Chapter 466
Chapter 466
As soon as Xu Heming returned to the capital, the first person he wanted to see was Li Zhiwei. Even though he knew that Zhu Jingchen was definitely waiting in the palace to hear his report, he still decided to take a detour to visit her.
When Li Zhiwei saw Xu Heming standing alive and well before her, she was momentarily at a loss for what to do.
There were many things she wanted to ask Xu Heming, but the words stuck in her throat, refusing to come out.
After all, if this matter were true, she would be the one left most embarrassed.
Thinking this, Li Zhiwei took a few steps back, keeping her distance from Xu Heming.
“Zhiwei?” Xu Heming frowned as he watched her. He didn’t like this gesture.
He had come to see her with a heart full of joy, so why did she seem unhappy to see him?
Xu Heming stared straight at Li Zhiwei.
He noticed not only that her eyes were evasive, but that she was also acting unusually distant.
Xu Heming frowned. He had only been gone for a few days. Why was Li Zhiwei treating him like a fierce beast or a flood?
He wanted to ask something, but remembering that the emperor was still waiting for him in the palace, he realized he couldn’t stay long.
“Do you have something you want to say to me?” Xu Heming asked wearily, looking at Li Zhiwei.
“No… nothing!” Li Zhiwei did have things she wanted to ask, but at this moment, she simply couldn’t bring herself to speak.
What could she ask?
Ask Xu Heming why he hadn’t told her that he couldn’t marry her?
That would only make it seem like she was desperate to marry him, wouldn’t it?
Ask Xu Heming why he had gone elsewhere just when their wedding was approaching?
Even if she could bring herself to ask these questions—which she already doubted—the answers probably wouldn’t matter anyway.
After all, the empress wouldn’t likely lie about something like this.
With this thought, Li Zhiwei only felt aggrieved.
At least for now, she hadn’t figured out how to face Xu Heming.
“I still have matters to attend to. I need to go to the palace to see His Majesty. I’ll come back to find you later.” Xu Heming sighed. He truly couldn’t stay long at the Li residence.
Hearing this, Li Zhiwei, on the contrary, felt relieved.
“If the prince has business to attend to, please go ahead,” she quickly said.
After Xu Heming left the Li residence, he couldn’t shake a feeling of unease in his heart.
“Your Highness, we should hurry to the palace. His Majesty is still waiting for you,” Rusong said, feeling resentful on behalf of his master. After all, his master had rushed back to the capital, desperate to see Miss Li as soon as possible.
Yet just now, when Miss Li saw the prince, there was no joy on her face.
Rusong felt it was undeserved.
“Mm.” Xu Heming sighed, assuming Li Zhiwei was upset with him for not taking their marriage seriously enough.
This time, if it hadn’t been urgent, he wouldn’t have personally gone to Pinghe County.
Thinking this, Xu Heming decided that after meeting the emperor, he would explain things carefully to Li Zhiwei. After all, Li Zhiwei wasn’t the type to be unreasonable.
“Miss, why didn’t you tell the prince?” Qinghua said anxiously, watching Xu Heming walk away.
She and Qingyue knew better than anyone what Li Zhiwei had been through these past few days.
That third prince of the Qinling Kingdom was truly despicable.
And the empress’s intention to send Li Zhiwei for a political marriage—only she and Qingyue knew about that.
Although they both felt that without an imperial wedding decree from the emperor, the matter must have been false.
Still, since the words came from the empress, they couldn’t help but feel uncertain.
“Forget it. What good would it do to tell him? This was decided by His Majesty and the empress. There’s no need to add to the prince’s troubles,” Li Zhiwei sighed.
But in her heart, she remembered that when she had donated her dowry, she had asked Prince An to protect her parents.
If she were to be married off to the Qinling Kingdom, she wondered if that agreement would still hold.
Li Zhiwei resolved in her heart: if she truly had to marry Shangguan Mu, she would ensure that her parents lived a worry-free life for the rest of their days.
As for the portrait Xu Heming had sent back, Li Zhiwei felt it was just a decoy from the emperor and empress to placate her.
After all, her parents had said that her elder brother had drowned.
If he were still alive, her parents wouldn’t have found only a corpse after searching for so long.
Back then, when her brother fell into the water, he was old enough to remember things. If he truly lived, he wouldn’t have failed to find his way home after all these years.
In the Palace
“Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my mission. Most of the gold and silver confiscated from Tang Youquan in Pinghe County has been transported back to the capital,” Xu Heming said, saluting Zhu Jingchen.
“Good! Minister Xu, you have done an excellent job in this matter!” Zhu Jingchen was very satisfied with Xu Heming.
That the matter could be handled so quickly and efficiently was all thanks to Xu Heming’s efforts.
Moreover, Zhu Jingchen felt relieved that Xu Heming had returned before his wedding.
“Minister Xu, I am relieved that you have returned before your wedding. Haha!” Zhu Jingchen chuckled.
In his mind, he was wondering how to tell Xu Heming about the empress’s earlier plan to send Li Zhiwei for a political marriage.
At the time, the empress, having listened to Grand Tutor Cheng, had directly approached Li Zhiwei.
Only after Cheng Qingli begged him to allow her to replace Li Zhiwei as the one to marry abroad did Zhu Jingchen learn what the empress had done.
At the time, he was both angry and helpless, since his and Xu Heming’s plan had not been shared with anyone.
Grand Tutor Cheng and the empress had also acted for the good of the Lannuo Kingdom.
With this thought, Zhu Jingchen glanced guiltily at Xu Heming.
As for it, he had no face to explain it either to Li Tianyou or to Li Zhiwei. He could only wait for Xu Heming to return and coax his own wife.
After all, no real disaster had occurred—Li Zhiwei wouldn’t have to marry into the Qinling Kingdom, and Cheng Qingli wouldn’t have to either.
It was a happy ending for everyone.
“Your Majesty, is there something else you haven’t said?” For some reason, Xu Heming felt that the look Zhu Jingchen gave him clearly indicated something fishy was going on.
He remembered how distant Li Zhiwei had been with him today.
Xu Heming narrowed his eyes at Zhu Jingchen.
A bad feeling crept into his heart.
Could it be that while he was away, the emperor had betrothed Li Zhiwei to that scoundrel Shangguan Mu?
At this thought, Xu Heming felt a surge of rage.
Damn it!
He had been out on the emperor’s business, and now the emperor was letting his fiancée marry another man?
“Haha, Minister Xu, the empress didn’t know about our plan. She thought the Qinling invasion was something we couldn’t handle, so she spoke to Miss Li about marrying the third prince,” Zhu Jingchen said with a laugh.
Inside, though, he thought that Xu Heming should hurry back to soothe his woman.
Otherwise, if Li Zhiwei truly refused to marry him, that would be a real problem.
“So, Your Majesty, you knew about this the whole time. What did you do?” Xu Heming glared coldly at Zhu Jingchen, demanding an answer.
This betrayal by the emperor was infuriating.
No wonder Li Zhiwei had looked so distant when he saw her today.