Chapter 328
Chapter 328
"Grandfather, with the way you're dressed, who would believe you know how to make money? If you said you knew how to farm, someone might believe it," Xu Qingshi covered his mouth and giggled.
"Oh, you have a point. Then what are their intentions in kidnapping the two of us?" Thinking of this, Li Tianyou truly felt that their capture was somewhat unnatural.
"Are you afraid?" Li Tianyou looked at Xu Qingshi and asked.
"With Grandfather here, I'm not afraid." Xu Qingshi shook his head.
"In that case, we won't run. I actually want to see what these people intend by bringing us here." Li Tianyou didn't withhold his plans just because Xu Qingshi was a child.
"Okay! We will catch all the bad guys in one fell swoop!" Xu Qingshi thought about catching the bad guys and felt a little excited inside.
As night fell, Li Zhiwei still hadn't seen Li Tianyou return to the manor, and she grew somewhat worried.
Where on earth did Father take Qingshi?
"Your father still hasn't returned at this hour?" Lady Yao said anxiously.
"Mother, perhaps Father was delayed by some important court matters, as he usually is." At this moment, Li Zhiwei also didn't know where Li Tianyou had gone.
However, she still didn't want Lady Yao to worry.
"Alas, being an official is truly difficult. It's not even as good as before," Lady Yao sighed, feeling a bit of heartache.
She thought to herself that it was a job with little money and too much work.
"Mother, go rest first. Father will be back once he finishes his work," Li Zhiwei comforted her softly.
"Sigh!" Lady Yao sighed and went back to her room first.
Fearing that Lady Yao would worry, Li Zhiwei also returned to her room.
"Qingyue, go ask the prince later if there is any news on his end. My father still hasn't returned," Li Zhiwei said worriedly.
"Yes, Miss," Qingyue said respectfully.
Li Zhiwei sighed, hoping in her heart that they were alright.
Otherwise, she didn't even dare to imagine if her father lost Xu Qingshi, would Xu Heming go crazy.
Prince Lanhuai's Manor
"Your Highness, we've found out. The owner of that Qin Restaurant is the Second Miss of the Cheng family."
Shanzi bowed and said to Prince Lanhuai.
"Second Miss Cheng?" Prince Lanhuai frowned. He hadn't expected Huo Yunzhi to take a fancy to Second Miss Cheng's restaurant; this was a bit troublesome.
After all, the Cheng family lacked neither money nor power. Going to the Cheng family himself felt like a thankless task.
"Yes, Your Highness. This Second Miss Cheng likes to run small businesses. That Qingyu Pavilion was also created by her," Shanzi quickly added.
"Qingyu Pavilion?" Prince Lanhuai tapped his hands on the table, thinking to himself that today's incident was precisely because Qingyu Pavilion had issued a ban on Prince Lanhuai's Manor.
That was why Huo Yunzhi had made such a fuss at his place.
It seemed he really had to go and meet this Cheng family.
However, regarding the Cheng family, Prince Lanhuai didn't think he could bring them under his own control.
After all, the Cheng family was the Empress's maternal family, and the Empress had given birth to the Third Prince. No matter how great the benefits he promised, as long as the Cheng family wasn't stupid, they would never board his ship.
Thinking of this, Prince Lanhuai felt it was somewhat a pity.
"Go prepare a generous gift; we are going to the Cheng family." Prince Lanhuai thought about it. Even if the Cheng family wouldn't help him, buying a restaurant from them shouldn't be a big problem.
He believed that the Cheng family wouldn't go so far as to deny him this face.
"Yes!" Shanzi quickly retreated.
Prince Lanhuai's mood was still immersed in the fact that Huo Yunzhi had brought him the title deed to an iron mine, feeling quite excited.
The Kingdom of Lannuo was not only poor before, but it also lacked advanced weapons. All of this was inseparable from iron.
At this moment, Prince Lanhuai was extremely excited. As long as he had the iron mine, on what grounds could Zhu Jingchen compete with him in the future?
That position should have been his.
It was just that Zhu Jingchen's father had usurped his throne.
At that time, he had sworn that he would take back everything that belonged to him.
Over the years, he had been biding his time and building up his strength.
Originally, everything had been developing exactly as he had imagined.
Unfortunately, that Xu Heming never played by the rules. He had also tried to have someone win over Xu Heming, but Xu Heming never showed any intention of joining them.
And he was also somewhat wary of Xu Heming.
Later, a Li Tianyou who knew how to make money suddenly appeared by Zhu Jingchen's side.
Originally, he thought that what he wanted would be very difficult to achieve, but unexpectedly, every cloud had a silver lining.
It seemed that even Heaven was helping him. Otherwise, how could Huo Yunxuan have been sent to his side?
Thinking of this, Prince Lanhuai decided to coax Huo Lanzhi well first. Who knew, maybe she could bring out even more good things?
After all, now that he had an iron mine, what he lacked most was money.
Although all of the Huo family's money had previously been confiscated by the Emperor.
However, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse, isn't that so?
The Huo family must still have other wealth hidden away.
The Imperial Palace
Zhu Jingchen frowned as he looked at Xu Heming.
"Are you certain a mine was discovered over in Heping?" Zhu Jingchen asked with some excitement.
"To reply to Your Majesty, Prince An's memorial states that a gold mine was discovered," Eunuch Liu, who was standing to the side, said.
"That scoundrel Xu Heming didn't even tell me personally." Zhu Jingchen was somewhat annoyed. While at the Zhou family's residence, he had only focused on watching the drama and had forgotten to ask about this matter.
"Your Majesty, Prince An is currently anxious to find the heir, which is why he didn't enter the palace to tell you personally," Eunuch Liu quickly pleaded on Xu Heming's behalf.
"I am not blaming him. Has Qingshi not been found yet?" Zhu Jingchen frowned, thinking that Xu Qingshi had also suffered this time.
"No news regarding Prince An's heir has been sent back." Eunuch Liu shook his head, thinking to himself that Prince An's heir probably hadn't been found yet; otherwise, news should have arrived by now.
"Never mind, let Prince An focus on finding him, and have Fang Deyou help in the search." Zhu Jingchen thought that Xu Heming had made a great contribution this time by finding the gold mine for him.
Moreover, Xu Qingshi was Xu Heming's only son. He himself was anxious about Xu Qingshi's disappearance, let alone Xu Heming.
Speaking of which, it was because he had given Xu Heming too many errands that he had paid too little attention to the child, which led to this incident.
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress requests an audience," a young eunuch from outside the hall walked in and said softly.
"Let her in." Zhu Jingchen thought that perhaps the Empress wanted to see him because of Zhu Hanyu leaving the palace today.
"I pay my respects to Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long live Your Majesty!" The Empress curtsied to Zhu Jingchen.
Today, she thought she still needed to tell the Emperor about what Cheng Qingli had done. Otherwise, if Prince An caused trouble later, it would be hard for her to explain.
"Empress, how do you have the free time to come over today?" Zhu Jingchen asked after pardoning her bow and having someone bring her a chair.
"Your Majesty, I came today to apologize to you on behalf of Qingli," the Empress looked at Zhu Jingchen, her smile somewhat forced.