Fucha snorted disdainfully and said in a coquettish voice, "Yes, sister, if you investigate the East Courtyard like this, those who know you will say that you are impartial and thorough in your investigation. But those who don't know you... will think that you can't tolerate Consort Nian, can't tolerate..." Fucha deliberately left her sentence unfinished, leaving room for people to speculate.
Before Lanqin could speak, the outspoken Wu said, "Since you feel the concubine is being unfair and has ulterior motives, why don't we investigate everyone? Since you're so confident, let's start with your own courtyard." Wu paused, not waiting for a reply. She continued, "By the way, everyone must be severely tortured; otherwise, how will we know if they're telling the truth..."
After Wu finished speaking, she glanced at Fucha, who reluctantly backed away.
Lady Nian's face was ashen, and her voice was like the cold, shattered ice floating on the water: "What if you can't find anything from me, the wife?" After saying that, she stared at Lanqin with questioning eyes again.
"This servant...this servant...suddenly remembered, the prince especially loved to eat fish when he was alive, and he always instructed the kitchen to cook fish. I wonder if that's it...this servant really doesn't know anything else..." A timid voice rang out from outside.
Lanqin and Madam Nian turned around at the same time to look at the group of people standing on the ground. They saw that the one who spoke was a little maid standing in the second row. She was in charge of preparing vegetables in the kitchen.
Lady Nian scolded, "How dare you! The prince likes to eat fish, so why do you cook fish so often? Is there something wrong with the fish?"
The young maid was so frightened that she turned to kowtow to Lady Nian, her forehead bleeding. She said tremblingly, "Consort, I don't know if there's anything wrong with the Third Prince eating fish. I just think that many people know that the Third Prince likes fish. Could it be that he's been poisoned because of this? I really only want what's best for the Prince... Consort, I only have a suspicion. I didn't mean anything else."
Before Nian could reprimand her, Lanqin asked, "Where did those fish come from?"
The young maidservant quickly replied, "It's delivered from the main kitchen every morning. Because the Third Prince likes to eat fish, Chef Gao from the kitchen prepares fish for him every day."
“Yes, yes, this servant cooks fish for the Third Prince every day. The Consort also occasionally orders fish.” A servant standing in the third row immediately replied.
Lanqin then said to Madam Nian, "If Hongsheng was poisoned right under your nose, the East Courtyard has many people and different people managing everything from food to other things. It seems unlikely that the murderer would poison Hongsheng alone, and it wouldn't be the first or second time. That's why I said earlier that I should have Doctor Lin examine you, your maid, and the Third Prince's maid for poison."
Upon hearing this, Madam Nian suddenly realized that what she said made sense, but she didn't want to openly agree, so she asked, "Then why are we all unharmed?"
Lanqin continued her analysis: "That person can only poison everyone, but they also discovered that Hongsheng particularly likes to eat fish, so they would deliberately poison the fish. Just now, Master Gao said that he would cook fish for the Third Prince every day, while you only order fish occasionally. As for the others, they eat even less fish."
Although Lady Nian refused to admit that Lanqin's words made sense, after Lanqin's explanation, Lady Nian began to genuinely worry whether she had also been poisoned by cinnabar.
This book comes from
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
