"Maybe," replied Lord Fourth with a faint smile.
The sight of his smile, however, somehow reminded Ruoyin of what had happened last night and of that smug and devilish smile of his. A blush instantly crept up her face and she hid half of it under the blanket, leaving only her beautiful glistening eyes and smooth forehead exposed. With much embarrassment, she confided, "Lord, I'm feeling sore all over. I'm afraid… I won't be able to climb out of bed yet."
"That's fine. Sleep in for a little while more." He was an easy-going man. When he noticed her shy look, not only did his lip corners curl up in satisfaction, but he even tucked her in under the blanket.
And so, as she watched that healing smile of his, she gradually closed her eyes and fell into a slumber once again.
The man could not help sighing at her lack of concern. After telling the servants to keep silent with a shh, he then continued changing his clothes.
Su Peicheng, upon seeing how his master treated his first lady, lowered his head even further, not daring to spare another glance in the bed's direction.
As harem rules went, Lord Fourth should be waited on the following morning by the person whose room he had rested in the night before. This rule had never been flouted by the Fujin before. She would always get up to wait on him, rain or shine, in the past.
She seemed to be truly exhausted from last night, though, given her current appearance. His master's heart seemed to go out to her, seeing how he paid attention to not waking the woman in bed.
The former probably felt a sense of achievement from his incredible feat of almost crippling the latter in bed, as evidenced by his smug smile.
"Go deliver that pair of colored jade vases, Beauty's Neck, to the Fujin, along with some high-quality nail polishes and satin of various colors. Choose the nicer-looking colors, no dark ones." With that, he walked out to the main court and then ordered Su Peicheng, "Deliver them at a later hour."
"Noted," responded the eunuch. It seems like the Lord is very pleased with the lady's change.
He would just randomly bestow gifts on her in the past, unlike this time where it was clear that he had put some thought into it.
Coming from a wealthy and prestigious family background, what had the Fujin not seen before? Besides them being valuable gifts, it appeared that the Lord had every intention of pleasing the beauty.
This was especially evident by the fact that he had given her those jade vases, considering that they were left behind by Empress Xiao Yiren of the Tunggiya clan. That jade was extremely precious given its rarity and translucent clarity and was generally dedicated to royals.
Most importantly, the eunuch was even tasked to deliver the gifts at a later hour just so that the woman would not be roused from her sleep.
It was already late in the morning by the time Ruoyin woke up. As she stretched out her lazy body, Nanny Liu stepped forward to help her change her clothes.
Now that she had recovered, it was also time for her to resume the morning practice of paying respect to her husband. Alas, her spirit was willing, but her flesh was weak when she saw the big and bright sun hanging outside in the sky. It's late already. Tomorrow perhaps.
As Nanny Liu waited on her mistress to wash up, she asked, "I'm sure you're famished now since you haven't eaten anything this morning. What do you want to eat for lunch? I'll get the kitchen to prepare your meal."
The young woman cocked her brow at that. As the saying went, "Food is the God of the people." That was one serious question that could not be decided on in a slip-shod manner. When she was still a professional sleep tester for hotels, what she placed most emphasis on was the room service and the taste of the food.
Alas, there seemed to be no food here that particularly captured her taste buds, and right now, she had an intense craving for spicy chicken. This was probably due to her feeling a lack of appetite and wanting to stimulate her taste buds with something more flavorsome after that intense and exhausting night with Lord Fourth.
Having time-traveled here, she could put up and accommodate everything but her meals. It was one aspect that the gluttonous side of her refused to budge on.
With a tug of her lips, she ordered, "Get the kitchen to prepare some spicy chicken. I want it deboned and cut into cubes with more dried chilies and fewer peppers. Serve it together with Mapo tofu and a light nourishing soup. I'm fine with vegetable soup."
Although she could take spicy food even when she was just a child, it was better to eat it with a light soup for the sake of acclimatization.
Of course, Nanny Liu was already accustomed to the way Ruoyin ordered her meals by now. Just a month ago, however, the former was totally stunned when she heard the latter order a spicy soup cooked with duck's blood, beef, and tripe.
For one, there was no such dish in this place. And secondly, the lady never usually ate such spicy food, claiming that it was harmful to the body and one could easily get
The kitchen eventually managed to serve up that dish according to the rough description of the cooking method and ingredients needed she had given.
How impressive the cooks in Lord Fourth's manor were, indeed!
Standing at the side, Qiao Feng repeated her mistress' words once in her head and then headed straight to the kitchen where she repeated the Fujin's request to the cooks in detail.
Ruoyin's attendants had already come around with this. In their opinion, she understood a little more about the meaning of life and wanted to comfortably live her life as she desired after coming to such a close brush with death.
With such thinking in mind, they felt genuinely happy on her behalf, though a little heartache for her as well.
The eunuch and the kitchen head now carefully paid attention to the instructions, even though they were shocked by how intense her taste had become after recovering from her major bout of illness.
Being just lowly servants, however, they lacked the guts to question how their mistress wanted her meals.
It was only after a month of understanding that they came to realize that she was quite a connoisseur in food and knew even better than they, the experts, did.
"Please wait, miss, while we get Chef Niu to prepare the food. He traveled extensively in his younger years and was in charge of all sorts of village banquets, so he has plenty more knowledge and experience in cooking and is capable of whipping up various flavors." The hunchbacked kitchen head, Eunuch Zhou, asked with a smile, "Is there anything else you need?"
After thinking about it for a bit, the female servant said, "No, but the Fujin has said that she's fine with a vegetable soup. Oh, she previously said that the yogurt is well-made, so you can serve up some. Not too much, though, since it spoils easily. Give me a basket of fruits that are currently in season as well."
Previously, she had seen her mistress eating a large plate of fruits, mixed with yogurt, in the afternoon, and the latter claimed that that dish was called a salad.
With a wave of his fly-whisk, Eunuch Zhou pointed it at a couple of young eunuchs and, instantly, two of them stepped forward: one holding a white porcelain jar that contained the yogurt and the other carrying a fruit basket filled with all the fruits in season.
Judging by their appearances, it seemed that they had no intention of passing them to the female maid. They were probably worried that she could not manage to carry them.
Right then, Eunuch Zhou said with a smile, "There are too many things that need carrying and the fruits are heavy. Let them come back later with the meal, too."
"Alright," responded Qiao Feng before she bowed slightly to the other. "Thank you for looking out for me, elder."
She then looked between the fruit basket and the yogurt jar. It seemed that she would not be able to carry them all, along with the upcoming meal box. Well, it was not unmanageable to carry them on her own, but it would be unsightly given her status of being the Fujin's head servant.
With a smile, the elderly one turned around and ordered Chef Niu, "Prepare a horseshoe mackerel soup as well, with the freshest wild mackerel."
Out of the different types of mackerels, there were several different species of wild mackerels as well. The pure wild-bred ones were too skinny while the ones forked out from the bottom of lakes reeked of mud. Only the ones grown in fishing ponds, with hard bottoms in particular, and fed wheat tasted the best! Naturally, the kitchen used the best wild mackerels!
The Fujin might have said that she was fine with just vegetable soup, but the servants dared not serve it up as requested. After all, she was ultimately the highest-ranked mistress of the harem. Even when she was not favored by the Lord, they dared not slight or neglect her.
From the looks of how their Lord was treating her now, it seemed as though things were going to change within the harem.