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Upon examination by the coroner, it was speculated that the three eunuchs had been killed by the internal force of Nangong Li.
"Why couldn"t it be the killer"s internal force?" asked the Chief Justice of the Imperial Court of Judicial Review, addressing the coroner in the morgue.
The Minister of Justice was also present, and he was equally curious about the situation.
The coroner responded, "I also performed an autopsy on General Nangong. General Nangong did not suffer any internal injuries. I dare to speculate that the killer did not possess any internal force."
The Chief Justice of the Imperial Court of Judicial Review frowned and said, "No internal force, yet able to kill the renowned General Nangong with a mere tree branch. Old Sun, do you realize what you"re saying? Could it be that you made a mistake in the autopsy?"
The coroner replied calmly, "I have been performing autopsies for decades and would not dare to claim I have never made a mistake. If Your Excellency doesn"t believe me, you can have another coroner perform the autopsy on General Nangong."
Naturally, the Chief Justice had someone else do it.
The results were consistent with Old Sun"s autopsy.
"If he didn"t need to use internal force to kill General Nangong, then killing the three eunuchs would require even less." Based on this reasoning, the coroner deduced that the internal force that killed the three was Nangong Li"s.
Thus, the third major point of suspicion in the case arose: Who could have easily killed Nangong Li without using internal force?
The Imperial Court of Judicial Review’s Chief Justice Yang Chang and Minister of Justice Dong Wei investigated for an entire day and night but found nothing.
Chief Justice Yang said, "That Liu Dong was clearly the best lead. If we could have just gotten him to tell us what Nangong Li was doing in the imperial palace, the truth of the case would have been revealed."
Minister Dong replied, "The man is dead, so there"s no use in discussing this further."
The Imperial Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice were both located outside the Upright Gate, with the Imperial Court of Judicial Review in the west and the Ministry of Justice in the east.
As dawn approached, going home to rest was impossible. They could only go to their offices to change clothes and prepare to report the situation to the Emperor during the morning court session.
As they were about to part ways, Chief Justice Yang noticed Minister Dong deep in thought and couldn"t help but ask, "What are you thinking about?"
Minister Dong answered, “I’m wondering, who could have killed Nangong Li? And within the imperial palace at that. It feels like…”
"Feels like what?" Chief Justice Yang asked.
Minister Dong shook his head, "I don"t have any solid evidence, but when I stood at the crime scene, looking at Nangong Li"s body and the tree branch left there, I could almost sense a strong desire for revenge."
This was one of Minister Dong"s talents——he had a keen intuition for cases, and most of the time, his intuition was accurate.
They had once captured a serial killer with no leads at all. One day, the killer happened to run into Minister Dong on the street. With just one look, Minister Dong pointed at the person and said, "He"s the killer."
So when Minister Dong mentioned that it was an act of revenge, Chief Justice Yang did not immediately dismiss the idea.
Chief Justice Yang pondered and asked, "Did Nangong Li offend anyone?"
Minister Dong replied, "You should ask, among those Nangong Li offended, who could easily kill him? Did you closely examine the shape of that tree branch? Didn"t it look like a spear?"
Chief Justice Yang recalled and nodded, "Yes, the tip was sharpened, and the length was similar to a spear."
Minister Dong said, "As far as I know, only the Xuanyuan Family"s spear techniques could possess such power without internal force."
Chief Justice Yang furrowed his brow, "You mean... Nangong Li was killed by someone from the Xuanyuan Family? The entire Xuanyuan Family is dead, and the only surviving former Crown Princess had her martial arts crippled. Your speculation doesn"t hold up."
Minister Dong pondered for a moment and said, "But what if... someone survived?"
Chief Justice Yang said firmly, "There"s no "what if." Don"t forget, the bodies of all the Xuanyuan Family members were examined, and the coffins were sealed before being handed over to Jing shizi and his brother."
Minister Dong"s expression grew grave, "Xuanyuan Sheng... When I saw the murder weapon during the day, I inexplicably thought of him."
Chief Justice Yang laughed and said, "He"s even less likely to be the killer. Of all the sons of the Xuanyuan Family, he died the most tragically, impaled by his own red-ta.s.sel spear on the city gate, shot through the heart by countless arrows, his body hanging there for an entire month. Jing shizi nearly spent his entire fortune to retrieve the bodies of the Xuanyuan sons. If there had been even one survivor, Jing shizi wouldn"t have needed to go that far."
Jing shizi, now Duke An.
Chief Justice Yang paused and patted Minister Dong"s shoulder, speaking earnestly, “Old Dong, I understand that you were promoted by the Xuanyuan Family in your early years and have always felt regret for not pleading on their behalf back then. However, you should also understand that you took on that case personally, and the Xuanyuan Family did indeed commit treason. As officials of the imperial court, we cannot a.s.sociate with treacherous rebels, and we must not let small personal loyalties overshadow great justice. You can mention the Xuanyuan Family in front of me today, and I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it. But when you’re in front of His Majesty, you must keep quiet and avoid provoking His Majesty.”
"Old Yang." Minister Dong called out to him as he was about to head towards the Imperial Court of Judicial Review.
Chief Justice Yang turned back to look at him, "What is it?"
Minister Dong"s expression was complicated, "That incident back then... was it really not a mistake?"
Chief Justice Yang asked, "Which incident are you referring to?"
Minister Dong replied, "You know what I mean."
Chief Justice Yang"s gaze deepened, and he said seriously, "Old Dong, you only need to remember that what the Ten Great Families did... was for the greater good."
……
Nangong Li"s death caused a huge uproar among the n.o.ble families. Although Nangong Li was not the eldest son of the Nangong Family’s head, he was more outstanding than his older brother, and the Nangong Family’s head had always groomed him as the heir.
Who could have expected that he would be murdered within the imperial palace?
The Nangong Family’s head was furious and pressured the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Court of Judicial Review to find the killer within three days!
However, this was impossible. Not only were they completely clueless, but even if they had leads, they couldn"t conduct a high-profile investigation into this murder case.
Because the Emperor’s birthday was approaching.
The entire capital of Shengdu was busy preparing for the Emperor’s birthday celebrations. To stir up a commotion over Nangong Li"s murder at such a critical time would be seen as bringing bad luck to the Emperor.
Moreover, Nangong Li"s unauthorized infiltration of the imperial palace had already displeased the Emperor to some extent.
They planned to conduct a thorough investigation only after the Emperor’s birthday banquet.
......
Gu Jiao was completely unaware of the events happening in the outer court of the imperial palace and went to the academy as usual.
Mu Qingchen also came to cla.s.s.
He still sat in the second seat from the right side of the back row, near the back door.
The first seat was Gu Jiao"s.
Everyone had long since gotten used to Mu Qingchen and Gu Jiao sitting together, so no one found it inappropriate to see him there.
Only Gu Jiao could clearly sense that Mu Qingchen"s aura had changed. He looked at Gu Jiao with a very guarded expression.
Gu Jiao calmly took her seat.
Zhou Tong, who sat in front of her, turned around, smiling as he looked at the two and said, "As expected, Liulang, you have a lot of influence. As soon as you come back to cla.s.s, Young Master Qingchen also comes."
Yes, a lot of influence—enough that the number one Young Master in Shengdu came to personally keep an eye on her.
Mu Qingchen said nothing, his aura cold and intimidating.
Zhou Tong shrank his neck, used a book to cover his face, and whispered to Gu Jiao, "What"s wrong with Young Master Qingchen? Is he upset?"
Gu Jiao thought, with a voice like yours, half the cla.s.sroom can hear you, so what"s the point of hiding behind a book?
"Ask him yourself." Gu Jiao said.
Zhou Tong pouted; he didn"t dare ask.
Changing the subject, Zhou Tong asked, "Hey, Liulang, did you meet the Emperor when you entered the imperial palace yesterday? Was spending ten thousand taels worth it?"
"What ten thousand taels?" Gu Jiao"s attention was always on money.
Zhou Tong replied, "It"s been rumored outside that the second-place prize was ten thousand taels, even the servants at our academy are saying so."
Gu Jiao took out a book from her bag and corrected, "It’s one thousand taels."
If it were ten thousand taels, Mu Chuan would have been buried alive by her long ago.
Actually, she still very much wanted to bury Mu Chuan alive now.
Forget it, considering she used this opportunity to kill Nangong Li, she would bury him later.
The Emperor’s birthday banquet was scheduled for the tenth day of the sixth month, and invitations had been sent to officials of the fourth rank and above as well as the n.o.ble families of Shengdu.
And just the day before the banquet, Gu Jiao heard a piece of news she had been waiting for.
The Imperial Advisor had returned to Shengdu.Raz P."s Thoughts
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Description:
In the suspenseful supernatural novel “Records of Mortals,” Jiang Baiyan, once a solitary and impoverished youth, finds refuge in the Shi family of Chang’an due to his extraordinary bloodline. With his clear and captivating peach blossom eyes, this seemingly innocent young man conceals a fanatical and malevolent lunatic within. Destined to succ.u.mb to darkness amidst hardship and degradation, he becomes a harbinger of chaos.
When Shi Dai suddenly transmigrates, she takes on the role of the Shi family’s young lady, the one who subjects him to countless trials, eventually leading to her demise.
The twist? She never got to finish reading the novel.
From what she knew of the plot, Jiang Baiyan was just a silent, timid, and often bullied pitiable character.
***
Jiang Baiyan had never encountered someone like Shi Dai.
After he had slaughtered all the evil creatures in the garden, the blood-stained young man, exuding a murderous aura, approached her step by step, his lips curling into a malicious smile, "Scared?"
Shi Dai responded, “You’re really amazing! I applaud you until I spin like a spiral and fly around the moon three hundred times! And also——you have dimples when you smile!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
After seeing her at a lantern festival with another man, Jiang Baiyan lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling her hair. He said in a mocking and sinister tone, "The mansion in the western suburbs...if I hide you there, no one will find you, right?"
Shi Dai replied, "Does it come with meals and lodging? Can I sleep in everyday? Oh, and your cooking is the best!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
Jiang Baiyan was supposed to dislike her, even hate her, but as their separation drew near, his eyes turned red and he grabbed her sleeve, pleading, "Don"t abandon me, alri—”
Shi Dai responded, "Alright, alright, I’ll only have you. Mwah."
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
He hasn"t finished his lines yet though…