Liu'er, Zhu'er, and Guo'er stood in a line before Zhong Li.
Before Zhong Li could speak, Zhu'er, who saw the note on the table, cast a cold glance at Guo'er standing beside her and said, "Guo'er, I never expected the murderer to be you."
Guo'er followed her gaze, saw the contents of the note, and her eyes widened in shock. "This... how is that possible? I didn't kill Young Master Ji, I didn't!"
As she spoke, she glanced at Zhong Li, who sat at the table without moving. She then knelt on the ground with a thud and said, "My lord, my lord, I didn't kill anyone, I really didn't.
I'm new at Hua Man Lou. Young Master Ji was the most generous among the young masters I served, and he was good-looking. Why would I cut off my own source of income?"
Zhong Li curved her lips. "I know you didn't."
Then, she shifted her gaze to the wine glass in front of her and said to the other two, "I found a small amount of arsenic in this wine glass. I wonder which one of you did it?"
"Arsenic?" Upon hearing this, Liu'er's eyes darted around a few times. To mask her guilt, she lowered her head.
Seeing this, Zhu'er grabbed Liu'er and exclaimed, "Arsenic, it must be you! You said some time ago that to maintain your appearance, you had to buy some arsenic from Old Huang at the pharmacy across the way. It turns out you weren't using it for yourself, but for Young Master Ji. You killed him!"
Zhu'er's questioning flustered Liu'er. She shook her head frantically, trying to break free from Zhu'er's grip. "It wasn't me, it really wasn't me.
Right! I was sad and angry that Young Master Ji had fallen for someone else, but I also know that at our age as courtesans, beauty inevitably fades. It's normal for Young Master Ji to be like this. What benefit would killing him bring me?"
"I don't know about the benefits, but I guess you must have felt it was unfair and didn't want to ride on someone else's coattails, so you killed Young Master Ji?" Zhu'er pressed on.
Liu'er stomped her foot in anger. "No, no, don't talk nonsense."
Zhu'er sneered and forcefully pulled Liu'er in front of Zhong Li. "My lord, it's her! Arrest her immediately!"
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li raised her eyes to look at Zhu'er.
She noticed that a few pieces of the colored nail polish on Zhu'er's smooth fingernails had chipped off and smiled. "Zhu'er, do you like cooking?"
Zhu'er was stunned. She thought Zhong Li would agree to have Liu'er arrested, but instead, she asked an irrelevant question.
"I... yes..." she replied truthfully.
Zhong Li said, "This nail polish looks freshly applied. It's a pity it chipped off."
Zhu'er lowered her eyes to look at her fingernails, as if recalling something, and tried to hide her hands behind her back.
Zhong Li, having seen all her subtle movements, picked up the wooden chopsticks on the table and stirred the bowl of congee in front of her. "At first, I thought they were red beans. Looking closely now, it seems to be the color of your nail polish that has fallen in."
Zhu'er remained silent, merely swallowing several times.
Zhong Li, too lazy to bother with her, turned to the madam behind her and asked, "Who made this table of dishes?"
The madam knew that lying would be useless and truthfully replied, "Zhu'er."
"Oh?" Zhong Li sneered. "Ji Chen was in Guo'er's room. Why were the dishes made by Zhu'er?"
Upon hearing this question, the madam sighed. "Aren't these girls always troublesome? Ever since Young Master Ji started favoring Guo'er, Zhu'er has always wanted Young Master Ji to return to her room. So, every time Young Master Ji comes, she prepares a table of dishes for him to taste."
"So, Zhu'er had already decided on these dishes?" Zhong Li asked again.
The madam nodded truthfully.
Zhong Li stood up and walked up to Zhu'er. "If that's the case, then you are the one who killed Ji Chen."
"What?" As soon as she finished speaking, whispers erupted around them.
They were all discussing what kind of person this female young minister of the Dali Temple was. The deceased held a note pointing to the killer, and there was arsenic on the table that the killer had used. Yet, why did she insist it was Zhu'er, who willingly prepared a table of dishes to show affection and wifely virtues to her beloved?
"The reason is very simple," Zhong Li said, pouring the dog meat from the table into the bowl of congee in front of her. "Dog meat cannot be eaten with mung beans because they react and produce toxins. If one eats too much, they will naturally die from poisoning without timely rescue.
And coincidentally, although the male corpse showed signs of poisoning, after my examination, it was not arsenic poisoning but food poisoning. Therefore, I infer that the murderer is Zhu'er. The arsenic on the rim of the glass was not enough to be fatal."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone's attention turned to Zhu'er.
Zhu'er's body trembled. She wanted to argue, but her lips trembled for a long time, and she couldn't utter a complete sentence.
Seeing this, the madam looked disbelievingly. She quickly walked to Zhu'er's side and asked, "How could it be you? Zhu'er, why would you do such a foolish thing?"
Zhu'er knew the evidence was conclusive and could no longer argue. After her gaze swept across Zhong Li, it fell on the male corpse on the ground.
She could no longer hold back her emotions. She prostrated herself on Ji Chen and sobbed piteously, "I didn't want to, I really didn't want to!
I just wanted Young Master Ji to fulfill his promise to me, but I never expected it to end like this!"
"His promise to you?" Liu'er, who was older, heard this and had some inkling of the truth.
She shuffled her feet to Zhu'er's side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did he promise to buy your freedom?"
Zhu'er nodded. "Yes, Young Master Ji had promised me not only to buy my freedom but also to take me into his mansion as a concubine. Who among the dozens of sisters in Hua Man Lou doesn't wish to escape from here quickly and find a reliable man to plan for their later years? Wuwu..."
Upon hearing this, Liu'er sighed. "I don't know if this will be any comfort to you, but six years ago, when I was still beautiful, Young Master Ji said the same thing to me."
"What did you say?" Zhu'er heard this, and the expression on her face froze. A teardrop hung in the corner of her eye.
She seemed to understand something, and her eyes widened.
Liu'er said no more and stood up, walking out of the room.
Zhong Li watched Zhu'er like this and said to the person behind her, "Wang Zhu, arrest her and take her back to the Dali Temple!"
Hearing this, Wang Zhu walked up to Zhu'er and began to put restraints on her.
The madam looked at Zhu'er, who was like a puddle of mud, and thought for a moment. "Zhu'er, did you think that Young Master Ji didn't fulfill his promise to you because Liu'er and Guo'er instigated him?
That's why you framed them for Young Master Ji's death?"
Zhu'er sniffled but remained silent.
The madam sighed. "I thought that after staying in this establishment for a long time, the women here would naturally see through many things.
I didn't expect you to not even know whether a man's words were true or false, or whether he was just being flirtatious.
Even if you had succeeded in framing Guo'er and Liu'er this time, Zhu'er! Let me tell you, you still wouldn't be able to marry into the Ji family!"
Zhu'er listened and paused as Wang Zhu walked away. She let out a tragic smile and walked out of Hua Man Lou.