Why am I, a cook, always involved in cases?

Chapter 107 Is the suspect crazy?

Su Su has always been straightforward, and Lin Zhiruo agrees with her.

In this palace where children and pregnant women coexist, maintaining a clean environment is of vital importance.

Su Su quickly brushed off the dust on Lin Zhiruo's clothes and urged her to change clothes, as if time had become extremely precious.

Lin Zhiruo looked at her basket, which was filled with all kinds of mushrooms, including some rare varieties with edible value.

However, since these mushrooms were not suitable to be brought back to the palace, she could only temporarily leave them with Wang Dahai, and specifically reminded him that these mushrooms were poisonous to prevent accidental ingestion.

Although Wang Dahai looked puzzled and examined her for a long time, Lin Zhiruo chose to trust his judgment.

In comparison, the kitten Rongrong seemed more clever. He didn't even look at the mushrooms, as if he had already seen through their nature.

Lin Zhiruo was secretly proud of herself and felt satisfied that she had discovered the habitat of rare mushrooms.

However, when she returned to the palace, Su Su's words reminded her of the pungent smell she smelled when picking mushrooms.

"Lin Zhiruo, you seem to have a strange smell."

Susu's words reminded Lin Zhiruo of that mysterious place, which might be the place where mushrooms grew luxuriantly that Hu Lan'er had mentioned before.

Perhaps it is the leaking sewage that provides them with the nutrients they need to grow.

"After changing your clothes, you will serve Concubine Yuyao dinner. Are you ready?"

Su Su's reminder brought Lin Zhiruo out of her thoughts and made her realize that today's work was not over yet.

Although it was still early, she could not afford any delay.

"I'll go right away."

Lin Zhiruo quickly returned to her room, changed her clothes, and then went to Concubine Yuyao's bedroom.

She noticed that Concubine Yuyao had a black rope tied around her wrist. This was the etiquette when someone died in the harem, although it was much simpler than the ceremony in the Eastern Palace.

Imperial Concubine Yuyao's attire was still gorgeous, while Caiwei wore simpler clothes than usual, appearing extraordinarily solemn.

"Thank you for your help today. It seems you're here a little earlier than usual."

Concubine Yuyao's voice was gentle and elegant.

"You are so kind, my lady. This is what I should do."

Lin Zhiruo responded, noticing that Caiwei's expression seemed to be asking what was going on.

"After dinner tonight, I need to go out, and you have to accompany me."

Caiwei explained, with a hint of unquestionable authority in her tone.

"I understand."

Lin Zhiruo understood why Caiwei was dressed so simply. She was also given a black rope, which indicated that a funeral might be held later.

This ceremony was not originally suitable for the harem, but they would perform a similar ceremony under another name.

Since Caiwei will attend in place of Concubine Yuyao, it is very likely that a lower- or middle-ranking concubine has passed away.

"You may wear this dress, but you must remove the hair accessories."

Caiwei instructed.

Lin Zhiruo took the poison testing plate and followed Caiwei to the sacrificial site on the north side.

There is a small sacrificial hall in the harem to satisfy the love of festival rituals.

The sacrificial site, which was usually neglected, now revealed signs of the eunuchs' temporary efforts to tidy it up.

Imperial Concubine Yuyao would serve as a priest once a year, but during the time that Lin Zhiruo had been here, she had never undertaken this task.

This work was originally supposed to be performed by men, but due to the special environment of the harem, women can also preside over the ceremony.

This duty was taken on in turn by senior concubines.

Participants lined up in two rows in front of the altar and respectfully laid flowers.

The flowers were distributed by several palace maids who looked like the concubines' personal handmaidens.

Lin Zhiruo stood behind Caiwei and received a bouquet of flowers from the palace maid.

In addition to the fragrance of flowers, there are other strange scents on them. Lin Zhiruo wondered if this was also one of the unique customs in the harem.

Lin Zhiruo's heart moved slightly when she noticed that the skin on the hands of the palace maid distributing flowers was abnormally red and swollen, as if she had some kind of infection.

But the extent of the redness and swelling shocked her, and she couldn't help but look at her left arm. The symptoms were somewhat similar to the scars on her arm.

As she thought about this, she placed flowers on the altar.

On the altar was placed a huge coffin, covered with a white curtain.

Perhaps the coffin would be moved to another place later. Lin Zhiruo vaguely saw a figure appear at the bottom of the coffin through the white cloth.

Caiwei whispered to Lin Zhiruo that the deceased concubine was the daughter of a high-ranking official and held a prominent position among the middle-level concubines.

But from Caiwei's tone, Lin Zhiruo guessed that this concubine was not a good person.

It is said that the concubine started to feel unwell about a year ago and stayed indoors, but did not return to her parents' home to recuperate.

Caiwei murmured dissatisfiedly that the emperor had never visited her, and if she wanted to go back, she could do so at any time.

Some even said that she had an upset stomach due to the warm weather when she was weak.

Caiwei is usually calm and composed, but at this moment she spoke so harshly to a dead person, which made Lin Zhiruo feel a little unusual.

Lin Zhiruo took the opportunity to leave the team and quietly asked Caiwei:

"Has this concubine ever done anything inappropriate?"

She just asked casually, and it was okay if Caiwei didn't want to mention it.

Although as a maid she shouldn't ask such questions, unexpectedly, Caiwei secretly told Lin Zhiruo.

"Didn't someone poison Empress Yuyao before? Although the culprit was never found..."

Having said that, Caiwei glanced at the coffin.

Lin Zhiruo suddenly understood what she meant.

How could the loyal Caiwei not bear a grudge against the concubine who was once suspected of harming Concubine Yuyao?

Now that the other party has passed away, Caiwei may feel relieved.

Lin Zhiruo felt a little doubtful.

This mid-ranking concubine who died of food poisoning once attempted to harm Concubine Yuyao.

Now that Imperial Concubine Yuyao is pregnant, she will certainly be more wary of other concubines or palace maids than usual in this regard.

The order that Quan Wushuang brought yesterday was to have Lin Zhiruo investigate the poisonous mushrooms and not tell the details to Concubine Yuyao and others.

Putting aside personal feelings, Lin Zhiruo could not assert that Concubine Yuyao would not take the initiative and poison the mid-level concubine before she could do so.

Although it was food poisoning, it would make sense if the person died from eating poisonous mushrooms.

If the people in Liuli Palace found out that Quan Wushuang had such thoughts, Lin Zhiruo could easily imagine how things would develop.

Their attitude would surely change, even if the other party was a beautiful eunuch.

Lin Zhiruo originally thought that Quan Wushuang seemed to be too partial to Concubine Yuyao, but it seems that he is still very fair in his dealings.

Lin Zhiruo thought to herself:

"I don't think it was Concubine Yuyao who did it."

This person may be a thorn in the Empress's side, but there are many ways to dampen his arrogance.

Even if you face the risk of being poisoned again, poisoning the other party as soon as possible will be troublesome and may be exposed.

Caiwei or the three girls are probably not suitable for such a conspiracy.

"Thinking about it this way, the person most suitable for poisoning others in Liuli Palace is Lin Zhiruo."

If the purpose of checking the poisonous mushrooms was to test Lin Zhiruo's reaction, she would not be disappointed in Quan Wushuang, but would admire him instead.

However, Lin Zhiruo would never do such a despicable thing.

She was full of doubts and curious about the symptoms the concubine showed after being poisoned.

It would be great if someone could tell her a thing or two, but I'm afraid such a hope is difficult to realize.

She sighed softly and was about to return to the palace with Caiwei when an accident happened.

There was a loud noise. Lin Zhiruo turned around and saw a woman with a white cloth wrapped around her face suddenly overturning the altar.

The rice and wine used for the sacrifice were scattered all over the ground, and the scene was in chaos.

The woman's skin was exposed from the gaps in the cloth, red and swollen. Although her clothes were simple, she still revealed an extraordinary temperament. It was obvious that she was not an ordinary palace maid.

She struggled to break free from the hand of the maid who was trying to hold her back, and cried out:

"My lady, please don't do this!"

Then she walked over to the coffin and jerked off the white cloth covering it.

The palace maids were terrified and ran away screaming.

"what!"

Even Caiwei, who was always strong, couldn't help but scream.

Lying in the coffin was a woman in white. Her facial skin was red, swollen and ulcerated, and her hair had almost all fallen out.

She looked as if she had been burned by flames. For the beauties in the harem, this was undoubtedly an extremely tragic scene.

In the gap between the white strips of cloth, a mouth opened wide and let out a crazy laugh:

"Ahahahaha, it's really your own fault!"

The woman laughed loudly and was immediately subdued by the eunuchs who arrived.

"You are a hundred times uglier than me!"

The woman's laughter echoed in the evening air, sounding particularly harsh.

Lin Zhiruo stared at the scene, constantly switching her gaze between the corpse and the woman's face revealed from between the strips of cloth.

(How could this person reveal his guilt so openly? Such obvious suspicion, yet he dared to speak out publicly? Is he crazy?)

Lin Zhiruo was filled with shock and confusion.