Nanny Yu quickly brought Liu Zhi and Mrs. Dong over. Liu Zhi was small and thin, looking no more than 13 or 14 years old, with a panicked face and tears in her eyes. Mrs. Dong was much stronger, with a round face that looked very kind. Seeing that all the masters in the room were here, there was a trace of fear in her eyes.

Nanny Yu said nothing on the way here. She brought them to the hall and quietly retreated behind Yun.

Lu Zheng looked at Mrs. Dong and said, "Are you the one who takes care of the flowers and plants in mother's yard?"

Mrs. Dong originally thought that Nanny Yu brought her and Liu Zhi here together to punish Liu Zhi for stealing the golden hairpin. Who knew that as soon as she came in, Lu Zheng asked such an unrelated question, but she didn't dare not answer, so she could only say carefully, "Yes, Third Young Master."

"I have a camellia in my yard that I like very much. I don't know why, but there are suddenly many black spots on the leaves recently. The maid who takes care of the flowers and plants in my yard doesn't know what's going on. Do you know?"

Mrs. Dong looked at Lu Zheng in surprise. She didn't dare to think too much and replied, "It may be a bug or brown spot disease. Otherwise, if this camellia was transplanted, it may not be adapted to the local climate and soil."

"That girl told me the same thing, but the camellia didn't get better."

Mrs. Dong frowned, "Maybe there are other reasons, but I haven't seen the camellia, so I'm not sure."

Lu Zheng smiled and said lightly, "That's it." He glanced at the kneeling Willow Branch again, "What do you do on weekdays?"

Willow Branch stammered, "I usually sweep the yard, and occasionally help Mrs. Dong take care of the flowers and plants."

"Don't be afraid. Let me ask you, how do you get along with Mrs. Dong?"

Liu Zhi glanced at Mrs. Dong beside her, then lowered her head and whispered, "Mother Dong has always been kind to us little girls."

Lu Zheng asked again, "Since you help take care of the flowers and plants, you must know something. Please answer the question just now."

Liu Zhi stammered, "I haven't seen much, but I know that if only this one has black spots, it is most likely due to water and soil incompatibility. Camellias like rotten things and are relatively delicate to keep. This situation is very common. If the flowers and plants next to them also have black spots, they should be sick. Now that the weather is getting colder, it is unlikely to be bitten by insects."

She spoke clearly and seemed to know more about flowers and plants than Mrs. Dong.

Seeing this, Mrs. Dong cast a jealous look at Liu Zhi.

Lu Zheng pretended not to see it and said to Mrs. Dong: "You accused Liu Zhi of stealing my mother's hairpin before, why don't you tell us the whole story again." Mrs. Dong

lowered her head tremblingly and said: "That day, I saw Liu Zhi in the yard..."

"Wait, what day was that day, what time was it, what were you doing in the yard, how did you see Liu Zhi?"

"It was... three days ago, around noon, no... in the afternoon, I was watering the flowers and plants in the yard."

"Go on."

"Yes... I saw Liu Zhi sneaking towards her room and found it strange, so I followed her. I found that she took out a gold hairpin and secretly put it in her bag. I thought the hairpin looked familiar and it seemed to belong to Madam, so I told Nanny Yu about it."

Lu Zheng smiled and said to Yun, "Does mother wear that gold hairpin often?"

Before Yun could say anything, Nanny Yu answered for her, "Third Young Master, Madam has never liked vulgar things like gold and silver. That gold hairpin is her share every season. She usually uses it to reward people, but she has never worn it."

Lu Zheng then said to Mrs. Dong, "Mother has never worn that gold hairpin. "Old slave...old slave ..."

Lu Zheng interrupted her: "Since you couldn't see clearly, how could you be sure that it was mother's gold hairpin? Since you couldn't be sure

, why did you tell mother in such a hurry? What if you were wrong? Wouldn't it be wrong to accuse a good person? Besides, how could you be sure that Liu Zhi would put the gold hairpin there and would not move the stolen goods?" "Old slave...old slave..." Lu Zheng didn't need to

say

anything more, everyone knew who the real criminal in this case was.

Yun was furious. She was a strong-willed person and held all the power in the mansion. However, she did not expect such a thing to happen in her own courtyard, which embarrassed her in front of others. However, this matter was exposed by her beloved son, so she naturally did not want to blame him. She could only transfer all her anger to Mrs. Dong, and even resented Liu Zhi.

At that moment, she did not bother to apologize to Mrs. Lu anymore, and hurriedly returned to her courtyard with a group of people.

Mrs. Lu looked at Lu Zheng lovingly: "Zheng'er is really amazing."

Lu Zheng shook his head embarrassedly.

Lu Qing frowned and glanced at his youngest son. Seeing that his eldest son looked thoughtful, he asked, "How did you know that Mrs. Dong was lying?"

"My mother has never liked pure gold ornaments. Besides, she only discovered that the gold hairpin was lost because someone said that the girl was stealing something. It can be seen that she doesn't use the gold hairpin very often, otherwise she wouldn't have discovered it until someone reported it to me. If that's the case, how did Mrs. Dong know that the gold hairpin was lost by my mother? And she could still swear to lead people to find the stolen thing?" Lu Zheng asked back.

Lu Che nodded: "Unless she stole the hairpin, it would be clear." He looked at his brother in surprise, "Based on this point, you guess that Mrs. Dong is lying?"

Lu Zheng shook his head: "I'm not sure."

Lu Che frowned: "Then how can you say such a thing?"

"Actually, I just find it strange. Mother is strict in managing the household. How could a third-class maid enter my mother's room? On the contrary, Mrs. Dong is in charge of flowers and plants. There are flowers and bonsai in my mother's room. It would be much more convenient for her to enter! But I don't know what deep hatred Mrs. Dong and Liu Zhi have to frame her like this." Lu Zheng supported his chin, thinking that in terms of scheming, Liu Zhi was far better than Mrs. Dong. How could she be framed by such a simple scheme?

After listening to his explanation, Lu Che's brows relaxed, but he still disagreed: "Then you are too frivolous."

"No way." Lu Zheng spread his hands, "Bold assumptions, careful verification."

This is the favorite saying of their professional teacher Professor Zhou. He often said that if you want to learn criminal psychology well, you need a genius imagination and a skeptical attitude, because reality will always be more incredible.

Lu Zheng's professional performance is not very good, but every time he analyzes a case, he can always find the flaw faster than his classmates. This is probably his talent.

Lu Che looked at him with a complicated look and fell into deep thought.

Lu Zheng was completely unaware, and he acted cute in front of Old Lady Lu for a while before he left.

After coming out of Fushou Hall, Lu Qing and Lu Che sat down in the study. He spoke only after the servants served tea and left.

It turned out that Emperor Yongning had decided to send Liang Jue, the deputy commander of the Golden Armor Guard, to Yangzhou. Liang Jue was grateful for Lu Qing's help and revealed some information to him.

"Was this done by the Fourth Prince?" Lu Che frowned.

"It's just that the clues show that." Lu Qing shook his head: "In recent years, the steward of the Fourth Prince's Mansion has often gone to Jiangnan. If we talk about suspicion, he is indeed the biggest. He wants to assassinate the King of Chu just for a little bit of profit, but I don't believe the Fourth Prince is so stupid."

"Father suspects that there is someone pushing him behind the scenes?"

Lu Qing smiled: "No matter who is behind it, when the King of Chu comes back this time, His Majesty will definitely give him an explanation, but let's see which family will be used as a scapegoat."

Lu Che frowned. The Queen passed away, Emperor Yongning had no legitimate son, and the princes grew up. The party struggles have become more and more fierce in recent years. Who knows how many years the Duke of England can remain neutral.

Lu Qing also thought of this and sighed, "His Majesty still trusts us very much, and my father holds military power. I'm afraid that several princes will not let our family go. In the days to come, our whole family must be more cautious."

"Son, don't worry."

"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about that little devil in our family." Lu Qing said unhappily, "The fight between him and Han Er, do you really think he is just seeing injustice as he said? He was just being framed and used as a pawn. Minister Han is the eldest prince's man. By breaking up with the Han family, we indirectly cut off the eldest prince's intention to win us over. The method is good, but I don't know which prince did it."

Lu Che's expression did not change, "But this... " "But his methods show that he is narrow-minded. No matter which prince he is, he will not make it to the end." He paused, "As for the third brother, we can see his ability to see the big picture from the small details today, so father does not need to worry too much about him.

" Lu Qing sneered, "I don't even know my own ancestry. I'm afraid this kid bumped into me by accident. He is not as amazing as you say."

Lu Che did not agree with his father's words in his heart, but he did not refute him. The two talked about state affairs for a while. The British prince Lu Qing has always been a person who seeks stability, but the eldest son Lu Che acts in the opposite way. He seems gentle and elegant, but in fact, his methods are much tougher.

The father and son have had political disagreements for a long time. Even though Lu Che did not argue with his father out of filial piety, he still did what he had to do and was not influenced by his father at all.

The Duke of England has gotten used to it after so many years, but he still has to warn his son. Seeing that Lu Che was about to go back, he hurriedly called him: "How is the Baiquanshan case?"

Lu Che shook his head: "The murderer was cruel, and the victim was not found until two days later, so there were no traces of footprints. The victim was not very old, and I have never heard that she had any enemies with others during her lifetime."

"Could it be related to her parents?"

"The deceased was not a child of the Jiao family, but a refugee in the seventh year of Yongning. Because her parents died, she voluntarily entered slavery. She rarely contacted people in the mansion, but it is said that she has a younger sister outside the mansion, but no one knows her." Lu Che paused, "Why did father suddenly care about this case?"

Lu Qing sighed, "This case has caused panic among the people, even the palace has heard of it, and in addition, there is a severe drought in the north this year, but there are rumors that your majesty killed too many people that year, which angered the heavens."

"It's been so many years, why would someone still mention it?" Lu Che said, "I'm afraid there are ulterior motives."

"Yes, this rumor vaguely revealed the intention of asking His Majesty to issue an edict of guilt. His Majesty was very angry and cleaned up the palace, but he was also concerned about this case."

After hearing what his father said, Lu Che also had a plan in mind. He talked with his father for a while before returning to his room.