"Are you sure?" Rong Xiu asked.

"You said before that she was fished out as soon as she jumped into the lake, right?" Hua Yuanzhao asked while observing the mouth and nose of the deceased.

"Yes." Rong Xiu nodded.

"No, that's not the case. Look, her face is blue and purple. Although people who drowned will have blue and purple faces, that's because a large amount of catecholamines are released in the body when they struggle..." Hua Yuanzhao stopped talking when he said this.

She said, "This is just my preliminary judgment. To confirm, we need to remove the lungs."

Hua Yuanzhao had already touched the dead man's head with his hands, but did not feel any wounds.

"There was no obvious external injury on her head. If she died from jumping into the lake, she was most likely choked to death." Hua Yuanzhao said, "But people who die from choking will have pale faces."

Hua Yuanzhao pointed at the deceased and said, "Her appearance does not match common sense. If we want to confirm it further, we just need to take out her lungs and see if there is any water."

She said it lightly, as if she was talking about slaughtering chickens and sheep.

Gu Changsu's stomach churned and he could not bear it any longer. He turned his head away and dared not look again.

Rong Xiu didn't react much, he just nodded and said, "Then let's do it!"

After a slight pause, he asked again: "Would you like me to help you?"

Hua Yuanzhao's mouth twitched slightly, and he pointed at the dead woman and said, "I want to take off her clothes. Can you two please turn around?"

Reputation is important in this era, and this is not an emergency like last time. Why should she take off her clothes in front of two men?

Gu Changsu felt relieved, but was secretly annoyed in his heart.

Isn't it enough to just take a look? Why do we need to dissect it?

After Rong Xiu turned around, he still took a peek and saw Hua Yuanzhao cutting the meat like cutting paper, and he couldn't help but shudder.

Hiss, this woman is the real murderer!

Hua Yuanzhao acted quickly and soon he held the bloody lung in his hands and said, "It's definitely not choking."

She frowned and said, "Also, judging from the water in her lungs, she must have died before she jumped into the lake, or right after she fell into the lake."

"What was the cause of death?" Gu Changsu turned around and asked. Seeing her holding her lungs in her hands, he was so frightened that he couldn't help but dry heave.

"Pfft~" Rong Xiu took the opportunity to laugh and then asked, "What was the cause of death?"

"We still have to check, but judging from the degree of congestion in the heart, we can temporarily rule out the possibility of sudden death from shock." Hua Yuanzhao turned and took out the heart from his chest.

Rong Xiu stared at her for a few breaths, then silently turned his back to her.

"Well, then you take your time to investigate." Rong Xiu coughed dryly and looked at Gu Changsu with envy as he found a random excuse to escape, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the spot.

"Aren't you leaving?" Hua Yuanzhao asked without raising his head.

"I was the one who brought you here. I have to keep an eye on you and bring you back safely." Rong Xiu said lightly.

Hua Yuanzhao looked at him in surprise: "Then you can go and wait at the door."

Rong Xiu was choked and said stubbornly, "I have fought my way down the battlefield. What kind of scenes have I not seen? What's wrong with waiting for you here?"

"Oh." Hua Yuanzhao responded expressionlessly.

If someone is watching, she won't be able to take the body to the research institute for dissection. It's really troublesome!

…

At dawn, in Linyuan Garden.

Fuling smiled and said, "How dare I ask Madam to wait any longer? Please go back to Fushou Hall first. My young lady will be there soon."

The nanny had a stern face and said rigidly, "It is past the time for greetings and the young lady has not yet arrived, so the old lady sent me to invite her over."

"Yes, yes, yes. My young lady had a fever in the middle of the night and is now bedridden and unable to get up." Fuling had a bitter face and spoke nonsense.

Who knows where her daughter has gone to? She hasn't come back yet!

"The young lady is ill?" the maid asked suspiciously, "Have you called a doctor?"

"Mammy, my young lady is a doctor herself and has already taken the medicine." Fuling said hurriedly.

Mammy nodded suspiciously and walked inside: "Then I should go see the young lady, so that I can give the old lady a reply later."

Fuling panicked when she heard this, and hurriedly stepped in front to stop them: "Mammy, Mammy, please don't let the illness get to you..."

If she went in, the fact that the young lady was not in the room would be revealed!

The nanny pushed Fuling away and strode towards the main house.

"Poria?"

Hearing this voice, Fuling felt like she was hearing heavenly music and almost cried out loud.

"Miss……"

Hua Yuanzhao had just sneaked back and stood at the gate of the courtyard. He looked at the nanny who was about to break into his room with a dark face and asked in a deep voice: "What are you going to do, nanny?"

"Where has the eldest lady gone? Why hasn't she gone to pay her respects to the old lady yet?" The nanny did not answer but questioned out loud.

"My young lady had a fever in the middle of the night and just got up now..." Fuling hurriedly winked at Hua Yuanzhao.

Hua Yuanzhao interjected, lying without changing his expression: "So I run to sweat so as not to infect my grandmother when I pay my respects."

There were no obvious external injuries on the deceased's body. She spent most of the night investigating but couldn't find the cause of death. For a moment she even forgot about time.

Fortunately, I stole some blood and tissue samples, and will use instruments to analyze them later to see if it was poisoning or something else.

…

In Fushou Hall, Madam Hua was indeed already waiting. She sat upright on the armchair, her expression stern but not at all sick.

When Hua Yuanzhao arrived, he saw Aunt Su and Hua Yuanshan kneeling on the ground, looking very miserable and pitiful.

"Greetings, grandma." Hua Yuanzhao bowed.

"What an unruly thing!" Old Madam Hua raised her eyelids and scolded angrily.

Hua Yuanshan rolled her eyes and said pitifully, "Eldest sister, the rock sugar snow pears that Shan'er cooked were not to grandma's taste, so I was punished..."

Aunt Su was startled and hurriedly pulled Hua Yuanshan's clothes to stop her from continuing.

"I wonder what my elder sister has prepared that why she came so late? It must be something that grandma likes better than what Shan'er prepared, right?" Hua Yuanshan said stubbornly, looking at Hua Yuanzhao with a gloating look.

Why should she be the only one to be punished? She wanted to see if this old hag would be partial!

Hua Yuanzhao glanced at her and said coldly, "Me? I have prepared a filial heart."

"Grandma is not well yet, she should sleep a little longer, so I didn't dare to disturb her earlier, so I came late on purpose." Hua Yuanzhao said confidently, isn't it just a nice thing to say? Who wouldn't say that?

"Alright, why are you making such a fuss so early in the morning?" Old Madam Hua glared at them impatiently and waved her hand, saying, "Serve the food."

The nanny responded and soon brought people to set a table full of breakfast.

After they sat down at the table, Mrs. Hua asked Hua Yuanzhao, "Have you prepared the birthday gift for Princess Changle?"

Hua Yuanshan finally took a seat. When she heard this, she said hurriedly, "Grandma, this time the princess only sent an invitation to Shan'er..."

She was halfway through her words when she changed her words under Aunt Su's warning gaze: "Although my eldest sister is going, she is using Shan'er's invitation, so naturally one gift will be enough. Shan'er has already prepared the gift that the Hua family wants to give."

Before she finished her words, Madam Hua smashed her chopsticks and said, "Did I ask you? You are so uneducated to interrupt me!"

She asked contemptuously: "When did a concubine's daughter become qualified to prepare gifts for the Hua family?"

Hua Yuanzhao swallowed the fried bun in his mouth with great effort, and then said: "I also have a post, but the gift is still..."

"Su, take five hundred taels of silver from the public treasury and give it to Zhao'er." Old Lady Hua said slowly.

Hua Yuanzhao swallowed back the words "the gift is still being prepared" that were about to come to his lips with difficulty.

"Five hundred taels?" Aunt Su shouted in astonishment, "Why give her so much money?"

After she finished shouting, she said awkwardly: "Madam, this..."

"Prepare gifts for Princess Changle." Old Madam Hua said leisurely, her expression calm but not tolerant of rebuttal.

Now she doesn't know who wants to harm her. If she wants to buy medicinal herbs for treatment, she naturally cannot pay directly from the public.

These five hundred taels of silver were said to be a gift for Princess Changle, but in fact they were just money for Hua Yuanzhao to buy medicine.

Aunt Su's face turned pale, and she couldn't swallow her food when she thought about the five hundred taels of silver that she was about to throw away.

Hua Yuanshan looked at Hua Yuanzhao hatefully and bit her teeth in anger.

——How come this bitch has Princess Changle’s post!

Hua Yuanzhao had not slept all night and was tired and hungry. He was too lazy to care about the twists and turns and just ate happily.

Aunt Su and Hua Yuanshan looked at each other and tried hard to suppress their anger.

Eat, eat, it would be best if you could eat this fat pig to death!