"It's just some trivial matters within the pavilion... I can't recall clearly."
Seeing Xu Ru Gui's expression shift slightly, Xiao Jin Yu spoke leisurely, "Then let me help you remember... When you saw Jing Yi giving Gu Yao a cold water bath outside the door to calm his mind, you seized the opportunity to create an unsolvable deadlock for this case. As Returning Pavilion serves nobility and high officials exclusively, always maintaining strict security—it wouldn't be difficult for you, Pavilion Master Xu, to find a skilled subordinate within the pavilion. You lured Jing Yi to the doorway under the pretext of delivering evidence, while sending someone to sneak into the bath chamber, drug Gu Yao, cut his wrist and submerge it in water... Though Jing Yi excels in qinggong, he has no martial arts training or internal cultivation, thus he noticed nothing unusual. By the time he discovered the anomaly, it was too late. In his shock, he concluded it was suicide... However, the assassin lacked your meticulousness, Pavilion Master Xu, and performed the task crudely due to nervousness."
Chu Chu frowned. Just because he knocked on the door a little late, he managed to deduce all this?
Noticing Shi Niang also knitting her delicate brows and looking at him with questioning eyes, Xu Ru Gui hurriedly said, "Wang Ye, these are merely your conjectures..."
"Wet shoe prints were found by the bathtub and window frame. If I order a thorough search and comparison of every person in As Returning Pavilion, who do you think would ultimately be exposed, Pavilion Master Xu? And whom would that person implicate?"
Xu Ru Gui opened his mouth, but his words took a different direction, "May I ask, Wang Ye, why would I want to kill Gu Yao? He was As Returning Pavilion's most popular courtesan. As the pavilion master, I'd naturally promote him—what reason would I have to take his life?"
"That brings us to the cause of death of the previous victims... Lian Cheng, consort of Princess Jin Yang's estate; Xiao Lin, Prince of Qi; and Xu Hua, second son of the Minister of War. According to Miss Chu's examination, all three died from excessive indulgence while taking certain aphrodisiacs containing musk." Xiao Jin Yu looked at Chu Chu, "Is that correct?"
Chu Chu pursed her lips and corrected, "I didn't know who they were, but... yes, that's how they died."
"Yesterday, while examining the body of Imperial Academy Scholar Zhou Min with Pavilion Master Xu, I discovered his cause and manner of death were identical to the previous cases. Thanks to Pavilion Master Xu's reminder, I learned this was caused by Gu Yao's secret aphrodisiac formula, Evening Fragrance. Fortunately, there's an overly curious physician in my residence who, in his spare time, analyzed the victims' blood and deciphered the formula..." Xiao Jin Yu slid the medicinal formula across the table to Shi Niang, "Please examine this, Pavilion Master."
Shi Niang's brows tightened as soon as she glanced at it, "That old man must be going blind—this is a dangerously potent formula."
Xiao Jin Yu's gaze remained fixed on Xu Ru Gui as he responded to Shi Niang, "Ye Qian Qiu also thought his eyes were failing him, so he specifically marked with vermilion ink several ingredients that shouldn't appear in this formula... After verification by Miss Chu, who has seen the original Evening Fragrance formula, these ingredients indeed weren't part of it." Xiao Jin Yu glanced at Chu Chu, "Isn't that right?" Seeing Chu Chu nod, he turned his attention back to Xu Ru Gui, "In the heavily guarded As Returning Pavilion, who else but you, Pavilion Master Xu, could obtain someone's exclusive formula, alter its components, and swap them without raising suspicion?"
Xu Ru Gui bowed slightly to Shi Niang, "I know nothing about medicine—the Pavilion Master can vouch for me."
Before Shi Niang could speak, Xiao Jin Yu gently waved his hand, "Such crude work would never be done personally by you, Pavilion Master Xu. Surely you had subordinates handle it for you... No need to be nervous—these are merely speculations without concrete evidence."Xu Ru Gui let out a shallow sigh, but Shi Niang’s gaze grew even colder. With a sharp lift of her brow, she slapped the medicinal formula in her hand onto the table. "Without any proof, you expect me to listen to your nonsense?"
Chu Chu silently cheered for Shi Niang. Exactly! Accusing someone without evidence—wasn’t he just spouting nonsense? Though she thought this, she took a step closer to Xiao Jin Yu. No matter how much nonsense he might spout, she couldn’t let anyone bully this patient.
"Pavilion Master, please calm yourself..." Xiao Jin Yu’s voice remained as composed and cool as ever. "Although the deaths of Gu Yao and these guests were on Xu Ru Gui’s orders, he did not carry them out himself. Even if we found some clues, they wouldn’t be enough to convict him of a major crime, hardly worth the effort of my subordinates... But we cannot be so careless with the case Xu Ru Gui committed with his own hands."
Shi Niang sneered, "Which other prodigal son has died?"
Xiao Jin Yu stared at Xu Ru Gui, enunciating each word clearly, "The Vice Minister of Personnel, Xue Yue—the fourth son of Grand Tutor Xue."
☆、18 Jujube Ginger Soup (Eighteen)
At the mention of this name, Shi Niang visibly stiffened, then fixed her icy, blade-like gaze fiercely on Xu Ru Gui, spitting out four bone-chilling words, "Xue Yue is dead?"
Xu Ru Gui retreated half a step without a word. Xiao Jin Yu, suppressing a sudden sharp pain in his spine, also remained silent. In the ensuing dead silence, Chu Chu’s clear voice rang out distinctly, "Yes, although he had taken quite a lot of that aphrodisiac before his death, making it look like he died from overexertion, he was actually killed by a three-inch iron nail driven into the top of his head..."
"Chu Chu!" Before she could reveal any details related to autopsy or examination, Xiao Jin Yu mustered his strength to cut her off sharply. After coughing a few times, he said softly, "Please pour me a cup of water..."
"Alright."
While Chu Chu fetched the water, Xiao Jin Yu, ignoring his labored breathing from enduring the pain, pressed on decisively to Xu Ru Gui, "Xu Ru Gui, will you confess yourself, or shall I do it for you..."
"I do not know what to confess."
Shi Niang, staring at the bowing, respectful Xu Ru Gui, spoke instead to Xiao Jin Yu, "You’d better have solid evidence, or no one leaves As Returning Pavilion today."
"Rest assured, those who deserve death won’t live..."
Xiao Jin Yu’s voice was soft and slightly hoarse, but to Xu Ru Gui, it sounded like it came from the halls of the underworld. A chill ran down his spine, stiffening it, and his words came out cold and rigid, "If Wang Ye has no concrete evidence, I ask that you restore my innocence."
Xiao Jin Yu took the cup handed to him by Chu Chu, took a couple of sips, and said indifferently, "You threw away your innocence yourself—no one can restore it for you..."
Setting down the cup, Xiao Jin Yu retrieved a confidential letter from his person, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Shi Niang. "Recently, the Ministry of Justice held a public trial regarding the case of court officials buying and selling official positions. The case involves over twenty officials of the fifth rank and above, including several imperial relatives. This case was assigned to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate for secret investigation early this year but was only brought to trial recently because the whereabouts of the massive sums of money from the transactions remained unknown... It wasn’t until a few days ago, when the stationmaster of a neighboring county delivered the master ledger recording the money’s flow to the Censorate, that several banks were raided, nearly eighty percent of the embezzled funds were recovered, and the case was concluded."
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