The red candles flickered, and Li Tiao sat on the edge of the bed, sighing. Her veil fluttered as she did so, creating a scene that looked incredibly romantic. However, in reality, she was trembling with anxiety.
"Greetings to the master, may the master be well."
"Get up, all of you. Su Peisheng, reward him!"
"This servant thanks you for your reward, Master."
Li Tiao, who was already very nervous, was startled by the sound outside and involuntarily straightened her back. However, before she could catch her breath, the door was pushed open with a thud.
Li Tiao's hands, which were resting on her knees, clenched instantly, but it seemed that no one noticed her nervousness, because soon the Fourth Prince used a jade ruyi or something similar to lift the veil off her face.
Without giving Li Tiao any time to adapt to or process what was happening, the wedding officiant instructed her, and Li Tiao was left in a daze. The nuptial wine was finished, and the rituals symbolizing the wish for an early birth of a son were also over.
"This servant takes her leave. I wish Master and Mistress Li a speedy birth of a son."
The sound of the door closing followed the matchmaker's auspicious words.
Li Tiao mentally prepared herself and looked up at the Fourth Prince sitting not far away.
Before she could speak, the Fourth Prince, who was said to be very taciturn, spoke first: "When the grand ceremony was held, I visited your residence. Why do you look different from the one I saw that day?"
Li Tiao's saliva got stuck in her throat, and she coughed until her face turned red. But the Fourth Prince sat there like a golden halberd, not moving an inch, looking at Li Tiao expressionlessly.
It's no wonder Li Tiao was nervous, because the Fourth Prince in front of her was none other than the famous fourth son of Emperor Kangxi, one of the most popular male protagonists in many Qing Dynasty time-travel novels.
That's fine, after all, whoever it is, is a prince. It's just a matter of trying to please people. Li Tiao thinks she's pretty good at flattery.
But who knew! This guy's eyesight was truly amazing!
The person Li Tiao met was indeed different from the one the Fourth Prince described. Of course, their appearances were not much different; they were almost identical, so much so that it was hard to tell the difference.
The difference is that the person the Fourth Prince mentioned was a native of the ancient times.
But Li Tiao was a time traveler.
Time travel, such a fashionable but ridiculous thing, happened to Li Tiao!
This is not something that is unacceptable.
But perhaps Li Tiao offended some deities, which not only brought her into contact with the royal family, but also made her fashionable again!
A substitute bride!
That's right, she was married off to the Fourth Prince as a concubine in place of someone else.
Haha, when others are married off in place of others, they become the mistress of the house, the principal wife.
But she ended up being married off as a concubine!
Unable to defy fate, Li Tiao could only accept it with a bitter face. However, who knew that on her wedding night, the Fourth Prince would give her such a big surprise? Judging from his tone, he knew that she was an imposter.
"Is your cough better?"
Just as Li Tiao was racking her brains trying to figure out how to answer the Fourth Prince, she heard his deep voice.
The voice was neither hurried nor slow, but it was a clear urging of Li Tiao.
Li Tiao tried her best to make her smile look less awkward: "Your Highness, it's probably because I dressed up specially today."
To make her words seem more convincing, Li Tiao deliberately adopted a shy and bashful demeanor, like a charming young woman.
"Yeah?"
Li Tiao, who was still gathering her emotions with her head down, twitched at the corner of her mouth and her heart started pounding even faster because of the Fourth Prince's indifferent words.
If the prince finds out she's not the real bride, being banished to Ningguta would be the least of her worries.
She looked up at the Fourth Prince in a panic, and their eyes met.
Li Tiao seemed to see the cold glint in his deep eyes, which startled her so much that she quickly looked away. "Of course it's true, sir."
The Fourth Prince seemed not to believe her words, looking at her with a half-smile.
Li Tiao's panic grew stronger. She thought that whether she faced the danger or not, she would be killed anyway. She mustered her courage and stood up to walk in front of the Fourth Prince.
"Master, if you don't believe me, look, even though I've applied rouge, my lips are still red."
Li Tiao pointed to her flushed cheeks, and even more considerately, she covered her mouth and moved closer to the Fourth Prince so that he could see her clearly.
When the two were so close that Li Tiao could see the pores on the Fourth Prince's face, she belatedly realized the foolish thing she had done.
Li Tiao thought to herself that she was not bad-looking at all. Although she might not be as beautiful as Yang Guifei, she could still rival Diaochan or Xi Shi.
However, when faced with this version of himself, the Fourth Prince's gaze remained completely unmoved.
Li Tiao was both angry and a little embarrassed.
Although she was in a difficult situation, Li Tiao knew she couldn't afford to lose face any longer.
Just before she was about to stand up straight, she heard the Fourth Prince say again in his signature calm voice, "That's right, the fortune teller I met in the capital before was an old man, not a young woman."
Recalling the various jobs she had done when she first transmigrated... Li Tiao staggered, bent over and unable to get up, and fell directly into the arms of the Fourth Prince.
There was no scene as I had expected where I was thrown away; instead, it felt like my waist was being tightly bound by a branding iron.
The breaths mingling so close together made Li Tiao's face flush red. You see, before she transmigrated, she had always been single and had no experience interacting with the opposite sex.
"Um... sir, you..."
The burning sensation on her waist from the branding iron was still there, and Li Tiao's unease reached its peak. She tried to say something, but in the blink of an eye, her lips seemed to brush against the Fourth Prince's ear.
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