Fourth Master has indeed been thoroughly tormented.
During tonight's banquet, Father Emperor's cold had just subsided, and the banquet was lively and bustling. However, when Father Emperor mentioned filial piety, he talked about Prince Zhi and the Crown Prince, but rarely mentioned the Fourth Prince.
Fourth Master almost forgot what it was about.
After expressing his gratitude, it took him a while to realize that it might be because a few days ago, when Su Peisheng delivered the things from the estate to his mother, she presented them to his father, the Emperor.
The Emperor only mentioned it briefly, but the Fourth Prince was forced to drink for quite a while by the Third Prince.
When the banquet ended and the Fourth Prince left the Forbidden City, he was still somewhat dizzy.
It wouldn't have mattered if the Third Brother had been drinking alone, since his alcohol tolerance was only slightly better than the Fourth Prince's. But then, the Prince Zhi came along.
At today's banquet, the Fourth Prince didn't have much time to pay attention to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes.
Fortunately, the Thirteenth Prince was precocious and easy to manage. Knowing that the Fourth Prince was busy today, he even helped the Fourth Prince keep an eye on the Fourteenth Prince, who was running around at the banquet.
Since the Fourth Prince was drunk, he naturally couldn't ride a horse back to the mansion. He took a carriage back and finally managed to rest for a while.
When they arrived at the mansion, the Fourth Master was tired and smelled of alcohol. Seeing that it was getting late, he instructed Su Peisheng to help him back to the front yard.
Li Chenjiao is probably already asleep in the East Courtyard. If Fourth Master goes to the East Courtyard, he won't have to bother Li Chenjiao again.
After getting off the carriage, the cold wind blew, and the Fourth Master's drunkenness dissipated somewhat, making him more sober. He also remembered the banquet at the manor tonight.
"Has the banquet ended at the manor yet?" Fourth Master asked after clearing his throat twice.
Su Peisheng was supporting the Fourth Prince, but before he could finish his reply, he was stopped by the chief eunuch of the main courtyard.
Wang Jinzhong had been waiting at the gatehouse for a while, shivering in the cold wind, and he had to try his best to make his report clear.
Fourth Master listened with little patience, rubbing his forehead.
Su Peisheng, who was supporting the Fourth Master, couldn't help but tremble after hearing Wang Jinzhong's report.
What on earth is going on here?
Well, I guess I'm not going back to the front yard today.
"Go to the main courtyard," Fourth Master said.
The Fourth Master had only had a headache from being drunk, but after hearing Wang Jinzhong's report, he really did have a headache.
When the Fourth Prince arrived at the main courtyard, his wife was still asleep.
Despite it being winter, Physician Zhou was still drenched in sweat when he came to report. Of course, Physician Zhou made his point very clear—
Although a servant caught the princess before she fell, preventing injury to her abdomen, her pregnancy had never been very secure, and this recent fright only exacerbated the situation.
Although the situation has stabilized for now, there is still a risk of tire slippage.
While the imperial physician Zhou was reporting, the Fourth Prince kept his eyes closed, pressing his brow in deep thought. Only after the physician finished speaking did the Fourth Prince open his eyes, his lips unconsciously pressed down into a thin, straight line, which made people feel uneasy.
"We must protect the Fujin (principal wife); everything must be done with her health as the top priority."
The Fourth Prince went to see his wife before dawn the next day, after a servant from the main courtyard reported that she had woken up. Only after seeing her did he return to the front courtyard.
Still reeking of alcohol, Fourth Master first took a thorough bath.
When the Fourth Prince finally finished his bath and could finally close his eyes and sleep peacefully, he suddenly realized that thirty-eight years had passed since the last year.
May the New Year bring you abundant blessings.
The line he wrote for Li Chenjiao in the East Courtyard seemed somewhat out of place at this moment, but it popped into the Fourth Master's mind.
Fourth Master never believed in this, but he wrote that sentence because Li Chenjiao said that it was only right to reciprocate.
May you be blessed with good fortune.
Fourth Master finally fell asleep, utterly exhausted.
Fourth Master did not sleep soundly.
The Fourth Prince, who rarely dreamed, suddenly had a chaotic dream, like his wife giving birth to a sickly prince, and some unknown Third Prince appearing in the mansion—and the Fourth Prince following his father to the north, and—his father deposing the Crown Prince.
In the very end, Fourth Master dreamed of Li Chenjiao.
In the dream, it was probably on a summer evening. Li Chenjiao was wearing a light blue cheongsam. This was the same summer that Fourth Master had seen Li Chenjiao wear at the manor this year.
Li Chenjiao sat under the eaves of the east courtyard, slowly fanning herself, a smile playing on her lips as she watched the child reach out and fiddle with the crabapple blossoms under the eaves.
A summer breeze suddenly blew, and the setting sun on the horizon was gradually swallowed up. The twilight was slow, making the scene in the courtyard seem warm and intimate.
The Fourth Master was awakened by this scene.
No matter how he dreamed, he kept dreaming that Li Chenjiao was pregnant with a prince. The Fourth Prince pressed his temples with a headache.
The other things in the dream were really absurd. The Fourth Prince knew that the Fujin's pregnancy was not very stable, but how could the Third Prince be born in June?
The due dates for both the wife and Li Chenjiao in the mansion were clearly in May.
Furthermore, if Li Chenjiao gave birth to a prince, then there should already be a third prince in the mansion. How could another third prince appear in June?
And then there's the Crown Prince Fei, which is even more absurd—
When Fourth Master woke up, he couldn't help but chuckle when he realized that his son was actually trying to find some logic in his dream.
Dreams are inherently ethereal and elusive.
Fourth Master quickly dismissed this unfounded dream.
Once the first month of the lunar calendar arrived, Fourth Master finally had about ten days of free time.
However, the main wife's pregnancy was risky. Although the Fourth Prince had some free time during the first month of the lunar year, he visited the main courtyard more often, since the main wife's current condition was indeed not very good.
Fourth Master would naturally visit Li Chenjiao whenever he had free time, but he could never help but glance at Li Chenjiao's undulating belly.
The Fourth Prince is now starting to believe that Li Chenjiao is carrying a prince this time.
However, compared to the Fujin, Li Chenjiao's pregnancy was indeed very stable.
However, after seeing how thin his wife had become recently, the Fourth Prince was worried when he suddenly noticed the plumpness on Li Chenjiao's face. He wondered if the large fetus would make childbirth difficult for her, so he specially asked Physician Zhou to examine Li Chenjiao.
When the Fujin in the main courtyard received the news, she suddenly smiled. Her pregnancy had been difficult, and hearing that Madam Li in the east courtyard had summoned the imperial physician made her feel relieved.
They actually wished that Li would also fall and, ideally, lose her child.
As for the medicinal herbs and other supplies sent by Madam Li from the East Courtyard these days, the Fujin ordered them all to be put away and kept far away, her attitude of avoiding them as if she were afraid that Li Chenjiao would harm her.
However, it wasn't just Li Chenjiao who was targeted; the Fujin also treated the things sent by others in the backyard the same way, even those sent by the Fourth Prince in the front yard. She suspected them and wouldn't let the servants use them.
The wife's suspicious nature only intensified during this pregnancy.
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