Zou Chengyi’s face blended into the darkness of the night.
“So you’re saying there’s a good chance Garden Master wasn’t bribed or threatened?”
Nan Shiying nodded. “A high probability!”
“Of course, that’s after I examine all the bodies,” she added.
With that, Nan Shiying wiped her hands with a white cloth and walked towards Garden Master. She intended to examine each person in the order of their deaths.
Garden Master had died from a stab wound, a single blow through the heart. His cause of death was nothing suspicious. However, as she unfastened his clothes, she discovered a letter, dried and weathered, yet still shattered into pieces beyond recognition.
Nan Shiying paid it no mind, or rather, even if she had, she wouldn’t have been able to restore such a severely damaged letter. Yet, as she picked it up, she caught a scent.
It was like the scent of Muyue flowers.
Muyue flowers bloomed year-round, but they were only planted in the residences of the wealthy and powerful. They were not found in the outskirts of the capital or in common homes. This was because a single Muyue flower cost a hundred taels.
A hundred taels could sustain a family of three for nearly a year.
So, who had given him this letter?
Nan Shiying set the letter aside. Apart from that, there were no other clues on his person.
Wang Er had died swiftly, succumbing to poison, a swift death. Nan Shiying peeled open his chest, and then that of Zhao Jun. The internal damage to both men was largely consistent, as were the color and taste of their blood. Thus, it was preliminarily concluded that they had died from the same poison.
Wang Er bore many old scars. The Ministry of Punishment had previously confirmed that he had indeed worked as a镖师 (bodyguard) for a time. However, he later became addicted to gambling, gradually losing his home. He then somehow became involved with an organization that trafficked women and children, earning some ill-gotten gains.
However… Nan Shiying remained greatly intrigued by his subsequent purchase of the house near the ancestral temple, rather than reclaiming his ancestral home.
Sun Ming and his wife offered little for examination; their cause of death was obvious, and they bore no significant old wounds.
Nan Shiying walked to the side and squatted by the water缸 (water vat) in the corner, washing her hands while contemplating the entire affair.
There were many suspicious points, the clues were jumbled, and some aspects… were so smooth that they gave the illusion that everything had been meticulously arranged.
For instance, since Zhao Jun had already prepared the evidence, why did he keep the rubbings? And how did the Ministry of Punishment so easily find the murderer of Liu Ling?
The latter might have been a deliberate act to frame her, but what about the former? It couldn't have been mere carelessness, could it?
And then there was Garden Master.
What was his position in this case? Was he an accomplice, or had he discovered something and was silenced?
Nan Shiying felt she needed to visit Garden Master’s home.
As she stood up, Zou Chengyi suddenly recalled something and asked Nan Shiying, “I remember now. When Zhao Jun was dissecting Liu Ling’s body, he mentioned the incorrect position of the livor mortis. He said Liu Ling had struggled before death. Was that Zhao Jun speaking falsely, or…?”
“It was indeed incorrect!”
Aside from concealing another poison within Liu Ling and diverting suspicion to Garden Master, Zhao Jun had not lied about other matters.
Why would they do this?
Why would the shadowy orchestrator, after poisoning Liu Ling and before Liu Ling had completely died, throw him off the bed, alter the position of the livor mortis to create the appearance of struggle before death?
Was it to conceal the existence of another poison?
Was that necessary?
Moreover, even excluding Garden Master, the entire affair did not disrupt the perpetrator’s plan.
Even if the coroner from the Jingzhao Fu prefecture determined that Liu Ling had died of poisoning rather than wound infection, the subsequent machinations against her could still have proceeded smoothly, couldn't they?
No, that wasn’t right!
The handwriting!
If Garden Master had investigated everything, the perpetrator might not have obtained her handwriting, thus failing to create a closed loop.
The prescriptions she issued were only available at Tongji Pharmacy and the Nan and Liu mansions.
Perhaps the other party did not want to alert them and therefore did not even consider going to Tongji Pharmacy, nor could they access the Nan or Liu mansions.
Therefore, was that entire sequence of actions towards Liu Ling and the killing of Garden Master all for this reason?
The logic was sound, but Nan Shiying still felt she was missing something, like the letter in Garden Master’s arms.
Nan Shiying furrowed her brow in annoyance, a fleeting ruthlessness in her eyes that still made Zou Chengyi tremble. She wiped her hands with the white cloth and asked Zou Chengyi, “Sir, have those you sent to the ancestral temple returned? What did they say?”
“They found nothing!” Zou Chengyi replied.
He didn’t understand why she cared so much about that ancestral temple, nor why she believed Wang Er would hide his purchased medicinal herbs there. As far as he knew, a group of children who had escaped the black market used to live in the ancestral temple, and those children were now arranged by her at Tongji Pharmacy.
Zou Chengyi found her unfathomable.
At times, she was as cold-blooded and bloodthirsty as a Yama, yet her act of taking in those children exuded compassion and mercy, like a living Bodhisattva spoken of by the people of Yuzhou.
Human nature was complex and unfathomable, but no matter how complex, its external manifestations would not be as starkly polarized as hers.
Zou Chengyi asked her, “So, have you figured out who would orchestrate such a grand scheme just to frame you?”
Nan Shiying shook her head. In her current identity, she hadn’t truly offended anyone. If she had to name someone, besides Liu Ling, it might be Nan Yuan’er, but it wasn’t that she looked down on her; with her capabilities, she couldn’t possibly devise such a large-scale plot.
Nan Chaoyin, that old fox, might be capable of it.
However… Nan Shiying paused slightly. Nan Chaoyin??
He wouldn’t go to such lengths for Nan Yuan’er, would he? This didn't align with the old fox's character. If he were orchestrating a scheme, then the ultimate goal of this scheme certainly wouldn't be to frame her! Or rather, it wouldn't *just* be to frame her; she might merely be a character to be dealt with incidentally within this grander scheme.
Nan Shiying’s brows creased into a frown, and she sighed in annoyance.
All she wanted now was to lie in bed, wrapped in a warm quilt, and sleep until the world turned upside down. Ideally, she would wake up to find it all over, and she could just be a good-for-nothing freeloader!
…
The prison.
Lu Wan walked to the adjacent cell and stood before Qin Xiaorong’s bed. She took out a bottle of medicine and poured it into the potted Muyue flower placed on the bedside table.
Having done this, she turned back to the prison cell, prepared Nan Shiying’s bed, and brewed another cup of red date and osmanthus tea to warm her body and ward off the chill.
Zou Chengyi hadn't escorted Nan Shiying in. He truly didn't want to see her prison cell, which was more luxurious than his own room in the Ministry of Punishment!
It hurt his eyes!