Duan Tingxuan was so angry that his face turned pale, but Su Nuannuan smiled slightly and said calmly: "Didn't I just point out that it was me who killed Sister Yun? Why do you have to hide it now? Sister Lan, you are smart. You think that if you say this, it's not you who slandered and framed the Marquis' Mansion, but you are just afraid that the elders and the prince will be deceived, so you will become the heroine who stood up to set things right, right? But why don't you think about it? You said that I deceived the whole family with my cooking skills, so in your eyes, all the elders are old and confused who can turn right and wrong for a bite of food, right? You still dare to say that this is not a false accusation against the Marquis' Mansion?"
"Don't spit blood on me."
Xue Zhilan didn't expect Su Nuannuan to be so alert. She was also a little nervous, so she revealed a flaw in her words and was caught by the other party. This crime must not be confirmed. She immediately turned to look at Duan Tingxuan and called out pitifully, choking with sobs, "Master!"
Before he finished speaking, Su Nuannuan sneered, "Do you still expect me to speak for you? You think he's a foodie."
"You..." Xue Zhilan looked at Su Nuannuan with resentment, but she lowered her eyes again and said seriously, "You said that I ordered someone to poison Sister Yun. Do you have any evidence?"
Xue Zhilan sneered, "Do I even need to ask?" Then she turned to Duan Tingxuan and said in a deep voice, "There are only four people in the whole mansion who know that Sister Yun can't eat lotus roots, Fengxian and Cuiping. I only heard about this from Aunt Jiang's unintentional words a few days ago. Fengxian and Cuiping are loyal to Sister Yun, and if they really want to harm Sister, they wouldn't wait until this time; Sister and I are now dependent on each other, how could I do such a cruel thing? What good will it do to me if I harm her? Moreover, where would I get the chance to do it? Then who harmed Sister Yun? Isn't the answer obvious?"
"You mean to say that it was Wanfang who harmed Ran Yun?" Duan Tingxuan finally spoke, his tone solemn, which made Xue Zhilan relieved. She nodded quickly and said, "Your Majesty is right, but Aunt Jiang has always been cowardly and timid, how could she have such courage? If no one is behind her, I don't think she can do such a cruel thing. As for who is behind it, please call her over. We will know once we ask her. If it doesn't work, use some punishments. I'm not afraid that she won't confess."
"That's not right. Wouldn't that mean he was forced to confess?"
Su Nuannuan frowned to stop him, but she heard Duan Tingxuan say, "It's okay. Since Lan'er has such doubts, let's call Wanfang over to ask her first. The clear ones will be clear and the turbid ones will be turbid."
Su Nuannuan nodded and said, "Since Master said so. Well then, Xing'er, go to Chunfeng Garden and ask Aunt Jiang to come over."
Xing'er agreed to go, and Su Nuannuan called Fengxian and Cuiping to get up. Then she said, "I have nothing to do, but I suddenly remembered something. There is a lot of lotus root in the bowl of chicken soup. Someone must have planted it in there. Fengxian, Cuiping, could it be you who planted it in there?"
Fengxian Cuiping had just stood up, but when she heard this, she knelt down again and cried out in fear, "Grandma, please understand. Even if we have the courage to swallow the sky, we would never dare to cook such a thing. When our grandma was a child, she drank a mouthful of lotus root powder and almost lost her life. From then on, all her close maids knew that all dishes with lotus roots were thrown away. For so many years, it has been peaceful and few people know this secret. If we dared to do such a thing, why would we wait until now? My father and mother are also very comfortable in the Earl's Mansion. Even if we don't know how to repay our kindness, we dare not repay our kindness with hatred."
Su Nuannuan sighed and looked towards the screen. She thought to herself that Xu Ranyun had eaten a mouthful of lotus root powder when she was a child and almost died of an allergic reaction. But over the years, no one knew about this except those close to her. How careful were they? They were probably afraid that someone would use this to kill her. But she didn't expect that she would die from this in the end. The infighting in this family is not much better than that in the harem.
While thinking, he frowned and asked, "Besides you two, was there anyone else in your room that day?"
Cuiping and Fengxian shook their heads together, but soon they said in unison, "Yes, Longyan and Caisang came here together and gave us two side dishes made by Grandma Lan, saying that they were what our grandma liked to eat."
Su Nuannuan looked at Xue Zhilan, but saw Caisang behind her suddenly looked up at Fengxian, her face pale, but she quickly lowered her head again. She pretended not to see it and looked at Xue Zhilan and said, "What's the matter? My sister is sending two personal maids to send two small dishes to Sister Yun?"
Xue Zhilan was also a little surprised. She looked at Long Yan and asked, "Did she go with you to pick mulberry leaves that day?"
Longyan nodded and said, "Yes, grandma, when I went there, Caisang said that she also wanted to ask Cuiping for two flower patterns, so we went together."
Su Nuannuan sneered, "This is really strange. Qiuyun Pavilion has little maids. For such a small matter as delivering food, it is enough to send a little maid over. Why does the big maid in the house have to go there in person?"
Xue Zhilan frowned and snorted, "In addition to delivering the food, I just wanted to ask Sister Yun for two kinds of pills. I was afraid that the little girls wouldn't be able to tell the quantity and the names of the pills, so I sent a cage of cigarettes over."
In fact, she didn't want pills. She asked Long Yan to go and find out if the people arranged by Xu Ranyun had sneaked into Su's house. But of course she couldn't say this, so she had to think of an excuse to deal with it. Anyway, Xu Ranyun was dead, and Fengxian Cuiping didn't need to confess voluntarily. Otherwise, they would be guilty of aggravated crime if they knew about it and didn't report it, so Xue Zhilan lied without any pressure.
"That makes sense."
Su Nuannuan stopped arguing with Xue Zhilan, but she heard her sneer, "Grandma, since you asked the people who were present at the time, why didn't you call the people in the kitchen over to ask? Maybe they did something."
The kitchen was Su Nuannuan's territory, and the Xue family's daughter-in-law was the eldest grandmother's most loyal lackey, which was known to everyone in the mansion. That was why Xue Zhilan deliberately tried to divert the blame. In her opinion, the lotus root in Xu Ranyun's chicken soup was either prepared in the kitchen or was secretly prepared by someone on the way.
After she finished speaking, Feng Xian hesitated and said, "The kitchen had told the masters in the mansion that they were cooking ginseng and angelica chicken soup that day, so my aunt sent me over to get another bowl of chicken soup at noon. I was right next to Sister Xue, watching her pour the soup into the bowl. If she wanted to do something in front of me, I think it's unlikely."
Xue Zhilan asked, "Since you saw the chicken soup, when you came back and served your grandmother the soup, didn't you notice anything unusual?"
Fengxian explained, "It's true that I was with Sister Xue at the time, but I only saw her pouring soup into the bowl one spoonful at a time, and then she closed the lid. I didn't think much about it and came back with the chicken soup, so I didn't know what the bowl of chicken soup under the lid looked like. And the lotus roots were probably very small. When grandma drank it, she just thought it was residue. After drinking it, she said that there were a lot of impurities in this bowl of chicken soup because there were many medicinal herbs in it. We didn't think much about it, but after a while, grandma passed away..." When she said this, she couldn't help but sob again.
Xue Zhilan didn't expect things to take a sudden turn for the worse. In her mind, it must be Aunt Jiang who had communicated with the kitchen staff and made some moves in the kitchen. Anyway, they were all the grandmother's people and listened to her. As long as there was any doubt, they would naturally point the finger at Su Nuannuan. But after hearing what Fengxian said, it was obvious that it was impossible to make a move in the kitchen, unless Fengxian was bribed. But the problem was that after they exposed the strangeness of Xu Ranyun's death in front of Master Xu yesterday, the maids from the Earl's Mansion had been with them all the time, so there was no possibility of her being bribed.
Thinking of this, Xue Zhilan became a little impatient and quickly asked loudly: "Since you can see clearly in the kitchen, what about the way back? From the kitchen to Xia Yuxuan, you didn't meet anyone?"
"No."
Feng Xian shook her head, but soon realized that what she said was inappropriate, and quickly said: "I did meet a few maids, and I just greeted them. I never let go of the food box, and the lid was never opened. I swear to God that there is no way anyone could have played tricks on my chicken soup along the way."
Xue Zhilan was no longer irritable, but her face turned pale.
There was no one in the kitchen or on the road, but my girl went there at a wrong time. In the end, could this shit pot still be put on my head? But on second thought, if you are upright, you have nothing to fear. If you didn't do it, then you didn't do it. Even if someone wants to frame you, there is no evidence. What should I be afraid of? At most, I can let Su Nuannuan escape this time. The days in the future may be difficult, but it will not be impossible.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard the maid outside the door say, "Aunt Jiang is here."
"Let her in." Su Nuannuan called out, and soon, she saw Aunt Jiang in a white dress walking into the room with her head lowered. After greeting Duan Tingxuan, Su Nuannuan, and Xue Zhilan, she whispered, "I wonder what Madam called me here for?"
Su Nuannuan told Xue Zhilan about her suspicion. Sure enough, before she finished, Aunt Jiang raised her head suddenly, her face flushed red, and she looked at Xue Zhilan angrily, pointed at her, and panted and shouted: "Grandma Lan, you... don't slander me. Although Grandma Yun has a prejudice against me, in my heart, she is still my master. How could I have such a conscienceless mind? But you, I told you about this matter unintentionally that day, and I regretted it later, but then I thought about it, I felt that you were gentle and generous on weekdays, how could you harm Grandma Yun, so I told you it was okay, but who knew... less than three days later, Grandma Yun was killed..."
"Shut up."
Before Aunt Jiang could finish her words, Xue Zhilan stopped her with a shout. She was so angry that her whole body was shaking. She pointed at Aunt Jiang and shouted, "Well, I was wondering why you suddenly brought up this matter the other day. It turned out that you were preparing to throw this basin of dirty water on my head today, right?"
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