Liu Xiyin observed everyone’s reactions and found that every single person looked calm.
In short dramas, people who could read minds always had vivid expressions when hearing others’ inner thoughts. Their eyes and brows would practically dance, and they would impatiently send the person whose mind they had read away so they could hold a private meeting.
But none of the people in the Marshal’s Mansion had fallen into any of those traps.
She had just thrown out such huge bait with Professor Wanka, yet apart from her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law pestering her to ask what that person looked like, no one else reacted strangely.
Could it be that she was overthinking?
No.
She had to test it again.
Experiments required repeated verification.
Just as Liu Xiyin was thinking about what to do next, hurried footsteps sounded outside.
The Marshal’s chief adjutant ran in.
“Reporting, Marshal! The Security Bureau discovered one hundred and eighty pounds of explosives each on Heping South Street, Wutong East Road, and Osmanthus Avenue!”
Bang!
Yan Ting slammed the table and stood.
“What?”
Everyone in the main hall was shocked.
Heping South Street, Wutong East Road, and Osmanthus Avenue were the three major roads leading to the Marshal’s Mansion from three different directions.
One hundred and eighty pounds of explosives had been discovered on each road.
Was someone trying to blow up the entire Marshal’s Mansion?
And with so many explosives buried so close to the mansion, neither the Security Bureau nor the military government had noticed in advance.
If they had gone off, no one in the Marshal’s Mansion would even have known how they died.
Earlier, Yan Changye had said the Security Bureau was incompetent.
Now it seemed they were more than incompetent.
Those useless fools were nothing but drunkards and rice buckets!
Liu Xiyin was also shocked.
[My goodness. The male lead really deserves his male-lead halo. He buried explosives across three streets near someone else’s lair and still managed to escape unscathed!]
Liu Xiyin could not help sighing inwardly.
In the original novel, the male lead was the one who had ordered this.
The original story took place in the twelfth year of the Republic.
Liu Mingyue, the most beautiful woman in Ancheng, had just turned sixteen.
The Marshal’s Mansion came to propose marriage.
The Liu family had only this one daughter, and she had been pampered since childhood.
Everyone in Ancheng also knew that the Marshal’s Mansion and the Liu family had a marriage agreement made long ago.
Years earlier, Old Master Liu had followed Marshal Yan and had once taken a bullet for him.
The Marshal promised that one day, his son would marry a daughter of the Liu family.
Marshal Yan valued promises.
His eldest son, Yan Changye, had also been stationed at the front lines and had never married, all to wait until the Liu family’s daughter came of age.
Because of this connection, Liu Mingyue had been surrounded by admiration since childhood in Ancheng.
Even though Yan Changye was not favored, everyone knew she was the daughter-in-law personally chosen by the Marshal, which made her status extraordinary.
But no one expected that after Liu Mingyue returned from studying abroad and the Liu family began preparing for the wedding, only one month before her marriage at sixteen, Marshal Yan would suddenly lead people to surround the Liu family.
Holding two different blood type reports, he directly accused Liu Mingyue of being a fake and not the Liu family’s biological daughter.
The Liu family refused to believe it.
They performed a blood test on the spot, only to confirm that Liu Mingyue was indeed not their daughter.
Marshal Yan had a terrible temper.
He ordered the Liu family to find the real daughter before the wedding date.
If they dared fool him with a fake, he would shoot the entire family.
And so the story began.
Liu Mingyue’s world collapsed.
The once lofty and admired number one socialite of Ancheng, and even the five southeastern provinces, fell from heaven to hell because of that blood test.
Liu Mingyue could not accept the sudden fall.
She also could not bear being pointed at and called a “fake” by the Marshal.
Heartbroken, she went out drinking and accidentally spent a passionate night with the male lead.
The male lead was actually a last imperial prince hiding his identity. He had been secretly gathering grain and supplies in the wealthiest five southeastern provinces, planning to restore the dynasty.
He was basically a Republican-era version of Murong Fu.
Heaven knew how tempted Liu Xiyin had been when she first saw the novel’s tags: bright, beautiful, overseas-educated fake heiress versus dark, cunning, old-fashioned true prince.
She had even been very eager to read how the prince would be moved by the overseas-educated heroine, give up restoring the dynasty, and embrace the new era.
This “Murong Fu” character was dark, ruthless, and unhinged.
After sleeping with the heroine once, he became addicted to her and decided to vent her anger for her.
So, on the way to bring the real daughter back to Ancheng, he sent people to kill her.
In the original novel, the real daughter was vicious cannon fodder.
She had to return to Ancheng to cause trouble, so she escaped that assassination on the road, only to eventually die miserably at the male lead’s hands.
After transmigrating, Liu Xiyin had once planned to use the male lead’s men to fake her death.
Who knew the Liu family was so afraid of dying that their guards were extremely strict?
They caught the people following her halfway and let her escape the assassination attempt, forcing her to return to Ancheng and continue causing trouble just like the original body.
But actions always left traces.
Since the real daughter had been attacked, Liu Mingyue was the most suspicious person.
To prevent the Liu family and the military government from tracing anything back to Liu Mingyue, the male lead planned an even bigger event to divert the military government’s attention.
So he intended to blow up Liu Mingyue’s former fiancé.
At the same time, he would create a massive explosion big enough to throw Ancheng into chaos, frame the Marshal’s political enemies, calm his own jealousy, and secretly harvest benefits during the disorder.
Three birds with one stone.
[Explosives were buried across three streets, but the book only mentioned Heping South Street. So whether Yan Changye passed Heping South Street or not, all three streets would still explode?]
[How many people would that kill? The male lead should just die for his country already!]
The original novel had only briefly mentioned the assassination and explosion.
After all, the targets were all villains, and the male lead’s main task was to fall in love with the heroine.
When Liu Xiyin had read that part, she only remembered one of the male lead’s men reporting that thirty-two people had been killed or injured on Heping South Street, and that Yan Changye’s remains had not been found.
Now that she was personally living through it, she only felt the male lead was hateful beyond measure.
He wanted to achieve three goals with one strike, but he never treated cannon fodder lives as lives.
No wonder his kingdom had fallen!
[Yan Changye had the driver avoid all three streets, which means the explosives must have been discovered long ago. Reporting it to the Marshal only now… are they trying to lure someone out?]
Being provoked right under his nose, Yan Ting flew into a rage and immediately took Yan Changye and Yan Changzhuo away for a meeting.
Yan Changye had only just returned to Ancheng and was still on marriage leave.
He was originally supposed to take office in the military government after the New Year.
But since he was the one who had ordered the Security Bureau to search for explosives in advance, there was no way this meeting could exclude him.
Before leaving, Yan Changye said to Liu Xiyin,
“Stay at the Marshal’s Mansion for now.”
“I’ll come back tonight to pick you up.”
Please, just leave already.
The moment Liu Xiyin heard him mention tonight, her mind nearly exploded.
Last night, he had only refrained from forcing the wedding night because he suspected her of being a spy.
If he still came to take her back tonight, what excuse could she use to avoid him?
Her eyelashes trembled as she nodded.
“I’ll wait for you to return, Young Marshal.”
[The mastermind is the male lead, Jiang Hanzhou. He’s currently staying at Huateng Residence. Hurry and arrest him! Hurry!]
Yan Changye’s departing steps paused almost imperceptibly, but he soon returned to normal.
His little bride was still testing him.
Her vigilance was impressive.
In such a short time, every thought in her mind had become bait, all to lure out whoever could read her mind.
Since she was so unwilling to have her thoughts read, it likely meant this was not a deliberate tactic.
Yan Changye glanced at Yan Ting walking ahead with swift steps, looking as if he had heard nothing.
The night before, after Yan Changye left Liu Xiyin’s room, he had tested it.
As long as he was no longer sharing the same space with her, he could no longer hear what she was thinking.
The Marshal’s Mansion’s main hall was spacious.
When the little bride released that bait, Yan Ting had not yet exited the door.
Could he truly not hear it?
Liu Xiyin’s gaze landed on Yan Changye’s feet.
He had paused just now?
Then Yan Changye stopped, turned around, and returned to Qin Wan’s side.
He leaned close and whispered something into her ear.
Qin Wan listened, looked toward Liu Xiyin, and nodded.
“Go on. Mother understands.”
Liu Xiyin’s back tightened.
What did the great villain say?
Was it related to her?
He wasn’t digging another pit for her, was he?
Please, no.
Liu Xiyin hugged herself tightly.