Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 773 Murderer
Cao regretted his words as soon as he said them. Although Xu Huaiyi was usually taciturn, he was quite capable in handling cases. He was quick-witted and always came up with better investigation methods.

One of their methods was to bring him to the estate for interrogation under the pretext of an autopsy. The goal was to first isolate him, leaving him helpless, and then, once they had more evidence, force him into a corner.

Cao, the coroner, still tried to struggle: "No...no...I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything."

Little did he know that his flustered appearance had already given Xu Huaiyi the answer.

Xu Huaiyi said, "It seems I was right."

Cao the coroner felt a sinking feeling in his heart; he realized that anything he said would be useless.

"My lord," Coroner Cao pleaded, "please, give me a way out. I have a family to take care of, I..."

Xu Huaiyi said calmly, "As a coroner, being bribed to falsify the autopsy record, this is probably not the first time you've done something like this."

Once a path to wealth is successfully navigated, it will be followed a second and a third time.

"How long have you been working as a coroner at the yamen?" Xu Huaiyi asked. "Are all the cases you handled going to be re-examined?"

Cao the coroner's pupils constricted, his whole being enveloped in fear. He knew how many things he had done, and if Xu Huaiyi was willing to investigate, he would definitely find out.

Keeping quiet might lead to a good outcome, but what if doing so could cost you your life?
Suddenly, the coroner Cao crawled forward and grabbed Xu Huaiyi's robe: "Sir, how dare I, a coroner, do such things? I was ordered to do it, and I had no choice. If I don't agree, they will attack me."

Xu Huaiyi stared at the coroner Cao without saying a word. The coroner Cao knew that he had to say something, otherwise Xu Huaiyi would never change his mind.

"I said, I said..."

Although he had made his decision, Cao the coroner waited until he had calmed down before speaking: "The person who instructed me to do this was Zhu Ting, the then magistrate of Zhongmu County, who is now the supervising censor."

“Zhu Ting, he…”

Cao the coroner's voice grew increasingly hoarse, and he had no choice but to stop there.

“Zhu Ting is Zhu Hong’s younger brother,” Xu Huaiyi continued for him, “and Zhu Hong is a protégé of Prime Minister Xie.”

The hairs on Cao's body stood on end, because Xu Huaiyi's words hit the nail on the head, and it was the very thing he least wanted to mention.

Xu Huaiyi said, "You followed Zhu Ting's instructions to go to the Xie family to examine the corpse and fabricate a body record."

He stopped there, not continuing. The coroner, Cao, knew this because important details of the case needed to come from him.

Cao, the coroner, swallowed hard and finally said, "At that time, Zhu Ting found me and asked me to go to Xie Family Manor to write a coroner's record. I didn't know what I was supposed to do until I came to the manor and heard... heard... that the Xie family steward said that Old Madam Xie had passed away due to heart disease and asked me to be careful when examining the body so as not to ruin Old Madam Xie's dignity."

At this point, the coroner took a deep breath and thought carefully: "When I heard this, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that I had found a good job. Some wealthy families did not want a coroner like me to handle the corpses when the women passed away. I only needed to take a few glances from afar, write the document, and I could get a reward."

Xu Huaiyi asked, "Did you see Madam Xie's body?"

The coroner, Cao, nodded: "The Xie family originally didn't intend for me to see it. They just took me to the main house, gave me a doctor's medical record, and asked me to refer to it when issuing documents."

"I didn't think much of it. After all, it was the Xie family. With the status and reputation of the late Prime Minister Xie, how could I possibly question anything? Perhaps it was fate, just as I was writing the Corpse Record..."

Xu Huaiyi looked at Cao the coroner's expression and asked, "What happened?"

The coroner, Cao, pursed his lips: "Suddenly, there was a shout outside. It was a woman who was clamoring to see her grandmother... Because the commotion was so intense, the steward who was with me had to go out to check the situation." "I looked out out of curiosity and found that the woman was leading a group of people and had a conflict with the servants guarding the courtyard. While the two groups were fighting, the woman hurriedly ran towards the main house, but was stopped by someone."

Xu Huaiyi asked, "What did the woman say?"

Coroner Cao remembered it clearly: "She said, 'What are you doing? Why are you stopping me? Where is my grandmother? My grandmother is not sick, I want to see her.'"

"These words piqued my curiosity and made me suspect that there was something fishy about this case."

Whenever Cao, the coroner, thought about this incident, he felt immense regret. If he hadn't been so curious at the time, he probably wouldn't have had the worries and anxieties that followed.

“While it was chaotic outside, I quietly went to the mourning hall. There was no one guarding the hall at the time, so I pushed open the coffin lid and saw Madam Xie inside.”

Xu Huaiyi asked, "What did you see?"

The coroner, Cao, replied, "Madam Xie's body has been cleaned, her face has been powdered, and she has been dressed in new clothes. Although these things have been done very carefully, there are some things that cannot be hidden, such as... her bluish fingernails."

"I knew it was over after just one glance."

"Because Madam Xie did not die of illness, but was poisoned."

At this point, Coroner Cao collapsed to the ground as if deflated.

After a long pause, he continued, "I hurriedly closed the coffin lid, returned to the inner room, and pretended that nothing had happened."

"It's also thanks to the commotion outside."

“I’m afraid that woman might actually break in or shout something that reveals the secret of Madam Xie’s murder. If that happens… the Xie family might worry that I’ll tell the truth and then turn against me.”

"Fortunately, the woman and the people she brought were apprehended. After they were taken away, the steward went back into the house and told me that the woman was the second daughter of the family, who had grown up by the old lady's side. The old lady's sudden death caused the second daughter to become so grief-stricken that she became somewhat deranged."

"Of course I dared not question it. I forced myself to calm down, finished writing the corpse record, and hurriedly left the Xie family. Just as I stepped out of the courtyard, I saw the old Prime Minister Xie. I knew that the Xie family was reminding me to shut my mouth and not to talk nonsense after I left."

"The Xie family was afraid that I would reveal the matter of Xie Er Niangzi's 'madness'. I saw the strange condition of Xie Lao Madam's body. I was too busy protecting myself to dare to utter a single word."

"I returned to the yamen and did what I was supposed to do as usual. The Xie family didn't cause any more trouble. After that incident, Zhu Ting treated me very well, often letting me take on cases that could bring in money, and I would accept some bribes in return..."

Cao, the coroner, looked at Xu Huaiyi and said, "I dare not refuse to accept it. If I don't take it, Zhu Ting will become suspicious."

Xu Huaiyi did not respond. Cao the coroner may have been genuinely frightened, but his taking the money was out of greed.

Xu Huaiyi asked, "Didn't you go and inquire about the Xie family's village again?"

Once you know a secret, even if you tell yourself to stay away, you can't help but pay attention to things related to that secret.

The coroner, Cao, dared not lie: "I heard some news that when Madam Xie was buried, the two head maids who served her died for her, and the Xie family also sent away some people. Several more servants died within a year."

"Where is Second Madam Xie?" Xu Huaiyi asked. "How is she?"

The coroner, Cao, said, "Everyone says that Second Madam Xie is observing mourning for the old lady at the estate, but actually... I heard that she has gone mad."