“My fault, my fault, please continue.” Suzhen gave an apologetic smile.

Xiao Zhou said fiercely, “If you space out again, I’ll dock ten taels from your salary each time. Did you hear?!”

Suzhen nodded repeatedly. Only then was Xiao Zhou satisfied. Just as she was about to continue, she thought better of it and moved closer to Suzhen. “Why don’t you space out a few more times before we continue?”

Before Suzhen could respond, Wu Qing pressed down on Xiao Zhou with one hand, staring at her like a cat watching a mouse. “Speak properly, continue!”

Zhui Ming and Tie Shou laughed unkindly. Xiao Zhou slapped at them and continued: “Consort Yu feared her and was afraid that resistance would bring disaster to her child, so she complied in front of the palace maids.”

Zhui Ming cursed under his breath again.

“Well cursed, but due to time constraints, to speed up the plot, let’s skip some of the tragic details – you can imagine them yourselves. You’re good at that anyway. This was Consort Yu’s third consumption of food that evening.”

Everyone: “…”

Xiao Zhou: “But bullying someone who can’t fight back isn’t much fun, so after venting her anger, Consort Ai left.”

“Later, the child returned and brought his mother a bowl of soup. The child said it was given by someone at the palace banquet, that he had already eaten. Consort Yu couldn’t bear to disappoint the child, so she drank the soup. Though Consort Yu hadn’t eaten much each time, this was already her fourth consumption that evening.”

“She also certainly drank water and such at the palace maids’ quarters. According to the old magistrate’s records, Consort Yu died between the hours of chou and yin. He only received orders to thoroughly investigate this case half a month later, after the child was adopted by the Empress Dowager. By then, autopsy couldn’t determine the exact time of death that evening – this conclusion came from questioning the palace maids who shared her room.”

“It’s said that in the middle of the night, Consort Yu suddenly developed a fever and died bleeding from all seven orifices. But no one in the palace dared to inquire at the time, and the body was hastily buried.”

“This is the general situation of Consort Yu’s sudden death that year. Consort Yu was originally a servant of Consort Ai. When the Late Emperor took notice of her and favored her, though the Late Emperor loved Consort Ai and didn’t grant Consort Yu any title, Consort Ai held deep resentment against her. At that time, suspicion pointed directly at Consort Ai, but the Late Emperor suppressed the matter.” She concluded her account slowly and looked toward Suzhen.

Suzhen patted her shoulder. “I’ll add two points. In the old magistrate’s autopsy, he wrote that the throat was blackened, the stomach and intestines and other organs were the same, rotted with residual liquid, and the corpse spots were bluish-brown in color. If only the mouth and throat showed blackening with no stomach abnormalities, it might not necessarily be death by poisoning – it could be poison administered after death. But this internal organ condition shows very obvious signs of poisoning. Also, no other fatal wounds were found on the body.”

“Determining whether death was by poisoning – this is the most basic first point in autopsy guidelines. The second point is something we need to pay attention to.”

She walked to the desk and pulled out a blue booklet from the pile of materials Xiao Zhou had brought from the Criminal Investigation Bureau. “This is regulations I obtained from the Imperial Household Department. Palace maids who weren’t on duty could rest after the hour of hai. Consort Yu died between chou and yin – from falling asleep to the poison taking effect was at least two or three hours. If it was indeed poisoning, this was a slow-acting poison with acute onset.”

“What does that mean?”

Everyone was immediately confused by this statement. Wu Qing pondered slightly and nodded with some puzzlement.

Zhui Ming was perplexed and said urgently, “You’re killing me by saying half and leaving half unsaid. Tie Shou, do you understand?”

Tie Shou also looked puzzled and glanced at Wu Qing. “Boss?”

Wu Qing tapped the table. “Huaisu means that the murderer used slow-acting poison that didn’t take effect immediately, but this slow-acting poison wasn’t truly slow – it still manifested that very night. Understand?”

“What difference does that make?” Zhui Ming still didn’t understand and scratched his head vigorously.

Xiao Zhou looked at Suzhen. “You mean the murderer didn’t want the poison to take effect immediately?”

“Correct. But whether this necessarily relates to the case, I’m not certain yet. Alright, now that we’ve explained the situation, it’s guessing time. Everyone share your thoughts. Anyone whose ideas don’t meet this magistrate’s approval gets ten taels docked.”

The group had been deep in thought about the case, but Suzhen’s last sentence immediately drew laughter and curses. Wu Qing glanced at Xiao Zhou. “Fine, put that on my account.”

“Damn,” Xiao Zhou kicked him hard. “You’re cursing me to say something wrong. Don’t worry, no matter how bad I am, Zhui Ming’s still at the bottom.”

Zhui Ming said eerily, “My reasoning will scare you all when I reveal it. Let you see what ‘viewing all mountains as small’ and ‘nothing compares after seeing Wushan’ means.”

Everyone laughed uncontrollably. Suzhen also said eerily, “Young Master Zhui Ming, then please begin first.”

“My first proposed murderer is still Dowager Consort Ai – yes, you heard correctly, still her.” Zhui Ming stood up and looked at everyone with an especially serious expression. “The most dangerous place is the most dangerous. The most likely suspect is the murderer.”

Tie Shou: “Why?”

Zhui Ming proudly lifted his chin.

“Precisely because Dowager Consort Ai’s killing was too conspicuous. While all suspicion pointed to her, many people probably thought Consort Ai wasn’t the murderer. Ever since Dowager Consort Ai learned about Consort Yu and the Late Emperor’s affair, she wanted to kill Consort Yu immediately. But with the Empress Dowager intervening, she couldn’t truly break with her then, so she didn’t act immediately. But how could she be reconciled? So she actually was the killer – she was betting on people’s psychology. She publicly brought banquet food and fruits, and Huaisu also said that Consort Yu didn’t die immediately, which undoubtedly cleared her of most suspicion. Later, when the Sixth Prince became Crown Prince and then ascended the throne, she certainly couldn’t admit it. Otherwise, even though she’s the honored Dowager Consort, though His Majesty now has political enemies watching like tigers, he still wields real power. If he was determined to kill her, it wouldn’t be difficult!”

“Well? Don’t you think there’s some logic to it?” he smiled.

Indeed, everyone had no trace of amusement. Suzhen even nodded. “Continue – who do you think the second one would be?”

Zhui Ming was greatly pleased. “This second suspect – I wonder if you’ve thought about the minor characters, the palace maids who shared rooms with Consort Yu back then.”

“This woman’s jealousy cannot be said to be weak,” he said, and seeing Suzhen and Xiao Zhou’s “murderous” glares, quickly stopped and picked up tea to change the subject, asking Tie Shou, “Thirsty?”

“Thanks.” Tie Shou casually took it and drank.

Xiao Zhou raised her eyebrows. “I say, Zhui Ming, do you have that kind of feelings for our Tie Shou?”

Zhui Ming shook his head: “If anyone’s having those feelings, it’s him having them for me.”

Tie Shou punched him. “Go die!”

Zhui Ming touched the bump on his forehead, tears in his eyes, and continued his lofty reasoning. “Think about it – though Consort Yu was in dire straits back then, hated by Consort Ai, she had at least been favored by the Late Emperor. Who knows, she might suddenly turn her fortune around someday. She was much better off than those mediocre palace maids, wasn’t she?”

“Xiao Zhou also mentioned earlier that she ate twice and very likely drank water. Poisoning the food or drugging the water isn’t impossible. Of course, I lean more toward the water poisoning theory. Everyone had to eat the food, and the palace used identical bowls and chopsticks – if someone took the wrong one, that wouldn’t be fun. But with water, you could handle it like I did with Tie Shou, see.”

Everyone paused.

“That water of yours…” Tie Shou cried out, spat several times, grabbed Zhui Ming by the collar and started hitting him. “Using me as a demonstration, you’re courting death!”

Zhui Ming struggled desperately and hid behind Suzhen. “Roommates are hard to deal with! Living in the same room, how can there be no conflicts? Self-esteem, mockery, excellence, jealousy and such. Boys use knives, girls use poison. With your explosive temper, you should really thank me for not killing you these past few years.”

Suzhen and the others exchanged glances. Xiao Zhou burst out laughing, and Wu Qing’s mouth corners also turned up slightly. Suzhen got up and patted Zhui Ming’s shoulder. “Indeed, can’t underestimate you. Also, I thank you for your mercy in not killing me these years.”

Zhui Ming: “A hundred lifetimes of cultivation to ride the same boat. This sharing a room is also fate bringing us together. No matter how displeasing someone is, it’s just a matter of some days. Killing someone ruins yourself, not to mention what happens to family? Looking back years later, no matter how great the grudge, everyone goes their separate ways – don’t we all have a good laugh? Just a big dream.”

Everyone looked quite surprised – was this something Zhui Ming could say? Xiao Zhou went to pinch his face. “Got a human skin mask on?”

Zhui Ming slapped away her hand, chin raised so high he couldn’t see the ground, and looked disdainfully at Tie Shou. “Your turn.”

Tie Shou almost beat him up again.

Then his expression became somewhat grave. “Huaisu, if I must list two murderers, first I agree with Zhui Ming – it’s Dowager Consort Ai. For the second, I think it’s… the Empress Dowager.”

Everyone was quite surprised again. Suzhen: “How so?”

“The Empress Dowager’s prevention of Consort Ai killing Consort Yu back then probably wasn’t entirely from kindness. Poisoning Consort Yu, adopting her child, helping him become Crown Prince – first, the son gains nobility through his mother, and the mother gains honor through her son. Second, once His Majesty’s power grows, wouldn’t it be easy to eliminate this longtime nemesis? Her only miscalculation was His Majesty’s relationship with Prince Lian Jie.”

“This conspiracy theory is quite sophisticated – I rather agree with it.” Wu Qing rarely smiled.

But Suzhen frowned slightly, then heard Xiao Zhou say calmly, “I don’t really agree. You’ve all mentioned the food, water, and things Dowager Consort Ai brought. How come no one mentioned that bowl of soup the young emperor brought back then?”