A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 403 Ending (72)

Guo Xuan was caught off guard and suddenly felt a chill on his forearm. Half of his sleeve, from his inner garment to his outer shirt, had been neatly torn off by Mu Qingcheng!

"Coroner Chen, come and examine the wounds!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing Mu Qingcheng's order, the coroner Chen hurriedly crawled over from the side to examine Guo Xuan's hand. After a short while, he said, "These are linear wounds, multiple parallel or intersecting lines, relatively narrow, with irregular edges, accompanied by peeling of the epidermis and a small amount of bleeding. They are surface scratches caused by fingernails. Judging from the color and extent of the scabs, they are old wounds, probably from three to four days ago."

After speaking, the coroner Chen raised his eyes and secretly glanced at Mu Qingcheng. Seeing that she had no intention of letting him finish, he quickly crawled back to the deceased's side and said, "I, I'll examine the deceased's right hand again."

"Due to years of hard work, the deceased's fingernails showed significant wear and tear, especially the ring finger, which was heavily damaged and exhibited a unique deformity. If necessary, a nail impression can be made to match the shape of Guo Xuan's tiger's mouth injury."

After listening attentively to the investigation results, Mu Qingcheng expressed her approval without reservation, saying, "The professionalism is acceptable; they didn't disgrace the Ministry of Justice."

Qin Songyang choked, his expression almost crumbling.

The coroner raised his sleeve and pressed it against his eyes, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Mu Qingcheng turned to Guo Xuan and asked, "From this, it is clear that Pingping had a physical altercation with you before she died. It is speculated that you gagged her and she resisted, which is why there are scratch marks on your hand. Do you agree with this?"

"I won't admit it!" Guo Xuan said confidently. "Unless you provide irrefutable evidence!"

Mu Qingcheng said calmly, "I know why you are so confident. Making a mold does take time, but don't worry, in order to prevent your scars from healing and disappearing before you can compare them, I can use Pingping to leave a new scratch on the web of your other hand. I believe that this comparison will be clearer and more accurate."

Upon hearing this, everyone present, including Guo Xuan, widened their eyes in disbelief. No matter how much they thought about it, they would never have imagined that Mu Qingcheng would pull off a reverse autopsy!
"Absurd, ridiculous, how could this be done..." Guo Xuan's confidence was noticeably weaker, and he deliberately shifted his gaze away from Pingping.

Mu Qingcheng sighed, "This kind of operation didn't exist before, because most of the injured were victims, and even if there were suspects, they didn't have your expertise and experience in resisting interrogation."

After speaking, she ordered the bailiffs to drag Guo Xuan to the right side of the corpse, and then tore off Guo Xuan's right sleeve in the same way. Under Guo Xuan's terrified gaze, she took his flat, stiff, and cold right hand and reached for his tiger's mouth—

"do not want!"

Guo Xuan suddenly cried out in alarm, and said amidst the violent struggle, "There's no need to examine it. My wounds are indeed from Pingping's scratches, but so what? Does that prove that I killed Pingping? As far as I know, Song Shuyu also has fingernail scratches on his wrist. Lin Fu's claim that he impersonated Song Shuyu is also just empty talk and one-sided testimony. He left the banquet midway and did not return for a long time. How can he prove his innocence?"

Hearing these absurd and unreasonable words, Mu Qingcheng, who had intended to stop them, suddenly put his plan into action!

"what--"

Guo Xuan cried out in pain, his face covered in bloodstains of varying lengths and depths. The shape left by the deformed nail on his ring finger was particularly obvious. Without needing to measure it, it was indistinguishable from the old wounds just by looking at it with the naked eye!
At this point, Mu Qingcheng said, "Guo Xuan, I've given you the irrefutable evidence you wanted. Next, let's talk about Song Shuyu. Even if you don't accuse him, I still need to investigate him thoroughly."

She walked over, personally rolled up Song Shuyu's sleeve, revealing his arms. His left wrist was intact, while his right wrist had several faint marks. She said, "First, Song Shuyu's injury was on his right wrist, which doesn't fit the logic of a face-to-face argument with the deceased; second, the shape of the marks doesn't match; third, I was the one who scratched Song Shuyu. The day after the incident, Eunuch Qin, acting on the Empress Dowager's orders, took me to the Ministry of Justice to meet Lord Song. I had an argument with Lord Song, and in the heat of the moment, I accidentally scratched him. Eunuch Qin witnessed this, and the guards at the Ministry of Justice can also testify to it."

Upon hearing his name, Qin Huai pricked up his ears. As soon as Mu Qingcheng finished speaking, he immediately stepped forward to testify: "This servant can testify that the wound on Lord Song's wrist was inflicted by Master Mu in the Ministry of Justice prison and has nothing to do with Pingping's murder case."

Mu Qingcheng nodded, released his grip on Song Shuyu's sleeve, took a half step back, and said with an indifferent, businesslike expression, "As for Song Shuyu leaving the banquet midway, Song Shuyu, you should explain yourself."

However, Song Shuyu secretly did not want to tell the truth. He hesitated, pondering how to come up with an excuse to get away with it...

"Master Song?"

"Ok?"

"Say!"

Seeing Mu Qingcheng frown, Song Shuyu dared not harbor any disloyal thoughts and truthfully replied, "At the farewell banquet, a palace maid accidentally soiled my clothes while serving wine, so I left the banquet to change in a side hall. Afterwards, someone reported that a palace maid in Shou Kang Palace had been inexplicably disfigured, suspected to be due to poisoning, so I went to Shou Kang Palace to investigate. During this time, I overheard the palace servants of Shou Kang Palace talking, saying that the Empress Dowager had sent Qin Huai out of the palace to fetch Master Mu to the banquet. I was worried about Master Mu, so I hurriedly returned to Yaochi Pavilion."

Did the palace maids of Shou Kang Palace suffer disfigurement?

Xia Yu said that in the last batch of Rejuvenating Pills that Li Mu gave to Liu Changqing, Li Yunyao secretly added snake Gu. The person who uses it will develop blood-red spots on their skin, like a spider web, spreading little by little until it covers the entire face!
Song Shuyu had planted spies in Shou Kang Palace. It was probably because the Empress Dowager was suspicious and was using palace maids to test the muscle-regenerating pills that Song Shuyu rushed over to investigate.

Having considered this, Mu Qingcheng did not delve into the matter further, but only confirmed with him regarding the case: "During your journey to and from the Imperial Kitchen and the Jade Wine Pavilion?"

“No,” Song Shuyu said. “If witnesses are needed, just keep checking, there are plenty of palace maids and eunuchs who can testify.”

Upon hearing this, the emperor calmly ordered, "Zhou Chun, go and do it."

"Yes!" Zhou Chun immediately arranged for people to return to the palace to investigate.

Mu Qingcheng then summoned Xiao Fuzi, the eunuch in charge of the wine warehouse at the Jade Wine Pavilion, and Xiao Cui, the palace maid who was in charge of cleaning, for a court hearing.

Looking at the two men kneeling on the ground, trembling like leaves, she said sternly, "You said you personally witnessed Lord Song smother Guo Yuanke to death, then threw Guo Yuanke into wine jar number three, and that you clearly saw her face, confirming that the murderer was Lord Song. Now, I ask you again, what exactly did you see at the time of the incident?"

"This servant only saw a man resembling Lord Song covering Miss Guo's mouth and nose outside the Imperial Kitchen. I didn't see anything else. It was... it was Lord Guo who told this servant to say so."

"Like Xiao Fuzi, I was forced by Lord Guo and did not intend to frame Lord Song!"

Xiao Fuzi and Xiao Cui were terrified. They banged their heads on the ground with a thud and dared not utter another lie.