"Li Tiao, you seem to have forgotten your place."

These were the Eighth Prince's first words upon meeting.

Li Tiao thought to herself, "Who did I offend? They all dare to question me just because they're of high status."

Feeling uncomfortable, Li Tiao dared not openly confront the Eighth Prince: "Eighth Prince, what do you mean by this? I have always followed your orders!"

"Follow my orders? Then let me ask you, I asked you to find out why Consort De and Fourth Brother's relationship is not good, why haven't you found out yet?"

"This..." Li Tiao said dejectedly, "Eighth Prince, to be honest, this servant is also very curious as to why Her Majesty and Fourth Prince don't get along, but how could this be easy? This is a secret of the royal family, and besides, this servant is just an unfavored concubine..."

"Out of favor? Second Brother hosted a banquet, and Fourth Brother took you with him..."

That was like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken with ill intentions. Of course, she couldn't say such complaints to the Eighth Prince, but Li Tiao felt aggrieved.

"Eighth Prince, I will obey you, but I am still a concubine of the Fourth Prince. Do I need to tell you about my daily social interactions?"

He didn't need to, but thinking about what he had found out, the Eighth Prince was still unhappy.

After a long silence, he said, "You know that Liu Mama was killed by Consort De, but do you know why?"

Li Tiao naturally had no idea.

“Granny Liu is also Consort De’s person,” the Eighth Prince said.

"What?" Li Tiao was shocked. She was already surprised that Liu Mama was the Eighth Prince's person, but she did not expect that Liu Mama would listen to Consort De.

"What did Liu Mama do while she was by your side that made Consort De unable to tolerate her? Logically speaking, since Liu Mama could hide so well, there's no reason for Consort De to execute her."

The Eighth Prince's doubts were also Ruolan's doubts.

Consort De learned about Yun Hui's matter very quickly, and even knew that she had sent someone to find Yun Hui herself.

At that time, Ruolan thought it was Yunhui and Consort De who said it, but now it seems that it was probably Granny Liu.

"Didn't you notice before?"

Li Tiao snapped out of her reverie upon hearing the Eighth Prince's words: "Since I entered the palace, I have only seen Consort De a handful of times. Later, Granny Liu was even punished by the Fourth Prince and sent to the East Third Palace, no longer serving by my side. Naturally, I didn't pay any attention to Granny Liu."

Having gotten nothing out of Li Tiao, the Eighth Prince let her leave first.

Li Tiao felt increasingly uneasy. Although Granny Liu was dead, Li Tiao felt more and more that her new identity was far too dangerous.

She felt that every minute she stayed in the palace was an extra day of danger.

Why did Consort De kill Granny Liu in the first place? Was it simply because she knew Granny Liu was also passing messages to the Eighth Prince, and that's why Consort De couldn't tolerate Granny Liu anymore?

Li Tiao shook her head, unable to figure it out.

It wasn't until she returned to the prince's residence that Li Tiao remembered that she wanted to test Chunxi to see if Chunxi was with her, but she neglected this matter because of the Eighth Prince's words.

Now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't get any information from Chunxi anyway.

However, thinking about what the Eighth Prince said, Li Tiao felt that when she learned about Chunxi's identity from Granny Liu, it was suspicious. So what about Chunxi's relationship with Granny Liu?

Even if she didn't send a message to the Eighth Prince, Li Tiao felt she needed to find out exactly what was going on. Otherwise, if something happened, she wouldn't even know how she died, which would be truly unjust.

After glancing at Chunxi who had been busy for a while, Li Tiao called out to her, "Chunxi, stop working and take a break. That table looks so clean it could be used as a mirror."

Chunxi smiled but didn't say anything, though she didn't continue working.

"Were you familiar with Granny Liu when you were at the Li residence?"

"Granny Liu?" Chunxi was taken aback: "Why did you suddenly ask about her, Master?"

"I just remembered. Although she's gone, she came to the palace with me. It's still a bit hard for me to see her suddenly disappear like this." Li Tiao's words sounded very emotional.

However, Li Tiao's attention was on Chunxi.

"Replying to Your Majesty, although I didn't get to spend much time with Granny Liu back in the manor, as Your Majesty said, we were from the same household after all, so it's still a bit sad."

Li Tiao: "You two aren't familiar with each other in the manor? I thought you two came to the palace with me, so you must have known each other before, after all, given my status..."

Chunxi naturally understood Li Tiao's meaning by saying "stop here," and at the same time, she was extremely nervous: "Master, you also know my identity. I entered the Li residence in a hurry. Afterwards, the steward gave me a few simple instructions, and then I came to serve you by your side."

That makes sense; Chunxi did indeed arrive at the Li residence after Li Tiao entered it.

"Sigh, why do you think Consort De treats Granny Liu like this..." Li Tiao sighed, "Didn't you get any clues from the master?"

"Master." Chunxi immediately knelt down because of Li Tiao's words: "Master, although I had no choice but to tell Master about your affairs, I have nothing else to say to him. How could Master tell me about Granny Liu? I was too scared to even observe Master."

"Get up. I just asked you a question while we were chatting. Look how scared you are." Li Tiao stood up and pulled Chunxi up.

With no clue as to the questions she wanted to probe, Chunxi became even more apprehensive. Seeing that Chunxi didn't dare to look at her, Li Tiao didn't dare to continue asking, fearing that it might backfire.

Does Chunxi's current state indicate that she knows about Granny Liu's affair, or not?

Li Tiao was incredibly curious.

It was hot, and Li Tiao was leaning back in her recliner, seemingly asleep. It was the height of summer, and the heat was intense. The drowsy Li Tiao was awakened by the heat.

She had a moment of hysteria, looked around, and didn't see Chunxi in the room. Just as she was about to get up, she heard people talking outside.

"Greetings to the master."

Where is your master?

"Replying to your question, Master is taking a midday rest."

When the Fourth Prince arrived, Li Tiao felt she should get up and pay her respects to him to avoid him causing her trouble. But just then, she heard Chunxi's stammering voice: "Your Highness, there's something I don't know if I should tell you?"

"What is it?"

Although Li Tiao was surprised, she guessed what Chunxi was going to say, which was nothing more than asking her about Granny Liu.

However, Li Tiao was curious about the Fourth Prince's answer.

But after waiting for a long time, Li Tiao still didn't hear a reply from the Fourth Prince.

Just as Li Tiao was hesitating whether to continue pretending to be asleep or get up and follow the sound to pay her respects to the Fourth Prince, she felt a sudden darkness before her eyes, even though her eyes were closed.

Her eyelashes fluttered like a sieve, and as soon as she opened her eyes, the Fourth Prince's magnified face appeared before Li Tiao, startling her so much that she nearly sat up abruptly...