Ning Wen said, "This Taoist He travels around the world and his whereabouts are uncertain. It was by chance that I ran into him. He learned that I was worried that Nian Nian hadn't conceived after marrying into the Huang family for six months, so he came to see if Nian Nian could have children."
Qi Yuning asked, "Did Taoist He say anything?"
Chen Nian said, "Master He just told me not to worry, saying that I was destined to have two sons and two daughters, which means I will have many children and grandchildren. I think Master He would not allow that."
Chen Nian lowered his eyes and said, "Having only Han'er in my life is enough."
Qi Yuning said, "That's not necessarily true. Huang Rui was so unkind to you when he was alive. After you got pregnant, he found a prostitute to marry. You don't have to be a widow for three years with such an unfaithful man. You can marry a good man and have both sons and daughters, and a large family with many children and grandchildren."
Ning Wen glanced at Qi Yuning and sighed softly.
Chen Nian pursed her lips and said, "I won't marry another woman. I just want to be with my Han'er and let him grow up well. There are few men in this world who are faithful to their promises. I have bad luck and dare not look for another man."
Qi Yuning said: "What you said makes sense."
When Qi Yuning returned to Lu Ze's room, Lu Yun had just returned.
He coughed several times as he entered the room, and said to Lu Ze in a sickly tone, "Brother, I'm sick. I want to go back to North City."
Lu Ze looked at Lu Yun with extreme disdain and said, "Stop pretending to be sick. What news did you get yesterday?"
Lu Yun sniffed and said, "That Manniang's family used to be an official. She was sold to a brothel because her family got into trouble. Manniang is a rare beauty in Longzhou City, so the madam carefully trained her and only let her out to receive customers when she was seventeen.
Her first day as a guest caused quite a stir, and Huang Rui bought her for a thousand taels of silver, bringing her into the Huang Mansion as a concubine, transforming her into a phoenix.
Qi Yuning asked, "Is there an official in your family? What kind of official?"
Lu Yun said, "He is a high-ranking official from the Bai family, the governor of Longzhou."
Qi Yuning asked: "Bai Ting?"
Lu Ze said, "If it's the Bai family of Longzhou, then it would be Bai Ting."
Qi Yuning said, "He was a top scholar. He got into trouble because he offended the Qin family, right?"
Lu Ze nodded lightly and said, "Well, I didn't expect Man Niang to be the daughter of the Bai family."
Qi Yuning said, "No wonder she plays the piano so well. I thought that such skills could not be taught in a brothel."
Lu Yun said, "That's all there is to know about Man Niang. I asked eight girls last night, but they didn't know much. However, there was a little maid named A Ni who said a lot of bad things about Man Niang, saying that Man Niang was not a virgin when she was with Huang Rui, and that she was not a virgin the night Huang Rui and Man Niang made love in the brothel..."
Qi Yuning frowned slightly when he heard this.
Lu Ze stood up and said, "Let's go check on Man Niang."
Lu Ze and Qi Yuning went to Man Niang's place.
Man Niang saw Lu Ze and Qi Yuning coming and greeted them at the door, "Master."
Seeing Man Niang blocking the way outside the room, Lu Ze said, "I'm just passing by and would like to have a cup of tea."
Man Niang ordered the maid to serve tea to Lu Ze.
Lu Ze said, "It's a gloomy day, and it looks like it's going to rain heavily. Can I go sit in Master Bai's room?"
Man Niang frowned and said, "Master, wait a moment."
Manniang gave the maidservant beside her a few words and said, "Master, please come in."
After Lu Ze and Qi Yuning entered, Man Niang took the tea offered by the maid and said, "Master, please have some tea."
Lu Ze took a seat and took the teacup. He smelled the rich sweet fragrance in Manniang's room and looked at the wooden box with incense blocks next to the incense burner. He walked to the window and looked at the medicine burner and medicine residue outside the window. "Is the donor sick?"
Manniang said, "After my husband left, I lost my appetite and felt a little sick."
Qi Yuning looked at the medicine outside and said, "Astragalus, Atractylodes macrocephala, Ramie root, Scutellaria baicalensis, Lycium barbarum, Perilla frutescens, Cuscuta australis. What is your illness?"
Man Niang covered her lower abdomen, not expecting that the maidservant beside the monk could recognize the medicine residue.
Lu Ze knew from the medicine Qi Yuning mentioned that it was a common pregnancy-preserving medicine. He looked at Man Niang and said, "Since you are pregnant, why don't you tell us?"
Manniang said, "I dare not. My husband is gone. I'm afraid the Huang family will not tolerate me if I tell them I have a child."
Lu Ze said, "It's a good thing that you have a child. Why wouldn't the Huang family tolerate you?"
Man Niang said: "I...I..."
Qi Yuning stared at Man Niang and said, "Do you know what kind of fragrance you used? It's the fragrance of opium. Once addicted, your child won't live long. The child in your belly will also be addicted to drugs after birth. How dare you give your child opium?!"
Lu Ze poured the tea in his hand onto the incense burner and said with certainty, "Huang Rui died in your room."
Man Niang shook her head and said, "My husband died at the hands of the eldest young lady's wife. It has nothing to do with me!"
Qi Yuning looked at Man Niang and said, "You still want to quibble? As long as your room is closer to Chen Nian's room, it will also be closer to move Huang Rui's body there."
Man Niang asked, "Where's the evidence? What evidence do you have?"
Lu Ze took out the opium incense stick from the incense burner. "The nail print on this opium incense stick matches the opium hidden in Huang Rui's nails!"
Qi Yuning ordered the maidservant beside Manniang, "Go and find your Jiedushi Huang!"
The little maidservant beside Man Niang walked forward tremblingly. Man Niang frowned, went to the bed, took out a dagger, and stabbed at Lu Ze.
When Lu Ze saw the dagger, he wrapped the Buddhist beads in his hand around it. He reached out and grabbed Man Niang's wrist, and with a force, Man Niang's hand dislocated and fell down.
Qi Yuning looked at Lu Ze and said, "I didn't expect the master to have this trick."
Lu Ze looked up at Qi Yuning and said, "During the Dali Temple hearings, this kind of desperate behavior has happened more than once."
When the maidservant beside Manniang walked to the door, she realized why she had listened to the maidservant and went to find the governor.
When she was about to go back, Qi Yuning came out and said, "Didn't I tell you to go find Jiedushi Huang? Why don't you go now?"
When the little maid heard Qi Yuning's order, she felt it was even more terrifying than Madam Qin's. She did not dare to disobey and went to find Jiedushi Huang.
Qi Yuning went to Shen Nian's room to find Shen Nian, Ning Wen, and Mr. Shen Sanye, and went to Man Niang's room together.
In Manniang's room, after everyone arrived, Huang Tao asked Lu Ze, "Master, have you found the real culprit?"
Lu Ze clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, your son's death is closely related to Bai Manniang. There are small fragments of opium on Huang Rui's fingernails, and there are fingernail marks on the opium block in Bai Manniang's room.
I think Huang Rui held the opium incense so tightly before he died that even his fingernails were filled with powder. Because opium incense is expensive, Bai Manniang refused to throw away the incense incense even if it was taken from the corpse's hand, and continued to keep it for use..."
Shen Nian was supported by Ning Wen. She looked at Man Niang with a heartbroken look and said, "Man Niang, Huang Rui was so good to you! He even wanted to divorce me just to marry you! Why did you kill him?!"
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