Chapter 80 The Unexpected Accomplice

“Second Aunt was not killed by Second Uncle?” Sheng Weiqiao had just fled from Xiezhu Pavilion before. Therefore, she naturally didn’t make it easy for Sheng Shuihe, who had come to her room.

However, Sheng Weirao was currently living in Zhuying Mini Villa. Sheng Weiqiao worried that if she squabbled with Sheng Shuihe, her cousin would be disturbed. Therefore, she didn’t make any trouble for him. She implied Gongsun Yingjiang to stop Sheng Weiwu, who couldn’t help herself but punch Sheng Shuihe. After inviting him to the stone table under the pergola in the backyard, she still called Lvjin to make tea for him, although she kept a poker face in this process.

She had planned to ignore Sheng Shuihe for a while. But who knew that after they were seated, Lvjin and Lvqi had been asked to leave. When Sheng Weirao had just taken up the tea bowl and was about to make a gesture of concentrating on tasting tea, she suddenly heard Sheng Shuihe mention lightly. Then she was too shocked and almost poured the tea on her dress. She stood up in shock, “Is it true?”

It was not that Sheng Weiqiao hoped her Second Uncle, Sheng Lansi, to die. Even not to mention that everyone doubted the murderer was Sheng Lansi after the news of Madam Bai’s death spread in Sheng Family yesterday, just see that Old Madam Ming not only kowtowed to her granddaughter in public but even took a knife against her neck to force them not to report it to Yamen could make nobody believe that Sheng Lansi was innocent.

“The people in Yamen came to our house and said this morning.” The sunlight at noon was refracted by the water surface of the small pond, making the face of Sheng Shuihe, who was facing the pond extremely bright. It seemed that his long eyelashes were coated with a layer of gold powder, which looked like the dancing butterfly wings and were about to sprinkle the halos at any time when he turned his eyes.

But after all, he just came back. His emotion for Sheng Family, especially for those outside the eldest branch, were not profound. At the moment, his face was illuminated by the water shines brightly in the wisteria flower shadow, and there was a sense of carelessness between his eyebrows. He sipped a little tea and said calmly, “It was originally Third Uncle who needed to see them, but he did not want to anger grandfather and grandmother. He tried to push the errand to mother, but it was fortunate. Because if it were Third Uncle who went to see them, I am afraid that he might not understand what they really meant in their words. Yamen suspected that father and mother didn’t like Second Uncle, and they deliberately backstabbed him. If it were not because our parents treated Second Uncle well, they came here to confirm that particularly for prudential reasons, Second Uncle might confess his ‘crime’ because of the punishment!”

Sheng Weiqiao was stunned after hearing his words, and after a while, she sat back and said, “How could father and mother… dislike Second Uncle?! Even if they didn’t like him, how could they use this kind of conspiracy to take Second Uncle’s life?! Do people in Yamen have a grudge against father and mother? Why do they think of them that way!”

“Sister, have you forgotten about the event about Xuanyu Family’s dispute over the family property after the death of our uncle two years ago?” Sheng Shuihe just smiled, “Although I had not come back at that time, I heard about it at sea: not just one or two people were coveted in the position of the head of our family. Almost all of Cousin She’s uncles had candidates to support, and none of them supported Cousin She. If aunt were not powerful enough and overwhelmed those people, how could Cousin She be the head of Xuanyu Family now? A few days ago, the whole family of Xuanyu E had ‘mistaken’ the gelsemium elegan and all died. It is said that Aunt couldn’t be happier at that time?”

Since the fight among the brothers of Xuanyu Family was so sincere, it was not surprising that the eldest brother hoped that his younger brother to die early in Sheng Family since it was also one of the three major families in Nanfeng County!

Sheng Weiqiao was blocked by his words and had nothing to say. She twisted her eyebrows, glaring at him fiercely for a while, and then said while banging the table, “Since Second Aunt was not killed by Second Uncle, why did grandmother refused to report it to the government yesterday?”

“It is naturally because grandmother thought it was done by Second Uncle.” Sheng Shuihe explained calmly, “Originally, Second Aunt, as the hostess of the second branch, always had maids serving around even in the inner room. Who knew that before noon of yesterday, she suddenly took the initiative to instruct all her servants to leave and told them not to go to the main house before evening. You also know that Second Aunt gave all her personal maids to Third Sister a few days ago. The maids who were serving her those days were promoted recently, and they hadn’t stayed with her for a long time. Therefore, they naturally followed the rules and were afraid of saying something wrong or doing something wrong and make Second Aunt unhappy!”

These people thought Madam Bai’s order was a bit strange and guessed she was about to meet someone or do something, but because they dared not to ask, they all returned to their room after receiving the order.

In the evening, two maids on duty finally took some people and fetched water to serve in the main house.

Who knew that when they entered the door, they found out that Madam Bai was falling down in the small pond in the court, and she had lost her breath a long time ago!

Their blood turned cold right away. Because Sheng Lansi wasn’t in the house at that time, they could only report it to Eldest Childe, Sheng Weide, who was also astonished. After glancing at the spot hastily, he hurried to Jinxue House and report it to his grandparents!

“Because Second Aunt was a female and drowned, it was inevitable that her clothing would be untidy. Thus, grandfather hadn’t left, and he only let grandmother go to the second branch and have a look.” Sheng Shuihe smiled slightly while saying here, “Then grandmother saw that Second Aunt clenched something in her right hand when her body was dragged from the small pond. Grandma ordered her servants to open her right hand, and she found that … it was a piece of the robe that Second Uncle wore that day, and it looked like it was torn off.”

He paused and continued saying, “However, Second Uncle had not lived in the house these days, and he suddenly came back yesterday afternoon. Although the people in the second branch were asked to go back to their room by Second Aunt, and nobody saw him, the other servants in the house, especially the doorman of the side door had seen Second Uncle in and out. The doorman also told grandmother that Second Uncle left in a hurry. There was sweat on his forehead and he even didn’t have time to wipe it!”

In this case, no wonder that Old Madam Ming would think Madam Bai was killed by Sheng Lansi!

Sheng Weiqiao exhaled, and said after she calmed her mind, “Since it is not Second Uncle who killed Second Aunt, who is the real murderer then?”

“This is where the trouble is!” Sheng Shuihe said it’s troublesome, but his expression was very calm. “Yamen interrogated the relevant servants overnight yesterday and came to the conclusion that Second Aunt was poisoned first and then been pushed down into the pond.”

He paused and showed a very subtle expression, “And at present, the most suspicious person is the one who just entered Sheng Family before grandfather’s birthday, Eighth Sister!”

“This is impossible!” Sheng Weiqiao shouted without thinking. “Eighth Sister is the daughter of a concubine, and both Second Aunt and Sister Rao are very disgusted with her. How could Second Aunt give her the opportunity to poison her? Furthermore, how young Eighth Sister is? She hasn’t been out of the house since she entered Sheng Family, so where did she go to get poison? Her biological mother was not in the house, and Second Uncle didn’t pay much attention to her. Even if she asked servants for help, who would bear such a risk for her?!”

The most important thing was, “Even if she found some way to get the poison, and managed to make Second Aunt eat it. However, she couldn’t have such a great ability to let Second Aunt run into the small pond while she had just been poisoned. Then even if Second Aunt fell down by the small pond, but how could she push Second Aunt down into the pond with her own strength?!”

“If it were done by a servant, it is still like what I have said: Eighth Sister had no power in Sheng Family, and they just brought her up. How could she be this capable of making the servants sell their lives like this for her?!”

“Because Eighth Sister is young, there must be a ringleader behind this event.” Sheng Shuihe nodded slightly and said, “But it may be not true to say that she can’t push Second Aunt down the pond with her own strength. In fact, it is the reason Yamen concluded that Second Aunt was not killed by Second Uncle!”

Seeing Sheng Weiqiao’s eyes widened and staring at him without blinking, he kept silent for a while to restrain himself from reaching out to his hands and touching her head. He coughed and said, “Do you remember that two pairs of sika deer which were newly set in our garden just before grandfather’s birthday?”

“I heard Little Jiuniang mention them once. When I went to Huafei Mansion to help Sister Rao pack up things and moved over here yesterday, the person who served her said that to make Sister Rao feel relieved, Second Aunt specifically asked a pair of deer from the garden and raised them outside Huafei Mansion.” Sheng Weiqiao said blankly, “But what does this have to do with what is happening now?”

“That two pairs of sika deer are both trained and able to grip things.” Sheng Shuihe said with a slight smile, “Second Aunt took a pair to the second branch, but she was afraid of disturbing the settlement of Third Sister. Therefore, she did not even lock them in the small yard of Huafei Mansion, and they were just tied outside. The two pairs of deer were specially trained and had a very gentle temperament. Even if strangers were close to them, they would not shout or scream.”

“So since Second Aunt became unconscious due to the poison after she asked all her servants to leave, Eighth Sister could go to Huafei Mansion to take the deer to the main room and make the deer grip Second Aunt’s clothes in its mouth and drag her in the pond!”

Although the power of the deer couldn’t be compared with that of oxen and horses, Madam Bai was obviously a beauty since she was still not too old now, and she was thin and light. There was no problem for an adult buck to drag her from the room to the courtyard pond.

Sheng Weiqiao’s expression changed dramatically, and she almost instantly thought that when she went to Huafei Mansion to take Sheng Weirao to Zhuying Mini Villa, it was quiet inside and outside. Baozhuang had said, “They are well-tamed and not noisy”.

After a while, she said in a slightly trembling voice, “Is this a guess, or a fact?”

If this were true, Sheng Weiqiao simply did not know how to tell Sheng Weirao in the future?

Her biological mother took the sika deer into the second branch was to help her to relieve, but now they became the accomplice, which caused her biological mother’s death!

Who could accept the truth like this?

Especially, Sheng Weirao even had not recovered from the previous blow!

“People in Yamen found traces of deer’s biting on Second Aunt’s coat. The sika deer were specially put into the garden to celebrate grandfather’s birthday, and the people in the Yamen also came to our house to celebrate grandfather’s birthday, so they knew that there were deer in our family, and they became suspicious.” Sheng Shuihe picked up the cold tea and shook it at the light spot leaking from the top of the head, and then put it down, said lightly, “Mother knew this just now, so she deliberately brought them to the second branch. Fortunately, after Second Aunt was found yesterday, people in the second branch were all flustered. The maids serving Second Aunt were locked in Yamen to interrogate, and the place has not been cleaned up. The hoof marks of the deer in the room were found when they paid a little attention to the house.”

He did not wait for Sheng Weiqiao to speak, and said, “Of course, Eighth Sister must use the deer to get Second Aunt from the room to the small pond. Even if others had the strength to do so, and they could also use the deer to make the suspicion direct to Eighth Sister. However, Eighth Sister sneaked out of the house yesterday afternoon, and the maid serving her did not know where she went either!”

Sheng Weiqiao bit her lip, “So what about herself? Maybe she said clearly that where she went?”

“She said she went to the garden, but none of the servants in the garden had seen her at the time she said.” Sheng Shuihe said calmly, “Actually, she has confessed. Because after entering the family, she had been repeatedly beaten and scolded by Third Sister and deliberately tortured by Second Aunt, she is full of hatred towards Second Aunt and Third Sister.”

“So, when Second Uncle’s current new lover found her, she agreed without hesitation to be Miss Wu’s source inside the family!”

“….” Sheng Weiqiao didn’t speak for a while. Actually, she didn’t know what to say.

After taking a few deep breaths, she calmed her mind and asked in a deep voice, “What did mother say to Sister Rao last night, do you know anything… about that?”