Chapter 59: Escape from Death
"You're right, County Lady. Actually, when the murderer pushed me that day, I was hanging onto a vine behind the cliff. From your perspective, it looked like I fell over, but I luckily escaped with my life. But after that life-or-death experience, I gained a profound enlightenment and decided to give up my candidacy as a husband and never return to the palace to take the risk again." Meng Lanxi opened her innocent eyes, gazing at her with her usual sincerity. "County Lady, think about it, I'm just a powerless Imperial College student. How could I have coerced that bandit into cooperating with me, even to the point of losing my life?"
"Why would you need to coerce me? Actually, on that cliff, in that chaotic life-and-death dispute, from beginning to end, you were the only one—or rather, the only living person."
She didn't say this harshly, but when the men heard it, coupled with the two coffins around them, they couldn't help but get goosebumps.
"Thanks to the trees, the angle, and the darkness of the canyon, we could see the general outline of what happened to you on the cliff, and could barely make out your faces. But from beginning to end, you were the only one who spoke out and scolded Feng Yi. He only showed his disheveled face to confirm his existence. Later, you fought on the cliff again, and finally fell together. Now that I think about it, it's not so much that he held you hostage, but rather that you had to hold on to the corpse the whole time, causing him and the scarecrow that replaced you to fall off the cliff together, putting on a good show for us from a distance!"
Meng Lanxi's eyes flickered slightly, and a puzzled expression appeared on her face. "What the county lady said is a bit absurd. Where did I find a corpse to act with me? How did Feng Yi's body just happen to be fished out from under the cliff?"
"I believe he died in the woods after the fire at the ruined temple that day. Since you're currently in the Northern Yamen Imperial Guard, you have the opportunity to join them in searching for the rebels. If you find his body, you could use it as a tool to hide and escape, thus putting a perfect end to the whereabouts of the rebel soldiers."
"But the Princess of Lingling County..." The coroner from the Dali Temple looked at Cui Fufeng and cautiously reminded Qian Deng, "When I was ordered to examine the body at the edge of the creek, I confirmed that the body was decomposed for two or three days. If she had been killed before, wouldn't the degree of decay match up?"
"Because Meng Lanxi is well versed in medicine, he has his own methods to slow down the decay of corpses. Furthermore, these two bodies fell into the water covered in wounds, making it even more difficult to accurately judge." Before Qian Deng could speak, Cui Fufeng spoke up, "Because I remember that after Madam Qi passed away last year, the hot weather made it difficult to preserve her body. At that time, Meng Lanxi collected herbs and made an antiseptic solution, which did help the body."
Ji Linyou persisted in asking, "If nothing else, how do you explain the fact that you fell off a cliff and into the water in front of everyone, yet you managed to stand before us unscathed?"
Seeing the evidence was so conclusive, Meng Lanxi could only smile bitterly and admit the truth: "As expected, even if I tried my best, I couldn't escape the County Master's discerning eyes... But, County Master, a forced melon is not sweet. I used Feng Yi's corpse to stage a getaway, and it has exhausted everyone's search for many days. Lanxi apologizes to everyone here. However, I really don't want to be a candidate for this husband anymore. I hope that the County Master will show mercy and let me go, and not hold me accountable for stealing the corpse."
"Are you really leaving?" Qian Deng stared at him, asking each word with a measured tone, "Are you afraid that my appearance will bring bad luck to my husband?"
"Yes... With so many previous experiences, Lanxi is really worried..."
"Isn't it because you want to kill someone and escape?"
When these words were spoken, everyone present was shocked.
Screaming Eagle was the first to blurt out, "Kill someone? How could a little chicken like him kill anyone?"
"Does the County Lady mean that Meng Lanxi killed Feng Yi?" Ji Linyou hesitated. "But he's just a scholar, and Feng Yi has been a soldier for nearly twenty years. Is that possible?"
"No. The two people I want to kill should be the ones who set fire to the ruined temple that day. In order to prevent his identity from being exposed, he naturally has to eliminate these knowledgeable soldiers as soon as possible. And if Mr. Meng wants to kill someone, he can only use strategy and careful arrangements. For example-"
Qiandeng stared at Meng Lanxi, her clear eyes now filled with coldness.
"You had no choice but to kill Baibai, whom you had raised for so long, with your own hands, causing a huge disturbance, in order to create an opportunity for yourself to kill Jintang!"
When these words were spoken, other people were still unaware of it, but the other candidates were all shocked and uproared.
After all, they all knew that Meng Lanxi had been taking good care of the rabbit, and after the rabbit was suspected of being killed by Jin Tang, he had an extremely angry quarrel with Jin Tang and they parted on bad terms.
Ji Linyou stared at Meng Lanxi, his eyes bloodshot. "It was you? You killed Jin Tang and put the blame on me?"
Screeching Vulture, on the other hand, was focused on something else: "Impossible? Doesn't he treat that rabbit like a pig?"
In this tense moment, only Xue Xiyang gloated and corrected him: "The apple of your eye, that's used to describe a daughter, okay?"
Meng Lanxi ignored them, staring intently at Qiandeng. "But didn't the county lady already know that Jintang was sealed inside his house when he died, and that he was poisoned from the roof? I'm powerless, and of all the gentlemen on the farm at the time, I was the least capable of climbing up and poisoning people. How could I have done that?"
"Yes, we thought the murderer was someone with great skills, and because Ji Linyou was covered in roofing rags, we determined he was the murderer. But actually—" Qian Deng spoke clearly, emphasizing each word, "that was just a trick the murderer used to frame someone. The real murder method didn't require the murderer to do it himself. He just needed to find a reason to quarrel with Jin Tang—for example, accusing Jin Tang of killing Bai Bai."
Meng Lanxi looked at her with a shimmering look in her eyes, as if she were both disappointed and aggrieved as she defended herself, "County Lady, who exactly attacked Bai Bai that day remains unsolved. Perhaps I misunderstood Jin Tang and impulsively argued with him, which was indeed my fault. But I'm all alone now, and since I adopted Bai Bai, he's been my only solace in my loneliness. How could you, County Lady, think I killed Bai Bai?"
"Because on the surface, it seems that only Jintang would attack your rabbit out of dislike. So, thinking about it the other way around, the rabbit's death can clearly point to Jintang, giving you an opportunity to have a big fight with him."
"Then it shouldn't be me. The county lady likes Baibai so much, and because of it, I have more opportunities to get close to the county lady. Why should I destroy such a good tool like Baibai just to damage the image of Jintang?"
Qian Deng ignored his pathetic excuse: "Perhaps you are reluctant to part with Bai Bai, but unfortunately, the next opportunity you have found requires a big fight with Jin Tang. In this situation, the only thing you can use is Bai Bai. In order to achieve your goal, you have no choice but to sacrifice it!"
Ji Linyou was more concerned about Jin Tang's death than anyone else, and he eagerly expressed his doubts, "But County Master, we were all there when he and Jin Tang quarreled that day, with so many eyes watching. Meng Lanxi didn't do anything in Jin Tang's room, let alone touch his tea. She left after the quarrel, and Jin Tang also died in the closed room. How could a quarrel kill someone?"
Mingjiu slapped his head and said, "I know! He wanted to deceive everyone during the quarrel and poison the tea!"
"Prince Mingjiu may have forgotten that they broke the teapot on the table during their argument, so the farm sent fresh tea to Jintang. What good would it have done Meng Lanxi to poison the broken teapot?" Xue Xiyang said, then turned to Qiandeng and asked with concern, "County Lady, I have a question that needs to be answered. After all, after Meng Lanxi's incident, it was even more impossible for Jintang to meet him that night. Wouldn't that have eliminated the opportunity for poisoning?"
"No, in fact, the Aconitum that poisoned Jintang was not put into the teapot. We were just misled."
Qiandeng gestured to Cui Fufeng, who nodded and pulled out a scroll from his sleeve, showing it to everyone: "This is an archive of all the utensils and appliances on the farm. Among them is a batch of porcelain seized from the rebels. Because there are many guests arriving this time, the farm didn't prepare so many lamps and tea sets, so they used these porcelains. The county lady checked the lamps in each room and found something strange -"
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