Xie Yu deliberately led Granny Sun away from the bed and towards the incense burner on the bedside table, asking, "Granny Sun, may I ask what kind of incense is burning in this incense burner?"
"It is sandalwood, a tribute from the Kingdom of Ryukyu."
Xie Yu feigned sudden realization and said, "So it's sandalwood! No wonder it smells so familiar. I remember that in the entire Great Liang, only the Empress seems to have this kind of fragrance."
Granny Sun nodded. "Originally, it was indeed only offered to Her Majesty the Empress. Later, the Empress Dowager felt very comfortable after smelling this fragrance, so she mentioned it to His Majesty. Therefore, in the Great Liang Kingdom, only the Empress and the Empress Dowager enjoy this fragrance."
While the two were talking, Su Yan took advantage of the other palace maids in the room not paying attention and secretly lifted the Empress Dowager's sleeve to see if there were any other purplish-red markings on her body.
Unfortunately, Su Yan didn't see anything.
Am I seeing things?
However, it wasn't without its gains. Su Yan discovered that the faint stench emanating from the room was actually coming from the Empress Dowager.
Having grown up surrounded by corpses, Su Yan couldn't detect the unusual stench.
It's not an ordinary stench, but the smell that only appears after a corpse has decomposed. Although it's very faint, it's not entirely absent.
Su Yan narrowed her eyes and quickly reached out to check the Empress Dowager's pulse. She found that the Empress Dowager was cold all over, but her pulse was beating normally.
She is exactly the same as a healthy person.
No wonder the Imperial Medical Academy diagnosed the Empress Dowager with poisoning, not illness.
This peculiar pulse pattern was something Su Yan had never seen before.
Su Yan was also unable to determine what kind of poison the Empress Dowager had been poisoned with, but there was a solution.
It should be noted that besides Xu Xingjian, Wang Ruofu also received personal instruction from his own father.
Moreover, their skill in identifying poisons seems to surpass even their predecessors.
After thinking for a moment, Su Yan decided to take a little blood from the Empress Dowager so that she could bring it to her senior sister for examination.
So he placed the blood-dripping guillotine, which was hidden in his sleeve, on the Empress Dowager's finger. The guillotine was about the size of a cicada nymph and was an extremely exquisite concealed weapon.
It was invented by my senior sister to poison people without them noticing. With just a light press, the poison needle will pop out.
Luo Yan died from his senior sister's hidden weapon.
However, Su Yan made the best use of it by using it to draw blood.
With Xie Yu's help to cover for her, Su Yan's blood collection went very smoothly, and since the other palace maids were standing in the outer room, they were not noticed by Granny Sun.
After taking the blood from the Empress Dowager, Su Yan left the palace and hurriedly went to Wang Ruofu's residence. She was extremely eager to find out the source of the poison.
As soon as he entered, he placed the hidden weapon in front of his senior sister and said, "Lord Wang, please help me find out the source of the poison."
When Wang Ruofu saw the hidden weapon, he looked extremely surprised, seemingly very surprised that Su Yan would have such a thing.
This hidden weapon was a tenth birthday gift she gave to 'Su Yan'.
Su Yan, who had originally intended to solve the case as soon as possible, never expected that she would completely forget about it.
Because she often used this kind of hidden weapon to play tricks on people when she was a child, whether they were neighbors or servants, they all complained about being tormented by Su Yan. In a fit of anger, her mother threatened to burn the thing.
Su Yan secretly switched the items, burying the hidden weapon under the peach tree in the courtyard.
Several years ago, after Su Yan came to Chang'an from Suizhou, she secretly dug up the buried hidden weapons.
However, more than a decade later, when the hidden weapon was used again, everything had changed.
Looking at the hidden weapon in front of him, Wang Ruofu immediately recognized that it was something he had made himself.
Moreover, this hidden weapon is called 'Hidden Edge', a name given to it by 'Su Yan'.
Wang Ruofu coldly scrutinized Su Yan before her. Before Su Yan could react, a sharp dagger was already pressed against her neck.
"Tell me... how exactly did you get this thing...?"
"Forehead…………"
Su Yan hesitated, unsure how to explain to her senior sister.
If he said he obtained it by chance, not only would Wang Ruofu not believe it, but even he himself wouldn't believe such a perfunctory excuse.
But if it were dug out from one's own yard, the dagger would probably slice through the neck without hesitation the next second.
Wang Ruofu had been investigating the truth behind the massacre of the Su family, and given that her current identity had nothing to do with the Su family, saying this would inevitably arouse her senior sister's suspicion.
After much thought, Su Yan felt that telling the truth might be the best way.
The worst that could happen is that my senior sister would think I'm not smart.
Su Yan took a deep breath, as if to bolster her own courage, and looked at Wang Ruofu with unwavering determination, saying in a deep voice, "Senior Sister, I am Xiao Yan'er..."
Wang Ruofu was stunned when she heard this, and her eyes showed a hint of sympathy as she looked at Su Yan.
Su Yan had anticipated that Wang Ruofu wouldn't believe her, so she directly lifted her clothes, took Wang Ruofu's hand, and pressed it against her chest.
Feeling the soft touch of Su Yan's chest, Wang Ruofu was struck dumb.
Her pupils dilated slightly, her face filled with surprise, and she stammered, "You...you're a...woman..."
Su Yan nodded, "Senior sister, I really didn't lie to you, I am Xiao Yan'er..."
When Wang Ruofu heard this, she felt as if she had encountered a ghost.
When the Su family was wiped out, she was in Yangzhou, not in Chang'an.
After receiving the news, she traveled for three days and three nights before returning to Chang'an. She buried the remains of the Su family members herself, including Su Yan.
So when someone told her that they were dead, Wang Ruofu not only didn't believe it, but also thought she was sick.
Seeing Wang Ruofu's surprised expression, Su Yan knew that she didn't believe her.
He patiently continued to explain, "Senior sister, I don't really understand what happened to me, but I was indeed reborn into another person's body."
Although Wang Ruofu wasn't entirely convinced, he could tell that Su Yan wasn't lying, so he decided to continue probing: "Where is the secret base I often take you to?"
"The place where my dad hid his secret stash of money..."
"Where are you going!"
"Steal his money to buy alcohol..."
"Have I ever hit you...?"
Su Yan nodded, "Yes..."
Wang Ruofu raised an eyebrow, but her suspicions remained. "Why would I hit you..."
"Because I concealed the most crucial evidence in the case for the sake of a girl who killed her mother with her own hands."
After hearing Su Yan's answer, Wang Ruofu narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down.
The fact that she concealed the evidence was known to no one in the world except her and the real 'Su Yan'.
Because she needed an assistant for performing autopsies, she thought of letting Su Yan practice her courage.
But Su Yan learned that the person who killed the victim was a girl who had suffered oppression and torment from her mother and stepfather and had no choice but to fight back. She was also fifteen years old.
Upon seeing the girl, Su Yan felt compassion and wanted to spare her punishment. However, her senior sister discovered this and slapped her hard.
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