Chapter 739 The Empress Arrives
Xie Qi glanced at Jiang Jinyan without showing any emotion. Didn't Her Majesty say that this thing should not be taken out for the time being?
Xie Qi followed orders and took out a piece of evidence. "Your Majesty," he said, "the coroner found something suspicious during the autopsy. It was found in Shu Xue's stomach. She died of suffocation, and the ruby bead in her stomach may have been left by the murderer."
Now that the King of Qi has produced another piece of evidence, everyone is in an uproar.
Minister Tang stared at what the Prince of Qi was holding: "What evidence is Your Highness holding? I have no idea."
Xie Qi said, "Naturally, the evidence was found on the deceased's body. It was too late last night, and Minister Tang was asleep, so he didn't know. However, Lord Zhang, myself, and Chief Justice Lu all saw the coroner take something out of the deceased's stomach that looked like a woman's ornament."
Minister Tang was unsure if the item belonged to Shu Xue. He said, "The deceased was a woman, so it might have been hers. There's nothing strange about it. Young Master Li, please examine it to see if it belongs to Madam Li."
Li Cheng had no idea what jewelry Shu Xue possessed. He and Shu Xue had a bad relationship; their marriage was forced upon them. He looked down on women like Shu Xue, and his reputation was ruined, so no one wanted to marry him. Shu Xue only married into the family because of her status as Minister Li's daughter-in-law. Unexpectedly, she died just a few months later.
Seeing that there was something that could prove the murderer was not her son, Madam Li quickly said, "Such an expensive ruby bead does not belong to Shu Xue. Since Shu Xue married into the Li family, she has never had any jewelry. Such an eye-catching item cannot be hers; it must have been left by the murderer."
To clear her son's name, Madam Li instantly transformed into a master detective. "Shu Xue must have fought with the murderer before she died. She knew she was doomed, and during the struggle, she grabbed the murderer's things and put them in her mouth. Yes, that must be it. If she put them on her person, the murderer would definitely see them. Only putting them in her stomach would be the safest. I never expected that someone as noisy and stupid as Shu Xue would be so clever before she died, even knowing to leave the murderer's things behind. The government catching the murderer is revenge for her, and she can rest in peace now."
After listening to Madam Li's words, everyone felt that her analysis was both reasonable and somewhat unreasonable.
One official said, "If the murderer knew he had left behind evidence, he would have dissected Shu Xue's body and destroyed it long ago. Why would he have sent it to Li Cheng to frame Young Master Jin? If the murderer is found out, wouldn't he be courting death?"
"I think the murderer is Young Master Li. He orchestrated the whole thing. He killed someone and of course he had to find a scapegoat. The Li family and the Jiang family are sworn enemies. Everyone knows that Young Master Li has peculiar tastes. And Young Madam Li died so tragically. He's clearly a pervert who did these heinous things. He's framing Grand Tutor Jiang's son-in-law. He's killing two birds with one stone!"
Madam Li panicked. The marriage between the Li and Zhang families had fallen through before, and now that Jiang Jinyan had married Zhang Yumo, the Li and Jiang families were at odds with the Zhang family.
As a result, they also started saying that Cheng'er had framed Jiang's son-in-law.
Mrs. Li is now afraid. If the real murderer cannot be found, then what her son said is just a fabrication.
She tried hard to figure out where Shu Xue had gone since she didn't come back on the Lantern Festival...
Just then, a eunuch's shrill voice rang out from outside the Golden Palace, "Her Majesty the Empress has arrived."
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Fenghua, dressed in a magnificent gown, slowly entered the main hall and gracefully bowed to the emperor.
To everyone's surprise, Jiang Fenghua was holding a little girl's hand. What was the Empress doing bringing her here?
She said, "Yi'er, why don't you quickly pay your respects to your royal uncle and kneel down to say goodbye?"
Xie Ruoyi was brought here, and she didn't understand why. She didn't have to memorize her lessons in the classroom, and a smile appeared on her face. Anyway, wandering around was more fun than memorizing lessons.
Xie Ruoyi bowed respectfully, saying, "Yi'er greets Imperial Uncle."
A slight smile finally appeared on Xie Shang's face. "No need for formalities!"
He then asked, "Why has the Empress come?"
Jiang Fenghua smiled and said, "When I passed by the garden just now, I saw Princess Yi playing there alone. I heard that Grand Tutor Jiang made her recite the Three Character Classic, but the princess couldn't recite it and was punished. She's just a little girl, so if she can't recite it, we should teach her more. Grand Tutor Jiang is really heartless. She is the little princess of the Fourth Prince's Mansion, the darling of the Fourth Prince's wife and the Fourth Prince."
She glanced around the Golden Palace. "Didn't the Fourth Prince attend court today?"
An official explained, "The Fourth Prince has taken sick leave."
"I also wanted to speak with the Fourth Prince and ask him to teach the young princess properly, but I didn't expect him to not come to court." Jiang Fenghua continued, "I heard that you are investigating Jin Ji's case. He murdered and abused the corpse. How far have you gotten in the investigation?"
Xie Shang took the initiative to say, "Jin Ji has now been cleared of suspicion. He didn't kill the person; he was also set up by someone."
"Has the case really been solved? I have also received news that Jin Ji's trip out of the city to buy silk thread was not a coincidence, but rather someone had set a trap for him. Your Majesty, who exactly wants to harm Jin Ji? Although he is my second sister's husband, you should do what you need to do. The country has its laws, and the family has its rules. If he dares to make a mistake, he must bear the consequences. However, he is just a merchant. Who would want to harm him?"
The Empress meant that if someone had already set a trap for him to fall into, and Jin Ji was just a small merchant, why would the murderer frame him? There was only one reason why the murderer did this: because he was the son-in-law of the Jiang family. The person's real intention was to harm the Jiang family and smear them.
Everyone looked at Minister Shu. In the past few days, Minister Shu was the one who had been cursing the Jiang family and smearing them.
It's only natural for him to be saddened by the murder of his niece, but all the discussions about the Jiang family outside were spread by Vice Minister Shu!
Xie Shang said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. The case is still under further investigation. What evidence does Your Majesty have to prove that someone had already set a trap for Jin Ji?"
Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "Lin Yu, bring the person up here!"
Lin Yu was dressed in a smart outfit, looking very dashing. Accompanying her to the Golden Palace was the merchant Yu Laoba.
Yu Laoba was just a merchant, running a small business. He had never been to the palace before, nor had he ever seen such a scene. When he saw the emperor in the Golden Hall, his legs went weak: "This humble subject Yu Dong greets Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
Xie Shang said in a deep voice, "Tell me when Jin Ji went to your village to buy silk thread, and why you wanted Jin Ji to go to buy silk thread at this time."
Yu Laoba said, "Your Majesty, I do indeed have a batch of goods that I originally intended to sell to someone a long time ago. However, the customer suddenly changed their mind. I had accepted the goods from the villagers but had no money to pay them. I was very anxious and couldn't possibly return all the goods to them. That's why I found Manager Jin and sold them to him at a price lower than the market price, asking for cash payment so I could distribute the goods to the villagers. This is their hard-earned money. Manager Jin was naturally very interested, so he received my message in the morning and arrived at noon. I am not lying."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
