Chapter 214
"Beautiful Sister, are we really going back now?" Xu Qingshi ran in excitedly, looking at Li Zhiwei as he asked.
"Yes, but this time, we might need to take a boat." Li Zhiwei wasn't sure if Xu Qingshi would get seasick.
"A boat?" Xu Qingshi's eyes sparkled upon hearing this.
He had never been on a boat before and wondered what it felt like.
"Yes, a boat that floats on the water. It might take a day." Li Zhiwei said.
"Can I prepare a fishing rod to go fishing?" Xu Qingshi asked eagerly.
He thought there must be fish in the water, and then he could go fishing.
"Probably not." Li Zhiwei wasn't actually sure either.
Early the next morning, the Li family split into two groups. One group, in a grand procession, pulled some belongings as they headed towards the main road.
"Madam, Young Miss, please rest assured. This old servant will definitely keep watch over the house and await your return in the mansion." Uncle Zhou said tearfully, looking at Lady Yao and Li Zhiwei.
"Uncle Zhou, are you really not coming to the capital with us?" Li Zhiwei looked at Uncle Zhou, somewhat uneasy.
"Young Miss, this old servant is getting on in years, and my family is all here. I won't be going to the capital." Uncle Zhou said with a smile, looking at Li Zhiwei.
Most of the old retainers in the mansion chose to stay behind.
"Well then, Uncle Zhou, take care of yourselves. Please, don't stint on your own needs." Li Zhiwei instructed once more.
"Alright, Young Miss, you must also take good care of yourself, the Master, and the Madam." Uncle Zhou replied with a smile.
Li'an County and Heping County were actually not far apart.
The carriage moved forward slowly.
"Beautiful Sister, didn't you say we were taking a boat?" Xu Qingshi, sitting in the carriage, asked Li Zhiwei somewhat unhappily.
"Yes, but right now we are heading to the place where we board the boat. Li'an County doesn't have a dock." Li Zhiwei explained to the impatient Xu Qingshi.
"How long until we get there then?" Xu Qingshi said urgently.
"Very soon." Li Zhiwei didn't know how long it would take either.
Capital
Steward Liu looked at the letter sent back by Prince An, his brow furrowed. He thought to himself that this cousin was truly deeply scheming.
While poisoning the Dowager Princess Consort, she also sent someone to deliver a message to the Prince. Fortunately, the Prince was wary.
However, he also worried that the Prince might disregard his own safety and rush back in haste.
Thinking of the letter they had sent to the Prince, he wondered if the Prince had seen it yet.
With this thought, Steward Liu went to Ci'an Hall again to see if the Dowager Princess Consort had woken up.
"Has the Dowager Princess Consort awakened?" Seeing Nanny Luo come out, Steward Liu quickly stepped forward to ask.
"She woke up, but has fallen asleep again." Nanny Luo sighed at the thought.
Her mistress had suffered terribly. She had kindly invited her own niece over, never expecting her to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
She had nearly lost her life.
"Has Physician Zhang been to see her? How is the Dowager Princess Consort's condition now?" Steward Liu sighed and asked cautiously.
He didn't know if the Prince would blame him for not taking good care of the Dowager Princess Consort when he returned to the manor.
"She's old. Although the antidote was administered in time, the poison has damaged her foundation. She needs to recuperate slowly." Thinking of this, Nanny Luo mentally dragged Zheng Qiaoshu out and cursed her again.
"That cousin also sent someone to Li'an County to deliver a message to the Prince, saying the Dowager Princess Consort was gravely ill. Thankfully, the Prince didn't see the manor's seal and didn't readily believe it. Sigh..." Steward Liu said quietly.
"What?" Upon hearing this, Nanny Luo was furious.
The distance from the capital to Li'an County was not short. The Dowager Princess Consort had just been poisoned here, and the Prince received the news? What did that mean?
It meant they had planned this in advance.
"I'm just worried that the Prince, anxious about the Dowager Princess Consort's illness, will rush back." Liu Ming sighed as he said this.
Heping County
Li Zhiwei and the others's carriage arrived in Heping County. They changed out of their usual fine clothes and into coarse linen garments.
"Beautiful Sister, why are we changing into clothes like this?" Xu Qingshi asked, looking at his own clothes with some disdain.
"Qingshi, from now on, you must call me Mother. And you cannot call him Royal Father anymore, you must call him Father, understand?" Li Zhiwei instructed Xu Qingshi.
"Alright then!" Seeing that Li Zhiwei hadn't answered his question, Xu Qingshi felt a bit displeased, but he still obediently agreed.
"We'll rest briefly at the inn. I have some business to attend to outside." Xu Heming needed to investigate Tang Youquan's conduct here in Heping, so naturally he had to go out and make inquiries.
"Ahem! Ahem!" Lady Yao coughed lightly a few times.
"I'll go get some medicine for Mother." Seeing Lady Yao's condition and thinking about the upcoming boat journey, Li Zhiwei worried she might not be able to handle it and quickly spoke up.
"Qinghua, Qingyue, protect the Madam." Xu Heming thought for a moment and quickly instructed Qinghua and Qingyue to take good care of everyone.
"Mother, may I go with you?" Xu Qingshi also wanted to go out for a walk.
"Qingshi, could you please stay here and help me take care of Grandmother?" Li Zhiwei saw that Lady Yao didn't look well and couldn't bear to have her go out.
Xu Qingshi looked at Lady Yao and reluctantly agreed.
Tang Residence
Tang Youquan was in the room of his concubine Luo'er, his eyes full of satisfaction.
"Master, your humble concubine has taken a fancy to a pearl hairpin." Luo'er nestled in Tang Youquan's arms, coquettishly saying.
"If you like it, just buy it." Tang Youquan said without a second thought.
"But that hairpin costs a thousand taels of silver." Luo'er said with a pitiful look.
After all, she was just a concubine with a monthly allowance of only two taels. The Madam would definitely not give her this thousand taels.
"Go withdraw it from the accounts office. If the Madam has any objections, have her come to me." Tang Youquan said, completely unconcerned.
After all, now that Heping County had a gold mine, how much silver couldn't his woman have?
"Your humble concubine thanks the Master!" Luo'er was overjoyed. With this thousand taels, her mother's illness should be taken care of.
Li Zhiwei had just picked up the medicine when she saw a shop assistant shooing away an old woman.
"Old woman, we don't offer credit here. Please go back." The shop assistant said to the old woman before him.
The old woman, hunched over, could only turn to leave helplessly. But after taking just a few steps, she fainted.
"Old woman?" Seeing the old woman about to fall, Li Zhiwei rushed forward without a second thought, catching the collapsing woman.
"Oh dear, esteemed customer, please put her down quickly." The shop assistant, seeing Li Zhiwei wasn't dressed particularly well, hurriedly advised.
"Brother, please have the physician take a look at this old woman?" Li Zhiwei frowned, thinking, how could someone be so heartless?
"Madam, it's not that our clinic is unwilling to see her. She already owes our clinic one tael of silver. We... we aren't running a charity clinic. We really have no choice." The shop assistant said with a troubled expression. There were far too many elderly people like this in the vicinity.
They wanted to help, but their strength simply wasn't equal to their goodwill.
"I'll pay for her medical expenses." Li Zhiwei sighed inwardly. She knew the shop assistant's words made sense, but she couldn't just stand by and watch the old woman collapse before her eyes.
