Ultimately, Lord Fourth was a man who followed the rules.
Keeping to the regulation of resting at the main courtyard after returning from settling foreign affairs, he headed straight to Ruoyin's place.
Upon seeing this and knowing that there was no chance for her today, Consort Li carried her daughter and simply greeted Ruoyin before leaving.
Consort Song left as well after giving her greetings.
The servants also left in an instant, leaving Ruoyin to serve Lord Fourth and change his clothes.
In his early 20s, he wasn't that much older than she was, but he was a lot taller than Ruoyin. He was at least 1.85 meters.
Therefore, despite wearing flowerpot shoes, Ruoyin still struggled a little.
After busying herself for a while, they finally turned off the lights and lay down.
In the beginning, neither of them talked. They lay there quietly with their eyes closed, both immersed in their own thoughts.
Only when Lord Fourth kissed Ruoyin was the silence broken.
When he kissed her, she was shocked and not expecting it at all.
Her first feeling toward his lips was that they were a little cold.
After a while later, the man released her. "Quickly recover your health," he said against her ear, oozing with magnetism.
Ruoyin nodded her head and said a soft "Yes" in response.
After receiving an answer, Lord Fourth returned to lay by her side.
He stared at the ceiling and laughed gently before saying, "I see that you are shyer now than you were during our wedding."
"My Lord!" Ruoyin protested coquettishly.
"Alright, let's go to sleep." Seeing how shy she was, Lord Fourth didn't continue.
Not long later, both of them fell into a deep slumber…
After this encounter, Lord Fourth continued to visit her once every two days but did not stay at her place.
In the meantime, she heard that Lord Fourth had punished the servants that had been sent away from the main courtyard.
Every person was hit twenty times, even killing one eunuch and one servant maid.
Those servants must have seen that Ruoyin had fallen ill but was still a favorite despite not having any heirs. Therefore, they were unhappy to comply with her.
There was no use keeping servants who refused to obey her. Keeping them by her side only left her frustrated. It was much better if they were out of her sight.
She did not expect things to unfold this way, but she knew that Lord Fourth was helping her to strengthen her authority and discipline the servants.
Six days later, Lord Fourth heard that the Fujin's health was much better. She was eating and sleeping well.
He looked at the vessel clock and headed to the main courtyard even though it was only 6 pm.
This vessel clock had been gifted to him by Kang Xi.
Kang Xi collected many clocks in his palace, and he often compared the sundial and the Western clock.
Lord Fourth left the front courtyard and asked the kitchen to send their meals directly to the main courtyard.
Ruoyin was a little taken aback by Lord Fourth's sudden visit to the main courtyard.
Mainly because she had a stomachache earlier and conveniently discovered that she was having her period.
When such a situation occurred in the back courtyard, the servants would be sent to the front courtyard to pass the word.
This was to avoid the man staying over and there being an awkward situation.
However, Ruoyin was too late.
She could not tell Lord Fourth upfront about this. Such matters could only be said when they reached that stage, just in case the other party did not have any plans to sleepover.
Both of them enjoyed their dinner. Lord Fourth saw that she had drunk a bowl of soup and eaten two bowls of rice.
After dinner and noticing that Lord Fourth had no plans to leave, Ruoyin said in an embarrassed manner, "My lord, I… I currently have that right now."
As she was more tactful with her words, Lord Fourth initially did not understand.
But after seeing her uncomfortable expression, he quickly understood what she meant.
"Why didn't you let someone pass the word to the front courtyard earlier?" he said coldly.
"I… I only realized it just now," Ruoyin said with her head down.
The moment she responded, Lord Fourth left without another word.
Staring at his back due to his sudden departure, Ruoyin believed he had probably misunderstood. She wasn't doing it on purpose.
She had no choice over such matters!
Who asked her period to come exactly when Lord Fourth visited instead of on an earlier or a later time?
It made it seem as though she was ousting Lord Fourth on purpose. She had trampled on Lord Fourth's excitement and dignity, making everything awkward!
Just when Ruoyin thought that Lord Fourth was going to be cold toward her for a period of time, he came over to the main courtyard at eight in the evening, seven days later, after he had finished his dinner.
He did not let anyone announce his arrival. As he entered, his gaze immediately landed on Ruoyin, who was currently painting her nails.
A look of surprise could be seen on his handsome face. The Fujin had only used cloisonne to protect her nails all this time and had never painted them before.
Ruoyin still had her head down as she continued to paint her nails. She did not notice anything even after Qiao Feng and Nanny Liu had bowed to Lord Fourth and were asked to leave.
Only when a pair of embroidered black and silver boots stopped in front of her eyes did she hurriedly cease her actions and stand up swiftly for a bow. "My Lord, why are you here?"
"I see that the Fujin is in high spirits. Painting your nails leisurely here?" Lord Fourth helped her up from the ground.
"Nail art does look beautiful," Ruoyin replied.
Lord Fourth was not very familiar with these women's hobbies; thus, he did not say anything more.
He raised his arms and said attractively, "Let's settle down!"
"…"
At this moment, Nanny Liu consciously closed the door outside.
Ruoyin put the manicure tools away before helping Lord Fourth to clean his hands and wash up.
Her period had ended yesterday and she had asked her servants to leak the news to the front courtyard. She didn't think that Lord Fourth would come over tonight.
It wasn't much longer before Ruoyin blew out the candles.
After a long moment of silence, Lord Fourth lay his body on top of hers.
"Did you not miss me when I was away for such a long time?" the man whispered after leaning over.
"I did miss you."
"How much did you miss me?"
"I missed you a lot."
"You missed me so much, yet you still tried to play a game of push and pull with me, hm?"