"How am I being unreasonable? Both my father and my grandmother approve of my pretty sister becoming my mother!" Xu Qingshi was furious.

He felt that Zhou Xingzhi was being completely baffling, suddenly running over to tell him that he couldn't let his father marry his pretty sister.

He claimed that once the pretty sister married into the family, Qingshi's good days would be over.

He said Qingshi shouldn't be so close to her, calling the pretty sister a deceitful, bad woman.

Zhou Xingzhi added that after she entered the household, she definitely wouldn't let him have an easy life.

"Bullshit! That kind of woman is only fit to be a concubine for my father! And you treat her like a treasure? She's nothing but a lowly merchant's daughter. How is she qualified to teach you? Xu Qingshi, don't be stupid! Only we, the Zhou family, truly care about you!" Zhou Xingzhi roared angrily.

"Go separate them!" Xu Heming ordered coldly.

Qingsong, who was standing nearby, quickly stepped forward to pull the two children apart.

"Heir, stop fighting. His Highness is here," Qingsong said to Xu Qingshi.

"Even if he's here, I'm still going to beat this bastard to death!" Xu Qingshi refused to let go.

This guy actually dared to speak ill of his pretty sister.

Li Zhiwei, standing on the sidelines, naturally heard Xu Qingshi's words.

At this moment, she felt somewhat moved.

She had always been very grateful to Xu Qingshi, and the two had a good relationship.

However, she hadn't expected Xu Qingshi to defend her like this in public.

"Heir, His Highness will make his own judgment," Qingsong whispered.

Seeing Qingsong step up to pull them apart, Zhou Changfeng also quickly ordered a nearby servant to pull Zhou Xingzhi away.

After all, if Qingsong showed bias while breaking up the fight, it would be his own son getting hurt.

Even though the other boy was his nephew, at the end of the day, his own son was closer to him.

As Xu Qingshi was being pulled away, he landed another kick on Zhou Xingzhi. Not to be outdone, Zhou Xingzhi kicked Xu Qingshi back.

Xu Qingshi's face instantly turned pale.

"Young Master Zhou!" Qingsong glared at Zhou Xingzhi with displeasure.

Even their prince had never laid a hand on their heir, so what right did he have to hit him?

"Is this the Zhou family's upbringing?" Xu Heming looked at Zhou Changfeng with dissatisfaction and asked.

Seeing the black and blue bruises on his son's face, Zhou Changfeng felt very uncomfortable.

"Your Highness, shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I know Yuxin is gone, and it's very hard for you to raise the child alone, but as the child grows older, someone must properly guide him," Zhou Changfeng said, looking at Xu Heming with a displeased expression.

He had always known that his eldest sister, Zhou Yuxin, lost her life during childbirth after marrying into Prince An's Manor. Originally, they thought she had simply failed to survive the labor.

But later they found out that it was all because of a certain consort in the palace, who caused his sister to die at such a young age.

The Emperor had later provided some compensation for this matter, but what did that matter? His sister was already gone. Over the years, Xu Heming had very little interaction with the Zhou family.

Even Xu Qingshi would only visit them once or twice during the holidays.

They had no opportunity at all to gain any benefits from Prince An's Manor.

This was completely different from what they had envisioned when they married his sister off to Prince An's Manor.

Later, they wanted to marry their third sister to Prince An as his second wife, but neither Xu Heming nor the Old Princess Consort agreed to it.

The third sister could only use the excuse of visiting the child to try and interact more with Xu Heming, hoping that perhaps Prince An might change his mind.

Unfortunately, five years passed, and Xu Heming remained like a stone, completely indifferent to the third sister.

If it were only that, it would have been fine. But now, Prince An was actually getting married.

And the bride was an obscure merchant's daughter. The Zhou family was naturally unwilling to accept this.

However, when the third sister visited again, she was actually turned away.

They then thought that since Zhou Xingzhi and Xu Qingshi were of similar age, perhaps they could get Xu Qingshi to change his mind, and maybe there would be a turning point.

But they never expected Zhou Xingzhi to say these things directly to Xu Qingshi, and they definitely didn't expect Xu Qingshi to defend that merchant's daughter so fiercely.

"This matter does not require the Zhou family's concern. Eldest Master Zhou and your wife are both still around, yet I don't see your son's upbringing being all that great," Xu Heming said sarcastically.

"You..." Zhou Changfeng didn't expect Xu Heming to show him absolutely no respect.

The words he originally wanted to say, about having Xu Heming marry Zhou Yuying, couldn't even leave his mouth.

"Father, it hurts!" Zhou Xingzhi, standing to the side, failed to notice his father's dark expression and instead whined to Zhou Changfeng with a disgruntled face.

"Coward!" Although Xu Qingshi also hurt, he endured it. He absolutely refused to cry out in pain in front of his opponent; that would be too humiliating.

"Qingshi, Xingzhi is your older cousin. How could you hit him so hard?" Seeing that he couldn't get through to Xu Heming, Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but direct some blame toward Xu Qingshi.

Hearing this, Xu Qingshi was momentarily stunned.

Then, feeling somewhat wronged, he looked at his father.

Xu Heming's expression was very grim.

"Uncle, do you even remember that you are my own uncle? Your son is taller, stronger, and older than me. Don't you know that? I hit him hard? Did you not see how hard he hit me? Besides, he was clearly the one who picked a fight with me first! Uncle, they say a son's misbehavior is the father's fault. If you can't teach your child well, reality will teach him for you!" Xu Qingshi angrily rolled up his sleeves, revealing all his wounds, and looked at Zhou Changfeng with red eyes.

This incident only worsened Xu Qingshi's impression of the Zhou family.

Zhou Changfeng choked on his words. He knew Xu Qingshi definitely hadn't escaped unscathed. He had seen his son throwing punches earlier, and at the time, he had even felt a little proud, thinking his son was a real man.

But now, even though his son was clearly older and bigger than the other boy, he was standing on the sidelines whining and crying.

Meanwhile, his own nephew was standing there looking battered, yet still able to logically and reasonably refute him.

With this comparison, Zhou Changfeng also felt that his son was rather weak.

Thinking about it, they both shared half of the Zhou family's bloodline, so why was the gap between them so huge?

"Eldest Master Zhou, at this moment, shouldn't you give my Prince An's Manor a reasonable explanation? Why did your son pick a fight with Qingshi?" Xu Heming looked at Zhou Changfeng with dissatisfaction and demanded.

Zhou Changfeng looked troubled. He glanced at Li Zhiwei beside Xu Heming, the disdain in his eyes completely unconcealed.

Li Zhiwei simply rolled her eyes in her mind.

By now, she knew that this man was Xu Heming's former brother-in-law.

He didn't like her, and she didn't care much for him either. However, she wasn't going to get involved in this matter.

"Your Highness, I have something to say to you in private," Zhou Changfeng said, looking at Xu Heming.