Jian Zhaoxing

Chapter 13 A game within a game within a game
The maids never expected that the spearhead would be directed at them. They knelt on the ground in panic: "Miss Zhiqing, we are innocent, we are innocent..."

Xiao Cui was also confused at this time. Things had gone around in circles and returned to the starting point.

Who is the murderer?

Lin Shian's face was serious, he put his feet together, and put his hands behind his back: "It's not too late to admit who did it now. Otherwise, you all know the methods of the master."

As Lin Zhiqing watched him, he felt that he was a living replica of Lin Congli.

"Master Shi'an, it's none of my business, it's none of my business..." The maids waved their hands one after another, expressing their innocence.

Lin Shian only felt a headache. He took two steps back, and a voice as gentle as a spring breeze came over.

"Cousin, the murderer is not among them." Lin Zhiqing slowly closed the window and turned to look at everyone.

Lin Shian's brows were furrowed into the shape of a "川" character: "Except for these maids, no one else appeared in the garden that day."

"No, there's another person. She showed up." Lin Zhiqing tapped the table lightly. When he turned around, his eyes shot towards the old maid who was cleaning in the corner. "You mean it, right, this maid?"

She was the first person to be interrogated.

No one reacted for a while to Lin Zhiqing's sudden accusation.

She took two steps forward, squatted down, and looked directly at the maids kneeling on the ground: "Did she come here during the time you were flying the kite?"

"She" refers to the old lady.

"Miss Zhiqing, I did pass by the garden that day, but I only brought some water for the girls to drink. I did not overstep the bounds." The old nanny stood straight with an aggrieved expression on her face.

With just this one sentence, Lin Zhiqing concluded that this person was a smart one.

Without anyone speaking up, she was the first to reveal her whereabouts in order to take the initiative.

As expected, as soon as she finished speaking, a maidservant echoed her words.

"Now that I mention it, I remember that Mammy did come here!"

"Yes, yes, she even poured us some plum water."

"That's what happened!"

After being reminded by Lin Zhiqing, everyone present remembered that the short maid had also said that she had met this nanny and had used this nanny to tamper with the tea.

Seeing everyone looking at her with suspicion, the nanny slowly and gracefully gave a standard greeting to everyone: "Miss Zhiqing, I happened to be passing by that day and had no intention of disturbing them. They were so thirsty that they begged me to bring out the plum water, and I couldn't refuse, so I stopped."

After she finished speaking, the maids exchanged glances and immediately formed a united front: "Mammy, you can eat whatever you want but you can't talk nonsense. It was you who asked us this."

"By the way, she took the kite for a while when we were drinking water." One of the maids slapped her head and spoke.

When she said this, others immediately agreed.

Everyone talked at once and told the whole story of the old lady delivering water, flying the kite and leaving.

The old nanny snorted coldly, her body still straight and straight: "Miss Zhiqing, the reason they are colluding with each other is nothing more than trying to put the blame on me to get away with it."

The older the ginger, the spicier it is. Lin Zhiqing narrowed his eyes.

The maids whispered to each other for a long time, but it was far less powerful than the old nanny's two words.

Seeing that things had reached a stalemate, some anger appeared on Lin Shian's baby face. Just as he was about to step forward, he was stopped by Lin Zhiqing.

Lin Zhiqing knew that this nanny had been very calm from the beginning, and unlike the previous paper tigers, she was very difficult to deal with.

Even if things are not laid out openly, her eloquent words can still cause a lot of trouble.

Lin Zhiqing took a deep breath, her fair fingers brushing across the antique display case. "Mammy, there's no need to say anything else. Have you ever touched a kite?"

Before the old nanny could answer, the maids nodded vigorously.

Lin Zhiqing didn't give the nanny a chance to speak. "You're the elder in my cousin's room. You've always been in charge of cleaning this room, including, of course, this antique display case." "There's always been a decorative teacup on the display case. The color is very similar to the rhinoceros lacquer teacup. This has made everyone accustomed to it and they don't take it seriously."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Cui nodded in agreement.

Lin Zhiqing tightened his grip on the teacup. "You took advantage of this. When my cousin invited me to admire the rhinoceros-hide lacquer tea set, you moved the teacup from the antique display stand. Then, pretending to pass by the garden, you took advantage of the maids' time to fly the kite and tied the string from the rhinoceros-hide lacquer teacup to the kite."

"The kite rose higher, and the immense force pulled the rhinoceros-hide lacquer teacup onto the antique display case. The pre-tampered string snapped inside the display case. Once your goal was achieved, you reeled in the kite and the other broken string."

"The kite is just a decoy. If the truth is revealed, everyone will definitely suspect the maids, not you."

"You even knew in advance that the short maid was going to take action in order to frame her, and deliberately gave her the opportunity to clean up the evidence she left behind. This is clearly a game within a game."

Lin Zhiqing spoke clearly and connected the dots in just a few words.

The old nanny's expression remained unchanged. "Miss Zhiqing, you are so mysterious. How can an old nanny like me know anything about teacups and kites?"

Lin Zhiqing noticed that the nanny swallowed lightly while speaking, her eyebrows slowly raised, and her eye muscles tensed, which meant that she was pretending to be calm.

"That's not so mysterious." Lin Zhiqing smiled slightly and looked at Lin Shi'an: "Cousin, please put down the antique display case so that everyone can see if there are any broken kite strings inside."

Lin Shian was just immersed in the scene described by Lin Zhiqing, and now he was indeed very curious.

After Xiao Cui and others moved the things on the antique shelf, he stepped forward and gently pushed the shelf horizontally to the ground.

Everyone gathered around.

Lin Zhiqing squatted down, fumbled on the antique display case for a while, then asked Xiao Cui to take a dagger and stabbed it at the place where the teacup had been placed.

Before she could cut a few times, a piece of thread fell out.

Judging from its material, it is undoubtedly kite string.

Lu Huai and others looked at each other with surprise in their eyes.

It's okay to hear about this kind of thing, but it's still shocking to see it happen in real life.

After all, most people would not be able to imagine hiding the kite string in this antique display cabinet.

Lin Zhiqing quickly pulled out all the kite strings and picked up the tail end to observe it.

As she expected, there was a very complete cross-section on the end of the kite string, which was obviously cut by a knife. This was to ensure that the kite string would not break when the kite was taken off.

The other half of the thread was obviously torn off by brute force. Lin Zhiqing displayed the thread in front of everyone, then picked up the dagger again and pried it straight towards a corner of the antique display cabinet.

Seeing her act so decisively, Lu Huai's eyes darkened, with a flash of doubt in them.

After a while, a corner of the antique display case was pried open, revealing a rough crack.

Seeing this, Lin Zhiqing clapped his hands: "It's not easy to drill a small hole in such a large object. I don't know when you started planning this."

After saying that, she turned and looked at the nanny, her eyes revealing a sharpness.

The old nanny was stabbed by that look and could not resist. She could only look away: "Miss Zhiqing, you said so much, but it does not prove that I am the murderer who poisoned you."

"If you don't believe me, ask the court doctor to come and check. Is there any poison in the cup that was taken down from the antique shelf?"

Lu Nanyue frowned and was about to go forward to check the cup when she was stopped by Lin Zhiqing.

She looked at Lin Zhiqing in confusion, and saw Lin Zhiqing pick up the cup: "She's right, this teacup is not poisonous."

"This..." Lu Huai and Jiang Liuyun looked at each other, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

The next moment, Lin Zhiqing gently stroked the cup in his hand, with a hint of smile in his tone:
"But the stuff in this cup is more dangerous than poison!"

(End of this chapter)