Chapter 68 Confirmation
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was shocked and couldn't believe it.
Princess Gao was the first to question it, sharply saying, "What Princess Lingling said is utterly irrational, isn't it? How could a mother disregard her son's life or death, and instead help her son's murderer hide, and finally let him escape? Is there any such thing as this in the world?"
She addressed the last sentence to the others present. Although everyone knew that her methods against the Changhua Palace were not very honorable, there was nothing wrong with her words, and they all nodded in agreement.
Madam Dingxiang was even more heartbroken. She pressed her chest and said, "Niece, I know you are dissatisfied with your cousin, and therefore you are angry at me, your aunt. But how can you slander and accuse me in front of Her Majesty the Queen? Moreover, it is so unbelievable!"
"Since my aunt refuses to confess, I can only expose everything you have done in public." She did not hesitate at all because of her constant mention of her aunt and niece. "In fact, I first discovered the clues when I was inspecting the scene after the kitchen fire. All the clues at the scene indicated that Shi Jingning had an argument with Yang Huaijiang, Yang Huaijiang escaped with his face disfigured, and Shi Jingning died in the fire. The only thing that was wrong was that before Shi Jingning died, his body was holding a rabbit.
"That day, I had no appetite, so Shi Jingning went to the kitchen to prepare food for me. But we'd known each other since childhood, and he'd always known I didn't eat rabbit, so why would he prepare rabbit for me? But the suspicion was insignificant, so I didn't delve into it. It wasn't until later that my aunt made a scene at the mansion, saying a bloody handprint had appeared on the rockery, and she feared it was a ghost seeking revenge. I discovered that the bloody handprint was almost identical to Shi Jingning's palm—even down to the index finger he'd injured before his death. A thought began to form in my mind: the ghost's claim was unbelievable. Shi Jingning had indeed left his handprint—which meant he wasn't dead. The body that appeared in the kitchen fire wasn't his."
"Impossible! After Shi Jingning's death, wasn't the palace's backyard strictly guarded, with no one allowed in or out?" Madam Dingxiang insisted. "It must be the wronged ghost! Who else could hide in the backyard under the eyes of so many people without being caught?"
"Of course, there's no place else to hide him, but what if he's been hiding in his room, claiming his face is disfigured and refusing to see anyone? And what if you, aunt, are covering up for him and preventing us from taking a closer look?"
"County Lady, are you kidding me? Even if he's disfigured and his voice is mute, Huaijiang and I have been mother and son for nearly twenty years. How could I mistake my own son? Besides, my Huaijiang has a longer middle toe than others. How could I have mistaken him for someone else?"
"Yes, my aunt repeatedly said that she could recognize Yang Huaijiang when he came back, and made us all believe that it was Yang Huaijiang who escaped from the sea of fire. But in fact, this emphasis was only to cover up the fact that he had already changed his identity."
Madam Dingxiang gritted her teeth and sneered, "County Lady, please stop spouting nonsense. As a mother, I could have mistakenly recognized my son, but I'm deliberately trying to recognize the murderer as my son and help him escape? Where does this outlandish nonsense come from?"
Qian Deng's gaze rested on Madam Dingxiang's face, as if examining her expression. "Originally, I didn't dare to think so. After all, after my uncle passed away, my aunt's situation in the Yang family wasn't very good, and she only had this son to rely on for support. Furthermore, my aunt always claimed to be blessed to have a son, so much so that we overlooked the fact that this child wasn't actually my aunt's, and she even harbored a grudge against you because of his biological mother."
"He's the only descendant of the fourth branch of the Hongnong Yang family in Guozhou. I, your aunt, have been the head of the family for twenty years. How could you ignore the roots of the Yang family because of these trivial matters?"
"How can others know what everyone is thinking? All I can feel is what the other person does. After all, real actions are much more reliable than the illusory heart." Qian Deng said, gestured to Cui Fufeng.
Cui Fufeng had already sent someone to the Dali Temple to fetch all the necessary files and evidence. He nodded at her and took out the autopsy file from the box and handed it to her.
"This is the autopsy report for the two bodies found in this case, one in the kitchen and one in the storeroom. As you can see, the two bodies are not much different in appearance. Both were burned to a crisp in the fire, and the bones were also disintegrated due to the collapse of heavy objects above. The second body is in a more serious condition, with the bones shattered and severely damaged."
The ladies present all looked a little uncomfortable after hearing this.
They grew up in a prosperous and splendor environment, and even when they fled from the chaos, they were surrounded by carriages and horses. They had never heard people talk about charred corpses and bones so directly, and it was inevitable that they could hear scattered gasps.
Qian Deng, however, looked stern and continued without hesitation, "After Shi Jingning died, your nephew, Lü Wulin, visited the funeral home to view the body, but he didn't examine the skull. He likely only touched the feet. And when the news of Yang Huaijiang's death reached us, my aunt, determined to see the body, whether alive or dead, personally went to the funeral home to examine it. She then tearfully informed me that the deceased was indeed Yang Huaijiang, because members of the Yang family have a longer middle toe than others, as evidenced by the bones."
Madam Dingxiang raised her hand and wiped her tears. "Didn't you see, niece? The middle toes on the remains' feet are indeed longer than those of the others. It's undoubtedly your cousin!"
"The foot is definitely my cousin's, but the body isn't necessarily." Qian Deng flipped through the autopsy file, pointing to the records. "It's clearly written there. There's a layer of cartilage at the joint where the tibia connects to the talus, allowing the ankle to move flexibly. We all have this cartilage in our feet; we can't have two layers, and yet—the autopsy file clearly states that something different happened with the two bodies found in the charity cemetery."
As if she thought of something, Mrs. Dingxiang's face suddenly turned purple.
But Qian Deng didn't care about her at all. He just read out the contents of the autopsy file to her word by word.
"The left feet of both bodies were identical, but above the talus bone of the right foot, the first body transported to the cemetery had two layers of cartilage, while the second body had no trace of cartilage above the talus bone."
Qian Deng read this and looked up at Madam Dingxiang. "Two corpses, one delivered to the charity cemetery and sealed one after the other. Especially the latter corpse, aside from my aunt who went to identify it, no one else has ever approached it. And yet, such a strange situation occurred. What on earth is going on?"
Lady Dingxiang reluctantly replied, "Perhaps the people at the charity cemetery accidentally moved their feet..."
"How come the mistake happened to be made with the feet, which we use to identify the bodies? Aunt, if it weren't for those two middle toes that are longer than the others, can we be sure that the body is cousin Yang Huaijiang? In other words, one foot has no cartilage, and the other has two layers of cartilage. It's obvious that someone swapped the two feet - because the bodies were charred, and both had been hit by heavy objects, causing the bodies to split, so secretly swapping the feet is not difficult. So, of the two bodies, the one with the longer middle toe actually had its feet swapped. In other words, the charred body that died earlier in the fire, in the kitchen, is Yang Huaijiang, not Shi Jingning."
Qiandeng closed the file in his hand and looked at Madam Dingxiang again. "It's obvious that Shi Jingning's toes are different from Yang Huaijiang's. So, Aunt, why did you insist to all of us that the person who survived the burns was Yang Huaijiang, and that his toes were different from those of ordinary people?"
Lady Dingxiang opened her mouth and wanted to defend herself, but even though her face turned purple, she couldn't find the words to defend herself.
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