端午过后，京城仿佛被大自然精心调绘成一幅清新雅致的画卷。空气中悠悠飘荡着荷香，那淡雅的芬芳丝丝缕缕，沁人心脾，仿佛给这座繁华的都城蒙上了一层诗意的薄纱。状元府的大门上，喜字依旧鲜艳夺目，仿佛还在诉说着不久前那场盛大婚礼的喜悦与甜蜜。而在相府的西跨院，此时已然堆满了苏锦璃的嫁妆，那些琳琅满目的箱笼，承载着她的过往与未来。
菱歌像只勤劳的小蜜蜂，在嫁妆堆里忙得不亦乐乎。她好不容易从一只大箱子里钻了出来，怀里紧紧抱着一匹云锦，额头上满是细密的汗珠，顺着脸颊滑落，打湿了鬓角的发丝。她兴奋地喊道：“小姐，您快瞧瞧，这是南粤送来的凤凰锦，您瞧瞧这色泽，瞧瞧这绣样，可比您嫁衣上的还要鲜亮几分呢！”
Su Jinli was squatting on the ground, intently rummaging through her birth mother's dressing box. It held her few, yet incredibly precious, memories of her. Without even looking up, she casually replied, "Put it away. It'll be perfect for swaddling my daughter later." As she spoke, her fingertips stumbled upon the sandalwood compartment at the bottom of the dressing box, and her heart skipped a beat. Memories flooded back. In her past life, when she was gravely ill, her nurse had frantically thrust a bloodstained handkerchief into her hand, earnestly explaining that her birth mother's death was more than meets the eye, revealing many mysteries. She had also repeatedly urged her to keep the "things" hidden within.
With a mixture of apprehension and excitement, Su Jinli gently pressed the mechanism of the secret compartment, and it swung open. Inside lay a silver hairpin, its body already mottled with rust. The ruby once inlaid on the head had long since vanished, leaving only a striking brown stain. Su Jinli carefully grasped the hairpin and slowly brought it closer to the candlelight. In the flickering candlelight, the stain took on an eerie spiral shape, as if stained by some mysterious liquid, exuding an indescribable eeriness.
"This hairpin... seems to be a birthday gift given to Madam by Madam Liu." The old nanny beside her narrowed her eyes, trying to recall, her voice trembling slightly with age. "Madam accepted it with joy at the time, but put it away after wearing it for a few days, saying it was uncomfortable to wear."
"It hurts?" Su Jinli murmured to herself, her fingertips turned cold in an instant, and a chill arose from the bottom of her heart. In her previous life, her biological mother died suddenly of an "acute illness". Before she died, she tightly grasped her hand and kept muttering "the medicine is bitter", but Liu insisted that it was a cold attack. She was ignorant at that time and could only watch her biological mother pass away. At this moment, she suddenly remembered something, as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw, and hurriedly turned out the old account book at the bottom of the box. The paper of the account book was already yellowed, and the corners were a little damaged. This was the account of medicinal materials that the wet nurse had secretly recorded back then. Every record was filled with the wet nurse's concern and loyalty to the lady. Her eyes searched anxiously on the account book, and finally, a line of words came into view: "On the sixth day of March, Madam Liu sent Madam Zhou to deliver the 'Calming Soup', which used three grams of oleander leaves."
Oleander leaves are poisonous! Su Jinli felt dizzy and the candied fruit she was holding was instantly crushed, the sticky pulp smearing on her fingertips, which felt very similar to the creepy stain on her hairpin. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. With determination in her eyes, she said to Lingge, "Go, call Madam Zhou and tell her I need to check the dowry list."
Madam Zhou, a close confidant of Liu, was hiding in a corner of the side courtyard, secretly counting the personal money Liu had given her. The coins jingled in her hands, bringing a greedy smile to her face. However, when she heard the maid come to announce that Su Jinli was looking for her, her smile froze and her expression became panicked. Ever since Liu's fall from grace at the wedding banquet, she felt like Su Jinli had become a different person, as if she had gained a third eye and was targeting them everywhere. She had a vague sense of foreboding, but she didn't dare disobey Su Jinli's summons, so she had to bite the bullet and get up.
Soon, Nanny Zhou came to Su Jinli. She lowered her head, not daring to look Su Jinli in the eye, her heart pounding like a rabbit. "Nanny Zhou," Su Jinli said, gently shaking the silver hairpin in her hand. Her voice was as light as a falling feather, but it seemed to carry a thousand pounds of force. "Look at this hairpin, do you recognize it?"
Nanny Zhou raised her eyes slightly, glanced at the hairpin, and said with forced calmness: "It...it's an old thing that belonged to the madam back then." Her voice trembled slightly, and she tried hard to hide her inner panic.
"Oh?" Su Jinli's expression suddenly changed. She slammed the hairpin down on the table, making a sharp sound that startled Madam Zhou. With a sharp gaze, Su Jinli stared at Madam Zhou and spoke slowly, "Then tell me, why is there oleander juice on the hairpin? My mother is allergic to this flower."
Nanny Zhou's face turned pale as paper in an instant, her legs softened, and she knelt on the ground with a plop, her eyes full of fear and pleading: "Miss, please spare my life! I... I was forced to do this! Madam Liu threatened me that if I didn't do as she said, she would... sell me to that shameful place!" As she spoke, tears streamed down her face and her body trembled constantly, like a lamb to be slaughtered.
Su Jinli looked at Madam Zhou, kneeling on the ground, a mixture of emotions welling up within her. Anger, sadness, and pain intertwined. She had never imagined that her biological mother would be murdered so insidiously by Liu. Fighting back tears, she coldly demanded, "Tell me, who else was involved? How exactly did you murder my mother? Tell me everything. If you tell even a single lie, I will not forgive you!"
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