Niu Ling was stunned when asked, and then her body trembled like a sieve, her pupils constricting rapidly from fear.
Zhong Li did not press further as she had before, but crouched beside her and said, "If you want your child to escape the evil spirits, then speak!"
Niu Ling was struck by her words and stared at her blankly for a long time before saying, "I don't know, I really don't know. I only remember that three days ago, Youyou was bullied by Kang Ji again. I hid in the house, afraid to come out. When Youyou's crying stopped, Kang Ji called me into the woodshed. Afterwards... I saw the breathless Youyou lying naked on the ground."
Upon hearing "naked"!
Zhong Li closed her eyes, suppressing her anger.
"What happened then?"
"Later... Later, Kang Ji asked me to dispose of the body. I thought Youyou was pitiful, so I put clothes on her. Under the cover of darkness, I took her to the village entrance and threw her into the dry well," Niu Ling replied truthfully.
"Do you know what Kang Ji used to kill Youyou?" Zhong Li asked.
She really couldn't imagine what could have caused such a severe wound to Youyou's head.
Niu Ling shook her head, "When I was dealing with Youyou's body, I didn't see the murder weapon. It should be Kang Ji who..."
"Ah! Big brother, big brother, I was wrong, I was wrong. I beg you to spare me, spare me!"
"Me too, me too. I'll never dare to act presumptuously again."
...
Niu Ling had only spoken halfway when cries and pleas for mercy came from outside the woodshed.
Hearing this, Zhong Li knew Lu Wuxie should be finished. She checked Niu Ling's condition and confirmed she was fine, then stood up and walked out of the woodshed.
Outside the woodshed, the large courtyard was already in disarray. Besides one person who had been knocked unconscious in the outhouse, covered in excrement and urine, the remaining two were kneeling on the ground, beaten black and blue, kowtowing incessantly to Lu Wuxie.
Zhong Li recognized one of them; it was Kang Ji.
"Husband." She walked to Lu Wuxie's side, not forgetting the false identities they had assumed in the small fishing village.
Lu Wuxie gave her a gentle look, his gaze sweeping over the woodshed. Although she hadn't explained anything, based on his years of experience in the Judicial Inspection Office, he already understood.
"Do you need help?" he asked.
Zhong Li didn't answer immediately but walked up to Kang Ji and asked, "I ask you, where did you hide the murder weapon you used to kill Youyou?"
Kang Ji glared at her with swollen red eyes and said, "I don't know!"
Zhong Li frowned. She had no patience for this beast in front of her. "You won't say?"
"Hmph!" Kang Ji snorted coldly and said, "I don't believe you still intend to beat a confession out of me... Mmm... Ah..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Wuxie grabbed Kang Ji by the collar and walked towards the outhouse not far away. "Beating a confession out of someone isn't impossible. The Judicial Inspection Office has many tricks."
Zhong Li turned to look at the closed door of the dry toilet, listening to the pig-like screams from within. She knew it would take some time to get someone like Kang Ji to tell the truth. If he truly remained stubborn, finding evidence to prove he killed Youyou would still depend on her.
With that thought, she bypassed another small ruffian who had charged into the backyard with Kang Ji, blocking her path, and quickly walked into the house.
According to Niu Ling, Kang Ji's murder of Youyou was likely unplanned. Therefore, the murder weapon would be a common, everyday object. Her task was to find out which common object was missing from the entire house.
This sounded simple but was very difficult to find.
Zhong Li went from the living room to the two bedrooms and then to every corner of the courtyard. No matter how carefully she searched, she couldn't find anything amiss until she reached the kitchen. She opened the cabinet and looked at the items inside, feeling that something was missing but unable to pinpoint it.
"There are bowls, spoons, chopsticks, seasoning jars, knives, a cutting board, a rolling pin, a fire poker... What is missing?" Zhong Li checked again and again, but she just couldn't recall what the missing item was.
Until her fingertips landed on a seasoning jar again, she looked at a small empty space next to the porcelain jar, and a kitchen utensil flashed through her mind.
It was the garlic pounder, the garlic pounder was missing!
She slapped her forehead, and Youyou's injuries to her lower body resurfaced. She had been very puzzled before; even if Youyou had been harmed, there shouldn't have been such severe injuries there, as if some exceptionally hard foreign object had been forcibly inserted. Now she understood.
In ancient times, some garlic pounders were made of wood, but most regions used stone. If Kang Ji's family happened to use a stone one, combined with the injuries on Youyou's head, wouldn't that mean the garlic mortar was used to smash her head?
However, with the garlic pounder now missing, Kang Ji was the only breakthrough.
"Mmm... Please, I was wrong, don't hit me, I'll talk, I'll say it, mmm..."
As Zhong Li walked out of the kitchen, she heard Kang Ji's pleas for mercy again from the backyard.
She was very surprised, wondering what method Lu Wuxie had used to make him confess in less than half an hour.
With that thought, she quickly walked to the backyard. Upon seeing the scene before her, she couldn't help but feel nauseated, contemplating that she would probably confess too.
She saw a man covered in foul-smelling filth sitting on Kang Ji, holding a stone stained with golden juice, trying to stuff it into his mouth. Several teeth lay on the ground around them; it was clear they had been knocked out.
As for Lu Wuxie, he had found a grand tutor's chair from somewhere and was lazily sitting in the courtyard, basking in the sun. From time to time, he would say, "Remember, once he confesses, you can leave. Otherwise... I'll throw you back into the dry toilet."
This was the time Zhong Li admired Lu Wuxie the most. Without lifting a finger himself, he had subdued these people completely. No wonder the Emperor had made him the Judicial Inspector of the Judicial Inspection Office.
"I confess, I confess, stop hitting me, don't stuff things into my mouth anymore." Kang Ji, looking disgusted, rolled his eyes and begged repeatedly.
Lu Wuxie gave the man who was sitting on Kang Ji a look.
The man got off him, and Kang Ji quickly got up and rushed into the woodshed. In a short while, the garlic mortar and pounder that should have been in the kitchen appeared in his hands.
Zhong Li did not take them; the items were too disgusting. However, looking at the faint bloodstains at the bottom of the garlic mortar, she knew Kang Ji had confessed his guilt.