The backdrop can also be propped up.

350. Escaping the Huang Mansion 16

Zhou Hefang took the food she and Xu Qinying had prepared and returned to their place.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Zhou Hefang shouted at Xu Qinying, "Miss Xu! I feel like it's even harder to find the murderer. This Master Huang is very harsh on the people in his household, and I guess he's holding a grudge against them all."

"Don't jump to conclusions so soon, Xiao Zhou." Xu Qinying pressed her temples—she had been thinking about this for a long time last night, which caused her to go to bed very late, and she had also gotten up so early this morning, resulting in insufficient sleep and a relapse of her headache.

“I asked so many people yesterday, and it seems that very few of them had a motive. The only one who did have a motive was Eighth Madam, but she hasn’t been in contact with Master Huang recently.” Zhou Hefang placed Xu Qinying’s breakfast in front of her, then sat down to eat as well, telling Xu Qinying her conjecture while she ate, “I saw the little maid who led us to Miss Huang’s room again this morning.”

"So I took this opportunity to ask her which of the household members had been spending the most time with Master Huang recently, and her answer was the fourth wife."

"So I was thinking, since Fourth Madam and Master Huang are so close, is it possible that she killed Master Huang?"

“That fourth wife and Master Huang are indeed close.” Xu Qinying recalled that when she and Zhou Hefang went to the Huang residence to find Master Huang, he was in the study with the fourth wife, and she and Zhou Hefang could see them from the doorway.

"Right, look, take the first wife who married Master Huang the earliest as an example. When she learned that Master Huang had died, you could feel that her sadness and worry made up the majority of her emotions when she went to question him yesterday."

"But when I asked the fourth wife, I didn't get that feeling—she didn't seem sad at all. On the contrary, she seemed more worried about whether the family had lost any money."

"Perhaps she didn't have much of a relationship with Master Huang to begin with, so she didn't react much when she heard that Master Huang was dead," Xu Qinying offered a deduction.

“Then wouldn’t it be even more likely that she killed Master Huang?” Zhou Hefang swallowed the rice porridge in her mouth and said, “Since she had no feelings for Master Huang, she must have been after his money. And as far as I know, she has the most children in the entire Huang family.”

"The first wife only had two children, Huang Shuiyun and Huang Muyan. I remember that the fourth wife not only gave birth to the second young master, Huang Huoli, but also to most of the younger children in the mansion."

“If she had no feelings for Master Huang, then she would definitely want her son to inherit the family business. In that case, as his biological mother, she would naturally get the greatest benefit.”

"Besides, she often spends time with Master Huang, so she's the most likely person to poison him, isn't she?"

“That’s true, but have you forgotten that above Huang Huoli there is Huang Shuiyun, and Huang Shuiyun is the daughter of the First Madam? No matter how you look at it, Huang Shuiyun is the first heir to the Huang family’s property.” Xu Qinying rubbed her temples.

“Ah, that seems to be the case. If Fourth Madam really wants her second son to get the largest share of the inheritance, then the first thing she should do is get rid of Huang Shuiyun, and then get rid of Master Huang.” Zhou Hefang realized that her brilliant deduction had a huge logical problem.

"We can only say that the fourth wife is a suspect, but we can't just look for her as the murderer who killed Master Huang." Xu Qinying felt her headache was a little better and drank some porridge.

“Then what we investigated last night, we only identified the people with motives, and the cause of Master Huang’s death.” Zhou Hefang had already finished breakfast and was now listlessly lying on the stone table. “But the coroner said that Master Huang died from poisoning by Gelsemium elegans, but the scene was a locked room and there was not a trace of food or liquid.”

"The murderer couldn't have just poked a hole in the window and blew air in, poisoning Mr. Huang, could he?"

"Blowing it in through the window isn't enough," Xu Qinying said, blowing on the porridge.

"Ah—, what other way is there to find the murderer?" Zhou Hefang sighed.

"Let's go to the study and take a look later," Xu Qinying said. "It was so noisy last night that I didn't check carefully. There might be some things I missed."

"Miss Xu, Mr. Zhou," a clear female voice called from the courtyard gate, "our young lady has come to see you two."

Xu Qinying and Zhou Hefang both looked up and saw Huang Muyan standing at the courtyard gate with her little maid behind her.

"Miss Huang, is there anything I can help you with?" Seeing someone arrive, Xu Qinying put down the spoon she was using to scoop porridge and got up to greet Huang Muyan.

"Oh, it's like this. I just heard from Guixi that you were asking about my father's relationship with the people in the mansion." Huang Muyan didn't beat around the bush and directly stated her purpose. "So I wanted to say—you can ask me if you have any questions. Guixi has always done laundry and cooking, and doesn't know much about my father, mother, and the ladies."

"Oh, is that so?" Xu Qinying said, glancing at Zhou Hefang who had just caught up—although she knew that Zhou Hefang was the type to ask whatever came to mind, so her questions might be a bit blunt.

But that was such a direct question! As soon as the girl got back, she told Huang Muyan, and Huang Muyan immediately brought the girl over.

However, she couldn't refuse the intelligence that was delivered to her. Xu Qinying turned slightly to the side and gestured for Huang Muyan to enter, then looked into Huang Muyan's eyes and said, "Thank you very much, Miss Huang."

"You're welcome. It would be best if I could help you solve the case and find out the cause of my father's death." Huang Muyan nodded and followed Xu Qinying into the courtyard, where she sat on a stone bench.