Chapter 363 The face is Jueming's face.
The Imperial Guards that Yu Feng sent out have all returned.
"Gan Laoshi, who collects swill, was knocked unconscious at home and didn't come to collect swill today."
"The old woman in the kitchen confessed that someone gave her a sum of money to let someone in to deliver firewood."
She figured the kitchen needed firewood anyway, so she readily let the person in. Later, when she realized something was wrong, she got scared and quietly let the person go.
After listening, Shen Chu closed his eyes and began to ponder.
It was obvious that the woodcutter the old woman had put in was the one who poisoned Minister Zhang.
Vice Minister Zhang said that person was Jueming.
But Prefect Jiang said that Jueming had bitten his tongue and committed suicide in prison that morning.
When it comes to his own life, Vice Minister Zhang would never lie.
Prefect Jiang couldn't possibly be lying, because the time of Jueming's death could be determined by examining the body.
Assuming neither of them lied, who was the "Jueming" that Minister Zhang saw?
Before Zhang Shilang fell into a coma, he pointed to his face, blinked, and then closed his eyes. What did this mean?
The murderer, disguised as a garbage collector, clearly intended to further harm Minister Zhang.
How did he know that Vice Minister Zhang was at the post station?
A moment later, she suddenly opened her eyes and gave instructions to Yu Feng.
"Call that old woman over here, I have something to ask her."
Yu Feng quickly replied, "I was waiting outside. I was worried you would question me, so I brought him here."
The old woman was brought in, and upon entering, she knelt on the ground and wailed loudly.
"My lord, I really don't know that damned Minister of the Interior. If I did know, I wouldn't dare let him go even if you gave me a hundred lives."
"Please, Your Excellency, spare my life! I will never dare to do it again!"
Shen Chu frowned. "Shut up. If you cry again, I'll drag you out and beat you with a board."
The old woman's crying stopped abruptly. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and looked at Chen Chu, who was sitting at the head of the table.
Seeing that she looked dazed but stopped crying, Chen Chu asked, "Tell me in detail what the wood-delivering man looked like."
"The more detailed your explanation, the better. If it helps solve the case, I'll plead with the magistrate to spare you from the beating."
When the old woman saw that the person asking the question was a pregnant woman, not the high-ranking official who frightened her, she immediately relaxed a lot.
Upon hearing that he could plead for her, his face lit up with joy. He blew his nose, flicked it back twice, and then rubbed his hand against the side of his shoe.
"Madam, you must keep your word. I'll think about it carefully. That damned guy is almost forty years old."
She has fair skin, thick eyebrows, and full lips...
Chen Chu interrupted him, "How thick are your eyebrows? What do they look like?"
"Oh dear, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it looks like a black mark drawn on the ground with a fire poker."
Three black lines appeared on Yu Feng's face behind him.
What kind of description is this?
Shen Chu also felt a headache coming on. He closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then picked up a pen to draw on the blueprint.
Soon, a man's portrait appeared on the paper.
She showed the portrait to the old woman, "Do you think this is the person?"
The old woman looked at it carefully and then slapped her thigh.
"It's him, it's this damn guy. He has big earlobes, I remember it very clearly, it's him."
Shen Chu had the old woman taken away.
Yu Feng curiously peered at the portrait on the table.
The man in the portrait has thick, dark eyebrows, long, narrow eyes, a straight nose, a wide mouth, thick lips, and very full earlobes.
Yu Feng scratched his head again.
"How could you know what the murderer looks like, Madam?"
Shen Chu said, "This is the person I bumped into at the entrance of the post station today, the man who came in to collect swill under the name of Gan Laoshi."
"It was him? So this is what the murderer looks like."
Shen Chu looked up at her. "You know this person?"
Yu Feng stared at the portrait for a long time.
"His features look somewhat familiar, but I can't quite place where I've seen him before."
He couldn't help but scratch his head again.
Where have I seen this before?
Shen Chu said, "Don't rush, think about it slowly, and tell me when you've figured it out."
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Ling Ce didn't return until evening.
Upon entering, the first thing to do was inquire about Vice Minister Zhang's situation.
Han Feng: "The situation has stabilized for the time being, and I can say that I have escaped with my life."
As for when he will wake up, that depends on his fate.
Shen Chu poured a cup of tea and handed it over.
"Weren't you supposed to be performing an autopsy? Why are you back so late?"
Ling Ce gulped down four or five cups of tea in a row, then slumped into a chair, lying there like a corpse.
"Don't even mention it, being an imperial censor is no job for a human being."
"You should have resigned sooner after clearing your family's name; then I wouldn't have had to suffer with you."
Shen Chu remained silent; if she could resign, she would have done so long ago.
She kicked him lightly, "Tell me what's going on over there."
Ling Ce let him kick him, and he didn't even bother to lift his leg.
It's clear they were really exhausted.
He lifted his eyelids and said, "I've checked, the corpse really is Jueming."
The time of death was approximately late Chen Shi (7-9 AM) to early Si Shi (9-11 AM) this morning.
"Was it really a case of biting off one's tongue to commit suicide?"
"Yes, I can tell that he died from suffocation caused by biting his tongue and bleeding."
Chen Chu frowned.
Han Feng stood guard beside Zhang Shilang, holding Shen Chu's new cloak in his hand.
He hummed softly as he embroidered wisteria flowers on it.
"This is interesting. Jueming died this morning, but Minister Zhang said that Jueming was the one who killed him."
I think either Vice Minister Zhang made a mistake, or…
Chen Chu looked up and saw the interface.
"Either the dead person is not Jueming."
"Not Jueming?" Ling Ce was so surprised that he sat up straight abruptly.
"That's impossible. I've examined the body over and over again."
He still has the bruises from when I interrogated him.
Shen Chu asked, "But why did Jueming commit suicide?"
He has already confessed, and his conviction is a foregone conclusion.
Given the crimes he committed, the death penalty is inevitable.
But even a death sentence from the imperial court would take at least a month to process. Wouldn't it be better for him to live for another month?
Ling Ce: "He went from being the revered abbot of Qingshan Temple to a prisoner."
Such a huge drop in social status was unbearable, so suicide is understandable, right?
Shen Chu shook his head.
"Then why did he choose such a tragic way to commit suicide by biting his tongue?"
This is not a method of suicide that ordinary people would use.
Ling Ce raised an eyebrow. "Hunger strikes, banging your head against a wall, and hanging yourself aren't much better than biting your tongue, are they?"
Junior sister, aren't you overthinking this?
I've seen the body, and I'm certain it's Jueming.
The face was Jueming's face, and the wounds on his body were real.
The monks from Qingshan Temple have all come to identify the body; there's no mistake.
Shen Chu suddenly looked up, her eyes fixed intently on Ling Ce.
"What did you just say? Say it again,"
"Huh? I said the monks from Qingshan Temple have already come to identify the body, so there can't be any mistake."
"Not this sentence, but the previous one."
“I said the face is Jueming’s face, and the injuries on his body are real too.”
These words struck Shen Chu like a thunderbolt, instantly waking him up.
She suddenly realized the key point that had been troubling her.
She suddenly stood up and asked Ling Ce urgently, "Where is Jueming's body now? Take me to see it immediately."
Ling Ce looked bewildered. "Go now? It's already dark."
You went to a mass grave to look at corpses in the middle of the night?
Shen Chu frowned. "A mass grave?"
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