Chapter 12

Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuye ignored his injuries and immediately sat up in bed. “What on earth happened?”

He Zhiran knew that Mo Jiuye 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?”

Mo Jiuye frowned, and a fierce look flashed through his eyes from time to time.

Although he didn't say a word, He Zhiran could tell from his expression that Mo Jiuye definitely had a suspect in mind.

He Zhiran had never been a nosy person, and she also considered that Mo Jiuye didn't completely trust her at this time.

Since this was the case, she didn't intend to ask for trouble unnecessarily.

As long as he had a grasp on the situation, he would certainly take precautions in advance.

The room was silent for a long time before He Zhiran 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, Mo Jiuye looked outside.

"It's almost noon now."

He Zhiran also found it very strange. If history was not mistaken, the emperor would send people to raid the Duke 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.

Mo Jiuye 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.

He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye looked at each other, both wondering who would come to see her on the second day after their wedding.

Moreover, the original owner rarely interacted with outsiders, so He Zhiran really couldn't think of who the visitor might be for a moment.

Mo Jiuye didn't help her decide whether to meet the guest or not. Instead, he lowered his head and continued eating.

Obviously, he had left the decision to He Zhiran.

He Zhiran 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.

He Zhiran 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 for the moment.

When the attendant saw He Zhiran, he quickly bowed respectfully, "Young Lady, the Old Master sent me to find you."

Looking at the man's appearance, He Zhiran 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 He Zhiran over.

He Zhiran 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 Duke'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 as a daughter of the He family, you must not betray your faith. No matter what happens to the Duke of Protection's mansion, you cannot leave."

He Zhiran didn't take such an exhortation to heart at all. She had never intended to leave the Mo family anyway.

Since she couldn't get any more useful information from him, He Zhiran waved her hand to dismiss him.

Hearing this news directly was much more real than reading about it in history books.

He Zhiran didn't dare delay for a moment and hurried back to the bridal chamber.

Without waiting for Mo Jiuye to ask, she recounted the servant's message verbatim.

There was no visible anger or joy on Mo Jiuye's face. After a long silence, he coldly said, "What's bound to come will come sooner or later."

Although Mo Jiuye didn't show any emotion, He Zhiran could still hear the despair in his tone.

"Look on the bright side. As long as we work hard to survive, I believe the day we make it big will come eventually."

"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?" Mo Jiuye said sarcastically.

He Zhiran knew that Mo Jiuye was in low spirits at the moment, and no matter how much reason she gave, it would be of no use. She could only slowly counsel him in the future.

Just then, Eighth Sister-in-law's scream came from outside, "Ah... Why are the water tank and big wok from the kitchen, as well as the things from the storeroom, all in Ninth Brother's ear room?"

He Zhiran 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.

Basically all of the large items she had stored in her space were now in the ear room.

There were even some vases and ornaments from the storeroom...

Now she was afraid she wouldn't be able to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River.

Mo Jiuye only slightly raised his eyes, and saw He Zhiran's panicked expression flash by in an instant.

"If they ask about it, just push everything onto me."

He Zhiran also only lost her composure for a moment before quickly calming down again.

Especially with Mo Jiuye taking the fall for her, she was even more emboldened.

When she arrived at the door of the ear room, she saw all the sisters-in-law and Old Lady Mo standing there.

Their expressions were almost identical, with their mouths wide open and eyes full of shock.

Seeing He Zhiran come over, Third Sister-in-law immediately grabbed her arm.

"Ninth Sister, how did the things missing from our storeroom and kitchen end up here?"

He Zhiran 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, He Zhiran didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

But at a time like this, she didn't dare show her real emotions.

Just as she was about to say something more, Mo Jiuye 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 a bit far-fetched, no one wanted to scrutinize 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 Mo Jiuye for being capable, Old Lady Mo 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.

Mo Jiuye invited everyone into the room and informed them of the news brought by the He house servant.

The smiles on the sisters-in-laws' faces instantly vanished and became serious.