Others thought that Chu Xinian was just a son of a noble family. Although he was in a hurry, he might not be able to investigate and solve the case. Moreover, the coroner was a lowly job in the Great Yan Dynasty. No matter how you think about it, Chu Xinian would not learn something like autopsy. Not to mention Jin Ruhai disagreed, even the elders such as Yan Qinghe shook their heads again and again.
Xie Jingyuan didn't want Chu Xinian to be involved in the storm, so he pulled him away directly, but the guard at the door stopped him and his eyes suddenly turned cold.
Seeing this, the young prince of Guangping stepped forward to smooth things over: "Thank you, my mistake today has led to this disaster. Now the cause of Mr. Jin's death is still unknown, please stay for a while."
Xie Jingyuan covered his lips with a handkerchief and coughed hoarsely a few times. He pulled the wind cloak on his shoulders expressionlessly and frowned: "I have been ill for a long time and now it is time to take medicine. Why, the prince won't let me go?"
His face was pale, and his lips were a little darker than those of ordinary people, with a strange dark purple hue. Even without pretending, he looked sick. The young prince was in a dilemma when he heard this, not knowing what to do.
Hearing this, Zi looked over and thought, no wonder Xie Jingyuan was so excited today, it turns out he didn't take any medicine. It's rare for him to offer a constructive suggestion: "Anyway, this case won't be solved in a short time. With so many people, we can't just stay here forever. I think it's better to record the names of everyone present in the book, and call someone to investigate when needed."
Jin Ruhai disagreed. If someone left, it would be like letting a tiger go back to the mountains. The children of the noble families might not leave, but there were many common people here. If they left the capital, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find them again.
However, the guests did not want to stay here all the time. They started arguing with each other, and the noise grew louder and louder. They were arguing so hard that their faces turned red and their necks became thick. It seemed that the Jinlin Pavilion was about to be turned into a vegetable market.
Chu Xinian had been quiet from beginning to end. He reached out and pulled Xie Jingyuan's cloak, and said in a low voice: "The army is tired, do you want to go back to the mansion to rest?"
No, in fact, Xie Jingyuan was quite happy to watch the excitement, but if he stayed any longer, it would be hard to guarantee that Chu Xinian would be involved. He curled his lips and sneered, "Just let me go directly, I don't believe anyone dares to stop me."
"That would be a false pretext," Chu Xinian smiled and brushed off his sleeves. "Please wait a moment, we can go back once the case is fully investigated."
"Investigate?" Xie Jingyuan raised his eyelids, "Who will investigate?"
Could it be that Chu Xinian really wanted to perform an autopsy
Just as this thought came to his mind, Xie Jingyuan saw Chu Xinian suddenly walk to the middle of the crowd and bow to all four directions: "No, I am not very virtuous and talented. Today, there are many distinguished guests here, all of whom have extraordinary abilities, so I dare not show off in front of others and show off my skills in front of an expert."
Everyone didn't understand what he wanted to say, but they all listened attentively and stepped back to return the greeting.
Chu Xinian glanced at Jin Ruhai, paused, and continued, "Mr. Jin died innocently, and his parents must be deeply saddened. It is natural for them to want to clear their son's name with their own hands. Why should we stop them? I believe His Majesty will also sympathize. Now that the authorities have not arrived, Mr. Jin can tell us what he wants to investigate. We will answer your questions one by one and tell you everything we know."
"Although I am not an expert at autopsies, I do know a thing or two. Lord Jin, it is useless for you to cry and beg for mercy. Why don't you examine it yourself and we can assist you?"
After Chu Xinian finished speaking, he made a gesture of invitation, and his direction was just towards the half-cold corpse of Master Jin.
The muscles on Jin Ruhai's cheeks twitched continuously. He thought that Mei Fengchen was old-fashioned and inflexible. Once the people from the Mingjing Division arrived, it would be difficult for him to get involved. He might as well take this opportunity to investigate and see who was the most suspicious.
"good-"
Jin Ruhai suddenly waved his sleeves, stopped everyone from whispering, and said to Chu Xinian: "Today, I will follow your advice and conduct a personal investigation. If I find out who the murderer is, I will not let him off easily!"
When he said the last sentence, his old eyes were full of cruelty. Everyone was so frightened that they trembled and dared not say a word.
Young Master Jin's body lay quietly on the table. Because the injury was on the brain and not the main veins, the blood only flowed out in a small pool before solidifying.
Lord Jin was so distraught that his hands trembled, and he dared not touch anything. Finally, he turned his head and looked at everyone: "How did my son die?! Who found the body?!"
At that time, the Prince of Guangping was tearing up the painting, and everyone gathered around to stop him, so they had no time to pay attention to other things. The painting was stolen right under their noses and no one noticed, let alone someone died.
The inner hall was quiet and no one answered.
At this moment, Chu Xinian suddenly walked to the side of Mr. Jin's body in full view of everyone, carefully laid him flat on the ground, then rolled up his sleeves, unbuttoned his clothes, and narrated everything in a calm voice.
"Young Master Jin's body is still warm, and he must have been dead for no more than half an hour."
Chu Xinian looked from top to bottom, taking a quick look at the body's limbs and back. "There are no obvious external injuries on the body, the fatal injury is in the brain, and there are blood holes on the left and right yang points, as if something sharp had pierced through them."
He then opened the corpse's eyelids and lips: "The eyeballs were bulging, the tip of the tongue was broken and purple, the auricles were bleeding, the hands were convulsing, and there were signs of a struggle before death.
Chu Xinian looked around after he finished speaking, and saw a cup of residual tea on the table in front of Master Jin. He stood up from the ground, ignoring Xie Jingyuan's dangerous gaze, and pulled out a silver hairpin from the head of a noble lady in a goose yellow dress: "Lend me a hairpin for you, young lady."
The noble lady exclaimed slightly, but did not stop him. She looked at him curiously, wanting to know what Chu Xinian was going to do.
Everyone saw Chu Xinian stirring the silver hairpin in the cup for a while, and when he took it out, the silver hairpin stick had turned black. They couldn't help but stare with their eyes wide open in panic.
"The tea is poisonous! What should I do? I have drunk this tea before!"
"I... I drank it too, what should I do?!"
"Go find a doctor!"
Chu Xinian smiled, lowered his head and wiped his palms with a handkerchief, and said to calm the panic: "Don't panic, everyone. This poison is very strong. It will kill you in an instant. Only Master Jin's cup is poisoned."
This was a premeditated and targeted murder.
Jin Ruhai's face was uncertain when he heard this. He began to think quickly whether he had offended any enemies. However, before he could say anything, he heard Chu Xinian said, "Which girl dared to expose Mr. Jin's corpse?"
A woman in a snow-white shirt hesitated for a moment after hearing this, then walked out of the crowd and bowed to Chu Xinian and Jin Ruhai: "I am Jiang Suqi, and I will take care of Mr. Jin's body first."
The eldest daughter of the Jiang family in Pingzhou.
Chu Xinian: "Miss, what's the scene?"
Jiang Suqi recalled slowly, "... I was seated next to Master Jin. When we were appreciating the painting, we all left our seats and went forward to look at the painting. Who would have thought that when we returned, we saw him lying on the low table with blood all over his head..."
She seemed to recall the horrible scene again and she frowned and covered her face with her sleeves, unable to bear to watch it.
Chu Xinian nodded slightly: "Thank you for clearing up my confusion, young lady."
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Jin Ruhai and said slowly, "Master Jin, is there anything else you want to know?"
Jin Ruhai was stunned for a moment. He was in charge of the Jin Department, and he usually only took over business transactions in the business world. How could he investigate any cases? He was waiting for Chu Xinian to continue talking, but who would have thought that the other party would kick back the topic.
There are few fools who can get by in the officialdom, let alone the lucrative position of Jinbu Supervisory History. Jin Ruhai is a man of no ordinary ability to hold this position. Fang's furious mind calmed down instantly.
He looked at Chu Xinian with an uncertain expression, and probably guessed in his heart that the young man in front of him was quite capable. He softened his tone a little and said word by word: "I just want to know who the murderer is."
Old fox, Chu Xinian blocked it with just one sentence.
Chu Xinian remained silent for a moment and said, "It is not impossible to find the murderer, but the most urgent task now is to find the weapon that killed Mr. Jin."
Although everyone was confused, they all lowered their heads and started searching together. At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, pointing to the corner next to the beam, "Look! There's an iron nail over there. Could it be the murder weapon that killed Young Master Jin?"
It's not quite right to call it an iron nail. It's more like a thin triangular pyramid, but the tip is sharpened and elongated like an arrow, with blood on one end. It's about half the length of a palm.
Chu Xinian walked over, picked up the object with a handkerchief, and placed it on the table for everyone to observe.
Chu Jiaoping happened to be standing next to the beam. He saw some light white marks on the vermilion pillar, and saw that the window was wide open. He looked outside and saw a rocky forest on the other side of the lake.
Chu Jiaoping frowned slightly. "Could it be that someone was hiding on the other side of the lake, using the window to observe everyone in the Golden Scale Pavilion? And Young Master Jin happened to be leaning against the window, and the murderer shot a hidden weapon at him from a distance, which went through his brain, hit the beam, and fell to the ground?"
This explanation was reasonable. Jin Ruhai was about to order someone to check across the lake, but Chu Xinian stopped him and said, "Master Jin, please be patient and don't be misled by false impressions."
The meaning of his words contradicted Chu Jiaoping's, which inevitably made people suspect that the brothers were not getting along. For a moment, all kinds of eyes fell on Chu Xinian, wanting to hear what he could say.
Chu Jiaoping was not dissatisfied. He looked at his brother who had changed his personality and said, "If you have any illusions, you may as well speak frankly."
Chu Xinian glanced out the window, then sat cross-legged in the seat where Young Master Jin had just sat, and said to everyone, "I am Young Master Jin, of similar stature, so I will sit here now. Master Jin, please send a servant to check outside the window to see if he can see me."
Lord Jin immediately sent a servant out. The servant stood by the window and could not see Chu Xinian's head at all, unless he stood on tiptoe to look inside. He then ran back in to report: "My Lord, I can't see Master Chu."
Chu Xinian explained to everyone: "Although Mr. Jin's seat is by the window, his position is in a blind spot when viewed from outside. The murderer cannot possibly observe his position from the other side of the lake. This is the first point."
"Second, if Young Master Jin had died from the weapon shot from a distance through his brain, this thin, three-edged arrow should have been stained with blood. But please see, only the tip of this arrow is stained with blood."
The young Prince of Guangping and others hurriedly lowered their heads to check, only to find that, just as he said, only one end of the murder weapon was stained with blood.
This was not the end. Chu Xinian continued to overturn Chu Jiaoping's guess: "Third, if the murder weapon was shot directly into Mr. Jin's brain from the window, the skin and flesh of his left yang acupoint should sink inwards, and the skin and flesh of his right yang acupoint should bulge outwards, which is consistent with the impact of the arrow."
Chu Xinian stood up from his seat and showed the head injury of Mr. Jin to everyone: "But the skin and flesh of his left and right yang points are sunken. It is obvious that someone deliberately used a weapon to make a symmetrical scar in order to mislead us."
"Fourth, the marks left by hidden weapons on the beams are messy and located at a high position. When Young Master Jin sits upright, his body does not form a straight line, so naturally there is no way that there would be marks left by hidden weapons."
And the most important fifth point.
Chu Xinian held up the cup of poisoned tea for everyone to see: "If the murderer wanted to kill him with a hidden weapon, why would he go to the trouble of poisoning the tea? He did all this just to make us mistakenly think that the murderer was out there, so as to clear himself of suspicion."
It was obvious that the murderer first poisoned Mr. Jin, and then took his life while he was paralyzed by the poison, and then made a series of disguises.
Everyone present fell into deep thought after hearing this, half amazed and half impressed by Chu Xi Nian. Jin Ruhai clenched his fists and asked, "So the murderer is still in Jinlin Pavilion?!"
Chu Xinian nodded: "Of course."
The young prince of Guangping was inexplicably nervous after hearing this. The murderer was in the Golden Scale Pavilion. How could this happen? He bowed to the elder Chu Xi and said earnestly, "Brother Chu is a god at solving cases. Please find out the truth and clear Mr. Jin's name and clear our names."
Xie Jingyuan secretly watched them, trying to find some clues, but found nothing, and raised his eyebrows in boredom. It was indeed more appropriate to leave this matter to Chu Xinian.
"I'm doing my best."
Chu Xinian wrapped the murder weapon with a handkerchief and clenched it in front of everyone. Except for the bloody part of the arrow, Chu Xinian clenched the rest of the arrow into his palm: "This thing is too short and thin, and the whole body is extremely sharp. The human head is hard. If the murderer uses this thing to commit a crime, it will definitely be difficult to bear the force, and there will definitely be scars on the palm. Just look at who has scars on their hands, and you will know the truth."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Golden Scale Pavilion was in an uproar. The most excited among them was Jin Ruhai, who wanted to rush over and pry open everyone's hands one by one to see clearly.
Chu Xinian was the first to open his palm to prove his innocence, and then he took Xie Jingyuan's hand and also opened it in front of everyone. There were no new injuries on their hands.
The son also stretched out his hand: "I don't have any either."
Yan Qinghe glanced at Chu Xinian with approval, and sighed in his heart that young people are formidable. He also shook his sleeves and stretched out his hands to show everyone: "I don't have any scars either."
With them taking the lead, the rest of the people also stretched out their hands to prove their innocence. However, an accident happened at this time, because Jin Ruhai looked at everyone one by one and found that no one had any suspicious scars on their hands.
Jin Ruhai stammered, "Master Chu, this, this, this... What should I do?!"
Discussions around began to arise.
"Didn't Chu Xinian say that the murderer was in the Golden Scale Pavilion? Could he have guessed wrong?"
"I think he is just being mysterious. Let's wait for the people from the Mirror Department to arrive."
Xie Jingyuan frowned and lowered his voice to Chu Xinian: "Could it be that the murderer has already escaped?"
"Don't worry, army."
Chu Xinian patted him soothingly, still calm and unhurried. Seeing Jin Ruhai staring at him, he smiled faintly: "This is not good, it shows that everyone here is a noble person, and has never been involved in a murder case."
The young prince of Guangping hesitated and said, "Brother Chu, what about this murderer...?"
Chu Xinian's eyes passed through his back and fell on a panicked maid in pink. He smiled and said, "Although the guests have checked, the servants have not checked yet. Miss, could you please extend your hand to let me have a look?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on her at once, but they saw that the maid in pink had a charming appearance, her face was extremely pale, and her hands were tightly hidden in her sleeves, refusing to take them out no matter what.
Jin Ruhai strode forward and pried her hands apart, only to see several bloodstains on his right palm. She was shocked and said, "You killed my son?!"
The pink-dressed maid gritted her teeth and looked at him angrily: "What about me? Your stupid son lingers in the place of prostitution and is born unfaithful. It's not too much for him to die as many times as he wants!"
Someone with sharp eyes thought that the pink-dressed maid looked familiar: "Hey, isn't that girl Miss Qinglan, the courtesan of Molou? I heard that Master Jin redeemed her and changed her status to a good person a few days ago. How come she is now a maid in Prince Guangping's mansion?"
The details of this matter reveal another romantic debt.
The young master of the Jin family was frivolous by nature and good at sweet talk. He ignored the tricks of the courtesan Qinglan and drove her out of the mansion without caring that she was three months pregnant.
The young Prince Guangping was kind-hearted. One day when he went out, he saw her fainted on the roadside, so he kept her as a maid in his mansion. Unexpectedly, he got into trouble and caused a murder case.
Jin Ruhai was heartbroken, regretting that he had not taught his son well, and hating the woman for killing his son. In a mixture of grief and anger, he drew the long sword from his guard's waist and was about to chop her, but Chu Xinian stretched out his hand to stop him: "Master Jin, wait a minute!"
Upon hearing this, Jin Ruhai paused while swinging his sword and looked at him with red eyes: "Why did Master Chu stop me?!"
Chu Xinian slowly withdrew his hand and glanced at the woman's slightly protruding belly: "Master Jin, this woman is already pregnant. It is very likely that she is the bloodline of your Jin family. It is better to find out before making a conclusion."
"Clang—"
Upon hearing this, Lord Jin was struck by lightning, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground. He staggered back, and was supported by everyone. His only child was dead, and the murderer was pregnant with the only blood of his Jin family. No one could accept this.
Chu Xinian had no interest in other people's ethical farces. Seeing that the case had been solved, he pulled Xie Jingyuan out of the house together. However, before they got on the carriage, Prince Guangping caught up with them.
"Brother Chu, please stay!"
Xie Jingyuan watched from the sidelines, feeling that the Prince of Guangping was not a homosexual, as he liked to hold hands with everyone he saw. For example, now, he was holding Chu Xinian again.
The young prince of Guangping came specially to express his gratitude: "Today, thanks to Brother Chu for finding out the truth, otherwise I'm afraid it would be difficult to end it. If I have free time in the future, I will definitely visit you more often."
Prince Chang, Prince Ping and others came out one after another, and they all regretted secretly when they saw this. Chu Xinian's performance today had benefited everyone in the family. Not only did he recover the ancient painting for the young prince, but he also found out the injustice for the only son of the Jin family. If they had known this, they should have shown goodwill in advance.
"Your Highness is very polite. I will definitely visit you someday."
Chu Xinian pulled his hand out without leaving a trace and was about to get on the carriage. However, at this moment, a noble lady in a goose yellow shirt suddenly lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and called him. Chu Xinian raised his eyes consciously, and an embroidered purse fell squarely into his arms.
"… "
The people of Dayan were open-minded, and the ladies in the boudoir were not so bound by so many rules. Throwing flowers and fruits was common. At the banquet for the heroes today, if we were to talk about who was the most popular, it would be Chu Xinian. Many ladies from aristocratic families were a little confused.
The sedan gradually went away, leaving Chu Xinian standing there in a daze. Xie Jingyuan sneered, lifted the curtain and got on the carriage himself, almost sick with anger.
Chu Xinian looked at the purse in his hand, wondering what to do, when someone called him from behind. He turned around and saw Jin Ruhai.
"Mr. Chu," Jin Ruhai seemed to have aged by dozens of years in an instant, and his whole body looked haggard. He bowed to Chu Xinian and said, "Today's gift, my Jin family will accept it. If there is a chance in the future, I will definitely repay you. When this matter is settled, I will come to your house to apologize."
Chu Xinian helped him up: "Master Jin, I am very sorry for the loss."
Just as they were talking, a group of yamen runners suddenly came on horseback, led by Zheng Mei Fengchen. When he received the news from Prince Guangping's mansion, he was investigating a case in Ling County, and he rode at full speed all the way, so he was late.
Chu Xinian smiled faintly, turned around and got on the carriage. It was not the time to come into contact with Mei Fengchen yet.
Mei Fengchen saw Jin Ruhai from a distance and immediately turned his horse and asked, "Master Jin, where is your son's body now?"
Jin Ruhai closed his eyes and didn't want to pay any attention to him: "Carry it back."
Mei Fengchen frowned: "What are you carrying back?"
Jin Ruhai opened his eyes suddenly upon hearing this, and said sharply: "Why carry him back? We should naturally bury him properly. Are we going to wait for your people from the Mirror Division to collect the body?!"
After he finished speaking, he snorted coldly and left angrily.
They didn’t come when someone died, they didn’t come when they were looking for the murderer, but now that everything is over, they finally know how to come!!
Chu Xinian was sitting in the carriage. Seeing Mei Fengchen standing there in confusion, he couldn't help but chuckle. He let go of the curtain and looked at Xie Jingyuan opposite him: "General, is today's show quite lively?"
Xie Jingyuan ignored him and stared at the exquisitely embroidered purse in Chu Xinian's hand, as if he wanted to burn a hole in it.
"Throw it away."
Xie Jingyuan said a word, his voice was thin and cold, which reminded people of some kind of poisonous snake lurking in the damp land.
"?"
Chu Xinian was slow to react and realized that Xie Jingyuan was talking about the purse in his hand. He raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled in an unpredictable way: "Why?"
Seeing that he not only didn't lose it, but also dared to ask for something, Xie Jingyuan stretched out his hand to grab it without squinting. However, Chu Xinian was quick-witted and hid behind him. Just as the carriage bumped, Xie Jingyuan fell directly into his arms.
"Military morale—"
Chu Xinian hugged him consciously, managed to stabilize his body, and looked down at Xie Jingyuan's condition: "Did he get knocked?"
The two of them were in such a posture that the carriage seemed cramped.
Xie Jingyuan lay in his arms, but he didn't do anything. Instead, he stretched out his hand to Chu Xinian and said in a bad tone, "Take out your purse."
He was like a dog seeing a bone, and for some reason, he just kept fighting with that purse.
Chu Xinian continued to hug him, looked at the purse in his hand, which was finely crafted and should be worth a lot of money, and said with a deep smile: "Jun, you know that nothing comes for free. If you want this purse, what should you exchange it for?"
Xie Jingyuan grabbed his collar and threatened, "Are you going to hand it over or not?"
Chu Xinian's white shirt was loose, and when he pulled it, a small part of his chest was exposed. He held Xie Jingyuan's hand to prevent him from tearing off his own clothes: "I said, if Jun wants this thing, bring something to me in exchange, and I will naturally give Jun everything..."
His voice was deep and magnetic, and inexplicably had a lingering and seductive tone.
Xie Jingyuan met Chu Xinian's gaze, and his heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason: "... What do you want?"
Chu Xinian thought it was fun to tease him: "Jun makes his own decision. If the item is too light, I won't change it."
Just as Xie Jingyuan was about to say something when he heard someone knocking on the car wall from outside, he and Chu Xinian separated instantly as if they had been electrocuted, as if they had been caught stealing someone's bag.
Chu Xinian straightened his robe, lifted the curtain and looked out, only to see Zi, who asked indifferently, "Dear Lord?"
Zi was too lazy to take the sedan chair back, so he rode a white horse, looking quite majestic. He smiled and looked in, and heard that Chu Xinian's tone was not right: "What's wrong, are you angry with me?"
Chu Xinian did not comment.
Zi smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't harm you. Xie Jingyuan will be the first one to disagree."
Chu Xinian glanced at the person next to him consciously, but Xie Jingyuan didn't look at him.
Zi pulled the reins and said in a low voice as if nothing had happened: "Don't you want to find evidence against Qin Daoyan? I have received news that the Qiang people will come to the capital to pay tribute soon. In order to open up the trade route for the tribe, I have secretly sent people to give him a lot of gifts, hoping that Qin Daoyan will lobby the emperor to agree."
"Jin Ruhai is in charge of Sitian Trade. He is responsible for this matter. Qin Daoyan will definitely work on him. There is no harm in letting the Jin family owe you one."
After Ziyu finished speaking, ignoring Chu Xinian's thoughtful look, he swung the whip hard, making a short, light sound in the air, and rode away with his personal guards.
Chu Xinian realized at this time that Zi was not as stupid and reckless as he seemed. He stuffed his purse into his sleeve and told the driver, "Go to the back door of Prince Guangping's mansion."
Xie Jingyuan couldn't help but glance at him: "What are you doing at the back door?"
Chu Xinian smiled and said, "Jun forgot, we haven't caught the thief who stole the painting yet."