Chapter 601
Chapter 601
Xu Heming looked strangely toward the empty space beside Qingsong. That voice had sounded exactly as Qingsong had described.
Yet no matter how carefully he looked, there was no one there.
Had the voice not truly reached his ears, Xu Heming would never have believed such an absurd thing could happen.
“Your Highness, are you planning to look into the matter concerning the Ruan Marquis Residence?” Qingsong asked uncertainly.
“Where is the corpse?” Xu Heming asked again.
“Hey, Xu Heming, don’t worry about where my corpse is! Help me send my parents to Lucheng. Their son is there!” Li Zhiwei anxiously hopped around beside Xu Heming.
Even though he could not see her, Xu Heming could still sense how distressed the girl was.
“The corpse was probably taken to the mass grave,” Qingsong said after thinking for a moment, his tone somewhat uncertain.
“Go and find out. Make sure it is properly taken care of.” Xu Heming sighed. In his heart, he thought that this could also be considered a most unusual encounter between them.
“Yes!” Qingsong looked at his prince in confusion.
Why was His Highness so concerned about a concubine from the Ruan Marquis Residence?
Could it be that, without his knowledge, His Highness had once been involved with that concubine?
Of course, Qingsong did not dare ask.
“Your Highness, what should be done with those two?” Qingsong thought for a moment before asking again.
After all, the married couple looked truly pitiful.
But Prince An had never been one to meddle in such affairs.
“Go to Lucheng. Take the two of them with you.” After considering it, Xu Heming decided to follow the girl’s wishes and send them to Lucheng.
“Your Highness, His Majesty is still waiting for you to enter the palace,” Qingsong reminded him. If they were going to Lucheng, the journey would take at least ten days, perhaps even half a month.
Qingsong was not sure whether His Majesty could afford to wait that long.
“Xu Heming, tell the emperor that there’s a gold mine in Heping County, near Lucheng. It’s currently being watched over by Prince Lanhuai’s men. There’s also an iron mine on Mount Wangxian outside the capital,” Li Zhiwei said, looking at Xu Heming as she carefully explained everything.
She was not sure whether Xu Heming could hear her.
But he had agreed to everything she had said earlier, so Li Zhiwei could only assume that he was able to hear her.
Xu Heming shuddered when he heard this.
He had never known that Lan Nuo possessed such rich mineral resources.
Thinking of Lan Nuo’s current situation, if there truly were a gold mine and an iron mine, the kingdom would undergo earth-shaking changes.
“I’ll go to the palace. First, settle the two of them in Prince An’s Residence.” After saying this, Xu Heming turned and headed toward the imperial palace.
Li Zhiwei floated back to Li Tianyou and Lady Yao.
With reddened eyes, she looked at her parents.
“Father, Mother, I’m sorry. I won’t be able to stay by your side and serve you anymore. Go find my brother.”
“Old man, I have a feeling that something must have happened to our We iwei.” Lady Yao’s eyes were red as she looked in Li Zhiwei’s direction.
“Don’t let your imagination run wild. We iwei is doing just fine at the Ruan Marquis Residence.” Li Tianyou was startled at first, but he quickly tried to comfort Lady Yao.
Yet over the past six months, their daughter had constantly asked them for money. How could he not have noticed that the letters were not written in her handwriting?
That was why he had wanted to come to the capital and see his daughter.
But although they had made it to the capital, they had not even seen her once.
“My lord, I didn’t get to see our We iwei. I just can’t put my heart at ease.” Thinking of this, Lady Yao’s eyes reddened further.
She deeply regretted agreeing to the marriage with the Ruan Marquis Residence in the first place.
If they had refused, their daughter would never have been separated from them.
“We’ll ask Prince An again later.” Li Tianyou thought that if necessary, he would simply offer Prince An more money.
What use was money if something had happened to their daughter?
With that thought, Li Tianyou gazed into the distance, as though he could see his daughter through it.
Li Tianyou and Lady Yao spent a restless night in Prince An’s Residence. During that time, they tried to see Prince An, but were repeatedly told that he was busy.
Li Tianyou was frantic, but in a place where he knew no one, there was nothing he could do.
Especially since this was Prince An’s Residence. They had no power to act as they pleased.
Li Zhiwei watched her anxious parents from the side the entire time.
Although she was anxious as well, she knew very well that Xu Heming did not know her in this life.
She was not Xu Heming’s princess consort, either, so there was nothing she could do.
Besides, her current self had already died.
All she could ask was that her parents live in peace.
Considering her relationship with Prince An now, he had already done more than enough.
“Father, Mother, stop looking for me. Hurry and go find my brother,” Li Zhiwei sobbed softly.
What she was really thinking was: Xu Heming, hurry and take them away.
Xu Heming stood not far away, watching the couple inside the room.
He did not know why, but his heart felt strangely heavy.
“Go and tell them that tomorrow morning, I’ll take them somewhere,” Xu Heming instructed Qingsong beside him.
“Your Highness, why don’t I personally escort them there?” Qingsong asked, looking at Xu Heming uncertainly.
“I’ll go myself.” Xu Heming added silently in his heart: Consider it repayment for Li Zhiwei telling me about those two mines.
Although Qingsong found this strange, he knew that once his prince made a decision, no one could change it.
All he could do was carry out Xu Heming’s orders.
When Li Tianyou and Lady Yao followed Xu Heming to Lucheng, they were still completely confused.
They had originally assumed that Xu Heming was taking them to find Li Zhiwei.
“Prince An, may I ask why you have brought us here?” Li Tianyou asked cautiously.
Could it be that Li Zhiwei was here?
“Li Tianyou, I was entrusted by someone to bring you here.” Xu Heming looked toward Lucheng. Truthfully, he did not know why that woman had insisted that he bring the couple to Lucheng.
Besides, did Li Tianyou not have only one daughter?
Why had she said that he had a son?
Xu Heming brought them into Lucheng, but this time, he did not alert the local authorities.
As soon as they entered the city, they saw a young man dressed in red, riding a tall horse.
“Ol… old master…” Lady Yao pointed at the young man on horseback, her face filled with disbelief.
Why did that man look so much like her husband?
Li Tianyou followed the direction of her finger. Looking at the somewhat familiar young man, he asked in confusion, “What is it?”
Xu Heming lifted his head and looked at the face that resembled Li Tianyou’s by nearly eight-tenths.
He seemed to understand why the girl had wanted him to bring them to Lucheng.
“Xu Heming, please. That man is my elder brother. Back then, when Madam Jiang lost her child, she deliberately set a trap to lure my brother into the water. My parents believed that my brother had died, while she took advantage of the situation to raise him as her own, passing him off as the legitimate heir of the Jiang family.”
Li Zhiwei looked at Jiang Yuanrang with reddened eyes.
“Brother, in this life, I’m entrusting our parents to you!”