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

But she knew that it would be futile to say more now, so she did not argue with them and just agreed obediently. However, she was thinking in her heart that she would go to the Dali Temple tomorrow. She heard that there were many cases piled up, so it seemed that she would be busy.

Fortunately, Xiao Mubei believed her, and he also remembered what the temple master said that solving more cases would help her accumulate merit and be good for her health. In addition, after hearing her say that it was good for pregnant women to exercise more, he agreed to take her to the Dali Temple the next day.

Li Jinghong had been waiting for them for a long time. When he saw the carriage of Dingbei Palace coming back, he immediately stepped forward and saluted, "Your Majesty, Princess, I am incompetent and have not been able to share your worries."

Xiao Mubei helped him up and said, "Li Shaoqing, don't underestimate yourself. I know very well how many cases the Dali Temple has every year. You have solved a lot of them, so it is reasonable that there is a backlog. Let's solve it together."

Li Jinghong has always been diligent and dedicated. Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi were away for such a long time this time, and he was the one who took on the responsibility of the Dali Temple. He has already made great contributions.

Several people went directly to the case file room. Chu Yunxi sat down next to the file and asked, "Which case do you think we should start with, Li Shaoqing?"

Li Jinghong took out a file and said, "There are five victims in this case, all of whom are students who came to Beijing to take the imperial examination this year. According to the eyewitness of the first case, the murderer was a headless ghost, and the witness fainted from fear. This case has caused panic among the students. If the case is not solved, I am afraid that the students will flee the capital. Your Majesty has set a deadline of one month to solve the case. I am ashamed that twenty days have passed and four more people have died, but I still have no clue."

Chu Yunxi picked up the file and started reading it with Xiao Mubei. The first case happened twenty days ago. The deceased was named Zhao Wenxu. He came from Yuhang County, a famous and prosperous place. Yuhang County was a land of fish and rice, with many merchants. Zhao Wenxu's family was well-off. He brought a lot of money with him to Beijing for the imperial examination. After his death, all his money disappeared. Preliminary judgment was that the murderer killed for money. He was killed in the room of the inn where he lived, which was located on the third floor of the inn. He was killed in the second half of the night. At that time, a student happened to get up at night and saw the murderer closing the door in the corridor. The murderer only had the part below the neck, without the head, and he was holding a big knife in his hand, and blood was still dripping down. The student was scared to faint on the spot. Apart from him, no one else saw the murderer.

According to the records of the detectives who went to investigate the case from the Dali Temple, the crime scene was in a mess and the room had been obviously turned upside down. Zhao Wenxu was lying on the ground one step away from the bed. His head was chopped off and rolled two feet away from the body. All his money was gone. No objects related to the murderer were found at the scene. Because it was in the room of an inn, no valuable evidence such as footprints was found. Only dripping blood was seen extending all the way to the window at the stairs. The window was wide open and the bloodstains disappeared. The murderer should have left through the window.

According to the coroner's autopsy report, the cut on Zhao Wenxu's neck was flat and smooth, obviously cut with a knife, which shows that the murderer was very strong. Apart from the wound on the neck, the deceased had no fighting wounds or other wounds.

This was the case of the first victim. Within the following twenty days, four similar cases occurred one after another. Two of them took place in inns, one in a dilapidated temple ten miles away from the capital, and one in a small courtyard rented by a student. Without exception, all the property was lost and the student's head was chopped off, but no one saw the murderer again, and no valuable clues were found during the on-site investigation. The common point of these five students was that they came from wealthy families and were well-known for their talents.

Chu Yunxi closed the case file and fell into deep thought. Li Jinghong asked cautiously, "Does the princess see anything suspicious?"

Chu Yunxi pondered and said, "There is a doubt. In the first case, was there a window in Zhao Wenxu's room?"

Li Jinghong was at the scene at the time and remembered it clearly, "There was a window in that room, and outside the window was a small alley."

"Then this is even more problematic. If the murderer wanted to leave through the window, wouldn't it be better to go directly through the window from Zhao Wenxu's room to avoid being seen? Why did he have to go out through the door and then walk to the window at the staircase to leave, allowing another student to see him? Moreover, according to the general thinking of the murderer, if he was seen, shouldn't he kill him to silence him? But this student was already scared to death, but the murderer didn't kill him. Why? Was he being merciful? But he killed four more people later, why would he just let that one person go?"

Li Jinghong frowned and asked, "Did he let that person go on purpose?"

Chu Yunxi asked, "You said that in the next four cases, no one saw the murderer, and it was only based on the modus operandi that it was determined that the murderer was the same as before, so the cases were combined, right?"

Li Jinghong nodded, "Yes, except for the first case, there were no witnesses in the following cases. Two of the deceased were not found until two or three days after their death."

Chu Yunxi looked at the case file, "These are the two cases that happened in the dilapidated temple and the rented courtyard, right?"

"Yes."

"It seems that in the first case, the murderer should have deliberately let the student see it, in order to spread the news of the headless ghost killing people through his mouth. In this way, everyone will think that it was the ghost who killed people, which will help him commit crimes later. Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Xiao Mubei said: "The murderer should be a gangster, at least he should be able to do Qinggong."

Chu Yunxi understood immediately and said, "That's right. If he didn't know Qinggong, he wouldn't have gone through the window. He should have deliberately let the blood on the knife drip all the way to the window, and there would be no blood after he went out of the window. He wanted to spread the rumor that a headless ghost killed people and then disappeared out of the window. But let's think about it. If it wasn't a ghost who killed people, but a person, then this person must have known Qinggong to fly directly out of the third floor window."

Li Jinghong slammed the table, "Yes, after the prince and princess said that, I suddenly understood. Previously, I had been investigating the students around him, thinking that someone was jealous of him, or was tempted by his wealth. No wonder I didn't find any clues. It turns out that I overlooked such an important clue. Since he is a martial arts person, it must not be those powerless students who did it."

Chu Yunxi said, "But there is still a question. If he is a man of the underworld, why did he kill so many powerless students? Was it really just for money? In fact, the people around him are not completely without suspicion. The murderer picked people who have both money and talent. I suspect that among these students, there is an insider for the murderer, otherwise how could he choose so accurately?"