Chapter 94: Gift
In the silence, everyone looked at Yan Penglai, whose guilt was gradually revealed. He looked spotless and ethereal, but at this moment, a faint bloody aura lingered around him, which made people feel cold.
"Lord Yan, after you knew that Princess Gao was going to commit suicide to escape punishment, you began plotting to use this opportunity to kill Zheng Raoan. You took a box from the princess's residence, locked it, and gave it to him for safekeeping. Inside were nothing more than two blue garments. After the princess's death, when everything was settled, you could have simply gone back with the same box and exchanged them. Zheng's residence was short-staffed, and you were familiar with Zheng Raoan. If you just sat in the study, who would be watching you? Swapping the two boxes would have been easy. And the box you later brought to Zheng's residence must have contained Princess Gao's duck-cheek fur coat and Shangluo's cinnabar pendant.
"You sent the cinnabar pendant along for two reasons. First, it's poisonous when exposed to fire, so Zheng Raoan's death could be attributed to accidental suicide. Second, it belonged to Shangluo, and together with the things from the princess's mansion, it could prove Shangluo's disappearance is related to the princess's mansion. Third, it was to destroy evidence, making it appear that the duck-cheek fur coat was given to Zheng Raoan and had nothing to do with the princess's death.
"After you've exchanged the boxes, you can tell Zheng Rao'an that the princess has committed suicide. Let him open the box the princess gave him and deal with it himself. Zheng Rao'an has been in the court for a long time, so he naturally knows the bloody storm behind the princess's suicide. Personal belongings sent by the princess before her death are troublesome, so they must be secretly burned behind closed doors to eliminate all traces. So, without any effort, Zheng Rao'an died in the closed study."
"But..." Shangluo sat leaning against the railing, asking in shock and fear, "Is my cinnabar pendant really that poisonous? Will it suffocate someone to death in an instant?"
Ji Linyou was also a little puzzled. "Yes, didn't the county lady just say that all the details were within Yan Penglai's calculations? But the cinnabar pendant is only the size of a palm. If Doctor Zheng hadn't leaned over and been directly exposed to the smoke, how could he have collapsed into the incense burner and suffocated to death?"
Qian Deng was confident: "No, Zheng Raoan will definitely pass out in the incense burner during the burning."
"Deeply dreaming..." Meng Lanxi murmured.
"Yes, when the duck-cheek fur coat burned and the flames and smoke rose, Zheng Raoan might have been able to hide, but he definitely couldn't escape the dream of being deeply engulfed in it. He would have surely fallen beside the incense burner and suffocated to death. Moreover, with his frail old bones, even if he didn't suffocate on the incense ash, he would definitely not be able to escape death from the poisonous cinnabar gas nearby."
Yan Penglai's face finally looked pale and withered, his jaw was tense, and he couldn't utter a word.
All the young men's eyes were focused on him, but no one could speak.
"Why, Lord Yan? Zheng Rao'an and Princess Gao have both done you great favors, but why would you repay them with hatred by killing both of them?"
This sentence was like pouring a bucket of hot water into a frying pan, causing the already shocked crowd to involuntarily gasp and exclaim in surprise again.
Mingjiu was the first to blurt out, "What? Didn't Princess Slap commit suicide? Xianzhu, how can you say... he killed her?"
Cui Fufeng's expression changed slightly as he asked, "Are you serious, County Lady? But Princess Gao's death involved a suicide note and a motive, and the County Lady had previously closed the case in public at court."
"Yes, we investigated step by step before and concluded that Princess Gao committed suicide, but - this was actually a plot set up by the real murderer." Qian Deng stared at Yan Penglai and spoke word by word, "Lord Yan, you hid behind the case, using a mixture of truth and illusion to cover up your presence and completely hide yourself from our sight. And the evidence was the amulet found by Shangluo, which is why you had to take the risk of hiding it."
Amidst the uproar of the crowd, Qiandeng looked at the shocked Shangluo and said, "Come on, Shangluo, tell us about the day you disappeared."
Shangluo nodded and recalled, "After Princess Gao died, I had many nightmares, so I asked Brother Penglai... Yan Penglai to draw a talisman for me. That night, I couldn't sleep, and I saw the golden light shining on it from the candlelight. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the thing that flashed in my eyes between the cracks in the waterside pavilion's stones might also be a talisman!
"But before the princess died, we had already cleaned the cracks in the stone. So who at the waterside pavilion put this thing in there? This is so strange! So at dawn, I ran to find the county lady holding the amulet. Who knew that as soon as I left the house, I was knocked unconscious and lost consciousness..."
"Originally, I hadn't thought about the amulet, but one thing is certain: the only person in the backyard who knew Shangluo would sense something was wrong because of the amulet was you—Yan Penglai—who gave it to him."
Qian Deng said, turning to look at Yan Penglai: "It seems that Mr. Yan must have planned everything immediately that night, squatting outside Shangluo's house, absolutely unwilling to give him any chance to leak any clues."
Yan Penglai looked at Shang Luo's heartbroken expression and dared not speak for a moment, only to look away silently. "Yes... that was the amulet I gave to Princess Gao. When she committed suicide, I took it back to avoid being implicated, and secretly stuffed it into the crevice of the waterside pavilion. Later, in order to cover up my affair with the princess, I knew Shang Luo had discovered that the glowing object in the crevice was the amulet, so I... ruthlessly killed him. But no matter what, I didn't want him to get into trouble! I was forced to do so. I just wanted to release him after everything was settled, and let him be fine..."
Qian Deng interrupted him coldly, "Don't resist stubbornly and insist that Princess Gao committed suicide. That amulet wasn't something you gave her."
As she spoke, she looked at the maid outside the corridor and called out, "Diaomao, have you brought the futon?"
Daimao, who was listening to her analysis of the case with everyone else, came to his senses, hurried forward, and handed her a cushion in his hand.
Qiandeng took it in his hand and showed it to everyone: "I wonder if you gentlemen still remember it? This is the gift that Master Yan gave me on my birthday."
The cushion is made up of the scraps of robes from hundreds of eminent monks. All the pieces of cloth are not much bigger than a fingernail, and are carefully sewn together with fine stitches, stitch by stitch, and arranged into the shape of a blooming lotus according to the depth of color and the age and newness. The meticulousness and care put into it is amazing.
"Lord Yan told me that you grew up in poverty and often helped your mother with housework. It seems that intelligent people excel at everything, even needlework," Qian Deng said, gently patting the soft, plump cushion filled with silk cotton. "Speaking of which, Lord Meng, when Lord Yan gave me this cushion, you looked surprised. Why?"
Meng Lanxi, pointed at by Qian Deng, uttered an "Ah!" and looked at Yan Penglai, a little nervously, "Because a few days before the county lady's birthday, I received a letter from Ling Sijie. He was busy with military affairs and came back in a hurry, so he asked me to help him prepare a gift box. When I went to the carpenter's shop to choose the size, I happened to see Yan Bucheng leaving. The shop assistant was very talkative. Recognizing me as a candidate for the county lady's husband, he asked with a strange smile if I wanted to pay extra to carve a box to congratulate the county lady on her birthday. I took a glance and saw that they were carving a small box the size of a palm, flat. I thought it should be suitable for a Buddhist bead bracelet..."
"So, what Mr. Yan originally wanted to give me couldn't have been a futon." Qian Deng put the futon down and asked, "Mr. Yan, what was the reason that you suddenly replaced my birthday gift with such a large futon, stuffed it in a package, and brought it to me at Qujiang Lake?"
Yan Penglai pursed his lips silently and lowered his head without saying a word.
"Because you had to bring something to Princess Gao that day. A small box containing Buddhist beads obviously wouldn't be able to help you smuggle it into Qujiang Pond, but a soft, fluffy cushion that could be squeezed into a ball would be perfect."
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