"Li Tiao, calculate for me how long I will be on the throne."
When Li Tiao heard Kangxi's words, her legs started to tremble as she was about to stand up after performing the ceremony.
"Your Majesty, this servant cannot calculate it, but Your Majesty will surely live to be a hundred years old." Li Tiao thought it was always right to flatter him.
"If I live to be a hundred years old, wouldn't I become an old monster?"
"Father, you will definitely be able to..." The Fourth Prince followed Li Tiao's words and prepared to flatter Kangxi.
But Kangxi interrupted him: "Do you really think I'm senile and can be fooled by you?"
Li Tiao felt that she had implicated the Fourth Prince: "Your Majesty, this servant truly does not know anything about divination..."
However, Kangxi did not listen to Li Tiao at all. After interrupting her, he directly asked the Fourth Prince: "Fourth Prince, I know that your relationship with Consort De has never been good. Of course, I also know that the relationship between you and your mother is not good, but it is more of a problem with Consort De."
However, no matter how badly Consort De treated you on ordinary days, you would never be so disrespectful as to disobey her in front of me.
Just now at Yonghe Palace, what you said was tantamount to saying that Consort De had always wanted to kill Li Tiao!
Of course, I could tell that Consort De had this intention.
"But Fourth Prince... for the sake of a concubine, you abandoned the Confucian classics you've studied since childhood, disregarding so-called filial piety, right in front of me. What was your reason?"
It has to be said that experience counts; just now at Yonghe Palace, Kangxi truly bewitched Li Tiao.
Li Tiao nervously swallowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince is actually..."
Before she could finish speaking, Kangxi glanced at Li Tiao lightly, which startled her so much that she swallowed the rest of her words.
With a light laugh, Kangxi walked up to the Fourth Prince and patted him on the shoulder: "Could it be that I misjudged you? Fourth Prince, you are actually a romantic at heart, just for one of your concubines, and not trying to hide anything?"
Not only did Emperor Kangxi not believe that the Fourth Prince was deeply in love with Li Tiao, but Li Tiao herself also didn't believe it.
So Kangxi's words, though seemingly a question, were actually a precise strike!
Just like what the Fourth Prince said to Consort De before, it was tantamount to telling Li Tiao and the Fourth Prince directly that Master Kang saw through their purpose and that they were trying to cover up the fact that Li Tiao was good at divination.
There was no good time to say anything, so the Fourth Prince naturally remained silent.
Li Tiao didn't know what had gotten into her head, but she actually asked Kangxi, "Your Majesty, although I am of lowly birth and my words carry little weight, I still want to ask, I am the Fourth Prince's daughter, and the Fourth Prince has feelings for me, is that not allowed?"
The atmosphere was originally tense and solemn, but Li Tiao's timid yet slightly narcissistic words surprised both Kangxi and the Fourth Prince.
Then Kangxi actually laughed.
He was laughing heartily.
Li Tiao closed her eyes in annoyance, feeling extremely embarrassed. But then she thought that perhaps narcissism had found a way out, so she quickly composed herself and awkwardly looked at Kangxi.
"Fourth Prince, so you really are deeply in love with Princess Li?" Kangxi asked the Fourth Prince after his smile faded.
Of course not, but admitting it seemed like a turning point. However, admitting it didn't mean that Kangxi would stop asking about Li Tiao's divination skills.
The Fourth Prince was somewhat conflicted.
“Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince is always reserved. How could he admit these things in front of me? Besides, it makes me so embarrassed.” Li Tiao wanted to say that the matter was caused by her, and she couldn’t just do nothing.
"Since the fourth prince is reluctant to speak, I see that you are quite eloquent. So, tell me how long I can remain on the throne?" Kangxi glanced at Li Tiao, returned to his dragon throne, and looked at Li Tiao with a leisurely air.
It's really... back to square one.
What the Fourth Prince feared most was this: it wasn't that he didn't want to admit to Emperor Kangxi that he was a "lovesick fool," but that the Emperor would never let go of the fact that Li Tiao was a fortune teller.
Upon hearing Kangxi's words again, the Fourth Prince finally spoke up: "Father, what Li Tiao knows are just some trivial tricks. No one can say for sure that such things are accurate. Rather than letting her say them and ruining your mood, it would be better if you didn't listen in the first place."
Li Tiao looked at the Fourth Prince in disbelief. What did he mean by that?
Did she admit that she had given him a reading back then?
After her initial surprise, Li Tiao quickly looked at the Emperor's expression, but before she could even discern Kangxi's expression, she heard him ask the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Prince, from what you're saying, are you admitting that Li Tiao can read faces?"
"Father, it's nothing but trivial tricks."
"Whether it's a trivial skill or not depends on how accurate your calculations are, Princess. Putting aside everything else, you've been quite accurate in predicting the Eighth Prince's future consort. So, I still want to know how many years I will reign."
Kangxi ignored the Fourth Prince's attempt to back down and insisted on hearing what Li Tiao had to say.
Li Tiao hated the Fourth Prince to the core. She thought she had wasted her feelings and actually moved him to protect her. What a terrible teammate he was.
"Li Tiao, did you hear what I said?"
Now Li Tiao had no choice but to say something.
The claim that the Fourth Prince could replace the Crown Prince is something that never happened, so it can be used as a pretext to defend oneself. The problem lies with the Eighth Prince's wife.
In this matter, Li Tiao could at least temporarily use her ability to predict marriage to offer some explanation, but now she was calculating the length of Emperor Kangxi's reign...
Li Tiao was in a panic.
"Li Tiao!"
After not hearing Li Tiao's reply for a long time, Kangxi's voice became much more serious, startling Li Tiao. She asked tremblingly, "Your Majesty, this servant only read the I Ching and such when I had nothing else to do, so I know a little bit, but I'm not an expert. My prediction of the Eighth Prince's marriage was just a lucky guess. Now..."
"Whether it's a lucky coincidence or something else, I want to hear it now."
Li Tiao felt that although she couldn't control Kangxi's desire to kill her, she still had to make sure she spoke clearly before she opened her mouth, so that Kangxi wouldn't think she was some kind of god.
After successfully demonstrating to Emperor Kangxi her limited knowledge and lack of expertise, Li Tiao began to consider how to answer his questions.
"Your Majesty, may I ask you a question?"
Kangxi nodded: "Ask away."
"This servant dares to ask, Your Majesty, what is your birth date and time?" Li Tiao genuinely couldn't remember it, and this question was merely a way to stall for time. Seeing that Kangxi's expression changed, she quickly added, "Of course, Your Majesty's birth date and time is a secret and cannot be revealed casually. You can choose not to tell me, but if you do, my calculations might be inaccurate."
After that, without waiting for Kangxi to speak, Li Tiao lowered her head and started calculating, just like a fortune teller on the street, muttering incantations and counting on her fingers.
Meanwhile, Li Tiao was quickly calculating in her mind how to say it. Kangxi reigned for sixty-one years; there was nothing to say about that, Li Tiao remembered it clearly. But if she actually mentioned that number, she would have to explain a lot more, which would be troublesome…
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