"Master, what's making you so happy?" Chunxi asked, seeing that Li Tiao was no longer listless.
Li Tiao smiled mysteriously: "It's a secret."
The plan she came up with couldn't be told to Chunxi.
She had come up with a plan, but Li Tiao wasn't in a hurry. As the old saying goes, haste makes waste. She was too anxious now, and if people noticed, it would be harder to earn money.
She needs to wait for the right opportunity.
"Master, the medicine is ready..."
Li Tiao, who was silently recalling her method, heard Chunxi's words and smelled the aroma. Her nose wrinkled involuntarily: "Don't brew it anymore, I won't drink it."
"Are your eyes better?"
"alright."
Although Chunxi didn't understand, she listened to Li Tiao and took the still-steaming medicine out.
Once outside, Chunxi's expression relaxed.
Li Tiao didn't pay attention to these trivial details. She was busy thinking of her own methods and waiting for the right opportunity. Little did she know that her opportunity would come soon.
The Eighth Prince sent another message to Li Tiao, saying he wanted to meet her.
Although Li Tiao was still somewhat apprehensive and uneasy, she also felt a greater sense of anticipation.
After they met, the Eighth Prince went straight to the point and asked Li Tiao, "I asked you to find out why Consort De and the Fourth Prince's relationship is not good. Did you find out?"
Li Tiao: "Replying to Eighth Prince, you have always lived in the palace and are brothers with our master. If you don't know these things, how could I, an outsider, so easily find out?"
The Fourth Prince hasn't been paying much attention to me lately. Who can I ask for directions?
"Yunhui is dead, and now you're the only one serving Fourth Brother. He ignores you? Can't you think of something?"
Li Tiao's lips twitched. She wished she could never see the Fourth Prince again.
"Eighth Prince, you must have asked Granny Liu about how Yunhui died. Under these circumstances, do you think that if I try to come up with another solution, I might incur the wrath of the Fourth Prince?"
"So, according to you, what use is a spy like you to me!"
"In reply to the Eighth Prince, my usefulness is not in these romantic matters. Perhaps I can bring you other benefits."
Li Tiao followed her previous plan and made up a story with the Eighth Prince.
"Oh, you have other benefits too, such as..."
Li Tiao took a deep breath, trying hard to control the excitement in her heart: "Eighth Prince, I am your spy, and I should only talk to you about the Fourth Prince."
However, the other benefits I wish to share with the Eighth Prince are not related to the Fourth Prince; they are additional…”
The Eighth Prince suddenly laughed: "From what you're saying, if I want to know what you're going to say, I'll have to give you some benefits."
"If the Eighth Prince is kind enough to reward me with some silver, that would be wonderful. After all, encouragement gives me motivation."
"Then I need to know if what you're saying is enough for me to pay for."
Li Tiao smiled. She couldn't say she was an expert at negotiating, but she was certainly not afraid of it.
Before meeting the Eighth Prince, Li Tiao sorted out many things, namely that even if the Eighth Prince disliked her now, he wouldn't dare to kill her.
After all, she was a concubine assigned to the Fourth Prince by the Emperor.
As for him knowing about the fact that he was forced to marry in place of another... if he really told me, he would be suspected of withholding information.
So Li Tiao became a tiny bit bolder. She figured the timid would starve, and the bold would feast, so she decided to take the risk and give it a try.
She smiled slightly: "Eighth Prince, that's not how business is done."
"You're talking business with me?"
Li Tiao: "This servant wouldn't dare, I'm just giving an example. Generally speaking, a business that someone as unyielding as this servant is either a big business or a scam."
"Eighth Prince, do you think this servant would dare to lie to you?"
The Eighth Prince narrowed his eyes: "So you mean your business is a big deal? You're quite arrogant. I'm a prince, do I need you to tell me what big business is going on?!"
"My lord, if I may speak disrespectfully, even princes are different. For example, the Crown Prince's mother is the Emperor's first empress, and the Crown Prince is the first empress's legitimate son."
Li Tiao was extremely nervous, because her words implied that the Eighth Prince's mother was from the Xin Zhe Ku (a place for imperial concubines).
As expected, the Eighth Prince looked extremely uncomfortable, his face dark as he waited for Li Tiao, his usual gentle and refined demeanor completely gone.
"Li Tiao, do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?"
Li Tiao was extremely uneasy and realized that what she had just said was too risky, but now that things had come to this point, she could only bite the bullet and continue: "This servant has never dared to think like that. This servant is like a blade of grass in front of you, Eighth Prince."
The Eighth Prince stared at Li Tiao for a long time, seemingly weighing his options.
Finally, the Eighth Prince took out a gold ingot from his purse and said, "If your so-called big business can really bring me benefits, this gold ingot is yours."
Under the sunlight, the golden light made Li Tiao squint, but the light shining through her eyes seemed to rival the golden radiance.
Li Tiao reached out to take it, thinking that with this gold ingot, she could run away.
She exuded an aura that she would retire after pulling off a big heist.
While the Eighth Prince hesitated, Li Tiao snatched the gold ingot into his hand.
"Eighth Prince, do you have any thoughts about your wife?" Li Tiao kept her word; now that she had the gold ingots, she wouldn't hide it anymore.
The Eighth Prince narrowed his eyes again: "I'm afraid this isn't something that can be done just because Your Highness has an idea."
"It all depends on human effort."
Greed and inferiority due to his mother's low status made the Eighth Prince unable to resist asking Li Tiao for her opinion.
Li Tiao then mentioned the identity of the Eighth Prince's wife in history, namely the famous Lady Guo Luoluo. Sure enough, she saw the light in the Eighth Prince's eyes, because at this time, Lady Guo Luoluo's family had not yet declined.
Knowing when to stop, Li Tiao was very astute. While the Eighth Prince was silently calculating what benefits this Lady Guoluo could bring him, Li Tiao curtsied to the Eighth Prince and tactfully left first.
However, she hadn't gone far when the Eighth Prince put aside his thoughts and stared at Li Tiao's back for a long time, his gaze gradually turning from scrutiny to a fierce one.
Li Tiao couldn't tell exactly how many taels the gold ingot in her hand was, but she was content with the gold...
We can't stay in the palace any longer; we need to find a way to leave as soon as possible.
Moreover, the fact that she talked so much with the Eighth Prince today has overturned his previous question about whether she could tell feng shui or something, because Li Tiao was not lying about becoming the Eighth Prince's future wife.
To avoid being questioned by the Eighth Prince about what else she could calculate, Li Tiao knew it was not a good time to stay.
She began looking for a new escape route, but since entering the palace, her activity range had been limited to the princes' quarters and the imperial garden, making it too difficult to find a suitable escape route.
Just when Li Tiao was racking her brains every day to figure out how to run away, something unexpected happened.
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