The coroner and the concubine doctor pursue the murderer in the Dali Temple

Xiao Mubei knew that what Emperor Sui Ming meant by betraying his trust was the investigation into the murder of the retired emperor. He didn't know how the retired emperor told Emperor Sui Ming about it. Although he didn't ask any more questions, he was obviously dissatisfied.

Xiao Mubei decided to go to Yongshou Palace first. He ordered Hei Mu to take the corpse out of the palace and temporarily place it in the morgue of Dali Temple so that Chu Yunxi could go back for a detailed examination.

After Empress Yuan asked everyone to leave, she stepped forward, took Chu Yunxi's hand, and said to her, "Yunxi, you've been working really hard recently."

Chu Yunxi pulled her hand out without leaving any trace and said, "Mother, I just examined the body. Don't dirty your hands. These are what I should do."

Chu Yunxi originally had a very good impression of Empress Yuan, but ever since she knew that it was she who murdered the retired emperor, she could no longer get close to her. How could a person kill people and appear docile and harmless at the same time?

Is there anyone in the harem who can be trusted? No wonder people say that the harem is a place where people are eaten without leaving any bones.

Seeing Chu Yunxi's indifference, Empress Yuan's eyes immediately turned cold as well. She smiled slightly and said, "Yunxi is really sensible. In that case, report everything you find out to me every day. I'm tired, so I'll go back first."

After everyone left, Chu Yunxi said to Xiao Mubei, "Your father asked the queen to report the progress of the case. What if this is the queen's handiwork again? How should we investigate it?"

Xiao Mubei pondered and said, "Father must have wanted to warn the Queen, but he certainly didn't expect that the Queen would be so reckless and use such means."

"Let's investigate first. I hope the Queen didn't do this." Chu Yunxi and Xiao Mubei walked side by side. "It's just that the body has been gone for too long, so it's not that easy to investigate. Your Highness can talk to the Queen first and confirm the identity of the body in the next few days. Only after the identity is confirmed can we make the next step."

"Okay, I'll send someone to tell him." Xiao Mubei agreed.

When they arrived at Yongshou Palace, Chu Yunxi went to treat the retired emperor. Xiao Mubei ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to bring the list of palace maids from nine years ago for careful checking.

The list of palace maids is updated every six months. Excluding those who have left the palace, died of natural causes, or died accidentally, the remaining ones who are missing are the ones that Xiao Mubei focuses on investigating.

It couldn't be a concubine. If a concubine disappeared, it would cause an uproar at the time. The only person who could disappear quietly could be an insignificant palace maid. Maybe someone familiar would ask why so-and-so had been missing for a few days, and after a while, they would naturally forget about her without a trace.

The list of missing persons from nine years ago was sorted out, with a total of thirteen people. Xiao Mubei saw a familiar name at a glance, Lu'e.

Lu'e was the head maid in Fanghua Palace back then, and served Empress Xian closely. When Xiao Mubei was young, Lu'e often took him out to play. Later, Xiao Mubei often went to the military camp and seldom returned to Fanghua Palace, so Lu'e was seen less and less frequently.

After Concubine Xian left the palace, the palace maids in Fanghua Palace were reassigned. Xiao Mubei didn't know where they were assigned to, and he never saw Lu'e again.

Now that I think about it, Lu'e's figure and stature are very similar to that of the female corpse.

But this does not confirm that the female corpse is Lu'e. More investigation is needed. Xiao Mubei called the eunuch Cao, who is in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Eunuch Cao was also an old man in the palace and had been in charge of the Imperial Household Department for almost twenty years. There was no palace maid or eunuch in the palace that he did not know. When the list of missing persons was shown to Eunuch Cao, he recalled them one by one.

"Cuizhu, this girl is short, it can't be her."

"Xiangxiang, this girl used to work in the imperial kitchen. She cheated a lot. She is so big and fat, it can't be her."

"Furong is about the same size as Cuizhu, which is not right either."

After a thorough screening, there were still five people whose heights, weights and body shapes were similar to those of the female corpse.

Green E is among them.

Xiao Mubei pointed at the other four names and asked, "Which palace are these four from?"

Eunuch Cao thought as he said, "This Qinxin should be a maid in the laundry department. Yiyi is from... Concubine Li or Concubine Wen's palace. I can't quite remember. Mingyue is an embroiderer in the clothing department. And Linglong, which palace is Linglong in? Oh, she's in Concubine Zhao's palace."

Xiao Mubei wrote them down one by one, and then said, "Thank you for your hard work, Eunuch Cao. It's amazing that Eunuch Cao can still remember them so clearly after so many years."

Eunuch Cao smiled and said, "Who asked me to do this job? If Your Majesty needs to know anything else, you can always come to me."

"Okay, Eunuch Cao, take care."

Xiao Mubei sent Eunuch Cao away, and when he turned around, Chu Yunxi came out. Chu Yunxi asked, "How is it? Any progress?"

Xiao Mubei showed her the list. In addition to Lu'e, there were only four people left, which narrowed the scope a lot. Chu Yunxi said, "Let's go. Let's stop here today. Let's go back to Dali Temple. I still need to go and see the skeleton again."

"What's so good about bones?" Xiao Mubei was puzzled. Chu Yunxi explained, "In fact, bones can also be restored to see the original appearance of the victims. We have now found the whereabouts of the five missing persons. If we can restore 70% to 80% of the bones, we can basically find the person through the portrait."

Xiao Mubei had never heard of skull restoration technology before. Now, after listening to Chu Yunxi's talk, he felt that the world was so big and he was too ignorant.

“Who can achieve this kind of recovery?”

Chu Yunxi chuckled, "That depends on the prince. The masters are all among the people. The Dali Temple often handles criminal cases, so they must know such a craftsman. Go back and ask Li Jinghong, I guarantee you will get the answer."

Xiao Mubei was skeptical, so he went back to the Dali Temple and asked Li Jinghong, and he indeed knew the truth.

So Li Jinghong immediately went to find someone to do the recovery. This kind of difficult task usually wouldn't be completed so quickly, so Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi followed the original plan and rode to the villa to eat roasted whole lamb.

Chu Yunxi's horse was a chestnut pony, which Xiao Mubei had specially found at the stable. It had a gentle personality and ran fast. Xiao Mubei helped her lead the horse at the beginning, teaching her how to control the horse and how to keep balance. Gradually, Chu Yunxi dared to trot on the horse, and Xiao Mubei also got on the horse, holding the reins of Chu Yunxi's horse in his hand.

After running together for a while, Chu Yunxi has gradually adapted to horseback. This is also due to the fact that she often followed Xiao Mubei before and had to share a horse with Xiao Mubei, so she has already adapted a lot. Chu Yunxi is also a brave person, and after riding for a while, she quickly mastered the skills of riding.

Things that have just been learned are always fresh. Chu Yunxi pulled the reins and said with a smile: "My Lord, how about a horse race?"

Xiao Mubei naturally had no objection, but he was a little worried that she had just learned how to run and might not be able to control herself if she ran fast. However, Chu Yunxi had already run out first, so Xiao Mubei had no choice but to chase after her and follow behind her with increased defense.