Chapter 310
Chapter 310
Lady Qin was taken aback. Ever since she arranged for that little brat to stay in Tingyun Courtyard today, she had not seen Xu Qingshi again. Where could he have gone?
Where else could he be besides Tingyun Courtyard?
Could he have gone to the Old Madam's courtyard?
But she hadn't heard the Old Madam mention wanting to see him.
"Where could he go? Isn't he just in Tingyun Courtyard? Just because you didn't see him doesn't mean he isn't there." Lady Qin thought about how the weeds in Tingyun Courtyard were taller than a person; perhaps this man simply hadn't managed to find him.
She had deliberately refrained from assigning anyone to clean up that courtyard today.
Considering it was an uninhabited courtyard, Xu Qingshi and his two or three servants wouldn't be able to tidy it up anytime soon.
At this thought, Lady Qin felt a bit more at ease.
As long as he was in the manor, whatever happened to him was none of her business.
Qingchuan frowned. Looking at Lady Qin's demeanor, it didn't seem like she was lying.
He wondered, could it be that he truly hadn't searched carefully enough?
Remembering that the weeds in Tingyun Courtyard had only been cleared away today, could it be that the heir and his men had done all that?
With this in mind, Qingchuan merely glared at Lady Qin and hurried back to Tingyun Courtyard to find him.
"Heir?" Qingchuan entered Tingyun Courtyard, only to find that the rooms were completely uninhabitable.
He searched every corner he could.
Still, there was no sign of Xu Qingshi.
"Qingyuan?" Qingchuan thought for a moment and called out again.
Unfortunately, the only response was the echo of his own voice.
Suddenly, a crossbeam crashed down from above.
Immediately after, Qingchuan saw thick smoke rising from the side.
A fire had broken out!
This realization made Qingchuan quickly leap outside.
However, standing outside, Qingchuan remembered that Xu Qingshi had not yet been found.
Without a second thought, he rushed back inside to continue searching for Xu Qingshi.
In the end, Qingchuan only found a small bundle in the single room that had been tidied up.
"Qingchuan?" a guard called out anxiously from outside.
"Cough, I'm fine, the heir..." Qingchuan wanted to say that the heir was still missing.
"Qingchuan, come out first! If the heir isn't there, perhaps Qingyuan has already brought him out," the guard urged quickly.
Hearing this, Qingchuan hurriedly exited.
Just as he stepped out the door, another roof beam came crashing down.
"This Zhou family is truly something else, actually making the heir live in such a place," Qingchuan said furiously.
"What do we do now?" The guard was also indignant seeing this, but there were some matters that servants like them could not decide.
"Let's take Moyu back to the Prince's mansion first. Perhaps Qingyuan has already taken the heir back," Qingchuan said, and then left first.
By the time they left, not a single person from the Zhou family had come to put out the fire.
"The heir really isn't inside, right?" the guard asked, feeling uneasy as he looked at the massive blaze.
"I searched everywhere; there is no one," Qingchuan said with absolute certainty.
On the other side, Xu Qingshi sat on a hilltop, quietly watching Tingyun Courtyard burn.
He couldn't quite put his feelings into words.
"Heir, shall we return to the Prince's mansion? His Highness must be waiting anxiously," Qingyuan said with some concern, looking at Xu Qingshi who sat there in silence.
Xu Qingshi shook his head. His royal father didn't want him anymore, so he didn't want to go back.
But he couldn't return to the Zhou family, and Prince An's mansion didn't want him either. Where could he go?
He recalled Li Zhiwei saying that if he wasn't happy staying at the Zhou family, he could go to the Li family to find her.
"Let's go, we're heading somewhere." Xu Qingshi stood up; he already knew where he could go.
He was going to Li'an County!
Didn't Li Zhiwei say he could go find her?
He didn't want to stay in the capital right now. He felt that going to Li'an County might be a good choice.
After all, Li'an County was where Li Zhiwei had grown up. If he went there, Steward Zhou would surely welcome him too.
"Heir, if we leave just like this, His Highness will be worried," Qingyuan said with a frown, wondering where his master intended to go.
If the Prince thought the heir had perished in that fire, wouldn't he grieve for nothing?
"He won't be worried. If he truly cared about me, how could he send me to the Zhou family? He knows full well I don't like the Zhou family. Besides, look, how could the Zhou family possibly treat me well? They probably want my life! Let's go. You are not allowed to secretly send him a letter! Otherwise, just go back to Prince An's mansion," Xu Qingshi said, looking at Qingyuan with a warning expression.
"What are you saying, my Lord? Wherever you go, your subordinate will follow!" Qingyuan said hastily without a second thought.
"And me too. Wherever the heir goes, this servant will follow you," Rusong also chimed in quickly.
Xu Qingshi patted away the nonexistent dust from his clothes and began walking in the direction of Li'an County.
Qingyuan secretly left a mark and hurried to catch up, thinking he would send a letter to the Prince once they arrived at their destination.
However, Qingyuan also couldn't understand: the Prince clearly cared about the heir, so why did he insist on making the heir return to the Zhou family?
The people of the Zhou family clearly harbored ill intentions; otherwise, the fire at Tingyun Courtyard wouldn't have happened.
The Zhou Residence
By the time the Zhou family discovered that Tingyun Courtyard was on fire, it had already burned to the ground.
At first, no one paid much attention, but when they found out that Xu Qingshi had been placed in Tingyun Courtyard, Zhou Changfeng nearly went mad.
"Didn't I tell you to settle him in properly?" Zhou Changfeng said, looking at Lady Qin with extreme dissatisfaction.
"How did I not settle him? Didn't I arrange for him to stay in Tingyun Courtyard? Who knew it would be such a coincidence that Tingyun Courtyard would catch fire?" Lady Qin felt very disgruntled, not believing there was anything wrong with her arrangement.
Moreover, Tingyun Courtyard had never caught fire before. The moment Xu Qingshi moved in, it caught fire. In her eyes, that Xu Qingshi was probably a jinx!
"Is our Zhou family out of courtyards? Why did you have to put him in that specific one?" Zhou Changfeng scolded, angrily pointing at Lady Qin's nose.
"He's just a burden coming to live under our roof. The fact that I allowed him to stay is already a favor. Don't tell me I should have put him in the main courtyard?" Lady Qin didn't think her actions were wrong; after all, she had given him a place to stay.
"Sister-in-law, he is our eldest sister's child after all. You placed him in such a desolate place like Tingyun Courtyard—what were your intentions? That courtyard is completely uninhabitable!" Zhou Yuying said from the side, deeply dissatisfied.
In her view, Lady Qin just couldn't stand to see anyone well off, which was why she placed him in a place like Tingyun Courtyard.
Xu Qingshi was the heir of Prince An's mansion, pampered and coddled since childhood. How could he possibly live in a place like Tingyun Courtyard?
Let alone Xu Qingshi looking down on it, even she wouldn't be willing to stay there.
Furthermore, her sister-in-law probably just had someone drop him off at that courtyard, right?
She didn't even send anyone to tidy the courtyard up. How could anyone live there?
Thinking of this, Zhou Yuying shot another displeased glance at Lady Qin.