To facilitate the investigation, the prince specially set aside a side hall for Yu Hanjiang to interrogate the suspect.
Xiao Lou, Mo Xuemin, and Long Sen accompanied Yu Hanjiang to the side hall, where the four of them first organized the clues they had so far.
Xiao Lou took the brush and ink and drew a map of the backyard on the paper. Long Sen then added a map of the front yard, and the entire map of the palace was presented in full.
The front courtyard of the Prince's mansion had a grand hall for receiving guests, the Prince's study, a separate courtyard for the Prince, and living quarters for male guards and servants. The back courtyard was entirely for the female members of the household.
There are four small courtyards in the backyard. The largest one, "Xiushui Pavilion," is the residence of the legitimate princess. The princess has passed away, and now the legitimate daughter, Second Miss Qi Yi'an, and several maids who serve her live there.
"Changqiu Garden" is the residence of Madam Yun and the eldest daughter, Qi Yiyao. Qi Yiyao also has an older brother named Qi Fenghua, who is fighting against Yan State on the front lines and hasn't been home for three years. To the side and behind Changqiu Garden is a small Buddhist hall that the eldest daughter, Qi Yiyao, has prepared.
Madam Qing and Third Miss Qi Yiru live in "Listening to the Wind Pavilion". There are few flowers and plants in this courtyard, but a lot of open space. Because Third Miss loves martial arts and practices swords and spears in the courtyard every day, the flowers and plants are easily destroyed by her. So Madam Qing simply only plants trees and does not grow flowers.
Madam Han and the Fourth Miss lived in "Red Plum Garden." It is said that Madam Han loved plum blossoms, so the Prince spent a fortune transplanting red plum trees all over the garden for her. Every winter when the plum blossoms were in full bloom, the plum blossoms against the snow and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air, creating a magnificent scene. Madam Han possessed the gentle beauty of a woman from Jiangnan and was currently the Prince's most favored concubine.
The four courtyards are connected by a U-shaped corridor. The place where the young lady was hung was right under the tree behind the artificial hill, which was a blind spot. It could not be seen from the gates of any of the four courtyards.
With no outsiders in the side room, Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou directly, "Can the exact cause of death be determined?"
Xiao Lou said, "Judging from the lividity, the condition of her nails and skin, I tend to think she was poisoned. There were no stab wounds on her body, and she probably didn't struggle before she died. It's possible that someone poisoned her food and killed her before the banquet started, and then secretly hung her from a tree while everyone was watching the performance by the pond."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The three ladies, the three young ladies, and the prince himself all had the opportunity to commit the crime... Of course, if the prince wanted to kill his daughter, there were many ways. He could have easily fabricated a crime to execute her. There was no need to hang her from the tree."
Long Sen said, "Your Highness can be ruled out. This afternoon, many people came to celebrate his birthday and brought a lot of priceless gifts. He was busy in the front yard the whole time and didn't go to the back yard. He spent most of his time receiving guests in his study. I can testify to that."
Mo Xuemin analyzed, " Madam Yun probably had no motive to kill her own daughter, right? Her daughter was betrothed to the Lin family, the richest family in Great Qi State. I heard that the Lin family gave her several chests of gold as gifts. She was overjoyed. Now that her daughter is dead, the Wang Mansion has already accepted the betrothal gifts. With the eldest daughter dead, it will be difficult to explain to the Lin family."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang also agree with this speculation.
Eighth Prince and his birth mother Madam Yun can be ruled out. The remaining people include the fiery-tempered Madam Qing and the martial arts-loving Third Miss, the gentle and delicate Madam Han and the veiled Fourth Miss, the legitimate daughter Second Miss, and Lin Shaobo, who was betrothed to the deceased and is present today.
However, the motive for the crime still needs to be carefully investigated.
Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang said to Long Sen, "Go and call Madam Yun first. I want to ask about her daughter's situation."
Madam Yun had been crying so hard while holding her daughter's body that her eyes were swollen. With the comfort of her maid and the prince, she had now calmed down. She also wanted to catch the murderer as soon as possible to give her daughter justice, so she was very cooperative with Yu Hanjiang's questions.
Yu Hanjiang said, "I heard that Miss Eldest was in poor health when she was young and was fostered out?"
Madam Yun said, "My daughter A-Yao was frail from a young age. She fell seriously ill when she was three and almost died. I was worried that she wouldn't live long, so the prince and I took her outside the city to draw a fortune stick. The fortune teller said that her fate clashed with mine and that she was too young to be raised by my side. So I entrusted her to the nun's care and only brought her back when she was ten."
Xiao Lou quickly took notes beside him. Although writing with a brush pen wasn't that fast, he picked out the key points to remember, so he was able to keep up with the pace.
Seeing that Xiao Lou's paper was filled with neat small characters, Yu Hanjiang felt relieved and then asked, " When was the Buddhist Hall built? Also, what is the situation regarding her marriage to Young Master Lin? Please tell me in detail, Madam."
Madam Yun sighed, her eyes red, and said, " The year A-Yao came back, she built a small Buddhist hall at home and has been eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist prayers ever since, saying she wanted to pray for our well-being. She is actually very filial. The marriage was the prince's idea. The Lin family came to propose marriage last year, asking the eldest son of the Lin family to marry our eldest daughter. It is considered a good match."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou asked in confusion, "Hasn't Madam heard that the eldest son of the Lin family is a womanizer who frequents brothels?"
Madam Yun calmly replied, "How many men aren't fickle?"
"Hasn't my lord married several wives? Lin Shaobo is a renowned talent in Jiangzhou, and quite handsome, though a bit of a womanizer. It's not unusual for a rich man's son to be a bit promiscuous; he'll naturally improve after marriage with a wife to keep him in check. The Lin family has promised that Lin Shaobo will only marry A-Yao and will never take a concubine. Our A-Yao won't be at a disadvantage marrying him."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance.
Ancient people had different views than modern people. Back then, it was normal for men to have multiple wives and concubines. So, in Madam Yun's eyes, Lin Shaobo was a good son-in-law candidate. He was handsome, rich, and talented. Moreover, he promised to marry only one daughter and sent a very generous betrothal gift to the royal family.
It's not surprising that the prince and Madam Yun agreed to the marriage.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Have the young lady and the eldest son of the Lin family met before?"
Madam Yun said, "I met her once. I asked A-Yao what her impression of Young Master Lin was. She said it was so-so, and she couldn't tell whether she liked or disliked him. That's just my daughter's personality; she doesn't mind being asked anything."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "After you called her back this afternoon, did she behave unusually?"
Madam Yun thought for a moment and said, "No, she didn't have much of an expression on her face. I asked her to change into something nicer, which was an outfit I had specially prepared for her. She said she would leave it for now and change later, so I didn't pay any more attention to her and went to the kitchen to look at the dinner menu."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "You haven't seen her since then?"
Madam Yun nodded: "I've been checking the menu with Aunt Li in the kitchen. I'm in charge of arranging the food for this dinner, so there can't be any mistakes. Aunt Li can vouch for that."
Yu Hanjiang told Madam Yun to go back first.
After the lady left, he looked at Xiao Lou: "When the young lady had her accident, I remember Lin Shaobo wasn't at the banquet, was he?"
Xiao Lou said, "That's right, I checked at the time, and he was indeed not there."
Mo Xuemin and Long Sen looked at each other in bewilderment.
Logically speaking, as the son-in-law, he shouldn't leave halfway through his future father-in-law's birthday banquet, but no one noticed when Lin Shaobo left.
As the four were pondering, they suddenly heard a knock on the door, and Liu Qiao's voice came from outside: "Lord Yu."
Yu Hanjiang immediately told Long Sen to open the door.
Liu Qiao entered the room and, seeing that no one was around, whispered, "I have a lead to report. Before the banquet started, Miss Si made an excuse about having a stomachache and needed to use the restroom. She disappeared for a long time. Suspicious, I followed her to the restroom and found no one there. Instead, I saw a rich young master and Miss Si talking softly in a stone cave behind the rockery. Their actions were ambiguous—these two people must be having an affair."