Chapter 329
Chapter 329
"Qingli? What did Qingli do?" Whenever Zhu Jingchen thought of his sister-in-law, he knew she was excessively lively. He just didn't know what she had done this time.
"Qingli was acting recklessly today and took Miss Li to a place she shouldn't have gone." The Empress felt very awkward saying this; after all, the place Li Zhiwei went to was a male brothel.
Thinking of this, the Empress still felt a headache coming on.
Although she hadn't kept Cheng Qingli in the palace to take refuge at the time, she was still worried that Prince An might kill Cheng Qingli in a fit of rage.
"Where did she go?" Zhu Jingchen asked curiously.
He thought to himself that his sister-in-law was quite capable, actually daring to provoke Prince An.
Even he didn't dare to provoke Prince An all the time; at most, he would just poke at him occasionally.
Besides, Xu Heming seemed to care quite a bit about Li Zhiwei.
"Qingfeng Pavilion!" the Empress said in a low voice. However, she didn't know if the Emperor actually knew what kind of place Qingfeng Pavilion was. She couldn't very well tell the Emperor that it was a male brothel. Otherwise, if the Emperor misunderstood and thought she wanted to go too, she wouldn't be able to explain herself even if she had a hundred mouths.
"Qingfeng Pavilion! Does Prince An know?" Zhu Jingchen thought that Cheng Qingli was really plucking hairs from a tiger's head. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dared to take Xu Heming's fiancée to Qingfeng Pavilion.
"Prince An should know by now," the Empress said, not entirely certain.
"Empress, I can't say too much about this matter. After all, that is Prince An's fiancée," Zhu Jingchen said with a light cough.
"However, rest assured, I will definitely make Prince An go easy on her," Zhu Jingchen added.
"I thank Your Majesty on behalf of Qingli." The Empress didn't plead for Cheng Qingli anymore. After all, Cheng Qingli had indeed gone too far this time.
Only, she didn't know if Cheng Qingli had gone to apologize to Li Zhiwei.
After thinking about it, she decided to bestow some gifts upon Li Zhiwei later to apologize on behalf of her sister.
Xu Qingshi and Li Tianyou still hadn't seen the people who captured them.
"Grandfather, do you think you might have offended someone who intentionally locked us up here?" Xu Qingshi felt that since he was so young, he couldn't possibly have offended anyone.
"Then why couldn't it be that your father offended someone?" Li Tianyou felt he shouldn't take the blame for this. After all, he hadn't spent as much time in the capital as Xu Heming.
"That seems right." Xu Qingshi thought about it and felt his father was quite prone to attracting enemies.
"So are we really going to wait in this room for the bad guys to come?" It was getting dark, and Xu Qingshi was a little scared.
"We'll have to wait here until dawn and see," Li Tianyou said after some thought.
"Alright, Grandfather, I'm a little cold. Can I hug you?" Xu Qingshi was actually a bit scared, but he was too embarrassed to say it, so he just said he was cold.
"Now that you mention it, I feel a bit cold too. Hugging might make us warmer." Li Tianyou didn't expose Xu Qingshi's lie; instead, he said he also felt cold.
After all, Li Tianyou felt that although Xu Qingshi was a child, he had his pride. Moreover, just based on the fact that Xu Qingshi called him Grandfather and had saved his daughter, he was willing to dote on the boy.
Today, locked up in this unknown place, Li Tianyou actually wasn't sure if it was because he had done something to offend someone.
After all, whether in the past when he was running businesses or after becoming an official, he had offended quite a few people.
Perhaps it really was an enemy seeking revenge?
Thinking of this, Li Tianyou gently patted Xu Qingshi's back and fell into deep thought.
Sigh, he wouldn't be able to make it to tomorrow's morning court. He wondered if the Emperor would blame him.
Prince An's Manor
"Your Highness, My Lady sent me to ask if there is any news of Master Li here?" Qingyue asked softly, looking at Xu Heming.
"No news for now. Go back and tell your Lady not to worry." Xu Heming hadn't expected that Li Tianyou would actually disappear together with Xu Qingshi.
What were that person's intentions?
Otherwise, why would they take both Xu Qingshi and Li Tianyou away?
"Yes!" Hearing this, Qingyue didn't ask any more questions and hurried back to report to Li Zhiwei. She knew Li Zhiwei was definitely waiting for news from this side.
"Your Highness, we have searched everywhere we could, but we still haven't found the Heir and Master Li," Qingsong said after watching Qingyue's retreating figure.
"Send more people to search!" Xu Heming said, looking into the distance.
"Your Highness, do you think it might be the Zhou family acting out of desperation this time?" Qingsong asked carefully.
"The Zhou family's reach isn't that long. However, just in case, have someone search the Zhou family!" Although Xu Heming didn't think the Zhou family had the capability, it was better to be safe than sorry.
"This subordinate will immediately send people to search the Zhou family," Qingsong said hurriedly.
"Do not miss a single corner," Xu Heming ordered again, thinking of how detestable the Zhou family members were.
Early the next morning, Eunuch Li arrived at the Li residence holding the gifts the Empress had sent for Li Zhiwei.
"Miss Li." Eunuch Li looked at Li Zhiwei with an incredibly warm smile.
"So it is Eunuch Li. Does Her Majesty the Empress have any orders?" Li Zhiwei was just about to go out to find Xu Heming, and hadn't expected to run into Eunuch Li here.
Li Zhiwei didn't know what the Empress wanted with her, but right now, she wasn't in the mood to chat with the Empress. After all, her father hadn't returned home all night.
She was in a hurry to go find Li Tianyou.
Furthermore, thinking of the Empress naturally made Li Zhiwei think of Cheng Qingli, who had tricked her into going to Qingfeng Pavilion. Although Cheng Qingli had sent an apology gift, she was still quite angry inside.
She had heard that Cheng Qingli was the Empress's most beloved younger sister. Could Her Majesty be wanting to demand an explanation from her on behalf of her sister?
After all, by acting as she did, she had caused Cheng Qingli to lose face.
"Her Majesty the Empress ordered this old servant to deliver some things to Miss Li." Eunuch Li smiled and had people bring over the items the Empress had prepared.
Li Zhiwei was a little surprised, only to see Eunuch Li having people carry over a large wooden chest.
Li Zhiwei was shocked. Wasn't this a bit too much?
Although she had never seen how the Empress rewarded other families, wasn't the Lannuo Kingdom said to be quite poor?
With the Lannuo Kingdom being so poor, Li Zhiwei didn't think Her Majesty the Empress could be all that generous when rewarding people.
"Miss Li, Her Majesty the Empress asked this old servant to pass on a message: Miss Qingli has offended you, and this is Her Majesty's apology gift to you. She insists that you accept it." Eunuch Li's tone was extremely sincere, leaving Li Zhiwei unable to find any fault for the moment.
However, thinking of Cheng Qingli's actions, Li Zhiwei still felt uncomfortable in her heart.