Ruoyin grunted softly, and the corner of her lips twitched. Okay, Lord Fourth was thinking dirty. She was only having a cramp at her foot!
Her brows furrowed, and she said directly, "My Lord, I have cramps in my feet again. Help me! It's terrible!"
This time, she was really twitching with pain. They were just getting heated up, but she just had to have cramps. How frustrating!
Fortunately, her cramps didn't arise when Lord Fourth was working it. Otherwise, it would have been hard for her to bear it.
In any case, in her eyes, Lord Fourth wasn't one to have tender and protective feelings toward the other sex, nor was he a lord who could stop himself in the middle of the action!
Hearing that, Lord Fourth looked serious, but just like yesterday, he grabbed her foot to give it a stretch.
Even though his tone was indifferent, he showed his concern in his words. "How is it? Is it still painful?"
"A little more stretch. My Lord's hands are so good!" Ruoyin said fawningly.
Lord Fourth patiently helped Ruoyin to stretch her foot again. Then he said sternly, "Useless. You can't keep up at night, and in the day, you're again having cramps."
Ruoyin choked up with indignation. Quite some moments later, she finally said, "That's because I'm weak. How could I compare with a strong man like you, my Lord~ So you have to be more sympathetic. Could you spare me the other half of Lessons for Women?"
She hadn't forgotten about this opportunity. If she had, then what would have been the point of her serving Lord Fourth at night?
"You didn't perform well," Lord Fourth said mildly, but the corner of his lips rose very slightly.
Although he did say that she was useless, she left a great taste, one too wonderful for words.
"Lord Fourth, you can't do this to me. You have to take responsibility for what you said to me. And you have to take responsibility for me~" Ruoyin was impatient. After saying that, she hugged Lord Fourth from behind, neglecting to adjust her clothes, and she continued to express her grievance. "If I had known my Lord would do this last night~ I wouldn't have asked my Lord to have me~"
Uh… Although she had also enjoyed it last night and very intensely, there was no harm in being shameless now!
Hearing this, Lord Fourth raised his eyebrows. Feeling her body temperature on his back, he said, "Insolence! You're going about your nonsense again!"
Ruoyin was shaken over Lord Fourth's rebuke, and she replied innocently, "I don't care~ Lord should know better. Even though my back isn't painful now, my feet keep cramping. This means that my body is still weak. You should sympathize with me~"
Lord Fourth's back froze. There was a woman's breath at his neck. He swallowed hard and furrowed his brows, saying, "Forget it, forget it. Hurry up and put on your clothes and help me to change my clothes, and act more like a Fujin."
Ruoyin achieved her objective. She didn't care whether Lord Fourth was aloof or attentive toward her. She first put on her clothes before helping Lord Fourth to change his clothes.
After freshening up, Lord Fourth called Su Peicheng to come in. "Go call Chief Physician Feng to come and have a look at Fujin."
"My Lord, it's just cramps. Why call the chief physician?" Geez, cramps happen because of calcium deficiency. They knew nothing about calcium. What would be the point of getting the physician?
She just had to eat more food rich in calcium.
Hearing this, Lord Fourth cast a cold, enigmatic glance at Ruoyin.
Ruoyin's expression immediately became a smiley face. "My Lord is right. Whatever you say."
Then, Su Peicheng quickly went to summon Chief Physician Feng. He saw it too. No wonder Fujin was winning his favor. She was even better at boot-licking than he was!
Meanwhile, Lord Fourth said abruptly, "The next time I go to the palace, I'll talk to Mother and tell her that you have pain in your back and not to punish you by copying books."
"No, my Lord. Copying occasionally can still be a good thing," Ruoyin said, overwhelmed by favor.
Lest Consort De might think that she was trying to drive a wedge between Consort De and Lord Fourth and make him sympathize with her. She was actually just trying to slack off.
Besides, there was no way that she could possibly hide the fact that Consort De made her copy Lessons for Women.
At the same time, she really didn't want Lord Fourth to get in between her relationship with her mother-in-law. After all, Lord Fourth and Consort De were never very close as mother and son.
If she were to worsen their relationship, the gains wouldn't make up for the losses.
Lord Fourth was a little gratified, perhaps at the thought of how sensible she was.
He tugged at his lips and said, "Seeing how sensible you are, I'll tell Mother to use another method as a punishment."
Ruoyin rolled her eyes inwardly. Lord Fourth was so black-bellied. So he was just playing her!
She looked up and glared at him coyly. "My Lord's just playing with me~"
Lord Fourth smiled as he looked at her without saying a word.
At breakfast, Ruoyin still had no appetite.
Recently, when she was having meals on her own, it was always either her or Nanny Liu and the others who picked what she would have for breakfast.
In any case, it was always the food that she liked to eat, but she wouldn't eat much.
But now that Lord Fourth was here, she was busy waiting on Lord Fourth.
Although the kitchen had prepared the food that she liked, they had also prepared about half of the food for Lord Fourth.
And so, when she caught a faint whiff of the pork liver congee with greens, she even felt nauseated because of her lack of appetite.
However, because Lord Fourth was here, she suppressed her discomfort.
It was just that when she looked at the dim sum and dishes on the table, she just had no appetite, so she only took some fermented bean curd and ate the corn congee with indifference.
Lord Fourth noticed Ruoyin's strange behavior. After all, she usually had a good appetite.
He said, "What's wrong? You don't like this? Why not try my pork liver congee? It's good for the eyes."
Ruoyin's nausea that was suppressed with great effort returned when Lord Fourth reminded her about it again.
Then, in a moment's loss of restraint, she covered her mouth and retched.
Lord Fourth was stumped as he watched and handed her a handkerchief.
Ruoyin took the handkerchief, but before she could give any warning, she got up and vomited in the trash bin.
After a while, she was pale-faced as she wiped her mouth in discomfort.
Startled, Qiao Feng poured a cup of tea for Ruoyin. "Fujin, have a rinse."
Ruoyin took a sip of the tea and spit it out in the porcelain cup Qiao Feng had prepared.
Then, she walked over and sat down opposite Lord Fourth, and said embarrassedly, "It's been hot lately. I've vomited so badly. It's embarrassing."
"It's okay. I'll let Chief Physician Feng have a check on you later," Lord Fourth said.
At that moment, Nanny Liu shifted her gaze slightly. She seemed to have thought of something. She tugged at her lips and said hesitatingly, "Fujin, you're not… Your period hasn't come for this month, right?"
Ruoyin was stunned at Nanny Liu's question. She paused, as though she'd realized something.
She shook her head and said seriously, "It's not here yet. Seems like it's delayed for a few days."
If Nanny Liu hadn't asked her, she wouldn't have paid any notice.
She always thought that she was only having a bad appetite lately and that malnutrition was causing her period to be delayed. Now that she was mulling over what Nanny Liu had said, could it be that she was pregnant?
"Then you might be pregnant." Nanny Liu grinned, as if it was certain that Ruoyin was pregnant.
And Ruoyin saw that Nanny Liu seemed even happier than she was about it.
She turned to look at Lord Fourth and saw a faint glint in his black, enigmatic eyes, but they returned to normal in just an instant.