The next day, early morning.
Zhong Li sat at the round table eating breakfast, with Lu Wuxie, who had woken up long before her, sitting opposite.
“Li’er, eat this,” Lu Wuxie placed a braised duck leg on the small plate opposite her.
“Too greasy!”
Lu Wuxie was startled, then picked up a small pastry and placed it on her plate. “How about this? It has a strong floral scent.”
“Too sweet,” Zhong Li retorted again.
Lu Wuxie thought for a moment and placed a piece of steamed fish on the plate.
“Too fishy!” Zhong Li replied coldly without even looking.
…
After a long while, Lu Wuxie sighed, looking at the over a dozen dishes that had been rejected, “Li’er, if I told you I went to a pleasure house yesterday but did nothing, would you believe me?”
Zhong Li remained silent, still eating the sweet dumplings in front of her.
Lu Wuxie pursed his lips and recounted everything that had happened at the yamen.
“So the young lord is quite willing to visit this Xiangsi Courtyard?” Zhong Li raised an eyebrow.
Lu Wuxie was taken aback. He realized that before meeting Zhong Li, he had played around and been insincere. Others were merely pawns in his games. After meeting Zhong Li, he found himself unable to control his feelings and cared increasingly about her moods:
“Dong Qing intended to ensnare me.”
He sighed and truthfully said, “But Li’er, you have been with me for half a year. You should know what kind of person I am. I stayed any longer simply because she had a case to discuss with me.”
“A case?” Zhong Li finally showed some interest.
Lu Wuxie sighed inwardly. Did he mean that in her heart, he was not even as important as a missing person case?
“Zhu Yin, a close friend of Liu Xiang’er, went missing a year ago. She asked me to look for her,” Lu Wuxie said, pouring out everything Liu Xiang’er had told him.
When Zhong Li heard that the body in the Yi Zhuang was missing its head, hands, and feet, her mind instinctively turned to Qi Shuishui’s body from yesterday. Could it be…
“I already had Lin Jin investigate Zhu Yin’s matter yesterday. As for whether Qi Shuishui’s case is consistent with the body in the Yi Zhuang, we’ll have to wait for someone to deliver it,” Lu Wuxie said.
Zhong Li understood his implication. A body was discovered in the southern suburbs yesterday, and a female corpse with the same cause of death from a year ago was still in the Yi Zhuang. In short, there was an unresolved case in Yongcheng that Dong Qing had been suppressing.
Now that Lu Wuxie was in Yongcheng, and a similar case had occurred yesterday, the truth would eventually come out. Lu Wuxie would find out sooner or later. If Dong Qing still intended to delay, discovery would certainly lead to accountability. The best course of action was for Dong Qing to proactively seek Lu Wuxie’s help to solve the case.
Knock, knock, knock.
Just as Zhong Li’s thoughts crossed her mind, a clear knock sounded.
They exchanged glances. Before Lu Wuxie could reply, a voice was heard from outside: “Young Lord, are you still resting? Your subordinate Dong Qing requests an audience.”
Speak of the devil.
Yongcheng, Yamen.
Zhong Li sat beside Lu Wuxie, looking at Dong Qing, who sat opposite with a welcoming smile.
“I didn’t expect Zhong Siping to come to Yongcheng as well!” Dong Qing said to Zhong Li with a smile.
Zhong Li ignored him and picked up an autopsy report to examine.
Dong Qing did not seem awkward, as he had heard that the new female Siping of Dali Temple had a detached personality. Thus, he continued to flatter her, saying, “I heard a few days ago that Zhong Siping went to Jinzhou to handle a case, which was expected to take half a month to complete. You only took three days, which impressed me and everyone in the yamen greatly.”
Zhong Li sighed. Her mind was entirely on the autopsy report in her hands. She found the chatter of others rather irritating.
Dong Qing was stunned and didn’t know what to do.
“I heard that the body in the Yi Zhuang was also missing its head, hands, and feet, and died so gruesomely. Why is this report written so simply? It says death due to excessive bleeding, but where is the fatal wound? Which artery was severed to cause such bleeding? Does the deceased have any chronic illnesses? What are their identifying features, and why are none of these written?” Zhong Li asked.
When Dong Qing saw Zhong Li speak, he initially felt his words had finally been acknowledged, but he never expected her to question him about the autopsy report.
He took the autopsy report she handed him and, looking at the results, stammered for a long time without providing a coherent answer.
Lu Wuxie, seeing the flustered Dong Qing, felt his irritation at Zhong Li’s indifference vanish for some reason. He chuckled, “If Lord Dong does not know, why not find the coroner from last year to confront him?”
“Your Lordship is unaware!” Dong Qing’s face fell upon hearing this. “The coroner from last year returned to his hometown and quit his job this year.”
“Quit his job?” Zhong Li was surprised.
“Yes!” Dong Qing nodded. “Zhong Siping holds an official position and, furthermore, was granted a golden saber by the Emperor, so your salary is certainly not small. But it’s different for local coroners. Not only is the salary meager, but they also have to endure the disdainful glances of others. This month… the yamen’s coroner left last month, saying he was going home to slaughter pigs!”
Hearing this, Zhong Li sighed. In ancient times, coroners were usually butchers, ruffians, or hooligans, people looked down upon. During the late Emperor’s reign, this profession was not valued. Now, Emperor Jing promoted cruel officials, believing that cases could be solved with torture devices and chili water. How many people truly sought the truth?
“I heard that the body is still in the Yi Zhuang, is that true?” Zhong Li asked.
“Yes, but…” Dong Qing scratched his head, looking apologetic. “The old man at the Yi Zhuang did not preserve it well. The body is almost a pile of white bones.”
Zhong Li looked at Dong Qing, a sense of helplessness crossing her mind, though she had expected this.
“In that case, is the female corpse that was recovered yesterday still here?” she asked again.
“Yes!” Dong Qing nodded.
“Good, then I’ll go take a look!” Zhong Li said, standing up to head to the morgue in the backyard.
Dong Qing quickly rose and called out to stop Zhong Li, “Zhong Siping, that body is not in the morgue.”
Zhong Li frowned, somewhat confused. Usually, bodies from unresolved cases in the yamen were kept in the morgue, weren’t they?
Dong Qing forced an awkward smile. “Because of the Yue family case, the Yue family was confiscated, and the morgue is temporarily storing seized tea leaves.”
After speaking, he looked at Lu Wuxie, who was not far away, fearing that Lu Wuxie would hold him accountable for this, as the Meng family had already taken over the Yue family’s affairs. In this case, he was essentially misappropriating a government room for commercial use.
As expected, Lu Wuxie’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Dong Qing’s legs trembled, and he quickly added, “That body is now in the Yi Zhuang. I have already dispatched bailiffs to watch over it carefully and instructed the old man Hao at the Yi Zhuang to preserve it well. The weather has not warmed up in the past few days, so the body should still be well-preserved.”
After speaking, he lowered his head in shame and remained silent.
Lu Wuxie slowly stood up from his chair, glanced at Dong Qing, a subtle, unreadable expression in his eyes, and said to Zhong Li, “Li’er, let’s go to the Yi Zhuang.”
Zhong Li did not speak, merely nodded and walked out of the back hall.
Dong Qing, hearing their footsteps fade away, called out to a bailiff, “What are you standing around for? Go prepare the carriage!”