The saying goes, "Catch the thief with the stolen goods."
After confirming that someone was inside, Li Tiao did not hesitate at all, pushed open the door, and rushed inside.
Looking at the person squatting down and reaching under the kang (heated brick bed) to rummage through something, Li Tiao was utterly incredulous: "Chunxi?"
Chunxi had actually heard the sound when the door opened. Now, hearing Li Tiao call her, she slowly stood up and turned around, looking at Li Tiao with a helpless and guilty expression: "Master..."
I glanced at where Chunxi was standing, and there was a hole under the kang (a heated brick bed) for heating in winter, right next to Chunxi's legs.
Li Tiao asked, "What are you doing?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, this servant simply..."
Li Tiao slowly walked over from the doorway, sat down, and said, "I saw you were looking for something. What are you looking for?"
"I wasn't looking for anything," Chunxi said, her head bowed, not daring to look Li Tiao in the eye.
Actually, some questions are just rhetorical questions. Although Li Tiao didn't trust Chunxi much from the beginning, she was still extremely surprised to see Chunxi secretly rummaging through the places where she hid things.
"Are you one of the master's people?" Li Tiao asked. Actually, she should have thought of it long ago. Whenever she tried to do something, she would always be caught red-handed by the Fourth Prince. Coincidentally, Li Tiao had her suspicions.
Li Tiao never expected it to be Chunxi.
Chunxi was a maid given to her by the Li family as part of her dowry, and she should have had no interaction with the Fourth Prince before.
Seeing that Chunxi did not answer her question, Li Tiao asked again, "When did you start acting as a spy for the Fourth Prince?"
Chunxi looked up at Li Tiao, her lips twitching, but in the end she said nothing.
Li Tiao chuckled softly, wondering if she had been too laid-back in her daily life, which had led Chunxi to believe that she was a good-tempered person.
"Chunxi, you are my dowry maid. I can do whatever I want with you without having to tell anyone, including the master."
In fact, Li Tiao didn't want to say such things, after all, she herself had been forced to become the Eighth Prince's spy. People do have empathy, but human nature can also be selfish at times.
Li Tiao worked as a spy for the Eighth Prince, but she didn't tell him anything that would be detrimental to the Fourth Prince.
But Chunxi... she must have told the Fourth Prince everything. Although Li Tiao understands her, she also wants to find out what really happened.
Having already uttered those harsh words, and seeing that Chunxi remained silent, Li Tiao imitated how the Fourth Prince had once treated her, slapping the kang table with her hand. Unexpectedly, it hurt so much that Li Tiao involuntarily hissed.
Her originally dignified demeanor became somewhat comical because of that "hiss," and Li Tiao was extremely annoyed, her tone turning rather harsh: "Chunxi, you still won't tell, will you?"
Finally, Chunxi made a move and knelt down.
"Master, I really don't want to, but I have no choice. The master found me and asked me to tell him about you, and I dare not refuse."
Just speak.
Li Tiao could understand Chunxi's "I have to say" attitude. What she wanted to know was: "When did you start listening to the Fourth Prince? Was it back when you were still in the Li family?"
Chunxi shook her head: "No."
"From when?"
Seeing Chunxi want to remain silent, Li Tiao said, "Chunxi, I can understand that you have to do things for the master, but if you don't say anything, do you think I'll still let you serve me? I may have a good temper, but it's not so good that I can remain indifferent knowing that you will tell the Fourth Prince everything about me, big or small?"
After a long silence, Chunxi spoke softly: "This servant was only found by the master after Miss Yunhui passed away."
Li Tiao frowned. She remembered this time. Back then, when the Fourth Prince asked her how she knew Miss Yunhui, Li Tiao made up the excuse that they were twins. The Fourth Prince even asked Chunxi to confirm it.
Later, the Fourth Prince never mentioned it again. Whether he believed the excuse she made up, Li Tiao didn't know, but because she was busy during this period, Li Tiao didn't have time to think about it too much.
Now that Chunxi has brought up the matter again, Li Tiao is reminded of her own doubts from back then.
"Back then, I asked you about Miss Yunhui. I asked you if you had heard any rumors about me and Miss Yunhui. I remember you said that Miss Yunhui and I were twins, right?"
Chunxi nodded.
"How did you come up with the reason of twins? Later, because the master didn't believe it, he came to you again?" After Li Tiao finished asking, Chunxi lowered her head again, looking like she didn't want to say anything at the beginning. Li Tiao paused for a moment and said, "Let's talk about the first one. How did you come up with the excuse of twins?"
I thought that if I didn't mention Chunxi's eyeliner, she might not be so nervous.
To everyone's surprise, she started to tremble a little.
Li Tiao's doubts grew stronger, but thinking that Chunxi was ultimately a maidservant given to her by the Li family as part of her dowry, she thought that perhaps she knew something: "Do you know something?"
After asking the question, Chunxi trembled even more violently and began to kowtow to Li Tiao: "Your Majesty, I was a spy for the Fourth Prince, but I really had no choice. I didn't want to harm you. If I did, I would die anyway. It was the Fourth Prince who said that Your Majesty always wanted to leave the palace..."
"I only paid close attention to your actions because I had no other choice. I didn't mean to harm you; I just didn't want you to leave the palace."
As a modern person, Li Tiao was still somewhat unaccustomed to people kowtowing to her, especially since Chunxi was crying her eyes out. Li Tiao couldn't bear it and stood up to stop her.
"I didn't say you did it on purpose. I'll say it again: now that I know, I'm going to ask you clearly. If you don't tell me, you definitely won't be able to serve me anymore. I don't know what will happen to Master if you're not serving me anymore, and I can't say what will happen to my family, Li's family."
Chunxi trembled and looked at Li Tiao with teary eyes. After hesitating for a long time, she knelt down before Li Tiao again: "My lady, I dare to be bold, please don't think about leaving the palace anymore, okay? With the master, you can enjoy endless wealth and honor. Even if you run away, what will you do in the future?"
From the perspective of the ancients, this statement was made with Li Tiao's best interests at heart.
But Li Tiao was curious as to why Chunxi was telling her these things. Was it the Fourth Prince who asked her to say them?
Although she didn't know much about the Fourth Prince, Li Tiao thought that a prince wouldn't talk about these things with a spy.
"What to do in the future is my concern, but I'm talking about you now." Li Tiao composed herself, not softening at Chunxi's tears: "Or we can wait for Master to return and confront him together. Although it may seem presumptuous of me to say this, Chunxi, you've been with me for so long, and you know that I've been presumptuous in front of Master many times."
So we're not afraid of this extra trouble. If you think that after confronting me, I'll protect you as my informant, then we'll wait and see, wait for me to come back.”
Upon hearing Li Tiao's words, Chunxi began to kowtow again, because it was obvious that the Fourth Prince would never protect her, and once the matter was exposed, she would be the first to die!
After struggling for a long time, Chunxi spoke in despair: "Master, this servant says..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
