Upon hearing this, Qin Yichen ignored his injuries and immediately sat in bed. "What on earth happened?"
Li Xinyue knew that Qin Yichen was anxious, so she recounted everything that had happened and her guesses word for word.
"Can you think of who might have ordered Old Mrs. Liu to poison me?"
Qin Yichen frowned, and a fierce look flashed through his eyes occasionally.
Although he didn't say a word, Li Xinyue could tell from his expression that Qin Yichen had a suspect in mind.
Li Xinyue had never been a nosy person, and she also considered that Qin Yichen didn't wholly trust her at this time.
Since this was the case, she didn't intend to ask for trouble unnecessarily.
As long as he grasped the situation, he would undoubtedly take precautions in advance.
The room was silent for a long time before Li Xinyue pointed to the breakfast on the table and reminded, "The food is cold now. Take advantage of the fact that the emperor's men haven't arrived yet and hurry to eat something."
When the emperor's men were mentioned, Qin Yichen looked outside.
"It's almost noon now."
Li Xinyue also found it very strange. If history were not mistaken, the emperor would send people to raid the Marquis of Protection's mansion early in the morning.
"Could it be delayed because of the theft from the imperial treasury?" She directly voiced her guess.
Qin Yichen did not deny it.
"With the imperial treasury being robbed and set on fire, this is no trivial matter. His Majesty must be at his wits' end now and has no time to bother with me."
His voice had just fallen when a servant came to report that someone was requesting an audience with the duke's wife.
Li Xinyue and Qin Yichen looked at each other, wondering who would see her on the second day after their wedding.
Moreover, the original owner rarely interacted with outsiders, so Li Xinyue couldn't help but wonder who the visitor might be.
Qin Yichen didn't help her decide whether to meet the guest. Instead, he lowered his head and continued eating.
He had left the decision to Li Xinyue.
Li Xinyue stood up, "I'll go out and take a look."
The visitor did not go to the main entrance of the duke's mansion but to the small back door where the servants came and went.
Li Xinyue was led to the backyard by someone. The visitor was dressed like a household attendant and looked very familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was.
When the attendant saw Li Xinyue, he bowed respectfully, "Young Lady, the Old Master sent me to find you."
Looking at the man's appearance, Li Xinyue searched her memory carefully and confirmed that this person was a follower of her cheap father.
"Why did you come?"
"Young Lady, I have an important matter to report." As he spoke, he glanced at the person who had led Li Xinyue over.
Li Xinyue immediately dismissed that person.
"What is it?" She had already roughly guessed but still wanted to hear him confirm it personally.
The attendant whispered, "Young Lady, the Old Master asked me to inform you that His Majesty will soon send people to raid the Marquis's mansion. Please get ready in advance."
Sure enough!
"Did my father say when the emperor's men would arrive?"
"I don't know about that. The Old Master also asked me to tell the Young Lady that I must not betray your faith as a daughter of the He family. No matter what happens to the Marquis of Protection's mansion, you cannot leave."
Li Xinyue didn't take such an appeal to heart at all. She had never intended to leave the Qin family anyway.
Since she couldn't get any more helpful information from him, Li Xinyue waved her hand to dismiss him.
Hearing this news directly was much more real than reading about it in history books.
Li Xinyue didn't dare delay momentarily and hurried back to the bridal chamber.
She recounted the servant's message verbatim without waiting for Qin Yichen to ask.
There was no visible anger or joy on Qin Yichen's face. After a long silence, he coldly said, "What's bound to come will come sooner or later."
Although Qin Yichen didn't show any emotion, Li Xinyue could still hear the despair in his tone.
"Look on the bright side. If we work hard to survive, the day we make it big will come.
"Humph... As a grown man, I have to make my family of women suffer with me. What day of making it big can I expect?" Qin Yichen said sarcastically.
Li Xinyue knew that Qin Yichen was in low spirits at the moment, and no matter how much reason she gave, it would be useless. She could only slowly counsel him in the future.
The Eighth Sister-in-law screamed from outside, "Ah... Why are the water tank and big wok from the kitchen and the things from the storeroom all in Ninth Brother's ear room?"
Li Xinyue was caught off guard. Due to her carelessness, someone had discovered the abnormalities in the ear room.
She knew best just how bad the situation was in there.
All of the large items she had stored in her space were now in the earroom.
There were even some vases and ornaments from the storeroom...
Now she was afraid she couldn't clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River.
Qin Yichen only slightly raised his eyes and saw Li Xinyue 's panicked expression flash instantly.
"If they ask about it, just push everything onto me."
Li Xinyue also lost her momentarily composure before quickly calming down again.
She was even more emboldened, especially with Qin Yichen taking the fall for her.
When she arrived at the door of the ear room, she saw all the sisters-in-law and Old Lady Qin standing there.
Their expressions were almost identical, with their mouths wide open and eyes full of shock.
Seeing Li Xinyue come over, the Third Sister-in-law immediately grabbed her arm.
"Ninth Sister, how did the things missing from our storeroom and kitchen end up here?"
Li Xinyue put on a shocked expression like them, widening her eyes and shaking her head vigorously.
"They weren't like this when I came to tidy up my dowry last night. Why did these things appear here?"
"This thief is too shameless! Stealing from the storeroom is one thing, but even taking such a big iron pot..." Sixth Sister-in-law said indignantly.
"That's right. They probably took everything they could grab, then felt it wasn't valuable enough and secretly dumped it all here."
"I just want to know, is this thief immortal? How could he move so many things here without making a sound?"
Listening to the sisters-in-law cursing the little thief, Li Xinyue didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But at this time, she didn't dare show her real emotions.
Just as she was about to say something more, Qin Yichen walked over slowly and with difficulty.
"Don't guess anymore. It was me who did this. I didn't want to let these things fall into strangers' hands, but then I thought we couldn't take so much with us anyway, so I just piled everything in the ear room."
Although his explanation was far-fetched, no one wanted to scrutinise it.
After all, with Ninth Brother's abilities, doing these things would not be difficult for him.
Just as the eight sisters-in-law were about to praise Qin Yichen for being capable, Old Lady Qin spoke up.
"That's enough. Since you and Ninth Sister did not forget to tidy up her dowry, don't bother with these unimportant things."
The sisters-in-law always listened most to the old lady's words. Seeing that she had spoken, they immediately shut their mouths.
Qin Yichen invited everyone into the room and informed them of the news the house servant brought.
The smiles on the sisters-in-laws' faces instantly vanished and became serious.