"Your Majesty, she used to be a fortune teller. She told the Fourth Prince's fortune and said that he would replace the Crown Prince and inherit the throne!"

Chunxi's blood was already shocking, but her words seemed to terrify Li Tiao, leaving her completely smitten.

Before Li Tiao could figure out how to deal with the situation, Chunxi had already collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Swallowing hard, Li Tiao looked up at Consort De, but before she could even speak, Consort De gave her a smug sidelong glance, making Li Tiao look as if she had lost her mind.

Afterwards, Li Tiao saw Consort De turn and walk into the inner room. Li Tiao was still in shock, but what was even more exciting was that Kangxi calmly came out of the inner room.

"Your Majesty, did you hear what that servant Chunxi said just now?" Consort De asked while bowing to Emperor Kangxi.

Li Tiao could barely stand, so she took the opportunity to greet Emperor Kangxi.

"Get up." Kangxi ignored Consort De and instead said this to Li Tiao in a nonchalant tone.

Normally, Li Tiao hated kneeling the most, but at this moment, she didn't dare to stand up because she was so scared that her legs went weak and she couldn't stand up at all.

"Your Majesty, this is how I will answer."

"Your Majesty, she's feeling guilty." Consort De seized the opportunity to urge Li Tiao to die sooner.

"Your Majesty and Your Highness, it's not that I'm guilty, but Your Highness has already assumed that I'm guilty. Even if I get up now, Your Highness will probably make me kneel down again in a while. Rather than going through all that trouble, it's better to get things cleared up once and for all."

"Your Majesty, did you hear what she said? She..."

"Consort De, is it you who is asking the question or I who am asking the question!" Kangxi interrupted Consort De.

Consort De composed herself and said, "Your Majesty, I was momentarily agitated and lost control. It is Your Majesty who should ask me questions."

Kangxi glanced at Consort De and asked Li Tiao, "Did you hear what Chunxi said just now? What's your explanation?"

Li Tiao gradually calmed down and said, "Your Majesty, Chunxi's words are naturally not credible, but what I am more curious about is that Your Highness seems to wish me dead, which makes me quite curious."

"What are you curious about?" Kangxi watched coldly as the palace maids and nannies carried Chunxi away, but he didn't forget to ask Li Tiao.

Just now, when the palace maid was carrying Chunxi, she subconsciously touched Chunxi's nose. Li Tiao saw the palace maid suddenly withdraw her hand and then exchanged a glance with the nanny next to her.

It's obvious that Chunxi died just like that.

But neither Consort De nor the Emperor asked a single question, their indifference only amplifying Li Tiao's unease.

The Fourth Prince hasn't arrived yet, and no one can help her. She has to calmly carve out a way to survive on her own.

"Your Majesty, what I'm curious about is, given Your Highness's status, shouldn't you have explained what Chunxi just said first? Explained that the Fourth Prince didn't mean it that way."

However, Consort De's attitude made it seem as if Chunxi was telling the truth, and Consort De even hoped that Chunxi was telling the truth, so that the Emperor would punish the Fourth Prince as well.

"Your Majesty, she's talking nonsense!" Consort De was startled by Li Tiao's words and quickly explained.

Consort De panicked, but Li Tiao remained calm and composed: "Your Majesty is wise. Under normal circumstances, after Chunxi finished speaking, shouldn't Consort De's attitude towards me be the reaction she should have as the biological mother of the Fourth Prince?"

Your Highness has lived in the palace for over a decade; you should know what consequences Chunxi's words would have on the Fourth Prince.

But Your Majesty, you didn't just now.

"Your Majesty, what do you think?"

The moment Li Tiao finished speaking, Consort De, though resentful of Li Tiao, had no choice but to turn her attention to Emperor Kangxi.

Because Kangxi's answer was crucial, Consort De never expected that Li Tiao could react so quickly.

Emperor Kangxi smiled.

However, in the eyes of Li Tiao and Consort De, this smile was ambiguous. Both of them were nervous and stared at Kangxi without blinking, wanting to know what Kangxi meant.

"Li Tiao, your maid Chunxi said you could tell fortunes, and even predicted that the fourth prince would replace the second prince. Is that true or false?"

When Consort De heard Kangxi say this, she looked at Li Tiao with a smug expression, and at the same time did not forget to flatter Kangxi: "Your Majesty is wise."

Li Tiao: "Your Majesty, of course it's false. Let alone the fact that I don't know anything about fortune telling, even if I did, and even if I did, how could I let Chunxi know about such an important matter?"

"She was your maid before, so it's not surprising that she accidentally discovered your secret." Kangxi remained amiable, making it impossible to tell whether he was questioning Li Tiao or simply chatting casually.

However, Li Tiao dared not relax her guard for even a moment because of Kangxi's amiable demeanor.

"Your Majesty, it is true that Chunxi was my maid before, but I really don't know anything about divination or celestial phenomena."

"But there are also rumors that before I arranged a marriage for the Eighth Prince, you told him that his primary wife would be Lady Guoluo, the granddaughter of Prince Yuele. How do you explain that?"

Li Tiao's heart was in her throat, and there was a knife to the back of her neck; one wrong move and she would be doomed.

"Your Majesty, this servant did not say such a thing to the Eighth Prince."

Li Tiao was gambling, but she was uncertain because she didn't know if the Eighth Prince would betray her, since she was just one of his informants.

"Your Majesty, she's just making excuses," Consort De added fuel to the fire once again.

Li Tiao was in a state of high anxiety, but that didn't mean she would let Consort De "bully" her so easily.

"Your Majesty, I know I am of lowly birth and my words carry little weight, but..."

"The Fourth Prince has arrived."

Before Li Tiao could finish speaking, the Fourth Prince arrived, so she swallowed her words for the time being.

After the Fourth Prince arrived, Emperor Kangxi said, "Fourth Prince, it seems you've come for your princess. In that case, I'll tell you the whole story."

Kangxi briefly explained the matter to Yinzhen.

After hearing this, the Fourth Prince bowed deeply to Emperor Kangxi and said, "Father, I know nothing about what you just said, but I am curious about one thing."

"Oh, really? What are you curious about?" Kangxi asked.

The Fourth Prince said, "In response to Father Emperor, whether it was Chunxi's discussion about Li Gege's identity in the Qianqing Palace that day, or Father Emperor's statement about Li Tiao's ability to divine, either of these two things could be fatal to Li Tiao."

Li Tiao was merely a concubine of her son. She herself did not have a distinguished family background, and her son did not hold any title. What puzzled her son was why someone would want to kill such a concubine as Li Tiao.

The son felt that the person who insisted on killing Princess Li was more intriguing than Princess Li herself; what secrets did she hold?