"My Lord, you really know how to joke."
Lord Li looked at the Prefect, smiling without saying a word.
The invisible pressure from the other party made the Prefect shiver all over, almost breaking his composure.
Seeing that the other party was deterred, Lord Li did not press further, otherwise the desperate Prefect might do something reckless, which would not be worth it.
"Where is the coroner's corpse now?"
"My Lord, it is in the morgue of the prefectural government."
"Let's go, lead the way ahead."
"Yes, My Lord."
In the morgue.
Everyone used their personal handkerchiefs to cover their noses, but in the summer heat, despite the ice cubes placed inside, the smell coming from the morgue still made people nauseous.
"My Lord, this is the coroner's corpse," said the yamen runner in charge of the morgue.
"Uncover it."
"Yes, My Lord."
The yamen runner uncovered the white cloth covering the coroner's corpse.
Caught off guard, most of the few standing people took one look and ran outside to vomit after seeing it.
Leaving only Lord Li, Gong Xiaohua and three yamen runners.
Lord Li stepped forward, took a pair of homemade gloves from the yamen runner, and walked to the coroner's side without changing his face. He started checking it from head to toe.
"Xiaohua, bring a lantern."
"Yes."
Gong Xiaohua took an oil lamp from the side to illuminate for Lord Li.
"Judging from the appearance of the corpse, there are no fatal injuries. Could he really have drowned?"
"My Lord, may this humble one examine it?" Gong Xiaohua who was standing aside said.
"Oh? Did you notice anything wrong?"
"Replying to My Lord, I suspect he was suffocated by someone covering his breathing first, and then thrown into the river to make it look like an accidental drowning."
"What makes you say that?"
"My Lord, please look. Generally, people who drown will inhale water through their mouth and nostrils while struggling to breathe, so after death, there will be different degrees of water accumulation in their abdomen and lungs, with obvious bloating of the belly and swelling of the skin."
"Whereas for a body placed in water after death, since the dead person does not breathe and the body is in a closed state, water will only remain in the mouth, throat and nostrils, and will not enter the interior of the body."
"And My Lord coroner, no matter the skin or abdomen, has no signs of swelling at all. I guess he was put in the water after death. Of course, this does not rule out the possibility that the coroner suddenly lost consciousness, fell into the water and drowned."
"My Lord, to definitively determine whether the coroner drowned before death or drowned after death, I need to cut open his throat to take a look. I ask My Lord to permit me to do so."
"Cut? Cut open the throat?" Lord Li asked hesitantly.
"Yes, My Lord."
"This...okay."
Lord Li finally gritted his teeth and agreed. Although it would seem disrespectful to the dead in the eyes of the world, it was also to find the real murderer and give the dead a clear name, so why not.
Gong Xiaohua put down the oil lamp in her hand, took out a short knife from her body, and made an accurate cut to open the dead man's throat.
Discovering that the throat contained no foreign objects such as mud or sand, it was exceptionally clean.
"My Lord, please look. Drowning victims will swallow mud and sand, some of which will remain in the throat, while My Lord coroner has no foreign objects in his throat."
"In summary of the above two points, I affirm that My Lord coroner was thrown into the water after death, constituting murder."
"Hmm, Xiaohua is right, after death, the mouth is indeed closed tightly. Even if mud and sand can enter the mouth through the nostrils, without swallowing, it is impossible to reach the throat. By cutting open the throat and looking inside, it can indeed determine whether the deceased was murdered or died accidentally."
"Xiaohua, every time you manage to make this lord look at you with new eyes. I am very curious what you do every day?"
"Replying to My Lord, I just have amateur hobbies, maybe just a little wider than ordinary people."
Lord Li looked at Gong Xiaohua and let it go. Everyone has their own unspeakable little secrets.
The two of them left the morgue. The Prefect came up and said, "My Lord."
"It's getting late, that's it for today. Go back, everyone, and interrogate Zhou Shouren tomorrow."
"Yes."
Everyone dispersed one by one.
At night, in the prefectural government's study.
The Prefect paced anxiously in the room, back and forth. During the day, every question from the imperial envoy's question was meaningful, which made him very uneasy.
"This damned Zhou Shouren actually kept an account book, leaving such a big handle in his hands. How stupid."
"My Lord, do you think this account book recorded the accounts with Nanlong Prefecture?"
"It is very likely. After all, most of the tax revenue from Shuangyu County was sent to the capital under the name of repairing dams. Whether it is recorded or not, we must get this account book back and destroy it."
"But the imperial envoy has heavily armed guards by his side, and a mysterious master beside him. It would be difficult to make a move."
"Has there been any latest news from the Wuji Sect?"
"My Lord, no. The Wuji Sect suffered heavy losses this time and did not dare to act rashly again."
"Who is so powerful by the imperial envoy's side? Even the second ranked killer in the jianghu was defeated by him."
"I heard that it was a young girl. It should be the guard who followed the imperial envoy all day today."
"It's her? It's really unbelievable. Such a young and beautiful little girl is actually so powerful."
"Go contact the Wuji Sect again. No matter how much money it costs, they must resolve the imperial envoy before he finds out the truth, otherwise none of us will survive."
"Yes, My Lord."
"Zhou Shouren can't be kept any longer either. We must find a way to eliminate him tonight, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."
"Your subordinate will go arrange it now."
On a dark and windy night suitable for killing and arson.
In the dungeons, Zhou Shouren was imprisoned again in the depths of the dungeons.
A prison guard woke up from his sleep and walked quietly towards the depths of the dungeons under the pretext of patrol.
Opening the cell, he took out a rope from his body and strangled the neck of the sleeping man from above, and pulled hard.
The man in his dreams was shocked awake and wanted to shout loudly, but it was futile.
The pain in his neck and the suffocating feeling of being unable to breathe caused him to stare wide-eyed as he struggled violently with all four limbs.
Just as he thought he was about to die, suddenly, it became as bright as daylight outside the cell.
The person strangling his neck was quickly stopped, but unfortunately he had bitten and committed suicide with poison in his mouth.
Zhou Shouren saw Lord Li walk in from outside the cell.
"This criminal pays respect to My Lord Envoy."
"Hmm, Zhou Zhizhi, you've seen it. Even your accomplices have given up on you and are anxious to kill you to keep you silent. If you still have a shred of conscience left, do something good for the people of Shuangyu before you die."
Zhou Shouren fell silent. He had been an official for decades. When had he ever wanted to achieve something, it's just that sometimes one is helpless on the official road. One misstep leads to another, leading him on an irredeemable path that extinguished his humanity.
"My Lord, I am willing to confess everything I know."
