Chapter 26 Don't use yourself as a metaphor, it's bad luck.

When Magistrate Lin returned, it was already afternoon. He was covered in sweat, holding a few pages of paper in his hand, and knelt down in front of Li Jin with a thud: "This humble official has failed in his duties. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

The paper contained details of all of Miss Lian's interactions with others during her lifetime, including who she met, where she went, and what she did.

After searching all day, I still only found a few sentences.

Just like this girl, who never leaves her home and is completely out of touch with everyone else in Xiaolin Village.

But Li Jin wasn't surprised. He stood there, glanced at Magistrate Lin, and didn't take the paper from his hand. He simply nodded and said unhurriedly, "Indeed, you've been incompetent."

Magistrate Xiaolin was heartbroken and kowtowed, saying, "Your Highness, I have been investigating all day but have not found any valuable clues in the victim's network of relationships. I am willing to accept punishment."

If it can't be found, that's correct.

Xiaolin County has a small population and a poor economy. The entire government office is dirt poor. Even though the magistrate of Xiaolin County is doing his best, his goal is to investigate a network that is obviously more financially powerful than the government office. It is really too difficult for him.

He pondered for a moment, picked up the paper in his hand, and glanced at it briefly: "The case is not yet closed. You should atone for your crime by doing good deeds."

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Xiaolin immediately straightened up and listened attentively.

"I heard that Miss Lian's husband died of illness last year. I want you to find her deceased husband's grave."

"Your humble servant obeys!" Magistrate Lin hurriedly stood up, took a few steps back, turned around and gathered his constables, who then split into three groups and went out to search for the tomb.

Seeing him leave, Li Jin turned around and met Jin Shu's hesitant expression.

He saw this look on her face every day. Li Jin chuckled, closed the paper in her hand, raised an eyebrow, and uttered a single word: "Ask."

Jin Shu paused, pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Does the sect leader really think there's something fishy about her husband's death?"

"..." Li Jin was silent for a moment, then crossed his arms and nodded.

It's less a mystery and more an intuition, a feeling that this matter is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Furthermore, Granny Liu's obviously unusual reaction and hesitant manner provided further evidence for his strange judgment.

“Have you ever thought about this possibility? Even a young woman might poison her husband because of hardship, hoping to remarry so that old lady Liu can introduce her to a rich businessman.”

He paused.

"Or, have you considered another possibility? Could it be that Miss Lian accidentally stumbled upon Old Lady Liu's secret to getting rich, and was thus murdered by Old Lady Liu who hired someone to cover it up?" Li Jin looked at her with a smile, speaking slowly and deliberately. "I have many other guesses, and these are just some of them. All of these guesses need to be examined and eliminated by you, sir."

Hearing his words, Jin Shu's mouth was half open. After a long while, she gave him a thumbs up and exclaimed from the bottom of her heart, "Your Highness, you are really amazing!"

Her words were so sincere that they made Li Jin's heart skip a beat.

He frowned, looked away, and said with obvious disdain, "A grown man shouldn't look like that. It's creepy."

After saying that, he turned around, raised his hand to rub the bridge of his nose, and let out a soft sigh.

How can there be such a woman in this world who has absolutely no self-awareness?

Although Magistrate Kobayashi lacked talent in investigating interpersonal relationships and used outdated methods, he was still extremely swift in locating the grave of the victim's husband.

In less than two hours, they found it.

The grave was actually not far from the center of the site, so there was no possibility that Granny Liu could not remember it or had forgotten it.

Looking west from her yard, you can even see the tombstone on the grave not far away.

At this moment, Magistrate Lin and his entourage stood at the edge of the burial mound, looking at each other in bewilderment, wondering what Li Jin wanted to do with this thing.

Li Jin looked up at the sky, glanced at the crime scene that was faintly visible a mile away, pointed to the small grave, and said decisively, "Dig it."

Everyone was shocked and quite taken aback.

Even if it were Prince Jing, Li Jin, it would be extremely inappropriate for him to dig up someone's grave for no reason.

Only Magistrate Kobayashi, upon hearing his blunt words, picked up a shovel and took the lead in digging.

Jin Shu stood to the side, her mouth slightly agape, glanced at the incredibly calm Li Jin, walked over to him, and whispered, "How confident are you, Sect Leader?"

Without a legitimate reason, this approach would be far too hasty.

But he replied with a half-smile, "How confident are you, sir?" As he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on the grave that was being dug open.

Jin Shu was taken aback by his question, frowning as she didn't know how to answer.

“Sir, your question is perfectly reasonable.” After a long pause, Li Jin glanced at her as the coffin gradually came into view.

Seeing that she still looked confused and puzzled, he suppressed a laugh, leaned close to her ear, and mysteriously uttered a few words: "I have intelligence."

Great, another tip.

Jin Shu stood there, giving an awkward laugh, inwardly rolling her eyes at him. She simply couldn't understand where this guy got so many intelligence reports. She also couldn't understand why, with such powerful intelligence, he couldn't just pinpoint the culprit directly.

As if reading her mind, Li Jin explained with a smile, "It's not something you can use in every situation. Using it even once would leave you with a huge debt of gratitude."

Even though he said that, Jin Shu still couldn't calm down. She gave a crooked laugh and turned her head away, ignoring him.

As the excavation continued, the coffin lid was opened, revealing the interior to everyone.

When it was time to go to work, Jin Shu tied her hands and peeked inside. Just one glance made her freeze for a moment.

The bones turned to dust very quickly, and there was an unusual mark on the forehead.

She first carefully checked the material of the coffin in front of the coffin lid, and then carefully descended into the coffin along the edge of the tomb.

The man, who had been dead for over a year, appeared as a skeleton in the coffin, decaying faster than in a typical coffin.

Looking at the skeleton before her, she softly said, "Excuse me." Then she bent down, raised her hand, and carefully examined the star-shaped crack she had just noticed.

“The bones are quite hard, and the person died in their prime. The body has turned to skeletal remains, indicating that the person has been dead for more than a year.” She put down the skull and stepped back slightly. “The skull is abnormally black, and the spine, sternum and sacrum are black to the sacrum… I boldly speculate that there was a period of continuous chronic poisoning before death.”

After saying that, she raised her head and looked at Li Jin, who was squatting by the pit, staring intently at the skeleton in front of him with a solemn expression, and continued, "But, the fatal wound is here."

She raised her hand and pointed to a spot two fingers above her right eyebrow: "Skull fracture, stellate laceration, irregular edges with fine serrations, and uneven wound walls."

Jin Shu paused for a moment: "It was murder."

At that moment, Li Jincai raised his eyebrows, looked at where her finger had landed, reached out and used his fan to push her finger away, and said with disdain, "Don't use yourself as an analogy, it's bad luck."