Chapter 167
Outside the Li Family Gate
Xu Heming anxiously knocked on the door.
"Who are you looking for?" The gatekeeper frowned, eyeing the disheveled Xu Heming.
"I'm looking for Li Zhiwei." Having finally escaped Kong Meng'er's clutches, Xu Heming had come to Li'an County at his fastest speed. He urgently wanted to see Li Zhiwei; only by confirming she was safe could he be at ease.
"Who are you? Do you have a calling card? Our young mistress is not someone just any stray cat or dog can see," the gatekeeper said, looking Xu Heming up and down with disdain.
"Go and tell her that Xu Heming is here. She will naturally see me," Xu Heming frowned. In the capital, no one would dare look at him like this. If this weren't Li Zhiwei's maiden home, this gatekeeper wouldn't live to see tomorrow.
"No, she won't see you." With that, the gatekeeper slammed the door shut with a bang.
Xu Heming's veins bulged. This was truly a case of a tiger being bullied by dogs on a plain. Even a lowly gatekeeper of the Li family dared to look down on him.
Remembering he had laid a false trail upon arriving in Li'an County, he wondered how much longer it would take for Qingsong and the others to arrive.
Thinking this, Xu Heming knocked on the Li family gate again.
"You there! I already said our young lady won't see you. Why are you so persistent?" The gatekeeper, looking displeased, opened a small window by the door and shouted outside.
"I want to see Xu Qingshi!" Xu Heming said helplessly.
"You've got the wrong place. There's no one named Xu Qingshi in this residence," the gatekeeper replied, thinking this was one of those people who had come looking for trouble with young master Qingshi some days ago.
Xu Heming frowned. Xu Qingshi wasn't at the Li family?
Then where was he?
Could it be that both Li Zhiwei and Xu Qingshi were in trouble?
The thought made Xu Heming even more anxious.
"Then Qinghua and Qingyue must be here, right?" After much thought, these were the only two names Xu Heming could come up with.
"You are a strange one! I told you, there are no such people, no such people! Go look somewhere else!" The gatekeeper finished speaking and was about to close the window, unwilling to deal with Xu Heming any further.
A lump of frustration stuck in Xu Heming's throat. Were all the Li family servants this insolent?
"I advise you to be sensible and let me see the master of the house. Otherwise, this prince's sword is not for show!" Xu Heming's patience exhausted, he directly pointed his sword at the gatekeeper.
"Sir... sir, let's talk this over properly, properly. Our young lady really isn't in the residence. Perhaps you could try looking at the Huo family?" the gatekeeper said cautiously.
He thought to himself, the Huo family was wealthy and powerful, surely their guards were more formidable and could definitely protect the young lady.
"Which Huo family?" Upon hearing "Huo family," Xu Heming had a bad feeling.
That scoundrel Huo Yunxuan had swindled three thousand taels of silver notes from him, selling him a pot of fake wine.
Swindling his money was one thing, but he had given him a pot of poisonous fake wine that nearly killed his future father-in-law, Li Tianyou, making Li Tianyou treat him with utter contempt.
Suddenly, Xu Heming seemed to understand why the Li family gatekeeper dared to boss him around.
So, it was about holding a grudge!
Thinking this, Xu Heming's attitude softened a bit.
"The Huo family of Jiyun Manor, as renowned as the Li family," the gatekeeper stammered, already trembling with fear.
He was both afraid Li Zhiwei might get hurt, yet dared not withhold the information.
Xu Heming sheathed his sword and left without looking back.
The gatekeeper slumped to the ground, scared out of his wits, unable to regain his composure for a long time. That man's aura was simply too overpowering.
Jiyun Manor
Huo Yunxuan looked coldly at the disheveled Zhu Yunxian and Du Qiuniang.
"Second Sister, these two were brought by you, correct?" Huo Yunxuan asked Huo Yunyao in an unfriendly tone.
Huo Yunyao's face was dark. What was there to say?
One was her husband, the other her close friend. She had been signaling to Huo Yunxuan not to probe deeper, but her usually astute younger brother seemed completely oblivious to her hints.
He insisted on getting to the bottom of it.
Now, all the notable figures and noble ladies of Li'an County would know that her husband, Huo Yunyao's, was involved with Du Qiuniang.
What infuriated her even more was that the little bastard Zhu Maosheng was actually the child of Du Qiuniang and Zhu Yunxian. Then what about her own child?
Thinking this, Huo Yunyao could only glare fiercely at the two. Though she had many questions, she was unwilling to air this dirty laundry in front of so many people.
"Just now, everyone was saying it was me fooling around inside. Who would have thought it's actually a scandal of the Zhu family?" Li Zhiwei said with feigned surprise.
"Oh dear, one is her own husband, the other her close friend. Second Miss Huo is truly pitiful, betrayed by the two people closest to her," someone soon remarked.
"The most pitiful is young master Zhu, isn't it? From now on, won't he be pointed at and gossiped about for the rest of his life? What a sin!"
Soon, someone thought of Zhu Maosheng.
Feeling that Zhu Yunxian had given his son a terrible start in life.
For the rest of his life, he would be pointed at and whispered about.
The others hadn't mentioned Zhu Maosheng, so Huo Yunyao wasn't this angry. But the thought that Zhu Maosheng was the child of Zhu Yunxian and Du Qiuniang filled Huo Yunyao with rage, yet she couldn't vent it in front of everyone.
"Pretty sister, why is these two people fighting related to some young master? He wasn't the one fighting?" Xu Qingshi asked, puzzled.
"And why do they fight without clothes on?" When Xu Qingshi first came in, he had seen they were both stark naked; they had only hurriedly put clothes on later when everyone entered.
Xu Qingshi didn't understand. Was it more convenient to fight with clothes off?
Xu Qingshi even mimed a bit, suddenly feeling that clothes did seem a bit of a hindrance.
It seemed next time he fought with Wei Herui, he should also take his clothes off for a more satisfying fight.
Li Zhiwei's mouth twitched. For a moment, she didn't know how to answer Xu Qingshi's questions.
Achoo! Achoo!
Wei Herui, sitting in his room studying, kept sneezing.
"Did you catch a chill last night? Are you coming down with something?" Grand Tutor Wei asked worriedly, seeing his grandson sneeze repeatedly.
"Grandfather, Rui'er is fine. It must be Xu Qingshi missing me too much!" Wei Herui's intuition told him Xu Qingshi was cursing him.
Jiyun Manor
"Second Sister, how do you intend to deal with these two?" Huo Yunxuan finally softened. Although these people were brought by Huo Yunyao, she was also the one most deeply hurt by this affair.
Her own husband and her bosom friend involved.
No one would take it well.
Huo Yunxuan could only leave the decision to Huo Yunyao.
"D-u-n-k-i-n-g c-e-l-l!" Huo Yunyao thought for a long time, then gritted her teeth and said.
"No!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Maosheng rushed out from the back.
He didn't want his father to be dunked!
"Take the child away," Huo Yunxuan looked at his nephew and sighed, thinking this matter had nothing to do with the child.
"Hah!" Huo Yunyao, however, looked at Zhu Maosheng with vicious malice!
