"you……"
"Yes, it's me." Li Tiao glanced at the Fourth Prince, who was wrapped up tightly except for his eyes, and said with a hint of sullenness.
Although she didn't expect the Fourth Prince to be too excited to see her, the look in his eyes... seemed to be one of disgust?
Coming here in this cold weather, do you really think she wanted to come? Honestly! It's infuriating!
Just as Li Tiao and the Fourth Prince were locked in a silent standoff, Hongye's voice rang out behind the Fourth Prince: "Fourth Prince, His Majesty didn't eat much breakfast, after traveling for so long..."
Without a word, the Fourth Prince lowered the curtain and turned around.
Li Tiao didn't hear what he said to the guards because the wind was too strong outside. Anyway, the carriage moved forward at a snail's pace.
Li Tiao had originally thought about getting out of the carriage and walking, since it shouldn't be far anyway, but when she thought about the look in the Fourth Prince's eyes earlier, she felt annoyed.
Although she has now contradicted herself by saying to Song Gege that she wouldn't come to see the Fourth Prince, this wasn't Li Tiao's idea to come.
If it weren't for the inviolable imperial decree, Li Tiao would never have come during the terrible winter weather on the grasslands.
At the encampment, Li Tiao got off the carriage and followed behind the Fourth Prince.
It was so much more comfortable inside the tent compared to the freezing cold outside.
However, before Li Tiao could even express her feelings, the Fourth Prince suddenly turned around and asked, "How did you get in here?"
Li Tiao was taken aback by his question, "It's so cold outside, where am I supposed to go if I don't come in?"
"This is the master's tent. Is it appropriate for you to come in?"
Li Tiao hadn't realized the problem. Thinking that they were no longer together, it seemed a bit inappropriate. Li Tiao asked, "Then I'll stay..."
"As you can see, the grasslands are covered in ice and snow right now, so setting up tents again isn't really practical..."
It was indeed inappropriate. Li Tiao herself wasn't the kind of person who was so heartless as to ignore other people's hardships, but the Fourth Prince's attitude clearly meant, "Go back to where you came from."
Li Tiao did want to, but with this weather... she could walk by herself, but the guards and Hongye were having a harder time than her, and she didn't want Hongye and the guards to go through all this trouble with her.
But not wanting to lose face, Li Tiao raised her chin, ignored the Fourth Prince, and went straight behind the desk. Leaning back in the tiger-skin chair, Li Tiao looked at the Fourth Prince with a "mountain king" tone: "If I remember correctly, Fourth Prince, you still have quite a bit of silver and jewelry from Li Tiao. That silver and jewelry should be enough to pay the rent, right?"
After saying this, seeing that Si A frowned, seemingly not understanding her meaning, Li Tiao said, "Consider the silver and jewelry as rent for this tent. You can stay with Su Peisheng or the other soldiers. Hongye and I will stay here for the time being."
"You live here? Aren't you afraid Father Emperor will object?" The Fourth Prince glanced at Li Tiao.
Just three days ago, the Fourth Prince received a letter from the capital, addressed to the Thirteenth Prince and the two guards who were specifically protecting Li Tiao.
The Thirteenth Prince admitted that he had always known where Li Tiao was but hadn't said anything, and also apologized to the Fourth Prince for Li Tiao disappearing again.
The guard's letter also said that Li Tiao had disappeared.
The letter from the capital did indeed make the Fourth Prince anxious, but in his view, Li Tiao's disappearance again seemed to be in line with her personality.
The moment the Fourth Prince saw the red leaves, he was excited, excited that Li Tiao had traveled thousands of miles to find him, even in the harsh weather of wind and snow on the grassland.
However, when he saw those guards, the Fourth Prince's heart was as cold as the weather on the grassland at that moment.
The Fourth Prince naturally knew that Kangxi had secretly returned to the capital, and he also knew why. In a situation where a single move in the court could have far-reaching consequences, Kangxi had also found Li Tiao, and the Fourth Prince understood exactly what this meant.
He and Emperor Kangxi were father and son, and both were men.
Moreover, Li Tiao did not refuse Kangxi's guards. It should be noted that Li Tiao used to avoid the emperor as much as possible.
Li Tiao naturally noticed the gloom in the Fourth Prince's eyes and suddenly realized that the Fourth Prince seemed to have misunderstood something.
After a moment of silence, Li Tiao said, "Actually..."
"Fourth Prince, His Majesty's urgent secret decree."
Hearing the noise outside, Li Tiao swallowed her words.
The Fourth Prince called out, "Come in."
After receiving the secret edict from the guard, the Fourth Prince waved for the guard to leave.
Li Tiao thought that since it was a secret decree, she shouldn't stay here, and she was about to leave. But before she could move, the Fourth Prince had already opened the secret decree in front of her. After glancing at it, he sneered and threw the secret decree at Li Tiao.
"You have quite the influence. We don't even know how the war is going yet, but Father Emperor has already issued such a secret decree for you, which is unprecedented."
Li Tiao was a little embarrassed. She stood up, glanced at the secret edict that had fallen to the ground, hesitated for a moment, and then picked it up.
Just as the Fourth Prince had said, Kangxi's secret decree was very simple: "Make sure to protect Li Tiao's safety! Bring her back safely after everything is stable in the capital."
"Actually, Your Majesty..."
The Fourth Prince frowned, walked up to Li Tiao, snatched the secret edict from her hand, and threw it directly into the burning fire in the tent.
"Don't worry, since it's Father Emperor's decree, I will naturally do as Father Emperor commands."
After speaking, the Fourth Prince left the tent immediately, but the cold wind outside did not dispel the irritation in his heart.
In fact, the Fourth Prince could probably guess what the Emperor was thinking. The capital was not peaceful at the moment, and if Li Tiao were captured by the Crown Prince's men, she would surely die.
The Crown Prince probably never expected to come here.
The more the Fourth Prince could guess the Emperor's meticulous schemes, the more agitated he became.
After all, what could a man possibly want from a woman who is so devoted to her?
"Master, please eat something. Eating something will make you feel less cold."
Li Tiao glanced at the beef and mutton, not particularly fond of them, but knowing that one couldn't be too demanding about certain things here, she drank some soup instead.
"Sir, the doctor is here to change your dressing."
Just as Li Tiao finished eating, she heard a sound outside that sounded like Su Peisheng's.
Change the dressing?
Li Tiao winked at Hongye, signaling her to call Su Peisheng in.
"May Master Li be well."
"The Fourth Prince isn't here. Go look for him first."
Su Peisheng hadn't gone with the Fourth Prince to see the doctor earlier. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness, there's something I'm not sure if I should say."
"you say."
"It's like this, to keep the troops' morale up, most people don't know about my injuries, so I can't go to other tents to change my bandages. You see..."
Li Tiao suddenly realized, feeling an awkward sense of being usurped.
The reason she told Song Gege she wouldn't come to see the Fourth Prince was to avoid awkwardness, but for some reason, Kangxi insisted on coming himself, saying things like "Don't worry," really...
"Alright, you go find the Fourth Prince first. I'll go out for a stroll. This is my first time in the border region, and I've never seen the snow and wind there before. It's so fascinating."
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