Chapter 60: Reversal and Reversal

Lan Yu's Adam's apple rolled as he squeezed out a hoarse syllable. "I... I don't have any new master. I don't know what you are talking about."

His fingers wrinkled the hem of his clothes, his peripheral vision wandering, and suddenly he caught a glimpse of the moon-white corner of clothes flashing behind the pillar of the house.

Chu Yangyang keenly caught the trembling of his pupils, and when she looked in the direction of his gaze, she only saw the bamboo curtain swaying in the wind.

As if he had made up his mind, Lan Yu looked at the beams of the dome and laughed hoarsely, "No one ordered me to do this. It was all because of my greed that I killed my own brother. I deserve death. Just kill me."

Chu Yangyang sneered, "I didn't expect you to be such a trustworthy person. What a pity, your new master doesn't value credibility as much as you do."

Lan Yu's heart sank, and when he raised his eyes, a hint of panic flashed across his features.

Chu Yangyang slowly walked to Qian Min's body, turned to Luo Xifeng, and said, "Master Luo is proficient in medicine and must have experience in coroner's work. Could you come and see what exactly caused Qian Min's death?"

Luo Xifeng and Chu Yangyang's eyes met briefly. He nodded, walked forward and squatted beside Qian Min.

He took out the silver needle from his arms and began to perform an autopsy on Qian Min.

After an incense stick of time, he raised the silver needle in his hand. The silver needle on his fingertip shone with a cold blue light under the candlelight. "Qian Min died of poisoning."

"What did you say?!" Lan Yu stood up suddenly, but was pressed down on the shoulders by the officers and soldiers around him, and he knelt on his knees again.

"The poison in Qianmin is called 'Crow's Cry'. When it's exposed to heat, it dissolves into food. It's colorless and tasteless."

Luo Xifeng's fingers touched Qianmin's purple lips, his cold white fingertips reflecting the dark red corpse spots. "At the beginning, the symptoms of this poison are very similar to those of a cold, manifesting as coughing and night sweats. After more than a month, holes will appear in the lungs, and then people will cough up blood and die."

Lan Yu's pupils contracted violently in the candlelight.

He recalled the way his brother clutched his sleeve before he died, and when he saw the dark red blood foam soaking through the coarse linen, he actually thought it was vomiting blood due to a long-term illness.

"Impossible..." He reached for Qian Min's body, trembling all over, wanting to cover his cold hands.

Chu Yangyang, wearing her embroidered shoes, slowly walked up to Lan Yu. "Did you know that what you feed him every day is intestinal poison? And you thought you were just letting nature take its course, wanting Qian Min to fend for herself, but you didn't know that your new master, fearing you would betray him, had secretly poisoned Qian Min. How can I better control you if I don't make sure there is no risk?"

She paused, her words as sharp as a knife, cutting through the air. "Lan Yu, you're just a tool he's using, and your brother is the victim. If you continue to stubbornly refuse to repent, you'll be the next to die. How can your brother rest in peace if he doesn't get the punishment he deserves?"

Lan Yu stared at Qian Min's pale, sunken cheeks. The last trace of blood faded from his face, and he finally let out a dying howl like a wild beast.

"It's her. She was the one who came to me and asked me to cooperate with her to frame the princess." Lan Yu suddenly stopped crying, straightened his back, and pointed his finger in the direction of Jin.

Jin's face turned pale as paper. With a "bang", she slammed the table hard, and the veins on her neck throbbed under the pearl necklace.

"You are slandering me!" Jin's jade earrings trembled in the candlelight, and her nails, stained with nail polish, almost poked Lan Yu's nose. "I have never even heard of your name, so how could I come here and order you to do these things?"

Chu Xinyao threw away the maid who was supporting her and rushed forward, furious. "Stop talking nonsense, Master Jiang! This lowly slave must have accepted bribes from someone to frame Mother!"

She glared at Chu Yangyang fiercely, "It must be you. You're so determined to prove your own innocence that you're using innocent people as scapegoats. What about Qian Min being poisoned? Maybe you and your wife are colluding with each other to frame us!"

Jin was so angry that her chest heaved. "It's completely lawless. They actually framed people with nothing."

Jin suddenly grabbed her uncle Chu Shiying's arms and pleaded, "Brother, please help me speak up. I've been wronged."

Chu Yangyang glanced at Jin's hand holding Chu Shiying's. Chu Shiying then struggled to break free from Jin, as if he was afraid of being misunderstood.

Chu Shiying hesitated in his words, not daring to look at Jin. "Mrs. Jin, how would I know what you've done? Lord Jiang is here, he will naturally make the decision."

As soon as the voice fell, before Jiang Ning could say anything, Chu Yangyang laughed out loud, "Why is Aunt Jin so anxious? Listen to what Lan Yu has to say first. Even if you are angry and want to argue, there is still time."

Lan Yu lowered his eyes, making it impossible to discern his emotions. After a moment, he calmly said, "The person I'm referring to isn't Concubine Jin, but the person behind her."

After saying this, he raised his eyes, his eyes filled with resentment, "It's you, Miss Xiao."

All the candles in the room flickered.

The sound of a teacup falling to the ground was heard behind Jin, and Xiao Renyu slowly appeared, with spilled tea stains on her moon-white dress.

This nominal young lady who was living in the Prime Minister's residence had always appeared gentle and graceful. But when she walked out from the darkness, she looked like a demon with her painted skin torn off, and even the jade hairpin in her hair was crookedly stuck into her temples.

"Miss Xiao gave me ten taels of gold ingots half a month ago."

Lan Yu pulled out a few gleaming gold ingots from his bosom. "Amin had a bit of typhoid back then. It wasn't serious, but it lasted for a while. Then, Miss Xiao came to me and told me that if my brother died of the illness, she could have the princess charged with murder. I could then testify against her. If that happened, she would not only help me redeem myself from slavery with the Prime Minister's Mansion and set me free, but she would also give me a thousand gold coins."

"I was bewildered and believed her words, which harmed Amin. It's all my fault. I deserve to die."

Lan Yu covered his face with his hands and burst into tears again.

Xiao Renyu turned to Luo Xifeng in panic, but met eyes as cold as a pool of icy spring.

Luo Xifeng's eyes swept across Xiao Renyu's pale face as if he was interrogating a criminal. The corners of his lips were three times tighter than usual, and the warmth unique to a doctor in his eyes completely turned cold as ice.

Xiao Renyu stumbled back half a step, his fingertips clutching the hem of his shirt over his chest, "Brother Xifeng, if it's not me, don't you believe me too?"

The tears that were accumulating in her eyes were about to fall. She reached out to pull his sleeve, but Luo Xifeng immediately dodged her. The tears finally fell, and she choked with sobs. "Brother Xifeng, ever since I made a mistake last time, I have learned my lesson. Yangyang has always treated me as a sister, and she even wanted to match me up with..."

She swallowed the word "you".

She suddenly knelt down towards Jiang Ning, and the jade hairpin in her hair clanged against the blue bricks, and the flying jade fragments almost cut her trembling jaw.

"Master Jiang, I am nothing but a fake young lady in the Prime Minister's residence, with no status to speak of. I am bullied by others and am even worse than a servant. Now that some people say I am framing the princess, I have no way to refute it. My life is worthless, and no one will care if I die unjustly. You can just take me back to the Dali Temple to report..."