Her lover and Ma Laosan are brothers; they must be one of those drinking buddies.

Xiao Qingyin immediately asked Yi Wu to bring her the list of those drinking buddies, and discovered that one of them was the nephew of the Grand Eunuch Wang.

Eunuch Wang was a favorite of the emperor, and it wouldn't be difficult for his nephew to use his power to make the Prefect of the Capital show favoritism.

After sorting through the clues, Xiao Qingyin went straight to Dali Temple after breakfast the next day.

The Dali Temple was in a state of chaos, with people coming and going, as if something had happened.

She inquired and found out that the temple's morgue had caught fire the night before, burning all the bodies stored there.

My heart skipped a beat.

Ma Laosan's body was just moved here yesterday, could it have been burned as well?

They quickly asked around and, sure enough, Ma Laosan's body was also among those burned, reduced to just bones.

She suddenly had a bad feeling.

Upon further inquiry, it was learned that the coroner, who had been summoned as a witness yesterday, had committed suicide last night by biting open a poison sac hidden in his dentures.

There is no doubt that someone is trying to cover up the crime.

She confronted the junior official she had met yesterday, questioning how they had failed to protect even a corpse as a witness.

The other party's expression was a bit colder than yesterday, and he said with a stern face, "I'm sorry, it was our mistake. We are already pursuing the arsonist."

Xiao Qingyin tentatively believed him and told him about the suspicions against Pan Shi and Wang Zhirong.

“I have truth pills here. Arrest the person, give them the pills, and we’ll know the truth in one interrogation.”

Upon hearing her words, the other party replied, "We cannot use drugs to conduct a trial."