Chapter 345 It really wasn't you?
Shen Wantang looked coldly at Huayi. She kept saying that she didn't think Chundie had stolen the lychees. On the surface, she was speaking up for Chundie, but in reality, she was implying that Chundie had stolen the lychees.
Even Xia Chan understood Hua Yi's implied meaning. She burst into tears and knelt before Shen Wantang: "Please, Your Highness, investigate thoroughly! Although Chun Die is not very clever and she is clumsy, her character is absolutely impeccable. She is not the kind of person who would steal your things! Without your permission, she would never dare to touch your brocade box!"
Qin Xin directly exposed Hua Yi's implication: "Hua Yi, you're such a green tea b*tch. On one hand, you praise Chun Die for being honest, and on the other hand, you say she saw you put the lychees into the brocade box. What are you pretending for? Aren't you just trying to say that Chun Die stole the lychees? Do you have any evidence? Are you trying to frame Chun Die like this because you think she's already dead and there's no way to prove it?"
Huayi shook her head with a wronged expression: "Sister Qinxin misunderstood me. I didn't say that Chundie stole the lychees. I said that I also think it wasn't Chundie who stole them. Maybe the mice stole them."
"In short, I think Chun Die's death has nothing to do with Li Zhi. She probably had diarrhea all night because she ate something unclean."
Before she could finish speaking, Xiao Qingyuan immediately said, "That's right! That's exactly it. Chun Die's death has nothing to do with Lizhi!"
"Shen Wantang, didn't you also buy lychees? Didn't you eat them? And you're fine, aren't you? Why do you insist that Chundie died because she ate the lychees I brought back? Let's not even talk about the fact that she didn't eat that lychee at all, and even if she did, it's impossible for her to die!"
"I think you're just trying to pin Chun Die's death on me. Only Hua Yi has sharp eyes and saw through your scheme!"
Shen Wantang said coldly, "The lychees I bought are all fresh, so there's nothing wrong with eating them. Are the lychees the young master ate fresh?"
Xiao Qingyuan paused for a moment, then said with a lack of confidence, "How can it not be fresh? Of course it's fresh. Yuan Zheng gave it to me. If you don't believe me, I'll call Yuan Zheng over right now and we'll prove it to each other!"
Shen Wantang looked at him calmly: "I didn't expect that the young master and the eldest son of the Yuan family would make up again. Didn't you two become enemies because of Aunt Chu's matter? What, he sent you lychees again?"
"What I do with Yuan Zheng is none of your business! Anyway, he just sent me lychees, believe it or not!"
"I believe you, of course I believe you. After all, you don't have any money. If it weren't for Young Master Yuan giving you lychees, you wouldn't have been able to afford them."
"You!! You're mocking me again!"
"I just don't understand, Young Master Yuan is so wealthy, why did he only give the young master one lychee? Is he such a stingy person?"
"Yuan Zheng is certainly not stingy! He gave me one because it was the last one left in Qingyunlou!"
"I clearly bought all the lychees from Qingyunlou Restaurant, so where did the last one come from?"
"Who do you think you are, to think you can just buy them all like that? Qingyunlou only left me one, so what? You're not happy about that?"
Shen Wantang looked at him sarcastically: "Qingyunlou wouldn't have saved one for you, because when I went to buy them, they had no idea that the young master was also buying some. The most likely scenario is that they picked out a half-good, half-bad lychee from the ones I had left and gave it to you."
Xiao Qingyuan was stunned; she had guessed perfectly!
How could this be? How could she be so intelligent?
He suddenly remembered that during the Xin family case, Shen Mingxuan had told him that the case was actually solved by Shen Wantang, but she gave the credit to Gu Qianhan.
At the time, he didn't believe Shen Wantang could solve the case at all, and thought Shen Mingxuan was deliberately lying to him.
But after witnessing Shen Wantang's deduction and solving of the case with his own eyes today, and personally experiencing her keenness and insight, he suddenly felt that what Shen Mingxuan said might be true!
Thinking this to himself, he couldn't help but ask, "Shen Wantang, did you solve the Xin family case? You have to tell the truth!"
His question came as abruptly as to Shen Wantang, but she remained calm: "It wasn't me. If I had such great crime-solving skills, wouldn't I have already caught the murderer who killed Chundie? Why make such a fuss?"
"It really wasn't you?"
Upon receiving this answer, Xiao Qingyuan felt inexplicably relieved: "I also think it couldn't be you."
Just then, Princess Ning arrived with her entourage.
Shen Wantang stood up and stepped forward to support Princess Ning's arm: "Mother has arrived. Did you also hear the commotion here?"
Princess Ning's expression was grave: "I heard that the maidservant in Qingyuan's courtyard has died?"
"yes."
"The New Year is just around the corner, how could a maid suddenly die? Has the cause of death been determined?"
"Based on preliminary assessment, the cause of death was likely food poisoning, which led to severe diarrhea."
"Have you informed her family?"
"I've already sent someone to inform them, and they should be here in a little while."
Princess Ning saw that she handled the situation well and did not lose her composure due to the sudden death of her maid. She couldn't help but nod in approval. The daughter-in-law she had chosen truly had the demeanor of a matriarch.
This commotion has really gotten a bit out of hand.
She waved her hand and said to everyone, "Alright, everyone get out of here and do what you're supposed to do. Don't stand here and get in the way."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Qingyuan pulled Huayi along, turned around, and left, as if he didn't want to stay in Shen Wantang's courtyard for even a moment longer.
After everyone had left, Princess Ning said, "Tang'er, the death of a maid in Qingyuan's courtyard is not something to be proud of. This matter should not be publicized, otherwise Qingyuan's reputation will be even worse. He is already being gossiped about by outsiders, and he can't withstand any more rumors. Do you understand?"
Shen Wantang lowered her head slightly: "Mother is right. Don't worry, I will handle this matter properly and it will not implicate the young master."
Princess Ning nodded in satisfaction: "I like your intelligence and sensibility. Alright, I have nothing more to tell you. You go ahead with your work, I'll head back now."
"Take care, Mother."
Shen Wantang escorted her to the door, then turned back.
She sat in the chair at the head of the table for a long time without moving or speaking.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She stared at the small clump of lychee shells on the handkerchief. After a long while, she asked softly, "Granny, have you seen any lychee pits?"
Granny Chai replied, "No, we only have lychee peels."
"Did you search carefully?"
"This old servant led men to search the entire Xinghe Courtyard, but we couldn't find any lychee pits."
Shen Wantang stared blankly: "Then it should be... in Chun Die's stomach. She had never eaten lychees before and didn't know that the seeds inside should be spit out. The lychee was also spoiled and tasted terrible, so she swallowed it whole."
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