The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

In order to facilitate the investigation of the case, the prince deliberately vacated a side hall for Yu Hanjiang to interrogate the suspect.

Xiao Lou, Mo Xuemin and Long Sen accompanied Yu Hanjiang to the side hall, and the four first sorted out the known clues.

Xiao Lou took the pen and ink, and drew a distribution map of the backyard on the paper, and Long Sen added the map of the front yard, and the map of the entire palace was completely presented in front of his eyes.

In the front yard of the palace, there is a magnificent hall for receiving guests, the prince's study room, and a separate courtyard for the prince, as well as the residences of the male nurses and handymen.The backyard is full of women.

There are four small courtyards in the backyard. Among them, the largest "Xiushuixuan" is the residence of the real princess. The princess has passed away, and now lives with the first daughter, the second lady, Qi Yi'an, and several maids who serve her.

"Changqiu Garden" is the residence of Mrs. Yun and Miss Qi Yiyao. Qi Yiyao also has an older brother named Qi Fenghua who fought against the Yan Kingdom on the front line and has not been home for three years.On the side and rear of Changqiu Garden is the small Buddhist hall that the eldest lady Qi Yiyao tidied up.

Mrs. Qing and the third lady Qi Yiru live in "Tingfeng Pavilion". This yard has fewer flowers and plants and more open space. Because the third lady loves to practice martial arts, she wields knives and guns in the yard every day. The flowers and plants planted are easy to be poisoned by her. Mrs. Qing Just plant trees and not flowers.

"Red Plum Garden" lived in Mrs. Han and Fourth Miss Qi Yiwei. It is said that Mrs. Han loved plum blossoms very much, so the prince spent a lot of money to transplant red plums all over the yard for her. , the scenery is extremely spectacular.Mrs. Han has the softness of a Jiangnan woman, and she is currently the most favored by the prince.

The four courtyards are connected by back-shaped corridors. The place where the eldest lady was hanged is just under the tree behind the rockery, which belongs to the blind spot of vision, and that corner cannot be seen from the gates of the four courtyards.

There were no outsiders in the side hall, so Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou simply: "Can the exact cause of death be judged?"

Xiao Loudao: "Judging from the condition of the corpse spots, nails, and skin, I'm inclined to be poisoned. She didn't have any stabbing marks on her body, and she shouldn't have struggled before she died. Maybe someone poisoned her diet." , poisoned her before the dinner party started, and then secretly hung her on the tree while the dinner party started and everyone went to watch the performance by the pond."

Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The three wives, the three young ladies, and the prince himself all have time to commit crimes... Of course, if the prince wants to kill his daughter, there are many ways to do it. He can put her to death for any crime, there is no need to hang her On the tree."

Long Sen said: "The prince can rule it out. Many people came to celebrate his birthday this afternoon and gave him a lot of priceless gifts. He has been busy in the front yard without touching the ground. He has never been to the backyard. He spends most of his time in I can testify to the fact that the study receives guests."

Mo Xuemin analyzed: "Mrs. Yun probably has no motive to kill her own daughter, right? Her daughter is married to the Lin family. The Lin family is the richest family in Daqi. I heard that the Lin family gave her several boxes of gold as presents. It was too late for her to be happy, her daughter died like this. The palace has already accepted the dowry, and the Lin family will not be able to explain the death of the young lady."

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang also agreed with this speculation.

The Eighth Prince and his biological mother, Mrs. Yun, can be ruled out. The rest include the hot-tempered Mrs. Qing, the third miss who loves martial arts, the gentle and weak Mrs. Han, the fourth miss who loves to mask, the second daughter who is a prostitute, and today's present. Lin Shaobo, who had a marriage contract with the deceased.

However, the motive for the crime still needs to be carefully investigated.

Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang said to Longsen: "Go and call Mrs. Yun first, I want to ask about her daughter."

Madam Yun held her daughter's body and cried until her eyes were swollen. Under the comfort of the maid and the prince, she has adjusted her mentality at this time. She also wants to catch the murderer as soon as possible and give her daughter an explanation, so the questioning of Yu Hanjiang is very Cooperate.

Yu Hanjiang said: "I heard that Miss Yiyao was in poor health when she was a child, so she was fostered outside?"

Mrs. Yun said: "My family, Ayao, has been weak since she was a child. She was seriously ill when she was three years old and almost died. I was worried that she would not live long, so I took her outside the city with the prince to ask for a lottery. She was against me, she was too young to be raised by my side, so I put her in foster care with my teacher and brought her back when she was ten years old."

Xiao Lou was at the side quickly taking notes. The brush writing was not so fast, but he could keep up with the speed when he picked the key points to memorize.

Yu Hanjiang saw that Xiaolou's paper was full of correct small letters, he felt relieved, and then asked: "When was the Buddhist hall built? And what happened to her marriage with Young Master Lin, please Madam please tell me in detail .”

Mrs. Yun sighed, and said with red eyes: "The year Ayao came back, she built a small Buddhist hall at home. She ate fast and recited Buddha's name all the time. She said she would pray for us. She is actually very filial. The marriage is the prince's idea. The Lin family came to visit last year. Come to propose a marriage, let the youngest of the Lin family marry our eldest daughter, it is considered a good match."

When Xiao Lou heard this, he asked suspiciously: "The youngest of the Lin family spends a lot of time drinking and drinking, and often hangs around in brothels. Has Madam never heard of these things?"

Mrs. Yun calmly said: "How many men don't care? Didn't the prince also marry several wives? Lin Shaobo is a well-known talent in Jiangzhou, and he is also very handsome. It's nothing for the young master to be flirtatious, and it will be better if he has his wife in charge after marriage. The Lin family promised that Lin Shaobo will only marry A Yao and never take a concubine, and we A Yao will not suffer from marrying him."

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other.

The concept of ancient people is different from modern times. At that time, it was normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines. Therefore, in Madam Yun’s opinion, Lin Shaobo was a good son-in-law candidate. He was handsome, rich and talented, and he promised to marry only one daughter. , and also sent a sincere dowry to the palace.

It is not surprising that Wang Ye and Mrs. Yun agreed to this marriage.

Yu Hanjiang asked: "Miss and young master of the Lin family, have you met before?"

Mrs. Yun said: "I met it once, and I asked Ah Yao what her impression of Young Master Lin was. She said it was average, and she couldn't tell whether she liked it or hated it. My daughter has such a temperament, and she doesn't mind asking anything."

Yu Hanjiang said: "After you asked her to go back this afternoon, did she behave abnormally?"

Mrs. Yun thought about it carefully, and said: "No, she has no expression on her face. I asked her to change into better clothes. Those were the clothes I specially prepared for her. She said to put them away and change them later. , I didn't care about her anymore, I went to the kitchen to look at the dinner menu."

Yu Hanjiang said: "You haven't seen her since then?"

Madam Yun nodded: "I have been checking the menu with Mrs. Li in the kitchen. I will arrange the meals for this dinner, so there can be no mistakes. Mrs. Li can testify to this point."

Yu Hanjiang asked Mrs. Yun to go back first.

After the madam left, he looked at Xiao Lou: "When the eldest lady had an accident, I remember that Lin Shaobo was not at the banquet, right?"

Xiao Loudao: "That's right, I observed it at the time, and he is indeed not there."

Mo Xuemin and Long Sen looked at each other.

It stands to reason that a son-in-law should not leave halfway through the future father-in-law's birthday banquet, but when Lin Shaobo left, no one was aware of it.

The four of them were thinking, when they suddenly heard a knock on the door, and Liu Qiao's voice came from outside the door: "Master Yu."

Yu Hanjiang immediately asked Long Sen to open the door.

Liu Qiao walked into the room and saw no one around, so she whispered: "I have a clue to report that before the dinner started, Miss Si wanted to go to the toilet on the pretext of having a stomachache, and disappeared for a long time. I followed to the toilet under suspicion. , I found no one in the toilet. Instead, I saw a rich young master talking softly with Fourth Miss in the cave behind the rockery, with ambiguous movements—these two people should have an affair.”