Ruoyin stood outside the door, thinking that the Empress Dowager must be busy with something.
She noticed that Ciren Palace and Yonghe Palace had similar exteriors, with the exception of their plaques.
The plaque on Yonghe Palace was black while that of Ciren Palace was outlined in gold.
Even the large red pillars were patterned with gold decorations.
After a short while, a maidservant took Ruoyin in.
Upon entering the hall, Ruoyin noticed the Empress Dowager sitting at the head of the table, clad in a brown garment embroidered with phoenixes.
Beside her was a little girl of about ten years old.
The girl had a pair of clear, sparkling eyes that resembled bright stars.
Upon her seeing Ruoyin, her eyes smiled and shaped into crescents. "Fourth Sister-in-law!" she called out sweetly.
Ruoyin searched her memory. So this girl was the Fifth Princess, and also Consort De's child, though she had been brought up by the Empress Dowager from an early age.
That meant that she was Lord Fourth's sister.
Ruoyin could not help but admire Consort De's genes. Each child she bore grew more and more gorgeous.
For example, the Fifth Princess and Lord Fourth had top-notch looks.
Of course, the Seventh Princess and the Fourteenth Prince were not plain-looking either, but they were not as good-looking as Lord Fourth and the Fifth Princess.
Ruoyin smiled at the Fifth Princess before bowing to the Empress Dowager. "Paying my respects to the Empress Dowager; may Empress Dowager be blessed and healthy."
The Empress Dowager gazed upon her with a pleasant countenance and smiled. "You may rise, child. I heard you have recovered from your illness?"
Ruoyin rose and was helped into a seat by the Empress Dowager's maidservant. Smiling, she replied, "Empress Dowager, the imperial physician has given me a full bill of health and has said that I need only to take care of myself in the future."
"Alright, that is good, then." The Empress Dowager was past fifty and was graying at the temples.
At her age, she enjoyed the visits of her children and grandchildren, but this was merely a daughter-in-law who had come to see her.
It was perhaps because Ruoyin was related to the Fifth Princess and Lord Fourth that the Empress Dowager felt satisfied with her appearance.
She decided to reward a Hoten white jade hair clip and some supplements to her.
Ruoyin smiled and expressed a few customary polite phrases as the gifts were handed to a servant.
Even though the Empress Dowager did not urge her to have children as intently as Consort De, she still reminded her mildly.
Ruoyin answered obediently. After staying for approximately an hour, she bade farewell to the Empress Dowager.
Before leaving, she even talked to the Fifth Princess a little. Because the Fifth Princess had grown up under the Empress Dowager's care, she was intelligent and lively, and even implored Ruoyin to visit her often.
Ruoyin could only smile and agree, for it was difficult to reject such an elegant and graceful girl.
However, her memories told her that the Fifth Princess was not close to the real Fujin.
Upon exiting the palace, Ruoyin got in the carriage and Li Fukang drove her to the streets of the capital.
Ruoyin let out a sigh of relief inside. At last, her apprehensions were mostly relieved, and the oppressive feeling in her heart lifted a fair amount.
She finally understood why she had felt heavily oppressed in the palace.
It was probably because she was too used to having freedom in her previous life, and to suddenly be governed by the rules and regulations set by her elders and the palace was overwhelming.
It was then that she wished Lord Fourth would not become Emperor but simply remain a Beile, or just be promoted to a Prince.
Then, she would not need to adhere to palace rules.
However, she thought about it more thoroughly. She had a tendency to be soft-hearted, and watching Lord Fourth make progress in his study like it was a woman made her realize that he was not a simple Beile.
Lord Fourth wouldn't be a good Beile if he had the ambition to become Emperor.
Moreover, Lord Fourth favored her now. She could behave more casually in the residence, but who knew what the future held?
Ruoyin was now plagued by a dilemma. Should she start adhering to the rules now and continue to adhere to them once she returned to her residence?
In the end, after much pondering, Ruoyin still shook her head and decided in the negative. Life should be lived to the fullest, so she would start obeying rules after she'd fallen out of favor with Lord Fourth.
She had to seize the day and make merry now that Lord Fourth was still favoring her, so as to not waste the opportunity.
She would be herself in her residence and pretend to be the obedient Fourth Fujin in the palace. It wasn't a big deal; she could still be happy, couldn't she?
A moment later, the carriage stopped at the relay station for post-horses, and Ruoyin bought a ton of snacks that looked either delicious or unique.
After that, she visited a few medicine stores.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, she lied about her throat being sore and bought only two or three medicines from a single shop.
However, she bought large packets of them at each shop, which were sufficient to last her half a year.
In the end, she even put the medicinal packets with the snack packets.
Even though she had been only an insignificant nurse in her previous life, she had learned how to make this contraceptive soup.
By the time she returned to her residence, it was already evening.
Ruoyin saw Su Peicheng waiting when she returned to the main courtyard. Upon noticing her, Su Peicheng smiled and bowed. "Fujin, the Lord is waiting for you in the study."
"Alright. I've bought a few snacks, so I'll take them to Lord Fourth to taste." With a paper bag in either hand, Ruoyin headed to the study, refusing the servants' help.
She was in high spirits today. After worrying for such a long time, she had finally managed to do it!
She would be alright so long as Lord Fourth did not find out.
As for giving birth to Lord Fourth's children, she was willing to carry not just one, but eight, or even ten of them right after this year! Uh… maybe she was blowing her trumpet a little too much…
In the study, Lord Fourth was diligently reading official documents.
This time, Lord Fourth only lifted his head to look at her before continuing to work when she arrived.
Ruoyin was accustomed to this now and simply walked directly into the room.
She placed the snacks she had bought, including a beggar's chicken, onto a side table before walking forward and calling to Lord Fourth softly, "My Lord, I've bought some delicious food from outside. Wanna try them?"
Lord Fourth finally lifted his head to look at her. Taking a deep breath, he didn't reply to her but asked instead, "Why do I smell something medicinal?"
This question struck Ruoyin like thunder and made quite a stir in her emotions.
Was Lord Fourth born in the year of the Dog? How was his nose so sharp? Why did she not smell anything medicinal?
However, she still maintained a light smile and sniffed the air left and right. In an innocent tone, she said, "No, I don't smell anything. Oh… I know, it could be coming from the beggar's chicken. I heard it's made with a lot of spices; maybe they include some medicinal herbs?"
"Nonsense." Lord Fourth jabbed her cheek with the tail of his brush.
Her face was very soft. It depressed when the brush touched it and sprang back into shape after it was removed.
Ruoyin was not in the mood to care about her face because her heart had long since been seized by his words.
It would no longer be funny if Lord Fourth did not fall for her trick.
However, she had no choice but to keep up her pretense. "My Lord, I'm not speaking nonsense. The stall owner told me that when I was buying it."
"You must have heard wrongly, then. Medicinal herbs are not used to prepare beggar's chicken," Lord Fourth said affirmatively as he stared at her questioningly.
Under his stare, goosebumps rose on Ruoyin's skin, and she pretended to be deep in thought.