Chapter 76: Confession
Chi Xiao acted quickly. In just a moment, he summoned the servants in the courtyard again and drove them to Xun Shu's courtyard like sheep.
Li Xuanhe's courtyard had few servants: just two menial servants, two maids, and two yard sweepers. The six stood in a row in the courtyard, their heads bowed, a very well-behaved bunch.
Li Xuanhe sat at the stone table beneath the tree, still resting his elbows on it, rubbing his aching forehead. He glanced at them indifferently, as if looking at a group of strangers. "What happened in the courtyard after I left last night? Why did my brother let the Second Miss Qin in even though he was waiting inside?"
The six people in the courtyard looked at each other in bewilderment. The maid standing in the middle spoke first, "Not long after the young master and Miss Xun left the Marquis' Mansion last night, the Crown Prince arrived and insisted on waiting for the young master in the courtyard. We had no choice but to open the door to the main room and let him in to rest. We offered him tea, but he refused, dismissed us, and closed the door, waiting for the young master alone in the room. We thought the Crown Prince might take this opportunity to rest for a while, so we didn't disturb him."
"You didn't serve tea to your brother?"
Li Xuanhe's voice was indistinguishable from emotion. The maids thought he was accusing them of being unruly, so they hurriedly explained, "Yes, I had already brewed tea last night, but the Crown Prince refused. Seeing he didn't want it, I placed the tea tray on the table by the door, thinking that if he was thirsty later, he could just bring it in. Then the tea disappeared, and I thought someone else had taken it. I didn't expect it to appear in the room. I wonder who brought it in."
Li Xuanhe glanced at the others, and everyone he saw shook their heads and waved their hands, indicating that the matter had nothing to do with them, fearing they would be held accountable. Li Xuanhe hadn't slept all night, and his headache was severe. He became increasingly impatient, and his expression turned completely cold: "Don't answer every question you ask."
The servants knelt down in a flash, all in a state of panic. A burly servant, with a mournful face, said, "Sir, it's not that we don't want to answer, but we simply don't know. Yesterday, not long after the Crown Prince arrived, someone from the Princess's courtyard arrived, saying they'd prepared some new clothes for you and Miss Xun, and handed the two sisters over. A little later, someone from the Madam's courtyard arrived, saying she'd lost her temper that night and insisted on rearranging the things in the house. She sent for three more people, leaving me alone in the courtyard. But then, someone else arrived, asking for help carrying a trunk. The person was dressed like a servant, but I didn't recognize them. Thinking it wouldn't take long, I left. When I returned, Second Lady Qin had arrived without me noticing, and was inside with the Crown Prince... having so much fun, they'd lost track of time."
Li Xuanhe was furious, but he didn't show it on his face. He just continued to ask, "How long were you gone? Was there anything unusual in the courtyard when you came back?"
It was the same servant from before: "I helped the man carry the box to the pavilion in the back garden, and then returned to the courtyard. I was gone for about an incense stick of time. When I returned, there was no one else in the courtyard except Miss Qin Er in the room, and there was nothing unusual. Later, the others returned one after another. At that time, the prince and Miss Qin Er in the room were arguing quite fiercely. We didn't know what to do, so we could only guard the courtyard gate from a distance, fearing that if we got too close, we would offend the two people inside."
Li Xuanhe said coldly, "In other words, there has been no one guarding this courtyard for a full stick of incense?"
The servants lowered their heads and crouched, not daring to speak again.
Li Xuanhe was almost amused by their anger. "I've only been away from the capital for half a year, and you've become so lax? If confidential documents were left in the academy, wouldn't you be handing them over to the thieves?"
"My dear, calm down."
The case was important. Li Xuanhe waved his hand and said, "Yuchang, make a note of this. Once the case is concluded, take a few people with you to receive your punishment." He paused and continued, "Where are the people who went to my grandmother's and mother's courtyards yesterday? Did you see anything unusual after you went there?"
The two maids replied, "When we arrived at the Princess's courtyard, the sisters there said they had never sent anyone to your mansion. However, the Princess had prepared some clothes for you a few days ago, so they asked us to wait a moment while they went to get them and asked us to bring them back."
The other three said, "We went to the old lady's courtyard, and someone was already waiting. He led us to the old lady's garden and led us to move dozens of bonsai pots in the dark. But strangely, we were the only ones busy in the courtyard, and no one else was around."
Seeing that the people in the courtyard could not provide any more useful clues, Li Xuanhe waved his hand to let them leave, and then summoned the two followers of Li Xuanhou to the courtyard.
The two followers were led to the stone table and stood a few steps away, hunched over, silent and trembling.
Li Xuanhe had seen them many times around Li Xuanhou, and most of the time they were scolded and criticized by Li Xuanhou. However, these two seemed to have had their souls sucked away long ago. Not to mention refuting with words, they couldn't even resist with their eyes.
Li Xuanhe asked, "Where did you two go yesterday? Why didn't you follow your brother?"
"The prince said he was looking for the third young master, but he just walked around the mansion and returned after a while, and didn't let us follow him."
"Do you know why he came to see me?"
"Slaves don't know."
"Does anyone know that he came to look for me?"
The two looked at each other and shook their heads again, "No. The Crown Prince came to look for the Third Young Master on a whim, and only mentioned it to us two. After that, the Crown Prince did not return for a long time. We wanted to go look for him, but then we remembered that the Crown Prince had punished us two for such a thing, so we stayed in the courtyard and waited."
Xun Shu listened from the side, somewhat curious: "Was the Crown Prince's wife at the mansion last night? My husband didn't come home all night, didn't she ask where he went?"
"Madam didn't ask anything yesterday. The Crown Prince just took a beautiful concubine a few months ago and is doting on her. She's been staying there most of the time lately. Madam has made a fuss about this many times. She didn't ask yesterday, perhaps because she thought the Crown Prince had gone to his concubine's room again and didn't want to upset him by asking."
Xun Shu nodded and said slowly, "You wealthy people are really interesting. You're clearly a family, but you don't ask when your husband doesn't come home at night, and you don't even look for him when he lives in the same house. It's like you're two families. You're really different from us ordinary people."
Xun Shu's words were merely casual, but they sounded like a rebuke to Li Xuanhe's ears. For a moment, he felt both aggrieved at being implicated in his brother's affairs and annoyed at these two for having to do such a shameful thing in his courtyard.
After the matter is settled, he will definitely demolish the house and rebuild it to get rid of the bad luck in his heart... No, it would be better to take the opportunity to move out of the Pingyang Marquis Mansion and buy a small courtyard.
Li Xuanhe suppressed his chaotic thoughts for the moment and continued to ask the two people step by step, "Brother, do you have any enemies?"
"The prince is the prince of Pingyang Marquis's Mansion. Who would dare to be his enemy? If you really want to say——"
The speaker was mid-sentence when someone beside him tugged at his clothes, causing him to stop talking and lower his head again. Li Xuanhe, who had clearly observed their movements, frowned and said, "Today's interrogation is to investigate the case. You can speak freely. Apart from a few people in the courtyard, no one else will know, and I will not pursue the matter later."
Seeing he couldn't hide it, the man said with a mournful face, "Rumors are circulating in the mansion, saying that the eldest princess has been asking the Marquis to make the third son the Crown Prince, but the old lady has always disagreed. Now that the Crown Prince is gone, the throne is vacant. The Marquis's only legitimate son is you, the third son. You must be the future Marquis of Pingyang!"
The two servants spoke vaguely, but the people in the courtyard already understood what he meant.
The eldest princess and Li Xuanhe are the biggest beneficiaries of this incident, and they both have motives to kill.
Regardless of whether the mother and son really did it, or whether they really coveted the position of the prince, everyone in the Pingyang Marquis Mansion, regardless of their status, probably thinks so now.
Li Xuanhe became increasingly irritable, his face as gloomy as a thousand-year-old ice.
He was not afraid of being misunderstood, but he did not want his mother to suffer such humiliation.
The people in the courtyard sensed Li Xuanhe's wrath, and for a moment no one dared to speak, fearing that it would draw his wrath upon them. Only Xun Shu, seemingly oblivious, softly soothed him, "It's okay. You've behaved with integrity, and no one would dare to accuse you of anything wrong with this. Everyone has a destiny. He's simply done too many bad things, and this is retribution. How can he blame you? At most, you've gotten away with something."
These words were quite shocking, but they were like a breeze that blew away the depressed mood in Li Xuanhe's heart, making the wrinkles between his brows a little less severe.
"Ashu is a little wrong." He sighed softly, "The position of the Crown Prince is not what I want, nor is it what my mother wants. Only now do I realize that this huge mansion is so cold and frightening. It is not as desirable as a small courtyard."
The yard was not big, and only he and Xun Shu lived there. Their life was simple and warm, without any conspiracy or deception, like when they were in the coffin shop.
Xun Shu was about to say something when she caught sight of Li Song leading his men into the courtyard. She swallowed her words. Li Song walked into the courtyard with a careless gesture, first waving perfunctorily at Li Xuanhe, then looking at Xun Shu, smiling, "Miss Xun, it's been over a month since we last met in Chaozhou. I never thought we'd meet again."
Li Xuanhe's brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed again and he interrupted, "What did you find?"
Li Song raised an eyebrow. "Apart from what you've discovered, sir, there are no further clues. The remaining tea in the teapot has been taken back to the Dali Temple by Lao Zhuang. He said that this medicine is new to him, too, and he wants to study it carefully. If even Lao Zhuang hasn't seen this medicine before, it must not be found just anywhere. Perhaps we can start from here and catch the person who drugged it." He paused, then continued, "And sir, have you found anything?"
Li Xuanhe told Li Song the most important things he had discovered, and finally asked, "Do you think this matter is related to Miss Qin Er?"
Li Song sat down on the empty stool beside the stone table, putting away the joking expression on his face and becoming serious. "It's hard to say. There's no one left in the courtyard. If we can't find the maid that Miss Qin mentioned, who said you were in the room and let her in directly, then no one can verify her statement. It's unknown whether she added the drug to the tea. She could have put the drug in the tea, fabricated a non-existent person, framed everything on that person, and then used the clean sweet soup to prove her innocence."
"I thought so too. However, there's no evidence to prove she's lying. She's the Qin family's legitimate daughter, the Crown Prince's wife's biological sister, so we can't take her back to the Dali Temple for torture." Li Xuanhe paused before continuing, "This case is so confusing right now. We can't even identify the murderer or their target, and the identities of the people involved are so complex... It's a very difficult situation."
"It may not be the murderer." Li Song said meaningfully, "Lao Zhuang said that this medicine is powerful and the dosage is difficult to control. I think the person who poisoned you originally wanted to make you or the prince fall victim to it to facilitate the marriage, not to kill you. He might have been afraid that if he didn't give you enough medicine, you would avoid it because of your strong concentration, so he gave you more, but he didn't know that this medicine could also kill people."
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