“Then how do you explain those pills containing deadly poison?” Jiang Wu asked.

Qiao Zhao smiled: “Doesn’t this precisely prove that the poisoned pills have nothing to do with me, but were placed there by the real murderer to muddy the waters?”

“Muddy the waters? You mean to say that our adoptive father didn’t die from taking the poisoned pills?” Jiang Eleven asked perceptively.

Qiao Zhao nodded: “I speculate that these poisoned pills were placed there later by the murderer, precisely to find a scapegoat.”

“If that’s the case, how was our adoptive father poisoned?”

Qiao Zhao picked up the teapot and casually took a teacup, filling it with water.

Seeing her actions, everyone looked puzzled.

Qiao Zhao held the teacup and looked toward Hong Ying: “Generally speaking, once people form habits, they’re very difficult to change. The Grand Commander took medicine before bed every day. You must be accustomed to preparing warm water for the Grand Commander’s medicine at a fixed time each night, right?”

“Yes, every night at the beginning of the hai hour, this servant would prepare warm water for the Grand Commander’s medicine.”

“About how much water? Half a pot, or a full pot?”

“Half a pot each time.”

“Then, when you cleaned the room the next day, how much water remained in the teapot?”

“About this much.” Hong Ying gestured with her hand to indicate the height.

Qiao Zhao thanked her, then poured the water she had previously poured out back into the teapot. She lifted the lid and asked everyone to look.

“Look, now there’s slightly more than half a pot of water in the teapot. When Hong Ying discovered the Grand Commander’s death, there was a broken teacup on the ground, indicating that the Grand Commander had drunk water. So here’s the question: under what circumstances would there be more water left in the teapot after drinking a cup than there usually was before drinking?”

Everyone present was intelligent. By this point in Qiao Zhao’s explanation, they all had a vague understanding.

“You’re saying… someone switched the water in the teapot?” Jiang Yuanchao asked softly.

Qiao Zhao glanced at him, then looked away: “To be precise, they switched the teapot! Because the original teapot had been poisoned, to destroy the evidence, after the Grand Commander died from poisoning, the murderer took advantage of when no one was paying attention to replace the original teapot with one of the same pattern. This way, no one would discover that the water in the teapot was poisoned.”

As she spoke, Qiao Zhao slowly swept her gaze across everyone’s faces and smiled lightly: “Unfortunately, they missed one detail. They thought that by switching teapots, no one would discover the problem with the water, but the remaining water quantity in the teapot left a flaw!”

“Clap, clap, clap!” Jiang Wu applauded lightly. “Third Miss Li truly has a clever mind and sharp tongue.”

“Lord Jiang Wu flatters me,” Qiao Zhao said calmly.

Jiang Wu slightly curled his lips.

Who was flattering? This girl was too fond of being presumptuous!

“Unfortunately, drawing such a conclusion based solely on the amount of water in a pot seems rather hasty, doesn’t it?” Jiang Wu asked with a half-smile.

“Hasty?”

“Yes, perhaps Hong Ying poured too much water that night? Pouring more or less isn’t exactly a critical matter, after all.” Jiang Wu looked at Hong Ying. “Are you certain you poured half a pot of water that night, too?”

Being stared at and questioned by Jiang Wu like this, Hong Ying could barely speak, stammering: “This servant, this servant… should have… uh, no…”

Jiang Eleven frowned impatiently: “It is quite hasty.”

Could the words of such a maid be reliable?

Qiao Zhao glanced at Jiang Eleven: “Lord Eleven, perhaps finds people unreliable, so let’s have objects speak instead.”

Jiang Eleven was slightly stunned.

Why did he always have the feeling that this Miss Li could see through his thoughts?

Whatever he was thinking, she seemed to know one step ahead.

As he thought this, he couldn’t help but look at Qiao Zhao again.

Shao Mingyuan observed coldly from the side. Seeing this situation, his expression darkened.

What was going on? Why did this fellow keep looking at his wife?

Qiao Zhao inexplicably felt the atmosphere grow several degrees colder, as if the cold wind from outside had suddenly blown in.

“What objects can still speak?” Jiang Eleven unconsciously used the word “still,” clearly accepting Qiao Zhao’s previous speculation about the pills.

Qiao Zhao stopped playing riddles and pointed with her slender finger: “This teapot!”

“What about the teapot?” Jiang Wu frowned.

The pills from before were prepared by this girl, with numbers carved on them as markers, but this teapot should belong to the Jiang family, right?

Qiao Zhao emptied the water from the teapot, turned it upside down to expose the bottom, then turned the three teacups upside down in sequence, gesturing for everyone to look: “Now everyone should be able to see the difference, right?”

Jiang Yuanchao picked up a teacup, his eyes flickering slightly: “The teapot and teacups weren’t made in the same batch.”

Tea sets of this quality were all produced by official kilns, and often had the year and month of production written in inconspicuous places. This was an obvious fact, but thinking of this point under these circumstances was no easy matter.

Faced with the sudden death of the Jinlin Guards’ leader, who would think that a small teapot held other secrets?

“I imagine Grand Commander Jiang wouldn’t stoop to using mismatched teapots, would he?”

This time, no one contradicted Qiao Zhao’s words.

But Qiao Zhao spoke again: “Of course, the teapot’s style and pattern are completely identical. Perhaps they got mixed up long ago. What do you think, Lord Jiang Wu?”

Jiang Wu’s expression darkened slightly: “Miss Li needn’t target me. Compared to baseless speculation, I simply prefer concrete evidence.”

At this point, if he continued to say the teapot hadn’t been switched, it would be unreasonable sophistry. He wouldn’t do something so humiliating.

Jiang Yuanchao’s lips unconsciously curved into a smile.

Since Miss Qiao asked this way, she must have even more indisputable evidence.

She was always so composed and clever, such a quick-witted girl.

Jiang Yuanchao’s gaze took on a hint of nostalgia.

During their several chance encounters back then, she hadn’t been so cold as ice toward him as she was now.

Thinking of this, a continuous, dense pain spread through Jiang Yuanchao’s heart, finally all turning to ice.

“What other evidence does Miss Li have?” Jiang Eleven asked.

“The color inside the teapot.” Qiao Zhao tilted the teapot for everyone to see. “The inside of this teapot is yellowed, with tea stains that can’t be washed away. But the Grand Commander could only take his medicine with clear water. His teapot only ever held clear water, so it can’t have such tea stains.”

The room fell completely silent.

Qiao Zhao rubbed her temples, hiding her fatigue: “Do any of you still have objections?”

“The teapot was switched by the murderer, and the poisoned water in the teapot killed our adoptive father. So, who is the murderer?” Jiang Eleven looked at Qiao Zhao with utmost seriousness.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but laugh: “Lord Eleven is asking me?”

Jiang Eleven looked completely baffled.

She had explained everything so logically—if not her, then who should he ask?

“I’m just a suspect brought here for questioning by the Jinlin Guards’ lords. Now that I’ve proven my innocence, I should be able to leave, right? As for finding the murderer, what does that have to do with a young lady like me?”

Jiang Eleven opened his mouth and asked dryly: “What would make you willing to help?”

“Eleventh Brother, don’t make things difficult for Miss Li,” Jiang Yuanchao sighed.

Jiang Wu laughed coldly: “Thirteenth Brother, Miss Li may have cleared her suspicion, but you haven’t yet!”

Hearing Jiang Wu’s voice annoyed Qiao Zhao, so she said coolly, “Release my father, and I’ll help.”