A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 100 The Mysterious Study (4)

As they admired the calligraphy, both were filled with mixed emotions.

Mu Qingcheng humbly asked for advice, "My lord, what do you think? This humble servant doesn't know much about calligraphy."

Song Shuyu said, "Li Mu's calligraphy is vigorous and powerful, flowing smoothly, with a bold and unrestrained style. He truly deserves his background as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy! However..."

He pointed to the beginning and ending strokes of the characters “天” (heaven), “君” (ruler), “坤” (earth), and “厚” (thickness), saying, “These strokes are not only hasty and messy, but the force applied when they were written is noticeably heavier, as if they contain a feeling of anger and resentment.”

“Anger and hatred?” Mu Qingcheng was surprised, then pondered, “These two sentences come from the Qian and Kun hexagrams of the Book of Changes, respectively. They mean that the characteristic of the way of heaven is that it is in constant motion and change, and no one can stop it. A gentleman should emulate the way of heaven, be self-reliant and strong, strive for progress, and never slacken. The earth’s energy is thick and gentle. A gentleman should emulate the earth and embrace all things with profound virtue.”

"These two cautionary sayings are correct in their original meaning, so what is Li Mu angry and resentful about? Is his anger and resentment directed at others or at himself?"

Song Shuyu said, "The earth is receptive; a virtuous person should cultivate virtue to bear all things. This saying also admonishes people that to establish oneself in the world, one must first have virtue. A person without virtue, even if full of talent, will inevitably be mediocre. Li Mu's self-evaluation probably lacks the word 'virtue'!"

"How can you be so sure?" Mu Qingcheng felt that this conjecture lacked evidence.

Song Shuyu laughed, "Just because he stubbornly clings to his position as compiler and refuses to move, I have reason to suspect that he is plotting something shady."

“Uh…” Mu Qingcheng frowned slightly. “Isn’t this a bit far-fetched? What if Li Mu is just obsessed with mathematics and pharmacology and has no interest in his future?”

Song Shuyu patiently explained to her, "The official system of the Great Zhou Dynasty involves the Ministry of Revenue conducting an assessment every three years, and reassigning positions and ranks based on the assessment results. Every five years, there is a rotation of officials within the same department. In principle, an official is not allowed to remain in the same position for more than five years!"

"Then how come Li Mu stayed for eight years?" Mu Qingcheng asked in astonishment.

Song Shuyu's face was ashen. "So, Li Mu has a problem! Either he has a powerful backer in the court, or someone is deliberately suppressing him and preventing him from being promoted or transferred. Tomorrow, I will go to the Minister of Personnel to find out the truth."

Mu Qingcheng nodded. When it came to matters of officialdom, the magistrate was certainly more knowledgeable than she was, and she trusted his judgment.

"Let's look at something else."

"it is good."

On the wall opposite the desk hangs the only painting in the entire study, a painting titled "Father and Daughter Playing Chess Under the Moon" painted by Li Yunyao herself!
Mu Qingcheng leaned closer to look and confirmed that the chess piece her father was holding was indeed the 'Minister'!
The painting was hung quite high, so Song Shuyu moved a stool over, stood on it, and took the painting down. Then he carefully examined the wall behind the painting and found that the wall was smooth and flat, without any gaps, so it didn't look like there was a hidden door.

Mu Qingcheng examined the painting over and over, even deliberately smelling the paint, but to no avail.

By the window, there was a long, four-legged sandalwood table with a white jade chessboard on it, on which was a half-finished chess game.

Most people in the Great Zhou Dynasty enjoy Go, and very few play Chinese chess. When Mu Qingcheng was young, out of curiosity, she dabbled in Chinese chess with her father, Mu Yan, for a while. However, in recent years, she has been busy investigating corpses and has not touched Chinese chess again. Therefore, her Chinese chess skills are really not high.

At this moment, she stared at the unfinished chess game, her brows furrowed. "My lord, the red and black pieces are currently locked in a tug-of-war. If we follow the painting and move the red elephant as 'Father,' wouldn't we be directly checkmated by the black pieces?" Song Shuyu pondered for a moment, then slowly leaned down and placed her finger on the red elephant piece. Her voice was somewhat strained. "Is it possible that Li Mu is trying to express 'no destruction, no construction'? Like driving a dog into a dead end, the dog will bite. Since he's already at his wit's end, doesn't he want to leave clues to avenge himself?"

"Assuming Li Muzhen did something immoral, then he should have had a premonition of his death."

Mu Qingcheng took a few deep breaths and said resolutely, "My lord, please do it. This subordinate supports your decision!"

Without further hesitation, Song Shuyu grabbed the red chess piece and held it in his hand!

The next moment, the chessboard began to shake!
The chess pieces, however, seemed to be embedded in the chessboard, remaining completely still no matter how violently they were shaken!
"grown ups!"

"My lord, Coroner Mu, come quickly!"

Outside, Zhang, the registrar, shouted in surprise, waking the two people who were in a daze. The two of them immediately ran out!
But then, in the open space outside, near Lü Dongbin's abacus, appeared a bronze vessel with four rams on the square ground!
Clerk Zhang pointed at the Four-Sheep Bronze Zun, speechless with astonishment: "It...it suddenly jumped out from under the floor!"

Song Shuyu squatted down and tried to lift the Four-Sheep Square Zun, but the bronze vessel, like the white jade chess pieces, was controlled by a mechanism and could not be moved at all!
Seeing this, Registrar Zhang said angrily, "Does Lord Li Mu have to make things so complicated? If the people investigating the case are all stupid, wouldn't it be hopeless to solve the case, and he would die unjustly for generations?"

To prevent Song Shuyu from angering Zhang Zhubu again, Mu Qingcheng spoke first: "Zhang Zhubu, please calm down. We have already made some progress. Calm down and take it slow."

Registrar Zhang touched his chest and comforted himself, "Okay, I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry, we'll be able to decipher it soon."

"Coroner Mu, this sheep's eyes are hollow!" Song Shuyu didn't have time to pay attention to anyone. He peeked into one of the eyes and looked into the sheep's hollow eye, but it was dark inside and he couldn't see anything.

Mu Qingcheng followed his example and examined the other sheep's eye. Then the two switched positions and finally determined that the two empty sheep's eyes were not connected, and there seemed to be something blocking the way.

At this moment, the confused Registrar Zhang suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Sir, if we just find the sheep's two eyeballs and put them in, can we activate the mechanism?"

Song Shuyu finally smiled, "Registration Officer Zhang, you've finally shown some intelligence for once!"

"Hehe, I was originally a smart man, but I was outdone by the smarter sir and the coroner Mu." Zhang, the registrar, was too proud to admit it and had to save face.

Song Shuyu saw through it but didn't say anything. He just smiled and urged, "Alright, hurry up and find the eyeballs. For your performance tonight, I will give you credit."

Registrar Zhang was overjoyed, "This humble servant thanks you greatly, sir!"

Mu Qingcheng smiled, feeling that her tense mood had eased considerably thanks to Zhang Zhubu's occasional joking remarks.

Just as the group was thoroughly searching for the eyes, Jiang Zhan returned with Bai Zhizhi...

See you in the next chapter, my darlings! Thank you all for your support.
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(End of this chapter)