He did suspect that Du Yaoyao had gotten help from someone and was able to escape.
Heavy snow was falling from the sky. A group of troops entered Xujia Village in an orderly and solemn manner and surrounded a small farmyard.
"Old man, someone is knocking on the door, go check it out!"
The woman who was killed by the bandits was named Xu Jiao, and her mother was shouting in the kitchen.
Father Xu walked out of the house and was stunned when he opened the door.
Outside, a group of yamen runners were surrounding a tall man. He was wearing a dark green cloak and had a handsome and stern face. He looked noble and dignified, and extremely extraordinary.
I guess he is a high-ranking official.
Father Xu bowed and said stiffly, "Excuse me, sirs, what is the important matter that brings me here?"
A petty official stepped forward and asked, "Are you Xu Jiao's father?"
"It's me, the old man." Father Xu said respectfully.
At this time Xu's mother also came out.
The two invited Shen Jie to the hospital.
Shen Jie pulled out a scroll from his sleeve, unfolded it, and asked, "Have you two met this lady?"
The official had an excellent appearance, and the woman in the painting was delicate and pretty, neither of them was a noble person that ordinary villagers could see.
Xu's father and mother have never seen Du Yaoyao. Dashan's family said that they could borrow Xu Jiao's body and find a way to help Xu Jiao get revenge. The bandits had been rampant for many years, and the local government had turned a blind eye to it, so the two old men were thinking of giving it a try.
The dead cannot be resurrected. If this method can avenge and eliminate the evil bandits, Xu's father and mother are willing to sacrifice their daughter's body.
But now that the high-ranking official has come, the two elders guess that the lady in the painting is related to Dashan's family.
In recent months, the news that the censor's wife was killed by bandits has been widely circulated.
Therefore, the imperial court personally sent troops to suppress the bandits.
The daughter may have replaced the body of the censor's wife.
The real wife of the censor...?
Xu's father and mother did not want to cause more trouble for the Dashan family, and they had no evidence that they were involved in the matter. He replied blankly: "I haven't seen it, I haven't seen it..."
Chen Jie observed that they looked at the portrait with unfamiliar eyes, as if they were amazed by Du Yaoyao's beauty, but there was a hint of hesitation in their expressions, as if they knew something.
He probed, "Someone has reported the two of you for using Xu Jiao's body to impersonate the Madam Censor. Is that true?"
"My Lord, you are wise." Father and Mother Xu fell to their knees and begged for mercy, "Even if we two old men had a hundred courages, we wouldn't dare to do that..."
Mother Xu wiped away her tears and sobbed, "If you don't believe me, just follow me to the cemetery in the back mountain, open the coffin and examine the body. Our Jiaojiao is lying in there well..."
The other party's attitude was so firm that Shen Jie was frightened for a moment.
He has no parents, but he knows it is not painful to see a loved one die. It was really inhumane for the old man to have someone come to dig up his daughter's grave and examine her several months after she had died.
Thinking of the many sleepless nights and the times when he felt guilt and guilt coming up, he forced himself to stay calm and said, "Then open the coffin!"
Xu Jiao's grave was a small mound commonly seen in the countryside. Several officers and soldiers dug it up in no time and then worked together to remove the coffin lid.
The corpse inside was so decomposed that it was no longer recognizable as a human. The flesh had fallen off under the shroud, leaving only a skeleton. A foul smell was spreading everywhere.
Xu's mother cried out "Wow" and burst into tears while hugging the tombstone.
Father Xu slumped beside her, wiping his tears with his hands.
Shen Jie felt the same way, his eyes turned red, he turned his face to the side, signaling the coroner to perform an autopsy.
The coroner covered the woman's mouth and nose and checked her bone age and the integrity of her bones inside and out.
After some manipulation, he reported, "She was nineteen years old, and died from trauma."
Du Yaoyao was also nineteen years old. Chen Jie stared at the bones in the coffin with a gloomy look.
He had a bold suspicion that Xu's father and mother had picked up Du Yaoyao, who was seriously ill or had already died, and they had swapped Du Yaoyao's and Xu Jiao's clothes.
Du Yaoyao has delicate skin, which is obviously not something that can be grown in a poor family. With such an identity, suspected of rape, murder, and drowning, it would surely cause a huge uproar, and the Jindu government would naturally take it seriously.
If the female corpse in the blisters is Xu Jiao, then the person in this coffin... is it Yaoyao?
Chen Jie suddenly couldn't breathe and felt a dull pain in his chest.
He took two steps toward the coffin.
Xu's mother staggered to stop him like a mother animal protecting her cubs, crying, "The graves have been dug up, the coffins have been opened, you killed us two today, we really have never seen your wife... Please, let my Jiaojiao rest in peace..."
Shen Jie suddenly woke up. Could it be that he was worrying too much? In fact, Du Yaoyao was humiliated and then killed by others, and it had nothing to do with the bandits and Xu Jiao.
Is she really dead?
Or has she once again possessed another woman's body?
Chen Jie looked around hopelessly. How could he find her in such a vast sea of people?
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