Chapter 1: The Sleeping Flower Pavilion

  Where is it?

  Rubbing his chin for a while, Xiaocao suddenly slapped Duan Yu's thigh: "I remember!"

  Isn't this the girl who said in the room yesterday that Jintree is difficult to serve and died peacefully?

  The corner of his eyebrow twitched, and he turned around to stare at her silently. Li Er Gou, who was sitting above, frowned: "This is a trial, no noise is allowed."

  "Sorry." Xiaocao dodged behind Duanmu's body, instantly becoming well-behaved, afraid that Li Erdou would have someone come and take her away.

  This case is simple. She and the murderer were only separated by a wall yesterday. If we can follow this person and catch the maid who gave her the medicine bottle yesterday, won't the case be solved?

  Maybe they can even steal Li Erdou's credit once and destroy his prestige.

  One thought of Li Er Gou's face turning green with rage made Xiaocao feel invigorated, her two eyes shining brightly as she stared at the purple crystal on the desk.

  Jing Zi was stared at by her until he felt a chill down his back, his eyes uneasily scanning the surroundings for a while before finally settling on Duan Shi Yi, only then did he feel slightly more at ease.

  "When did you give Jinshu girl the tonic, and during that time, have you ever left the kitchen or has anyone come to find you?" asked Li Baozou.

  "Answering the master's question." Jing Zi said in a low voice: "Yesterday at Chen time, Qian Mama ordered me to make medicine for Jin Shu Niang. I was in the kitchen all along and didn't leave. When I delivered the medicine to Jin Shu Niang, I met Qing Yan who was with Yin Shu Niang. We had a dispute, but later... thanks to Shuang Er sister, I was able to deliver the medicine."

  Jin Shu and Yin Shu are both among the four great courtesans of the Sleeping Flower Pavilion, but Jin Shu's value far surpasses that of Yin Shu. Yin Shu has been harboring resentment for some time now, and her maid knows how to take advantage of the situation, which naturally leads to conflicts.

  Ning Zi is a good-for-nothing maid, every time she makes some food, as long as she encounters Qing Yan, either her food will be snatched away or she will be teased, this is also normal.

  It just so happened that on that day, when Jingzi was delivering the medicine to Jinsu, Qingyan wanted to snatch it, and Jingzi finally stood firm for once, not letting her have it. Qingyan raised her hand as if to hit someone, but fortunately, Shuang'er passed by and stopped her, telling Jingzi to take the medicine away.

  Li Buhua listened for half a day, furrowed his brow and said: "So it seems that only you, Qingyan and Shuang'er have come into contact with this medicine?"

  Ning Zi nodded and then shook her head: "They didn't touch the medicine at all, Shuang Er helped me deliver the medicine to Jin Shu's place, I was with her the whole time, she couldn't have done anything."

  "What if you didn't see it?" Li Captor hummed lightly: "First let Frost and Qingyan both come in."

  When Mother heard this, she hastily went out to call someone.

  Duanyi looked a bit tired, fanning himself back and forth, almost putting himself to sleep.

  The little grass is still concentrated and focused.

  "The slaves have seen the master." The two maidservants came in with pale faces and knelt down, their voices trembling.

  It wasn't them, Xiaocao listened to this voice in disappointment, it wasn't the mature maid's voice either, which means these two people should also be innocent.

  It's strange, if according to Jingzi's words, no one else touched the medicine halfway, how was the poison administered?

  Li caught the head still interrogating two maidservants, his eyes staring at Qingyan, who was so frightened that her body trembled.

  Little Grass pulled on Master Eleven's sleeve: "Master, let's go out and take a stroll?"

  With a drowsy expression, he came back to himself and gazed blankly at the little grass for a while before saying, "Good."

  The two of them passed by Li Er Gou's face and went out the door. Li caught his head still muttering: "Impossible, must have missed something..."

  It takes a lot of courage to kill someone, those few maids are almost trembling with fear, no matter how you look at it, they don't seem suspicious.

  Duan Yu led her around the front yard of the Sleeping Flower Pavilion and slowly asked: "Where did the vase come from?"

  The little grass said with a pleased smile: "It was given by the murderer."

  She glanced at him obliquely: "Are you going to find the murderer?"

  Nonsense! Xia Cao rolled her eyes: "Not looking for the culprit, are you going to take me on a tour of the brothel?"

  "What's next after finding it?" asked Duan Xi.

  "Get a hold of yourself!" Little Grass looked at him in bewilderment: "Why are you asking such stupid questions all day today?"

  Chapter Eleven fell silent, using the expression in his eyes and eyebrows to convey his contempt for Little Grass.

  The little servant girl let out a snort, grabbed Duan Shiqi and headed towards the servants' quarters: "With an apprentice like me, you can secretly rejoice. I'll find the murderer for you, just wait for the chief constable to issue a warrant."

  Her strong memory, having heard a voice once, she could remember it no matter what, let alone the maid's voice from yesterday which was quite distinctive and sounded like an old granny.

  The maids in the backyard were anxious, standing together in twos and threes, whispering to each other. Xiaocao walked to the door and without saying a word, pushed Duan Shiyi inside.

  This kind of fragrant cracker, always plays a crucial role at critical moments, with two types of objects that have a particularly significant impact: women and mothers.

  Now there's a bunch of women inside, no need to ask one by one, just throw him in and you'll hear it.

  "How did you catch the leader."

  "Hey, who's the blind guy who pushed you? Steady yourself!"

  "Director Du, how's the case going?"

  “……”

  The one investigating is Mingming Li Erdou, but if he were to be thrown in, I reckon this group of women wouldn't just stop, they'd all retreat. Comparing people is always infuriating.

  The little grass shook its head and observed, saying in a voice that seemed to lack the old servant girl's maturity.

  She looked up and saw all the maids gathered around Duan Xi, each one of them speaking with their mouths open.

  "Are all the maids from Meng Hua Lou here?" Duan Shi Yi looked at Xiao Cao's furrowed brow and asked with a smile.

  The busy old mother replied: "They're all here, except for Luoxue who's feeling unwell and is lying down inside."

  The little grass's eyes lit up, and without saying another word, it darted into the house.

  "Ah ah......" The housekeeper's old mother wanted to stop her, but Duan Shi Yi had carelessly stood in front of her, blocking the way.

  The little grass rushed in and pounced on the bedside, calling out to a lump of people huddled on the bed: "Luoxue! Get up!"

  A maid followed behind and hastily said: "Sir, don't quarrel, Xiaoxue sister had a fever last night and just broke out in sweat."

  Fever? The little grass looked down and took a glance.

  The face on the pillow was deathly pale and seemed to be surrounded by a dark aura, as if it were ill.

  But this looks too severe, it's simply, simply like...

  Furrowing her brow slightly, Little Grass stretched out her hand and felt the snowy breath.

  "Master."

  Duan Shi heard Xiao Cao's strange tone outside the door, raised an eyebrow, and followed him into the house.

  "She... " Little Grass turned around and looked at Duan Eleven, her face twisted in a grimace: "Seems to be dead."