The legitimate daughter returns, and the princess goes crazy

When Eunuch Cai heard this, he was almost crying: "My Lady, how dare I lie to you? I did see someone sneaking around here, but I'm not sure that person was Wang Liangdi."

Then he added, "But that person was wearing bright red, exactly the same as what Wang Liangdi wore today. No one in the entire Crown Prince's Mansion dared to wear red except the Crown Princess. And at that time, I saw the Crown Princess was with Concubine Xiao, so that person must not be the Crown Princess, so..."

The more Eunuch Cai spoke, the lower his voice became, as if he was afraid of being heard by others.

So he should not have seen it wrong. The person hiding behind the rockery was most likely Wang Peiru.

Mu Yan thought for a moment, and ordered people to check the entire back garden from top to bottom, but still found nothing suspicious.

According to Xiao Yuhuai's personal maid Bilu, the last place she saw Concubine Xiao was in the back garden of the Prince's Mansion.

Although this place is relatively remote, the Prince's Mansion is heavily guarded and the guards patrol closely. If Concubine Xiao leaves the back garden, someone will definitely see her.

It is impossible for the murderer to abduct Concubine Xiao to another place and then kill her. There is absolutely no need for that. Wouldn't that be a superfluous act?

Therefore, it is very likely that Concubine Xiao was murdered in this back garden, but why is there not even a trace of anything? Did the murderer clear up all the clues in advance, or did she miss something?

And what is Wang Peiru doing hiding here?

This woman would not do anything without a benefit. She would not appear here for no reason. There must be a reason.

what is it?

Just as Mu Yan was thinking about the doubts in her mind, the noise next to her interrupted her thoughts.

Eunuch Cai shouted at the guards who were searching with a look of dissatisfaction:

"Oh, be careful, don't be so rude. This orchid was specially cultivated by the Crown Prince for Wang Liang Di. If you damage it and let the Crown Prince know, you will suffer the consequences."

Mu Yan and Mo Yuche looked at each other and walked over.

"What's going on? What are you making such a fuss about?"

Eunuch Cai cried and said, “Oh, Prince, Princess, I’m not making a fuss, please tell them to be more careful.

Wang Liangdi loved orchids the most, but orchids are delicate, and the soil in our Northern Qi is not suitable for growing orchids, so the prince had people transport soil and orchid seeds from the south, and opened a special flowerbed in the back garden to plant orchids. He also hired special gardeners to cultivate them carefully, and usually no one was allowed to get close.

If they mess up the flowerbed, the prince will be furious."

Mu Yan looked around the flowerbed. The flowers were indeed bright and beautiful. She had never seen orchids blooming so gorgeously in Northern Qi. They looked like they had been carefully nurtured. Then she noticed some footprints of varying depths in the flowerbed. She pointed at them and asked the patrolling guards, "Did you step on these footprints?"

The leading guard stepped forward and answered respectfully, "My Lady, I was chased out by Eunuch Cai just after I stepped into the flower garden, so those footprints were not from me and my men."

Mu Yan frowned slightly. Since these footprints were not theirs and the prince had ordered that no one else was allowed to approach, then where did these footprints in the flower garden come from?

She looked at the rockery behind the flower bed, lifted her skirt and walked in, being careful all the way. It was not because she was afraid of being blamed by Mo Yanli, but because she was a person who cherished flowers and would not waste the gardener's hard work.

"Oh my, Princess, why did you go in again?" Eunuch Cai was afraid that Mu Yan would step on those words, so he cried out loudly, anxious to the point of tears.

When she walked to the front of the rockery, she found that there seemed to be several tiny cracks on the stone wall of the rockery, and these cracks connected together looked like a stone gate.

The soil in front of the stone gate showed signs of being repeatedly trampled on.

A hint of understanding flashed across Mu Yan's eyes. There must be something else going on here. Moreover, these footprints were quite fresh, which meant someone must have been here recently.

She took a step forward and pushed the stone door with her hands, but found that it could not be pushed open. Then she concentrated her energy into her dantian, gathered all her internal strength in her palms, and pushed the stone door with all her strength, but found that the stone door still did not move.

Mo Yuche, who had been watching Mu Yan from the side, also noticed something was wrong and stepped in.

"My Lord, you, oh my, how did you get in as well?"

Eunuch Cai was so upset that he wanted to cry but had no tears. What happened today?

He did not continue pushing the stone door, but instead felt around and found that there was a protruding stone on the rockery that was not in harmony with the entire rockery.

Sure enough, this stone has a special feature and can be rotated.

When he turned the stone, the stone door on the side slowly rose up, making a rumbling sound.

Eunuch Cai standing by was also dumbfounded. He had been in the Prince's Mansion for so many years and had never known that there was a cave in this place.

Mu Yan looked embarrassed at this time. No wonder she couldn't push it. It turned out that this stone door was to be pulled upwards, not pushed.

She secretly glanced at Mo Yuche and was relieved to find that he didn't laugh at her.

Then the two of them squatted down and stepped into the rockery, and found that the cave was dark. Mo Yuche then ordered someone to bring torches, and only then could they see the situation in the cave clearly.

This was a rectangular room with a flat floor. It was much more spacious than they had imagined. However, in such a spacious place, there was only a stone bed in the corner and nothing else.

Mu Yan was puzzled. How could this stone chamber be so empty if it was so secretive?

Huh?

She suddenly discovered a hemp rope at the corner of the stone bed and the ground. She walked forward and observed the rope carefully. The thickness and texture of the rope were very similar to the mark on Concubine Xiao's neck.

It seems that this is the first scene of the crime. The murderer first lured Concubine Xiao here and then strangled her to death.

The back garden was already remote, and the prince had ordered everyone not to get close to this flower garden. So even if Concubine Xiao shouted loudly in this cave, it would not attract anyone's attention. It was a perfect place to kill.

Mu Yan took the torch from the guard, squatted down and carefully examined the wall beside the stone bed, and found many tiny scratches next to the hard stone wall, which must have been left by Concubine Xiao when she struggled.

Judging from these scratches, she must have been very scared and panicked before she died.

The murderer is truly cruel and ruthless.

Suddenly she noticed that there seemed to be something unusual among the scratches on the wall. She pushed the torch forward again and saw clearly that there was a word in the messy scratches.