Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three
"He's back, saying he has urgent matters and requests an audience with the prince." Qingsong spoke somewhat awkwardly in a low voice.
"Alright, have him come over." Xu Heming nodded.
According to his thoughts, it should be that Li Zhiwei had some letter for him.
After all, Li Zhiwei and Xu Qingshi had also been away for some days now.
"Your Highness, Yang Zuo says he has urgent matters to discuss with you... privately." Qingsong looked at Xu Heming, then at Yang Zuo who seemed quite anxious, and hurriedly reminded him.
"Fine, I'll go over there." Xu Heming looked around as everyone was busy inventorying the properties from the Minister of War's residence.
Indeed, this time, the audit didn't uncover problems in the Ministry of Revenue, but instead found many issues in the Ministry of War.
The Minister of War, He Nanqin, had certainly lined his own pockets quite a bit.
Now, the Emperor had ordered the confiscation of the He family's property.
"And me, me too." Li Tianyou followed without a second thought.
Yang Zuo, who had been anxiously waiting for Xu Heming, felt relieved when he saw him come out. However, upon seeing Li Tianyou following behind, Yang Zuo felt as if the sky had fallen.
Why is Lord Li here too?
"Yang Zuo, did Zhiwei write me a letter?" Xu Heming asked quickly upon seeing Yang Zuo.
Yang Zuo awkwardly shook his head, thinking to himself, heavens, how am I supposed to explain to His Highness that Miss Li seems to know about the prince buying poisoned wine for Lord Li?
"Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Highness." Yang Zuo said, bowing to Xu Heming while simultaneously trying to signal him with his eyes.
"Yang Zuo, is there something wrong with your eyes? Why are you blinking like that?" Qingsong asked from behind, puzzled.
Xu Heming frowned.
Yang Zuo wasn't usually this unreliable.
Why was he acting so strangely now?
"Hurry up and give me my daughter's letter." Li Tianyou also urged impatiently.
Heaven knows how much he had missed his wife and daughter these days.
Poor him, still having to attend that dreadful morning court and handle whatever ghostly official business—it was truly a hardship.
Li Tianyou couldn't understand why so many people wanted to be officials; he didn't want to stay a single day longer.
The problem was, his current standing before the Emperor wasn't weighty enough.
He could neither overpower this Xu Heming before him nor back up his daughter.
It seemed he could only sacrifice a bit more time, wait until he had accumulated enough capability, before competing with Xu Heming.
"Your Highness, Miss Li did not entrust me with any letters to bring back." Yang Zuo truly dared not speak about the matters in Li'an County in front of Li Tianyou.
"Then why did you come back?" Li Tianyou asked, displeased upon hearing this.
"Didn't you send him to protect Wei'er? He just comes back by himself like this, isn't he afraid my daughter might encounter danger in Li'an County?" Li Tianyou vented his dissatisfaction at Xu Heming.
"Why did you return ahead of schedule by yourself?" Xu Heming asked Yang Zuo, displeased.
"Your subordinate..." Yang Zuo wore a troubled expression, unsure how to reply.
He was truly worried that his next words would anger Lord Li. The urgent matter now was to speak with the prince alone.
"Yang Zuo, since when have you become so wishy-washy? Speak quickly, His Highness is still busy!" Qingsong frowned, not understanding what Yang Zuo was up to.
Yang Zuo could only look somewhat awkwardly at Li Tianyou and asked ingratiatingly, "Lord Li, I wonder if you might grant me the favor of allowing me to speak with His Highness privately for a few words?"
"What, is there news from Li'an County that I cannot hear? Or did you have him sell my daughter off halfway?" Li Tianyou became even more displeased upon hearing this.
Heaven knows how much he wanted to hear news about his daughter and wife.
And now Xu Heming's servant didn't want him to listen?
"Lord Li is not an outsider. If there's something, just say it." Seeing that Li Tianyou was about to lose his temper again, Xu Heming sighed lightly and hurriedly said.
Yang Zuo widened his eyes, wanting to tell the prince that those words were not suitable for Lord Li to hear.
But now the prince had already spoken; if he didn't say anything...
"Reporting to Your Highness, Miss Li and the young master are both well in Li'an County. However, a young master from the Li family has arrived, and it seems he wishes to marry Miss Li..." Yang Zuo could only pick words that might benefit his prince.
"Young master? You mean Shu Heng? Ah, originally we had intended to arrange for Shu Heng to be our son-in-law. It's a pity Qujing and Li'an County are too far apart. So Shu Heng has finally arrived!" Li Tianyou said with a look of relief instead.
Hearing this, Xu Heming felt a bit sour.
The Li family still wanted Li Zhiwei to marry someone else?
"Father-in-law, Zhiwei and I have a marriage decreed by His Majesty." Xu Heming reminded through gritted teeth.
"I know, it's just a decree, right? You're not married yet, are you?" Li Tianyou said, not particularly concerned.
He thought to himself, once he performed a great service, he would beg the Emperor to retract the decree, and then this marriage would be void, wouldn't it?
Xu Heming felt a headache coming on, thinking, thankfully Li Tianyou didn't know he had given him fake wine, otherwise, wouldn't Li Tianyou dislike him even more?
"Having guests at the Li family isn't a major matter. Did you specifically rush back from Li'an County just to tell me this?" Xu Heming frowned. He wasn't that petty; he couldn't possibly forbid any male from appearing near Li Zhiwei, could he?
Besides, that person was a relative of the Li family.
Li Zhiwei wasn't someone who didn't know propriety.
Facing Xu Heming's criticism, Yang Zuo felt miserable inside.
That wasn't what he wanted to say at all, but he dared not speak the other words in front of Li Tianyou.
"Alright, you may withdraw for now. I am aware of this matter." Xu Heming had no mind to speak further with Yang Zuo at the moment. After all, he still had to keep a close eye on the affairs at the He residence to prevent anyone from taking advantage.
"Yes!" Yang Zuo was anxious but dared not say more.
Upon hearing this, Xu Heming said nothing further and directly entered the He residence.
Qingsong was about to follow Xu Heming inside but was pulled back by Yang Zuo.
"What? I still need to attend to His Highness." Qingsong said discontentedly.
"Ah, Brother Qingsong, could you do me a favor?" Yang Zuo asked with an ingratiating look.
"What is it? Tell me?" Qingsong frowned. This was the first time he had seen Yang Zuo like this; he felt there was something odd about him.
Yang Zuo hurriedly pulled Qingsong towards a corner.
Li Tianyou, as if guided by some whim, followed them.
"I'm saying, Yang Zuo, if you have something, speak quickly. If I can put in a good word for you before His Highness, I will." Qingsong sighed, ultimately feeling somewhat unwilling to be harsh.
After all, Yang Zuo had also served by the prince's side for many years. For offenses not too severe, he could say a few good words.
"It's not about me, it's that something has happened on the princess's side." Yang Zuo was about to die from anxiety. If Li Tianyou hadn't been there earlier, he would have spoken long ago.
It's just that neither the prince nor Qingsong had noticed him trying to signal them with his eyes.
"What happened to the princess? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Qingsong also became anxious upon hearing this.
If something happened to Li Zhiwei, the prince would definitely not let Yang Zuo off lightly.
