Murong Ci reassured: "Don't be afraid, the body is fine, you will be fine."
Then, she took the maid aside and asked gently: "This place is remote, what are you doing here?"
The court lady was frightened, and the three souls and seven souls returned to their positions at this time, "I made a mistake, and I was scolded, and I was in a bad mood, so I came here."
Murong Ci understands that it is not uncommon for palace servants to be beaten and scolded for making mistakes, and it is natural for palace servants to cry and vent in a place where no one is around.
"My servant was walking while crying, and suddenly saw the horrifying scene in the woods." The maid recalled the terrifying scene she saw before, her scalp was numb, her eyes were tightly closed, and her brows were full of fear, "The servant saw two people lying on the ground. , two corpses without heads"
"Do you often go to that small forest?"
"Um"
"You go back and rest first, if necessary, I will ask you for questions."
"Thank you, Your Highness." The maid rushed away.
Murong Ci stood outside the small forest and asked the servants around: "Has anyone moved the corpse?"
Several servants shook their heads and waved their hands, "No one has moved."
Who has the guts to go in and move the corpse? Even if they have the guts, they just go in and take a look before rushing out.
She pointed out two guards to accompany her into the small forest, and those two guards were also a little scared, but His Royal Highness personally appointed them, so they can still shrink back if they lose their errands
Although the forest is small, it is full of branches and leaves, and it is still densely covered in this autumn, so the light inside is dim and it is difficult to see clearly.
Some grass grew on the ground, and the two corpses were lying in the middle of the small forest. She walked slowly, not in a hurry to see the body, but to look around. Because many people have come in, the footprints in the woods have lost the value of research.
A few beams of bright sunlight leaked from the branches and leaves, forming transparent beams of light.
After looking around, she squatted down to look at the corpse, and after a long while told the two guards: "Find some people to move the corpse out."
The two guards sadly went out to ask someone to move the body.
When Shen Zhiyan arrived, the two corpses were lying side by side on the muddy ground. He glanced at them and asked in astonishment, "Your Highness, have you found the head?"
"The guards are looking around, but I think it's not optimistic." Murong Ci's eyes were cold.
"Let me look at the body first."
He knelt down, inspected it for a while, and said: "The two deceased were both women, between sixteen and twenty years old, about the same size, about five feet in height. Wounds or bruises, judging from the stiffness of the limbs and the spots on the body, the body has not been moved. Initially, it should have been killed around the fourth or fifth watch."
Murong Ci nodded, and ordered the guards to move the two corpses to Tingxue Pavilion for storage.
After that, they went to Tingxue Pavilion together.
Tingxue Pavilion is not far from the East Palace. She arranged this way to facilitate future investigations and prevent the murderer from tampering with the corpse.
"Your Highness, the identity of the deceased is still unknown, and the investigation of this case may not be easy." Shen Zhiyan said seriously.
"Although the head was chopped off, the identity of the deceased can be determined from other parts of the body." Her face was as cold as frost, and she was very angry that such a bad and brutal murder happened in the palace.
"I hope the guards find the head of the deceased."
"Judging from the clothes, the two deceased should be the maids of the Jiaofang Division."
"If the murderer doesn't want the identity of the deceased to be revealed, he can find the clothes of the court lady of Jiaofangsi and wear them on the deceased."
"That's true. Your Highness is getting more and more careful."
They walked into Tingxue Pavilion, and Shen Zhiyan started the autopsy when he prepared a cup of tea.
He said in a deep voice: "Look, Your Highness, half of the necks of the two deceased are left, and the incisions are quite flat and smooth. It can be seen that the heads were cut off with very sharp tools."
Murong Ci frowned, "If it's an ordinary person, only a butcher or a blacksmith with great strength can do it. If it's not an ordinary person, it's someone with martial arts and a certain amount of internal strength."
His tone was quite firm, "I prefer the murderer to be someone with martial arts skills."
"Why"
"Your Highness, the incision on the neck is very delicate and smooth. It should be cut off the head with a sharp blade that cuts iron like mud at an extremely fast speed, and this can only be done by martial arts practitioners with good internal strength."
"These two are palace maids. If the murderer is someone from the palace, then the murderer may be a guard or a palace servant with martial arts skills. Do you find anything else?"
"The rough cloth shoes of the two deceased were not badly worn, which belonged to the wear and tear of normal walking, indicating that they went to Xiaolinzi voluntarily." Shen Zhiyan went on to check and analyze.
"The murderer invited them to Xiao Linzi's side, which shows that the two parties know each other."
"The clothes of the deceased were fairly clean, and the fingernails were not broken, worn or stained with blood, which means that there was no struggle before death."
"It seems that the murderer cut off their heads unexpectedly, and they died without knowing what happened."
"You can say that."
"The most important thing right now is to confirm the identities of the two deceased." Murong Ci casually looked at the hands of the deceased with a look of surprise, "Hey, this jade bracelet"
Shen Zhiyan was puzzled and said: "This jade bracelet is of ordinary quality, so any shops selling jade on the street can sell it, what's the matter?"
She took off the jade bracelet from the dead man's wrist, looked at it carefully, and said: "Look, this jade bracelet is emerald, but the color is very light, and there is an obvious scratch here."
He still didn't understand, "Your Highness recognizes this jade bracelet"
Her heart seemed to be pressed by a huge heavy stone, and she was almost out of breath, "I have indeed seen this jade bracelet before, it is the jade bracelet of Lan Ruoxuan, the sister of the Lan family that Lan Mengse is looking for."
She met Lan Ruoxuan twice, both times she saw her wearing this jade bracelet, and when she met for the second time, she saw an obvious scratch on the jade bracelet. If not, she could not be sure that the deceased was Lan Ruoxuan.
And the other deceased was probably Lan Ruowei.
Shen Zhiyan's face was full of horror, "I didn't expect that the two younger sisters Miss Lan was looking for were really killed. However, why are they in the palace?"
"Go to a place where you can get ahead, that place is the palace. I didn't expect the palace to be their burial place."
Murong Ci's voice was low, full of deep sadness.
The two girls who looked like daffodils were in their prime, but they hadn't seen each other for half a month, and they died so badly that their heads were cut off by the murderer.
He said in disbelief: "It is the dream of many women to be able to enter the palace. No wonder they are so happy. They have only been in the palace for half a month. Even if they offend someone, it is not so cruel to have their heads cut off."
"The murderer cut off their heads and threw the corpses separately, probably because he didn't want people to know their identities." Her eyes were as cold as a sword.
"But the clothes, jade bracelets and other jewelry on the deceased can also reveal the identity of the deceased."
"After the murderer cut off their heads, he probably wanted to take off their clothes, headdresses, and jewelry. Maybe someone appeared near the small forest. The murderer was worried about being seen, so he had to leave in a hurry." Puzzled, "Why did Lan Ruoxuan and Lan Ruowei enter the palace and what to do in the palace? What happened to them in the palace in the past half month, who offended and were brutally killed?"
"After confirming the identity of the deceased, let's find out why they entered the palace and became maids, and where they worked." Shen Zhiyan's heart was also very heavy.
The guards searched all around the small forest, but they couldn't find the head.
Murong Ci ordered the guards to expand the search area and make sure to find the head. After that, she and Shen Zhiyan went to Jiaofang Division, because Jiaofang Division was the closest to the murder scene.
The Jiaofang Envoy of the Jiaofang Division is served by eunuchs, and Mo Fan leads his subordinates to greet His Highness the Crown Prince, and waits on him.
Shen Zhiyan asked straight to the point: "Half a month ago, did the Secretary of Jiaofang recruit a new palace lady?"
Mo Fan nodded and said with an apologetic smile: "Yes, four new musicians have been recruited. These four new musicians are proficient in various instruments and have extraordinary skills. Does Your Highness want to see their skills?"
"Call out the four new musicians." Murong Ci said coldly, too lazy to listen to his nonsense.
"Yes, Your Highness." He ordered embarrassingly.
Not long after, only two new musicians came. He was anxious and angry, and he reprimanded his subordinates in a low voice: "There are two more, why haven't you come here yet? Ignored His Royal Highness, are you looking for death?"
The subordinate whispered back: "The other two are missing, and I searched the entire Jiaofang Division and couldn't find them. Just now I heard that there was a murder case in Xiaolinzi in the northwest, and two court ladies died. Could it be them?"
Mo Fan's complexion changed slightly, and he went to report to the prince: "His Royal Highness, the newcomers Lan Ruoxuan and Lan Ruowei are gone, I don't know where to go."
Shen Zhiyan said solemnly: "They are dead."
Mo Fan seemed to be struck by a thunderbolt, his Yintang turned black, and his whole body was stiff, "What the hell is going on when you're dead? Yesterday was fine, how could it be?"
Murong Ci said coldly: "I still want to ask you."
"Your Highness, this slave really doesn't know anything." He knelt down in panic, his face filled with fear, "This slave really doesn't know"
"Mo Fan, you'd better do it all, or you won't be able to afford two lives," Shen Zhiyan yelled majestically.
"My lord Shen, I really don't know about them." Mo Fan was crying, and he was so frightened that he could only say this sentence, "I didn't see them today, and whoever saw them saw Lan Ruoxuan and Lan Ruowei?"
The members of the court in Jiaofang Division were frightened by the murder case, and shook their heads in order to clear the matter.
Shen Zhiyan pointed out a few people to stay, and the rest stayed, and then he asked Mo Fan: "How did Lan Ruoxuan and Lan Ruowei enter the palace and become the maids of the Jiaofang Division? You recruited them?"
Mo Fan was still shrouded in fear, absent-minded, swallowed his saliva, and said: "The Secretary of the Jiaofang wants to recruit musicians. About half a month ago, the slave recruited four new musicians, two of whom were Lan Ruoxuan and Lan Ruowei. They are very proficient in all kinds of musical instruments and have unique insights into the rhythm. The servant admires the two of them very much. He arranged for them to study music notation at the Jiaofang Division first, and then they study diligently. They are well-behaved and sensible girls."