Chapter 298
Chapter 298
Hearing this, Xu Heming gasped. Qingfeng Pavilion!
This must be Cheng Qingli's wicked idea. Otherwise, how could Li Zhiwei possibly go to a place like Qingfeng Pavilion?
Li Zhiwei probably didn't even know that Qingfeng Pavilion was a male brothel.
At this thought, Xu Heming headed straight for Qingfeng Pavilion without looking back.
He was afraid that if he arrived late, Li Zhiwei would be in danger.
Watching Xu Heming leave, Cheng Qingli breathed a sigh of relief.
However, fearing that Xu Heming would come back to settle the score with her later, she quickly ran back to the Cheng residence. She needed to go into the palace and hide with her sister for a few days.
Otherwise, Xu Heming would definitely make her pay.
When Cheng Qingli returned to the Cheng residence, Mrs. Cheng, Madam Qiu, felt a surge of anger upon seeing her daughter dressed in men's clothing.
"Oh, isn't this our family's Fourth Young Master returning home?" Madam Qiu said deliberately in a sarcastic tone as she looked at her daughter.
Hearing her mother call her this, Cheng Qingli knew that she was unhappy with her male disguise.
"My beautiful mother, why didn't you go out to drink tea and shop with your old friends?" Cheng Qingli quickly linked her arm with Madam Qiu's and asked coquettishly.
"Go out? Do you think I still have the face to go out?" Madam Qiu patted her own cheek in displeasure, glaring indignantly at the culprit who had caused her to be too ashamed to leave the house.
At the thought of this, Madam Qiu's mood soured completely. Her lifelong good reputation had been ruined by this youngest daughter.
The current Empress was her biological daughter—an honor that countless people envied. Logically, whenever she went out, others should be flattering her. She shouldn't have to hide in the manor, afraid to go anywhere.
But why was she unwilling to go out?
Because whenever she went out, someone would always ask her: "Madam, I wonder, is the Fourth Young Master of your household engaged yet?"
Fourth Young Master?
In her life, although she had given birth to five children, she only had three sons, and there were no illegitimate sons in the household.
Where would a Fourth Young Master come from?
At the time, she and her friends thought the other party had made a mistake. After all, her friends knew she had given birth to two daughters.
Later, listening to that lady's description, she finally realized who this "Fourth Young Master" was.
It was none other than the "Fourth Young Master" standing right in front of her!
At that moment, she lost all her face. The daughter she had raised went out every day acting like a wild boy.
And to make matters worse, she had actually caught the eye of other young ladies!
As a girl, instead of staying properly in the manor, she loved to go out for no reason. It would be one thing if she just went out to tease cats and dogs.
But she had to go and provoke other people's young daughters, to the point where they came asking about her.
At that time, she was so ashamed she wanted to dig a hole and hide.
If this kind of situation only happened once, she could let it go, assuming the girl simply misunderstood.
However, as long as she went out, there was always someone inquiring whether her son was engaged!
She even started to wonder if she had remembered incorrectly and had actually given birth to four sons.
Ironically, no one ever came to ask if her youngest daughter was engaged.
"Mother, what are you saying? My mother is the most, most, most beautiful mother in the entire capital. If you go out, you'll definitely mesmerize all the young men in the capital so much that they'd walk into walls. Mother, you must go out more and let everyone in the capital see your city-toppling beauty." Cheng Qingli flattered Madam Qiu, speaking with utmost seriousness.
Yet, Madam Qiu's face grew darker and darker the more she listened!
She couldn't believe a single word of her youngest daughter's nonsense.
At her age, she could still mesmerize young men?
Not even a ghost would believe such words.
"Mother, I miss my sister. I've decided to go into the palace and keep her company for a few days. Don't miss me too much!" After saying this, Cheng Qingli slipped away.
She was afraid that if she left too late, Xu Heming would come looking for trouble.
"Come back! Did you cause some trouble for me again?" The more Madam Qiu heard, the more something felt off. This wretched girl must have caused trouble, which was why she was running to the Empress!
But by this time, Cheng Qingli had long disappeared without a trace.
Qingfeng Pavilion
Li Zhiwei, with a dark expression, looked at the several men striking coquettish poses in front of her.
During the time Li Zhiwei was blocked from leaving, she had carefully scrutinized the five men before her.
Aside from having somewhat handsome faces, Li Zhiwei found everything else about them quite unsatisfactory.
For example, that Zijin always wore an obedient look on his face, but he was as thin as a bamboo pole. She suspected that a gust of wind could blow him over.
That Qinghuai wasn't thin, but his nose was too big. Li Zhiwei didn't think it looked good.
Then there was that Yusheng. He clearly had the face of a tough guy, yet he insisted on pinching his voice and calling her: "Sister."
Li Zhiwei felt goosebumps rising all over her skin.
As for Xuejian and Lansong.
They looked malnourished and underdeveloped.
Li Zhiwei had heard that some ladies kept male favorites, but she didn't understand what was so good about male favorites like these.
Xu Heming could absolutely crush them in comparison.
Since that was the case, Li Zhiwei thought, why should she abandon what she had to look at these eyesores?
It seemed Cheng Qingli's taste wasn't very good either.
Otherwise, why would she bring her to a place like this?
It was incredibly boring.
At this thought, the displeasure on Li Zhiwei's face deepened.
"Sister, you still haven't said whose performance you liked the most?" the burly Yusheng asked, looking at Li Zhiwei with a pinched voice.
Li Zhiwei uncomfortably clapped her hands together.
She thought to herself, How disgusting.
"Miss, if you can't choose your favorite among us today, you won't be able to leave." Xuejian, holding a cup of wine, tried to step forward but was blocked by Qinghua.
"Sister, don't be so fierce. I just want to serve the young miss well." Xuejian even threw a wink at Qinghua.
Qinghua looked thoroughly disgusted. "Stay away from my young miss!" Qinghua also didn't understand what was so appealing about a little bean sprout like him.
"There is no one among you that I like. You may all leave!" Li Zhiwei spoke up again.
"Miss, if you don't choose someone you like, the manager will punish us. Miss, you can't just not choose. Just pick one, whoever you are most satisfied with among us will do." Lansong also stepped forward with a smile, wanting to sit beside Li Zhiwei.
"Hmm?" Qingyue, holding her sword, glared at Lansong.
She thought to herself that if it were up to her, they should just fight their way out.
They had been wasting time with them here for ages. If someone with ulterior motives saw this, it would be detrimental to the young miss's reputation.
"Sister, you wouldn't want to see us get beaten, right?" Seeing that Li Zhiwei had maids guarding her left and right, Zijin thought about approaching from behind to massage her shoulders.
By then, Li Zhiwei would surely be satisfied with his attentiveness and might just choose him to stay.
Bang! Just as Zijin reached out to massage Li Zhiwei's shoulders, the door was thrown open from the outside.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Xu Heming glared furiously at the man behind Li Zhiwei, and without a second thought, hurled the sword in his hand straight at him!