Lin Fei didn’t say yes or no, he just said: “Perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” this response clearly implied agreement in the eyes of both. Their expressions changed abruptly, and after a moment of silence, they immediately exclaimed, “Could it be that the beautiful lady owner intended for us to follow in the footsteps of Ruan Zhan and Han Jun?”

Until it had been confirmed whether Zhuang Meiniang was the real culprit, who could have known for sure? Liu Yuan had thought to himself. Seeing that those few individuals were not studying properly and seemed distracted all the time, he had intended to reprimand them a bit, so he had said, “Who knows? In storybooks, it was always those with wandering minds and a lack of focus on their studies who were targeted by beautiful female spirits!”

These were obviously such people.

Several students were startled by these words. They grabbed their school bags and took a step back, subconsciously trying to stay away from the study.

Lin Fei didn’t have the intention to beat people up like Liu Yuan. He just looked at a few students and asked, “What is the relationship between Ruan Zhan, Han Jun, and Zhuang Meiniang?”

The students said, “Looking at how similar we are… we’re pretty much in the same boat.”

With lives at stake, they dared not conceal anything and spoke up, “Zhuang Meiniang’s husband had just passed away, and she was living quite comfortably on her own. She was very generous with her money, treating us to meals, providing books, snacks, and more. Even on rainy days, she would offer us lodging.”

Hearing this, Liu Yuan immediately frowned: “Stay overnight?”

The students blushed and pointed to the floor of the study, saying, “We would just sleep on the floor, while she stayed in the back.”

Although they were sleeping on the floor, but…

“She is a woman living here, and you students are building a bunk here? Is it appropriate?” Liu Yuan said, “The sage’s book was read into the dog’s belly?”

Several people’s faces turned even redder after saying this, and they lowered their heads and said calmly: “Next time… we won’t dare next time!”

“If there’s a next time…” Liu Yuanxin rolled his eyes. “If we didn’t intervene, you might have ended up like Ruan Zhan and Han Jun, with no ‘next time’.”

This was not an alarmist statement. After all, Zhuang Meiniang’s suspicion was really high.

It was unclear whether Zhuang Meiniang had issues from the beginning or if it was because of the recent events that everything seemed suspicious.

One of the students pondered for a moment and suddenly said, “Now that I think about it, Zhuang Meiniang seemed amiable and charming on normal days, but at times she could be excessively aloof. Her temperament seemed to fluctuate unpredictably. It’s possible that she had some mental issues related to her older sister’s affairs, but it just wasn’t evident in daily interactions.”

As soon as these words came out, they immediately attracted the echo of all the students.

“At one time she was flirting with us, and at other times she was absent-minded. The hooked people were in a state of confusion and didn’t know what she was thinking.” The student said, “I thought it was nothing at first, but now that I think about it, I’m sure people just had such a crazy temperament.”

Wei Fu on the side shook his head when he heard this: Strangely, these students can read the situation well.

Lin Fei didn’t say anything, he just raised his head and looked around the study in front of him.

In terms of layout, it didn’t look much different from ordinary study. Lin Fei walked around the study and looked through the books in the study. They were all commonplace books. The Four Books and Five Classics, the Seven Classics and Eight Diagrams, various mysterious stories, medical books, and miscellaneous news.

Lin Fei was in the study. After seeing it once, he immediately opened the curtain and walked to the wing behind the study.

From Zhuang Meiniang’s reaction, it was evident that she didn’t have much affection for her deceased husband. In the back room, there wasn’t a single item belonging to a man. It seemed that once he had passed away, she had either burned or disposed of all his belongings.

The small side room was full of things used by women. There were beautiful dresses and shirts in the suitcases, flower combs, and red hairpins in front of the bronze mirror. When you open the drawer, you will find everything like rouge, gouache, and so on.

The bed curtains on the side had already been changed to a bright red, and it looked like she was enjoying her days now.

Lin Fei moved from the back room to the adjacent kitchen. Judging from Zhuang Meiniang’s appearance, it was apparent that she didn’t spend much time cooking and rarely did so herself. Cooking over a fire was indeed laborious, and wearing such long trailing skirts, with bright makeup, would lose its charm when exposed to smoke and flames.

Wasn’t that girl in the public kitchen always wearing a short shirt to do her job? He had never seen her wearing such a colorful dress.

After Lin Fei looked at it for a moment, he turned around and opened the cupboard door behind him. He saw some dishes and chopsticks inside, and some sundries on the bottom layer.

There were several medicine bags stacked among the sundries. Lin Fei took out the medicine bags. The students had not left yet and were standing in front of the door looking around. At this time, they saw Lin Fei taking out the medicine bags. One of the students immediately said, “I asked Zhuang Meiniang what kind of medicine this was, and she said it was medicine to replenish qi and blood.”

Because Ruan Zhan and Han Jun were poisoned to death, they were really afraid that this was poison or something.

Lin Fei handed the medicine packets to Zhao You who was following him, opened one of the packets, looked at it, and said, “It is indeed medicine to replenish qi and blood.”

Even though he said this, the medicine packet was still not left behind. He let Zhao You take them all away.

After glancing at the cupboard again, Lin Fei closed the cupboard door and then led the people out of the study and back to Dali Temple.

After returning to Dali Temple, Lin Fei did not interrogate Zhuang Meiniang. He just took out the old case file of Rouge Lady and read it carefully.

While he was flipping through the case files, he heard a series of “gulu gulu” noises from outside. Soon after, Zhao You’s voice sounded, filled with excitement: “Master Wen, isn’t this the clay pot that our Young Master Lin used when he solved the case earlier? Are you going to use it for cooking?”

Wen Mingtang looked at the stack of clay pots in the cart and said, “Leaving them unused would be a waste!”

Today, Zhuangzi sent a lot of prepared cured meats, and Wen Mingtang was immediately surprised when she saw it. She thought of the pile of casseroles piled in the corner of Lin Fei’s room.

There were so many useful things in this room. She really didn’t know why Lin Fei had gotten such a pile of casseroles when solving some case.

She didn’t know, but Zhao You knew it. When he heard this, he hurriedly said: “I know this. It was used in a case of killing someone with medicinal food. The poison was soaked in a casserole and boiled a little bit every day. Over time, it poisoned people… “

Before the words were fully spoken, Wen Mingtang, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan’s faces stiffened. Once they regained their composure, Wen Mingtang quickly interrupted him, saying, “Zhao chāyì¹, no need to continue. We understand.”

Zhao You said “Oh” when he heard the words as if he felt a little regretful that he didn’t finish speaking, touched his nose, sighed, and then turned around and returned to guard Lin Fei’s room.

“That’s what Zhao chāyì is like. He’s single-minded.” After Zhao You returned, Tang Yuan said to Wen Mingtang, and then asked Wen Mingtang, “What is Master Wen going to do with these casseroles? Are we making porridge or soup?”

She saw her mother mostly use the casserole to make stew.

“No, let’s make a meal.” Wen Mingtang said, taking a casserole, weighing it in her hand, and said, “Claypot rice.”

(End of Chapter)

---

Footnote

1. bailiff of feudal yamen