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The moment Lu Huai's gaze fell upon the curio shelf, Lin Zhiqing stood up and began to move towards it.
That curio shelf was truly exquisite and outstanding, quickly attracting everyone's attention.
Xiao Cui also followed her up, but she was full of puzzlement: "Miss Zhiqing, is there a problem with this curio shelf?"
"There is a problem." It was Lu Huai who spoke. He didn't know what he had seen, but his expression was very solemn.
Lin Zhiqing reached out and touched the curio shelf: "Xiao Cui, the last teacup in this room is right here."
Xiao Cui looked bewildered and even reached out to shake it: "Miss Zhiqing, this curio shelf usually only holds some ornamental objects. Teacups are never placed on it..."
Wait a minute... Xiao Cui, having said this, suddenly raised her hand and tapped her own head: "That's not right! There indeed is a teacup on top of this curio shelf."
Memories receded like a tide. Xiao Cui yelped "Aiyo" in pain, rubbing her head as she looked towards the top of the curio shelf.
A small teacup lay there quietly, as if scrutinizing everyone, mocking their ignorance.
"Miss Zhiqing, ever since this curio shelf arrived in our courtyard, that teacup has been on it," Xiao Cui said softly, her little face flushed.
It was precisely because she was too accustomed to it that she hadn't remembered this immediately.
"However, this teacup is placed here only for ornamental purposes and has never been taken down on ordinary days." Xiao Cui really couldn't connect this teacup with the material evidence that had harmed her Young Miss.
Lin Zhiqing raised her chin towards Lu Huai. Lu Huai understood and, with a light leap, intended to take the cup.
However, when his hand touched the cup, his expression was somewhat off.
Lu Huai didn't bring the cup down but looked at Lin Zhiqing motionlessly: "How did you know there were a total of four rhinoceros-skin lacquer teacups?"
Lin Zhiqing knew very well that it wasn't that Lu Huai couldn't take down the teacup, but that he couldn't destroy the evidence at the scene.
Just from this single action, Lin Zhiqing determined that Lu Huai had already figured out the crux of the matter.
As expected of the son of a great Confucian scholar... Lin Zhiqing silently nodded: "Take another look. What's wrong with the teacup that was just confiscated from that maidservant's room?"
Meeting everyone's puzzled gazes, Lu Huai moved to the table and picked up the poisoned teacup to observe it.
After looking at it for a short while, he noticed something was wrong. Only then did he turn his gaze to the rather inconspicuous saucer.
Instantly, his eyebrows relaxed, and he exchanged a look with Lin Zhiqing: "So that's how it is!"
"Young Master Lu, what on earth is going on?" Xiao Cui looked at the two people before her speaking in riddles, feeling that her intelligence couldn't quite keep up.
Lu Huai's Adam's apple moved. He picked up the saucer and faced the crowd: "Don't you all find this saucer very familiar?"
Everyone looked at each other, completely failing to see any clues on the worn-out saucer.
Of course, some people's focus was rather unique.
"Don't you think Young Master Lu and Miss Zhiqing have great chemistry? They look quite compatible," a maidservant's eyes sparkled with intense gossip.
Where there's a Crouching Dragon, there must be a Young Phoenix. Another maidservant lowered her voice: "Isn't this a perfect match made in heaven? Add Young Noble Jiang, and a storybook about one woman teasing two young men would definitely be quite exciting!"
"Huh, why do I feel a chill down my spine?"
"Me too!"
The two maidservants, as if by divine intervention, turned their heads in unison and then met a familiar face: "Young... Young Young Young Young Noble Jiang, why are you here?"
"Can't I come?" Jiang Liuyun scratched his head, looking completely baffled.
However, Lin Shi'an, who was following behind Jiang Liuyun, had a long face and even glared at the two maidservants.
The corner of Lu Nanyue's mouth was about to break into a smile. She coughed lightly and was the first to walk into the room: "Xiao Huai, isn't this a rhinoceros-skin lacquer saucer?"
As she spoke, she quietly pulled her foolish younger brother aside.
Jiang Liuyun didn't notice anything amiss when he walked in and took the rhinoceros-skin lacquer saucer from Lu Huai's hand to examine it carefully.
Seeing this, Lu Nanyue couldn't help but roll her eyes. So all my efforts were in vain, this guy has no sense of crisis at all.
Lu Huai sensed his sister's actions, and his ears burned again.
He glanced at Lin Zhiqing and spoke first: "Sis, you all came back just in time. Zhiqing has already found the real culprit."
After speaking, he took a step back.
Lin Zhiqing didn't know about the subtle exchanges between them, but she could see that Lu Huai was handing over the explanation to her, so that she could better clear her name in front of Lin Shi'an.
Not just him, Lu Nanyue and Jiang Liuyun also stepped back a few paces. Biluo's matter was no longer important now.
Lin Zhiqing didn't decline. She picked up the saucer and nodded: "This is indeed a rhinoceros-skin lacquer saucer. It's just that rhinoceros-skin lacquer is precious, and the craftsmanship on the teacup is more complex, so it's not as obvious on the saucer."
"It is precisely because of this that I deduced from this saucer that there is another rhinoceros-skin lacquer tea set, and that rhinoceros-skin lacquer tea set is the culprit that poisoned my cousin!"
Lin Shi'an stepped forward to observe the saucer, and his suspicion of Lin Zhiqing had already diminished greatly.
When he came over, he had already heard from the people here about what had happened earlier.
If the culprit was really Lin Zhiqing, she wouldn't have jumped out when there was already a "true culprit."
It was precisely because of this that the matter became even trickier.
Lin Shi'an scanned everyone in the room, his expression serious, and gestured for Lin Zhiqing to continue.
Lin Zhiqing cleared her throat: "The most important piece of material evidence that poisoned your cousin is the rhinoceros-skin lacquer teacup on that curio shelf."
"Miss Zhiqing, that's not right." Xiao Cui was somewhat skeptical: "When you and my Young Miss had the incident, no one entered the room. If that teacup is really material evidence, did it grow legs? How could it have moved from the table to the curio shelf?"
Not just her, everyone present more or less had this question in their minds.
"That's very simple." Lin Zhiqing squatted down and gestured for Lin Shi'an to look at the scattered tea stains on the floor covering:
"The traces of these tea stains become less frequent as they get closer to the curio shelf, which means there was residual tea water in the cup when it was being dragged."
"If there was some kind of thin thread under that teacup, which neither my cousin nor I noticed, then after we both fainted, the mastermind behind the scenes could pull the evidence onto the curio shelf via the thin thread without entering the room."
Saying this, Lin Zhiqing ordered someone to fetch a thin thread and thread it through the small hole at the bottom of a teacup.
Then, she put some clean water in it and, standing next to the curio shelf, gently pulled the thin thread.
The teacup, being pulled, soon fell from the table to the floor, and a large amount of water quickly flowed out of the cup.
Afterward, only some water droplets leaked out during the movement.
Apart from the difference in size, the direction was more or less the same as the tea stains left on the floor covering.
Lin Zhiqing retrieved the demonstration teacup and gestured for Lin Shi'an to take down the rhinoceros-skin lacquer teacup from the curio shelf.
After Lin Shi'an did so, he found that he encountered some resistance when trying to take the teacup.
He weighed his options and, like Lu Huai, did not take the teacup down.
Lin Zhiqing moved a stool over by herself, and after reaching the cup, lifted it upwards.
Indeed! She felt a very small resistance.
After testing it out, she faced the crowd and slowly picked up the teacup.
And so, everyone saw that under the exquisite rhinoceros-skin lacquer teacup, there was indeed a section of transparent, thin thread.
Due to Lin Zhiqing's pulling, the thin thread was taut but didn't break.
"This, this is..." Xiao Cui covered her mouth, her face full of disbelief.
Lin Zhiqing's expression was unchanged: "A hole was made in the middle of the curio shelf. It's not a problem to put such a long thread down."
"Then could it be that someone was pulling the thread from behind the curio shelf? If there was no pulling force, the teacup wouldn't have been pulled up!" Someone pointed out the problem.
Lin Zhiqing leisurely handed the material evidence, which was the rhinoceros-skin lacquer teacup she had taken down from the curio shelf, to Lin Shi'an.
Then, she walked towards the window frame next to the curio shelf.
"No one can hide inside this curio shelf. The reason the teacup moved is, of course, because someone was pulling it." Lin Zhiqing opened the window lattice and pointed to the small hole on it.
After ensuring everyone saw it, she glanced at the small garden outside the window.
After a short while, she gently turned her head and looked at the few maidservants who were flying kites:
"Speak up, who used the method of flying a kite to destroy the criminal evidence?"