Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 245 Destroying Evidence
If a person does not care about himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. At this point, Aqin had no better choice. She gritted her teeth and told the truth.

"It's a thank you gift. He's the father of the child, and he was also the one who asked me to poison the tea of the envoy!"

This answer was within the expectations of Yan Ci Wan and Xiao Wang, so both of them reacted calmly.

The murderer who could kill Xie Tanyu must be very familiar with the Governor's Mansion and have enough time and strength to control Aqin. Although Xie Chusong is very familiar with the Governor's Mansion, she cannot make Aqin pregnant. Liu Qingguang has just arrived in Yizhou and does not know much about the situation in the Governor's Mansion.

Among the three suspects, only Xie Li meets both conditions.

Si Buping asked Aqin to tell him in detail what happened between her and Xie Li.

Ah Qin took a deep breath and said slowly, "Actually, Xie Li showed his affection for me two years ago. Although he is ten years older than me, his status is much higher than mine. Even if I can only be his concubine, it is better than being a maid here, so I accepted his advances. Xie Li said that I was a maidservant beside the envoy, and to prevent the envoy from thinking too much, our relationship should not be publicized for the time being, so in the past two years, we have been communicating in secret, and no one in the palace knows about our relationship."

Ah Feng couldn't help but say, "Although the envoy is very strict in his conduct, he is not a petty person. If he knew that you had a good match, he would definitely be willing to help you get married. Why did you deliberately hide it?"

"This is all arranged as a thank you gift. He said that he and the envoy have a bad relationship. If the envoy knew about my relationship with him, he would definitely make things difficult for me. He concealed the relationship for my own good."

Ah Feng looked at her in disbelief: "You believe all this?"

Ah Qin lowered her head, her expression gloomy: "I was already his at that time. No matter what he said, I had to believe it. Only in this way could I have a chance to escape from slavery."

Si Buping asked, "Tell me how you plotted to murder Governor Xie."

Ah Qin lowered her head even lower, and whispered, "Xie Li has been telling me that he and the envoy have a bad relationship. He said that the envoy always pretends to be serious, seemingly righteous but actually selfish and mean. He said that if he could tear off the envoy's disguise, the envoy would not be able to pretend in front of him anymore. So on October 30th last year, at Xie Li's instigation, I went to see the envoy with wine spiked with ingredients, hoping to use the opportunity of being drunk to seduce the envoy to show his ugly side. But unfortunately, we failed, and you all know the reason now."

Ah Feng was furious when he heard this and cursed angrily: "You are so shameless! If I had known you were such a person, I should have kicked you out of this mansion when the envoy first came to Yizhou!"

Yuejin reminded: "Please keep quiet."

Afeng had no choice but to suppress his anger and shut his mouth, staring at Aqin with a pair of angry eyes.

Aqin knew she was in the wrong and never dared to look up.

She looked at the ground and continued, "Not long after that failed, I learned that I was pregnant. I told Xie Li the good news, hoping that he would marry me as soon as possible. But he said that he was in a big crisis, and the cause of this crisis was the envoy. He asked me to seduce the envoy so that he could get hold of the envoy's handle and resolve his crisis. He couldn't protect himself, so he couldn't marry me, unless... unless I could help him again."

Si Buping asked, "He asked you to kill Governor Xie?"

"I'm just an ordinary maid. How could I have the guts to kill someone? Xie Li gave me a packet of medicine, saying that the medicine would not kill people, but would only make people fall into a coma. He asked me to add the medicine to Xie Li's food. When Xie Li fell asleep, he would have the opportunity to steal the thing that was harmful to him and resolve his own crisis."

Si Buping asked, "What did he steal?"

Ah Qin shook her head: "I don't know, I was only responsible for giving the drugs, I don't know anything else. I thought Xie Li just wanted to steal something, but I didn't expect that the envoy would be harmed."

"These are just your one-sided words. How can I believe that what you said is true?"

Ah Qin didn't expect that even after she had told him everything, the other party still didn't believe her. She hurriedly raised her head and said in defense, "Everything I said is true! I swear to heaven that if I tell a lie, I will be struck by lightning and die miserably!"

"The only way to solve a case is to look at the evidence. Swearing is useless." Ah Qin took out a pair of jade bracelets from her bosom. "This is a token of love given to me as a thank-you gift. He said he bought it at a high price and it's very valuable. Can this be used as evidence?"

Dongli took the bracelet from her and presented it to Si Buping with both hands.

Si Buping picked up the bracelet and took a look at it. It was of transparent texture and was indeed valuable. He instructed Yuejin.

"Go check the origin of this bracelet."

"Yes."

Yuejin took the jade bracelet with both hands and turned to leave.

Si Buping looked at Aqin again and saw that she was watching Yuejin leave with a hopeful look, so he reminded her: "You'd better not hold out too much hope. Even if it can be proven that the jade bracelet was given to you by Xie Li, it only proves that you and Xie Li have a close relationship, and it still cannot change your suspicion of murder."

Aqin was poured with a basin of cold water, and the hope in her eyes was extinguished in an instant.

She hastily explained, "I didn't kill anyone! I just put drugs in the tea, but the envoy was stabbed to death, the murderer couldn't be me!"

"It is very likely that you drugged Governor Xie first, and then stabbed him to death after he fell unconscious."

"That's not true! I didn't kill anyone! No!!"

Si Buping raised his hand and asked someone to take Aqin away.

Dongli stepped forward, grabbed Aqin's arm and pulled her up.

Ah Qin struggled desperately and shouted: "Everything was arranged by Xie Li, he is the real murderer!"

Dongli covered her mouth and took her away forcibly.

Silence returned to the study.

Si Buping looked at Yan Ciwan and saw that she looked thoughtful, so he asked, "What did you think of?"

Yan Ciwan pondered, "Wasn't Governor Xie writing a memorial before he died? The memorial disappeared after his death. It is very likely that it was taken away by the murderer. If Xie Li is the murderer, how would he deal with the memorial?"

Xiao Wang followed her thoughts and analyzed: "Memorials are usually written on silk, which is difficult to tear. The best way to deal with it is to burn it."

Yue Jin immediately replied, "We searched Xie Li's residence on the night of the incident. There was indeed a brazier in his room, but there was only charcoal ash in the brazier, and no traces of silk being burned."

Chaolu guessed, "Perhaps he cleaned the brazier beforehand and dumped the ashes from the burned silk outside, or perhaps he secretly burned the memorial on his way back to his residence."

Yue Jin shook his head and said it was impossible. They had searched the courtyard where Xie Li lived carefully inside and outside, and did not find any ashes. As for burning evidence on the way back to his residence, it was even more impossible. There would be people patrolling the governor's mansion at night. If someone was burning a fire in the mansion in the middle of the night, it would immediately alert the patrolling soldiers. However, they had already questioned the patrolling soldiers, and the soldiers did not find anything unusual that night.