Meeting Xie Lingqin's somewhat surprised gaze, Li Qingyu's face darkened subconsciously, feeling that if she answered, a trap would be waiting for her to fall into.

However, in a split second, she couldn't tell what kind of pit it was.

After pondering for a while, Li Qingyu said softly, "It's not that. Although my maid has done something wrong, however..."

"Understood." Before Li Qingyu could finish speaking, Xie Lingqin gently raised her hand, looking as if she understood her very well. She waved her hand and nodded to Zihe at the same time, "I didn't expect Miss Li to be so fair in her actions, punishing every mistake. In that case, Zihe, step back. She is Miss Li's person. Since Miss Li wants to do it herself, we shouldn't overstep our bounds."

As soon as Xie Lingqin finished speaking, Li Qingyu's eyes turned cold, and after a moment, she raised her hand.

Everyone heard a "smack."

A crisp slap rang out.

“You are my person, so you must not break the rules. From now on, you must always be mindful.” Li Qingyu withdrew her hand and then looked at Xie Lingqin. “Miss Xie, thank you for reminding me.”

Her expression appeared gentle, but anyone could see the annoyance in her beautiful eyes.

"Why."

Li Qingyu reacted quickly; the moment she finished speaking, she swiftly struck to teach her own people a lesson. This slap was clearly an attempt to turn the tables on her.

However, Xie Lingqin suddenly sighed helplessly, "I said, Miss Li looks so gentle and weak, but when she gets going, she's really ruthless. I was just about to say that even if you're going to use your own hands, you shouldn't go too far. Not only will you hurt the servants' feelings, but your own hands should also feel the pain. You..."

Xie Lingqin sighed again, and gave Zihe an order with a look that said, "See? So, you are so lucky to have met a kind-hearted master like me."

"Yes, Miss is right."

Zihe nodded hurriedly.

He was secretly overjoyed, and he admired his young mistress immensely.

With just a few words, Miss Li was left speechless and unable to express her grievances.

Li Qingyu.

She's been the darling of the emperor since childhood, and even the emperor has some respect for her. I guess only the young lady would dare to anger her like this.

Indeed, if it weren't for the stamina she had developed since childhood, Li Qingyu would probably have already stepped forward and torn Xie Lingqin to pieces.

She's really played both the good guy and the bad guy.

But she couldn't lose her composure, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

This Xie Lingqin is definitely not a kind person; she really needs to put more effort into dealing with her.

The maidservant beside her hung her head, equally resentful but powerless to do anything. At Li Qingyu's signal, she could only remain still.

Meanwhile, the Prefect of the Capital was quite clever. He had already stepped aside when he saw the silent atmosphere of cooking earlier. Now, he stepped forward to smooth things over, looking at Xie Lingqin in a gentle tone, "Miss Xie, let's go inside now."

"Good." Xie Lingqin was now extremely satisfied with this Prefect of the Capital.

This father is much more sensible than his daughter.

He may have subconsciously asked her first, instead of Li Qingyu, and now Li Qingyu must be feeling incredibly frustrated.

This feeling.

That's not bad.

"Miss Li, please."

"Lord Huo is, after all, in charge. His Majesty has decreed that I should accompany you in investigating the case. Qingyu must not overstep the bounds of propriety, so please, Lord Huo, go first."

Li Qingyu wore a smile on her face. Her words, neither too light nor too heavy, clearly implied that the Prefect of the Capital had ignored her. At the same time, she was also thinking to herself that although Xie Lingqin had an imperial decree, she did not hold any official position and should act after the Prefect of the Capital, not before him.

But.

Xie Lingqin smiled gently, having been waiting for her to say those words.

"Miss Li, when investigating a case, sometimes you have to be flexible and adaptable. Don't let rules hold you back, okay?"

With a casual remark, a seemingly smiling rhetorical question, he not only defused the awkward situation for the Prefect of the Capital, but also silently put Li Qingyu in a difficult position once again.

On Li Qingyu's oval face, her beautiful eyes were filled with tears, and she smiled sweetly, "Miss Xie is right, I was too kind."

Xie Lingqin was oblivious to the thousand sharp needles piercing Li Qingyu's beautiful eyes. She nodded slightly, calm and composed, and said, "No need to thank me." Then, she lifted her skirt and walked straight inside.

There was more than one body in the morgue, most of them were in coffins, but they were all preserved using special methods until the case was solved.

There was a musty smell of decay in the air, but it wasn't too strong.

The morgue guard led the group toward the man's body.

In fact, Xie Lingqin had already examined the man after his death and determined that he had been poisoned. She asked to see it today for two reasons: firstly, since the Emperor had asked her to investigate, she had to do her part to save face; secondly, she wanted to see if there had been any changes to the body after so many days.

Or, to put it another way, did the person who instructed him move the body along the way?

However, from a distance, apart from the corpse being somewhat decomposed, there was nothing else.

"Sir, Miss Xie... Miss Li, the coroner has already verified that the body died from poisoning. The poison is not uncommon, and based on the time of onset, it is known that the poison was already embedded in the body."

"In other words, this person may have been poisoned beforehand, and perhaps he was instructed by someone to dump the maid's body at the entrance of the general's mansion. After the deed was done, he was silenced."

Li Qingyu slowly stepped forward, looked at the corpse inside the coffin that even the man had avoided, and spoke with a resounding voice.

The Prefect of the Capital nodded, his face full of praise. "Miss Li is indeed insightful and knowledgeable. She saw the truth at a glance. I thought so too. However, after searching for many days, I have not found any clues. In addition, there are no letters or marks on the man's body..." The Prefect of the Capital shook his head. "Finding the real culprit will be very difficult."

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