When Lu Ze heard the news, he rushed to the room.
Qi Yuning said: "Look at the corpse."
The body was covered with two quilts. Lu Ze opened the quilts one by one and said, "The person died last night. There was a wound on the heart. He must have died from excessive blood loss. We need to wait for the female coroner to come and check if there are any other external injuries."
After all, she was his great cousin's mother, so Lu Ze couldn't just examine her body like he did with other corpses.
Qi Yuning said: "When I first came here, there were only footprints of Yu's maid in the snow-covered yard, and the door was bolted from the inside.
I noticed when I came in that the doors and windows were all tightly closed from the inside. The secret guards around me didn't see any other movement last night. Madam Qin's death was very strange."
Lu Ze looked at the quilt carefully and asked, "How could there be no murder weapon? Have you ever seen the murder weapon?"
Qi Yuning shook his head, "No, I only checked Yu's breath before you came, and I didn't let anyone move for the rest."
Lu Ze looked around and said, "The doors and windows are tightly closed from the inside, and there is no murder weapon. This is indeed strange."
Qi Yuning said: "This matter is really mysterious. A few days ago, Lu Baohua said that Yu's forehead was black. I thought it was Qin Yuli who had an accident, but I didn't expect it to be a catastrophe of life and death."
"Jani, Jani!"
A man came in hurriedly from outside.
Qin Han stepped forward and looked at the stiff Yu, and said in pain: "Jiani, Jiani, wake up!"
A moment later, Qin's uncle-in-law, the second wife of the Qin family, and the fifth master of the Qin family, Qin Zhen, also arrived. Behind them was Yu's personal maid whom Qi Yuning had just met.
When Qin's uncle-in-law saw her eldest daughter-in-law covered in blood, she almost fainted, "Oh my son!"
"Sister-in-law!" Mrs. Qin also burst into tears.
Qin Zhen looked at Lu Ze and said, "Ze'er, what's going on? I heard from Chunxi, the maidservant who came with my sister-in-law, that when she came in, she saw my sister-in-law lying on the bed. Princess Qi came up and said that my sister-in-law was dead?"
Lu Ze bowed and said, "Aunt, great uncle, fifth uncle, second aunt. As soon as the princess entered the room, she saw her first aunt lying dead on the bed. The doors and windows were closed from the inside..."
Qin Han said in grief: "It must be Qi Yuning who bears a grudge against our Qin family. She has always been at odds with Lily, and she deliberately killed Lily's mother!"
Mrs. Qin also looked at Qi Yuning and said, "Since the doors and windows here are tightly closed from the inside, the murderer is not inside. It is only possible that Princess Qi who came in first is the murderer!"
Lu Ze stepped forward and said, "Aunt, my great aunt must have died at 5:45 yesterday. The princess had no chance to do anything at that time."
Someone died in Xianglin Temple. The victim was the Empress' niece-in-law and the Crown Prince's cousin-in-law. The prefect of Shengjing did not dare to delay and came here as soon as he arrived at the yamen.
Seeing Lu Ze here, Zheng Fuyin breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone in Shengjing knew that Lu Shaoqing was a genius at solving cases.
The prefect of Shengjing stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Mr. Lu."
Lu Ze returned the greeting to the Shengjing prefect, "Prefect Zheng."
When Qin Han saw Zheng Fuyin coming, he said in great sorrow: "Zheng Fuyin, you must do something for my wife and find the real culprit!"
When talking about the real murderer, Qin Han glared at Qi Yuning.
Qi Yuning was not afraid at all.
Prefect Zheng asked Qi Yuning, "Princess Qi, can you tell me when was the last time you saw Madam Qin?"
Qi Yuning said: "I didn't see her, but I heard her voice yesterday. After she told the two maids beside her to get out, I heard her lock the door."
Chunxi cried and said, "Madam has been worried these days because the young lady has been in jail. Yesterday, she came to worship Buddha and heard Xia Xi talk about retribution. She became even more disturbed and stayed in the temple.
At night, after taking the medicine, the lady got very angry and drove Xia Xi and I away."
"Xia Xi and I have been following the master since we were four or five years old. We have been following the master for thirty-five years, and twenty-four of them have been married to the Qin Mansion as a dowry. During these years, Xia Xi and I have never married and have always followed the master and served him. If we had known earlier, we should not have left last night!"
Qin Han said to Qi Yuning, "My wife and her two maids have always been loyal to her. Who else would come here to kill my wife except you, Qi Yuning? If it weren't for you, my wife wouldn't have come to the temple. It's all your fault! You killed my wife!"
Qi Yuning said coldly: "Qin Han, this princess is the Princess of Chang'an appointed by His Majesty himself. Who gave you the courage to come and yell in front of this princess? You think your daughter is alone in prison, and you want to accompany her, right?"
Qin Han said sadly: "Qi Yuning, you killed my wife and put my daughter in jail. Do you think I'm afraid of you? Return my wife's life to you!"
Lu Ze stood in front of Qi Yuning and frowned, saying, "Uncle, the princess didn't kill the man. If the princess wanted to kill someone, why would she go through so much trouble? If you really want to find the murderer for your aunt, please calm down!"
"Calm down? My Jiani was killed by her, how can I stay calm?"
"What happened?" Zhao Chong's voice rang out from outside. "Father heard early in the morning that something happened in Xianglin Temple, and asked me to come and take a look."
The wife of Duke Qin cried and said, "Your Highness, your eldest cousin's wife was murdered and lost her life!"
Zhao Chong was stunned, and looked at the heartbroken Qin Han and said, "My condolences, cousin."
Qin Han and Yu Jiani are a young couple who are very much in love. From their name Qin Yuli, we can tell that they have a deep affection for each other.
Qin Han was furious and pointed at Qi Yuning and said, "Your Highness, it was Qi Yuning who killed my wife. You must make the decision for me!"
Lu Ze said, "Your Highness, Princess Qi would never kill anyone. The body was found between 3:45 and 5:45 last night. The princess was with me at that time, so she would never have killed anyone!"
Qin Zhen raised his eyebrows and said, "Princess Qi doesn't have to kill people herself, she has subordinates who will do it for her!"
Qi Yuning said: "Since Fifth Master Qin knew that he could hire someone to kill someone, why did he insist that it was me who did it? Would I be so stupid as to kill her when Madam Qin and I were the only ones in this courtyard?"
Qin Zhen snorted.
Zhao Chong patted Lu Ze on the shoulder and said, "This case will be handed over to you to investigate. You must give your great cousin justice."
Lu Ze nodded slightly and asked the female coroner brought by the prefect to conduct a careful autopsy, confirming that there was only one wound in front of the heart.
The female coroner frowned and said, "This wound looks like it was caused by an iron spike."
Lu Ze frowned. Iron spike, where did the spike come from?
Looking up, if the murderer used the awl to drive the nail down from the tiles, Qi Yuning's secret guards would definitely find it.
The female coroner touched Madam Qin's chest and frowned, saying, "Her chest is especially colder than other places."
Qi Yuning saw the charcoal braziers in the house and asked Chunxi, "Why are there so many charcoal braziers here?"
Chunxi said: "Oh, my wife is afraid of cold, and last night she asked Xiaxi to fill several hot water bottles and put them in the bed. My wife has always had the habit of using hot water bottles to warm her heart..."
Qi Yuning said: "But I have never seen a hot water bottle here!"
Chunxi said, "The master asked Xiaxi to put the hot water bottle there, and Xiaxi put a lot of charcoal braziers there because he was afraid that the lady would freeze."
Lu Ze asked, "Where's Xia Xi?"
Qin Han said angrily, "Xia Xi has been with my wife for more than 30 years. How could she have killed him? She accompanied my wife to the Qin Mansion when she was 15 years old. Now she is almost 40 years old. She has been loyal for 24 years. How could she have killed her master?"
Chunxi said: "Xia Xi, I don't know where Xia Xi went..."
Qi Yuning and Lu Ze looked at each other, and then Jingzhe came in hurriedly and said, "Princess, it's bad, Miss Lingling is missing!"
When Qi Yuning heard this, she was shocked, "Lingling is missing? Where did she go?"
Gu Yu said, "I just saw Miss Lingling still sleeping. I turned around to get some hot water outside, but when I came back into the room, Lingling was gone."
Lu Ze Lian comforted Qi Yuning and said, "Don't worry, Lingling is young and can't run far. Maybe she will come out to find us after she wakes up. Let's ask the secret guards first." (End of this chapter)
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