And today, Ruoyin was sleeping in.
Summer was hot no matter what one did. It was only when one lies down, places two tubs of ice by one's side, and gets the subordinates to fan one beside them that the air would feel cool and satisfying.
Thus, she'd now sleep for two hours when she had slept for only an hour in the past.
Just then, a happy Nanny Liu walked over to the bed and called out softly, "Fujin, Eunuch Su is waiting outside. He says that Lord Fourth has asked you to go over to Jin Mo Pavilion."
Upon hearing this, Ruoyin opened her eyes groggily. After a few seconds of silence, she replied, "Ask Su Peicheng to go back to Jin Mo Pavilion first. I will follow after."
Something was off. Recently, Nanny Liu and Qiao Feng seemed to be keeping something to themselves and did not look quite happy.
Now that Lord Fourth had summoned her, Nanny Liu was acting like it was some big news, which was puzzling.
In the past, they had not been this anxious when Lord Fourth did not visit her.
"Alright, I will inform Eunuch Su of this," Nanny Liu replied happily.
Even Qiao Feng, who came up to help her get dressed, could not stop smiling.
Ruoyin looked at her subordinates uncomprehendingly.
When she went over to Jin Mo Pavilion, the subordinate did not bring her to the study or a resting place within the pavilion.
The subordinate brought her to the back mountains of Jin Mo Pavilion instead.
If Ruoyin had not spotted Lord Fourth, who was wearing a purplish robe, from afar, she would have begun to suspect that she was being led wrongly.
When she finally neared, she realized that there was actually a pool behind the back mountains.
It was about the size of a fish pond.
However, it was so clear that one could see its bottom, and there were no fish in it.
A curious Ruoyin walked over to Lord Fourth and curtsied. "Paying my respects to my Lord~ May luck be upon my lord~"
Because she was full of curiosity, her words came out in a playful gush.
Lord Fourth was looking at her indifferently, and he felt his body heat up after he heard her words. Now, he really wanted to jump into the pool to cool down.
He helped Ruoyin up and said, "Do you know how to swim?"
Ruoyin looked up and blinked, wondering how she should respond.
After a moment of silence, she nodded. "I couldn't swim when I was a kid, and I almost drowned when I fell into a lake once. After that, Mother asked the Nanny in the residence to teach me how to swim, so I do know how to swim a little."
This was spoken from the real Fujin's memories. She couldn't possibly say she was a great swimmer, could she?
"Go change and accompany your Lord to swim, then." Lord Fourth pointed to a closed little pavilion.
Ruoyin was surprised. What… was Lord Fourth trying to do?
Couldn't he swim on his own? Why did he need his wife to accompany him?
She bit her lip and said, embarrassed, "But, my Lord, I didn't think that I was going to swim when I came, so I didn't bring any appropriate clothing."
"Go change. Your Lord has prepared clothes for you," said Lord Fourth.
"Oh," Ruoyin replied obediently, but her head was buzzing.
When she arrived in the little pavilion, she realized that there were two maidservants waiting for her. In their hands were indeed some blue clothing.
At first, Ruoyin did not know what the clothing looked like as she was not wearing them.
When the maidservants helped her change into the clothes, she then realized that Lord Fourth had prepared something similar to a modern-day swimsuit.
It consisted of an undergarment covering the chest and abdomen, as well as a pair of triangular shorts. The shorts were super short.
There was a veil of muslin covering her, but it did not offer any shielding and only promoted the onlooker to think dirty thoughts.
Ruoyin looked down at herself and asked the maidservants uncomprehendingly, "Are you sure this is for me?"
"Fujin, this was the only thing Lord Fourth gave us, and he even instructed us to help you change into it," the maidservant replied respectfully.
Ruoyin paused and took in a deep breath. She was not going to hide, and thus, she walked out boldly.
When she was outside, she found that there were no more subordinates around the area, but only a few maidservants.
Lord Fourth seemed to have cleared the surroundings and was going to fool around under broad daylight!
She walked over to Lord Fourth gracefully.
Lord Fourth saw her when she came out.
The blue clothes really suited her and made her snowy white skin look even fairer.
The veil of muslin gave her a hazy beauty. Even though her body was separated by that, he could still see how exquisite and delicate her figure was.
The undergarment was figure-hugging and seemed to be unable to contain her beauty.
When she entered, Lord Fourth swallowed and said mildly, "Change your Lord's clothes."
Even though she was trying to remain calm and composed, her blushing cheeks betrayed her.
After all, she was wearing so little in front of Lord Fourth under broad daylight.
Afterward, Lord Fourth stretched to warm up.
After that, he even taught Ruoyin how to warm up. He said as he instructed her, "Warm up first, or you'll get cramps."
A red-faced Ruoyin nodded to indicate she understood.
When they were both done with their warm-ups, Lord Fourth jumped into the pool first.
Ruoyin stood on the land and watched Lord Fourth swim freestyle toward herself once before swimming backstroke toward the other side of the pool.
Lord Fourth had a muscular body, but it was not overly so. When he swam, his male hormones burst out of him and mesmerized women.
After swimming one round in the pool. Lord Fourth saw Ruoyin still standing there and swam over to her.
He pointed to a wooden calabash on land and said, "Try holding that and swimming."
Ruoyin looked at the calabash beside her. It was half the size of a human and probably functioned like a swimming donut.
"Thank you, my Lord, but I don't need it." With that said, she jumped into the pool as well and swam far away on a butterfly stroke.
Her skin felt refreshed, and she realized that this was a spring of rejuvenation. It was really cooling.
She then turned around to smile at Lord Fourth charmingly. "I did mention that I kind of knew how to swim."
Lord Fourth was momentarily surprised when she jumped into the water. "Kind of knew"? She was clearly an expert swimmer.
After a long while, he uttered through gritted teeth, "You lied to your Lord!"
Ruoyin affected innocence and playfulness as she said, "That's called being humble. I did not lie to my Lord. If my Lord is upset, you can come and catch me~"
Lord Fourth looked at Ruoyin. His eyes were sparkling bright with romance and a warning.
They seemed to say: Woman, you have successfully attracted your Lord's attention.
After that warning with his eyes, Lord Fourth said nothing but swam toward Ruoyin like he was a storm.
He caused waves to radiate out from him with every stroke.
He did not believe that he could not catch a mere woman. When he caught her, he would show her what would happen if she teased him.
This was something he had to teach her.
Ruoyin saw how swiftly Lord Fourth was swimming toward her, but she only swam forward unhurriedly.
Lord Fourth's eyes were scary. She could not let him overtake her.