Liu Qiao's testimony immediately alerted Yu Hanjiang. He instructed Long Sen to guard the door and prevent anyone from approaching, then took Liu Qiao aside and asked in a low voice, "Miss Fourth often wears a white veil over her face, making her easy to impersonate. Are you sure the person you saw was Miss Fourth?"
"I'm sure. Miss Four has a very small red mole above her right eyebrow. I was suspicious at the time, so I put on an Invisibility Cloak and went closer to take a look. That person was Miss Four. Her clothes and voice are also the same as Miss Four's," Liu Qiao said with certainty.
"Did you see clearly who was having a secret meeting with the Fourth Miss?" Yu Hanjiang asked.
"I saw it clearly, he must be a young master from a wealthy family. He was dressed very elegantly, and he even gave the Fourth Miss a round jade pendant. Although I don't know much about jade, that pendant was crystal clear, so it must be quite valuable." Liu Qiao said while carefully recalling, "In ancient times, giving a jade pendant was a sign of betrothal, right?"
"According to the customs here in Jiangzhou, a man giving a woman a jade pendant does indeed signify a commitment of love," Old Mo said.
Yu Hanjiang turned to look at Xiao Lou, and their eyes met as he looked up from his desk. At the same time, they both thought of a possibility.
Xiao Lou asked, "Was that rich young master wearing a dark blue long robe, black boots embroidered with silver thread, and his hair tied up with a blue ribbon? Did he have very fair skin and wear an emerald ring on his hand?"
Liu Qiao paused for a moment, then said, "Absolutely right, every detail matches perfectly."
Old Mo snapped out of his daze and exclaimed, "Isn't that Lin Shaobo, the eldest young master of the Lin family?"
Yu Hanjiang crossed his arms thoughtfully. "I remember, Lin Shaobo wasn't even present when the Prince was assassinated." He turned his gaze back to Xiao Lou and asked, " How long has Young Master Lin been gone?"
During the banquet, Yu Hanjiang kept an eye on the guests on his left, while Xiao Lou was responsible for observing the right.
Lin Shaobo happened to be sitting on the right, at the same table as Shao Qingge.
Xiao Lou is very observant, so he noticed when Lin Shaobo got up to leave.
When Captain Yu asked, he explained in detail: " When Ye Qi came out, Lin Shaobo excused himself to use the restroom and left. Ye Qi played the piano as accompaniment, and five women performed a sword dance. The performance lasted about 10 minutes. Then, an assassin suddenly attacked the prince, the prince fought with the assassin, the assassin failed and fled, and a maid came to report the news... All of this lasted about 20 minutes."
Yu Hanjiang said, "In other words, Lin Shaobo disappeared for 20 minutes, which is enough time for him to go to the backyard, hang the young lady from the tree, and stage a suicide scene."
Xiao Lou looked at Liu Qiao and asked, "You saw Miss Si on a date with Lin Shaobo. Around what time?"
Since there were no wristwatches in ancient times, Liu Qiao couldn't determine the time clearly. Based on the position of the sun in the sky, she speculated: "It should be around five o'clock in the evening. The sun hadn't set yet, and there was a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. They were preparing dinner."
Xiao Lou stroked his chin and analyzed, "The young lady's time of death was six o'clock, Young Master Lin appeared in the backyard at five o'clock and left the banquet at eight o'clock, which doesn't match the young lady's time of death, right?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "There is a possibility that if the eldest young lady was murdered because she witnessed her fiancé and sister's affair, then Young Master Lin and the fourth young lady could have conspired to poison her food beforehand. The eldest young lady would have accidentally ingested the poison while eating snacks in her room around six o'clock and died. Around eight o'clock, Young Master Lin would then leave the table under the pretext of leaving and go back to the backyard to hang her from a tree, making it look like she had hanged herself. In this way, the timing would be perfect."
Lin Shaobo had both the opportunity and the motive to commit the crime.
If his secret rendezvous with the Fourth Miss were discovered by the Eldest Miss, he would indeed have a motive to kill her to cover it up. Moreover, by staging the crime scene as a suicide, and if the Prince also believed that his daughter had taken her own life, the Prince's mansion, having already accepted the Lin family's betrothal gifts, would have no choice but to return them. At that point, Lin Shaobo could devise a way to get the Prince to betroth the Fourth Miss to him.
In ancient times, it was not uncommon for a younger sister to take the place of her elder sister in marriage if the elder sister committed suicide due to despair.
This way, both goals can be achieved.
After listening to Yu Hanjiang's analysis, everyone felt that there was a high possibility that Lin Shaobo and the Fourth Miss had joined forces to kill the Eldest Miss to silence her.
However, the case of the heart room often takes unexpected turns, and pure reasoning cannot lead to a conclusion. Before finding conclusive evidence, Yu Hanjiang will not draw any conclusions easily—this is only one possibility, and there may be other possibilities.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Liu Qiao: "You've been getting quite close to the Fourth Miss these past few days. In your opinion, what kind of person is the Fourth Miss?"
Liu Qiao said, " Fourth Miss's personality is somewhat similar to her mother Madam Han's. They are both gentle and considerate, speak softly, and love to laugh. I have never seen her angry."
Xiao Lou thought for a moment and said, "She knows medicine, so naturally she can also concoct medicine that can poison people to death, right?"
Liu Qiao suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh right, she invited me to the Prince's Mansion today because she hasn't been feeling well lately and asked me to bring some medicine for her to take care of. Among them are a few medicines that, according to my master's medical book, can become deadly poison if the dosage is too high."
Xiao Lou said, "Perhaps she secretly added these drugs to the young lady's food or tea?"
Currently, all evidence points to Miss Four and Young Master Lin.
Yu Hanjiang said decisively, " Liu Qiao, you go to the prefect's prison to meet with CEO Shao first. I'll have someone ask Miss Si to question her later."
Liu Qiao nodded, went out through the back door, and soon...
They disappeared into the night.
Long Sen went outside to take a look. In the hall next door, the Third Miss had already summoned everyone in the Prince's mansion as instructed by the Prince, waiting for Lord Yu to question them. Yu Hanjiang interrogated the other two ladies in order.
Madam Qing spent the entire afternoon tidying up in the courtyard, a fact that her maids can attest to.
Madam Qing said frankly, "Yesterday, my wife accidentally cut down a tree while practicing martial arts, making a mess of the yard with mud and leaves everywhere. This afternoon, I kept watching the maids clean up my Tingfeng Pavilion until dinner time when the Prince sent someone to deliver a message, and I changed my clothes to attend the banquet."
Throughout the entire banquet, she stayed by the prince's side and did not leave.
The servant who delivered the message confirmed Madam Qing's words, saying that when he went to Tingfeng Pavilion, a group of people were indeed cleaning the courtyard.
Yu Hanjiang then summoned his most favored Madam Han.
Madam Han said softly, "I rested in the Red Plum Garden all afternoon. I've been feeling weak lately, and I get sleepy in the afternoons. I slept until someone from the front yard came to deliver a message, and then I woke up, washed up, changed my clothes, and went to attend the Prince's birthday banquet."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Can anyone prove that Madam slept in the room all afternoon?"
Madam Han frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "I slept in the inner room because I often wake up in a daze when I sleep, wanting to drink water. So my two maids, Xiaoxue and Xiaoshuang, have been serving me in the outer room. They can testify that I didn't go out all afternoon."
Yu Hanjiang called in the two maids separately and asked them questions.
Xiaoxue explained that her wife had been unwell recently and would take a nap every afternoon, and today was no exception. She rested after lunch and woke up three times in a daze. It wasn't until dinner time that someone from the front yard sent a message, which prompted Xiaoxue to wake her wife up and help her with her hair and makeup.
Xiao Shuang's testimony was consistent with her companion's, and she added that the lady had been having a poor appetite lately, eating only a small bowl of porridge per meal. When she woke up today, she was pale and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. Since she was going to attend the banquet, the guests could not see that she was sick, so the two maids specially applied a lot of rouge to her and carefully drew her eyebrows and did her makeup to improve her complexion.
Both ladies had perfect alibis.
In comparison, Madam Qing's testimony is more credible because the trees in her yard were indeed cut down by Third Miss, and other maids passing by could hear the noise of her sweeping the yard. Moreover, the servant who delivered the message also saw her sitting in the yard directing the work.
Madam Han, only the maidservants can testify.
Xiaoxue and Xiaoshuang are clearly her personal maids who came to the royal mansion with her. In ancient times, these maids were usually extremely loyal to their masters. Some maids were even willing to die for their masters. Therefore, it was very common for them to give false testimony at the master's request.
Madam Han's testimony cannot be 100% certain, but her body speaks for itself.
Xiao Lou, being a medical student, could always tell the difference between a real illness and feigned illness. Madam Han's condition was quite serious; even with makeup and an improved complexion, she still looked very listless. Xiao Lou carefully observed her fingernails; the lunulae at the base of her nails had almost completely disappeared. The maid said that she had only been eating a bowl of porridge at each meal recently, clearly due to a weak digestive system and prolonged malnutrition.
She might be suffering from a gastrointestinal illness, resulting in a severe loss of appetite. Given her current physical condition, it's impossible for her to have the strength to carry the young lady to the tree to hang herself... Judging from her frail appearance, she would even have difficulty hanging a white silk ribbon on the tree.
Xiao Lou told Yu Hanjiang his conclusion: " Madam Han is not faking illness; her health is indeed not good."
Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin: "It seems the focus is still on the young ladies."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Long Sen whispered, "It's Princess Ninth."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "What's she doing here?"
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "Let her in. I remember she said she had corresponded with the young lady before, maybe she has some clues."
Seeing that Xiao Lou didn't seem to mind at all, Yu Hanjiang felt relieved and gestured for Long Sen to open the door.
Ninth Princess, dressed in men's clothing, entered the house with Qu Wanyue and stated bluntly, "I know who the murderer is!"
Yu Hanjiang was quite surprised: "Oh? What did the princess say?"
Princess Ninth looked indignant: "It must have been Fourth Miss who did it! A-Yao wrote to me before and mentioned something in the letter. Lord Yu, you can see for yourself!"
She took a letter out of her pocket and handed it to Yu Hanjiang.
Yu Hanjiang took the letter and walked over to Xiao Lou. Xiao Lou also leaned over to look. The young lady's calligraphy was so neat and orderly, each character was perfectly square, as if it had been printed on. The letter read—
Ninth Princess:
I hope you are well.
My wedding with the eldest son of the Lin family is set for the fifteenth of next month. The wedding is approaching, but I am filled with anxiety.
Rumor has it that the eldest son of the Lin family spends his days indulging in debauchery, frequenting brothels and having affairs with many courtesans in Jiangzhou. My mother says it's very common for men to have multiple wives and concubines. The Lin family has promised him that he won't take any concubines after marriage and will dote on me alone. As long as he can truly repent after marriage, I won't mind his temporary indulgence. Besides, marriage is a major life event, and I can only obey my parents' wishes and the matchmaker's words.
However, a few days ago, when I went to offer incense outside the city, I unexpectedly ran into Young Master Lin and his younger sister in the mountains. The younger sister gave Young Master Lin a blue handkerchief that she had embroidered herself. Young Master Lin looked at her gently and said that she was the love of his life and that the person he wanted to marry was Yiwei, not Eldest Miss.
Lately, I have been suffering from inner turmoil and don't know how to deal with it.
I wanted to tell my mother about this, but she and Madam Han have always been at odds, and if things escalate, I'm afraid it will cause problems.
The legal proceedings ended there.
Princess Ninth and I have known each other since childhood, and she is also my father's most beloved younger sister. If you step in, things might take a turn for the better.
I 've only met Young Master Lin twice, and there's no romantic feeling between us. Since he's so devoted to Fourth Sister, I want to let them be together. However, rumors are already circulating in Jiangzhou that Young Master Lin and I are engaged, so it's not appropriate for Fourth Sister to marry directly into the Lin family.
To have the best of both worlds, I decided to become a monk.
As long as I become a nun, the marriage agreement between the Lin family and the Wang family will not need to be dissolved, and my fourth sister can take my place and marry into the Lin family legitimately.
I grew up in a quiet, ancient temple, and I no longer have any attachment to the world. I would rather spend the rest of my life with only the lamp and the Buddha.
My father will not agree to my becoming a monk. I hope Princess Ninth can persuade her to help me realize this wish.
Eldest Miss's handwriting.
******