Just as expected, Aunt Cui laughed and changed the topic. “Mistress also said that Lord Fourth does not have many successors and has only a daughter so far. She wishes that the Fujin will give comfort to Lord Fourth by letting him roam around the back courtyard more.”
Ruoyin’s lips twitched upon hearing this. Alright, this matter, which should have been raised, was finally communicated.
No wonder she thought something wasn’t right—it turned out that Aunt Cui had actually been waiting for her here.
It seemed like an impatient Consort Li, who could not stand that Lord Fourth had stayed for a lengthy period of time at her residence, had run off to Consort De to tattle on her again.
After pondering about it, a smiling Ruoyin said, “I’ll refrain from depriving Lord Fourth of his comfort. Please tell Mother that I will, Aunt Cui. I will tell Lord Fourth myself.”
Consort De, oh Consort De. Ruoyin had not imagined Consort De to be so difficult to deal with.
Now, it appeared like she was even more unreasonable and demanding than in her imagination.
With the important message delivered, Aunt Cui did not stay long. She returned to the palace with Ruoyin’s copy of Lessons for Women.
In the afternoon, Lord Fourth returned to Yi Lan Villa.
Upon seeing him, she dismissed the subordinates and did not let the maidservants help Lord Fourth change out either.
She went up to Lord Fourth to change him out personally.
Originally, Lord Fourth had wanted to tell her to rest instead, but upon seeing her unhappy expression, he let her do whatever she wanted.
After Lord Fourth changed into clean robes, he pulled her down to sit on his lap and asked mildly, “What’s wrong? You’ve been looking downcast ever since I came in.”
“Aunt Cui from Mother’s came,” Ruoyin said.
“What did she say to you?” Lord Fourth hugged the woman in his embrace.
After pausing for a moment, Ruoyin asked, “Mother gifted me some tonic and jewelry, and then… she says to tell my Lord to go rove around more in the back courtyard~”
She looked really jealous and unhappy after her speech.
Lord Fourth was unhappy when she had tried to be considerate of him.
In the future, she would put on a “jealous Fujin” act and affect so much jealousy that Lord Fourth would not know what to do!
When he heard this, Lord Fourth’s gaze shifted before looking at her downcast expression. He caressed her hand and chuckled. “What, have you finally learned how to be jealous?”
“What do you mean by ‘learned’? I have always felt jealous. Since my Lord has been accompanying me every day, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if my Lord suddenly decides not to accompany me one day,” Ruoyin muttered softly as she lay her head against Lord Fourth’s chest.
Lord Fourth patted her back but did not say anything.
Afterward, Lord Fourth not only did not patronize the back courtyard because of Consort De’s words, but he even stayed over at Ruoyin’s to rest nightly.
It was only on the sixth day that Lord Fourth went to Consort Song’s to rest.
After Lord Fourth stopped coming, Ruoyin instructed someone to make some simple poker cards out of kraft paper for her to pass the time and prevent boredom.
She even taught the subordinates in the courtyard how to play “Fight the Landlord.”
Since she taught them how to play the game, it was natural that she also taught them the jargon.
Right now, several blue strips of paper were pasted on her face as she played “Fight the Landlord” with a maidservant and a eunuch.
The faces of the maidservant and the eunuch were covered in more blue paper than hers, almost entirely so.
Ruoyin was even humming her own sound effect. “Deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng…”
The hall of Yi Lan Villa was filled with the sound of chattering and laughter, and the noise generated from their game fell and rose accordingly.
“Trio with a single.”
“Pass.”
“Same here.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Airplane.”
“Joker. Take note; I have only one card left.” Ruoyin waved the card in her hand and smiled satisfactorily.
The subordinates looked helpless. No one could beat the Joker—it was the biggest card.
After that, Ruoyin threw the last card in her hand down. “You’ve lost again. Let’s count; one bomb, two bombs. Double the papers on their faces and get the next batch of subordinates here.”
Yes, she would undoubtedly teach every single subordinate in the residence to learn how to play “Fight the Landlord.”
It was their fault for not really knowing how to play, causing their faces to be stuck with blue papers all over in a short while.
She didn’t want to take the subordinates’ hard-earned money from them, and there was no point in winning without involving money. Thus, she could only stick blue papers on everyone’s face as an entertainment forfeit.
Also, if she herself lost, she would give silver money sometimes and stick the papers on her face at other times, depending on her mood.
Shortly, the subordinates in the house either got stuck with papers on their faces or got rotated to play. It was very lively.
However, it was right then that a purplish blue silhouette appeared at the door. It came into the house at lightning speed, followed by a batch of subordinates.
The subordinates in the residence were so terrified that they knelt down to bow, as Ruoyin haphazardly tore off the papers from her face.
She then went up and curtsied. “May good health be upon Lord Fourth.”
Lord Fourth had heard the commotion from outside the residence.
After he entered, he swept a cold glare at the subordinates kneeling on the floor and noticed that every single one of them had numerous blue papers stuck on their faces.
He then looked at the woman in front of him. He had not seen her for several days, but she did not seem to miss him and appeared to be the most joyful out of them all who greeted him.
She was grasping a few papers in her hands and had one on either cheek as well.
After going up to Ruoyin to hold her up, he sat down on the fauteuil in the room.
After rising, Ruoyin noticed that Lord Fourth’s gaze seemed a little sharp.
He probably had not looked at her with such a sharp and penetrating gaze for a long, long time already.
He was also emanating a stern, silent aura that was cool as ice around him.
The kneeling subordinates were shockingly quiet. No one dared to even breathe loudly.
Ruoyin gave a look at the subordinates inside the house to dismiss them all.
She then poured a cup of tea for Lord Fourth herself. “Have some tea, my Lord.”
Lord Fourth lifted his head to look at her. He actually didn’t want to take the cup.
However, his gaze paused at her still and flat stomach, and he received the teacup in the end.
However, he did not drink from it but placed it on a side table.
Upon seeing this, Ruoyin knew that Lord Fourth was angry. His severe expression only lacked the words “Your lord is angry”!
She walked to face Lord Fourth. Biting her lip, she said, “My Lord, I was in the wrong. As the Fujin, I shouldn’t have gathered with the subordinates for entertainment.”
“…”
“But my Lord hasn’t come over recently, and I didn’t dare to miss my Lord, so I could only think of ways to entertain myself~”
“…”
“Also, I heard that expecting women are more sensitive to emotion and are apt to think about nonsense. My thoughts always turn to my Lord when I am bored, and whenever that happens, I start to think nonsense thoughts~”
“…”
“Lord Fourth~ Please don’t be angry anymore, okay~ I haven’t seen you in such a long time, and yet you’re being angry at me~” Ruoyin sprouted nonsense with a serious look.
She had no other choice. Since Lord Fourth was an unfeeling man, she had to thicken her skin and try until Lord Fourth acknowledged her.
Thus, she took in a deep breath and started to twitch her mouth as though she was about to cry, intending to continue persuading Lord Fourth glibly.
However, before she could open her mouth, she heard Lord Fourth say coldly, “Next time, you can gift the subordinates silver if you play cards, but you are not allowed to stick anything on your face. You have to remember your position as the Fujin.”
Ah? Ruoyin thought that Lord Fourth would give her the cold shoulder for a longer while, or even lecture her sternly.
However, Lord Fourth only told her not to stick anything on her face. Did that mean that she could continue playing “Fight the Landlord”?
She took another glance at Lord Fourth’s face. Even though he did look a little unhappy, it was not as obvious as before.
She then took a step forward to get closer to Lord Fourth and sat down on his lap directly. “I did gift them some silver~”
“Hm?” Lord Fourth’s dark eyes were sharp as arrows as they swept across Ruoyin.
They seemed to say: How dare you still speak of it?