Chapter 312
Chapter 312
"Where is Qingshi?" Xu Heming asked with a frown upon hearing this.
"Qingchuan said the heir is missing," Liu Ming replied hurriedly.
"Missing? What do you mean?" Xu Heming abruptly stood up. He then saw a disheveled Qingchuan.
"This lowly one has failed His Highness's trust. I... I could not find the heir," Qingchuan said as he knelt upon seeing Xu Heming.
"What happened?" Xu Heming frowned, the unease in his heart growing heavier. What did he mean he couldn't find the heir?
"Your Highness, the Zhou family has gone too far. They placed the heir in a desolate courtyard. When I arrived, I happened to see the Zhou family's eldest young madam having Moyu and Ru Feng beaten with boards. At the time, the Zhou madam said the heir was in the Tingyun Courtyard, but I couldn't find him," Qingchuan said with a dejected face.
He blamed himself endlessly for failing to find Xu Qingshi.
"Qingsong, send someone to find Qingyuan and see if any marks were left behind. The rest of you, follow me to the Zhou residence." Xu Heming felt ice-cold all over.
He dared not imagine what kind of attitude the Zhou family would have toward Xu Qingshi. His intuition told him it wouldn't be good.
Now that Xu Qingshi was missing, no matter what, he had to find him.
"Your Highness, this old servant will go with you." Hearing that Xu Qingshi was missing, Liu Ming also wanted to tag along to help search.
"You stay here and keep this matter hidden from the old princess consort for now." After speaking, Xu Heming took a group of guards and headed to the Zhou residence.
Along the way, Xu Heming kept wondering what he would do if something had happened to Xu Qingshi.
However, remembering that Qingyuan was there, he reasoned that Xu Qingshi would surely be fine.
"Your Highness, I want to go too." Qingchuan followed without a second thought.
"Tell me the specific details on the way," Xu Heming said after a moment of thought.
After all, although Qingchuan looked somewhat miserable, he was a hidden guard trained by Xu Heming himself. He knew Qingchuan hadn't suffered any internal injuries and was perfectly fine.
Moreover, someone needed to brief him on the current situation at the Zhou residence.
He didn't believe the Zhou family would tell him the truth.
Meanwhile, Zhu Hanyu had just left the palace to look for Xu Qingshi.
On his way, he heard that Xu Qingshi had been sent to the Zhou residence.
"Change route. Go to the Zhou residence," Zhu Hanyu ordered the eunuch driving the carriage.
"Yes!"
Zhu Hanyu was still pondering how to tell Xu Qingshi about that female demon sending Li Zhiwei to the Nanfeng Brothel.
"Oh my, did you just see that? The Zhou residence caught fire."
"I saw it too, but I heard the fire only broke out in an uninhabited small courtyard. The main courtyard wasn't affected."
"I heard that small courtyard burned to the ground."
"I heard that the small courtyard was previously empty, but today, didn't the heir of Prince An's Estate go there? I heard he was placed right in that courtyard, and now they haven't been able to find him."
"Is that true?" The crowd was extremely surprised upon hearing this.
"How could it be fake? I just saw Prince An leading a group of men to the Zhou residence. If you ask me, the Zhou family is in for some bad luck this time."
On the street, the endless chatter of the crowd drifted into Zhu Hanyu's ears. He understood the words, but they didn't quite make sense to him.
The heir of Prince An... weren't they talking about Xu Qingshi? Did something happen to Xu Qingshi?
At this thought, Zhu Hanyu couldn't help but feel anxious.
"Hurry, to the Zhou residence!" Zhu Hanyu shouted quickly.
The eunuch driving the carriage had also heard the crowd's words and understood why his highness was so frantic.
When Xu Heming arrived, the main gates of the Zhou residence were tightly shut.
"Go knock on the door!" Xu Heming ordered a guard beside him with a cold face.
The guard went up and knocked for a long time, but the Zhou family's main gates remained tightly closed.
"Your Highness, no one is answering," the guard reported back hastily.
"You, go and open these gates!" Xu Heming said, pointing to the adjacent enclosing wall.
Hearing this, the guard didn't say a word and used his lightness skill to leap into the courtyard. Soon after, the Zhou family's main gates were opened from the inside.
A manservant was squatting to the side, not daring to move recklessly.
Xu Heming did not make things difficult for the gatekeeper. After all, this wasn't something a servant could decide. It was likely that certain people had guilty consciences and didn't dare to open the gates.
Lady Qin thought that as long as she didn't let anyone open the doors, Prince An wouldn't be able to enter.
Who would have thought that just as this crossed her mind, a manservant rushed in frantically, shouting, "This is bad, Prince An has forced his way in with his men!"
"What? How did he get in? Didn't I tell you to watch the main gates and not let anyone in?" Lady Qin stood up in panic and immediately scolded the servant.
"Prince... Prince An had someone jump straight over the wall to open the gates," the servant said, trembling with fear.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Changfeng clenched his fists tightly, feeling a heavy weight in his chest.
If he hadn't listened to Lady Qin just now, perhaps he could have still pleaded for some leniency.
"Where did Prince An go?" Zhou Changfeng stood up and asked.
"Eldest Young Master, Prince An led his men toward the Tingyun Courtyard," the servant replied hastily.
"Lady Qin, you'd better think carefully about how you're going to clean up this mess! If you can't figure it out, then get out and go back to your Qin family!" After saying this, Zhou Changfeng flicked his sleeves and walked toward the Tingyun Courtyard.
Tingyun Courtyard
Xu Heming looked at the Tingyun Courtyard, which had been burned to ashes.
His heart sank.
Where was Xu Qingshi?
"Your Highness, before the fire started, your subordinate searched this place and did not see the heir. The heir shouldn't be inside," Qingchuan said quickly, hoping in his heart that he hadn't missed any spots.
"Go search! I want to see him alive, or see his corpse if he's dead!" Xu Heming stared at the ashes. He refused to believe that Xu Qingshi had really burned to death inside.
With this thought, Xu Heming decided to search personally.
"Your Highness, be careful. Some of the fire hasn't completely burned out yet," Qingchuan quickly warned as he saw Xu Heming stepping forward.
"I must see for myself," Xu Heming said. Ignoring Qingchuan, he went over to inspect.
"Oh my, brother-in-law, why have you come personally?" Seeing Xu Heming, Zhou Changfeng quickly plastered on a smile and spoke enthusiastically.
Xu Heming looked coldly at the overwhelmingly enthusiastic Zhou Changfeng.
It felt as though a heavy club had struck his heart.
How could he manage to appear in front of him acting as if nothing had happened?
His son had only been at the Zhou residence for one day, and something like this had occurred.
How did he still have the nerve to show his face?
Thinking of this, Xu Heming directly smashed his fist into Zhou Changfeng's face.
Feeling that one punch wasn't enough to vent his anger, he threw another.
"Brother-in-law, calm down, please calm down!" Even though he took the punches, Zhou Changfeng thought to himself that perhaps this would quell Xu Heming's anger.
Then he wouldn't blame the Zhou family!
"Calm down? If it were your son, Eldest Young Master Zhou, staying here today, would you be able to calm down?"
Xu Heming glared at Zhou Changfeng and questioned him furiously.