Chapter 600
Chapter 600
“Prince An, please don’t listen to their nonsense. How could my family’s Consort of the Heir have such poor relations?”
The man glared viciously at Li Tianyou.
He cursed inwardly. That bastard couldn’t possibly think Prince An would stand up for them, could he?
Prince An was not known for being easygoing.
“Who did the Ruan Marquis’s heir marry?”
Xu Heming did not know why, but a voice seemed to be telling him to save the two of them.
He had no idea where that voice came from.
“My lord, the Ruan Marquis’s heir married the daughter of the richest family in our Lan Nuo Kingdom—the Li family,” Qingsong replied after thinking for a moment.
“Did that man just say that he was Li Tianyou from Li’an County?” Xu Heming asked, turning to Li Tianyou, who had retreated to the side.
“My lord, that is what he said.”
“Take the two of them away.”
After glancing at the pair, Xu Heming turned and left.
“Come, take them away,” Qingsong instructed the guards behind him before hurrying after Xu Heming.
“Prince An!” The man had never expected Prince An to interfere in the affairs of the Ruan Marquis’s household.
He wanted to stop him, but how could he possibly dare challenge Prince An?
Seeing this, Li Zhiwei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Xu Heming was not warm or friendly, he had still saved her parents, hadn’t he?
“Xu Heming, thank you,” Li Zhiwei said softly as she walked up beside him.
Xu Heming turned around, only to see empty space.
There was no one standing beside him.
Had he imagined it?
Xu Heming had the strange feeling that someone was speaking to him from nearby.
Li Zhiwei froze. She had the distinct impression that Xu Heming could hear her.
“Xu Heming, please help take care of my parents,” she said. For some reason, she felt as though Xu Heming was looking at her, so she boldly made the request.
“Qingsong, where are those two?” Xu Heming asked on impulse, wanting to know how they were doing.
“My lord, they’re in the carriage behind us. Would you like to see them?” Qingsong was utterly astonished.
His lord had never liked meddling in such affairs. Yet today, not only had he saved the two of them, he had even asked about their situation. It was truly remarkable.
“Yes.”
Thinking of that voice, Xu Heming decided that he might as well meet them.
Perhaps once he saw them, the voice would stop haunting him.
Li Tianyou and Lady Yao had not expected Prince An to summon them again.
“My lord!” Lady Yao’s eyes were red, and she was at a complete loss.
Their daughter was in the Ruan Marquis’s household, and they had no idea what kind of situation she was in.
Could they see their daughter if they begged Prince An for help?
At that thought, Li Tianyou’s gaze grew even more resolute.
When Xu Heming saw Li Tianyou and Lady Yao, his brows drew tightly together.
“This commoner greets Prince An.”
“This common woman greets Prince An.”
The two nervously bowed to Xu Heming.
Xu Heming merely stared straight at them. He did not understand why he had saved them.
Normally, he was extremely busy. Where would he find the time to concern himself with such trivial matters in another household?
“Xu Heming, hurry and tell them to get up!”
Seeing Xu Heming standing there in a daze, Li Zhiwei grew displeased again.
She felt a little unhappy. Why was this Xu Heming so different from the one she knew?
Then she remembered and her heart sank.
This was Xu Heming from her previous life—the Xu Heming who did not know her.
He had always been this cold and distant.
Looking at her parents kneeling below, Li Zhiwei’s heart ached once more.
“Xu Heming, please help them, all right? They’ll repay you. Tell them not to go to the capital. Take them to Lucheng instead. Their son is there.”
Li Zhiwei spoke dejectedly.
The version of her in the capital was already dead. She did not want her parents to see the gruesome state in which she had died.
But she still had an elder brother. All she wanted was for her parents to go to Lucheng and find him. From then on, they could forget her.
“Rise.”
Xu Heming heard that voice again, only this time it sounded as though she were in great pain.
She said not to let them go to the capital.
“Thank you, Prince An!”
Li Tianyou hurriedly helped Lady Yao to her feet.
Seeing how much older and more worn her parents looked, Li Zhiwei felt both heartbroken and relieved. Her parents were still alive. They had not passed away long ago, as Zhou Yutang had claimed.
That Zhou Yutang had lied to her!
“Do you have any grievances you wish to report?” Xu Heming asked as he looked at the two of them.
Xu Heming had always been cold-hearted. He could not understand the source of their sorrow.
“Prince An, half a year ago, the Ruan Marquis’s household came to propose a marriage. We had our daughter take half of the Li family’s fortune with her when she married into the Ruan Marquis’s household. But over the past six months, our daughter has kept finding one excuse after another to ask us for money. We were worried and wanted to go to the capital to see how she was doing. We never imagined that we would be driven straight out of the city. The two of us traveled all the way from Li’an County to the capital, yet we didn’t even get to see our daughter.”
At the mention of their grief, even the grown man could not stop himself from sobbing.
“Prince An, please uphold justice for us and let us see our daughter!” Lady Yao hurriedly knelt down and pleaded.
“Why would they claim that you stole something from the estate?” Prince An asked, frowning as he looked at the two of them. Judging by their appearance, they did not seem to be lying.
“He’s making it up. My parents never even set foot inside the estate. They’re trying to covet my dowry, so they slandered my parents. I’m already dead—please don’t let my parents enter the capital. Xu Heming, I beg you.”
Li Zhiwei spoke with a pleading look on her face.
Xu Heming froze when he heard the voice. So the incessant voice beside him belonged to these two people’s daughter?
Xu Heming gave a light cough. He did not understand. He had never met their daughter, so why could he hear her voice?
“This commoner does not know. We beg Prince An to do us justice. We did not steal a single thing from the Ruan Marquis’s estate. We never even entered its gates, so how could we have stolen anything from them?” Li Tianyou said, his eyes red.
“You may leave for now.” Xu Heming neither said he would help them nor that he would not.
Li Tianyou and Lady Yao could not tell whether the prince intended to help them.
However, neither of them dared ask him.
“Your Highness?” Qingsong thought the prince probably would not involve himself in the Ruan Marquis’s affairs.
“Qingsong, do you know what happened at the Ruan Marquis’s estate?” Xu Heming asked, gazing out the window.
“Your Highness, what happened at the Ruan Marquis’s estate has long ceased to be a secret in the capital. The Consort of the Heir of the Ruan Marquis is not the daughter of those two people we just saw. She is someone else entirely. However, that woman’s daughter did bring a substantial dowry and married the Ruan Marquis’s heir as a concubine.”
Qingsong thought for a moment before answering.
“A concubine?” Xu Heming frowned. He did not believe those two would lie about something like this.
And then there were the words of the female ghost beside him.
Surely she would not still be trying to deceive him after death, would she?
“The Ruan Marquis’s estate deceived my parents. It was only after I entered the estate that I learned he had already married his cousin as the Consort of the Heir. But they coveted my dowry and imprisoned me in the estate. For the past six months, they’ve even used my name to keep asking my parents for money.” Li Zhiwei spoke sorrowfully.
“That’s right. No one in the capital has ever seen that concubine. However, a few days ago, a great fire apparently broke out at the Ruan Marquis’s estate, and the concubine was burned to death there,” Qingsong quickly added.