The look on Li Tong’er’s face changed.
There was actually another reason for her to approach Lu Liangwei.
As Lu Liangwei had found her hiding here, the housekeeper who had taken her in would not be able to shed any responsibility no matter what happened. He might even be sentenced to punishment.
The housekeeper had taken good care of her and she could not implicate him.
She had lived a terrible life. Why involve someone innocent in this?
Li Tong’er could not think of a better plan for this, so she decided to initiate an apology to Lu Liangwei in the hopes that she would not punish the housekeeper.
“Please do not punish him, Your Highness. He took me in because he found me pitiful. I am willing to bear all responsibility for this.” Li Tong’er was initially slightly hesitant, but when she blurted those words, she realized it was not as difficult as she had thought to say them. In fact, she felt a sense of freedom that she had never experienced before when she apologized.
Lu Liangwei was slightly surprised that Li Tong’er would beg for the housekeeper’s mercy. She was even willing to take full responsibility. This made Lu Liangwei see her in a new light.
Right at that moment, Zhao Qian arrived with Housekeeper Yu. Lu Liangwei turned to look at him.
The expression on Housekeeper Yu’s face changed slightly when he saw Li Tong’er kneeling there. He quickly came over and knelt in front of Lu Liangwei. He kowtowed to her and said nervously, “Your Highness, Miss Tong’er is new here and she isn’t familiar with the rules. Please forgive her if she has offended you in any way, Your Highness.”
The butler at the imperial family home was a eunuch, but the few housekeepers working below him were not.
Housekeeper Yu looked to be in his thirties and seemed to be a bookish person. He did not look like a housekeeper, but more like a scholar.
Moreover, by the looks of him, he had no idea of who Li Tong’er really was.
“Did you hire Li Tong’er here?” Lu Liangwei asked.
Housekeeper Yu nodded. “Yes, I did. I bumped into her on the road about a month ago and when I saw she had nowhere to go, I hired her here to work.”
Lu Liangwei said with some playfulness, “Was that what she told you?”
Li Tong’er lowered her head when she heard this.
Housekeeper Yu looked at Li Tong’er and said truthfully, “She told me that her husband had divorced her and her parents were not willing to take her in. She had nowhere to go. When I saw how much of a mess she was and her being a lone woman, I took pity. The imperial family home needed people, so I hired her to work.” At this point, he added, “Miss Tong’er is very hardworking. She has been working well during this time and had never laze about. I beg of Your Highness to give her another chance.”
Lu Liangwei looked at Li Tong’er with slight surprise.
Housekeeper Yu did not seem like he was lying. If that was true, Li Tong’er was doing labor work during the entire month she was at the imperial family home.
Li Tong’er’s face turned red. She was quite ashamed because she had lied to Housekeeper Yu.
It was true that her husband had divorced her, but she did have somewhere to go. She had wanted to get into the imperial family home so that one day, she could approach His Majesty.
Everyone present but Housekeeper Yu knew that the reason for Li Tong’er entering the imperial family home was due to impure intentions. It was probably due to careful planning that she managed to bump into Housekeeper Yu.
However, Lu Liangwei did not expose her.
“Housekeeper Yu, as the housekeeper of the imperial family home, do you know the result of you hiring someone so carelessly? What if the person turned out to be an assassin?” Lu Liangwei asked grimly.
It did not matter if Housekeeper Yu had hired Li Tong’er out of kindness. Lu Liangwei and Long Yang frequented this imperial family home, and it was inappropriate for him to hire someone so blatantly.
Housekeeper Yu looked ashamed as he lowered his head fearfully. “I have not done my duty well. Please sentence me to punishment, Your Highness.”