After finally getting rid of the uninvited guest, Li Qingchen called the waiter to change the tea.
When the waiter brought over freshly brewed tea and snacks, Li Qingchen casually asked, "Hasn't the person I'm waiting for arrived yet?"
When he sent someone to reserve a private room, he specifically instructed that a young lady would be coming, and if she asked about "Wenxiang Pavilion," he should invite her up directly. That's why he asked this question at the moment.
Upon hearing this, the waiter smiled and said, "Sir, are you waiting for Lady Wei?"
Li Qingchen was slightly taken aback. From the words, it was clear that Wei Shuwan was a regular customer of this house, and that was why the waiter recognized her. However, this also meant that the waiter had just seen her, so he confirmed, "She's been here before?"
"Yes, sir. Madam Wei arrived just a short while ago. I thought you two had already met her."
Li Qingchen sighed inwardly, calculating that this was precisely the time when Princess Yun'an was eloquently discussing the benefits of the marriage alliance between the two families. Wei Shuwan must have overheard it, which was why she felt it inappropriate to come in and disturb them.
He hesitated for a moment, then thought of the two rooms adjacent to Wenli Pavilion. He strode out of Wenxiang Pavilion, checked that one of the rooms was empty, and then came to the room near the staircase. Sure enough, Wei Shu had come there late.
Although the person was no longer there, a box remained on the small table. Li Qingchen stepped forward and opened it; it was the golden plum that he had eaten while recuperating at the Wei family's house.
After staring at the fruit for a couple of seconds, Li Qingchen quickly walked to the window, opened the lattice window, and looked down. Sure enough, he saw the Wei family's carriage speeding away.
Seeing the disappointment in his master's lowered eyes, Yuan Que, who had just followed in, roughly understood the situation and asked, "Should I bring Lady Wei back?"
Li Qingchen said calmly, "No need."
As he finished speaking, an unexpected smile curved his lips. This left Yuan Que somewhat puzzled.
The master clearly cared about that young lady from the Wei family, so why did he become inexplicably smug after she ran away?
Since the people he wanted to invite had all left, Li Qingchen naturally saw no need to stay any longer and left Tianxiang Teahouse as well.
Because he deliberately traveled light today, Li Qingchen only brought his two right-hand men. Therefore, on the way back to the mansion, Gu Zhuang drove the carriage himself, while Yuan Que sat in the passenger seat.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Gu Zhuang cautiously glanced back at the carriage, then lowered his voice and asked Yuan Que beside him, "How are things between the young prince and Lady Wei?"
"What do you mean 'how'? I didn't even see him!" Yuan Que replied sullenly, then belatedly realized that Gu Zhuang's words had a hidden meaning, and turned to look at him: "Did you figure it out too?"
Gu Zhuang smiled slyly, feigning ignorance as he asked, "What have you figured out?"
Yuan Que nudged him with his elbow: "Stop pretending!"
"Alright, alright, I saw it coming, I saw it coming coming a long time ago! Ever since the last time the young prince sent me to Xunfang Pavilion to bid, diverting the whole city's storm over Lady Wei to Princess Yun'an, I could tell! Our young prince values that Lady Wei very much."
Now that the matter was out in the open, Yuan Que didn't mind betraying his master this time. He leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Just now, when Lady Wei was angered away by Princess Yun'an, why did I see the young prince actually smiling?"
"Hey! You don't understand, do you? The fact that the young lady of the Wei family could be so angry that she left shows what? It shows that she also values our young prince!"
...
Listening to his two men outside the carriage excitedly discussing him like madmen, Li Qingchen was about to teach them a lesson, but when he heard the last sentence, he slowly lowered the riding whip he had been holding.
In the end, I just laughed it off.
*
After leaving Tianxiang Teahouse, Wei Shuwan and Ziqiao sat in the car, unable to contain their annoyance: "Ha, I rushed here to keep this appointment, thinking that the matter from twelve years ago had finally come to light, but it turns out he just wanted me to watch him and Princess Yun'an flirt."
Zi Qiao frowned: "But Miss, it doesn't seem like the young prince was just flirting with Princess Yun'an. It was clearly Princess Yun'an who was in love with him, but the young prince didn't let her have her way."
“He didn’t grant Princess Yun’an’s wish because she wanted to be with him as a couple, but he was indecisive.” Wei Shuwan was quite disdainful of this, and even somewhat disappointed.
In her past life, Song Zichen had envisioned a life where women could enjoy the bliss of having two wives, a notion she couldn't agree with. She had thought that someone like Li Qingchen, destined for greatness, would be different from Song Zichen, but it turned out the saying "all men are fickle" still held true; indeed, every man desires to have two wives, one on each side!
Zi Qiao was somewhat confused, and a question arose in her mind: "Is the young lady angry that the young prince didn't investigate the matter from twelve years ago for you, or is she angry about what the young prince said to Princess Yun'an?"
This question left Wei Shuwan completely bewildered.
The car remained silent for a long time before Wei Shuwan finally found a way to back down: "Of course, it's both. He's focused all his attention on those things, so how could he genuinely help me investigate the events of twelve years ago?"
Zi Qiao smiled, pursing her lips, and didn't expose her, only nodding in agreement: "Yes, yes, yes, what you say is absolutely right, Miss!"
Tianxiang Tea House was not far from the Wei family mansion. Wei Shuwan had left first, so she did not expect that when she returned home, Li Qingchen had already sent someone to deliver another letter.
When Zi Qiao received the letter from the gatekeeper, she presented it to Wei Shuwan. Wei Shuwan did not accept it and returned to Fuquxuan in a huff before taking the letter, opening it and glancing at it.
Zi Qiao and Miao Xiang were also curious about what the young prince would write in it. The two carefully observed his expression and found that Wei Shuwan's expression gradually became inexplicably angry and serious.
The two maids blinked their big eyes, waiting for Wei Shuwan to speak. Wei Shuwan carefully put away the letter like a treasure before saying, "He did indeed repair the list that was damaged by the water. This is the part that was copied down."
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