"......"
Several guards carried out eight stretchers covered with white cloths, neatly arranging them in the hall. Just as they were about to withdraw to the back hall, Jing Yi waved his hand to stop them.
"Given that the Imperial Concubine's corpse examination report is sufficiently detailed, and the supervising officials still have official duties to attend to... Time is pressing, so we'll handle this special situation with special measures. We won't conduct the corpse examination in court... Take them away."
The guards' faces darkened in unison. They turned to look at Xiao Jin Yu, and only when they saw him appearing completely detached did they grit their teeth and carry the corpses back the same way they had brought them in.
Jing Yi turned to Wu Jiang, "You'll need to polish this section yourself..."
"......"
Jing Yi then picked up the gavel and slammed it down with a "bang." "Bring in the living ones!"
Xiao Jin Yu simply closed his eyes.
Two guards brought Mother Li and her son before the court. One guard was detained by Jing Yi, "You wait here for a moment... Lord Gongsun, come, come, give him your rod... Not the one below, the one in your hand."
Gongsun Yan instinctively clamped his legs together, his forehead darkening as he handed over the rod in his hand.
"You stand there in Lord Gongsun's place... Lord Gongsun, come, come, kneel with this mother and son... Yes, yes..."
Under Jing Yi's harmless smile, Gongsun Yan found himself kneeling as if bewitched. Only when his knees hit the ground did he come to his senses, "Lord Jing..."
Jing Yi made a silencing gesture, pointing at Wu Jiang who was buried in writing, "General Wu is working hard on his writing, let's all speak less... I'll first explain the truth of this case, and I'll give you time to make excuses later..."
"......"
Another slam of the gavel.
"Lord Gongsun, take off your clothes."
Gongsun Yan was stunned, "Lord Jing..."
"Take it easy, just the upper part will do. The Imperial Concubine is watching."
Gongsun Yan remained frozen, "Lord Jing..."
Jing Yi smiled good-naturedly, "Lord Gongsun, no need to be nervous... Having you take off your clothes is just a formality, we're just taking a casual look."
Gongsun Yan's expression relaxed slightly.
"After all, I was on the roof beam when you were bathing last night. Everything that should and shouldn't be seen has already been seen."
Gongsun Yan's face instantly turned pale.
Jing Yi curled his lips, "Lord Gongsun, your body is fair and clean without excess fat. It's just that black mole the size of a coin on your lower back - nothing to be ashamed of..."
Wu Jiang's wrist stiffened, and he suddenly looked up at Gongsun Yan.
Chu Chu also widened her eyes. A black mole on the waist... Wasn't this the same as Li Rusheng?
"Lord Jing..." Gongsun Yan opened his mouth, but was cut off by Jing Yi's waving hand, "Quiet, quiet... I haven't finished yet. Think carefully first, save it for your excuses later... That black mole may seem like Lord Gongsun's personal matter, unrelated to others, but in reality, all the victims who died in the Imperial Examination Hall are somewhat connected to this black mole...""Let's start from the nearest and move outward... The most recent victim in this case, Cloud-Marquis General Wang Xiaohua, was confirmed through examination to have died from arsenic poisoning. The arsenic was administered in a bowl of sobering soup. Where did that bowl of sobering soup come from? It was brought to his room by Xinghua, the water-boiling maid in the Imperial Examination Hall kitchen, who happens to be the second-to-last victim in this case... How did Xinghua die? She was violated to death by Wang Xiaohua. Why would Wang Xiaohua assault a thirteen-year-old girl? Because he was drunk... So what's the connection between these two deaths and the black mole?"
Jing Yi narrowed his fox-like eyes at Gongsun Yan below the hall. "Because according to Prince An's investigation, Xinghua was purchased by a person with a black mole on their body when she was selling herself to bury her mother. This person exploited their position to send her to the Imperial Examination Hall for meals. That night, Xinghua was awakened from bed by this person to deliver sobering soup to the drunken and irritable Wang Xiaohua. The arsenic was administered by this very person. They chose Xinghua for this task precisely because she couldn't speak, was illiterate, and held deep gratitude and obedience toward them... Originally, only Wang Xiaohua was supposed to die, but he happened to become sexually violent while drunk and ended up violating the frail Xinghua to death. After the deed, he panicked and wanted to swallow something to calm his nerves..."
Gongsun Yan, who had been about to swallow his saliva, found it stuck in his throat—neither able to swallow nor spit it out.
Jing Yi smiled as gently as flowing water. "So Wang Xiaohua grabbed the readily available sobering soup and drank it, immediately fulfilling the intentions of that person with the black mole... Isn't that right, Lord Gongsun?"
☆、106 Crystal Sugar Pork Knuckle (Twenty)
Gongsun Yan remained silent with saliva in his mouth.
Jing Yi nodded with satisfaction. "Since there are no objections, I'll continue... Moving further back, the next death was Granny Qin, a water carrier in the Imperial Examination Hall. She saw a male corpse with a black mole on its waist and believed it to be her son whom she hadn't seen for thirty years, dying of grief... Of course, this black mole isn't the same as that black mole, but this black mole died because of that black mole."
Xiao Jin Yu couldn't bear it any longer and let out two dry coughs.
"Ahem..." Jing Yi immediately straightened his posture. "According to Prince An's tireless day-and-night review of case files and investigations, Li Rusheng is actually from Yangzhou..."
Xiao Jin Yu faintly felt a vein throbbing on his forehead.
"And Granny Qin is from Tanzhou. So who's lying..." Before the mother and son below could speak, Jing Yi continued smoothly, "This question isn't important. What matters is that regardless of whether Li Rusheng is Granny Qin's son, his purpose for entering the Imperial Examination Hall this time, besides taking the exam, was to pretend to be a grandson... no, pretend to be a son, to pretend to be the Qin Family's son."
Jing Yi once again smiled gently at Gongsun Yan. "It just so happened that he grew such a mole, and it just so happened that someone saw it... Isn't that right, Lord Gongsun?"
Gongsun Yan looked down at the ground. "This official doesn't know..."
Jing Yi narrowed his eyes. "Hmm... Next time you lie, remember to look into the other person's eyes."
Gongsun Yan looked up into Jing Yi's fox-like eyes. "Every word this official speaks is true."
Jing Yi raised the corner of his mouth. "Using it so quickly already?"
"..."
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