Chapter 637

“What if your father returns and refuses to let me take them away?” the Third Prince wondered. Surely he ought to take his wife back with him now and care for her properly.

“Wait here. I’ll go ask Grandmother for you.” Xu Qingshi looked around before whispering to the Third Prince.

“Go quickly.” The Third Prince was overjoyed.

Xu Qingshi hurried over to The Old Princess.

“Grandmother, are those three all my younger brothers and sisters?” Xu Qingshi asked curiously.

“Yes, they’re all your younger siblings.” The Old Princess smiled brightly.

The Old Princess thought to herself that Li Zhiwei’s belly was truly blessed. She had given birth to three grandchildren in one go.

What a pity that her own son was so useless that he could not even coax his wife into staying.

“Grandmother, is there a younger sister among them?” Xu Qingshi asked curiously.

“Qingshi, there is a little sister. Do you like little sisters?” Zhu Jingchen was not annoyed at Xu Qingshi for interrupting their conversation. Instead, he asked with great curiosity.

“I like them, but I don’t know which one is the little sister.” Xu Qingshi looked troubled.

“The prettiest one is the little sister,” The Old Princess said with a smile.

Upon hearing that, Xu Qingshi hurried over to take a look.

The three little babies were each uglier than the last.

Where was the pretty one?

“Did your grandmother tell you?” The Third Prince asked in confusion when Xu Qingshi came running back.

“Grandmother said the prettiest one is the little sister.” Xu Qingshi looked troubled.

“Can you tell which one is the prettiest?” Xu Qingshi asked worriedly.

The Third Prince looked at the children.

He could not tell either.

They were tiny, wrinkled, and a little dark.

None of them looked particularly good.

“Qingshi, the stepmother your father found for you probably isn’t very pretty.” The Third Prince examined the children but could not see any resemblance to Xu Heming or Xu Qingshi. He concluded that the child must have taken after her mother—and that the mother was not very attractive.

“How could my father possibly find an ugly woman?” Xu Qingshi was displeased at once. If his stepmother was ugly, did that mean his younger brothers and sister were ugly too?

At that thought, Xu Qingshi looked at the children. Well… they really were a little ugly. But he was their elder brother; he could not dislike them for being ugly. What was he supposed to do?

“Just look at them. They’re dark as soot, and they even look a little like monkeys. They’re so small and wrinkled. Your father couldn’t have found himself a—” The Third Prince quickly covered his mouth before he could say what he was thinking.

After all, that seemed rather impossible.

Prince An was extremely handsome. Surely he could not have found an ugly woman.

“What couldn’t my father have found?” Xu Qingshi frowned at the Third Prince, puzzled as well.

“Nothing.” The Third Prince clamped his hand firmly over his mouth to stop himself from saying anything reckless.

After all, the idea was simply too absurd.

How could Prince An possibly have found a female monkey?

“Why don’t you take all three of them with you?” Xu Qingshi sighed. Since they were not very good-looking anyway, he did not want to keep even one of them.

He was also rather disappointed. If his father had found a beautiful older sister, the children she gave birth to would surely have been beautiful too. After all, how could children born to such a beautiful woman possibly be ugly?

“No, thank you.” The Third Prince refused without a second thought.

He absolutely did not want to end up fathering monkeys in the future.

He was going to find the most beautiful young lady in the capital and have beautiful children with her.

“Oh dear, what are we going to do? The boy is one thing, but with the little girl looking like this, how will she ever find a husband?” Young Xu Qingshi had already begun worrying about his little sister’s future.

“Why don’t you have Xie Yanzhi or Jiang Yu marry her?” the Third Prince suggested cautiously after thinking it over.

Perhaps they would be willing?

What the Third Prince did not know was that fifteen years later, he would bitterly regret the decision he had made that day. If he had taken her back to the palace then, no one else would have been able to steal his beloved from him.

“Then I’ll give them one each later.” Xu Qingshi looked at the three children on the bed. After thinking it over, he decided to treat Xie Yanzhi and Jiang Yu equally and give each of them one.

He made it sound as if he were giving Xie Yanzhi and Jiang Yu a kitten or puppy.

“Your Highness, you’re my friend too. I can’t favor one over another, so I have to give you one as well, don’t I?” Xu Qingshi considered the matter. There were three children; after giving one each to Xie Yanzhi and Jiang Yu, there was still one left.

He was determined to divide them fairly.

“I don’t want one! I don’t!” The Third Prince waved his hands in fright. He truly did not want this one.

“Qingshi, did you find out?” The Old Princess asked curiously when she saw the two of them whispering together.

“The Old Princess, Miss Li is certainly blessed. Hasn’t she returned yet?” The Empress could not help laughing when she heard this, though she looked curiously around the room. Li Zhiwei was nowhere to be seen.

The three children had already returned. Could it be that Li Zhiwei had still not gone back to the estate?

At that thought, the Empress looked curiously toward Zhu Jingchen.

Zhu Jingchen was also puzzled. Why had they not seen Xu Heming?

“Ah…” The Old Princess sighed. She did not dare conceal the matter from the imperial couple.

“Weiwei hasn’t returned yet.” Thinking of Li Zhiwei, The Old Princess felt somewhat distressed. How could her son have provoked such a wonderful daughter-in-law to the point that she stormed off?

And if her three grandchildren had truly been aborted by her son back then, what a terrible loss that would have been.

However, The Old Princess did not know how to explain any of this to the Empress.

“Oh? That boy Xu Heming snatched the children back, but no longer wants his wife?” Zhu Jingchen teased with a smile when he heard this.

“The Old Princess, Lord Li and Madam Li have arrived.” Chunxi’s voice came from outside.

“Oh, Beloved Minister Li is here too.” Zhu Jingchen thought to himself that Xu Heming must have angered even his father-in-law this time.

“Invite them in.” The Old Princess sighed. She did not know that Xu Heming had brought Li Tianyou and Lady Yao to the estate as well.

Xu Heming and Lady Yao entered the room, only to see Zhu Jingchen smiling from ear to ear.

The Empress was beside him.

“We pay our respects to His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress!” the couple hurriedly saluted Zhu Jingchen and the Empress.

“Rise. Beloved Minister Li, have you also come to see the children?” Zhu Jingchen asked with a smile.

At his words, an awkward expression crossed Li Tianyou’s face. He had not come to see his grandchildren; he had been at Prince An’s residence all along.

For a moment, however, he did not know how to explain this to the Emperor.

Li Tianyou glanced hesitantly at The Old Princess. In the end, everything turned into a sigh.

Lady Yao also did not dare say anything. She could only stand quietly to one side with her head lowered.

She was afraid that saying the wrong thing might bring down the death penalty.

“Dear in-laws, I’m truly sorry. I’ll try to persuade Heming as well. How is Weiwei?” The Old Princess hurriedly asked when she saw Li Tianyou and Lady Yao.

After all, Li Zhiwei had given birth to three children. She must have suffered greatly.