When Li Chenjiao woke up the next day, the Fourth Master was still there, and the two of them were still in the same position they had been in before going to sleep the night before.
Li Chenjiao yawned quietly, still feeling lazy all over. She didn't move, but just stared blankly at the curtain above her head.
Although Bai Jia was not an exceptionally clever person, she had been patiently enduring in order to get rid of Dan Gui, who had betrayed her master. Li Chenjiao thought that Bai Jia had been pretending to be stupid all along.
But what happened last night left Li Chenjiao completely baffled.
In her opinion, Bai Jia was being too hasty. But then she thought that the peace in the mansion had been subtly disrupted after Wu Gege entered the household, so Bai Jia was naturally restless.
But Fourth Master is not one to fall for that kind of trick. If he could have taken the bait like Bai Jia, Hu Shi wouldn't have been without a chance until now.
Li Chenjiao was lost in thought and didn't even notice that Fourth Master had hugged her tighter.
"Awake?" Fourth Master's voice was hoarse from waking up.
Li Chenjiao tilted her head back, didn't say much, and just smiled.
She was too lazy to get up and serve the Fourth Master. At night, she could half serve and half enjoy herself, but during the day, Li Chenjiao did whatever she pleased.
Fourth Master let Li Chenjiao escape from his embrace, touched his nose but didn't say anything about Li Chenjiao's insolence, got up on his own, walked around the begonia screen to the outer room, and called for Su Peisheng to come in and serve him.
Once Li Chenjiao estimated that the Fourth Master was probably dressed, she straightened up from the bed, a bright smile blooming on her face: "This servant is late in getting up, I'll come and help Master get dressed right away."
When Fourth Master heard the girl's voice, he could guess that Li Chenjiao was probably still in bed inside. He smiled and said, "You should rest. I'll come to see you again in a couple of days when I have some free time."
Fourth Master left the East Courtyard without having breakfast, and the smile on his face vanished completely once he left.
Where is Bai Jiashi?
Su Peisheng replied in a low voice, "Your Majesty, as per your instructions yesterday, Bai Jia Gege has been taken back to her courtyard."
Fourth Master snorted coldly: "I don't want to see her again until next year's Golden Festival. Find out where she got those despicable things from, and deal with the servants involved according to the rules of the manor."
Su Peisheng should be the answer.
Fourth Master glanced at him sideways: "As for Fulu, you will personally administer the punishment after we return to the front courtyard. Give him twenty strokes of the cane so he will learn his lesson."
Su Peisheng naturally knew that his apprentice had been tricked into going to the East Courtyard last night, and he breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the Fourth Master's decision.
"This servant understands."
After having breakfast in the front courtyard, the Fourth Prince went to the palace. Yesterday, he attended a banquet at the Third Prince's residence, and remarkably, the Crown Prince also made an appearance.
Before the banquet ended, the Crown Prince asked the Fourth Prince to visit Yuqing Palace when he had time, saying that he had something to tell him.
The Fourth Prince has been finding it strange lately; the Crown Prince seems to have changed since he was punished and confined to the Qianqing Palace.
The Fourth Prince couldn't quite put his finger on the difference, but he noticed that the Crown Prince seemed more open-minded and energetic.
This was a very good thing in the eyes of the Fourth Prince. Although the former Crown Prince had a good temper, he was also somewhat violent in private and was sometimes nice to his brothers and sometimes not.
The current crown prince is doing very well.
However, what puzzled the Fourth Prince the most was that the Crown Prince inexplicably assigned him many tasks, although they were just trivial matters such as managing the Imperial Workshops and supervising the inspection of farmland and water conservancy in the suburbs of Beijing.
But for the Fourth Master, who was usually quite idle, these unexpected assignments were anything but easy.
That's why when the Fourth Master left the East Courtyard this morning, he said, "I'll go see Li Chenjiao when I have some free time in a few days."
With the twelfth lunar month fast approaching, the Ministry of Revenue was already busy during the year-end season, and now the Fourth Prince was even busier.
This made the Third Master, who was already enjoying a leisurely job at the Ministry of Rites due to his demotion, extremely envious.
When she occasionally saw the Fourth Prince in the palace, he was much less friendly.
Naturally, all these secrets eventually reached Emperor Kangxi's ears without missing a single word.
The Crown Prince's sudden change in attitude made Emperor Kangxi feel lost and disappointed. He naturally felt that the Crown Prince was dissatisfied with the idle positions assigned to him.
They can't compare to the eldest brother who commands a large army at such a young age.
Thinking of his eldest son Baoqing, Emperor Kangxi fell into deep thought again. The jade thumb ring in his hand finally fell when Emperor Kangxi let go of it.
Liang Jiugong, who was serving, hurriedly bowed to pick it up.
"I remember that Bao Cheng's concubine gave birth to a prince a few days ago, so I will give him a generous reward on the occasion of Laba Festival."
Liang Jiugong should respectfully present the jade thumb ring.
Emperor Kangxi accepted it, as if whispering, "This was presented to me by Empress Heseri when she was alive. Many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and I have grown old—"
"The fourth child is a good kid."
Liang Jiugong said softly, "May His Majesty live a long and healthy life."
Emperor Kangxi, for some unknown reason, let out a cold laugh without any politeness: "I'm not old yet—"
"Third brother, it would be an injustice to call him a Seth Black."
"Seshehei" means "pig" in Manchu. Another interpretation is that it also means "annoying person."
——
On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily all night, but the principal wife did not say that everyone was exempt from paying their respects.
Therefore, no matter how heavy the snowstorm, everyone still had to go to the main courtyard to pay their respects.
Li Chenjiao carried a hot water bottle on the way, Qiu Hu held an umbrella to shield her from the swirling snowflakes, and Qiu Ci carefully supported Li Chenjiao from the other side.
The cloak was newly made, and it provided excellent warmth when worn.
When they entered the main courtyard, Li Chenjiao was still warm all over. Qiu Ci helped her into the inner room, and Li Chenjiao shivered as soon as she entered.
It was bad enough that there was no charcoal fire in the room, but I don't know what the servants in the main courtyard were thinking, leaving the small window open in the dead of winter.
When Li Chenjiao sat down, she noticed that Song Gege's lips were almost white, and she didn't know how long she had been sitting there.
She had taken off her cloak before entering the room. Holding a hot water bottle in one arm, Li Chenjiao said she would drink some hot tea to calm herself down, but when she tasted it, she found that the tea was only lukewarm.
The Princess Consort certainly has a lot of tricks up her sleeve.
Li Chenjiao finished her tea and put down her teacup expressionlessly, but in her heart she was thinking about how to make things difficult for the Fujin.
Because Bai Jia was under house arrest, after Li Chenjiao arrived, only Wu Gege was still missing.
The concubines standing behind them were in an even worse situation, as they were standing right in the wind. Li Chenjiao saw Zhang Shi swaying unsteadily, as if she was about to collapse.
Li Chenjiao couldn't help but let out a cold laugh, and for once, she started talking to Song Gege.
"Last time, the Fourth Prince came to my courtyard and told a joke. He said that one day when he returned from the palace, the servants in the front courtyard forgot to light the charcoal fire. When I heard this, I thought it was absurd that the servants in the front courtyard could do something so foolish. What do you think, Sister Song?"
Madam Song replied palely, "What you say is absolutely right, sister. The Fourth Prince is busy with official duties and naturally has no time to attend to these trivial matters. Our Princess Consort is free and easy, so how could she make a mistake in these matters?"
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