Chapter 173 The Tragedy at the Medical Clinic

Seeing the expression on Li Jin's face, Jin Shu pursed her lips slightly.

This doesn't seem like a desire for "friendly understanding," but rather a strong indication of a desire for "comprehensive analysis."

"Your Highness," Jin Shu frowned, "isn't this inappropriate..."

Li Jin's smile deepened as he leaned forward: "What, are you such an inscrutable person?"

That gaze felt like it was piercing a hole right through Jin Shu's forehead.

But before Li Jin could find out who it was, he heard the clattering of hooves coming from behind the carriage.

Not far away, the head constable of Shengzhou galloped up, shouting as he chased, "Your Highness Prince Jing! Your Highness Prince Jing, please wait!"

The carriage slowly came to a stop. The head constable pulled on the reins, hurriedly dismounted, and bowed apologetically, saying, "Your Highness, another case has been reported in Shengzhou."

He pursed his lips, looking particularly aggrieved, his gaze constantly darting towards Jin Shu: "Um, could we temporarily transfer Mr. Jin to..."

“No.” Li Jin lifted the carriage curtain without the slightest hesitation. “Zhou Zheng, turn around and go back to Shengzhou.”

Fortunately, they hadn't gone far. In less than half an hour, Li Jin spotted Yun Jianlin standing at the city gate, looking on with longing eyes.

He looked at Li Jin, exchanged a few pleasantries with his hands clasped, and then smiled awkwardly: "This... I'll have to trouble Mr. Jin to examine it."

After speaking, Li Jin took two steps forward, leaned slightly towards him, and lowered his voice: "Lord Yun, have you made any other discoveries?"

In his eyes, Yun Jianlin nodded slightly: "The prince had just left when someone else arrived."

After thinking for a moment, Li Jin nodded.

Given their long-standing friendship, it was unusual for Yun Jianlin to bring him back halfway through their relationship.

In the event of a sudden murder, even if the coroner is absent, the first reaction of the government should not be to pursue Li Jin, but to investigate and gather information.

Yun Jianlin, who has been an official for so many years and is also the father of Yun Fei, one of the shadows of the Six Doors, should know how to do this, even if he is just copying the example.

Moreover, the case had been ongoing for quite some time, and they didn't mention it before leaving, only revealing it halfway through their journey.

Li Jin knew that Yun Jianlin must have a higher-level problem than the case, a more troublesome one that required his personal return to handle.

“The victim was a doctor at a local clinic in the lower part of the city.”

After the previous case, Yun Jianlin and Jin Shu became quite familiar with each other.

Although he was two cycles older than Jin Shu, he was humble and polite, and got along well with his own constables and yamen runners.

Jin Shu looked at him and saw a bit of Liu Cheng'an in him, which made her feel very close to him.

The clinic was located near the City God Temple in Shengzhou City, and the flow of people on the streets was comparable to that of the four main roads in Shengzhou's "well" grid layout.

“The people of Shengzhou are quite devout, and with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, every household will come to worship the City God.” Yun Jianlin said as he walked. “There is also a temple and a Taoist temple outside the city walls, which have been very lively these past few days.”

The clinic where the incident occurred was not far from the Shengzhou government office. After walking for a quarter of an hour, the group stood under the plaque of the clinic, which was called "Youcaotang".

Unlike the capital, Shengzhou City had no walls or guards; it developed naturally over two hundred years.

If Chang'an is the sun of the Great Wei, then Shengzhou, which echoes it from a hundred miles away, is the moon of the Great Wei.

The location of "Youcaotang" is right in the center of this bright moon.

"This clinic has been open for quite some time. The doctor there, Dr. Hua, is over fifty years old and quite well-known in Shengzhou," Yun Jianlin said.

Before us, the front door of the clinic was boarded up, with a sign indicating that the clinic was closed for the day.

"To avoid frightening the people, we've kept the news quiet for now. We'll enter from the back of the alley, through the back door of this courtyard." He raised his hand and pointed to the alley next to him, saying as he pointed, "The area around the clinic has been thoroughly searched, but no valuable clues have been found."

The clinic was structured similarly to a regular shop, consisting of three courtyards joined together, with the side rooms facing the street serving as the clinic's entrance.

The Ruyi Gate, located deep in the alley, is the so-called back door.

Li Jin stood at the door, looking at the hitching post in front of him, and surveyed the alley from all directions.

“It’s a bit remote,” Jin Shu said, squatting down in front of the hitching post, looking at a black mark on it, and dipping her finger in it.

Li Jin remained silent, turned and walked to her side. He frowned as he watched the black marks fall off like pieces of paper, asking, "Bloodstains?"

“Hmm.” Jin Shu stood up. “Bloodstains. But that doesn’t prove the killer came on horseback.”

She held up her finger and compared it to the bloodstain: "The mark is lighter in the middle and darker at the edges; it was left after the finger smeared it."

Then, she stretched out her hand, made a few gestures to the left and right, and then shook her head: "In terms of the traces, it is indeed not as good as Lord Yun's. I can only say that it is more likely that he helped her when she went out through this door after the crime."

As she spoke, her brow furrowed, and she tried several more movements.

Ultimately, it cannot be confirmed.

“This clinic usually has patients in the outer hall, while the inner hall is where Dr. Hua and his apprentices live.” Yun Jianlin lifted his clothes and stepped over the threshold. “In ten days it will be the Mid-Autumn Festival, so Dr. Hua sent his apprentices home to visit their families. Last night, besides him, there was only an old man guarding the gate and an old woman cooking and cleaning in this courtyard.”

The courtyard was small and square, separated from the outer hall in the front courtyard by a moon gate.

Inside, there were flowers and birds everywhere, with several crabapple trees and birdcages hanging around them, filled with birdsong and lively chatter.

"He doesn't have a family?" Li Jin asked casually, glancing around.

Yun Jianlin frowned and shook his head: "It's the same as not having it."

Li Jin turned around, looked at him, and gestured for him to continue.

"This Doctor Hua has a wife. It was an arranged marriage by our elders. Since she entered the family more than 30 years ago, I have to mediate 30 or 40 disputes a year." He waved his hand. "Their relationship is very bad. They can't even be called respectful guests."

"Dr. Hua disliked his wife because she was illiterate, had a bad temper, and lacked the gentle demeanor of a woman."

"Then Madam Hua became suspicious and thought that Doctor Hua's daily consultations were a pretense, and that the young lady really wanted to take a concubine."

Yun Jianlin helplessly spread his hands: "That's how it's been going on for decades."

While Yun Jianlin was talking about these things, Li Jin walked around the yard for a whole time.

Besides the main hall where the victim lived, there were two side rooms in front of the courtyard.

One room was where the elderly couple lived, and the other room seemed to have been uninhabited for years, with the door tightly closed and a lot of dust inside.

Li Jin pushed open the door and, in the bright daylight, saw many clearly discernible footprints on the dusty ground.

It seemed as if someone had been hesitating and lingering here for a long time.

He squatted down, looking at the marks, and said to Zhou Zheng behind him, "We need to call Yunfei over."

He pointed to the footprints in front of him: "I need him."