"Were you scared?"

Li Tiao swallowed hard. Under the moonlight, the Fourth Prince's gaze appeared even colder. If it weren't for his familiar indifference in his voice, Li Tiao would have thought she was already in the underworld.

I ran into the Fourth Prince in the King of Hell's palace.

She gave an awkward smile and said, "Sir, you're here! That's wonderful!"

The Fourth Prince ignored Li Tiao's feigned excitement and simply reached out his hand to her.

Li Tiao thought the Fourth Prince was going to help her down from the carriage, so she reached out her hand. But to her surprise, the Fourth Prince didn't grab her hand; instead, he took the bundle that Li Tiao was holding tightly.

Although there was nothing of value in the bundle, Li Tiao almost instinctively tightened her grip on it!

"Still trying to run? Aren't you afraid of running into assassins again?"

The Fourth Prince threatened people calmly and impassively in his signature calm tone.

Li Tiaoqi was angry, but out of the corner of her eye she saw that some people were lying sprawled on the ground around the carriage, covered in blood, while others were tied up by the Fourth Prince's men...

She knew perfectly well that she wanted to run again... but that was impossible now, at least not.

After jumping off the carriage, Li Tiao looked at the Fourth Prince and felt as if he had made another accusation against her.

In the past, whenever Li Tiao tried to escape, the Fourth Prince would hold it against her, and she would accept it. However, this time... it really wasn't her intention.

Li Tiao couldn't help but defend herself: "It's not that Li Tiao wanted to leave. You saw it yourself, there was a carriage and a servant driving it. How could Li Tiao handle this alone?"

"Father Emperor has done so much for you!"

Unable to discern whether it was sarcasm or simply a statement of fact, Li Tiao decided to remain silent to avoid saying anything more that might lead to further mistakes.

"Master, what brings you here?" Li Tiao had barely finished speaking when the sound of horses' hooves rang out in the distance.

Still shaken from the recent fright, Li Tiao instinctively grabbed the Fourth Prince's collar: "Your Highness, have the assassins come again?"

Glancing at Li Tiao, the Fourth Prince said in a calm tone, "The sound of horses' hooves came from the Zhaoxi Mausoleum."

Zhaoxi Mausoleum... Has the Emperor's men arrived?

"Then you'd better hide quickly, Your Highness. Doesn't the Emperor know you're coming? What if he blames you? Aren't you princes supposed to be forbidden from leaving the capital without the Emperor's decree?"

Li Tiao said anxiously while pushing the Fourth Prince, trying to make him hide: "By the way, is Zhaoxi Mausoleum considered to be outside the capital?"

Despite her best efforts, she couldn't move the Fourth Prince, and the sound of hooves was getting closer and closer. Li Tiao was getting anxious: "Your Highness, why are you still standing there? Quickly, hide!"

Glancing at the chaotic scene around him, the Fourth Prince asked, "If Father Emperor asks about all this, what will you say? That you know kung fu?"

"Of course not, but His Majesty probably doesn't want Li Tiao to die." Li Tiao wondered if this person was so unscrupulous just because he was a prince, but if he really angered the emperor, being a prince would probably be useless.

So I couldn't help but urge the Fourth Prince again.

But the Fourth Prince said, "How can you be so sure that Father Emperor won't kill you?"

"Because of Li Tiao..." was about to slip out when Li Tiao quickly swallowed the words.

She thought that the Fourth Prince probably didn't know her guess.

Moreover, everything is still just speculation. Before it is confirmed, saying things that shouldn't be said is spreading rumors.

So Li Tiao replied dismissively, "Anyway, the Emperor won't kill Li Tiao, so you, sir..."

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of horses' hooves grew closer and closer. With a unified "Whoa!", the clattering of hooves abruptly stopped.

"This servant greets the Fourth Prince. May the Fourth Prince be blessed with ten thousand years of good fortune and peace."

Li Tiao thought, "Oh no, they've seen us."

"Get up." The Fourth Prince seemed to have no other expression on his face.

"Fourth Prince, this servant dares to ask, this is..." The person who came was one of Kangxi's guards. The leader of the guards glanced around and asked the Fourth Prince.

"When the prince received news that someone wanted to harm Princess Li, he rushed over. Who would have thought that he would actually encounter assassins who wanted to kidnap Princess Li? This is the person we captured alive!" After the fourth prince finished speaking, he pointed to the person who was being restrained by his guards.

"Your Highness, this servant must report this matter to His Majesty."

“Of course I will tell Father Emperor. I will go with you.”

The Fourth Prince instructed his guards to hand over the captured prisoner to Kangxi's guards, then turned to Li Tiao and reached out his hand to her.

Recalling the embarrassment of reaching out her hand earlier, Li Tiao saw the Fourth Prince's outstretched hand, but fearing she might misunderstand again, she stood still.

Seeing that the guards were watching, Li Tiao felt that her actions might be disrespectful to the Fourth Prince, so she asked him in a low voice, "What are you doing?"

After glancing at Li Tiao, the Fourth Prince picked her up without saying a word, grabbing her waist.

"What are you doing?" Li Tiao asked the Fourth Prince in a trembling voice, terrified.

Before the Fourth Prince could answer, Li Tiao had already been lifted onto the horse's back by him.

Li Tiao swallowed hard, feeling a little embarrassed. But when the Fourth Prince also got on the horse, she became even more embarrassed.

She felt her back pressed tightly against the Fourth Prince's chest, seemingly resonating with his heartbeat and the horse's gallop.

But it also made people uneasy, as if it were some kind of secret that couldn't be spoken of...

Li Tiao subconsciously tried to distance herself from the Fourth Prince, but her foot accidentally touched the horse's belly. The horse seemed startled and ran exceptionally fast as if it had gone mad.

The speed, even more thrilling than a roller coaster, made Li Tiao's heart pound in her throat. She even wondered if she would be thrown off the horse, given how wildly it was running.

Just as she was about to scream in terror, her waist was gripped even tighter: "Don't move! You might startle the horse."

"Oh!" Li Tiao froze, too stiff to move, nestled in the Fourth Prince's arms like an ostrich.

A scene suddenly flashed through her mind, like Shu Huan riding his bicycle to take Yi Ping home, saying, "Is Yi the Yi of a little bird clinging to someone?"...

Her cheeks flushed bright red; Li Tiao's excessive TV watching had clearly done her a disservice.

After calming down, and seeing that Zhaoxi Mausoleum was getting closer and closer, Li Tiao's thoughts returned, and those inappropriate ideas disappeared from her mind.

All I could think about was what to say when I met Emperor Kangxi.

The Fourth Prince seemed to sense her worries. As he helped her dismount, he whispered, "You know nothing. I will answer Father's questions myself."

It was obvious that Kangxi had already gotten the answer. He was not surprised at all to see the Fourth Prince and Li Tiao coming together, and his anger was also very evident!

"Fourth brother, how dare you!"

Master Kang's opening remarks were full of questions, and Li Tiao was genuinely worried about the Fourth Prince.

"Your Majesty, I know I am guilty, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me. However, I knew that Consort Li was in danger, and I could not sit idly by and wait for her to die!"

"Danger? Your Consort Li came with Su Ma La Gu. What danger could there be? I even sent guards to protect her. Do you think those guards are no match for you?"