Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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After Wang Baitian finished his statement, the cell fell silent.
The governor, his face ashen, opened his mouth but ultimately dared not utter a sound.
Only the minor official, writing furiously, remained silent; while the rest were lost in thought.
“Wang Baitian, do you know what kind of impact this accusation will have on the Liang Wang’s Mansion?” Chen Buyu stared at him and asked. “Do you know what the crime of arbitrarily accusing a member of the royal family without concrete evidence is?”
“The evidence is on the western slope of Dongshan Mountain. Take the coroner and dig up that desolate graveyard on the left. There are a dozen or twenty pregnant women’s corpses, covered in wounds, dumped there. You can dig one up with every shovel. Isn’t that enough evidence?”
“Of course, you can argue with me and ask me what evidence I have to prove that these female corpses were dumped by the Liang Wang’s Mansion. Now there is no way to verify the truth. Under the Yellow Springs, there are only piles of white bones. Many things have been buried in the past.”
“My great revenge has been avenged, and my mind is made up. You can write whatever you want about it. I don’t care much. Whether you stick your neck out or not, you’ll still get killed. What is there to fear but death?”
Chen Buyu narrowed his eyes. “Wang Baitian, I’ll ask you one more time, is the Liang Wang your…”
“I killed them. I killed them all! Killing these scumb*gs who couldn’t even kill a chicken was too easy, why would I need to cover it up?”
“You also set fire to the Liang Wang’s Mansion?”
“Yes! I killed that old lecher and deliberately set fire to cause chaos so I could escape in the confusion.” Wang Baitian sat on the bench with an imposing air, his back and waist covered in wounds, yet he remained upright and ramrod straight.
Chen Buyu said sternly, “I remind you again, everything you say will be recorded. Think it through. Even if you have your reasons, plotting against the royal family is a capital offense! Can you bear the consequences? If you didn’t kill Liang Wang, don’t try to be a hero…”
Wang Baitian laughed loudly, “My lord, I hate that old lecher to the bone, I’ve killed him eight or ten times in my dreams. This time, I infiltrated Liang Wang’s mansion precisely to kill him! What do I have to hide?”
“This commoner’s life in the martial world is worthless, taking a few down with me is worth it. Killing one is death, killing several is also death, what reason do I have to lie?”
Mu Zhao gave Wang Baitian a deep look.
Chen Buyu then said in a deep voice, “Wang Baitian, recount in detail how you killed Chen Ergou, the Niu family, and others.”
After a night of interrogation, Mu Zhao led the group out of the dark cell. The bright light made it feel like they had returned to the world of the living.
“Huaizhi, do you think what he said is true or false? If he really killed Liang Wang, why did he say ‘Liang Wang is indeed dead’ at the beginning?”
Mu Zhao took a deep breath. “He must be hiding something. The testimony does seem a bit off, but we have no evidence to prove that Wang Baitian is lying.”
“He and Liang Wang have an irreconcilable feud, so killing him to avenge his sister is only right.”
Lu Qian followed him out of the dark dungeon, only then realizing that it was already dawn. “Should we summon all the coroners from the yamen to the desolate graveyard in Dongshan?”
“Alright, go and summon them.” Mu Zhao nodded, his eyes narrowed, his voice somewhat heavy.
“Your Highness, Your Highness!” Governor Yu rushed forward in a panic. “If what Wang Baitian said is true, and there are many pregnant women’s corpses buried in the desolate graves, wouldn’t it be inappropriate to have coroners examine the bodies? Shouldn’t we find some midwives to examine them?”
“The people are all dead. According to Wang Baitian, some may have been dead for six or seven years. Six or seven years is enough time for people to turn into piles of bones. What’s the point of saying such nonsense? Now we should do our best to properly settle the deceased, find their families, and seek justice for them so that they can regain the dignity they lost before they died.”
“Your Excellency, as the magistrate of Weizhou Prefecture, you receive a salary from the imperial court. You should treat the people under your jurisdiction well, not act as a muddle-headed and incompetent official.”
“Issue my order: have all the yamen runners and coroners go to Dongshan to exhume and examine the body, and summon any available midwives in the city to assist.”
“Our Great Qi, with its bright sun and clear moon, will not allow such filth to remain buried in the earth. I don’t care if this case has been sealed for three, five, seven, or eight years; dig them up, exhume them all, and examine them thoroughly! We will investigate to the end and give the deceased justice!”
The clerk, who had been carrying the case file and writing furiously, suddenly looked up, his eyes shining as he gazed at their heir.
Wu Yong and the other yamen runners were all moved, their blood boiling, and they all responded in unison, “Yes!”
“…The deceased was around twenty years old, female. Preliminary examination indicates she was over eight months pregnant. There are signs of fractures in her lumbar and leg bones, and her tibia is abnormally bent outwards. It is speculated that she suffered cruel violence before death.”
“The deceased’s lower body has been burned. A light tap on her abdomen reveals the head, face, hands, and feet of a foetus. Preliminary examination indicates the deceased suffered violence before death; her legs are in an abnormal position, and the foetus died in utero.”
Yu Linlang said this, and a minor official quickly scribbled it down. The winter wind was biting, but everyone was sweating profusely from their work.
In the desolate graveyard of Dongshan, more than a dozen corpses had been unearthed and were lined up. The coroners, accompanied by experienced midwives, were examining each body.
The constables were responsible for excavating the bodies, carefully digging them out of the graveyard.
Many vomited, but the work continued in an orderly manner.
Batch after batch of constables took turns, each with a solemn expression and a tense heart, as if the world in Weizhou was about to turn upside down…
Yu Linlang had been summoned by the governor early that morning to help, and had only drunk a small bowl of warm water during that time.
Now, as noon approached, Ba Liang took out a handkerchief to wipe her young mistress’s sweat, comforting her, “Miss, go and have something to eat first, we’ll look at the bodies later.”
Yu Linlang had finished examining four corpses without stopping, and now she also wanted to go to the side to stretch her muscles.
Seeing Wei Ling approaching quickly, Yu Linlang said calmly, “I’ve finished examining the four corpses whose flesh is still relatively intact. The remaining female corpses are quite old, many are already skeletons. If you want to investigate the truth, have someone dig a large pit and examine them using the bone-steaming method.”
Wei Ling nodded solemnly, “There are also seven or eight corpses that were piled together when they were buried in batches, and over time the bones have become mixed together, making them difficult to distinguish.”
“Everyone’s skeletal structure and bone connections are different. The vertebrae, hip bones, leg bones, and neck bones are easy to distinguish. Go eat first; then you’ll have the strength to continue working. Have someone collect all the bones, spread them out on several large oilcloths, and then carefully assemble and identify them.”
“Only after you’ve clearly identified the people can you examine the bones. If not today, then tomorrow or the day after. Don’t rush the bone examination; everything must be done carefully to gather evidence.”
“Yes.” Wei Ling nodded in agreement, and only after Yu Linlang had left did she blink involuntarily.
Strange, why did she inexplicably treat her like a superior and obey her orders just now…?
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