Li Tiao's hair was quickly done. After all, she was a mistress, so even if she wasn't dressed up in the most glamorous way, she still needed hairpins and such.
With her scalp throbbing, Li Tiao watched two palace maids carefully selecting items from her jewelry box, seemingly choosing pretty hairpins.
But actually... when the last two palace maids each found a hairpin so sharp it could be used as a needle, Li Tiao guessed what they were going to do.
The hairpin was already so "horrifying," yet the two palace maids were still comparing which hairpin was sharper and thinner. Li Tiao gasped, holding her breath...
However, at this moment, Consort De, who had been silent all along, spoke up: "Let me do it."
Li Tiao was utterly terrified. It wasn't enough that two palace maids were tormenting her; now, was Consort De going to personally intervene?!
Then I'm sorry, but Li Tiao won't be "soft-hearted" just because she's Consort De.
Looking through the bronze mirror again, Li Tiao noticed that Consort De was holding a hairpin so sharp it could kill someone. Li Tiao thought, then she shouldn't blame herself.
Before the hairpin was even put on her head, Li Tiao felt a pain on the back of her neck!
Consort De deliberately poked Li Tiao's neck hard with her nail guards.
Unable to hold back, Li Tiao hissed. The bronze mirror wasn't particularly emotional, but it still made Consort De's half-smile look extremely ferocious.
Instead of gently pinching the hairpin with her fingers, she gripped it with both hands, pointing the pointed end downwards menacingly at Li Tiao's scalp!
The moment Consort De's hairpin touched Li Tiao's scalp, Li Tiao screamed and then slowly, like in slow motion in a movie, fell directly off the chair.
The palace maid beside her seemed to be startled by Li Tiao's actions and instinctively helped her up.
Although she didn't fall directly to the ground, Li Tiao wasn't grateful to them. She was then helped up and made to lie face down in front of the dressing mirror. She rolled her eyes and lost consciousness.
"Master...this..."
The two palace maids, who were closest to Li Tiao, panicked when they saw her with her eyes tightly closed but still twitching slightly.
Consort De was also a little surprised, and roughly pushed Li Tiao away, "Stop pretending..."
But Li Tiao remained as steadfast as Mount Tai.
Consort De couldn't help but take two steps back, and her gaze swept over the marks left by Li Tiao's nail clippers on the back of her neck, and she panicked a little.
Then she casually pinned the hairpin she was still holding to Li Tiao's head.
"My lady, shall we go?" the palace maid asked timidly.
Before Consort De could utter a sound, hurried footsteps could be heard outside.
"Your son greets his mother."
Upon hearing the Fourth Prince's voice, Li Tiao's eyelids twitched, even though her eyes were tightly closed. However, having already acted to this point, Li Tiao knew she couldn't afford to give herself away before Consort De left.
She couldn't be like Little Swallow in a modern TV drama, unable to resist making mistakes.
Li Tiao secretly cheered herself up. Xiao Yanzi was a "charlatan," but she was a time traveler. She couldn't lose!
"Mother, what's going on?" the Fourth Prince asked Consort De.
"Your princess is too frail; she faints just from combing her hair."
The Fourth Prince glanced at Li Tiao, who was leaning over the dressing mirror, and instructed Su Peisheng, "Go quickly and fetch the imperial physician."
"Wait a minute, what a trivial matter! Do we really need to summon the imperial physician? Isn't that a bit too ostentatious? People who know the situation will assume it's your princess who's unwell, but others might mistake it for your wife!"
Li Tiao listened, sneering inwardly. Did Consort De know that if something went wrong after summoning the imperial physician, she wouldn't look good? If she knew that, why did she do it in the first place?
She silently prayed in her heart that the Fourth Prince could persevere.
“Master…” Su Peisheng was caught between a rock and a hard place, and he dared not offend either of them.
The Fourth Prince took two more steps toward Li Tiao, and in a moment of distraction, he noticed the marks on the back of Li Tiao's neck where she had been pinched by nail guards.
After a moment of silence, the Fourth Prince said, "Mother, if Li Tiao is alright, then everyone will be happy. But if something happens to her, and two of my servants die in a short time, even if Father doesn't want to get involved, the officials in charge of criticism in the court are not so easy to fool."
If they were to submit a memorial to the Emperor, even if the Emperor didn't want to get involved, he would have no choice but to.
"You're threatening me?" Consort De roared.
The Fourth Prince replied with a calm yet infuriating tone: "Your son only implores Mother to reconsider."
Consort De stared at the Fourth Prince. In the end, the Fourth Prince did not panic, but she could not withstand her son's resolute gaze. She snorted and sat down next to him.
Seeing this, the Fourth Prince waved to Su Peisheng, telling him to go find the imperial physician.
Li Tiao lay there, listening to the sounds. She felt that the Fourth Prince and she were cooperating quite well. Although she was still nervous, she seemed to feel much more at ease and gradually became sleepy.
Li Tiao was unaware that the imperial physician had arrived, as she was asleep.
But when the imperial physician began to take her pulse, she was startled awake. Startled, she instinctively tried to open her eyes, but someone pinched her philtrum.
Li Tiao opened her eyes instantly, staring at everything in front of her in horror.
"Is there something wrong with her?" The Fourth Prince asked the imperial physician as soon as he saw Li Tiao wake up.
The imperial physician examined the wound on Li Tiao's neck and was about to say that it was nothing serious when Li Tiao frowned and said, "My head hurts so much, what's wrong?"
The Fourth Prince's expression changed at Li Tiao's words: "Imperial Physician, take a look quickly."
The imperial physician hurriedly took Li Tiao's pulse again, very carefully, but his brows were furrowed deeply.
Li Tiao's cautious gaze swept over the Fourth Prince and Consort De. When her gaze passed by Consort De, Consort De also saw Li Tiao, gave her a cold snort, and looked away.
Afterwards, Li Tiao looked blankly at the Fourth Prince, but the Fourth Prince ignored her and instead asked the imperial physician, "Is there really a problem?"
After the imperial physician finished taking her pulse, he asked Li Tiao with trepidation, "Your Highness, is there anything wrong with you?"
"Aside from a headache, I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere else." Li Tiao pretended to have just woken up, stretched lazily without any regard for her image, and exclaimed "Ouch!" when she put her hands on the back of her neck: "This hurts a little too."
"Replying to Master Li, it's an external injury. Just apply some ointment, and it will heal quickly. It's nothing serious."
Li Tiao nodded in relief, relieved that everything was alright.
But then she quickly looked at everyone with a confused expression, as if she had just remembered something. After her gaze swept over everyone, Li Tiao jumped up like a startled rabbit and hid behind the dressing mirror: "Who are you? Why are you calling me Master Li? Where am I? Chunxi, Chunxi..."
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