My Lord, your wife is spreading rumors about you again.

Chapter 9 The Wrong Corpse
The notoriety of murder and arson was too fierce. If people found out that her personality was so different from her sister's, they would inevitably be suspicious. As long as Zhang Zhi didn't see it with his own eyes, she would deny it.

"These days, God has no eyes and only kills good people, not evil people. Instead of praying for strange fire from heaven, it's better to light a fire yourself." Zhang Zhi glanced at Ming Li and deliberately asked her, "Am I right, Miss Ming?"

"What the prince said is naturally correct." Mingli smiled slightly.

Kyoto Suburbs
The forest was frighteningly dark, and the only way forward was by the dim moonlight. Zhang Zhi kept his peripheral vision on her side, making sure she hadn't gotten separated from him.

"What's that wooden box on your shoulder for?"

Mingli replied: "Autopsy."

Zhang Zhi asked in confusion, "Autopsy? You know how to do autopsies? But what's the point of autopsies? I thought you wanted to come and pay your respects in advance. After all, everyone in Kyoto knows that you are really good to these two siblings who are not your biological children. I also sent people to investigate today. Regarding this matter, the unified statement of your Ming family is that the two of them contracted a strange disease, which was so severe that they had no time to treat it and died of high fever."

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Are you doubting that they didn't die of illness?"

"It's not doubt." Mingli lowered his eyes: "It's certainty."

After eavesdropping on what happened in Renshou Hall, Mingli had a bold guess in her mind. Although she had lived in the mountains for many years, she had occasionally heard her master mention that there were many lowly and dirty tricks in Kyoto.

Two of them are the most disgusting. One is to take pleasure in married women, and the other is to take pleasure in young girls.

Those high-ranking officials and nobles who had been frequenting places of entertainment since childhood had long been tired of the debauchery of prostitutes in brothels. Their psychology gradually became distorted, and they began to like the wives of officials and the young girls of aristocratic families.

They have been trapped in the harem all their lives, with rules and etiquette engraved in their bones. Such women can bring them a different sense of freshness.

If someone likes it, someone will naturally offer it to them.

Will Mingxin also experience what her sister has gone through?
"Tsk, the moonlight is so beautiful tonight."

"Look, is that an owl?"

"This year, the weather is good, the country is peaceful and the people are safe. Look at this land, how moist and fertile it is."

Mingli's thoughts were completely disrupted. She stopped and frowned: "Is the prince afraid? That's why he keeps making small talk?"

"No, I'm just afraid that you'll be scared." Zhang Zhi said with a smile.

Mingli: ".I'm not afraid, you can be quiet."

The two walked for a while, and Zhang Zhi suddenly stopped and pointed to a small grave in front of him and said, "That's it, under the 164th tree from Xilin."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Mingli walked over while blowing on the fire stick. She didn't rush to dig the soil. Instead, she picked up a little soil and put it to her nose and sniffed. It was new soil.

Zhang Zhi stood behind her and said, "The grass hasn't grown yet. It must be a grave that was dug recently. It's strange, doesn't your Ming family have your own ancestral tomb? It would be fine if you didn't bury him in the ancestral tomb, but why did you bury him next to the mass grave without even erecting a tombstone?"

These words unexpectedly gave Mingli a reminder.

If the positions were reversed, she would definitely destroy the body and cover all traces. Not to mention setting up a funeral and erecting a tombstone, she wouldn't even dig up the dirt to bury the body. It would be better to just burn it cleanly with fire.

Thinking of this, Mingli knelt down and dug the soil with her bare hands without any tools. Mud and stones were pushed aside. She could use a dagger, but she didn't want to.

Her mind was full of the image of her sister's corpse last night. She must be the worst sister in the world, and she couldn't even leave her sister's body intact. From childhood to adulthood, her sister was her only relative and thought, but she died in such an unclear and humiliating way. Even if she killed the entire Zhou family, her sister still couldn't come back. Did she see it? Did she see that she avenged her?
Sister, is she satisfied with this result?

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm. Zhang Zhi squatted down and stared at her: "If you want to dig a grave, then dig a grave. Why punish yourself?"

Mingli lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Zhang Zhi took a white handkerchief and put it into Mingli's hand. "Go and wipe your hands. I'll help you dig." As he said that, he pulled out his dagger and used the scabbard to dig the grave. After a while, the scabbard obviously touched a foreign object. He paused and looked up at Mingli: "I dug it up."

The shadows of the trees rustled, a cold wind blew, and the moon was suddenly covered by dark clouds, without any light at all. Zhang Zhi raised the fire starter, wanting to give Mingli more warmth and brightness.

Mingli took the scabbard and swept away the dirt layer by layer.
The moment the corpse revealed its true appearance, the stench of decay hit him in the face. Zhang Zhi took a big breath, then rushed to the side, leaning against a tree and retching. Ming Li, on the other hand, did not have any extreme reaction.

Judging from his figure, he is about 11 or 12 years old, which is the correct age.

The fabric used for the clothes is the most common cotton brocade, which is consistent with the fact that it is not popular at home.

She and Zhang Zhi had a cooperation, he would not use two fake corpses to deceive her, so it seemed that her identity was fine. Thinking of this, Mingli put down the medicine box, took out a pair of sheep gut gloves and put them on, holding a fine knife in one hand, she seemed to be unable to smell the rotten smell at all.

Zhang Zhi was vomiting like she was pregnant, and she couldn't help herself. She leaned over and took out the female corpse. The sticky white liquid stained her body. Her face was the most rotten, and there were dozens of maggots crawling around.

"vomit--"

Zhang Zhi finally recovered and took a few steps closer, and saw Mingli pick up two white, fat maggots with a pair of silver chopsticks and look at them in front of him. He couldn't help but vomit again.

"My Lord, please spit farther away, thank you."

As Mingli spoke, she used a knife to cut open the corpse's clothes. There were too many spots on the corpse to tell if there were any bruises. She continued to examine it, and Zhang Zhi's vomiting sounds were getting louder and louder.

She died of a broken spine, but she was still a young girl and had never been violated.

After a while, Zhang Zhi finally stopped vomiting, Mingli straightened up and breathed a sigh of relief. She closed the clothes of the female corpse and turned to look at the pale-faced Young Master Zhang.

She raised her eyebrows, "Prince, how many months pregnant are you?"

"Don't you feel any pain in your waist when you're standing and talking?" Zhang Zhi held onto the tree trunk, sweating profusely. "You're a girl, what's wrong with you?"

Mingli, who had just looked relieved, suddenly grabbed the corpse's right hand and looked at it carefully with the light of the tinder. Zhang Zhi pinched his nose and walked over, "What did you find?"

"wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"The body is wrong."

Zhang Zhi covered his nose and leaned in to take a closer look, then retched again: "His face is so rotten, how can you still recognize it?"

Mingli raised his right hand in front of Zhang Zhi and said firmly: "Don't look at their faces, they are not Mingyi and Mingxin."

The elder sister loved the poor brother and sister who were adopted by their mother. In the letters they exchanged a few years ago, the elder sister mentioned to her that Mingyi was born with six fingers on his right hand, which was disliked by his parents. It was also because of the six fingers that he was bullied and abused by countless people since he was a child. Finally, in anger, the five-year-old Mingyi picked up an axe and chopped off the sixth finger with his own hands.

His parents were terrified, saying that Ming Yi was born with a demonic star, and that he would bring disaster to the entire family if he was born into such a family. So they moved out of Kyoto overnight, leaving the siblings on the streets of Kyoto, where they were picked up by Madam Xian Wen.

(End of this chapter)