Li Tiao waited anxiously for the Fourth Prince's response, but he just stared at her without saying a word, and his expressionless face made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Just as Li Tiao was about to say something more, the Fourth Prince finally spoke up: "What method?"
Li Tiao's eyes lit up. "Master, as I just said, we were originally going to catch fireflies, but we found this box by chance."
So my solution is this: if you help me catch fireflies to use as lanterns, I won't need this box.
Conversely, if you fail to catch it, this box will belong to me.
After speaking, the Fourth Prince fell silent again, making Li Tiao very anxious: "Your Highness... if you don't want to, just pretend I didn't say anything..."
One second he was dejected as if the sky had fallen, but the fourth prince was working so hard for the box. A flash of interest crossed his eyes.
"I agree."
"What?" Li Tiao didn't react for a moment.
The Fourth Prince didn't explain further and continued walking in the direction of the Princes' quarters.
After Li Tiao had processed the Fourth Prince's words, she was overjoyed, as if the box had been returned to her own hands.
She grabbed the Fourth Prince's hand and jumped in front of him, tilting her head back and laughing as brightly as a flower: "Your Highness, since you've promised, you can't go back on your word."
The Fourth Prince's eyes seemed to be dazzled by something, and he nodded: "Of course."
Li Tiao was lost in her own thoughts, thinking to herself that she was just an ordinary, unremarkable smart girl.
The fireflies part is just a figment of my imagination. It's summer now, and while there are fireflies in the Imperial Garden, there aren't swarms of them. To think I'd catch enough to make a lantern... haha...
Lost in her own thoughts, Li Tiao didn't notice the Fourth Prince glancing at her every now and then.
The two remained silent until they arrived at the prince's residence, at which point Li Tiao realized she had been holding hands with the fourth prince the whole time. Embarrassed, she quickly let go of his hand.
Rubbing his hands together, the Fourth Prince called out to Li Tiao, who was about to leave: "Lantern."
Frustrated, Li Tiao closed her eyes, realizing she had been careless again. She quickly took the lantern from Su Peisheng's hand and said, "Thank you, sir. It's getting late, you should get some rest."
The Fourth Prince lifted his foot to follow Li Tiao, but seeing Li Tiao's almost running pace, her intention to avoid him so obvious, the Fourth Prince's eyes darkened, he snorted coldly and turned to go to his room.
Back in his room, he saw Su Peisheng casually place the box he had been carrying all the way on the bookshelf, making it quite conspicuous.
"Bring the box here."
Su Peisheng was puzzled, but he quickly placed it in front of the Fourth Prince.
He waved his hand, signaling Su Peisheng to leave.
The Fourth Prince opened the box, stared at the gold and silver jewelry inside for a long time, then let out a long sigh and muttered to himself, "They really went to great lengths to escape."
Without money, Li Tiao couldn't run away even if she wanted to. Although she felt that her method would eventually return the box to its owner, she wouldn't have peace of mind until the box was back in her hands.
Seeing Li Tiao's listless appearance, Chunxi asked, "Master, are you feeling unwell?"
Li Tiao shook her head, idly fanning herself with her fan, thinking that she couldn't just sit and wait for her fate.
As the saying goes: you can never have too much money. If you don't have money on hand right now, you have to find a way to make money.
But how to make money in the palace... In reality, you can't make much money. You can't earn the master's money, and the palace maids and eunuchs don't have much money either. Even if they had silver, they wouldn't be willing to spend it.
However, Li Tiao's true intention was to appear to be making money while actually reminding the Fourth Prince to quickly admit defeat and return her treasure chest to him.
After making up her mind, Li Tiao squinted and thought for a while before looking at Chunxi: "Chunxi, it's been hot these past few days, and I haven't had much of an appetite. Has the kitchen prepared a meal for me today?"
Chunxi listed several dishes, all described as delicacies from land and sea, but in reality, they ate quite a lot in the palace.
Li Tiao was troubled: "The food is good, but it's too tedious. Just hearing 'ah' makes me lose my appetite."
Chunxi asked, "My lady, is there anything you would like to eat? I will tell the kitchen to prepare it right away."
Finally, she got to the point. Li Tiao sighed, "I'll do it myself. The kitchen staff might not know how to make it."
"But Master, you're cooking yourself, this..."
"What's the big deal? I'm just a concubine, nothing special. I'm just cooking." Li Tiao said, already standing up and heading towards the small kitchen.
The kitchen staff were trembling with fear, but Li Tiao, though of low status, was still the master, and the kitchen staff couldn't refuse her, so they prepared everything as Li Tiao had instructed.
To make a bigger scene and achieve her goal, Li Tiao had the kitchen staff set up a fire in the courtyard for her.
At this time of day, there were no fans or air conditioners in the kitchen, and it was still burning firewood; it was unbearably hot.
After everything was ready, Li Tiao started making milk tea!
Milk tea was indeed something Li Tiao wanted to drink, but who knew that there was no milk or anything like that in the palace at that time. It wasn't that there was no milk, but rather that people didn't drink milk much, so it would be difficult to get some in a short period of time.
They brought Li Tiao "Peach Wine".
The so-called "Peach Wine" was actually breast milk. There were many wet nurses in the palace, so Peach Wine was easy to obtain. Moreover, at that time, Peach Wine was considered a precious commodity.
Li Tiao wasn't used to it, so after making the milk tea, she didn't drink it herself. She asked Chunxi to take it to the ice cellar to chill it first, and then take it out after she had prepared everything else and attracted everyone over.
Li Tiao prepared the seasonings according to her own taste and had various meat and vegetable skewers made. Then, under her direction, the people in the small kitchen started grilling in the yard.
Soon, the irresistible aroma of barbecue drew people over.
The princes who lived there were all princes, some older than the fourth prince who were already married, and others younger princes who had just moved out of their mothers' palaces when they were only teenagers.
What Li Tiao wanted to earn was the money from these young princes.
"Li Gege, what are you grilling? It's not enough to eat this small."
Barbecues weren't exactly rare at this time, after all, the Manchus were, to some extent, a nomadic people who ate things like whole roasted lamb.
Li Tiao said, "Of course it's different from what you usually eat. If you don't believe me, you can try it when it's ready."
Novelty is always attractive to children, and they all looked very satisfied as they ate.
Finally, Li Tiao had someone bring out the aged milk tea. If you wanted to drink it, you had to pay money. Although the young princes were young, they were princes and had a high status in front of Li Tiao.
So although she didn't want to give the money, she couldn't refuse, and Li Tiao naturally took it.
After the young princes had eaten and drunk their fill, and the small kitchen was all tidied up, Li Tiao left satisfied.
On the way back, she ran into Su Peisheng, who said to Li Tiao, "Master Li, I told you not to rush and rest. I have prepared a surprise for you."
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