Chapter 325
Chapter 325
"Brother-in-law, I don't want to go back to Beiyang. Can you let me stay?" Seeing her father say this, Zhou Yuying quickly crawled to Xu Heming's feet and spoke anxiously.
Xu Heming frowned and looked at Zhu Jingchen.
Zhu Jingchen rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to get involved in this matter; after all, he wasn't the one she was begging.
"Let go!" Xu Heming said with a hint of impatience.
"Brother-in-law, please let me stay. I can serve you. I will do anything," Zhou Yuying pleaded hastily.
After all, if she could stay in the Prince An Estate, it would be far better than going to that godforsaken place, Beiyang.
Now that her father had been stripped of his official position, it was simply impossible for her to find a good marriage prospect in the capital.
"Your Majesty, it is time for you to return to the palace," Xu Heming said as he stood up and turned to Zhu Jingchen.
After all, the Zhou family had received their rightful punishment. Although their lives were spared, banishing them from the capital was actually more torturous than killing them. Sometimes, living was worse than death.
Zhu Jingchen had never seen anyone burn their bridges quite so quickly.
Having just dealt with the Zhou family, Xu Heming was actually kicking him out?
It was truly ungracious.
However, he did not like this Zhou family residence anyway, so it was best to leave.
"Return to the palace!" Zhu Jingchen stood up, took Zhu Hanyu's hand, and declared.
"Prepare the imperial carriage for the return to the palace!" Eunuch Liu quickly announced.
"Respectfully seeing off Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long live the Emperor!" Although Zhou Zhonghe's heart was like dead ashes, he forced himself to remain composed as he escorted Zhu Jingchen and Xu Heming out of the Zhou residence.
Watching their retreating figures, Zhou Zhonghe finally returned to the main courtyard.
"Master, what should we do now!" Madam Wu, the old madam of the Zhou family, asked anxiously upon seeing Zhou Zhonghe return.
She was long accustomed to living as a pampered old lady in the capital. Now, asking her to go to Beiyang was something she was completely unwilling to do.
"You wretched woman, this is all your fault!" Zhou Zhonghe was so furious that he slapped the old madam across the face. If it weren't for offending the Third Prince and the Emperor, how could he have been dismissed from his post?
"Master, why are you hitting me? I wasn't the one who stripped you of your title!" At this moment, the old madam still did not feel she had done anything wrong.
Zhou Zhonghe merely laughed mockingly at himself. It was said that a bad wife ruins the household, and it was indeed true. All of this was retribution!
Xu Heming ultimately took Zhu Jingchen and Zhu Hanyu for a stroll around Chang'an Street before wearily escorting the two imperial masters back into the palace.
"By the way, is Qingshi alright?" Zhu Jingchen suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask about Xu Qingshi's condition.
"He wasn't in the fire. He has probably returned to the estate by now." Thinking of this, Xu Heming felt a headache coming on. He hadn't expected that his momentary indulgence would nearly cost his son his life.
After all, when Xu Qingshi followed them to Li'an County last time, he hadn't suffered the slightest grievance. Yet here in the capital, the Zhou family had almost taken the boy's life.
With this in mind, Xu Heming decided that he absolutely had to create a few more stumbling blocks for the Zhou family.
Otherwise, his son would have suffered for nothing.
"Uncle An, I'll come back to play with Qingshi later." Zhu Hanyu actually wanted to go find him right away, but with his imperial father present, he didn't dare and obediently followed along back to the palace.
"Your Majesty and the Third Prince should hurry back to the palace," Xu Heming urged.
After all, he still needed to go back and properly comfort Xu Qingshi.
The events of today must have terrified him.
"Imperial Father, if I am disobedient, will you send me to the Cheng family too?" Zhu Hanyu asked with some fear, thinking of the people in the Zhou family.
After all, the Cheng family had the terrifying Cheng Qingli, and he didn't want to go there.
"Do you want to stay at the Cheng family's for a few days?" Zhu Jingchen looked at his son in confusion.
"I do not want to," Zhu Hanyu replied without a second thought.
"Then you won't go," Zhu Jingchen said with a smile.
Xu Heming returned to the Prince An Estate looking exhausted.
Qingchuan and Qingsong had long been waiting for Xu Qingshi to return.
"Is there any news of Qingshi?" Xu Heming asked, looking at the two.
"Your Highness, we only found the marks Qingyuan left for us, but we haven't found them," Qingchuan said somewhat guiltily.
"He didn't return to the estate?" Xu Heming was stunned, not expecting that Xu Qingshi hadn't come back.
He thought that after suffering such a grievance at the Zhou family, Xu Qingshi would surely come back to complain to the Old Princess Consort.
"No," Qingsong said quickly.
"Have you checked the Liangqi Courtyard?" Xu Heming thought about the last time they went to the Grand Princess's estate; they had secretly brought the child back and hidden him in the Liangqi Courtyard.
Could it be that he came back this time too, but no one noticed?
"Your Highness, we've already had people check the Liangqi Courtyard three times today. The Heir has indeed not returned," Qingsong said with certainty.
"Has anyone strange come to the estate today?" Xu Heming felt this was unlike Xu Qingshi's usual behavior.
"There were two peasants today who somehow ended up at the Liangqi Courtyard," Liu Ming, who was standing to the side, quickly said.
"What kind of peasants?" Xu Heming asked with a frown.
"One older and one younger, looking like a grandfather and grandson," Liu Ming said thoughtfully.
"Where are they?" For some reason, Xu Heming felt that this person might be Xu Qingshi.
"They left the estate. Perhaps they were the vegetable farmers delivering produce today and went to the wrong place while looking for the latrine," Liu Ming quickly explained.
"Go and see if anything is missing from the Liangqi Courtyard," Xu Heming said, his brow furrowed.
"Does Your Highness suspect that those two..." Liu Ming was shocked. Could it be that those two were thieves?
"Your Highness, terrible news! The Heir... The Heir is missing," Qingyuan ran in hurriedly, shouting as he ran.
"Qingyuan? Where is the Heir?" Qingchuan asked quickly upon seeing Qingyuan suddenly return.
Several pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to Qingyuan.
In a courtyard in the eastern outskirts of the capital.
"What's going on? Didn't I say only the young one? Why did you bring an old one back too?" Zhou Zuo looked at his brother Zhou You, completely speechless.
"Oh, Big Brother, they were together. I wanted to just grab the one, but that old geezer held onto the kid for dear life, so I had to carry them both back," Zhou You said, scratching his head.
"Fine, deal with the old one now." Zhou Zuo then turned his gaze to Xu Qingshi and Li Tianyou.
He looked at Xu Qingshi, who was dressed in ordinary clothes and had a face covered in black soot.
"Are you sure this person is really the Heir of Prince An?" Zhou Zuo asked, looking at Zhou You with a face full of suspicion.
He truly suspected that his brother had gotten the wrong person.
"I saw him come out of the Prince An Estate with my own eyes." Zhou You thought for a moment, now feeling somewhat uncertain himself.
"Idiot, didn't I tell you to follow the right person?" Zhou Zuo was furious.
He wanted the Heir of Prince An, but he had no idea whose child his brother had actually brought back.
"I grabbed the wrong one? Then... then should I go back and grab him again?" Zhou You said in a troubled tone.