Last year's imperial banquet, if he remembered correctly.
Fang Chuanzhou attended with his wife and eldest daughter, Fang Mingzhu. Emperor Shunwu took a liking to their daughter at first sight.
Taking advantage of the drinking, Emperor Shunwu unabashedly disregarded etiquette and wanted to take Fang Mingzhu into his harem.
Unexpectedly, Fang Mingzhu was unwilling and publicly refused Emperor Shunwu's "kind intentions" because she already had a marriage agreement.
Fang Chuanzhou was also unwilling for his daughter to enter the palace and compete with so many women for favour. He knelt to speak up for Fang Mingzhu.
With so many ministers present, Emperor Shunwu could not forcibly keep her in the harem. He could only reluctantly let her leave.
The second day after leaving the imperial banquet, Fang Mingzhu hurriedly married someone.
Based on Qin Yichen's understanding of this emperor, he must have resented this. He would have taken this opportunity to confiscate the Fang family's property and exile them while also adding to his troubles.
The Lin family had never gotten along well with Qin Yichen. It was easy to guess why the Emperor sent them along to be exiled with him.
Seeing Li Xinyue was still sitting there deep in thought, he gently hooked her finger.
When Li Xinyue looked back, he said softly, "I'll tell you about these families' matters when things change in the future."
Hearing Qin Yichen say this meant he had already figured out the situation.
Since someone understood clearly, the Qin family didn't need to play blind. Li Xinyue wanted to avoid getting further involved.
"Okay." She casually responded, indifferent to whether Qin Yichen would tell her.
She had already made clear her purpose, first to change Qin Yichen's fate of dying on the road to exile.
The sister-in-law felt she had explained her matter clearly and didn't want to continue disturbing the young couple's rest.
"Younger brother and sister-in-law, this sister-in-law will return to rest now."
Li Xinyue had gotten on the wagon to help Qin Yichen escape, and although the purpose was already accomplished, they should have gone their separate ways to avoid awkwardness.
But if she laid down for a bit and left, it might make the Eighth Old Zhou suspicious.
Helpless, she could only stiffly lie back down in her original position.
Qin Yichen deliberately shifted over a little to let her sleep more comfortably.
Although tired from the journey, Li Xinyue was wide awake now.
Qin Yichen seemed to sense she hadn't fallen asleep and asked softly:
"Can't sleep?"
"Mm." Li Xinyue responded absently.
"Is it because of what sister-in-law said?" Qin Yichen asked.
"I guess so!" Li Xinyue didn't even know why she was having insomnia. Perhaps it was suddenly being in a strange environment and not quite used to it yet.
However, she wanted to avoid mentioning any of this to Qin Yichen.
Qin Yichen didn't read between the lines and only heard her tone, failing to realise Li Xinyue was being evasive with him.
"The Lin and He families have had some friction with me."
Since Qin Yichen took the initiative to speak, Li Xinyue had nothing better to do with her insomnia, so she might as well listen carefully.
"What friction?" she asked.
"Lin Zhiyuan was originally the Minister of the Ministry of War. When I led troops in battle, he deliberately embezzled military provisions to line his pockets. I had memorialised this matter to the Emperor at the time.
The Emperor sent people to investigate the matter thoroughly, but I don't know why, for such a big deal, the Emperor only demoted Lin Zhiyuan's position. He went from Minister of the Ministry of War to Vice Minister of the Ministry of War."
After listening to Qin Yichen's account, Li Xinyue had another guess in mind.
"According to what you said, the Emperor had long intended to act against the Qin family. He didn't immediately deal with Lin Zhiyuan but kept him around to make things difficult for you?"
Qin Yichen expected this woman to analyse things less thoroughly.
It had taken him almost a full day to think things through clearly and arrive at this conclusion after careful consideration.
He felt more and more that Li Xinyue was extraordinary.
Since they had already talked this far, Li Xinyue was also intrigued.
"What about the He family then?"
Regarding grievances with the He family, Qin Yichen didn't know how to bring it up for a moment.
After deliberating, he still chose to tell the blunt truth.
"My grievance with the Hei family can be said to stem from He Rou'er."
Hearing the implication in Qin Yichen's words, it sounded like he and He Rou'er were somewhat involved.
Thinking this, her interest grew even more vital.
"What was your relationship?"
At the same time, Li Xinyue searched the original host's memories, looking for whether He Rou'er had ever mentioned Qin Yichen to her.
She searched for a long time until her head hurt, but still came up empty-handed.
This showed that He Rou'er had never spoken about Qin Yichen in front of the original host.
"We didn't have any relationship." Qin Yichen answered decisively.
"Then why did you say your grievance with the He family started because of her?"
Hearing Li Xinyue's probing question, Qin Yichen instinctively felt this woman might be jealous.
So he quickly explained.
"Her carriage went out of control on the street, charging around recklessly. I ran into it and helped control the horse out of good intentions.
At the time, I didn't think much of this incident. I thought it was all over, but unexpectedly, Li Liang brought gifts to my residence the next day, saying it was his daughter thanking me for saving her life.
He also mentioned sending He Rou'er to the Marquis's Mansion as a concubine. I rejected this on the spot, saying I already had a marriage agreement with you and that it is a Qin family rule that Qin men do not take concubines.
Li Liang didn't react abnormally when I refused him. It wasn't until three days later, when I went out again, that I ran into He Rou'er again.
She deliberately waited outside the Marquis's Mansion entrance.
I was going to ignore her and leave directly, but her two maidservants blocked my way.
He Rou'er claimed we already had intimate physical contact, and I had to take responsibility for her.
There was no contact between us when I helped control her horse. This was her being shameless.
Therefore, I didn't give her any face and didn't explain, directly riding away on horseback.
After that, I noticed Li Liang opposing me in everything. No matter what I said, he would rack his brains to refute it.
Aside from the He Rou'er incident, I can't think of how else I offended Li Liang..."
After listening to Qin Yichen explain so much, Li Xinyue discovered one fact. He deliberately got close to her and talked about how bad the Qin family was every day, making her regret the marriage so that he could marry Qin Yichen instead.
"Did what you said happen early this year?"
"You know about it?" Qin Yichen asked back.
Since they had talked this far, Li Xinyue didn't intend to hide it either.
She recounted in full detail how He Rou'er had persuaded her not to marry into the Qin family, and this incident happened right after Qin Yichen rejected He Rou'er.
Hearing this, Qin Yichen's dark eyes sank.
"I didn't expect a young lady to have such sinister intentions. She is despicable."
"Very despicable indeed. She pretended to care about me in front of me before but couldn't wait to reveal her true colours after being exiled for a day."
Speaking of He Rou'er, Li Xinyue was very contemptuous.
This was a thoroughly despicable character that Li Xinyue looked down on the most.
Seeing Li Xinyue unhappy, Qin Yichen thought it was because of the baseless affair between him and He Rou'er.
To ease the atmosphere, he added: "I've already read your father's letter."