Upon hearing the Eighth Prince's words, Li Tiao's perfunctory smile vanished, startled, and she involuntarily took a few steps back. Fortunately, Chunxi reacted quickly and caught Li Tiao, otherwise she would have fallen.
However, the Eighth Prince bowed slightly to Li Tiao, then politely turned and left, as if it were truly a chance encounter.
"Your Highness, the Eighth Prince has left."
Hearing Chunxi's soft reminder, Li Tiao snapped out of her daze, looked around again, then straightened her back and walked gracefully towards her own courtyard.
Just as Li Tiao pushed open the door to her room, barely stepping one foot over the threshold, she heard a deep voice: "You're back?"
"Huh?" Li Tiao looked up in surprise and found that the Fourth Prince was actually there!
Under the seemingly nonchalant yet chilling gaze of the Fourth Prince, Li Tiao quickly composed herself.
"Sir, you're here?"
"Isn't this my place?" The Fourth Prince asked Li Tiao, twirling his thumb ring.
Yes, but they are practically strangers now, so the way the Fourth Prince came to Li Tiao's room as soon as he returned made Li Tiao feel a kind of "overwhelmed with gratitude" fear.
Li Tiao was at a loss for words and stood there awkwardly picking at her fingers.
After a long silence, the Fourth Prince broke the awkward silence again: "I thought you had something to ask me?"
Li Tiao subconsciously shook her head.
The Fourth Prince remained calm, showing no sign of displeasure. To Li Tiao's surprise, he stood up and walked out.
Finally, she could breathe a sigh of relief. However, when the Fourth Prince passed by Li Tiao, she met his ambiguous gaze, and Li Tiao's reflexes suddenly returned.
She remembered the matter that the Eighth Prince had asked her to inquire about.
To prove that her role as a spy was merely a ruse to deceive the Eighth Prince, Li Tiao stopped the Fourth Prince, who was about to leave: "By the way, Your Highness, I just encountered the Eighth Prince in front of the Princes' Palace."
"Yeah?"
Neither unexpected nor surprising, Li Tiao wondered if the Fourth Prince knew she had encountered the Eighth Prince and was therefore waiting for her here.
Thinking about it this way made Li Tiao even more timid; she felt it was more important to cling to the future emperor's coattails.
So she cautiously walked up to the Fourth Prince, winked at Chunxi to let her go out, then closed the door and looked up at the Fourth Prince.
Her gaze was sincere and pure, revealing a depth of heart that even Li Tiao herself was unaware of, as if she were afraid that the Fourth Prince would no longer believe her.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. The Fourth Prince turned his head away, his gaze suddenly losing its previous calmness and becoming more agitated: "What is it now?"
"The Eighth Prince asked me to inquire why Consort De and Your Highness have a bad relationship. Moreover, if I'm not mistaken, it was the Eighth Prince who told Consort De that Consort De knows my birth chart is incompatible with the palace."
Already a bit irritable, upon hearing Li Tiao's words, the Fourth Prince's gaze instantly turned icy cold.
Li Tiao looked as if she had been thrown into the Arctic while wearing a dress.
Li Tiao, who was never ashamed to admit defeat, quickly shrank her neck like a turtle: "This is what the Eighth Prince asked me to find out."
The Fourth Prince sneered, "Aren't you good at divination? Why don't you cast a divination and see what the hexagram says about why the relationship between Father and Mother is so bad?"
Li Tiao became even more timid.
The Fourth Prince said this on their wedding day. Later, all sorts of things came rushing in, making Li Tiao temporarily forget about her former business.
"Your Excellency is too kind. How could I possibly know how to divine?"
"Yeah?"
It was that same seemingly indifferent yet undeniable remark again. Li Tiao wanted to retort, but she chickened out: "Of course..."
Before she could finish speaking, the Fourth Prince moved closer to her. Li Tiao shrank her neck and tilted her head, wondering if he was going to pinch her again.
Just as she was about to close her eyes and "wait for death," the Fourth Prince's hand touched the door behind Li Tiao, and as he was about to open it, he whispered in her ear:
"A fortune teller once said that you, sir, will have great fortune in the future, and who knows, you might even be able to replace my second brother?"
Cold sweat instantly covered Li Tiao's forehead. Before she could even react, the Fourth Prince pulled her away, opened the door, and left.
The Fourth Prince's second brother is still the Second Prince, and he is currently the Crown Prince. Emperor Kangxi has not yet deposed him.
Although Li Tiao wasn't lying, the Fourth Prince is indeed the future emperor!
But if the Crown Prince is still doing well, and people find out that he once said these words to the Fourth Prince... wouldn't that be suspected of treason?
When Li Tiao first transmigrated here, she set up a fortune-telling stall to make a living.
She only worked in this business for three days before the Li family took a liking to her and brought her into the Li family to learn etiquette and such, waiting for the day when she would replace the eldest daughter of the Li family.
In just three short days, Li Tiao encountered the Fourth Prince and even extorted a large sum of money from him.
If Li Tiao could have foreseen that she would be so destined to marry the Fourth Prince, she would never have been so "greedy" for money.
What surprised Li Tiao even more was that she was dressed as an old man back then, so how did the Fourth Prince know that?
The sweltering weather, coupled with the series of frights inflicted by the Eighth Prince and the Fourth Prince, made Li Tiao unable to stay indoors, so she went outside for a stroll, and somehow ended up in the Imperial Garden.
It was, after all, the royal back garden, with its pavilions and terraces, a place to cool off, and the lake breeze made it quite pleasant.
But it was getting late, and Li Tiao hadn't brought a lantern; if she didn't go back soon, she wouldn't be able to see the road clearly.
As she walked, Li Tiao got a little lost and didn't know where she was. There were no eunuchs or palace maids passing by. Li Tiao was very anxious when she suddenly heard a sound not far away.
Li Tiao took a few steps toward the direction of the sound, and just as she was about to ask for directions, she clearly heard what the other person said:
"Fourth Brother, is Li Tiao pretending to be weak while actually being strong, or is she really being threatened by Eighth Brother?"
Li Tiao swallowed hard. Although the voice was a little unfamiliar to her, being called "Fourth Brother" in the palace probably meant he was the Fourth Prince.
Those who were on good terms with the Fourth Prince were few and far between. Last time, under Yun Hui's deliberate arrangement, Li Tiao overheard the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince talking.
Therefore, Li Tiao thought that this person must be the thirteenth prince.
"The threat is probably real, but whether Li Tiao told fortunes for people at the behest of the Eighth Prince is still unknown."
"Fourth Brother, I think you shouldn't hesitate about this matter. It's better to make a decision sooner rather than later."
"What if Li Tiao was just making it up back then?" the Fourth Prince asked.
"What if she wasn't making it up? What if she was instructed by someone? For example, Eighth Brother, or Second Brother, no matter which of our brothers it is, if this gets out... Fourth Brother, you should know what the consequences will be."
Upon hearing this, Li Tiao lost her balance, her legs buckled, and she almost fell into the flower bushes beside her. She couldn't help but let out a cry of "Ouch!"
Before she could even stand up, she heard the Fourth Prince's stern voice: "Who!"
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