Pan Yuejiao's eyes were still red and swollen, she must have just cried over her sister's death. When she heard what Li Qingyi said, she forced a smile at her.
Tan's face is a bit strange. It seems that the Pan family has lost a daughter and may not have any plans to send another daughter to the palace.
She said: "Sisters are naturally alike."
Li Qingyi did not answer the conversation, but asked Pan Yuejiao: "Miss Pan often goes to the Yu Mansion with Mrs. Pan, right?"
"Well, yes. Most of the time, I go with my sister to accompany my mother to the Yu family." Pan Yuejiao looked lonely, and tears instantly filled her eyes, "My sister and brother Yu are such good people, why are they like this? ?」
Li Qingyi ignored her emotion and asked, "So, when Liang Guiren went to Yu's house for the last time, Miss Pan was always with her?"
Pan Yuejiao was stunned for a moment, glanced at her mother subconsciously, and then said, "No, I have been with my mother, talking to Mrs. Yu in the flower hall."
"In other words, Mr. Liang went to visit Mr. Yu alone at that time?"
After hearing this, the expressions of Tan's mother and daughter changed slightly. For a girl who has not left the court, it is not polite to be alone with a man, even if she is engaged.
Li Qingyi quickly explained: "I don't mean anything else, please don't worry too much. I just want to ask, who was accompanying Mr. Liang at that time, Jade Comb, or Linglong? Or... someone else ?」
Pan Yuejiao thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be Linglong and Hongdou? Mother, right?"
When Mrs. Tan saw her daughter asking, she frowned and nodded, saying, "It's them."
Li Qingyi thought to himself that it was indeed Hongdou.
After so long, the mother and daughter still remember it so clearly. Something special must have happened that made their memories deep.
"Yushu and Linglong are the closest maids to Mr. Liang? If Mr. Liang had successfully formed a marriage with Mr. Yu, they would also have to marry him, right?"
Tan was confused and didn't know why she was asking such trivial matters, but Qin Zeng curled his lips and expressed appreciation for Li Qingyi's insinuation.
Mrs. Tan replied: "Yes, because the marriage has been arranged since childhood, these two girls were specially selected and plan to accompany Rong'er in the future."
"I think Yushu is very smart and capable. Do you want to be a lady in charge?"
Mrs. Tan was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to explain the purpose of the jade comb and Linglong to a girl who had not yet left the court... so she reluctantly said: "It's not."
"Well, I've already asked all the questions I wanted to ask."
Tan was stunned. She didn't even guess the other party's intention with such an anticlimactic question.
She thought the other party was going to ask her about her little daughter, but the other party didn't ask a word, "Have you finished asking?"
Li Qingyi smiled and nodded, saluted Mr. Tan, and left politely.
After leaving Pan's mansion, Qin Zeng asked: "Do you know what you know?"
"Well, Mr. Yu once had a cold, and Liang Guiren went to visit with Mr. Tan. After that, Mr. Yu suddenly became stupid, and the maid Hongdou who accompanied Mr. Liang there that day fell into a well and died soon after. I think, Maybe this Anko knew something or did something and was silenced. If Anko still has family members alive, maybe we can find some clues."
Qin Zeng did not interfere with her judgment and just nodded.
"In addition to looking for Hongdou's family, I also want to go to Fanghua Palace. Now all the doubts in front of me seem to be vaguely connected together. But there are still many things that are unclear. For example, how did the murderer manage to survive in such a short time? Over a cup of tea, Mr. Jiang Liang was brutally killed with such fierce means. If the murderer was not Linglong, what was she doing at that time? Why didn't she notice it at all? It was just as she said, she met two people in the yard. Cat? Maybe she is an accomplice."
Li Qingyi paused and then said: "There are also two palace ladies around Liang Guiren who want to go to the palace. Are they really tired of the life in the palace, or are they hiding something else? Is Liang Guiren favored because of his resemblance to Ruying? After being favored by the emperor, he was tabooed by other concubines, thus attracting
I heard that the reason why the noble nobleman avoided leaving the palace was because the child in his belly was in conflict with Concubine Mu..."
She raised this question and then shook her head slowly: "Actually, I think this is unlikely. Liang Guiren is not even the shadow of Ruying, and the emperor has no intention of being obsessed with him. In other words, Liang Guiren is not even the shadow of Ruying. Even if the nobleman gives birth to a prince, he will not be a threat to Concubine Mu, and it would not even be interesting to kill her... What do you say, sir?"
Qin Zeng nodded in agreement: "If you have nothing to do now, I can take you to Fanghua Palace."
Li Qingyi said "Ah" lightly. If Qin Zeng could take her, he would naturally save a lot of trouble. However, isn't he very busy?
Thinking this way, he hesitated.
Qin Zeng immediately looked hesitant and said, "Since you don't need it, I'm not too lazy to bother with it."
"No, no..." Seeing that he had misunderstood, Li Qingyi quickly explained: "If you want to know where your lord is, I have to go to Dali Temple first to ask Linglong, for fear of delaying your lord's business."
Qin Zeng's moodiness is beyond the usual range, and he is not generally difficult to maintain. She knew this in her previous life.
Who let him be Mr. Qin, who is aloof and admired by everyone?
Qin Zeng glanced at her, accepted her explanation, and said, "It doesn't matter."
Because of the good nobleman's affairs, whoever dared to be idle was almost all busy.
When the two returned to Dali Temple, only a few government officials were waiting there.
When several people met Qin Zeng, they were extremely respectful and became even more curious about Li Qingyi being able to travel with Qin Zeng.
Li Qingyi ignored her. Cui Chun and others were not around, so she felt more at ease and asked Linglong to come out for questioning.
After night after night of buffering, Linglong has gradually calmed down, but her emotions still retain the fear and shrinkage from last night.
When she was eighteen or nineteen years old, she was the tender flower blooming in the cold weather on the branches. Looking closely, it was actually a bit more beautiful than a jade comb.
But at this time, that kind of beauty has become blurred and fragile due to the ravages of wind and frost.
"Linglong, have you calmed down enough to speak?"
Li Qingyi's questions were direct and gentle, not only telling the other party that this matter was inevitable and there must be a result, but also letting the other party know that they would not force her for the time being, but it all depended on her attitude.
Linglong was not stupid to be chosen to serve a good nobleman. She understood what Li Qingyi meant, but because of the fear in her heart, she didn't know where to start. And with someone like Qin Zeng watching from the side, she couldn't suppress the panic and fear in her heart. Her face turned pale and her voice sounded like a mosquito: "You... you must suspect that I killed the master, right?"
Li Qingyi looked at her expression and said truthfully: "You are indeed the most suspect, but the matter has not yet been determined. There are still many things that need to be investigated before a conclusion can be made. Therefore, if you want to prove your innocence, you have to be careful. Cooperate, otherwise, no matter whether you are a murderer or not, you will inevitably die. So now, you have to find a way to get rid of the crime and provide the necessary clues. "
When Linglong heard the word "martyrdom", she couldn't help but chattering her teeth. She crossed her arms and struggled to suppress her emotions, "Yes... I understand..."
She bit her lower lip and began to talk about what happened last night: "Last night, when I returned to Furong Hall from the banquet, it was already getting late, so the master said he was tired, and everyone went back to rest while they were waiting for her."
"I was on duty last night, but the master got up after a while and said he couldn't sleep and wanted to eat walnut cheese. It happened that Yushu had just packed up the things on hand, and before he took a rest, he didn't ask the little girl to come to serve him anymore, and he personally Go to the kitchen to get walnut cheese. I will stay in the inner hall and talk to the master. Who knows..."
Her tears seemed to gather quickly out of fear, and her voice trembled unconsciously: "Who knows what made a muffled sound outside..."
Li Qingyi couldn't help but tilted her head and exchanged glances with Qin Zeng. She remembered that one of the chamberlains on patrol last night said that he had vaguely heard a muffled sound, but because the sound was not loud, he thought it was an illusion, so he didn't pay attention.
Linglong held the handkerchief tightly in her hand, wiped the tears from her eyes, and said
: "Since my master became pregnant, I have been extremely nervous and careful about everything, for fear of..."
As if biting her tongue, she quickly swallowed the second half of the sentence.
She was overjoyed with the new love of a noble lady, and the sudden pregnancy made her ecstatic. However, despite her joy, she also became suspicious and guarded against anyone harming her child day and night.
Linglong couldn't say such a thing directly, so she could only speak vaguely. Fortunately, Li Qingyi seemed to understand her difficulty and didn't ask too much. So she turned around and said, "The master was afraid that something might happen, so he asked me to go out and check."
"I followed the sound to the atrium and saw a tabby cat standing under the tree, looking towards me. I was already afraid of cats, and seeing its green eyes made me even more afraid, so I stood there without daring to make a sound for fear of It rushed towards me, hoping to wait for it to go away first. Unexpectedly, it didn't move, and kept standing there, as if it was protecting something. When I looked carefully, it turned out to be a kitten lying there. , seems to be dead..."
Linglong stroked the goosebumps on her body and continued: "I muttered in my heart and thought about going back and asking someone to come over and take them away. Also thinking that the master was alone in the house and waiting for me to reply, I went back first I entered the inner hall. Then...then I saw the master lying on the ground, with blood all over the ground..."
Li Qingyi listened to Linglong's narration and said, "How long did it take you from the time you left the inner hall and then came back?"
"It doesn't take long, just a cup of tea..."
It is basically consistent with the time Yushu said.
Li Qingyi was thinking about it and asked: "So, you found out that Mr. Liang was dead and then ran out of the house? Did you see anyone suspicious?"
Linglong looked horrified, clutching her collar tightly, her knuckles turning white from the exertion: "No... I only saw the horrific death of my master, and my legs became weak at the moment, and I couldn't even stand. I tried my best to I wanted to escape from the house. When I climbed to the door, there was a sudden sound of things scattering and breaking in the yard, which was particularly loud in the quiet palace..."
