A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 118 The Truth Revealed to the World (6)

Upon hearing this, Mu Qingcheng paused, slowly placed the medicine bottle in her hand on the table, and listened attentively without making a sound.

"Traces of tampering?"

Song Shuyu was slightly surprised. "Was it for theft? An unguarded house must have been left unattended. The owner must have taken all the valuables with him when he left. It's impossible for it to be left unattended and attract thieves!"

Officer Liu replied, “Your Excellency is right. If it were for money, then it would make sense for the thieves to go in and out of the storeroom, bedroom, and study. But even the flower hall, kitchen, banquet hall, main hall, side rooms, woodshed, cloth shed, and even the servants' quarters were ransacked!”

"Are you sure these marks weren't made by the owner himself when he left?" Song Shuyu's brows furrowed. He had heard that Mu Yan and his daughter had left in a hurry back then, selling off all their family property at a low price and dismissing all their servants within a few days before leaving the capital overnight.

"It doesn't seem like it." Officer Liu shook his head, his tone certain. "If it had been ransacked like this years ago, it would definitely be covered in a thick layer of dust. But now, some areas have very thin layers of dust, indicating it was recently ransacked. Some cabinets and drawers are open, yet almost completely dry, as if this happened only in the last few days. Furthermore, since the owner left the house unsold, it means he intended to return. Why would he have looted his own residence?"

Song Shuyu couldn't help but glance at Mu Qingcheng and said, "If it's not for money, then it must be for some other purpose. Think about those ghost stories, and what Miss Bai saw with her own eyes: a man entered the Mu residence late at night on September 15th, and last night, someone suddenly broke into the Mu residence and almost killed Zhang the Registrar... What are these people doing, coming and going from the Mu residence time and time again? Are they the same person, or different people?"

Mu Qingcheng was speechless for a moment.

Officer Liu racked his brains, "Is it for making medicine and killing people? No, what does doing these things have to do with ransacking houses?"

"Not only is it unrelated, but the people who ransacked the entire mansion, how could they not know the secret of the stilted house? Li Mu entered the Mu residence through the secret passage in the study, while the people who ransacked the house sneaked in from the outer wall. Clearly, these were two separate groups, each doing their own thing, but these two groups must know each other, and their relationship must have reached the point where they were covering up each other's crimes!"

Song Shuyu's pupils reflected Mu Qingcheng's shocked and bewildered face. After his analysis, she became even more certain that the person who ransacked the house was, like her, looking for her mother's dagger!
Otherwise, there's no way to explain the motivation behind this behavior!
In Mu Qingcheng's eyes, Song Shuyu saw the answer he wanted, but she remained silent. He could only sigh inwardly and ask, "Coroner Mu, what do you think of this matter?"

"..."

Mu Qingcheng remained silent for a long time before finally deciding not to reveal the truth. She calmly said, "They're probably looking for something. Once we catch that person, the adults will interrogate them and everything will be clear."

From the dagger to the medical books in the stilted house, more and more things were getting involved with her mother. Since the murder and drug manufacturing cases were unrelated to her parents, she could no longer reveal more information.

Twelve years ago, her mother died of a cough; three years ago, Li Mu's wife also died of a cough. With her detective's intuition, their deaths were no coincidence!
Her father abandoned his official post and family to take her to hide in Jiangnan. Looking back now, wasn't it all to protect her? Just look at Li Mu's family of three: they died of illness, were murdered, and committed suicide. No matter how they died, they all died!

So, she didn't dare to gamble.

Back then, her father was the Minister of Justice, a high-ranking official of the third rank in the imperial court, yet he still couldn't protect her mother. Now, she is just a lowly coroner with no rank or position. How could she dare to risk her father's and her own lives?
She will definitely find out the truth. But she must investigate secretly and proceed gradually!
Since she was unwilling to be honest, Song Shuyu did not press her. He turned to Officer Liu and asked, "Have you found any clues about the identity of the person who ransacked the house?"

"No," Officer Liu answered very quickly, but fearing that Song Shuyu would think he was incompetent, he added, "Although no items representing his identity were left behind, there were quite a few footprints. I measured five sets of footprints from different rooms and can confirm that they came from the same person!"

Song Shuyu's dark eyes finally brightened a little. "How big are the footprints? Did you estimate his height?"

"His feet were more than eight inches long, and his height was estimated to be between five feet two and a half inches and five feet three inches."

"Liu Pei?" Song Shuyu was slightly startled. "Is there something in the Mu residence that Liu Pei wants? The person who attacked Zhang the Registrar last night also left behind a jade pendant with the character 'Liu' on it. Could it be... that Liu Pei sneaked in last night looking for something and happened to run into Zhang the Registrar? Could the person that Miss Bai saw earlier also be Liu Pei?"

Bai Zhizhi, who was idly wandering around, immediately denied this upon hearing it, saying, "The person I saw was about eight feet tall!"

Song Shuyu was so angry he laughed. "A man who is six feet tall is already extremely rare. If he is eight feet tall, wouldn't he be a giant?"

"Uh..." Bai Zhizhi was extremely embarrassed. She looked at Mu Qingcheng for help, "Sister Mu, did I really see it wrong?"

Mu Qingcheng's heavy and turbulent mood was eased a lot by Bai Zhizhi's cuteness, and she rarely smiled. "Zhizhi, the eight feet you mentioned, could it be the length of that person's shadow?"

Bai Zhizhi was stunned for a moment, then clapped her hands vigorously, "Yes, I was crouching in the corner at the time. That person flew over my head. By the time I climbed up the wall, the person had already landed and walked away. He was wearing black clothes, so I couldn't see him clearly. All I could see was his shadow stretched out by the moonlight!"

Upon hearing this, everyone smiled sincerely.

"By the way, sir, I have something important to report."

Song Shuyu was brought back to his senses by Liu's words. He raised his chin, signaling him to continue.

Liu, the head constable, then said, "I was ordered by you to check the carriages and donkey carts that went in and out of Yuntai Mountain again last night. Sure enough, one carriage went down the mountain to the mortuary where Granny Yang lives!"

Song Shuyu was overjoyed and immediately asked, "Who is the owner of the car? And who is driving it?"

Officer Liu said, "The identity of the car owner is currently unknown, and my men are still investigating. However, the driver is definitely Granny Yang!"

Song Shuyu finally smiled at Constable Liu and praised him, "Well done! Go back to the yamen immediately and interrogate Granny Yang! Remember, do not torture her or treat her cruelly."

Officer Liu was at a loss. "This...this is so polite, will she confess?"

"It's alright. You can conduct a preliminary interrogation first. If he doesn't confess, we can arrange another interrogation with the coroner, Mu."

"Yes, my lord!"

When Officer Liu left, he straightened his back and regained his usual spirited demeanor.

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(End of this chapter)