The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 25: The Ultimate Deduction, A Strategy That Shocks Everyone! (6k)

The desolate and barren courtyard fell silent as Liu Shuyi's voice faded away.

Everyone stared blankly at Liu Shuyi, his powerful words still echoing in their minds!

In order to scheme against Liu Shuyi, Miaoyin'er forged footprints, medicine powder, and the illusion of rape.

I thought I would completely fool Liu Shuyi.

But to everyone's surprise, the final result was that she gradually exposed herself!

The rape revealed that the perpetrator was a woman.

The footprints revealed that the murderer used stilts.

The medicine powder revealed that the murderer was in Miaoyinfang, and also allowed Miaoyin'er to appear directly in front of Liu Shuyi...

Three false clues, not one was wasted!

However, in the end, she completely exposed herself to the public!

"Wonderful!"

"fantastic!"

If it weren't for the inappropriate setting, even Cheng Yaojin sitting on the courtyard wall would have wanted to shout a couple of times.

His rugged face was filled with surprise and realization upon learning the truth. He couldn't help but say, "Even the grandest drama on stage is far less exciting than this reasoning that exposes the truth!"

"I originally intended to protect my good-for-nothing son, but I never expected to witness such a good show! This Liu family boy is to my liking! I like him!"

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked at Du Ruhui, who was standing to the side with a deep gaze and a smile on his face as he looked at Liu Shuyi. He said, "Old Du, tell me the truth, has the Liu family boy agreed to be your son-in-law or not?"

Du Ruhui's eyelids twitched violently.

The good mood that Liu Shuyi had given me was immediately affected.

He glanced at the menacing troublemaker and said calmly, "It's too late. Don't you understand?"

He didn't say that Liu Shuyi agreed.

If Cheng Yaojin misunderstood, it's because he wasn't smart enough; you can't blame him.

As the current Minister of Works, he never lied.

Cheng Yaojin had no idea about Du Ruhui's sinister thoughts. He clicked his tongue as if he had a toothache, sighed, and shook his head: "What a pity! It's all my brat's fault for not telling me how outstanding Liu Shuyi was, making me miss out on such a good son-in-law! When we get back, I'll give him a good beating!"

…………

"Ah!"

Cheng Chumo sneezed and inexplicably felt a little cold.

He shrank back and said to Liu Shuyi, "So that's how it is. No wonder you were so suspicious of her. After learning about stilts, the first thing you did was to find out if she had ever used them."

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "While I asked Miss Du to secretly investigate the stilt walking, I also asked her to secretly ask Xiangxiang why she gave the sachet to Sun Zhouming."

"My suspicions about Miaoyin'er are still just suspicions and need to be further confirmed."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Chumo and the others immediately looked at Liu Shuyi and asked, "And the result?"

Liu Shuyi looked back at Miaoyin'er, narrowed his eyes as he saw her slightly pursed lips, and said, "Xiangxiang said that Miaoyin'er told her that she saw someone bowing and scraping to Sun Zhouming, and suspected that Sun Zhouming was either rich or noble. She told Xiangxiang to serve him well and win him over."

"So that's it..."

Cheng Chumo understood completely and said, "So, it was she who hinted to Xiangxiang that Xiangxiang would offer to give Sun Zhouming the sachet? In reality, it was she who wanted to give the sachet to Sun Zhouming?"

Listening to Cheng Chumo's words, Liu Shuyi felt a sense of relief, like an old father watching his son succeed.

He nodded: "That's right."

As he spoke, he looked at Miaoyin'er and said slowly, "Miaoyin'er, you are indeed clever enough. Before the operation, you anticipated the impact of the weather on the corpse, the traces that the snow and ice would leave, and even the abilities of my Ministry of Justice coroners. You were absolutely brilliant..."

"But unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes; fate is not on your side, but on mine."

"I have met what is probably the most outstanding female coroner in the entire Tang Dynasty!"

"The moment she appeared beside me, willing to listen to the words of an outsider like me, and dissected the stomachs of the Zhao mother and son, the balance of power between you and me shifted!"

"Now……"

He looked directly into Miao Yin'er's eyes and said in a deep voice, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, the aloof female coroner couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

The most outstanding female coroner in the entire Tang Dynasty?

It sounds pretty good.

Du Gou's eyebrows twitched violently.

He desperately wanted to say, "My sister is a doctor! A doctor! A doctor who heals and saves lives! Not a coroner who dissects corpses and removes stomachs!!"
But given the current situation, he really couldn't bring himself to refute it.

As for Miaoyin'er, after Liu Shuyi mentioned Du Ying, her eyes, which had originally been full of affection, turned cold as she looked at Du Ying.

Looking at Du Ying's aloof and elegant demeanor, and her beautiful and flamboyant face, he gritted his teeth and said, "I thought she was just a pretty face, but I didn't expect you to actually have some talent."

The aloof forensic pathologist raised her eyebrows slightly: "You flatter me."

"Humph!"

Miao Yin'er snorted coldly, took a deep breath, and turned her gaze back to Liu Shuyi.

Looking at the handsome face that she had looked at several times in Miaoyinfang, she suddenly calmed down: "A very brilliant reasoning, I can't help but want to applaud you."

"But...none of your reasoning seems to contain any real, conclusive evidence pointing to me, does it?"

"Yes, it was indeed me who asked Xiangxiang to deliver the sachet, but I did see someone bowing and scraping to Sun Zhouming. Just because only I saw it and no one else did, doesn't mean I'm guilty, does it?"

"Manager Liu..."

Miao Yin'er's voice suddenly lowered: "Show me something real, or I won't give in so easily."

She's no longer acting.

But they are still pressing Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi had seen countless people and was very perceptive, so he naturally understood what Miaoyin'er meant.

Miao Yin'er clearly wanted to see if she had come here with her because she really knew something, or if she was just secretly following her out of simple suspicion.

If it's just a simple suspicion, then I don't have conclusive evidence, and she won't admit it.

She was just a courtesan; she could never be Zhao Chengyi's master.

In other words, she has someone behind her. If I arrest her without enough solid evidence, someone will inevitably attack me, which will be detrimental to me.

This is a provocation, and a threat!
Thinking about this, Liu Shuyi couldn't help but sigh, "Truly worthy of being the murderer who specially sent me his head and left a blood letter to provoke me. Even in this situation, you still dare to provoke and threaten me."

Miao Yin'er blinked her beautiful eyes: "How can I not understand what Master Liu is saying? Master Liu keeps saying that I am the murderer. Is it wrong for me to ask Master Liu to produce real evidence?"

"That's certainly true."

Liu Shuyi shook his head, looking at Miaoyin'er who seemed to be waiting for the result.

He didn't delay any longer and said, "Actually, my reasoning just now is not the whole story of this case. There is another very important thing that happened to the Zhao family that I haven't mentioned."

"Not all?"

"And something very important happened to the Zhao family?"

"what?"

The Imperial Guards looked at each other, then at each other in bewilderment.

In their view, Liu Shuyi's reasoning had clearly analyzed all the clues they had obtained so far, so there was nothing important left unsaid.

"Could it be..."

At this moment, Du Gou's eyes flashed, and he suddenly said, "Are those the injuries on Zhao's body?"

The only noteworthy things about Zhao are the powder under her fingernails, the fake rape, and the scars all over her body.

Now, all that seems to remain unsaid is his body covered in scars.

Du Gou's thinking is still very sharp... Liu Shuyi nodded: "That's right, it's the injury on Zhao's body!"

"Miss Du told me that Zhao had a total of twenty-eight wounds on her body, which can be described as numerous."

"If it's just a fake rape, and the perpetrators lay a few wounds on Zhao during the assault, that would be enough."

"However, Zhao has a total of twenty-eight wounds on her body, all of which are very obvious and have turned purplish-blue!"

"This isn't something that happens from a casual slap; it's enough to characterize it as a deliberate and vicious beating!"

"So, here's the problem..."

Liu Shuyi looked at Miao Yin'er, who had a graceful figure but wasn't particularly burly, and slowly said, "Why did you use such a heavy hand on someone you were about to kill? If it wasn't to fake a violent act, then what made you beat her like that?"

Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, everyone suddenly realized.

"Now that you mention it, it does make sense."

"The Zhao family does indeed have quite a few scars."

"The bruises and welts were so bad that I was horrified when I carried her body away!"

The Imperial Guards whispered amongst themselves, their eyes filled with suspicion as they looked at Miaoyin'er.

Du Gou and Du Ying exchanged a glance, and the two siblings also noticed the abnormality hidden beneath the so-called normal violence of rape.

Despite being stared at by everyone, Miao Yin'er's expression remained unchanged.

She simply looked at Liu Shuyi calmly, her delicate brows and eyes unwavering: "What does Manager Liu think is the reason?"

She was still testing Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi did not answer Miaoyin'er directly, but instead brought up another matter.

"I wonder if you noticed anything while examining the corpse and investigating the crime scene..."

Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively looked at Liu Shuyi, who then said, "There is something that should have been there, but it's missing?"

Is something missing?

"is it?"

"I do not know."

The Imperial Guards were completely unaware. Cheng Chumo frowned, racking his brains in thought.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up: "The murder weapon?"

Liu Shuyi shook his head: "The murder weapon was indeed taken away by the murderer, but it doesn't count as something that should have been there, as I mentioned."

"If it wasn't the murder weapon, then what else is missing?" Director Cheng couldn't figure it out.

He couldn't help but turn to look at Du Gou, only to see that the clever Du Gou was also frowning, clearly not understanding what Liu Shuyi was referring to either.

"A hairpin or a hair ornament?"

At this moment, the aloof forensic doctor suddenly spoke.

Her bright eyes looked at Liu Shuyi: "Zhao's hair is loose, without the hairpins or hair ornaments that women use to hold their hair in place! Is this what you mean by something missing?"

"Hairpins and hair ornaments?"

"Sigh! It seems I really haven't seen any hairpins or anything like that!"

"Is this really missing?"

Everyone looked at Liu Shuyi with suspicion.

Indeed, women understand women best... Liu Shuyi smiled and nodded at Du Ying: "Miss Du is intelligent."

"Not bad!"

Seeing everyone looking at him, Liu Shuyi didn't keep them in suspense and said, "The missing item is something like a hairpin or hair ornament."

"Really!?" Cheng Chumo looked surprised.

Liu Shuyi said, “General Cheng might as well recall the whole process today. When we obtained Zhao’s head, Zhao’s hair was disheveled and there was no hairpin or anything to hold it in place. When we found Wutong Temple, there were no hairpins or hair clips on Zhao’s body or on the ground of Wutong Temple.”

Cheng Chumo frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded: "Indeed, looking at it this way, the hairpin is indeed missing, but why would it be missing?"

"That's a good question."

Liu Shuyi said, "At first, I wondered if the murderer thought the hairpin was valuable and took it?"

"But I soon discovered that Zhao was wearing two jade bracelets on her wrists, which were of excellent quality and had a warm texture. These jade bracelets were obviously very valuable. If the murderer was greedy, he would not have taken only the hairpin and not the jade bracelets. Therefore, I ruled out this possibility."

"Later I wondered if the hairpin might have fallen off when the falcon was transporting the head. But the small bun that Zhao Chengyi's son had hastily tied up in his hair was still intact, not damaged in the slightest."

Liu Shuyi looked at everyone: "Both of them had their heads cut off in the same way, and both were transported by falcons in the same way. Zhao Chengyi's son's hair was so intact, so Zhao's hair shouldn't have been too different either..."

"Therefore, I did not rule out the possibility of it being lost during transportation, but I had my doubts about it."

After listening to Liu Shuyi's two possibilities, everyone thought about it and nodded in agreement.

Indeed, these two possibilities are the most likely.

But it seems that all of them can be ruled out.

"If it's not one of these two possibilities, what else could it be?" Cheng Chumo couldn't think of anything.

"Yeah, what else could it be..."

Liu Shuyi said in a deep voice, "At the time, I was also very puzzled. If it was neither the murderer's greed nor the item being lost during transport, what other reason could there be for such an ordinary hairpin to disappear without a trace?"

"Ultimately, I came up with two possibilities!"

"What!?"

Cheng Chumo suddenly looked at Liu Shuyi.

Du Gou and the others also turned their attention to it.

Then Liu Shuyi said, "Either Zhao didn't bring her hairpin at all, and fled in a hurry after receiving the news, without having a chance to fix her hair... But she hastily combed her child's hair into a bun, so she should have done her own hair even more casually, let alone let it be loose, which would affect her vision and make it inconvenient to run at night."

Therefore, this possibility can also be ruled out, leaving only the last possibility.

Everyone swallowed hard, not daring to even breathe loudly, for fear of disturbing Liu Shuyi.

Because they knew that what followed was crucial.

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept over everyone before finally settling on Miaoyin'er. He then stated the last possibility: "The hairpin is an extremely special item to the murderer, making it necessary for the murderer to take it with them!"

"Extremely special?" Cheng Chumo and the others were taken aback. "What could be so special about a hairpin?"

"Yes! It's just a hairpin, what's so special about it?"

Liu Shuyi said, "At first, I didn't understand either, and even suspected that this might be another trap set by the murderer for me."

“Until I remembered something…”

"You remembered something? What is it?" Cheng Chumo asked hastily.

Liu Shuyi looked at Cheng Chumo: "I wonder if General Cheng remembers what Miaoyin did to me when I first arrived at Miaoyinfang, and what I did to her in return."

"You just arrived at Miaoyin Pavilion?"

Cheng Chumo thought for a moment, then said, "I remember now, she was flirting with you, almost pressing her body against you, but you pushed her away."

She pushed him away... Du Ying gave Liu Shuyi a deep look.

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Although the reasons are different, she wasn't simply being flirtatious; she was trying to use her beauty to distract me and interfere with my investigation, but the result is the same."

"I remember it very clearly, I only gave it a gentle push..."

"But as a result, she gasped in pain..."

“At that time, I didn’t know she was the murderer and I had no ill intentions towards her. I knew very well that the force she used could not possibly cause someone the pain she showed.”

"So, there are only two possibilities for why she behaved that way now."

"Either she was deliberately feigning weakness to elicit my guilt and pity; or her shoulder was injured and hadn't fully healed, which is why she reacted that way when I pushed her."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Miaoyin'er's calm expression suddenly rippled like a breeze across a lake.

Her delicate eyebrows furrowed, giving the impression that she hadn't expected Liu Shuyi to remember such a detail.

Du Gou took in Miao Yin'er's reaction, a thought flashing through his mind. He asked, "And the result? What was the reason?"

Liu Shuyi said to Miaoyin'er, "Do you know why I pushed you away back then?"

Miao Yin'er then said in a cold voice, "What else could it be? They think my body is dirty, so they sleep with all sorts of people."

"No!"

Liu Shuyi shook his head: "The world is cruel. Some women have no one to rely on. To survive, they have no choice but to go to brothels. I will not look down on you because of this."

Miao Yin'er frowned, staring intently at Liu Shuyi, seemingly surprised that he would make such a comment about them, the courtesans.

The reason I pushed you away was simply because I didn't like the smell of you.

"The taste?" Miao Yin'er was taken aback.

Liu Shuyi said, "The fragrance on you is too strong, so strong it's pungent, much stronger than Xiangxiang and the others. It's giving me a headache, and I really can't stand it..."

"And I have a very sensitive nose. I could smell a faint medicinal scent in the strong fragrance. The two scents mixed together made it even more pungent."

"However, I didn't suspect you at the time, so I didn't think too much about why you had such a strong fragrance, or where the medicinal smell came from..."

"It wasn't until... I realized that you were highly suspicious that I suddenly understood."

Liu Shuyi looked directly into Miaoyin'er's eyes, not giving her a chance to escape, and said, "If you take medicine normally, there won't be a noticeable smell of medicine on your body."

"The only thing that can make me smell medicine amidst that pungent fragrance is... topical medicine!"

"And in what situations would you need topical medication? Considering your reaction when I pushed you away... I understand everything now."

He took a deep breath and said, "Your shoulder is injured! And it's quite serious, to the point that it needs external application!"

"And that explains why Xiangxiang and the others don't smell so strong. You, a madam who no longer needs to entertain customers, still make yourself smell pungent..."

"Because you need this pungent fragrance to mask the smell of medicine on you. You don't want us to know you're injured!"

"Then why did you cover up your injury? Why didn't you want us to know?"

There's only one possibility...

The courtyard was quiet, with only the sound of the wind blowing.

Whether it was Cheng Chumo or Du Gou, they both subconsciously held their breath at this moment, nervously awaiting Liu Shuyi's conclusion.

They knew the truth was about to be revealed!

Then they heard a clear voice echoing through the night sky: "That is, you're worried that getting hurt will make us suspicious of you!"

"Why would we suspect you because of an injury? It can only be... that injury was inflicted by you during the crime!"

"Considering the missing hairpin and the murderer's specific reason for taking it away, everything becomes clear."

Looking at the pale-faced woman, Liu Shuyi took a deep breath and said, "When you attacked Zhao, she grabbed her hairpin and resisted, eventually stabbing it into your shoulder, which injured you."

"Because there was blood on the hairpin, and it might even have broken because of it, you were afraid that if you left the hairpin behind, we would discover something was wrong, so you had to take it away."

"And that's why you beat the Zhao family so cruelly!"

"Because this wasn't part of your perfect plan! You've left a fatal flaw here! The Zhao family's resistance and your injury have made you uneasy; you fear things might spiral out of control!"

"So, you became enraged, and in your fury, you tortured and beat Zhao!"

"After killing Zhao, you took the hairpin with you, but you were afraid that someone would discover it, so you didn't dare to throw it away or take it back to the brothel... Therefore, you found a secluded place and hid it there."

Aren't you curious why I didn't take action against you even though I suspected you a long time ago?

"Now, I can tell you..."

Liu Shuyi stepped forward and came to the spot where Miaoyin'er had just squatted down.

He lowered his head, looking at the jade hairpin broken in two, its tip still stained with blood, beneath the stone that Miaoyin'er had lifted, and slowly said, "Because I know that once you think I've been deceived, you will immediately destroy this only piece of evidence pointing to your crime!"

You want absolute certainty!

"So, I'm waiting for you, waiting for you to lead the way!"

"Wait until you help me find it..."

"This is the only irrefutable proof!"

Liu Shuyi bent down and picked up the cold jade hairpin that had broken in two, looking calmly at Miaoyin'er: "Now, I've found the irrefutable evidence you wanted."

(End of this chapter)