Chapter 86 - 54 Dream
The voice wasn’t Yin Miaomiao’s, but that did not completely rule her out as a suspect. The incident at the tea banquet seemed rightful at first glance, yet there were certain details that were peculiar—with Yin Miaomiao’s behavior being one of them.
Having learned these clues, an entire murder process was vaguely taking shape.
Someone was targeting Qin Silang. This person did not wish to kill him directly; rather, the aim was to ruin his reputation first, then to have him suffer in agony, despised by the world and ultimately executed for murder.
This person must have hated him, hatred for the Qin Family not excluded. Either Upper Assistant Qin had offended someone without providing them an opportunity to strike back, so they started by destroying his son step by step—after all, if Qin Musheng truly faced the charge of murder, Upper Assistant Qin’s political career would inevitably be implicated. Another possibility was that Qin Musheng had committed some outrageous and devastating act, thus warranting such revenge.
The murderer initially poisoned Han Shan with a slow-acting poison. The poisoner must have been someone who could often approach him and had a certain knowledge of poisons. Could that person be Cui Mei?
During the tea banquet at the Yin residence, Cui Mei conspired with an accomplice from the same household to frame Qin Silang, but was caught in the act by Wan Lu—which led to killing to silence her. What puzzled Ran Yan was that the Yin Family was known for their strict upbringing of their daughters, producing paragons of obedience and virtue with extremely conservative thinking. Why, then, would they allow a courtesan to enter and exit freely? If someone was collaborating with her, that person must hold a very high position in the Yin Family.
Yin Miaomiao had said that her maid, before dying, had been borrowed by Wei Niang to arrange the tea party two days prior. So, could the person collaborating with Cui Mei be Wei Niang?
Wei Niang was considered a semi-authority within the Yin household. If one wished to look into her background, it shouldn’t be difficult. Ran Yan had considered asking Qin Silang if he had offended anyone, but considering their absurd marriage agreement and the current phase of distancing their relations, another meeting might invite unnecessary trouble.
Ran Yan left Wan Lu’s room with a resolution to visit Inspector Liu early the next morning to share these clues, and to request an autopsy. She was a forensic doctor, not a professional detective; without a body, and merely with these inconclusive clues, it would be difficult for her to piece together the entire incident.