The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 194: Decision made to activate the imperial court's hidden forces! The corpse has been found; another city has been captured!
Upon hearing Qingqing's sweet voice, everyone instinctively looked up and saw Qingqing holding a piece of paper in one hand and lifting her skirt with the other, running lightly down the stairs towards the table where Liu Shuyi and the others were, like a butterfly.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi got up and went to greet him: "Don't rush, take your time."

Qingqing stopped in front of Liu Shuyi. Among the dozens of people in the hall, only Liu Shuyi took the initiative to greet her. Her bright eyes swept over Liu Shuyi, and while patting her heaving chest, she said, "My abilities are limited, and this is the best I can do. I don't know if it can help Doctor Liu."

"Just do your best. Whether you can help me or not, I will keep my promise to you," Liu Shuyi said with a smile.

Qingqing secretly glanced at the icy beauty who was looking in their direction, and suddenly lowered her voice and said, "If that person were Doctor Liu, I would be very willing, and I would not accept Doctor Liu's copper coins."

Liu Shuyi's eyelids twitched involuntarily. He glanced back at Du Ying, making sure she hadn't heard Qingqing's words, and said helplessly, "Stop messing around, don't make things harder for me."

Qingqing covered her mouth and smiled, then winked playfully at Liu Shuyi: "I'm serious. Although this is the first time I've met Doctor Liu, I can sense that Doctor Liu is different from other men. If it's Doctor Liu, I'm willing to make an exception and not charge you."

"Thank you for your kind consideration, but I really don't have that in mind right now..."

With the executioner's blade hanging over his head at any moment, how could Liu Shuyi afford to be distracted by anything else?

He took the portrait from Qingqing and looked at it.

These portraits were incredibly lifelike, with details on the faces of the three people, including wrinkles and moles, all rendered with remarkable clarity.

Qingqing knew she would be using the portrait to find someone, so she maximized realism rather than impressionism, thus making the portrait sufficient to locate the person.

Liu Shuyi said to Qingqing, "Miss Qingqing, your painting skills are truly remarkable. This portrait is so lifelike, it's as if you've pressed the person onto the paper."

Qingqing was surprised that Liu Shuyi would give her such high praise. She said somewhat embarrassedly, "I am not as capable as Doctor Liu says. I am afraid I cannot help Doctor Liu and that Doctor Liu has been disappointed."

Liu Shuyi said with a smile, "You've helped me a lot."

Seeing that Liu Shuyi wasn't trying to comfort her, Qingqing's eyes lit up, and she said with a smile again, "That's good. I'm satisfied as long as I can help Doctor Liu. It's just a pity..."

Qingqing sighed again, and said softly to Liu Shuyi, "I have helped Doctor Liu, but Doctor Liu cannot fulfill my small wish..."

"Wish? What wish?"

Du Ying walked over at some point and asked curiously.

"Cough cough."

Liu Shuyi coughed quickly and glared at Qingqing with annoyance. He couldn't see when Du Ying had arrived, but Qingqing was standing right in front of him, so there was no way she couldn't have missed him.

So it's quite obvious that Qingqing did it on purpose.

"Miss Qingqing wants the person I introduce to stay with her for a few more days, but we have limited time and don't have that much time to spend with her."

Liu Shuyi casually brushed it off, then quickly changed the subject, saying, "Take a look at these portraits."

As he spoke, he handed the portrait to Du Ying and Zhao Feng.

The two examined it carefully and couldn't help but exclaim, "The painting skills are superb, and it's incredibly lifelike!"

Zhao Feng looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Shall we go find the person based on the portrait now?"

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment and said, "We do need to find the person in the portrait, but we can't go looking for him ourselves."

"Can't we go ourselves?" Zhao Feng asked. "What does Doctor Liu mean?"

Liu Shuyi glanced at Qingqing, who said sensibly, "I'm a little tired, I'll go and rest for a bit. If Doctor Liu needs anything else, just call me."

After saying that, Qingqing took the initiative to move away from the group and found an empty seat to sit down.

With no one else around, Liu Shuyi said, "Chu Xiong will definitely have people watching our every move. He will know what we were doing a moment ago. Under these circumstances, we cannot let him know that we already know why Jiang Rui came to the brothel, and we must not let him know that we are looking for the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi."

"Since the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi has not shown himself, no one knows where he is hiding. This is an advantage for us. If we can capture the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi without them noticing, the crisis he has created will be resolved directly."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Feng almost stood up excitedly: "Can we directly resolve the crisis of the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi?"

Du Ying's cool and beautiful eyes also lit up as she looked at Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "That's the ideal situation. We'll have to do it to find out the specifics... And even if we don't catch the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi, our actions have exceeded the murderer's expectations. This will help us break the murderer's plan and carve out a path through the conspiracy that the murderer has woven for us!"

Zhao Feng nodded emphatically and said, "Indeed, this is our chance to gain the upper hand! But..."

He frowned again and said, "If we don't go look for it, who will? This matter is so important, we can't just let anyone else do it, can we?"

“Of course!” Liu Shuyi said, “This matter directly relates to the future situation between the court and the former subordinates of Prince Xi, so it cannot be done casually by anyone…”

"Therefore, I am prepared to utilize the imperial court's hidden forces in Xingzhou City!"

Zhao Feng and Du Ying were startled: "The imperial court's hidden forces in Xingzhou City?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "The former subordinates of the Prince of Xi in Hebei Province have great ambitions, and the court naturally cannot let them go unchecked. Therefore, there are hidden forces of the court in each city of Hebei Province. Before we set off, His Majesty gave a special order that I can use these forces at any time."

As he spoke, Liu Shuyi took out a jade token from his pocket. He looked at Zhao Feng and said, "Steward Zhao, there is a pawnshop in Xingzhou City called Zhao's Pawnshop. I will arrange for you to go out and investigate it later. Just like a normal case investigation, go door to door and ask questions."

"When you enter Zhao's Pawnshop, secretly show this jade token to the pawnshop manager. Once the manager sees the jade token, he will understand your identity."

"After that, give him the portrait and have him secretly search for these three people in Xingzhou City. At the same time, have the shopkeeper arrange for someone to meet with me when the opportunity arises. I have other matters to discuss with him."

Zhao Feng understood the importance of this matter. Without any hesitation, he carefully put away the jade token and said, "Don't worry, Physician Liu, I will act carefully and will definitely pass on the message."

Zhao Feng had followed Liu Shuyi the longest and was no longer the naive young man who had just entered officialdom and knew nothing, with only bitterness and resentment in his eyes. Liu Shuyi trusted him completely.

He said, "I'll create an opportunity in a moment, and you can do as you please."

"Yes."

After explaining the important matters, Liu Shuyi thought for a moment, then came back to Qingqing and asked, "Miss Qingqing, in your eyes, what kind of person is Governor Jiang?"

Qingqing blinked: "I already said, he has a good reputation and is not a lustful person."

Liu Shuyi shook his head, his eyes fixed on Qingqing's eyes: "I want to hear your thoughts, not rumors."

Qingqing hesitated for a moment, looked around, and lowered her voice: "Doctor Liu wants to hear the truth?"

"What do you think?" Liu Shuyi asked in return.

Qingqing understood Liu Shuyi's meaning. This time, she didn't repeat what she had said before and said directly, "Prefect Jiang is not a good official. He levies taxes arbitrarily and oppresses the people. He even steals the money that we brothel girls work hard to earn. In many cases, whoever pays copper coins wins. If you don't have money, you can only be bullied."

Liu Shuyi nodded. Qingqing's assessment was consistent with everything he had seen in Xingzhou City.

He said, "The people are very dissatisfied with him, aren't they?"

Qingqing shrugged: "Of course I'm not satisfied, but what can I do? He strictly controls the distribution of funds. Ordinary people can't even leave Xingzhou, and there's nowhere to escape to."

What Qingqing said perfectly illustrates the greatest helplessness of the poor. In ancient times, travel between regions was strictly restricted. Without the permission of the government, one could not even seek refuge with relatives. Therefore, most people could only passively endure it until survival became a problem. Finally, they had no choice but to rise up in rebellion, either dying on the battlefield or establishing a new regime.

Liu Shuyi said, "So, are the people all happy that Jiang Rui was killed?"

Qingqing remained silent, not answering this sensitive question.

Liu Shuyi didn't care; silence was also a form of response.

"If you were to guess, who do you think Jiang Rui was most likely murdered by?" Liu Shuyi asked again. Qingqing smiled bitterly and said, "Doctor Liu thinks too highly of me. Serving others is what I'm good at, but asking me to guess who would kill someone is something I could never figure out, even if I racked my brains."

Liu Shuyi looked intently at Qingqing. Although Qingqing was smiling bitterly, her expression did not waver or evade, which meant that she was not lying.

As the most beautiful courtesan, Qingqing comes into contact with different men every day. In order to show off their skills in front of the pretty girl, the men usually can't control their mouths...

Therefore, Qingqing can be said to be the person in Xingzhou City who has obtained the most information. Since she has no clue at all, it means that, at least on the surface, no one in Xingzhou City has any obvious conflict with Jiang Rui, or anyone has hatred and conflict with Jiang Rui, but no one thinks that they can kill Jiang Rui.

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Okay, I understand. I have no other questions for now. Miss Qingqing can go back to her room and rest well."

Qingqing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Prefect Jiang has caused many families to be ruined and people to die, so there are actually quite a few people in Xingzhou who wish Prefect Jiang were dead. But most of them just think about it; no one really has the guts to do it. I hope Physician Liu can help..."

Liu Shuyi understood what Qingqing meant: "Don't worry, from the very first case I investigated, I have never let an innocent person be wronged."

Qingqing immediately giggled: "I knew Doctor Liu was the best!"

"Cough cough!"

Liu Shuyi was afraid that Qingqing would say something about asking him to do it for free again, so he coughed twice and told Qingqing to go back and catch up on her sleep.

He turned around to look at Zhao Feng and Du Ying, and was about to say something when someone suddenly rushed in from outside the door.

"Physician Liu, Governor Jiang's body has been found!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi and the others' eyes flashed.

He looked directly at the person who had come and asked, "Where did you find it?"

Jinwuwei said, "Following Liu Langzhong's instructions, Deputy Lieutenant Lu, together with the yamen runners of the governor's office, searched all the vacant houses in Xingzhou City. Finally, in an uninhabited courtyard in the south of the city, they found that the soil there was very fresh and showed signs of being turned over."

"Afterwards, Lieutenant Lu led his men to dig there. As the soil was removed, a coffin appeared before our eyes. Lieutenant Lu immediately ordered the coffin lid to be opened, and then..."

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Prefect Jiang's body is in that coffin."

Liu Shuyi's expression flickered. If the murderer was afraid that he would discover something wrong with the corpse and stole it, then he wouldn't have prepared a coffin specifically for the corpse.

A coffin is both a protection and a sign of respect for a corpse. How could the murderer, who killed Jiang Rui so cruelly, possibly prepare a coffin to protect the body?
Therefore, someone who would protect a corpse with a coffin and bury it underground to prevent others from discovering it... is most likely not the murderer.

Since he wasn't the murderer, the only person who could steal the body from the governor's office and had the motive to obstruct his investigation was... Chu Xiong or other former subordinates of the Prince of Xi.

They were convinced that Jiang Rui had been assassinated by the imperial court and didn't believe he was there to investigate the case. Therefore, they tried every means to obstruct him, ordering their people to find irrefutable evidence and uncover the truth as quickly as possible to prevent him from distorting the facts...

Or perhaps they've already decided to use Jiang Rui's death to directly coerce other former subordinates of the Prince of Xi into joining them in a rebellion... Therefore, I absolutely cannot uncover the truth, and I absolutely cannot allow Jiang Rui's death to be unrelated to the imperial court...

There are several reasons, but none of them are good news for me.

If we let them achieve their goals, we will all suffer a terrible fate, so... we must break this deadlock!

The truth must be exposed before they achieve their goal!

Liu Shuyi asked, "Where is Jiang Rui's body now?"

Jinwuwei said, "It has already been transported to the governor's office."

Liu Shuyi nodded, then turned to Zhao Feng and said, "Steward Zhao, you take your men and continue searching for clues. I will go to the government office with Miss Du to examine the body."

Zhao Feng understood Liu Shuyi's meaning and replied without hesitation, "Your subordinate obeys."

Liu Shuyi and Zhao Feng exchanged glances and nodded slightly, everything understood without a word.

Then he said to Du Ying, "Miss Du, we'll have to rely on you from now on."

…………

The horse's hooves pounded on the stone pavement as it galloped rapidly toward the governor's mansion.

Not long after, with a "whoosh" sound, Liu Shuyi and Du Ying stopped in front of the government office.

Lu Yangyuan was already waiting at the door. Upon seeing Liu Shuyi arrive, he quickly stepped forward and said, "Doctor Liu."

Liu Shuyi and Du Ying dismounted. He asked, "What is the condition of the corpse? Can it be damaged?"

Lu Yangyuan shook his head: "It should not have been damaged. When I found the body, it was still wearing a robe, and there was a soft cushion in the coffin. It can be seen that the person who stole the body protected it very well."

The body was preserved so well; it certainly wasn't the work of the murderer...

Liu Shuyi felt both anxious and relieved. Jiang Rui had been dead for seven days, making the autopsy extremely difficult. If the body were to be damaged further, even Du Ying would likely be in trouble.

Fortunately, the person who stole the corpse only wanted to hinder my investigation and had no other intentions...

"Take us to the corpse."

"This way……"

Lu Yangyuan knew the way well and led Liu Shuyi through a maze of turns, quickly arriving at the morgue of the governor's mansion.

At this moment, there were guards outside the morgue, including yamen runners from the governor's office and guards from the Imperial Guard.

The two groups stared at each other, not as if they were protecting the corpse, but as if they were eyeing an enemy.

The atmosphere was very discordant.

"Dr. Liu."

When the Imperial Guards saw Liu Shuyi arrive, they all bowed in greeting.

The constables hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "Greetings, Physician Liu."

Liu Shuyi seemed oblivious to the unusual behavior between the two groups, and waved his hand with a smile: "No need for formalities, everyone. You've all worked hard searching for the corpses, go and get some rest."

The Imperial Guards all followed Liu Shuyi's lead, and upon hearing this, they nodded in agreement without hesitation, then sat down on the ground and began to rest.

The yamen runners of the governor's mansion hesitated for a moment, but Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "The case is still unclear and the murderer is still at large. Who knows when you will need to go out and work again? It is also important to take advantage of the temporary peace to recover your strength and energy. Rest assured and if you are worried that Governor Chu will blame you, I will explain to Governor Chu on your behalf."

Seeing Liu Shuyi say this, the yamen runners hesitated for a moment, then finally stopped insisting. After thanking Liu Shuyi, they also sat down on the ground.

Liu Shuyi glanced around and saw some constables sneaking away in the distance. A meaningful smile appeared on his lips. He looked away and said to Du Ying, "Go and examine the body. I'll guard the door, and I guarantee no one can disturb you."

Du Ying knew that Chu Xiong and the others would not let her finish the corpse test easily. Time was of the essence, so she did not delay and said to Liu Shuyi, "Wait for me."

After saying that, she picked up the wooden box and went into the morgue.

Liu Shuyi let out a soft breath, turned around and sat on the steps in front of the door.

Du Ying's autopsy will be the most important step in his understanding of Jiang Rui's death, and under no circumstances should he be disturbed.

Therefore, today, he will act as a doorkeeper for Du Ying.

(End of this chapter)