Huang Zixia looked at Di Cui, trying to use the gentlest tone possible: “Miss Lü, I believe Zi Qin has already spoken with you. We’ve come again because there are some small matters we need you to tell us about.”

Di Cui stood up timidly and said in a low voice: “I… I have nothing to say. I already said everything this morning…”

Seeing her so frightened and afraid, Zhou Zi Qin quickly waved his hands to explain: “Don’t misunderstand, don’t misunderstand! Second Brother Zhang is our friend, so you’re our friend too. Let’s just treat this as a casual chat!”

Seeing Di Cui’s expression still hesitant, Huang Zixia raised her hand to pat Zhang Xingying’s back and said: “Miss Lü, trust us. We’ll always stand on your side. If the people from the Court of Justice came instead, I fear you would be even more frightened.”

Hearing this, Zhang Xingying quickly nodded and lowered his head to comfort Di Cui: “Don’t worry, Master Yang is very capable. There’s no case in this world that she can’t solve. I believe that as long as you tell the truth, Master Yang will help clear your name!”

Di Cui raised her head, looking at him deeply for a long while, before giving him a forced smile: “But… I have nothing to say, I just killed those two people.”

“Lying to us won’t help,” Huang Zixia interrupted her, looking towards Zhou Zi Qin. Understanding her meaning, he immediately said: “Miss Lü, I examined Sun Laizi’s corpse, and I remember the wounds very clearly.”

As he spoke, he went outside and broke off a tree branch to give to her: “Miss Lü, pretend I’m Sun Laizi, and demonstrate the scene for us. You said Sun Laizi was standing inside the door, and you stabbed him twice with a knife, right?”

“Yes…” Di Cui responded shakily, holding the branch.

“Then how did you stab him?”

Di Cui hesitated, looking at Zhang Xingying, then at the branch in her hand. Finally, she raised it and thrust it toward Zhou Zi Qin’s chest.

Zhang Xingying became greatly alarmed and was about to intervene, but Zhou Zi Qin had already quickly grabbed her wrist, stopping her hand mid-air: “Miss Lü if someone stabs downward while facing another person, the wound would be from top to bottom. However, Sun Laizi’s wounds went from left to right. This means he was lying on his right side when he was stabbed. The wounds slanted slightly downward, and we deduced that the person must have crouched by the low bed while Sun Laizi was sleeping, then thrust the knife in. It wasn’t like you said, that you stabbed him when he came to open the door.”

“So, if you insist that you killed Sun Laizi, please tell us how you managed to sneak into his iron cage-like room while he was sleeping to kill him. And how did you get out of that room when all the doors and windows were locked from the inside?”

Di Cui stood speechless before them.

Zhang Xingying stared at her with wide eyes, asking in a trembling voice: “Ah Di? Why are you lying? Why are you falsely claiming to be the murderer?”

“Of course, it’s for you, Second Brother Zhang,” Huang Zixia said quietly. “You thought she was the murderer who killed Wei Ximin and Sun Laizi, while she thought you were the murderer who killed those two people to avenge her. So, when she discovered you had become a suspect and it was indeed affecting your future, she chose to sacrifice herself, going to the Court of Justice without hesitation to confess, attempting to take the blame for your crime to keep you safe!”

Huang Zixia’s words left both Zhang Xingying and Di Cui stunned.

“Ah Di… you’re too foolish!” Zhang Xingying suddenly grabbed her hand. This big man’s expression was a mix of joy, anger, and sorrow, all jumbled together into an indescribable look. “You… you! What are we going to do now?”

Huang Zixia looked at their clasped hands, feeling both gratified and sad, and could only say: “Now that the Princess is dead, Miss Lü was in the Court’s purification chamber at the time, so she’s not a suspect. But for the previous two cases, you’ve already confessed, so it won’t be easy to get you released right away. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until the real murderer is caught before you can be freed.”

Di Cui nodded glumly, saying softly: “I’m sorry, Second Brother Zhang, I… I didn’t trust you…”

“It’s not your fault, I should blame myself for keeping things from you…” Zhang Xingying sighed.

“You two are something, causing such a commotion, now we have to go through everything again,” Zhou Zi Qin shook his head helplessly, carrying the food box outside. He arranged the tables and chairs, sitting down with Huang Zixia while Zhang Xingying and Di Cui sat side by side on the empty low bed.

“Come, you were among the closest witnesses at Jianfu Temple that day. Miss Lü, I hope you can first resolve your inner conflict and describe the scene from that day in detail for us, alright?”

Di Cui bit her lower lip silently. Her gaze turned to Zhang Xingying, and after he nodded to her, she lowered her head and quietly said: “But that day I was wearing a veiled hat at first, so I couldn’t see the outside. Later, when Second Brother Zhang helped me pick up my veiled hat, I was afraid people would recognize me, so I crouched down covering my face. I didn’t see anything, not even Wei Ximin in the crowd, though normally an eunuch’s red clothing would be quite noticeable, but I truly didn’t see him.”

Zhang Xingying thought for a moment and said: “Yes, at the time Jianfu Temple was packed with people, and Wei Ximin was short, lost in the crowd. Even I didn’t see him. Not until the thunder struck and the candles exploded did I see Wei Ximin rolling on the ground and realize he was at Jianfu Temple too.”

“Then, do you think at that time… could someone have taken advantage of the situation to attack him?”

“Impossible!” Zhang Xingying shook his head firmly. “The lightning and exploding candles happened in just an instant. Who could have reacted quickly enough to pull Wei Ximin out of the crowd and just happen to push him into the fire?”

“Besides, his body… was completely on fire, not just one or two places touched by candle flame,” Di Cui said softly. “That’s why even though he was rolling on the ground, he couldn’t stop the fire. So I think it must have been divine punishment.”

Huang Zixia nodded, then asked thoughtfully: “Well, did you get a clear look at Wei Ximin then? Did you notice anything unusual about him?”

Zhang Xingying nodded: “Of course! I knew he was the one who had hurt Di Cui, so I looked back at him several times during the chaos. I saw him… he seemed stunned, as if in a daze. The fire must have been painful, but at first he just lay there confused for a moment before crying out and rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the flames on his body.”

“Yes… I remember… that dazed look of his, like someone just waking from a dream,” Di Cui said.

Zhou Zi Qin was taking notes while tilting his head to look at Huang Zixia: “How about it? Doesn’t it seem more and more like divine punishment?”

Huang Zixia remained noncommittal and turned to Di Cui, asking: “Why did you take that painting and pawn it?”

Di Cui trembled slightly at the mention of this, looking up at Zhang Xingying.

Seeing Zhang Xingying’s expression unchanged, still gazing at her tenderly, she bit her lower lip and said quietly: “My… my father found me…”

Zhang Xingying was startled and asked: “When?”

“On… the day you were playing polo,” she said timidly, keeping her head down. “I wanted to make you a meat pie, so I went to the West Market to buy lamb… but when I passed by my father’s shop, I… I couldn’t help but look inside…”

Even though she wore a veiled hat, after being father and daughter for over ten years, Lü Zhiyuan recognized her immediately. When she finished buying the lamb and reached Zhang’s house, she felt something was wrong. Turning around, she suddenly discovered her father following her from a distance.

Seeing that she had discovered him, Lü Zhiyuan simply walked up to her and said: “Not bad, not bad. I didn’t expect you to not only be alive but to have found a place to stay.”

She was so frightened she trembled all over. Afraid that the Zhang family would discover her true identity, she could only beg her father to pretend he had no such daughter and leave quickly.

Lü Zhiyuan sneered: “Now that you’ve found a man, you want to cast me aside? Do you think that’s right after I raised you for seventeen years? I’m telling you, either get far away from the capital and stop bringing shame to me, or have this family prepare ten strings of cash as a bride price to compensate me for raising you all these years!”

Hearing this, Zhou Zi Qin sighed and asked: “So you pawned the painting for ten strings of cash and gave it to your father?”

Di Cui bit her lip and nodded silently, saying: “I… I had no choice. I didn’t want to leave Second Brother Zhang, but I was also afraid of him knowing about my past… I, I thought that no one in the world would accept a woman with such a disgraceful past…”

As she spoke, she covered her face with trembling hands, her voice getting lower and lower: “I was desperate. Originally, I thought I could rot away in that small courtyard forever, it was my last refuge… but my father was forcing me, he wanted to cut off my last hope in this life… Until I heard, heard Second Brother Zhang talk about this painting, and learned of its origin, I then… took the painting to my father, told him it was the Late Emperor’s work and very valuable, asking him to take it and never come looking for me again. My father didn’t believe me, so I took it to the pawnshop and got ten strings of cash for it. I gave him the money and said, from now on, the Lü family has no daughter, from now on, I am part of the Zhang family…”

At this point, she finally couldn’t continue speaking, left only with heavy breathing from her emotion. After a long, long while, she choked out: “Second Brother Zhang, I’m sorry… I, I am a thief, I stole your family’s most precious thing…”

“No, never mind that you did it to stay by my side, even if you sold or threw away everything in the house, it wouldn’t matter at all,” Zhang Xingying gently held her hand and said softly: “My father is just recovering from a serious illness, and I’m often away. Now the whole household depends on you to manage it, you are this family’s mistress! Isn’t it natural for the mistress to handle things as she sees fit?”

Di Cui hadn’t expected him to say this. She stared at him blankly, with only tears slowly running down her face. Zhang Xingying gently wiped them away, gazing at her silently for a long while before saying sadly: “Ah Di, you’re too foolish… Now, what are we going to do?”

“Exactly, look at the mess things have become now, it’s quite troublesome,” Zhou Zi Qin, seeing no one else was around, lowered his voice and continued: “But you don’t need to worry too much. The Princess’s death is a great misfortune for the court, but for Di Cui, it’s fortunate… Cui Shaoqing is quite open-minded. As long as Di Cui can clarify the truth to him, and we ask a few princes to put in good words—after all, both Prince Zhao and Prince E have met you both, if we sincerely plead our case, they should be willing to help. As for His Majesty, I think in the current world, probably only Prince Kui can change His Majesty’s mind. And for Prince Kui, we’ll have to rely on Chong Gu…”

The three hopeful gazes fell on Huang Zixia.

Huang Zixia hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: “I’ll do my best.”