Qin Nan continued to question the maid while observing her expressions closely.
“Did someone go to the eldest master’s courtyard and say that the master wanted to see him?” Qin Nan asked.
Mu Xin raised her eyebrows in surprise at Qin Nan’s question, then fell into deep thought.
This line of questioning hadn’t been mentioned by the NPCs before, and Qin Nan’s inquiry suggested he had his reasons. Mu Xin was now contemplating what Qin Nan had experienced the previous night.
Qin Nan was aware of Mu Xin’s presence.
However, since he had been seen by the old woman, this round of evidence collection would eventually come to light. Since that was the case, there was no need to hide it. Moreover, if he could gain Mu Xin’s trust, his chances of not being framed as the murderer would greatly increase.
The maid nodded. “Yes, someone did come.”
“Do you remember roughly when?” Qin Nan pressed on.
He needed relevant clues related to the eldest master, and if he could gather information from the maid, it would at least help clarify Xia Zeqin's situation.
Having a conflict with Xia Zeqin was one thing, but in the game, he couldn’t let those emotions cloud his judgment. If he could eliminate one person’s suspicion, it would be a good thing.
The maid thought for a moment before replying, “Around the sixth watch.”
Qin Nan’s expression stiffened for a moment.
Why did the murder mystery take place in ancient times?
He paused for a while, trying to convert the sixth watch into a 24-hour format. It should be around 7:30 PM.
“Did the eldest master go out?” Qin Nan asked.
The maid looked at him quizzically. “I already said, the eldest master was in the study. He only returned to his room when it got late, and he didn’t step out of the courtyard at all, so of course, he didn’t meet the master.”
Qin Nan hesitated before asking again, “Do you know how the eldest master responded to the people from the master’s side?”
The maid shook her head. “I wasn’t serving closely, so I didn’t hear anything. But the eldest master went into the study right after those people left.”
Qin Nan had a thought.
“Was there anyone serving in the study when the eldest master went in? Are you sure you saw him the whole time he was in there?”
“The door to the eldest master’s study was open, and we could see him inside as we passed by,” the maid replied, looking at Qin Nan with growing suspicion.
Qin Nan suddenly realized what the maid was implying.
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Was she doubting his sanity?
An NPC didn’t need to be so animated.
He suppressed those thoughts and asked about the eldest lady. “What about the eldest lady?”
“After the eldest lady returned to her room to rest, we servants naturally had to leave to avoid disturbing her. But if the eldest lady wasn’t in her room, where could she go?” The maid looked at Qin Nan with increasing incredulity.
Qin Nan felt he had found an important clue.
The eldest lady couldn’t be confirmed to be in her room at that moment!
He recalled the heights of the two people he had seen. The deceased was not particularly tall but was slightly taller than the other person. The eldest lady, corresponding to the player Xu Tian, was considered tall among girls but still shorter than men. Comparing this with the height and build he saw yesterday—
Qin Nan’s eyes brightened. The eldest lady was very likely the person he had seen yesterday.
This meant that the eldest lady had worn the eldest master’s clothes to meet the deceased and could very well have been the one who stabbed him, subsequently fleeing the scene. Moreover, as the eldest lady, she would have had the easiest access to the eldest master’s clothing.
If this were the case, then Xia Zeqin was likely not the murderer; he had a solid alibi. As for Xu Tian, as the eldest lady, she seemed to have some grievances with the deceased, but she was likely the one who stabbed him rather than the actual killer.
Eliminating two suspects at once was undoubtedly a good thing.
However, all of this hinged on the truth of what the maid had said.
Qin Nan continued to ask a few more questions, but this NPC wasn’t one who served closely, so the clues he could gather were limited. As for the ones who served closely, he couldn’t find them immediately, and even if he did, their roles in the script would likely be the eldest master and eldest lady’s confidants, who might not reveal much.
Of course, he could still hold out some hope that other players might uncover some useful hints.
Meanwhile, Jian Fan was also conducting inquiries.
On his side, he had two useful NPCs.
One was a servant from the deceased’s courtyard.
“I once saw the master and the second master arguing,” the servant said.
Jian Fan quickly realized this might point to a clue involving the deceased’s brother.
“Do you remember when this happened, and how much of the conversation you heard?” Jian Fan asked.
The servant tried to recall. “It should have been about seven or eight days ago. I only overheard a bit while passing by. It seemed like the master was shouting something about money. The second master was asking the master for money. Usually, they would have a small argument every now and then, but that time, it was particularly intense. I remember after that, the second master was so angry that he left home and didn’t come back for two days.”
The deceased had made his fortune through his wife, and as the deceased’s brother, he clearly wasn’t well-off. After his brother’s rise, he had relied on the deceased’s financial support.
This person’s situation was somewhat similar to that of a distant nephew.
Both had relied on the deceased’s money, and as Qin Wei Yi had said, once the deceased was dead, neither the distant nephew nor the brother would be able to get money from the next head of the family. They wouldn’t be the ones wanting the deceased dead—unless they had some crucial leverage over the deceased that made killing him necessary.
However, the situations of these two were almost identical. In a script, there shouldn’t be such closely related circumstances. There had to be something else they didn’t know.
The servant only vaguely knew that the two had quarreled over money, but Jian Fan couldn’t gather more information from them.
The second useful NPC was a maid who served closely to the eldest lady.
Recognizing the maid’s role, Jian Fan paused for a moment before continuing, “What was the eldest lady doing on the night of the murder?”
“What could the eldest lady do? It’s always the same things—reading books, picking out pretty clothes, and dressing up,” the maid said, casting a meaningful glance at Jian Fan.
Jian Fan remained expressionless.
“Doctor Jian, you don’t suspect the eldest lady, do you? You should know she’s always daydreaming about who,” the maid murmured, seemingly displeased.
At that moment, Qin Nan had just finished his questioning and was walking over with Mu Xin, catching the maid’s significant remark.