Chapter 737 The three main investigators disagree.
Li Cheng was getting impatient. "I've said it many times already. I picked up Xue'er and we left the city. We were planning to watch the sunrise. I never expected that she would be harmed at the Fulai Inn."
Lord Zhang, if you wanted to ask anything else, like where I went that night, I already told you. That night, I was drinking with my guards, and we all got drunk. When I woke up, it was already the next day. I found Xue'er wasn't in her room, so I led my men to search everywhere. We finally found her with Jin Ji in the last room, and Xue'er wasn't breathing. She was completely naked, indicating she had been assaulted, and her breasts had been slashed by the perpetrator. The horrific scene still terrifies me to this day.”
These words caused an uproar throughout the court. What did Li Cheng mean by that? His chest had been cut open—wasn't that perverted? How cruel could that be? The murderer was truly heartless and insane!
Hearing everyone's discussion, Li Cheng felt a chill in his heart; he had never seen such a gruesome death.
Zhang Anyu's voice rang out again: "So, in terms of time, everything Young Master Li said is a lie you fabricated. In fact, Madam Li had already died before that."
"Your Majesty, this is the coroner's report. It confirms that the body has been moved and impacted, and that her time of death was a day earlier. However, Li Cheng said that he was with Madam Li the day before. I suspect that the murderer is likely Li Cheng. He killed someone and framed Jin Ji."
"I did not kill anyone; these are all Zhang's delusions."
"Could the autopsy results also be conjecture? The time of Madam Li's death does not match the time you said. How does Young Master Li explain this?"
Li Cheng was stunned. "Shu Xue and I left the city together. My guards and members of the Shu family can testify to this, as can Shu Xue's maid. Why don't you call the witnesses out for a confrontation!"
Li Cheng kept making excuses, either he killed the person and fabricated these lies to frame Jin Ji, or he was willing to take the blame for someone else.
Minister Tang suddenly spoke up, "Lord Zhang, is it too sloppy to judge that Young Master Li is lying based solely on the coroner's statement that the body died a day earlier than it was discovered? Everyone has their own version of events, and we can't rely on the coroner's word alone to determine when the body actually died!"
"Even the Minister of Works doesn't believe the coroner's autopsy results," King Qi suddenly said.
Minister Tang frowned. "Of course I believe it, but there are also things I don't dare to believe. After all, the person is dead, and she can't say when she died; it's all up to the coroner." He meant that it was possible the coroner had been bribed. For the Minister of Justice to say such things at this time was truly disappointing!
The coroner sometimes plays a bigger role than the officials in the process of handling cases! They have their own methods to judge right and wrong, truth and falsehood, but Minister Tang did not believe the coroner from the very beginning.
Does the Ministry of Justice usually worry about coroners being bribed? How ignorant!
Tang Shangshu was originally an acting official, but he was able to become the Minister of Justice because his daughter was pregnant and he had the support of the Empress Dowager. He secured his position as Minister of Justice through nepotism.
Now everyone is scrutinizing whether he can handle the Ministry of Justice's cases effectively.
Zhang Anyu said, "Then let's invite the coroner in to explain it to everyone himself!"
Soon the coroner was also invited into the Golden Palace.
The newcomer had been a coroner her whole life and was quite skilled. Almost no corpse that passed through her hands could escape her keen eyes. She had even started learning to be a coroner when the late emperor was the Prefect of the Capital.
As soon as this man entered the hall, almost all the older ministers recognized him. "Elder Gong, was it you who examined the body?"
"This humble subject greets Your Majesty." Old Gong first bowed before the emperor. He didn't actually need to kneel, as he had received permission from the late emperor.
Xie Shang had never met him, but he had heard of his reputation. Gong Ming was a coroner who could make the dead speak up for themselves and was praised by his father, the emperor. If he were to perform an autopsy, no one would dare to question his accuracy.
Xie Shang said, "Master Gong, please rise!"
Gong Mingchao bowed to the Emperor and stood up straight without any hesitation.
Li Cheng naturally didn't know him, nor did Minister Tang, and it wasn't him who examined Shu Xue's body.
Minister Tang said, "It was not Master Gong who performed the autopsy at the Jingzhao Prefecture government office."
Gong Ming said, "It was indeed not me, but he is my most prized disciple. If he makes a mistake, it will ruin my reputation for life."
“A body that’s been dead for one day is completely different from a body that’s been dead for two days, because the body undergoes rapid changes after death, making it easy to tell the difference,” Gong Ming added. “It could also be due to weather conditions or external interference that prevented the rapid changes in the body, but no matter what methods the other party used, it doesn’t change the fact that the body was already dead…”
After listening to Gong Ming's analysis, everyone understood that living people can fake and lie, but dead people cannot, and autopsy reports cannot lie.
After hearing this, Xie Shang said coldly, "Li Cheng, what else do you have to say? You killed someone and framed Jin Ji. Your methods are so cruel, it is against all reason."
Li Cheng knelt on the ground, "I didn't kill Shu Xue, and I don't even know how she died."
Madam Li also cried out in protest: "It wasn't Cheng'er who killed her, my husband! Please beg the Emperor! Cheng'er doesn't know how Shu Xue died either."
Minister Li remained silent, his eyes filled with worry. As a subject, he could only stand respectfully in the court. What was the use of pleading? What had his son done? Why had his son framed the Jiang family? He had warned Li Cheng long ago to stay away from the Jiang family and not to offend Empress Jiang, but Li Cheng simply wouldn't listen.
Xie Qi said, "Your Majesty, there is another suspicious point about the Li family. The funeral hall of Madam Li was 'accidentally' set on fire by a maid, and the body was almost burned. I think this is very suspicious, as if someone deliberately wanted to destroy the body to prevent Lord Zhang from investigating the case."
Xie Shang said, "Why would the King of Qi say that? Perhaps Li Cheng wants to prevent the government from investigating the case and wants to burn the body."
Xie Qi said, "That's possible. But if Li Cheng killed the person, he would have had plenty of time to destroy the body before the next day when Lord Zhang brought people to the Li family to move the body. He would have transported the body from the Fulai Inn back to the Li family. However, he did not do that. Instead, he waited until Lord Zhang arrived before the mourning hall suddenly caught fire."
"The two maids who were keeping vigil have admitted on the spot that they accidentally knocked over the oil lamp and lit the white sail, but these two maids suddenly died of poisoning last night." Xie Qi continued, "The key point is that the Emperor appointed Lord Zhang to investigate the case and ordered that no one should obstruct the coroner from examining the body. The Emperor only announced this news in court. Lord Zhang had plenty of time to arrange all this on his way from the palace to the Li family. The fire started before he arrived. I think these are not coincidences. It seems that someone destroyed the body before Lord Zhang could."
Neither Li Cheng nor Madam Li expected the Prince of Qi to say such a thing, which directly refuted Zhang Anyu's accusations.
At this point, everyone was puzzled. Prefect Zhang, Prince Qi, and Minister Tang were investigating the case together, but their opinions seemed to be completely different!
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