Li Tiao stared blankly at the Fourth Prince, while secretly moving her bundle behind her to avoid embarrassment. She also moved her feet little by little, trying to drift away.
The Fourth Prince saw through Li Tiao's actions, sneered, and turned to leave. It was as if the curtain of the tent weighed a thousand pounds, and the Fourth Prince used all his strength to lift it up.
With a whoosh, the tent flapped open and closed, and the wind rushed violently into the tent.
Startled by the cold wind, Li Tiao snapped back to reality and quickly found a place to temporarily hide her bundle.
She had just hidden herself away, and before Li Tiao could even sit down and have a sip of hot tea, Hongye called out to her from outside, "Master..."
Remembering that Hongye was about to leave, Li Tiao hurried out. Looking at the carriage that had been prepared, Li Tiao hugged Hongye with great reluctance.
Then he whispered in her ear, "Be careful, don't let yourself get taken advantage of."
"Master, don't worry, I'm fine. It's you who's..."
"I'm fine too. Take care of yourself. I'll come to Lucheng to find you."
After Li Tiao finished speaking with Hongye, she looked at the guards waiting beside her and walked over to them. "The Emperor must have given you some instructions before we came, right?"
Seeing that the guards did not deny it, Li Tiao continued, "You must remember clearly what the Emperor instructed you. Now you must do your best to treat Hongye and make sure that nothing goes wrong with her."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Hongye was deeply moved. As a mistress, Li Tiao treated her, a mere maid, so well. Hongye thought that there were probably only a handful of mistresses like her in the entire Qing Dynasty.
The wind and snow had subsided considerably, and Li Tiao knew that getting on the road was the priority, so she didn't say much to Hongye and told them to hurry up and leave.
Li Tiao turned around only after the carriage was out of sight, only to find that the Fourth Prince had somehow appeared behind her.
"You're really reluctant to part with just a maid?"
“Of course.” Li Tiao was a little unsure how to face the Fourth Prince, but upon hearing his words, she seemed less nervous. “Since Hongye started serving me, I have never been separated from her… no, we have been separated before. The first time I went with Su Ma La Gu to chant sutras and pray for the Empress Dowager, we were separated briefly, but that was only for a few days.”
This time... I don't know when...
Thinking of this, Li Tiao asked the Fourth Prince, "When can we leave here?"
"At least we'll have to wait until the war is over."
"So, Li Tiao means when this war will probably end?" Li Tiao asked.
It was a perfectly normal question, but Li Tiao noticed that the Fourth Prince's gaze changed because of it, becoming as unsettling as the snow-covered grassland.
So Li Tiao shrank back cowardly and said, "If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it."
The Fourth Prince said irritably, "The enemy isn't stupid either. We can't fight a war now. We'll have to wait until spring, and spring will come to the grasslands... it'll be another two or three months."
"Two or three months!" Li Tiao exclaimed.
Her exclamation made the Fourth Prince's expression even more unpleasant, and he couldn't help but mutter, "It's been almost a year since I left the capital."
The Fourth Prince ultimately didn't say the part about missing his father.
Although she didn't say it, Li Tiao seemed to understand the Fourth Prince's thoughts: "That's different. Hongye is Li Tiao's maid. We spend almost every day together. Fourth Prince, you and Li Tiao have no relationship. Li Tiao was removed from the imperial register by the Emperor long ago."
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything, because these words forced the Fourth Prince to confront once again his father's ambiguous attitude towards Li Tiao.
"Still gets angry so easily."
Watching the Fourth Prince ignore her and walk away, Li Tiao couldn't help but mutter something to herself.
But despite the howling wind, it did not impair the Fourth Prince's hearing at all.
The moment Li Tiao finished speaking, the Fourth Prince suddenly turned around and glared at her.
So Li Tiao quickly backed down to save herself, and gave the Fourth Prince a fawning smile.
In ancient times, there was Hua Mulan who joined the army in place of her father. Now, there is a woman named Li Tiao in the army camp. She doesn't know how Hua Mulan managed to avoid being noticed, but Li Tiao dares not be careless and dares not let anyone discover that she is a woman. So, apart from moving around the tent, she doesn't dare to go far away at all.
When it was time to eat, Su Peisheng would bring the food to the tent.
If it weren't for having to deal with the Fourth Prince's unpredictable moods, Li Tiao felt it wouldn't be so bad.
Then there's the issue of sleeping every day.
Li Tiao naturally shared a tent with the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince's tent was large enough to comfortably accommodate two people. However, even with a screen separating them, there was always an indescribable awkwardness between a man and a woman.
To avoid this awkward situation, Li Tiao would drink a few cups of wine every night before going to bed, claiming it was to keep warm.
The liquor on the grassland is strong, and while it does keep you warm, Li Tiao falls asleep quickly, thus avoiding a lot of trouble.
Although things were temporarily at peace, Li Tiao knew she couldn't drink every night and needed to find a way to ease the awkwardness.
However, before they could figure out what to do, something even more awkward happened.
Because the Fourth Prince is still leading a large number of soldiers to set up camp on the grassland, and with the current weather, food and drink are becoming a problem. Both human food and horse feed are in short supply.
Kangxi secretly returned to Beijing not only to prevent uncontrollable situations from arising in the capital, but also to procure provisions for the Fourth Prince.
The provisions have been delivered.
As a prince, the Fourth Prince was the highest-ranking person on the grasslands, so naturally he had to meet with the people escorting the grain supplies, express his gratitude and politeness, and ask them to continue procuring grain supplies after they returned.
However, to everyone's surprise, the other party said that this was what they should do.
This sounds reasonable, since the person delivering the supplies was dealing with the Fourth Prince, a prince, so it was natural to say nice things.
But then the other party said that their master would be related to the Fourth Prince by marriage, and naturally they would do their best to assist the Fourth Prince.
Li Tiao choked on her own saliva upon hearing this, and coughed incessantly.
The Fourth Prince's expression was extremely unpleasant: "In-laws?"
The other party had originally intended to curry favor with the Fourth Prince, but seeing his expression, they became somewhat frightened: "Your Highness, hasn't the Emperor mentioned this matter to you? According to my servant, the Emperor once mentioned it to him, asking how old your eldest daughter is, and also saying that Your Highness has reached the age to have a wife..."
The Fourth Prince was indeed unaware of this matter, which is understandable, as his other brothers would have already had wives by his age.
Previously, he had never had a primary consort, and the Fourth Prince was actually aware of this, because there were rumors in the palace that he was "possibly impotent".
The Fourth Prince knew that he would marry a princess sooner or later, but he didn't expect that the matter would be brought up in front of Li Tiao.
Li Tiao stopped coughing, and seeing the Fourth Prince's gloomy expression, she assumed he minded her listening to his private affairs, so she tactfully left.
However, after the messengers who delivered the provisions had left, when the Fourth Prince sent people to look for Li Tiao, Su Peisheng cried out in despair that Li Tiao could not be found.
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