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The relationships within the Prince's Mansion are truly a complete mess.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou, standing to the side, also felt a bit of a headache upon seeing this.
Madam Han and Qin Huwei are siblings, and Qin Huwei's "affair" is actually with Third Miss!
Upon closer reflection, Third Miss did indeed go to the backyard yesterday around 5 PM. She said she saw Fourth Sister hurrying towards Red Plum Garden and even went over to ask her about it. Yu Hanjiang took Third Miss as a witness but overlooked— what was Third Miss doing in the backyard?
Upon hearing his daughter's confession of having intimate relations with Qin Rui, the prince was so enraged that his head throbbed. Pointing at Qin Rui, he exclaimed, "You, Qin Rui, how dare you have a secret rendezvous with Third Miss behind my back! Guards, drag him away and give him a hundred lashes!"
Third Miss immediately rushed over and said, "Father, I've been pestering him to teach me martial arts every day for the past two years. All my martial arts skills were taught by Brother Qin. I was the one who liked him first. If you want to hit someone, hit me instead!"
This girl was strong-willed and very brave; she stood in front of Qin Rui to prevent him from making a move.
Upon hearing this, Qin Rui finally coughed lightly and looked at Third Miss, saying, " I will always remember Third Miss's kindness to me, but please do not ruin your reputation because of me."
Qi Yiru blushed slightly and said, "Father, I truly love Brother Qin!"
Madam Han had just woken up when she heard this. She looked at the prince and said, "Your Highness... Rui'er has been without parents since he was young. My brother and I depended on each other for survival. I raised him. As for his marriage, I, as his older sister, will make the decision. Third Miss is deeply in love with him. She was willing to sacrifice her chastity to save him. Rui'er, if you don't cherish a woman like this, how can you find another one?"
Qin Rui glanced at Third Miss with a complicated expression, and finally said with her ears turning red, "It's all up to you, sister."
This third daughter has been arrogant and domineering for a long time. She's like an untamed wild horse. Once she's made up her mind about someone, she won't easily change it. If someone disagrees, she'll throw a tantrum and threaten suicide, making the Prince's mansion look terrible... Thinking of this, the Prince had no choice but to nod: "As my wife wishes, I hereby grant you the marriage."
Third Miss looked so excited; if there weren't outsiders present, she probably would have jumped up and run laps outside.
The prince followed up, saying, "Your eldest sister has just passed away, and you are still young. Let's talk about your marriage in two years. Go back and discuss it properly with your mother."
Third Miss nodded obediently and said, "Yes, Father."
The girl rushed over with great speed, having heard that her sweetheart had been summoned for questioning. She hurriedly came to give false testimony, but was unfortunately exposed by the upright Qin Rui. However, it was a pleasant surprise that Madam Han and Qin Rui were siblings and willing to help them get together.
It seems that Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang indirectly acted as matchmakers?
Third Miss looked at Yu Hanjiang, her face flushed, and said, "Sir, I lied just now. Yesterday afternoon, I was strolling in the courtyard when I saw Guard Qin rushing towards the Buddhist Hall, as if he was chasing someone! His Lightness Skill is too powerful; I couldn't catch up. Just now, I was worried that you would misunderstand him, so I made things up."
This testimony is consistent with Qin Rui's.
Upon careful consideration, Yu Hanjiang realized that Qin Rui, who appeared upright and serious, was likely not lying. Therefore, it seemed he had indeed witnessed someone scaling the wall and entering the Prince's residence yesterday afternoon, and had pursued and investigated that person; that person was the key to the case.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Qin Rui and whispered, "Guard Qin, please explain in detail..."
Tell me what happened yesterday afternoon.
Qin Rui nodded and said, "Yesterday afternoon at dusk, I was patrolling the Prince's mansion when I suddenly saw a figure fly into the backyard from a corner. That person had exceptional lightness skills and was acting suspiciously. I was worried that he was an assassin, so I immediately gave chase. Unfortunately, my skills were no match for his, and after a short chase, the person disappeared from the Prince's mansion. The last place he disappeared was near the Buddhist Hall."
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "Disappeared into thin air?"
Qin Rui said, "It wasn't exactly a disappearance into thin air. When I chased them to the Buddhist Hall, I saw the Fourth Miss passing by. I asked her if she had seen the assassin, and she shook her head and said that she had never seen a stranger."
Qi Yiru blurted out, "That can't be right!"
Qin Rui turned to look at her: " What's wrong with Third Miss?"
Qi Yiru said, "I first saw you fly towards the direction of the Buddhist Hall using your Lightness Skill. I couldn't catch up with you, and when I called you, you didn't respond. So I turned around and went to stroll around the artificial hill. I saw Fourth Sister rushing over from the artificial hill... How could she have appeared at the Buddhist Hall at the same time?"
Qin Rui: "But I did see the Fourth Miss at the Buddhist Hall."
The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
According to the timeline, Third Miss first saw Qin Rui go to the Buddhist Hall, and then saw Fourth Miss near the rockery. At the same time, Qin Rui saw Fourth Miss at the Buddhist Hall... How could there be two Fourth Misses?
Yu Hanjiang immediately sensed something was wrong. He whispered, "The Fourth Miss that Guard Qin saw was very likely an imposter."
The testimonies of Third Miss and Fourth Miss match; the two did indeed meet near the artificial hill yesterday afternoon. Therefore, the Fourth Miss that Qin Rui saw after chasing her to the Buddhist Hall was definitely not the real person.
The Fourth Miss usually likes to cover her face with a white veil. The guards rarely come to the backyard, so they are not very clear about the Fourth Miss's specific appearance. When they see a woman with a white veil covering her face, they will subconsciously think, "This is the Fourth Miss."
In fact, the person Qin Rui saw was the real murderer!
She possesses Lightness Skill and is highly skilled in martial arts. When she climbed over the wall to the backyard, Qin Rui accidentally saw her. Qin Rui is very alert and immediately gave chase. Unable to shake off Qin Rui's pursuit in the backyard, she simply lured Qin Rui to the Buddhist Hall, then covered her face with a white veil and disguised herself as the Fourth Miss to deceive him.
To confirm this hypothesis, Yu Hanjiang invited the fourth young lady over. Qin Rui took a closer look, his face paled, and he said, "She does not resemble the person I met."
Realizing he had been tricked, Qin Rui was filled with regret: "No wonder I couldn't find any trace of the assassin after searching the entire Buddhist Hall. It turns out she was disguised as the Fourth Miss and swaggered right past me!"
At this point, Qin Rui immediately bowed to the prince with remorse and said, "This subordinate is incompetent and let the assassin go. Please punish me, Your Highness!"
The prince frowned and waved his hand, "Never mind, you've never met the Fourth Miss, so it's normal for you to mistake her for someone else. In that case, that masked woman is very likely the assassin who tried to kill me at last night's banquet?"
Yu Hanjiang also felt that this was very likely.
The fourth young lady had been looking very downcast all day. She had already heard the news of Young Master Lin's death. After all, she had given her heart to this man. Young Master Lin's sudden death saddened her. She couldn't cry out loud in front of her parents, so with red eyes, she said in a trembling voice, "Lord Yu, please be sure to catch the murderer who killed Young Master Lin. He cannot die in vain!"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Don't worry, Fourth Miss, I will do my best."
Madam Han was weak and covered in cold sweat. The prince picked her up with heartache and said, "I will take my wife back to rest first. Yiwei, you come and keep your mother company. Lord Yu, I will trouble you to continue the investigation of this case."
Yu Hanjiang politely said, "Respectfully seeing off Your Highness."
The prince left with Madam Han and the fourth young lady, and the third young lady also ran away with Qin Rui.
Young Master Lin's body was taken to the Lin family by the guards. Due to the status of the Prince's Mansion, the Lin family dared not openly break ties, but would definitely put pressure on Yu Hanjiang, the Prefect of Jiangzhou, to solve the case as soon as possible.
Yu Hanjiang is under a lot of pressure.
The group quickly returned to the prefectural office, where Shao Qingge and Liu Qiao were waiting for them. Together, they sorted through the clues from the day.
Xiao Lou said, " I think Qin Rui's testimony is believable. Since he and Third Miss are a couple, the possibility that the two of them are the murderers is very low. With Third Miss's fiery temper, even if her affair is discovered, she can simply kneel in front of the prince and ask him to grant her wish. There is no need to kill anyone."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Yes, and these two don't seem to have colluded beforehand."
Old Mo's head was about to explode, and he couldn't help but say, "This Prince's mansion is really complicated! If Guard Qin's testimony is true, then the masked woman he saw yesterday afternoon is very likely the murderer, right?!"
Yu Hanjiang shook his head: "No."
Old Mo and Long Sen both looked completely bewildered: "Not her either?"
Yu Hanjiang pointed out incisively, "If this woman was the assassin who tried to kill the prince, then she wouldn't be the murderer of Young Master Lin and Lin Shaobo. Because the scene of Young Master Lin's murder was staged as a suicide, and she was first poisoned and then hung from a tree; Young Master Lin was strangled from behind and then thrown into the pond. Why would an assassin go through all that trouble? Wouldn't a single sword strike have sufficed?"
Recalling the assassin who stabbed Yu Hanjiang that night, the two suddenly realized: "Right, if it was an assassin, why would she hang the young lady from a tree?" "A fatal blow to the throat is more in line with the style of an assassin!"
Yu Hanjiang added, "This case needs to be investigated in parts. Currently, the masked woman Qin Rui saw is very likely the assassin who tried to kill the prince. Through this lead, we can find the assassin organization. As for the murder of the young lady and Young Master Lin, the real culprit is still unknown."
Xiao Lou asked, "Can the prince be ruled out as a suspect?"
Yu Hanjiang shook his head:
"Still no. I still believe that the young lady and Young Master Lin were killed because they knew something they shouldn't have known and were silenced by someone they knew in the Prince's mansion."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, who nodded and took out a map of Shikoku that he had brought from Kyoto.
Xiao Lou spread the map out on the table. Yu Hanjiang pointed to the map and said, " Great Qi State and Yan State to the west have been at war for years. They do not interfere with Chu State to the north, and they are on friendly terms with Zhao State to the east. The Second Miss of the Prince's Palace is engaged to the prince of Zhao State. If the Prince were to use the power of Zhao State to rebel, he would indeed have a high success rate. The sudden arrival of the Zhao State envoy delegation in Jiangzhou is probably not that simple."
Mo Xuemin agreed, saying, " The timing of the Zhao State delegation's appearance was indeed quite coincidental."
Long Sen said, "But I'm sure that the Zhao State delegation that entered the palace that day was in the front yard. The prince invited two of the envoys to his study for a private meeting, so they shouldn't have been seen by the young lady in the back yard."
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "Were the entire delegation of envoys you saw all men?"
Long Sen nodded: "Both of them are men, dressed in Zhao State clothing, making them very easy to identify."
Yu Hanjiang said, " The Zhao State envoy may also have a woman. Some things don't necessarily have to be discussed in secret with the prince. Don't forget, there is another person in the prince's residence."
Xiao Lou immediately realized: " Second Miss, Princess Shuan?"
After careful consideration, Mo Xuemin agreed, saying, "This Second Miss is no ordinary woman. Faced with the murder, the Third Miss was panicked and the Fourth Miss was pale, but the Second Miss remained calm and composed. She answered questions clearly and logically, and her speech and demeanor were very much like those of a well-bred lady."
Xiao Lou said, "The key is that she is going to marry into Zhao State. If the prince really wants to use Zhao State's power to rebel, she can only help her father. I have a guess that the prince and Zhao State may have reached some kind of agreement... If I remember correctly, the princess's marriage partner is the second prince of Zhao State? The second prince is not the crown prince of Zhao State, is he?"
Mo Xuemin said, "That's right, the Crown Prince of Zhao State is the First Prince."
Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin and said, "If Your Highness helps the Second Prince become the King of Zhao State, then his daughter will become the Queen of Zhao State. Zhao State will then help him usurp the throne and make him the Emperor of Qi State —it's a mutually beneficial agreement. What do you think of such an agreement?"
Everyone gasped upon hearing this.
Unexpectedly, a murder case in the Prince's Palace has uncovered so many clues, even involving the power transition between two countries. No wonder the name of Peach Eight Secret Chamber is " Turmoil of War "—this plot truly lives up to the word "chaotic world."
Yu Hanjiang's reasoning seems to be getting closer and closer to the truth, but there is still one mystery that cannot be solved—were the assassins sent to kill him and the assassins who killed the prince the same group of people? And who is plotting behind the scenes?