books44 Chapter 339
Chapter 339
"Madam, Master must be busy with some important matters," Chuntao hurried forward to comfort Lady Yao."My heart just feels so restless." Lady Yao touched her chest. Without seeing Li Tianyou, she couldn't sleep peacefully.
She sighed inwardly. What on earth was Li Tianyou busy with?
Why hadn't he returned to the manor for two days?
"Madam, this is the capital. Even back in Li'an County, Master would sometimes go out to collect debts. Now that he is an official in the Ministry of Revenue, perhaps His Majesty has some important task for him to handle?" Chuntao comforted Lady Yao, repeating the words Li Zhiwei had instructed her to say earlier.
"Sigh..." Lady Yao sighed and said no more, but her gaze drifted outside the room.
Chuntao watched from the side, her heart aching for her mistress, yet she didn't know how else to persuade her.
As soon as Xu Heming returned to the Prince of An's Manor, Qinghua hurried up to greet him.
"Your Highness, is there any news of the Heir and Lord Li?" Qinghua stepped forward and asked.
"Qinghua, why are you still here?" Xu Heming was momentarily taken aback when he saw her.
At that moment, Li Tianyou was just being helped down from the carriage.
"What happened to Lord Li?" Qinghua asked, looking at Li Tianyou in horror.
She thought to herself that if the Princess Consort knew Lord Li had met with a mishap, she would probably want to come charging over here.
"Where is Dr. Zhang? Have him come over immediately," Xu Heming said to Liu Ming, who was standing nearby.
"Yes." Liu Ming didn't dare to ask too many questions and hurried off to find Dr. Zhang to examine Li Tianyou.
A moment later, Xu Qingshi was also carried down.
"This servant was ordered by the Princess Consort to wait here for Your Highness's return," Qinghua quickly replied, noticing the Prince's expression.
"Mm, wait until Dr. Zhang has taken a look, and then you can go back and report," Xu Heming nodded. Although Li Tianyou had been found, it was still unclear what exactly his current condition was.
The guards placed the stones Xu Qingshi had brought back onto the ground.
Accidentally, one of the stones rolled out.
"Eh?" Qingsong looked at the stone, picked it up, and examined it. This stone looked... somewhat unusual.
"Your Highness, look at this stone." Qingsong quickly picked it up and handed it to Xu Heming.
Xu Heming: ??
He wondered if Qingsong was just as brainless as Xu Qingshi.
Why bring rocks back from the mountains for no reason?
The thought of Xu Qingshi handing out a rock to everyone made his mouth twitch.
"Your Highness, look at this stone. It seems... different," Qingsong quickly added when he saw Xu Heming didn't react.
"What's so diff—" Xu Heming was about to say, 'It's just a rock, what could possibly be different about it?'
However, when he looked closer at the stone, he realized that it was actually gleaming with a golden hue.
Right now, it appeared brownish-yellow.
This...
Could it be iron ore?
Xu Heming quickly opened the entire bag of stones to inspect them.
He found that every single stone was exactly like this.
"Take this to the Ministry of Works and have them examine it," Xu Heming said, handing a small piece of stone to a young guard.
"Your Highness, at this hour, the people at the Ministry of Works are probably already asleep," Qingsong thought for a moment before cautiously reminding him.
Xu Heming, however, chuckled. That brat Xu Qingshi actually had a good eye.
These stones he brought back were perhaps extraordinary. Xu Heming decided to take back his previous thought; his son took after him and had a keen eye.
Thinking about why their Lanno Kingdom lagged behind other nations, wasn't it precisely because their weapons were inferior?
Forging weapons required not only vast amounts of silver but also massive quantities of iron.
These two things were exactly what the Lanno Kingdom lacked.
If they could find an iron mine, it would be a tremendous blessing for the Lanno Kingdom, especially coupled with the gold mine in Heping County.
At this moment, Xu Heming couldn't wait to share this monumental news with His Majesty.
"Qingsong, have Dr. Zhang take a thorough look at Qingshi and Lord Li. Later, arrange for Lord Li to stay in the Songmo Courtyard. I need to go out for a while."
After saying that, Xu Heming took a piece of the stone and left.
The bystanders were a bit dazed. Only Qingsong, who had noticed the peculiarity of the stones, understood that the Prince was likely heading out to seek His Majesty.
The Imperial Palace
Just as Zhu Jingchen arrived at Noble Lady Wang's palace and was about to rest, Eunuch Liu called out from outside the hall with a heavy heart, "Your Majesty, the Prince of An requests an audience."
Eunuch Liu was terrified that the Emperor would simply tell him to get lost.
He also grumbled inwardly about the Prince of An. Of all times to come, he chose this hour. The Emperor and Noble Lady Wang had surely already retired for the night.
He wondered if calling the Emperor away at this time would incur Noble Lady Wang's resentment.
"Tell him to get lost!" Zhu Jingchen had just laid down when he heard this, and his mood instantly soured.
"Your Majesty, why is the Prince of An looking for you so late? You are already exhausted from attending to myriad state affairs during the day. It's so late, yet he still won't let you rest," Noble Lady Wang said with some dissatisfaction as she snuggled into Zhu Jingchen's embrace.
It should be known that this was the Emperor's first time visiting her palace. If she failed to make him stay, who knew how others would mock her tomorrow.
Zhu Jingchen was also in a bad mood. After all, it was one thing to be busy all day, but what hour was it now?
Xu Heming still came to bother him?
Just because he didn't have a wife to dote on, did he think everyone else was the same?
Or was he holding a grudge because the Emperor hadn't granted him a wedding date sooner?
Thinking of this, Zhu Jingchen could only sit up reluctantly.
"Your Majesty." Noble Lady Wang, who was beside him, quickly sat up as well. She wanted to keep Zhu Jingchen here, but she also knew that tonight was her first time receiving his favor.
She feared she wouldn't be able to make the Emperor stay. At this thought, Noble Lady Wang felt somewhat wronged, but she didn't dare say much, only gazing at Zhu Jingchen pitifully.
"Rest early! I need to go handle some matters." After saying this, Zhu Jingchen left without looking back.
Leaving behind an indignant Noble Lady Wang who furiously pounded the bed.
The Prince of An. She would remember this grudge. After all, as the legitimate daughter of the Wang clan of Qingyang, she hadn't grown up swallowing grievances.
"Tomorrow, have the Directorate of Astronomy calculate an auspicious wedding date for the Prince of An and the young lady of the Li family as soon as possible," Zhu Jingchen instructed Eunuch Liu beside him right after stepping out of the bedchamber.
Otherwise, Zhu Jingchen genuinely feared that if Xu Heming did this a few more times, he might not be able to take it.
Although he already had princes to his name, he was the Emperor, and continuing the royal bloodline was also his duty.
"Yes!" Eunuch Liu didn't dare question the Emperor and agreed immediately.
"Didn't Xu Heming go looking for his son today? Did he come to bother me the moment he found him?" Zhu Jingchen asked with some annoyance as he walked.
"Your Majesty, perhaps the Prince of An has come to plead guilty. After all, Lord Li didn't request a leave of absence today and missed the morning court session. He might be coming to beg for your leniency," Eunuch Liu reasoned after a moment of thought.
"Li Tianyou went to help him find his son. It's not like I'm an unreasonable ruler. Couldn't he have talked about this tomorrow?" Zhu Jingchen felt that while he hadn't originally held a grudge against Xu Heming, he was now about to change his mind.