Chapter 88: People Have Calculations 19: The Truth (End)
Qin Huixin stared at the medicine bottle, panicking. She took a deep breath and forced a bleak smile. "Since this was found in the maid's room, you should ask her, or at least ask Her Royal Highness the Princess. What does it have to do with me? My father did give me a similar medicine bottle a few years ago, but I lost it years ago. How could I know why it appeared here? The capital is so big, perhaps there were more than two bottles of medicine back then. The bottle you found might be the third one."
Li Xuanhe stood in the sunlight, his eyes bright and his smile lingering. He feigned an awkward expression, "Sister-in-law is right. Otherwise, I can't understand why. If it was just about Miss Qin and me, a tiny amount of the medicine would have been enough. Why so much? It's like she wants to kill me. I thought Sister-in-law was afraid I would compete for the position of Crown Prince, so she wanted to get it all at once and eliminate the problem once and for all."
He seemed to be joking, his words were all baseless nonsense, but they suddenly enlightened those who knew the inside story of the case and clarified many unsolved mysteries. All the unreasonable points now had reasonable explanations, no need to elaborate, everyone had made their own decisions.
Li Xuanhe seemed oblivious to everyone's thoughts, his expression suppressed. He took a few steps forward, squatted, and looked at the kneeling maid from the Princess's courtyard. He chuckled softly, "See? No one will help you. The medicine bottle and banknotes were found in your room, so you must be involved. Since you refuse to say anything and refuse to reveal who's behind this, I can only send you to the Dali Temple Prison. The methods there are quite brutal, and I don't know how long a delicate girl like you can hold out." He paused, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Have you heard of lingchi? It's the least noteworthy punishment there. You'll see much more interesting things when you get there."
After he finished speaking, he stood up and looked at Qin Huixin not far away. He said calmly, "I forgot to tell you that plotting to murder the prince is a serious crime. According to Daliang law, three clans will be implicated. Unless you can prove that you were coerced or instructed by someone, all the people you want to protect will die because of you. They will go to the Dali Temple prison with you. You'd better think it over carefully."
The maid slumped on the ground, her eyes blank. After a moment, she suddenly came to her senses and threw herself at Li Xuanhe's feet, kowtowing repeatedly: "Please, sir, spare my family. I am willing to tell you anything. No matter how you punish me, I have no complaints. I only ask that you please don't implicate my parents and younger brothers and sisters at home!"
Qin Huixin fidgeted restlessly. Just as she was about to speak, she caught sight of Li Xuanhe's half-smile and her voice faltered. Li Xuanhe stared at her, his expression relaxed, but his eyes concealed a murderous intent. "Oh? Then tell me, where did you get that bottle of medicine, and who instructed you to do all this?"
The maid glanced at Qin Huixin, then turned away. After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, she gritted her teeth and said, "The Crown Prince's wife asked me to do all this. She also gave me that bottle of medicine. She threatened me with my family, so I dared not disobey. When she gave me the medicine, she only said that she wanted to help Miss Qin fulfill her wish. She never said that the medicine would be fatal... Please, my Lord, please understand. If I had known that this would be fatal, I would not have dared to do it even if I had ten thousand guts!"
"What did she tell you? Did she tell you exactly what to do?"
"After the Crown Prince's wife gave me the medicine, she told me that she would find an opportunity to send everyone away from the Third Young Master's courtyard in advance, and then send someone to contact me, asking me to go to the Third Young Master's courtyard and find a way to mix the medicine into the tea to promote the relationship between Miss Qin Er and the Third Young Master. I was also curious why they didn't just ask Miss Qin Er to come, but the Crown Prince's wife said that Miss Qin Er didn't know about this and asked me not to tell her. I am just an employee, and since the Crown Prince's wife didn't say anything, I naturally didn't dare to ask more.
"That night, I received the news and went to the Third Young Master's courtyard. Sure enough, no one was there. I saw the brewed tea outside the room and took it directly, which saved me a lot of trouble. At that time, the lights were on in the main room, and the door was closed. I could vaguely see the shadow of a person. At that time, I thought it was the Third Young Master, so I moved very quietly. I had just administered the medicine as requested by the Crown Prince's wife when Miss Qin arrived. I was afraid that the Third Young Master would recognize me as not from his courtyard, so I handed the tea to Miss Qin and told her that he was in the room. I would not follow her in and not disturb them from chatting. Miss Qin was very happy to hear that. After Miss Qin entered the room with the tea, I hurried away and rushed back to the Princess's courtyard."
Li Xuanhe continued to ask, "When she gave it to you, was the wax seal still there?"
"It's still intact."
"Did she tell you how much medicine to take?"
"I didn't say anything. I thought this bottle of medicine should be enough for one dose, so I added it all in."
The maid seemed to have accepted her fate. Li Xuanhe asked her a question, and she answered it without hiding anything. Qin Hui watched helplessly as everything unfolded, unable to stop it in front of everyone. She could only slump in her chair, her face pale, almost unable to sit still.
After the maid finished telling everything, she was taken away and imprisoned. Li Xuanhe turned to look at Qin Huixin and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, do you have anything else to say?"
Qin Huixin shook her head and smiled bitterly, "Since you already know everything, I have nothing more to say. This was indeed my idea and has nothing to do with Lan Xin, so please don't blame her. And I had someone put the poison in the flower cake. Everyone in the family knows you like Miss Xun. If Lan Xin wants to marry into the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion, Miss Xun will be the biggest obstacle. I'm her elder sister, and it's my duty to clear the way for my sister." She chuckled softly, a hint of bitterness. "I originally thought that since I'm the Crown Prince's wife and gave birth to Xi Nu, even if I plotted against the Third Young Master and poisoned Miss Xun, the Pingyang Marquis' Mansion wouldn't do anything to me for the sake of their reputation. But I didn't expect that after all these schemes, I would end up killing my husband and Xi Nu... It's all fate..."
Qin Lanxin didn't expect Qin Huixin to say that. She was stunned for a moment and murmured, "Sister..."
Qin Huixin didn't look at him. She raised her head and looked at Li Xuanhe persistently: "I have nothing now, and I only care about Lan Xin. I only hope that you will take Lan Xin into your room because of my dedication to serving the prince and taking care of the old lady over the past few years. Her health is broken now, and it will be difficult for her to find a good family. You can make her a concubine and give her a place to stay. For the rest of her life, she will be vegetarian and chant Buddhist scriptures and will not cause any more trouble."
Li Xuanhe was almost laughing out of anger.
When Qin Huixin first spoke, he did waver for a moment. To be fair, after marrying into the Pingyang Marquis's mansion, Qin Huixin had indeed been a virtuous wife and mother, even often accompanying the old lady, making her particularly happy. While the Pingyang Marquis's mansion appeared harmonious, it was actually plagued by constant conflict. Over the past few years, she had indeed done her duty, intentionally or unintentionally, resolving many conflicts and disputes.
At that time, he really treated her as an insignificant elder.
When did things start to change? Perhaps it was as he grew older, traveling with Qin Yuan, solving many cases, and gaining some fame in the capital. Some even said that compared to his unsuccessful brother, he was the most suitable person to be the Prince of Pingyang. Later, Qin Hui's heart gradually changed.
He actually didn't care about Qin Huixin's changes. After all, Qin Huixin was just a stranger with whom he had some relationship. However, he didn't expect that her changes would lead to such a disaster.
Now that the disaster had occurred, minimizing the impact was crucial. If the truth of these two cases were revealed, the Pingyang Marquisate would become a laughing stock. If one of the Qin sisters were to stop everything, it wouldn't be a bad idea to save the situation, but the person who would have to sacrifice it would be Qin Lanxin.
He could not tolerate someone plotting against Xun Shu, a completely innocent person who had no connection with the Pingyang Marquis Mansion.
But Qin Huixin not only wants to save Qin Lanxin, but also wants to plan a worry-free way out for her. How can there be such a good thing in the world?
Li Xuanhe's expression remained unchanged. He turned to look at Qin Lanxin and said calmly, "The sweet soup that Second Miss Qin brought to my courtyard that day, which was snatched away by my brother, was from Baifulou?"
Qin Lan's heart tightened, and she answered cautiously, "Yes."
"Why did you suddenly think of bringing the sweet soup back home that day?"
"Baifulou's sweet soup is a new style that has been launched in the past six months and has become very famous recently. I guessed you haven't tried it, so I thought of bringing you a bowl." Qin Lanxin bit her lip lightly and said sadly, "I just wanted you to try it, but I didn't expect it to be like this..."
"Did you buy that sweet soup yourself?"
Qin Lan felt a secret joy in her heart and relaxed her guard a little: "Of course. How can I let others do the things I want to give to you?"
Li Xuanhe nodded slightly, his expression unchanged. "It's a coincidence that Baifulou is somehow connected to Xinu's death. Xinu died from a poisoned snack he stole from the kitchen, and the poison in that snack was Gelsemium elegans. After that day, the Dali Temple investigated all the medical clinics and pharmacies in the city and discovered that five people had recently purchased Gelsemium elegans. The Gelsemium elegans purchased by the other four people has been traced back to their whereabouts, and the final purchaser was none other than a waiter at Baifulou."
"After that, we went to look for the waiter, and he said a girl had asked him to buy it. The girl was wearing a veil, so he couldn't see her face. He only remembered that she bought a bowl of sweet soup when she left. It happened to be the same bowl that Miss Jiang Er brought back to the mansion and delivered to my courtyard that day. Miss Jiang Er, this person must be you, or one of your maids?"
He mentioned Baifulou because of this! Qin Lanxin was stunned and opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. She thought she had done it secretly, but she didn't expect it to be so easily discovered.
Qin Huixin stood up, her body swaying, still trying to defend Qin Lanxin: "Sanlang! I said, this matter has nothing to do with Lanxin. I asked Lanxin to buy the poison, and she didn't know what I wanted the poison for."
Li Xuanhe stared at Qin Huixin, seeing her eyes full of pleading. He sneered, "You're defending Qin Lanxin so much today, but have you ever thought about who would have died if Xinu's wet nurse hadn't been so domineering? It would have been Miss Xun. She's my savior. I brought her to the capital to thank her, not to let her die for no reason. It doesn't matter if you don't admit it today. I'll always find a way to make the truth come out."
"Don't bother me, Third Young Master." Qin Lanxin raised her head, tears still welling up in her eyes. "Third Young Master, don't you just want to support Miss Xun? I'll tell you everything. And please, Third Young Master, don't implicate innocent people."
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The author has something to say: The Qin sisters’ inner thoughts are rarely mentioned, but in fact, their thoughts are also very interesting.
They are sisters and competitors. There are plots and calculations, but there is also sincerity.
In short, man can plan a thousand things, but God can dispose of them all.
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