Chapter 45 is very strange.
Once the nature of the case involving the illegitimate daughter of the Lin family was determined, it was as if the direction had been pointed out for a clueless search.
Li Jin sat in the main hall of the Lin residence, holding the tea lid and brushing away the foam on the surface: "Everyone here is a veteran of Miss Lin's courtyard. Tell me who your young lady has a grudge against."
The room was filled with a dozen or so maids.
Li Jin gathered all the maids in Lin Ruxue's courtyard, from third-class maids to personal servants, except for the one who was unconscious.
In order to hear the truth, he even sent Lin Yongde outside, leaving only Lin Xinran, the young master of the Lin family, sitting on a chair to the side, watching everything in front of him.
Li Jin spoke for a long time, but no one in front of him said a word.
He put down his teacup and looked at everyone with amusement: "If it's not convenient to talk about this here, then come with me to the Six Doors and we can discuss it slowly, shall we?"
The crowd in front of them was startled, and a small commotion broke out.
Seeing this, Lin Xinran, the young master of the Lin family, quickly stood up and raised his hand to reassure everyone: "Everyone, my father will not question what you have said today. Even if you have spoken rudely, he will not punish you. As you all know, I, Lin Xinran, am not a person who speaks recklessly. Please believe what I say."
Upon hearing his words, the girls exchanged bewildered glances.
Lin Xinran indeed treated people well in the manor and never made things difficult for the servants. His words were a great reassurance to the people who were full of worries.
Only Li Jin's eyes held a more complex mix of emotions.
What exactly did Lin Ruxue do to remain in the shadow of her life even after her death, shrouding all her servants in the memory of her past?
"Let's start with you." His gaze fell on the girl who was dressed the most elegantly.
A maid who can wear brocade must be Lin Ruxue's personal maid, and would know more than others.
The girl was thin and timid. When she saw that her name had been called, she took a small step forward tremblingly and said something shocking: "Miss has too many enemies."
She trembled all over and said in a shaky voice, "Miss has offended almost all the powerful people of her age in the capital!"
Li Jin was not surprised at all by these words.
Lin Ruxue, who seizes every opportunity to belittle others and elevate herself, would be a huge surprise if she hadn't offended several people.
"Let me ask you first, does Miss usually wear any jewelry?" Li Jin asked, taking a sip of tea.
“Miss usually wears a white jade bracelet on her left wrist,” she replied, then hesitated for a moment before adding, “She has been wearing it for many years and cherishes it very much.”
"Where is the enemy?" Li Jin put down his teacup and stared at her face.
The girl paused, "This..."
It's no wonder she was cautious and hesitant; when she recounted these events in detail, they truly astonished everyone present, and even Lin Xinran couldn't quite keep his composure.
This illegitimate daughter of the Lin family is really something. She offended the eldest princess, and she didn't even spare the servants in the entire courtyard.
Even though the person was dead, his personal maid, when listing the possible causes of enmity and resentment, was able to list more than a dozen examples by herself, speaking eloquently.
Li Jin looked at her in surprise. She was only fifteen or sixteen years old and her speech was trembling, but she remembered everything clearly. She remembered the time, the place, who she met, and what she did, as if she had memorized it.
"The feud with the eldest daughter of the Duke of Liang started last year during the Dragon Boat Festival. The young lady tried to pretend to bump into Prince Jing at the crossroads, but the eldest daughter of the Duke of Liang beat her to it." She frowned, her head bowed low, not daring to look at Li Jin's face. "Then...then the young lady got angry and pushed the eldest daughter of the Duke of Liang into the lake at the Dragon Boat Festival."
Jin Shu, who had been standing to the side, tired of the trivial grievances, suddenly perked up and was no longer sleepy.
"The feud with the third young lady of the Liu family, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stemmed from the fact that at the beginning of the year, on Prince Jing's birthday, the birthday gifts that Miss Liu and my young lady sent were very similar. In a fit of anger, my young lady got into a fight with Miss Liu at the gate of Prince Jing's residence."
"And the young lady from the Liu family of the Ministry of Works..."
The personal maid meticulously counted the items one by one, but because she kept her head down and dared not look into Li Jin's eyes, she had no idea what Li Jin's expression was at that moment.
His face was as dark as Jin Shu's, and Jin Shu's face was as bright as his, her interest so great that Zhou Zheng was completely dumbfounded.
They talked for fifteen minutes, listing more than a dozen people, but it was of no use to the case itself.
Li Jin was truly impressed. He wondered how meticulous Lin Ruxue must be to have her maidservant know all these unexpected events by heart.
Jin Shu was also impressed. Lin Ruxue had planned so many times, yet she always managed to encounter "unexpected situations," which in itself proved that these unexpected situations were not unexpected at all.
There's always a cunning mastermind behind every unexpected event; wherever there's an "arrangement," an "unexpected event" is bound to happen.
But this Miss Lin couldn't see through it or understand it, yet she still fought with increasing courage, which was truly commendable.
Just as Jin Shu was listening with great interest, her face beaming, and she was filled with emotion, she suddenly felt a chilling gaze cast upon her from the lower left.
She paused for a moment, then turned her head slightly and saw Li Jin staring at her with a dark expression.
His eyes were full of a sincere inquiry: "Have you heard enough gossip?"
If it weren't for the bone-chilling coldness in his eyes, making her feel like he could kill her at any moment, Jin Shu would have really wanted to tell him she hadn't heard enough.
With so many servants in the Lin family, they kept asking questions from afternoon until late at night. They started with Lin Ruxue's maids and then proceeded to question the entire Lin family.
Aside from discovering that this Miss Lin was a fervent admirer of Prince Jing, Li Jin, and that all the feuds stemmed from Li Jin, there were no other useful clues.
In the afternoon, Jin Shu could treat it as listening to stories and gossip, but in the evening, her expression became particularly amused.
In the stillness of the night, with the moon high in the sky, Li Jin bid farewell to Lin Yongde and Lin Xinran, and amidst the chirping of insects and the faint scent of grass, left the Lin residence, which was already filled with dreams.
When the sun first broke, the Lin family home was still covered in white, as the entire funeral process was interrupted due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding Lin Ruxue's death.
Now, a wooden sign hangs at the entrance that reads "No visitors please, please understand," and the white lanterns cast the character "奠" (meaning "memorial") on the stone steps in front of them.
Before getting into the carriage after leaving Guangliang Gate, Jin Shu turned around, looked at the plaque of the Lin Mansion behind her, and stood in the middle of the road in deep thought for a long time.
"Does it seem suspicious?" Li Jin asked.
“Hmm, it’s very strange.” She turned around, her brows furrowed. “It’s like everyone is an accomplice, it feels so incongruous.”
It's as if they knew Li Jin would ask these questions and had memorized their lines in advance.
Everyone was saying almost the same things: the time, place, and people were almost identical.
It's very strange.
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