A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 427 Ending (96)

"Lin Chuan, what was the Empress Dowager's motive for exterminating the 'Shuiyun Pavilion'? How could a brothel in Jiangnan, far away in the countryside, possibly offend the Empress and bring about such a tragic massacre?"

A voice pulled Song Yan back to reality.

This caused Song Zi, who was already sobbing uncontrollably, to suddenly stop crying!

The others, reminded by this remark, gradually came to their senses. Yes, why would the Empress Dowager kill someone? Even in the midst of palace intrigue, it's impossible for such a lowly courtesan to be involved!
His father's solemn expression made Song Shuyu feel inexplicably uneasy, but the problem was that Mu Qingcheng had raised it, so how could he dare to refuse? Moreover, finding out the motive for the crime was a basic procedure in criminal trials, and he had no reason to stop it.

As his thoughts raced, he heard Lin Chuan reply, "I don't know. We are acting under orders. If our master doesn't say, how dare we ask?"

Mu Qingcheng pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Song Shuyu, "My lord, may I ask the Duke for his advice?"

“Alright!” Song Shuyu said without the slightest hesitation. “How you want to interrogate them, who you want to question, is up to you.” After speaking, he glanced at Song Yan, tapped the table lightly with his finger, and reminded his father to cooperate.

Song Yan's gloomy mood was greatly dispelled by his son. He relaxed his brows and put on a gentle expression. "Master Mu, please ask whatever you wish."

"Thank you, Duke!" Mu Qingcheng bowed in thanks, then said sharply, "You said you learned of the Empress Dowager's crimes through the list of the dead, but there are people on the list whom the Empress Dowager held a grudge against. Is it because she wanted to kill these people that she implicated the entire building?"

Song Yan nodded, "Master Mu is absolutely right, that's true."

"Who is this person, and what is their relationship with the Empress Dowager?" Mu Qingcheng immediately pressed for an answer.

"Yes……"

"Brother!"

Song Zi's roar was piercing and mournful, "You can't even write two Song characters in one stroke. Are you sure you want to ruin your father's reputation and disregard the Song family's century-old honor?"

Song Yan's body stiffened, and a look of grief appeared in his eyes. "Isn't it you who ruined Father and the Song family? How many years can you cover up your deceitful act?"

Mu Qingcheng said, "It's alright, I can draw a conclusion after reviewing the case file."

Song Zi loathed Mu Qingcheng's confident, composed, and dignified demeanor! But Mu Qingcheng never lied; whatever she said, she could do!

“Oh, right…” Mu Qingcheng’s memory suddenly came back, “Lin Chuan said that at the time of the incident, two young boys witnessed the crime. Perhaps they had glimpsed the Empress Dowager’s secret.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan frowned and said, "Master Mu, can you find those two boys? One of them was stabbed and fell into Taihu Lake, so his chances of survival are slim. Even if the other one is still alive, he probably doesn't know anything about it. After all, even we don't know which of the people we killed was the Empress Dowager's target."

Mu Qingcheng and Lu Xun exchanged glances. Lu Xun understood immediately and called out to the audience, "Lu Zhao, come up here!"

"okay!"

Lu Zhao, who had been holding back for a long time, rushed into the courtroom and said excitedly, "Not only are we brothers alive, but we also clearly remember what we saw at that time!"

"You...you are those two eyewitness teenagers?" Lin Chuan was shocked. Thinking of how Lu Xun had contacted him many times without showing any abnormality, he suddenly realized that while he was casting his net on Song Shuyu, he had also been used as bait by them!

“That’s right!” Lu Xun stepped out of the judge’s seat and stood tall in front of Song Zi, his eyes unusually sharp. “The Empress Dowager has been testing us brothers for many years, using surveillance and assassination tactics, forcing my Huai’an Marquis’s Mansion to close its doors and retreat! Today, I will personally prove to the Empress Dowager that your guess is correct!”

"Very well, very well indeed!" Song Zi's eyes were bloodshot, and her teeth were almost ground to powder. "Let me hear what that greenhorn from back then could possibly know!"

After saying that, she turned to look at Song Yan and laughed foolishly, "Brother, since I can't get what I want, what's wrong with destroying it? Let's take the Song family to hell together!"

Even though Song Zi looked ferocious and repulsive, it did not arouse any emotion in Song Yan. He simply said, "Cause and effect have their consequences, let nature take its course."

Seeing this, Song Zi wanted to go crazy, to smash things, to scream, but in the end, besides silently shedding tears, she could do nothing...

She would rather Song Yan scold her, hit her, or even hate her than be ignored by him, like a knife that kills without drawing blood, stabbing her in unbearable pain!

The emperor sighed almost imperceptibly. It seemed that what affected the Song family's reputation was far more than Song Zi's heinous crimes. Song Yan was determined to burn his bridges and was willing to expose the truth to the world and set things right, but the late emperor's concerns from back then still existed.

Therefore, both for public and private reasons, the foundation of the Song family must not be shaken!
At this moment, Lu Xun spoke up: "My brother and I didn't see or hear much, because we were quickly discovered by the assassins. But, one name did catch our ears!"

“Wen Yun!” Lu Zhao continued, his memory returning to that night. “At that time, the front of ‘Shuiyunjian’ was closed, and everyone was gathered in the backyard to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. Suddenly, six assassins broke in and killed everyone they saw without saying a word! One of them, a girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, was being protected by a maid as she fled, saying, ‘It’s all Wen Yun’s fault, she must have brought this trouble!’ After saying that, they both fell into a pool of blood.”

Song Zi's face was deathly pale. Her pupils were unfocused, as if her soul had left her body, and she was dazed and listless.

Song Shuyu had never heard of the name "Wen Yun" before, but Song Zi's unusual reaction made him purse his lips, unable to utter a question.

Lu Xun stared at Song Zi with a cold and mocking gaze. "I've investigated for many years, but I still couldn't find out Wen Yun's true origins. Now that I think about it, it was the Empress Dowager who used her methods to erase all traces of Wen Yun's existence in this world, wasn't it?"

Song Zi acted as if she hadn't heard.

“It was indeed Wen Yun.” Song Yan closed his eyes, his face grave. “The one who erased Wen Yun’s traces was not Song Zi, but our Song family, and my father.”

Everyone was taken aback. Was it the old Duke Song?
Song Shuyu's heart tightened. Could it be that Wen Yun was... the person that his grandfather and the direct descendants of the Song family avoided talking about?
"Song Yan!"

Song Zi suddenly roared, addressing Song Yan by his full name for the first time, but then her expression changed to pleading, "Please, don't say it anymore, please, don't say it anymore, okay?"

Song Yan remained unmoved.

Lu Xun said, "I reviewed the case file yesterday. The deceased, Wen Yun, was sixteen years old and had only been sold into 'Shuiyunjian' for two months. But I wonder how she came to have such an irreconcilable hatred with the Empress Dowager?"

"Sixteen years old?" Song Zi's brow twitched, her eyes filled with disbelief. "How is that possible? How could she... how could she be sixteen years old, just starting out in a brothel?"

"So, you killed the wrong person!" Song Yan finally burst out in anger. "Song Zi, you're a stupid and wicked woman!"

Song Zi, like a madwoman, cried out in a shrill voice, "No, impossible, how could this be? I don't believe it, I don't believe it!"