Hearing her use the word “really” three times froze Lord Fourth, but it made his heart soften.
Quite a while passed before he reached out to hold Ruoyin’s hand. “Don’t think too much. Being yourself is good enough,” he said.
“But I’m afraid my Lord will become even more angry if I be myself, because… I happened to see Lord Fourth one spring year, and thought Lord Fourth looked like such an elegant youth. I believed that a girl should marry someone like Lord Fourth, and when I actually did marry Lord Fourth one day, my feelings toward Lord Fourth intensified~” Ruoyin buried her head in Lord Fourth’s neck as she spoke.
It was too fake to tell him that she loved him, but it was out of the question to tell him that she merely liked him.
She did not like to lie about such matters and had thus decided to pacify Lord Fourth calmly.
Instantly, her sweet scent wafted around Lord Fourth’s neck and ears.
Lord Fourth tensed as he breathed it in. His voice had now returned to normal as he said, “Aren’t you bashful about wanting to marry someone at such a young age?”
“My Lord is to be blamed for his attractiveness~” Ruoyin said in a soft and cottony tone. She even lifted her head in an attempt to kiss Lord Fourth’s cheek. “Ah, I missed~”
She then made another move to plant a kiss on Lord Fourth’s cheek.
She simply wanted to pacify Lord Fourth, but this seemed easy.
Lord Fourth’s tone seemed to indicate that he was already calm, didn’t it?
This made her recall how self-contradictory the Emperors of the past were.
They were all extremely jealous people.
It was not an option to cease feeling jealous too. If they did so, they would feel that there was no place for them in their women’s hearts.
They wanted their women to treat them genuinely and pretend that they were only a common husband.
However, if a woman really treated an Emperor as a common man, he would exercise his power and authority to oppress and control her.
After all, an Emperor was brought up with the desire to control everything, including women.
Although Lord Fourth was not the Emperor, he was still a prince who would eventually become Emperor in the history books.
This meant that Lord Fourth had the “potential” to become Emperor!
Lord Fourth was unaware of the thoughts of the woman in his embrace. He grabbed Ruoyin’s wildly waving fists tightly and said in a gentle voice, “Be good and go to sleep~”
He was strong and Ruoyin was instantly rendered immobile.
However, Lord Fourth’s voice was deep yet gentle and Ruoyin felt comfortable listening to it. Gradually, she fell asleep.
Lord Fourth felt the woman’s breathing even out. He closed his eyes and pondered upon some serious matters before the frustration in his heart dissipated.
The next afternoon, Ruoyin and Lord Fourth still dined together.
After serving the dishes, the subordinates placed a soy bean mushroom chicken soup dish in front of Ruoyin deliberately.
The kitchen was afraid to use ingredients that were too “mending” because they were overly worried.
The eunuch even appeared unabashedly to explain, “Fujin, this is a soup specially made from an old hen that has been used to hatch chicks. Please try it.”
Ruoyin arched a long, shapely eyebrow and nodded to indicate that she understood.
Lord Fourth had instructed for this soup to be prepared only the day before, and it was already prepared today.
There seemed to be a difference in treatment between Lord Fourth’s instructions and that of others’, for the subordinates did not dare to neglect it.
At the start of the meal, Ruoyin first sampled the chicken soup.
It was strange. Normally, she would feel like vomiting whenever she smelled meat, but that same uncomfortable feeling was absent when she drank the chicken soup today.
Moreover, after finishing the chicken soup, she even ate a small bowl of rice, which was more than what she usually had now.
“Lord Fourth, it seems like Li Fukang’s method is working. It is miraculous indeed,” Ruoyin said satisfactorily to Lord Fourth after eating her fill.
She had not eaten properly for a very long time.
It meant that her foodie self could eat and drink gluttonously again.
A smiling Lord Fourth gazed upon her before turning to Li Fukang in the room.
He took out a gold nugget from the purplish blue money bag by his waist and tossed it toward Li Fukang carelessly. “This method is reliable, so your Lord is rewarding you.”
Li Fukang caught it agilely. “Thank you, Lord Fourth, for the reward. It was my duty,” he said respectfully.
His usual salary was only one or two silver pieces, but since Lord Fourth was in a good mood, he had been rewarded with a gold nugget.
He weighed the golden nugget in his hand. It seemed to be about 600 grams—equivalent to two years of his salary.
“Do your job and serve your masters properly,” Lord Fourth said mildly.
“Yes, your humble subordinate will.” Li Fukang kowtowed three times solidly.
“Alright, get up. You’re dismissed.” Ruoyin waved a hand to indicate so.
She didn’t want his forehead to bleed from his kowtowing so happily.
Upon hearing this, Li Fukang then rose joyously and went away.
…
Li Fukang’s method really worked. After having the particular chicken soup made of an old hen that had hatched chicks before for two days straight, Ruoyin did not feel nauseated from her pregnancy again.
Since she was no longer feeling nauseated, she instructed the kitchen to not prepare the soup anymore so that she did not have to drink it every day—she would feel sick of it like that even if it didn’t make her nauseated.
Lord Fourth had already rested at Ruoyin’s place for about ten day during this period.
All the subordinates in the residence knew this. Although the Fujin was unable to serve Lord Fourth, he still liked to rest at her residence.
He certainly doted on the Fujin!
If he had done so to a concubine, everyone might have had something to say.
However, the Fujin was his true main wife. Even if Lord Fourth stayed there for a whole month, no one would dare to gossip negatively.
Not even behind his back~
However, Ruoyin knew that these days would not last.
“Fujin, Aunt Cui from the palace has arrived and is waiting in the hall,” reported Nanny Liu, who had entered the room to report this to Ruoyin.
Ruoyin paused. She didn’t know why Aunt Cui, Consort De’s subordinate, had come.
She supported herself on Nanny Liu’s hand and said, “I’ll go and see her.”
When she arrived at the hall, Aunt Cui curtsied. “Fujin, Consort De has heard of your pregnancy, and she has asked her humble subordinate here to check up on you.”
“Mother is kind. Please sit, Aunt.” With that said, Ruoyin sat on her master chair.
Aunt Cui sat down. The palace maid by her side passed the tonics and jewelry Consort De had gifted to the subordinate beside Ruoyin.
She then said, “Mistress also says that you don’t have to copy the Lessons for Women she asked you to from last time anymore; the Fujin’s health is more important.”
“It’s alright. I’ve already finished copying it. Mother was only doing it for my own good,” Ruoyin replied indifferently. She then turned to instruct Nanny Liu, “Go get my copy of the Lessons for Women.”
Even though Consort De didn’t much like her, she still had to show off her accomplishments to her.
If not, wouldn’t her efforts be wasted?
She recalled how she had racked her brains to get Lord Fourth to agree to her plan.
After responding, Nanny Liu headed off to collect the copy.
Aunt Cui was slightly shocked, however. She smiled as she said, “Mistress had wanted to summon you to the palace, but she thought it better for you to be more cautious during your first trimester. Thus, she has asked me to come over instead.”
“Please give my thanks to Mother. If it was not inconvenient for me, I would have gone to the palace to pay my respects to Mother,” Ruoyin replied ceremoniously.
Even though Consort De empathized with her pregnancy and did not request for her to make the journey to the palace, she felt that there was something more to Aunt Cui’s visit.