A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 389 Ending (58)

"The day before yesterday, the master sent me a letter. In it, he instructed me to stay at the Ministry of Justice to mediate and asked me to take good care of Yuan Ke and find a suitable opportunity to send her out of the capital..."

"I never wrote such a letter!"

Guo Xuan, enraged, launched into a tirade: "You ignorant woman, what nonsense are you spouting? Are you trying to kill your whole family?"

Startled by the sudden rebuke and the words "caused the death of the whole family," Madam Guo shuddered and blurted out, "I'm not lying! It was you, it was definitely you..."

"Snapped!"

Guo Xuan's actions were so sudden that before the constables could react, Madam Guo was slapped to the ground!
"Tie him up!"

Mu Qingcheng was displeased, "Taking your anger out on women is a sign of incompetence!"

"Incompetent? You think you're capable just because you rely on the Song family's power to act arrogantly?" Guo Xuan's mentality had collapsed. Even if he could regain a little bit of face, it would give him some peace of mind.

However, this group of Dali Temple constables, personally selected by Lu Xun, secretly used their power to settle personal scores. When they wrapped the thick rope around Guo Xuan's arms which were tied behind his back, they accidentally used too much force and almost broke Guo Xuan's bones!
Guo Xuan was in so much pain that he grimaced and was sweating profusely. He couldn't care less about arguing anymore!

"You're wrong again!" Mu Qingcheng coldly glared at Guo Xuan's ugly behavior, crushing his will with each word. "The reason I can stand here interrogating you is because of the Emperor, the people, and the laws of the Great Zhou! As for my abilities, you'd better hold on and experience them slowly!"

Guo Xuan's shoulders slumped, and he stammered back, "You you you..." but he couldn't muster even the slightest bit of momentum!
Mu Qingcheng looked away. "Madam Guo, please continue!"

Madam Guo stroked her face, her eyes downcast, full of grievances. "That's exactly what Master instructed in the letter, and I just followed his instructions. But actually, I don't know where Yuan Ke is. Master never told me. I thought and thought but couldn't find a solution, so I asked Master's confidant, Guo An. Guo An said he would make arrangements and told me to wait for news. And now, that wait has lasted until today."

"What about the letter?"

"here I am."

Madam Guo took out a letter from her sleeve. After Mu Qingcheng finished reading it, she looked at the presiding judge and asked, "Whose handwriting is this?"

Ji Yue replied with a smile, "It was Lord Lu's plan, and my own doing."

"clever!"

No sooner had Mu Qingcheng finished praising him than Guo Xuan suddenly realized what was happening and screamed hysterically, "It was Ji Yue who imitated my handwriting to write a letter to deceive my wife!"

He had mistakenly thought that Ji Yue was doing him a favor out of friendship as a colleague, allowing him to write to the mistress of the house. He didn't dare to believe it completely, but only reported that he was safe and sound in the letter and implied that Yuan Ke was alright, and did a good job of making a show of handling the funeral.

Who would have thought that Ji Yue was feigning kindness, deliberately deceiving him about the tone, style, and handwriting of the letter! Madam Guo stared wide-eyed in disbelief, muttering, "The letter is fake? It's fake? Then... what about Yuan Ke? How is Yuan Ke?"

However, no one paid any attention to the couple.

Mu Qingcheng's eyes shone brightly, excitement leaping within them. "Lord Ji, is there any progress with this plan?"

Before Ji Yue could reply, Lu Xun interrupted, "Of course there's been progress. You had someone keep an eye on Coroner Chen, and I had someone keep an eye on the Guo residence. The two sides were eager to exchange information and soon met at a teahouse in the suburbs. Guo An believed Coroner Chen's claim that everything went smoothly, and after Coroner Chen left, he went to the farm, dressed Guo Yuanke up as a vegetable-selling peasant woman, and prepared to secretly escape from the capital!"

After understanding the whole story, the coroner was filled with indescribable shock and relief.

In that brief encounter, he was not only seen through by Mu Qingcheng, but was also completely taken advantage of by Mu Qingcheng's scheme!

He was both shocked by Mu Qingcheng's terrifying cunning, wisdom, and insight, and relieved that he had been exposed early and had no chance to do more illegal things, so that he would not be unable to turn back.

Lu Xun slammed his gavel and ordered, "Bring Guo An and Guo Yuanke to court!"

"emperor!"

At the same time, Guo Xuan seized the loophole and promptly reported: "Lu Xun and Ji Yue used trickery to frame people, which is neither the way of gentlemen nor a violation of the law. I request Your Majesty to invalidate the evidence and severely punish them to uphold the justice of the law!"

"Your Majesty, I did not fabricate any charges to frame Guo Xuan. I was merely acting on impulse and conducted a test. If Guo Xuan is upright, I will not have gotten any results." Ji Yue responded calmly and without any sign of panic.

Lu Xun then said, “Officials who set up traps to lure others into breaking the law and then use that as a pretext to investigate and punish them are abusing their power to create ‘evidence,’ which can be deemed invalid. In this case, Guo Xuan violated the imperial edict by smuggling his daughter Guo Yuanke out of the palace, which is a clear crime of deceiving the emperor, and not the fault of your humble servant or Lord Ji in inducing him. Your Majesty, please see the truth!”

The Emperor glanced at Guo Xuan and said, "When you were deceiving the Emperor, why didn't you think of seeking my help?" With that, he waved his hand, "Minister Lu, Minister Ji, continue the interrogation! I want to see just how many more filthy schemes and tricks are hidden here!"

"Your humble servants obey the decree!" Lu Xun and Ji Yue accepted the order.

At this moment, the bailiffs escorted Guo An and Guo Yuanke to the courtroom.

Mu Qingcheng wasn't in a hurry to interrogate the two men, but instead asked Guo Xuan, "Where is the itinerant doctor?"

Guo Xuan lowered his head and remained silent.

Mu Qingcheng sighed, "Do you think there's any point in stubbornly sticking to your guns?"

"The itinerant doctor..." Guo Xuan hesitated for a moment before uttering two words: "Dead."