Han Fengqiu smiled and said, "It has already been prepared for Lord Zu."
After speaking, he waved to the outside, and soon a group of maids and servants came in.
Those who serve the prince's concubines naturally do not need men.
Zu An seemed to be deep in thought, and he looked confident.
He instructed his other subordinates to question the other maids separately, while he himself summoned the head maid, whose clothes were clearly of a higher quality, into the room for a private questioning.
Han Fengqiu seemed to want to avoid suspicion, so he waited outside the courtyard.
"What's your name?" Zuan asked.
“Qiuyue,” the maid replied, head bowed.
"Are you the personal maid of the Prince Qi's concubine?"
"Um."
"Since she was a personal maid, why wasn't she by her master's side that night, causing her to fall into the water with no one to save her?" Zu An's voice turned stern.
The maid replied in a panic, "That night, our mistress went out quietly in the middle of the night without calling us."
Zu An sneered, "As a personal maid, you claim you didn't know your master got up in the middle of the night?"
The maid hurriedly replied, "I don't know why, but I slept very soundly that night. Usually, I wake up at the slightest noise."
"Oh?" Zu An raised an eyebrow. "Were you drugged with sleeping potion or had your pressure points pressed to make you unconscious that night?"
The maid looked puzzled: "I don't know, but how could there be sleeping potion or bad people in a place like the Prince Qi's mansion?"
Zuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Who is your master usually close to? I mean, besides the Prince of Qi."
The maid's face turned pale with fright: "My lord, you mustn't say such things. Our mistress is devoted to the prince, how could she be close to anyone else?"
Zuan sneered, "I only asked her who she was closer to, I didn't say whether it was a man or a woman, but your first reaction was a man. Isn't that admitting it?"
The maidservant hurriedly explained, "My lord, although this prince's mansion cannot compare to the imperial palace, it's inevitable that the prince's various concubines will vie for his favor...it's inevitable that some..."
"Are you trying to say scheming and backstabbing?" Zu'an grew impatient as she continued to stammer.
The maid's expression changed: "This servant dares not speak ill of the ladies behind their backs... However, in this environment, it is naturally impossible for our master to be too close to other women."
Zu An then asked, "Who does she have a grudge against? Who in the household hates her the most?"
The maid shook her head: "Perhaps there is some open and covert struggle among the ladies, but it wouldn't warrant the thought of killing someone. Although the Prince is kind and generous, he is also wise and fair. Anyone who does such a thing will not be tolerated, so the other ladies have no need to take such a big risk. Moreover, our mistress has lived a secluded life for many years and has a gentle and kind personality. She rarely makes enemies with others, so I find it hard to imagine who would want to kill her."
"So you also think her death was an accident?" Zuan stared into her eyes.
"The prince investigated this matter before and concluded that it was an accident. Is there some other hidden story?" the maid asked, puzzled.
Zuan fell silent, then waved for her to leave after a while.
As she reached the door, he suddenly called out to her again: "By the way, does your master treat you well?"
"My mistress is gentle and kind, and treats her servants with great kindness. She is especially close to me, like a sister. What a pity... what a pity..." The maid looked sorrowful and began to cry silently.
Seeing that he couldn't get any more information from her, he gestured for her to leave.
Then he walked straight out the door, and the other guards finished taking his statements one after another. Seeing him, they all shook their heads slightly without revealing anything, obviously they hadn't gained any useful confidence. The death of the Qi King's concubine looked like an accidental drowning.
He thought for a moment and went outside the courtyard, saying to Han Fengqiu, "Please trouble Lord Han to take us to her coffin. We need to examine her body."
A living person may lie, but a corpse cannot.
Han Fengqiu's expression immediately changed: "No, this is absolutely unacceptable! Although she is not the Prince Qi's principal wife, she is still the Prince's woman, and how can she be defiled by others!"
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Only one chapter today. I feel like holidays are actually the busiest and most tiring times for me. Also, I drove over a big pothole today and scraped the undercarriage, and now the air conditioning seems to be working much worse. I wonder if that's related. Ugh, so frustrating!
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