Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 757 Stubborn
"Xu Si Cheng."

Hearing the call, Xu Huaiyi came to his senses. He had forgotten that there were other people in the duty room.

Xu Huaiyi looked at the two coroners from the Kaifeng government office.

The younger coroner was somewhat uneasy, because Xu, the temple official, had instructed the two of them to examine the bodies separately, record the examination details, and that the coroners were not allowed to communicate with each other.

This is simply because they are worried about something going wrong during the autopsy.

After all, they were opening the coffin of Prime Minister Xie. When they opened the coffin, they were surrounded by members of the Xie clan, Prime Minister Xie's disciples, and nearby villagers. If they made any improper move, they might not be able to leave smoothly.

There were also voices of scholars in the crowd criticizing.

In this situation, they only have one chance to perform an autopsy, and they must complete it as soon as possible so that the Prime Minister can be laid to rest again.

It's easy to make mistakes when you're busy.

The young coroner steadied himself, recalling the process of examining the corpse. He examined the body inch by inch, letting his hair fall loose, carefully checking the seams, especially around the wounds, not daring to overlook the slightest suspicious detail.

However, since the body had been buried for a year, it was already decomposed. How difficult would it be to find a fatal wound in the rotting flesh? Therefore, the wounds left on the bones were particularly crucial.

The young coroner thought for a moment, then stepped forward and indeed found that Xu Huaiyi was looking at the description of the wounds on the bones.

Xu Huaiyi pointed and said, "You wrote here that the old prime minister has a vertical crack on his forehead."

The young coroner nodded: "Yes, the forehead is consistent with a fall and collision injury, but... there is also a wound on the Prime Minister's occipital bone. There is a shallow longitudinal crack on the lower edge of the occipital bone, about an inch and a half long, with uneven edges. It is almost difficult to notice if you don't look closely. But before the body decomposes, the skin must have been broken to the bone, but when we checked the previous autopsy records, we did not find any record of this injury."

Xu Huaiyi nodded. It was because they discovered this wound that they concluded that Xie Xiang had been murdered by someone else.

However, this is also what Xu Huaiyi finds strange.

The wound wasn't deep. The person who attacked the Prime Minister either hesitated before striking or used very little force. Xu Huaiyi leaned towards the first possibility.

When Xie Yizhi turned against her own father, she inevitably wavered at the last moment; such situations are common in some cases of patricide.

The young coroner looked at Xu Huaiyi: "Does Vice Minister Xu think there's something wrong here?"

Xu Huaiyi shook his head. He hadn't thought so before, but when he interrogated Xie Yizhi again today, he found that Xie Yizhi was very tall, at least half a head taller than Prime Minister Xie.

At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind, and he felt that something was amiss. The place where the Prime Minister was struck was a bit too low for Xie Yizhi.

However, Xie Yizhi clearly admitted in his later confession that he personally killed the Prime Minister.

Xu Huaiyi thought for a moment and then looked at the old coroner: "You said the injury to the occipital bone was caused by an upward blow?"

The old coroner nodded: "The wound was most severely injured at the point of impact. I examined the wound carefully, which is why I was able to make that judgment."

So how can a tall person exert force from the bottom up?

The old coroner continued, "In addition, there was a piece of broken iron blade embedded in the inside of the Prime Minister's sternum, which corresponds to the position of his heart."

"The blade tip is slightly upturned, and the force should have been applied from bottom to top, pushing in along the gap. There are shallow, fine scratches from a sharp instrument near the sternum on the ribs, and there are more than one."

"It can be inferred that those wounds were caused by the repeated sliding of the blade tip."

Xu Huaiyi frowned even more. It now seemed that the chest wound was fatal. The conclusion reached after examining the two wounds was consistent.

First, the person who attacked the Prime Minister lacked strength; second, this person must have been much shorter than the Prime Minister.

Xu Huaiyi stood up, pretending to hold a dagger in his hand, repeatedly searching for the right angle. When facing a loved one, one might hesitate the first time, but when one realizes that the force used is insufficient and has not killed the person, using a dagger is the finishing blow.

Would you hold back when finishing off an opponent? The answer is no. Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back; there will be no more hesitation afterward.

As for the wounds that extend from the bottom up, they are even more puzzling.

It would be very difficult for Xie Yizhi to carry out such an assassination.

This is not right.

Very wrong.

It shouldn't be Xie Yizhi. Even if Xie Yizhi was there, there would be a third person nearby.

Who is the third person?

Xu Huaiyi dismissed the two coroners and began to review all the confessions in the case file, trying to find the person who met the requirements. However, he went through the files again and again, but the person seemed to have never existed...

The clerk beside him finally couldn't help but speak up: "Minister Xu, the case of Prime Minister Xie has been thoroughly investigated. We have found evidence that the Prime Minister was murdered, and Xie Yizhi has also confessed. So what's wrong with it?" He really couldn't understand it. The current result was clearly what Minister Xu had predicted long ago.

The officials in the court are all convinced that Xie Yizhi murdered his father, so... what exactly are they still investigating? Is Minister Xu being too stubborn?

“I know what you are worried about,” the clerk said. “The results of the autopsy may not always match the case details. Any government office has plenty of such cases. Besides… it has been a year since Prime Minister Xie was buried, so it is already very difficult to investigate clearly.”

Why insist on focusing on just one or two things?

It's important to know that after this case, many more cases are waiting in the wings.

In his view, Xu Sicheng had gotten himself into a rut and trapped himself in it.

"Why don't you go back and rest for a while?" the clerk suggested. "I heard that tomorrow, the Wang family has invited Baoshan to propose marriage to Lady Xie on behalf of the court official."

"Haven't you always been on good terms with Chaoqinglang and Lady Xie? Why don't you go and join in the fun? It'll help you relax."

Xu Huaiyi frowned. The clerk was right. He had originally planned to prepare a congratulatory gift, but now the case files were piling up on his desk, and he hadn't had time to do them yet.

Wang Yan and Xie Yuyan both hoped to convict Xie Yizhi as soon as possible, whether it was to apprehend the perpetrator or to find evidence. The fact that things were going so smoothly was largely thanks to the two of them.

He had anticipated various obstacles during the investigation, but he never imagined that he himself would be the one stalling the case. If he loosened his grip a little, these problems wouldn't exist. When he wanted to exhume the body for an autopsy, some questioned what the connection was between investigating and not investigating.
Since Xie Yizhi is going to die anyway, why bother disturbing Prime Minister Xie's peace?
But the law is the law, and there can be no ambiguity.

Xu Huaiyi took a deep breath and decided to stick to his principles. Otherwise, what would be the point of him returning to the Dali Temple?
“I remember there are still a few servants from the Xie family’s old residence who haven’t been interrogated,” Xu Huaiyi said. “Bring them over one by one.”

Seeing that Xu, the temple official, had made up his mind, the clerk dared not try to dissuade him and could only go to take the man away.

Xu Huaiyi unfolded the case files he had kept. The people listed on them had all stayed at the estate on the day Prime Minister Xie passed away.

His gaze swept over the names again, searching for the "missing" murderer.

What kind of person could appear at the Xie family's old residence without arousing suspicion, and even get close to Prime Minister Xie? Not only did they intend to attack Prime Minister Xie, but they also ultimately sought to kill him.

If Xie Yizhi did not kill Prime Minister Xie, then what were Xie Yizhi's motives in concealing this matter for that person? That person's arrest would definitely bring trouble to Xie Yizhi.

There can't be anyone who disappears; the murderer might be on the list right in front of him.

(End of this chapter)