Zhong Li's brow furrowed slightly, her gaze fixed on Ma Su. It seemed Qiu Ping's words about Jia Fu and Xie Xiaoyun were not mere rumors.
"Although I, Ma Su, am not as skilled as those who flaunt their learning and feign elegance to please women..." Ma Su chuckled inwardly, puffing out his chest. "But this body of mine, it's not for show. Xie Xiaoyun, under this old man, was incredibly satisfied. Do you think Jia Kun could give her what they call a woman's pleasure?"
"After that, you began targeting Xie Xiaoyun, making Jia Kun obedient to your every word?" Zhong Li ignored the lecherous smile on Ma Su's face and asked the crucial point of the entire case.
"Yes, Jia Kun would have loved to put Xie Xiaoyun on a pedestal. Xie Xiaoyun only needed to whisper in his ear, and what else could Jia Kun possibly suspect?" Ma Su picked up Zhong Li's words. "However..."
He paused, then changed his tune. "Xie Xiaoyun truly had no brains. She probably thought until her death... that this old man would have feelings for such a cheap woman. I remember the day before she died, she was still planning with me to be together after Jia Kun died. Truly foolish!"
Zhong Li gave Ma Su a deep look. Seeing the mocking expression still on his face, she shook her head. "Then the death of the Jia family's old madam..."
Before she could finish, Ma Su, down in the hall, became agitated. He pointed a finger at Butler Wang and exclaimed, "Although I took Jia family's money and slept with Jia Kun's woman, I never intended to take that old woman's life. It was him, he instigated me, telling me to whisper in Xie Xiaoyun's ear, and that's how that old woman was killed."
"Ma Su!" Butler Wang, whose already agitated expression turned somewhat ferocious upon hearing this, stepped forward a few paces and roared, "If it weren't for your affair with Xie Xiaoyun being discovered by the old madam, would I have let you kill the old madam? Wasn't I doing this for your own good?"
"For my own good? You old reprobate, if I had known at the time..."
*Slap! Slap!*
"Silence!" Seeing the two arguing more and more fiercely, about to tear into each other, Magistrate Zhang brought down his gavel twice with force.
At the same time, the two reacted, stepping back a few paces, their eyes still filled with animosity towards each other.
From their argument, Zhong Li had a general understanding of the entire case.
She walked to the front of the hall and said to the two, "So, Jia Kun killing Xie Xiaoyun was also your design, wasn't it?"
"No, no..." Butler Wang reacted extremely quickly, waving his hands. The iron shackles tied to his arms made crisp metallic clinks with his movements. "Miss Zhong, please don't misunderstand this. It is true that Master killed Mistress, and after his suicide, there was no one in charge of the Jia family. I, driven by greed, sold off all the household items. However, instigating murder is a serious matter. Miss Zhong cannot make baseless accusations!"
"That's right!" At this moment, Ma Su, like grass on a bridge, sided with Butler Wang again. He nodded with all his might in agreement.
Zhong Li looked at the two who were singing the same tune and sneered.
"Why does Butler Wang think I wouldn't have evidence?"
Butler Wang was taken aback, his eyes involuntarily meeting Ma Su's.
"Do you know? When Xie Xiaoyun died, she was pregnant. Four months pregnant, at that."
As Zhong Li uttered this sentence, there was initially dead silence around them. The next moment, the surrounding crowd of onlookers erupted.
She swept her gaze over the incredulous faces, finally landing on Ma Su and Butler Wang.
Although they had concealed it extremely well, she quickly caught the fleeting flicker of emptiness in their eyes.
"So, Butler Wang, Ma Su, you two still say you had no premeditation?" Zhong Li asked.
Butler Wang, who had been through so many business dealings, hearing this, his eyes, sunken in their sockets, rolled three times. He said, "Miss Zhong, you're not trying to trick us, are you? When Master killed Mistress, there were witnesses and physical evidence. Moreover, Mistress's body was examined by the yamen's forensic doctors. Miss Zhong is not part of the yamen, but merely a corpse restorer. Could it be you heartlessly cut open the body again to check? If Miss Zhong truly did that, how can the people of our entire Anding County entrust the remains of their loved ones to Miss Zhong's care?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the hushed whispers around them grew louder, undoubtedly discussing Zhong Li's disrespect for the deceased and her dissection of bodies behind the government's back. It was known that in this era, the integrity of a person's remains was considered more important than life itself.
Zhong Li cast a stern glance at Butler Wang and said with a taunt, "Butler Wang is indeed an amateur. Have you ever heard of post-mortem delivery?"
"Post-mortem delivery?" Butler Wang was stunned.
Zhong Li explained, "After death, the body begins to decompose. A large amount of gas in the abdominal cavity will press on the pelvic floor, causing the pelvis to separate. The dead fetus inside the abdomen will then be pushed out, which is what is called post-mortem delivery."
"Furthermore..." she paused. "Xie Xiaoyun's body was not preserved properly after death, and coupled with the surrounding environment being hot and humid, the probability of this phenomenon occurring is even higher. Currently, it appears Xie Xiaoyun was about four months pregnant."
"This..." Butler Wang was momentarily unable to respond to Zhong Li's retort.
Finally, Ma Su, who had been standing aside, regained his senses and argued, "Fine, even if Xie Xiaoyun was four months pregnant before she died, so what? What evidence does Miss Zhong have to prove that child was mine?"
Zhong Li turned back, her eyes meeting Ma Su's. Ma Su puffed out his chest, adopting an air of righteousness, as if to say, the child is already stillborn, you want a blood relation test? Dream on!
Zhong Li's lips curved into a smile, and her rosy lips slowly parted. She said, "Yes! The child is dead, but the body remains. We can... perform a bone blood test!"
"Bone blood test?"
"What is this?"
"Yes, how have we never heard of it?"
As Zhong Li's words fell, the surroundings became noisy once more.
"The principle of bone blood testing is actually the same as blood blood testing," Zhong Li began to explain. "The only difference is that in blood blood testing, blood is dripped into a bowl of water. In bone blood testing, the living person's blood is dripped onto the dead person's bone marrow. If they merge, it can also determine the relationship between the deceased and the living."
"Hmph!" Ma Su snorted coldly through his nose upon hearing this. "We have never heard of this so-called bone blood test. How can Miss Zhong convince us?"
"This Prince has heard of it." As soon as his words fell, Lu Wuxie's voice echoed through the hall. At the same time, everyone's attention was focused on him. He seemed somewhat weary from sitting and stretched lazily, then slowly stood up and walked to Ma Su's side. "Your ignorance only means you are ill-informed, not that others are spouting nonsense."
Ma Su's expression was a little stiff. "The Dali Temple previously encountered a similar case, and it was thanks to the current Dali Temple Minister, Lord Lan, using what璃儿 described as bone blood testing to find the true killer. Otherwise, if the Sage were to hold anyone accountable, not only the Dali Temple but also the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary would be implicated. Of course, because of this, bone blood testing has been included in the Dali Temple's 'Case Solving Notes' as a new method of solving cases. Am I right, 璃儿?"
As Lu Wuxie spoke, his eyes inadvertently glanced at Zhong Li beside him.
Zhong Li blinked her eyes, her lips curling slightly, and a fragrance like that of an orchid filled the hall. "This Prince's understanding is indeed profound. If that is the case, then I request this Prince to accompany me to the autopsy room to retrieve the child's bones."