Yu Mingyue paid the silver with a heavy heart, but who was she to lack money?
She booked two upper rooms and asked the waiter to bring the food and wine to the rooms.
For the next two days of travel, Song Yuming and Du Rui tacitly followed Yu Mingyue, freeloading and enjoying free meals. This was truly the most comfortable business trip ever, and they had definitely followed the right person.
If there were such good assignments in the future, they would still be willing to follow their superior.
Besides traveling, Yu Mingyue spent the entire journey discussing the murder case they were investigating with the two of them.
The husband had died from poisoning. The wife was pregnant, and according to the neighbors, the couple was very harmonious. The wife had no motive, yet the mother-in-law insisted that the daughter-in-law had killed her son.
The wife was apprehended outside the city by county officials, but this alone did not prove she was fleeing from justice.
"If the wife didn't kill her husband, why was she coincidentally leaving the city at this time, and why didn't she explain why she was outside the city?" Du Rui asked.
"Perhaps there's another reason," Song Yuming said, then pointed to the record. "Look here, a neighbor said that Madam Li often went out of the city to burn incense because there was a temple dedicated to a grandmother outside the city, which was very popular."
"If that's the case, then why didn't she explain? Burning incense and making vows is not something shameful," Du Rui still felt Madam Li was highly suspicious.
"So, the key to the case is still Madam Li. We need to find a way to make her speak," Yu Mingyue frowned.
The mother-in-law was relentlessly demanding that Madam Li pay with her life to avenge her son. The county magistrate felt that Madam Li was heavily pregnant and looked very frail. She did not defend herself and did not seem like a murderer. The evidence was insufficient, and there were still doubts, so the case was sent to the Dali Temple.
Yu Mingyue arrived in Rong County and, without even a moment to rest, went to the county yamen's prison with her warrant.
The weather in early April was already a bit hot. Madam Li leaned against the wall, looking extremely weak. She was still wearing thick clothes, and her belly was already quite large. The child would likely be born in a month or two.
"Are you Madam Li?" Yu Mingyue asked.
Madam Li's gaze was dim. She lowered her head and nodded gently, not speaking.
"I am here to save you." Yu Mingyue was almost certain the moment she saw Madam Li that she was not the murderer.
From the moment she entered, her hands had been carefully protecting her belly.
Although she was haggard, her gaze was still soft. She deeply loved the child in her womb and did not want to die.
Madam Li's eyes widened for a moment, then after a long pause, she shook her head, her gaze lowered, still not speaking.
"I know you didn't kill anyone," Yu Mingyue crouched down. "I have a younger brother who is almost two years old. My mother had a very difficult time giving birth to him, but she still insisted on giving birth. The way you look at the child in your belly is very similar to how my mother looked. I believe you wouldn't kill someone because you love him so much, and wouldn't put yourself in danger."
Madam Li placed her hand on her belly. Just like in the records sent from Rong County to the Dali Temple, she remained unresponsive and uncooperative.
"The laws of Great Wei indeed do not sentence pregnant women to death, but rather postpone the execution until six months after the child's birth. However, you probably don't know that a criminal's infant will only be sent to a nursery and cared for by specialists if there are no direct relatives. But your child has a grandmother. Do you think your mother-in-law will treat your child kindly?"
Everyone has a weakness. For a mother, her child is her weakness.
Madam Li finally looked up at her, her eyes showing a hint of panic. "Are... are you telling the truth?"