"Master wanted our Second Master to inherit the family estate, and First Master had always harbored resentment over it!"
"Consort Zhang is First Master's birth mother. For his sake, what wouldn't she do?"
"Our First Master has recently been trying to secure a proper position. Now is precisely when he needs to rely on Master's support, so how could he possibly have harmed Master?! Third Master, on the other hand—when the plague broke out, Master forced Consort Liu, Ge Xiaoyi's birth mother, to attend to the infected Consort Chen, Ge Xiaoxian's birth mother. In the end, Consort Chen could not be saved, and Consort Liu lost her life because of it..."
"Steward Xu had always wanted his son to take over his position, but Master looked down on both Xu sons. Steward Xu had complained about it more than once in private..."
Ge Mansion East Courtyard Flower Hall.
Sun Shaozong and Jia Yucun sat facing one another. Both wore grave expressions as they studied the freshly compiled interrogation records in their hands.
After repeated verification and tallying, they determined that there had been sixteen people at the scene when the door was forced open and the body discovered: Vice Minister Ge's concubine, Zhang Shi; the old steward, Xu Ren; seven pages; three maids; one old servant woman—and Vice Minister Ge's three sons, Ge Xiaorui, Ge Xiaoxian, and Ge Xiaoyi.
As for Vice Minister Ge's youngest son, Ge Xiaowen, though he had also appeared at the crime scene, he was only nine years old and plainly incapable of committing the crime alone. He was therefore ruled out directly.
After nearly an hour of intensive interrogation, Zhou Da, Zhao Wuwei, and the Criminal Division officials had indeed uncovered quite a few possible motives for murder.
However...
All of these people had clear