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

The man was so nervous that he had no place to put his hands. He replied, "Your Excellency, I am from the Liu family in the south of the city. My name is Liu Jiahuai. This widow Liu owed me money before, so I came here early in the morning to collect the debt."

Xiao Mubei stared into Liu Jiahuai's eyes and asked, "How much money does Widow Liu owe you? Why did she owe you that?"

Liu Jiahuai looked even more nervous. He thought for a moment and said, "About half a year ago, Widow Liu's husband died. Because I was a friend of her husband, she asked me to borrow money to take care of her husband's funeral. I saw that she was all alone, so I gave her three taels of silver and asked her to take care of her husband's funeral."

"What happened next? Have you met Widow Liu?" Chu Yunxi asked from the side.

"I've met her... two or three times, all of which were to ask her to pay back the money, nothing else." Liu Jiahuai said hesitantly, and after saying he had met her, he immediately hurriedly clarified his relationship with Widow Liu.

Chu Yunxi had an idea in her mind, and lowered her head and said something to Xiao Mubei, who nodded. Li Jinghong came back just in time, so Chu Yunxi asked Li Jinghong to come over and whispered a few words to him. Li Jinghong understood and left in a hurry.

Liu Jiahuai looked at Xiao Mubei nervously, trying to see something from Xiao Mubei's face, but unfortunately there was no expression on Xiao Mubei's handsome face, so he could not see anything.

"Liu Jiahuai, tell me what you saw when you came here this morning." Xiao Mubei asked.

Liu Jiahuai calmed down and thought of the scene in the morning. He still felt a little scared. "When I came here in the morning, I saw the door of Widow Liu's yard was open. I was a little curious, so I called out twice, but no one answered me. I thought Widow Liu forgot to lock the door when she went out, so I thought about going in to take a look. If there was really no one there, I would help her close the door. Who knew that when I entered the room, I saw... Widow Liu dead in bed. I panicked and ran away, and ran into you when I got out."

It sounds like there is nothing wrong with it, but Xiao Mubei said, "Come back to the Dali Temple with me later. The chief clerk is not here today. You can go to the Dali Temple to record your statement again. If there is no problem, you can go home."

Liu Jiahuai didn't want to go at all, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything, so he had to agree.

Chu Yunxi followed the constable in to investigate the scene. When they came out, Bai Yu had already returned, so they left someone to watch the scene while the others took Liu Jiahuai back to the Dali Temple.

It was Chu Yunxi's first time to visit the Dali Temple, which was the top penal institution in the capital. Its high red brick walls were very imposing. Li Jinghong led everyone in and asked someone to take Liu Jiahuai to a room to wait while he went to make arrangements for Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi.

Hearing Xiao Mubei introduce, "This is Miss Yunxi, the new coroner of the Dali Temple," Li Jinghong was shocked, "I didn't expect that Miss Yunxi, who looks so weak, is actually a coroner. I'm so sorry."

Chu Yunxi smiled and nodded. In this era, it was a rarity to see a female coroner anywhere, and she had been mentally prepared for this.

Li Jinghong actually did not approve of Xiao Mubei as the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple. How could a mere military man like him possibly investigate a case? If he was not of noble status, it would probably not be his turn. He even brought a female coroner with him when he took office. She was called a coroner, but who knew who she was? Was this reasonable?

But Li Jinghong only dared to complain about this in his heart and never dared to say it out loud.

As they were talking, the detectives sent out to investigate came back one after another and reported the results of their investigation. Xiao Mubei ordered people to bring Liu Jiahuai over again.

"Liu Jiahuai, I'll give you one more chance. Tell me about your relationship with Widow Liu. If you give false testimony and delay the arrest of the murderer, you will bear all the consequences."

After Xiao Mubei finished speaking, Liu Jiahuai froze, his expression very tangled. Seeing this, Chu Yunxi added, "Don't worry, all your confessions are just to catch the murderer. We won't leak a single word to the outside world."

Liu Jiahuai hesitated and said, "Really?"

Xiao Mubei nodded, "Just tell me."

Liu Jiahuai had long seen that Xiao Mubei was the highest-ranking official here. After hearing what he had said, he felt relieved and told him the whole story about his relationship with Widow Liu.

As Chu Yunxi expected, the relationship between Liu Jiahuai and Widow Liu was indeed not innocent. Widow Liu had indeed borrowed three taels of silver from Liu Jiahuai and bought a thin coffin to bury her husband. But when Liu Jiahuai saw that Widow Liu was beautiful and had lost her husband, he would go to Widow Liu's house every few days on the pretext of collecting debts.

Widow Liu was also young and unwilling to be lonely, so after a few visits, the two of them started to hook up. Unfortunately, Liu Jiahuai's wife was a very powerful person, so Liu Jiahuai didn't dare to cheat openly. He could only make excuses to go out during the day and sneak out of the house and go to Widow Liu's house.

It's just that because his family has been keeping a close eye on him recently, Liu Jiahuai hasn't been to Widow Liu for some time. He was itching to visit her, so he finally found a chance today and couldn't wait to come over early in the morning. However, he didn't expect to see such a scene, and he was almost scared to death.

When Chu Yunxi heard this, combined with the information brought back by the constable, she concluded that he was telling the truth this time. Although it was indeed immoral, this matter was not under the jurisdiction of the Dali Temple.

The most important thing now is to find the murderer, so he asked: "During your relationship with Widow Liu, did you find that she had an improper relationship with other people? Or did you find anything wrong?"

Liu Jiahuai was a little confused. "Others?" He thought about it, but couldn't remember anything, so he shook his head. "I usually go there during the day. Widow Liu is the only one at home during that time."

Come to think of it, except for Liu Jiahuai, other men probably go there mostly at night.

Chu Yunxi nodded to Xiao Mubei, indicating that she had no other questions. Xiao Mubei said, "Okay, you can go back. Don't leave Beijing unless necessary. If necessary, we will contact you at any time to cooperate with the investigation."

Liu Jiahuai thanked the owner profusely and agreed to leave. Before leaving, he suddenly stopped and turned around hesitantly.

Chu Yunxi said, "Anything else? Feel free to ask."

Liu Jiahuai said: "I remembered something, I wonder if it is related to this case."

"We will judge whether there is a connection or not. You just need to tell us everything you know." Xiao Mubei replied.

Liu Jiahuai said, "Last time I went there early in the morning, and Widow Liu hadn't gotten up yet. I saw that her face was a little swollen, so I asked who bullied her. She said that she accidentally fell and hit her face, so I didn't take it seriously. Now that I think about it, it seems that her face was hit by someone."

"when did it happen?"

"About half a month ago. Let me think. It was May 27th. Yes, that was the day. After I left her, I went to attend a friend's wedding banquet. So I remember the date clearly."