised his hand and compared the direction of the plum tree again.
Li Chenjiao is using her palm print to draw a plum tree? Only she could come up with such a quirky idea.
Fourth Master shook his head with a hint of helplessness.
Su Peisheng, sensing the situation, withdrew to prepare writing materials.
Fortunately, we don't have to travel or take care of the sick these days, which reduces a lot of trouble and makes things much easier for the master.
However, when Su Peisheng went out to call someone to prepare writing materials, he was stopped by Danqing, who was by Bai Jiagege's side.
Because they were outdoors, the tents that were set up in various places were not very far apart, and there were quite a few guards on night watch, so Su Peisheng did not chase them away.
“The master is busy right now. Your princesses were sitting calmly and steadily these past few days, so why are you in such a hurry now? The master isn’t in the mood, so why can’t you read the room and advise your master?”
Before heading north, Su Peisheng originally thought that even if Bai Jiagege couldn't turn her life around, she would at least gain some favor.
However, the journey is already more than halfway over, and Su Peisheng sees that his master hasn't summoned him even once. Forget about turning things around, it's difficult for Bai Jia Gege to even get a little bit of favor.
Or, to put it bluntly, Su Peisheng said that the master had completely forgotten about Bai Jia Gege, or even if he remembered her, he simply didn't like her.
Perhaps the master still remembers the foolish thing Bai Jia almost did when he was drunk.
Su Peisheng understood perfectly well that although Master Li of the East Courtyard did not accompany the Fourth Master on this trip, his favor towards him would likely not diminish much after the Fourth Master returned.
Sure enough, when Liang Jiugong, the emperor's personal attendant, delivered the finest furs the next day, Su Peisheng, hearing the Fourth Prince's instructions, was somewhat prepared, but his eyelids still twitched involuntarily.
"Send that mink fur to Mother, the red fox fur to the Fujin, and those two silver fox furs and the white fox fur coat back to Li Shi. Send the rest back as well. Send them to the East Courtyard first, so that your mistress Li can see if there's anything she likes. If she does, let her keep it."
Fourth Master actually thought that Li Chenjiao had fair skin and would look very bright and beautiful in a red fox fur coat. However, red had a deep meaning, and Fourth Master could not harm Li just because it suited her and made her look beautiful.
Su Peisheng noted it down and then asked, "Send it back to your residence along with the letter?"
Fourth Prince waved his hand: "Apart from the letters to Mother and Thirteenth Prince, there's no need to send them back to the manor."
Who would tamper with Li Chenjiao's letter, or who in the mansion would have the ability to do so?
That leaves only the Fujin (wife of the emperor).
Fourth Master could recognize Li Chenjiao's handwriting and believed that only someone as bold as Li Chenjiao would dare to write the contents of this letter.
Even if the Fujin (wife of the emperor) did not tamper with the contents of the letter, she could not refute the fact that Li Shi had written to her.
The Fourth Prince was too lazy to reply to his wife, so he let her figure it out herself.
However, he couldn't just write to Li, otherwise the Fujin would resent him even more, so he simply stopped writing to anyone.
Fourth Master was too lazy to write a reply to Li Chenjiao, that audacious woman. What difference would it make whether he wrote it or not?
Even if the messenger was meant to deliver messages to all the households at once, it was better to skip the whole process of sending messages back and forth.
After giving his instructions, Fourth Master straightened his clothes.
Su Peisheng hurriedly asked, "Master, it's not time to go to the martial arts arena to compete yet."
The Fourth Prince kept walking: "Since I have received the gifts from Father Emperor, I must go and express my gratitude."
Whether the Fourth Prince truly went to express his gratitude or chose a time when the Emperor was alone before his father's breakfast, he was naturally afraid of attracting attention.
The Emperor didn't invite the Fourth Prince to stay for breakfast, but just watched the Fourth Prince's departing figure and thought, "That Fourth Prince, he's still as cautious as ever."
The journey north by the Fourth Prince went relatively smoothly this time. The only variable was probably the marriage of the Tenth Prince, Prince Dun.
This was probably unexpected by everyone.
Once this news reaches the capital, who knows how much turmoil it will cause.
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