After seeing the carriage for himself, Ma Sanye, along with everyone else, walked up to the carriage.
The well-dressed young man did not seem to notice them though; he only had eyes for Qi Qingyao.
“Hello, Lady Qi.”
“Li Qing, it’s you.”
Qi Qingyao was truly in no mood to laugh. Who knew what the man came here for? She introduced Li Qing to Ma Sanye with a fake smile, “Village Chief, this is Li Qing, the Heir’s personal guard.”
Ma Sanye bowed in deference.
The other villages followed suit. They dared not show any disrespect to an imperial officer from the Heir’s mansion.
Li Qing greeted Ma Sanye casually.
Qi Qingyao asked, “Why are you here?”
Li Qing said, “The Heir ordered me to come here as he has some questions to ask you.”
Those words were enough for Ma Sanye, who caught on to some of the main points. He asked hurriedly, “Are you from the Heir’s mansion?”
“Yes. Is there a problem with that?” Li Qing replied flatly.
Ma Sanye’s gaze landed on the carriage and the flags on it with the Heir’s last name, and he quickly answered, “Nothing, nothing at all.”
Someone else in the crowd could not help but voice out loud the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“Did Eleventh Daughter—no, Qi Qingyao—really treat the Heir with just a prescription?”
Li Qing paused for a while before he said, “Yes. The prescription was issued by the Divine Physician Su Hexiao. She signed the sheet of paper too.”
After he said that, everyone’s doubt dissipated. The villagers and Ma Sanye looked at Qi Qingyao with admiration in their eyes.
Calmly, Li Qing continued to give them more proof. “Who else in the continent, aside from the Divine Physician Su Hexiao, could heal our Heir?”
Everyone was speechless. Was Eleventh Daughter really so lucky as to meet Su Hexiao?
“Miss Qi was really fortunate to have met Su Hexiao. It’s definitely because of her kindness.”
Li Qing did not care about what the ignorant villagers thought. Instead, he asked Qi Qingyao meaningfully, with a smile on his face, “The Heir wanted me to ask you whether you met Su Hexiao again after that.”
“No,” Qi Qingyao answered with a fake smile.
The conversation between them completely dismissed the villagers’ doubts, Zhang Tieyuan’s included.
His jaw was slack as he stared at Qi Qingyao, not knowing how to react.
The other villagers started apologizing to Qi Qingyao.
“The Divine Physician Su Hexiao…”
“I’m sorry Eleventh Daughter, we misunderstood you.”
“We thought that you…”
“We knew that no one would want a concubine with three children!”
“You didn’t want to reveal Su Hexiao’s identity, so you were hesitant. Now we know.”
Qi Qingyao did not reply them. She merely said, “Sorry everyone. Now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding between us, I’m going to send Imperial Guard Li off.”
The villagers did not dare tag along.
Qi Qingyao gave Li Qing a look and the two of them headed to the carriage together.
On the way, Qi Qingyao asked, “You came to investigate me, didn’t you?”
Li Qing could not help but laugh.
He coughed slightly. “You’ve misunderstood, Miss Qi. He had me investigate you the moment you revealed your true name to him.”
“…” Right. That made sense.
Li Qing continued, “The Heir figured that you’d have a hard time explaining where you got the extra money from after you returned to the village, so he sent me along.”
“Oh.” As expected of Heir Pei!
“Please be assured that we won’t disclose your identity to anyone else,” Li Qing lowered his voice, saying mysteriously.
“…”
Qi Qingyao did not know whether to cry or laugh.