"But safflower was definitely laced in that pot of tea, and your maid was always on duty in the kitchen. If it wasn't her, who else could have put the drug in it?" the Fujin said coldly. A glint of pleasure flashed in her eyes as she tried to kill Li Shi. Regardless of whether it was her or not, the Fujin wanted to use this to get rid of Li Shi.

Murdering a royal heir is almost a capital offense; even if one survives, they will be deposed or imprisoned.

“Last night I interrogated Mingyan. She told me that she left for a short while, about ten minutes. Wasn’t that enough time for someone with ulterior motives to do something?” Madam Li accurately grasped the extremely cold intention in the Fujin’s eyes.

She understood that the Fujin hated her. Over the past ten years, this hatred had slowly accumulated into an indelible chasm, and the two of them were already locked in a life-or-death struggle.

Upon hearing what Li Shi said, Mingyan immediately lowered her head and walked over, kneeling beside Li Shi. She said to the Fourth Master, "This servant deserves to die. This servant should not have left for a moment to relieve myself, giving others an opportunity to take advantage of me."

Yan Yu frowned as she looked at the master and servant pair, and suddenly said, "No, you clearly said last night that you hadn't left even for a moment, but now you're saying you did leave. This is inconsistent. When should we believe you when you're telling the truth and when you're lying?"

The princess looked at Yan Yu with satisfaction, then shouted sternly, "Mingyan, what do you have to say? If you don't tell the truth, drag her out and give her twenty lashes first."

Mingyan was so frightened that she prostrated herself on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly as if being pounded in the ground, saying, "Your Highness, please spare my life! Last night, I was afraid that Your Highness would blame me, so I was guilty and didn't tell the truth. Now, everything I said is true, please investigate thoroughly, Your Highness. By the way, when I left, Eunuch Huang from the kitchen saw me. Although it was very late at that time, and there was basically no one left in the kitchen, only Eunuch Huang was guarding in the side room by the door."

"Su Peisheng, go and get Huang Ziming to come over for questioning!!" The Fourth Prince knew that his wife and Li Shi had been at odds for years, but if innocent children were harmed because of their relationship, he would absolutely not tolerate it any longer.

A short while later, Huang Ziming, the head of the kitchen, arrived. After greeting the Fourth Prince and his wife, he bowed his head and waited for instructions.

"Huang Ziming, was Mingyan brewing jujube tea in the kitchen yesterday at 5 PM?" Fourth Master asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, yes, Mingyan said it was Consort Li's order to brew some warming jujube tea for everyone. This servant has personally checked, and it is indeed those ingredients." Huang Ziming knew perfectly well why the Fourth Master had summoned him at this moment.

"Did Mingyan leave midway? After she left, did anyone else approach that pot of tea? Huang Ziming, you've been working in the Fourth Prince's mansion for ten years now. You'd better be careful about what's going on above you. If I find out that you dare to collude with others and fabricate lies, you'd better think about what the consequences will be." The princess continued to ask.

“Reporting to Your Highness, Mingyan did indeed leave briefly at one point. I saw her walk past my door with my own eyes, but she returned shortly after. As for whether anyone else went into the kitchen during that time, I have no idea. I was quite sleepy at the time, and seeing that Mingyan was there, I felt relieved and told her to wake me up when she left. As for whether anyone went in or out of the kitchen during that time, I dozed off for a while and really don’t know.”

Hearing this, Madam Li breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, she had asked Mingyan to change her address last night, and that included Huang Ziming as well. Actually, Mingyan hadn't left the tea at all, but she hadn't added any safflower to it either.

Li understood that the incident occurred in her courtyard, and the safflower was found in the tea she had prepared; by any measure, she was the prime suspect. Only by finding out if the tea had been tampered with could this seemingly perfect scheme be solved.

Fourth Master stared at the three men kneeling before him, all of whom were old men who had followed him for over ten years. This forced him to seriously consider the truthfulness of their words.

"Your Majesty, to find out who poisoned the medicine, we only need to find out who has been in contact with safflower! The pharmacy keeps records of all medicines coming in and out, and we also need to find out if anyone has entered or left the mansion. It's possible that they bought safflower from outside." Doctor Zhou seemed to remember something and immediately bowed to the Fourth Prince and his wife.

His words stunned everyone present! Indeed, to catch the murderer, the murder weapon must first be found!

"Investigate," Fourth Master said to the head nanny.

Judging from the records of people entering and leaving the mansion, only the Fujin (wife of the deceased) and Yan Yu went out once recently, and then there was Que'er, who served Li Shi, who went in and out a few times, each time under the pretext of going home to visit her sick mother. Then there was Lanqin who went in and out during the days of the Golden Festival. No one else in the courtyard, not even the maids, left the mansion.

Doctor Zhou also brought over the pharmacy's medicinal herb usage records for Fourth Master to check, and found that no one had withdrawn safflower from there.

"My lord, it seems that the most likely people to have used safflower are Que'er and Niu Gege, who serve Lady Li." When the Fujin spoke of Lanqin, she deliberately softened her tone.

"Bring Que'er here~~" Fourth Master's face grew even darker, but he didn't say anything about bringing Lanqin.

"Master, should we also have Consort Niu come over?" At this moment, Yan Yu couldn't sit still any longer. It was clearly possible that Consort Niu was also involved, so why only bring Que'er and not mention her?

“I remember that Sister Niu left the mansion on the day of the Golden Festival, saying she was going to visit Lady Dong of the Seventh Prince’s mansion. That day was also the day the Third Prince had a rash. I was so busy that I didn’t notice when she returned,” Li said suddenly, as if she had remembered something.

A barely perceptible glint flashed in the Fujin's eyes. To quell everyone's doubts, she reluctantly said to the Fourth Prince, "Your Highness, why don't you bring Sister Niu along, as well as the sisters who participated in yesterday's gathering? Perhaps someone might have some unexpected clues. Maybe someone saw who entered the kitchen during the time Mingyan left."

Fourth Master knew perfectly well that Lanqin would never buy safflower and put it in her tea. He knew that Lanqin had been kidnapped that day, and if it weren't for his swift and decisive actions, the little princess might not be by his side anymore.

However, he never told his wife about these things. Later, he only said that Lanqin had been playing around and stayed out too long, so she was confined to her quarters.

"Lanqin would never do such a thing." Fourth Master still didn't want to disturb the little princess. In any case, unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want her to be drawn into the vortex of scheming women.

Upon hearing this, the women's expressions changed slightly, but since the Fourth Master had said so, they had no choice but to hide their dissatisfaction in their hearts.