"I... I didn't... didn't do anything." Zijin was badly startled.

At this moment, Zijin was carefully recalling in his mind—he shouldn't have done anything to this young lady, right?

"Which hand touched her?" Xu Heming demanded angrily, pointing his sword at Zijin.

Zijin looked at his left hand, and then at his right hand.

It seemed neither hand had even gotten the chance to touch Li Zhiwei yet.

Thinking of this, Zijin shook his head.

For a moment, Zijin actually didn't know how to answer Xu Heming.

"What are you doing standing here?" Li Zhiwei only just noticed that there was another person behind her.

She glared fiercely at Zijin, clearly very dissatisfied with his actions.

"I... I just..." Zijin was on the verge of tears.

He really hadn't done anything, had he?

Xu Heming swept his gaze across the room. Seeing the several men present, his face darkened like ink.

He had only been gone for a short while, and Li Zhiwei was already so impatient to hook up with these men?

Even though another voice in Xu Heming's heart was reminding him that this wasn't the case.

Still, at this moment, he couldn't calm down.

With this thought, he directly grabbed Li Zhiwei and dragged her away.

The several men standing to the side no longer dared to stop them.

Seeing this, Qinghua and Qingyue quickly followed suit.

"Hey! The bill..." Lansong, who was off to the side, still wanted to say that the bill hadn't been settled yet.

"Do you have a death wish? That's Prince An!"

Xuejian quickly covered Lansong's mouth and scolded him in a low voice.

If Prince An came to his senses, he might just tear this place down.

Who would dare ask Prince An to settle the bill?

"That person is Prince An's fiancée? Who brought her here?" Yusheng, who was next to them, dropped his fake voice, sat down, and asked.

"The person brought by that miss from the Cheng family." The others also sat down, feeling a bit uneasy. They had just tried to stop Li Zhiwei from leaving, and there was no guarantee Xu Heming wouldn't settle the score with them later.

"But we didn't do anything!" Qinghuai said with a frown.

"The issue isn't whether we did anything or not, but whether that lady was ever here in the first place!" Xuejian reminded them, tapping lightly on the table.

The few of them looked at each other in dismay. Finally, they all decided to take the secret of Li Zhiwei visiting their Qingfeng Pavilion today to their graves.

No matter who asked, they wouldn't say a word.

Xu Heming dragged Li Zhiwei out of Qingfeng Pavilion in a hurry. At first, Li Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief.

If Xu Heming hadn't arrived, she didn't know how long she would have been cornered in there.

However, Xu Heming's face remained as black as ink, and he didn't care whether Li Zhiwei could keep up with his pace.

At this point, how could Li Zhiwei not understand? Xu Heming definitely thought she had gone to that place willingly.

Thinking of this, Li Zhiwei felt incredibly wronged.

Was it her choice to go?

She had lived two lifetimes and had never been to such a place.

Today, if Xu Heming hadn't asked her to discuss matters with Cheng Qingli, she wouldn't have trusted Cheng Qingli so much and ended up being led to that male brothel.

Yet she hadn't done anything. On what grounds was this man pinning all the blame on her, acting as if she had actually committed adultery?

What right did he have to feel wronged?

Thinking of this, Li Zhiwei forcefully shook off Xu Heming's hand and stopped dead in her tracks.

"What, reluctant to leave?" Xu Heming turned his head, glaring angrily at Li Zhiwei, and demanded.

He looked just like a jealous husband who had caught his wife having an affair with an outsider.

Hearing Xu Heming's humiliating words, Li Zhiwei felt extremely angry.

What did he mean by that?

Did he really think that today's farce was something she had sought out herself?

What kind of person did he take her for?

"Yes, I'm reluctant to leave! Are you satisfied? Who was it that told me to meet Second Miss Cheng today? Could it be that all of this is a trap deliberately set for me because Prince An doesn't want to marry me? First tricking me into going to a male brothel, then showing up to ruin my reputation, and subsequently using this as an excuse to have the Emperor cancel the engagement?" As Li Zhiwei spoke, her tears couldn't help but fall continuously.

Her tone was filled with self-mockery. She was still too naive. Hadn't she suffered enough in her past life?

To think she actually hoped that Xu Heming would be different.

Then again, what was Prince An's status, and what was hers?

Thinking of this, Li Zhiwei sniffled, then looked at Xu Heming with a serious expression and said, "Prince An really doesn't need to go to such great lengths. If you are unwilling to marry me, a daughter of the Li family doesn't absolutely have to marry Prince An. There are many ways you could break off the engagement with me; there is no need to use such a vicious method to destroy my reputation!" After Li Zhiwei finished speaking, she ignored Xu Heming and walked off in the opposite direction alone.

Xu Heming was stunned for a moment, and then his heart filled with remorse. He had only been focused on being angry just now.

He had indeed neglected Li Zhiwei's feelings.

If he hadn't gone too far, Li Zhiwei wouldn't have misunderstood that he was blaming her.

Thinking of this, Xu Heming quickly chased after her, gently took Li Zhiwei's hand, and said with a face full of guilt, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Just now, seeing those people around you, I was just too anxious."

Xu Heming explained carefully.

"I know this matter has nothing to do with you. Today's incident was my lack of foresight. I knew full well that Cheng Qingli can be erratic at times, but because I didn't want to be ridiculed by her, I let you face her alone." Seeing that Li Zhiwei was listening to him, Xu Heming continued.

In his heart, he was incredibly annoyed with his own stupid behavior.

"I know that in this matter, you are the most innocent one. I'm sorry, it's my fault." Xu Heming's deep voice made Li Zhiwei feel slightly better, but thinking about their mismatched engagement where their social statuses didn't align, Li Zhiwei still felt a bit insecure in her heart.

"Zhiwei, it's not that I don't want to marry you. Ever since the Emperor bestowed the marriage, I have been thinking every single moment about marrying you and bringing you home sooner. Regarding today's incident, you can blame me, hit me, or scold me, but please, whatever you do, don't say you don't want to marry me, okay?" Xu Heming looked at Li Zhiwei, pleading slightly.

"Today's incident really wasn't arranged by you?" Li Zhiwei looked at Xu Heming, asking with some suspicion.

"I swear to the heavens, if today's events were arranged by me, Xu Heming, may I die a horrible death!" Hearing this, Xu Heming quickly raised two fingers and swore to the sky.

"Alright, I'll believe you for now! However, as for Second Miss Cheng tricking me today, you have to help me get revenge!" Li Zhiwei looked steadily at Xu Heming and warned him. Who asked Cheng Qingli to make her suffer such a great ordeal?

"Don't worry, I definitely won't let Cheng Qingli off easily!" Xu Heming gritted his teeth and said.

"You can't be soft-hearted. Those men were truly an eyesore." Whenever Li Zhiwei thought of those few men, her heart filled with indignation.

"Were they really that bad looking?" Xu Heming looked at Li Zhiwei suspiciously, thinking to himself that there were quite a few women in the capital who liked pretty boys like that.

"They couldn't even compare to half of Your Highness. I'm not blind!" Li Zhiwei rolled her eyes, thinking her taste wasn't that poor.

Hearing this, a smug smile tugged at the corners of Xu Heming's eyes. His princess consort thought he was the best looking.

"Your Highness, terrible news! The heir... something has happened to the heir!"

Xu Heming's triumphant smile was short-lived, interrupted by the frantic cries of a young servant from Prince An's Manor who had rushed over to find him.