Xiao Nanhui was almost staggered by the smoke, and the next moment, his back hit the man's chest.
Warmth came through the base fabric, and her heartbeat vibrated faintly against her back. She suddenly remembered the scene of him applying medicine on her in the side hall of the palace that night. She hurriedly tried to move away, but a slightly cool hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.
"Stay close to me, it will do you good."
The faint cool air surrounded her, dispelling the nauseating and dizzying smell around her.
Xiao Nanhui didn't move, letting the hand gently lead her forward.
She didn't understand why the man's hands were cold, but made her whole body warm.
"arrive."
Ding Weixiang took out a fire starter and lit the torch on the wall, and there was finally some light around.
In the middle of the square secret room, there was only a narrow and long table covered with a white cloth, and a human body was vaguely visible under the white cloth.
Xiao Nanhui finally realized where the smell came from.
Ding Weixiang walked to the table and pulled aside the white cloth.
Under the white cloth was a corpse still wearing the clothes of a palace maid. The face was swollen and difficult to recognize. The exposed skin had turned gray-purple, but the two pupils had turned white. The tongue was swollen and half-protruded from the mouth. In the empty sleeve was a half-cut-off arm.
She finally understood why the emperor had said that it was good to have an empty stomach.
In this situation, if there is something in my stomach, I will probably vomit it all out in an instant.
"Come closer and take a closer look at this man. Have you ever seen him?"
Xiao Nanhui calmed himself down, then held his breath and took a few steps closer, trying to recognize the face that had been completely disfigured.
It's strange to say, a corpse that has been rotten to this extent should be difficult to identify, but Xiao Nanhui recognized the face at a glance as the appearance of the palace servant who inexplicably attacked her in the palace that night.
She will never forget that strange smile under the moonlight.
"Your Majesty, this person must be the one who fought with me in the palace that night."
Su Wei nodded slightly, then asked, "Have you seen him before that night?"
Xiao Nanhui shook his head with absolute certainty: "No."
Su Wei turned his gaze towards Ding Weixiang: "Did he sneak in from outside the palace?"
"I made the same inference before, and therefore looked in the wrong direction. I later realized it wasn't true." Ding Weixiang said as he stepped forward and handed a bamboo slip containing a list of palace personnel to Su Wei. "This man's name is Xu Rui. He's a sleeping attendant in the inner hall of the imperial palace. He's been with the Internal Affairs Department for six years. He usually behaves fairly well, so I allowed him to accompany the emperor during the Jiaosong Festival."
"Why would someone from the inner hall appear in the backyard?"
"On the day of the incident, because there were not enough people for the ceremony, he was transferred to the outer courtyard to work for one night."
Thinking of the scene on the night of the execution, Xiao Nanhui's shoulder began to ache again.
When the execution was over, she was in a trance due to the pain, but she vaguely remembered some of the circumstances.
"I remember he was waiting at the execution site. The interrogator assigned someone to lead me to the palace gate. He then stepped forward and said he would take me there, but he took the wrong route."
"Did he say anything before he attacked you?"
"He said..." Xiao Nanhui narrowed his eyes, trying to recall that night in the Mandragora Garden. "He seemed to say we'd met before, but I don't have any recollection of him."
"Then do you know why he wants to kill you?"
Xiao Nanhui shook her head. She recalled the way this man had interrogated An Lu in Lingxi before, and felt that it didn't make sense.
"Now that they've caught him, haven't they found out anything?"
Ding Weixiang understood the implication in her words and glanced at her before speaking, "I held back at the time. I only severed his arm and had no intention of killing him, but he died instantly."
"Has the cause of death been determined?"
"The coroner said that the blood was stagnant in the heart vessels, and it seems that he died of heart disease."
It seems reasonable that he died on the spot due to a heart attack.
After all, no matter how vicious a person is, it is hard to say that he would not be scared after seeing Ding Weixiang's slash that night.
Xiao Nanhui glanced at the ordinary-looking sword-wielding guard and was very glad that he was not his enemy.
Ding Weixiang didn't notice Xiao Nanhui's gaze. For some reason, his expression became a little strange at this moment.
"There is one thing I have not yet told Your Majesty, and I am unsure whether I should mention it."
"Don't mention it at all. If you do, explain it clearly."
Ding Weixiang was choked and hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"When this body was brought back to Que City, a full seven days had passed since the death. However, because the weather hadn't warmed up yet, the degree of decomposition should have been relatively minimal. However, during the autopsy, the coroner stated with absolute certainty that this person had been dead for at least half a month."
"What?" Xiao Nanhui's face was filled with disbelief, and his gaze returned to the corpse that had already begun to rot. "But he clearly..."
She couldn't continue.
Would an ordinary corpse really rot to this extent after being stored in today's temperature for seven days?
But if he didn't die seven days ago, what about the person she saw that day who could walk, stop, talk and commit crimes?
There was still no expression on Su Wei's face, only a hint of contemplation in his eyes.
"Have you verified this person's whereabouts from half a month ago?"
"I have verified everything. According to the eunuch on duty those days, Xu Rui was still on duty in the palace as usual half a month ago, and there is no discrepancy with the records in the duty log."
"Have you been out during this time?"
"I never left the palace. I only took half a day off on the 23rd day of the first lunar month, saying I was feeling a little unwell."
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