The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 254 is too late.

Soon, all the maids in the Duke of Dingguo's mansion were summoned to the front courtyard.

Suddenly, a large number of maids stood in the front yard.

Lord Chen and the constables scrutinized the faces of the maids one by one.

Standing beside her cousin and aunt, Zhiwan also sized up the maids. She suspected that the person who reported to the authorities was likely one of Lu Lan's maids, so she searched around to see if Lu Lan's maid was among them.

She saw that all the maids from the second branch of the family were there, but Lu Lan's personal maid, Huan'er, was missing.

Her heart sank, and she was about to speak when Lord Chen spoke first: "Madam Lu, are you sure all the maids in your household are here?"

It turned out that Lord Chen and the constables had already finished their inspection.

However, it seems that the maid who reported to the authorities was not found among those maids.

When Wei heard him ask this, she hesitated for a moment. Just as she was about to ask Granny Fang, Zhiwan suddenly spoke up: "Aunt, Lu Lan's personal maid, Huan'er, is not here."

“That’s right, it’s missing a ring,” Lou Shi chimed in.

Upon hearing this, Madam Wei hurriedly asked Granny Fang to bring the list.

After checking, it was confirmed that all the maids, except for Huan'er, were indeed here.

Her face immediately darkened. "So, the one who went to report to the authorities was Huan'er?"

"It must be her!" Lou Shi said with certainty. "Huan'er must be feeling guilty and has hidden herself away."

Lu Zhan looked at Zhiwan and said, "Cousin, you recognize Huan'er. Draw a picture of Huan'er and let Lord Chen and the others identify her."

“Okay.” Zhiwan had the same idea.

Jiang Shi moved a table over and laid out paper and pens on it.

Lu Zhan personally ground ink for Zhiwan.

Zhiwan picked up her pen, thought for a moment, and then quickly began to draw on the paper.

Before long, a pretty maid was drawn.

Lu Zhan picked up the portrait and handed it to Lord Chen.

"Lord Chen, please take a good look. Was this the maid who reported it to the authorities?"

Lord Chen's memory has always been excellent, and he recognized her at a glance, "It is indeed this maid without a doubt."

The other constables nodded in agreement, "It's her, there's no mistake."

"So it was indeed Huan'er who went to report to the authorities? And she went to report to the authorities before Aunt Xu was even murdered!" Lou Shi said angrily.

Lu Jun was extremely shocked. "If it was really Huan'er who reported it to the authorities, then Aunt Xu's death might really have been done by Fourth Sister."

“What do you mean, ‘maybe’? I’m sure it’s her. Huan’er is her personal maid, so she must have ordered Huan’er to do it!” Lou Shi said, her voice breaking. “She’s truly heartless and ruthless. She even dared to kill her own mother and then frame Zhi Wan. I would never dare to live with someone like that.”

Lu Jun was incredulous. "How could my fourth sister... do such a thing?"

Lou said coldly, "She usually seems quiet and unassuming, but I never expected her to be so vicious. She even has the nerve to prove her innocence with her death? Now it seems she's just feeling guilty and trying to gain sympathy by dying."

Wei angrily retorted, "What a heartless bastard!"

When Lord Chen saw that they all recognized the girl in the portrait and identified her as Lu Lan's personal maid, he already had a clue, but he still felt there were some doubts.

"But why would that maid report to the authorities in advance, revealing such a big flaw? Since Miss Lu wanted to frame Miss Zhi, she should have thought of this."

“It must be because of panic, after all, it was matricide,” said Madam Lou. “Panic is understandable, you can tell from the neatness of the crime scene. Miss Lu must have been panicked to overlook this. But the maid who reported the crime must have been arranged in advance, so it can’t be panic,” said Lord Chen.

"Could it be... that the maid deliberately reported the case in advance?" Zhiwan guessed. "After all, it was matricide, and the maid was afraid, but she couldn't disobey Lu Lan's orders. She wanted to save Aunt Xu, so she reported the case in advance, hoping that the government could send someone to save Aunt Xu ahead of time?"

Lu Zhan nodded. "Cousin's guess is not without merit, but is there another possibility that the maid was afraid of being killed to silence her, so she reported the incident in advance and then ran away?"

“Brother’s analysis makes sense. Otherwise, how do you explain Huan’er not being in the manor?” Lu Jun nodded in agreement.

“What you all say makes sense, but that maid has disappeared now. Could it be that she has been silenced?” Lord Chen made a throat-slitting gesture.

“That’s impossible,” Jiang Shi said.

Lord Chen looked at him in surprise, "Why are you so sure?"

Jiang Shi looked at the young master and the cousin, and seeing that they nodded, he said, "Not long ago, Lu Lan framed the cousin, so I have been secretly watching Lu Lan's every move. Therefore, I know that Lu Lan has no other helpers besides her maid and Aunt Xu who can help her a little."

Moreover, during this period, Lu Lan stayed in the mansion and did not go anywhere except for one trip with the old lady.

Therefore, I believe that the maid Huan'er was not murdered to silence her.

"Is it possible that during that outing with Old Madam Lu, Lu Lan secretly hired an assassin, waiting for the maid to report the incident before killing her to silence her?" Lord Chen asked.

Jiang Shi shook his head. "That's impossible. The time Lu Lan went out with the old lady, she went to a teahouse to meet Li Qiandu, the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. I personally kept watch over her that time. Lu Lan couldn't possibly have had the opportunity to ask for help from outside."

Upon hearing this, everyone present wore somewhat strange expressions.

Although Li Qiandu, the Imperial Censor, held a high official position, he was about the same age as Old Madam Lu.

Madam Lu actually took Lu Lan to meet such an old man.

Wei and Zhiwan both knew about this, so they were not surprised, but Lou, Lu Jun, and Lord Chen were shocked.

"What a shameless wretch!" After a long while, Lou sneered.

Lord Chen snapped out of his daze and frowned at Jiang Shi. "Since you've been keeping an eye on Lu Lan, why were you unaware of her murder of Concubine Xu today?"

Speaking of this matter, Jiang Shi felt very guilty. "Because Miss Lu was moving out of the Lu residence today, my brothers and I helped carry her things and were preparing to go to the Zhi residence with her. In addition, Lu Lan has been quite well-behaved lately and will soon be married to the Li family, so we stopped paying attention to her."

Who knew that this oversight would lead to this mess?

"This matter is not your fault. I thought Lu Lan was no longer a threat, so I told you not to keep an eye on her anymore. In the end, it was my carelessness and negligence." Zhiwan frowned and said. Now it seems that Lu Lan may already know that she sent people to watch her. Her meeting with that censor was also intentional, just to lower her guard.

Judging from the various incidents Lu Lan has caused, she underestimated Lu Lan's abilities.

"Don't blame yourselves, none of you are at fault. The fault lies with Lu Lan," Lu Zhan said in a deep voice.

Lord Chen nodded. “Yes, there’s no point in pursuing this now. Since the maid wasn’t silenced, she must be hiding. Please, Miss Zhiwan, draw more portraits of this maid for me so I can have someone use them to find her.”

“Okay.” Zhiwan nodded.

At that time, she painted many portraits of Huan'er.

Besides the government officials searching for Huan'er, Madam Wei also sent out the servants in her household to search for her.

Because of this matter, Zhiwan did not go to the Zhi residence for the time being, but only sent the servants in the courtyard to put away her luggage.

Lu Zhan then went into his study, wrote a memorial, and went directly to the palace to meet the emperor.

So by the time Lu Jing thought of going to the palace to impeach Lu Zhan after Lu Lan's condition stabilized, it was already too late.

Because it involved matricide, a serious offense, the emperor assigned the case to the Dali Temple and appointed Ouyang Lei to take full charge of it.