The queen is spoiling the king and madly criticizing him for spoiling her

Mrs. Tang felt guilty for a moment, but she quickly adjusted herself, "Who knows if you bribed the imperial physician to say this."

"You are a bunch of frogs in the well. Doctor Lin is close to the Emperor and the Empress. We can't bribe him. It's obvious that you killed my poor daughter, and you just refuse to admit it." Li started to cry as she spoke, with big tears falling down her face.

If I hadn't known they were trying to profit from her daughter's death, I would have believed she truly loved her. It's a shame her acting skills didn't end up in the Nanfu Opera Troupe.

These two people were really noisy. Xie Ci'an glanced over and Zhongfeng immediately drew his long sword and faced the two people who were arguing. "Will you shut up? If you don't shut up, I will cut off your tongues."

Upon hearing this, Madam Li and Madam Tang immediately covered their mouths and shrank back. They wanted to speak but held it back.

"What's so strange?" Xie Ci'an leaned forward and looked at Tang Rui with a dangerous look.

Tang Rui was frightened and shrank aside instantly.

Doctor Lin said truthfully, "Ms. Li's final cause of death was undoubtedly drowning."

Hearing Doctor Lin's words, Tang Rui and Old Madam Tang felt a little relieved. However, before they could relax, Doctor Lin continued, "However, I found signs of struggle on Li's body. There was some skin tissue between her fingernails that hadn't been blistered off. I also found a blow wound on her forehead. The wound wasn't serious, but it was enough to cause someone to faint. She must have been hit on the head with something and then pushed into the pond and drowned."

"Because I also found mud in Li's nose. This is caused by someone pushing her head into the water and struggling violently. If Li had accidentally fallen into the water, there wouldn't be a lot of mud in her mouth and nose. People who accidentally fall into the water will instinctively struggle for help instead of diving. This is only the case when someone is holding her head into the water."

Tang Rui couldn't help wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Doctor Lin continued, "Also, I found some bruises on Li's body. They look like they were caused by daily work or being hit by something. As I'm not a coroner, I don't know what they are. I'll have to rely on Lord Dou for this."

Gu Jianchu didn't expect that Doctor Lin actually had the potential to be a coroner.

"It must be them. They always bully my honest daughter." Mrs. Li couldn't help sobbing.

Xie Ci'an had nothing to say.

Dou Wen stepped forward and reported, "Your Majesty, after an inspection, the marks on Li's body appear to have been caused by being hit with something like a feather duster. There are also bruises from being pinched, and bruises on her knees from kneeling for a long time. Li must have suffered some abuse during her lifetime."

[That's right, it was this old man who bullied her. When he saw that Li didn't say anything, he intensified his torture of his daughter-in-law. And Tang Rui, that bastard, saw it but pretended not to see it. So Tang Rui can be considered the culprit in the usual bullying of Li.]

The old man would beat and scold Li whenever he saw something he didn't like. He even punished her by making her kneel down on the porch during a rainy day. He would beat her with a feather duster whenever he was unhappy. If he hadn't beaten her so often, he wouldn't have resorted to using an inkstone this time, as he would have knocked Li unconscious.

When Dou Wen said these words, Gu Jianchu noticed that a trace of guilt flashed across the faces of both mother and son.

Xie Ci'an's gaze naturally shifted to the mother and son, "Really?"

Tang Rui shrank back and kowtowed quickly, "Yes..."

Seeing her son's stammering explanation, Madam Tang stiffened her neck and said, "I did teach Li a lesson, but that was because Li often made mistakes, so I couldn't help but scold her a few times. Who knew she would talk back to me, so I taught her a lesson a few times and punished her for breaking the rules. It's not against the law for a mother-in-law to teach her daughter-in-law a lesson for some mistakes."

[Haha, teaching a lesson isn't illegal, but is that a lesson? You're clearly torturing her. Li hasn't done anything wrong, yet you're nitpicking and even creating a torturous house rule.]

Gu Jianchu said coldly, "Then when you were teaching your daughter-in-law a lesson, you accidentally beat Li to death, and then drowned Li in the pond to cover up your crime."

Upon hearing this, Old Madam Tang trembled all over and looked at Gu Jianchu in horror.

Because what Gu Jianchu said was exactly what they did.

Madam Tang tried to straighten herself up, her tone much more guilty than before. "How could this be possible? I only taught Madam Li a lesson. How could I have accidentally beaten her to death, let alone drowned her in the pond? The Empress has truly wronged me."

"How could the Queen Mother wrongly accuse you? You often bully my daughter, and the neighbors here know about it. My daughter is just too soft-tempered and has never told us about this." Madam Li rolled up her sleeves again, but when she saw the long sword in Chongfeng's arms, she immediately stopped.

Gu Jianchu was too lazy to watch two hypocritical people bickering with each other. "How did Li die? We can find out by going to the crime scene. Madam Tang, please lead the way."

After Gu Jianchu finished speaking, he got off the carriage with the help of Xie Ci'an.

Chongfeng and Wenzhu were holding lanterns in front, and several other adults followed the emperor and empress.

Old Madam Tang and Tang Rui felt extremely guilty, and they finally stood up with the help of each other. Old Madam Tang used a cane to prevent herself from falling down, and they staggered to the pond in the backyard.

Tang Rui pointed to the pond in front of him with a guilty conscience and said, "Li drowned in this pond."

Dou Wen took the initiative to look for clues by the pond, then turned his gaze to the servant following behind him, "Go down and test how deep the water is."

Although the servant wanted to resist, he had no choice but to obey Dou Wen's order and jump in. The water only reached the servant's neck.

Thinking of the other wounds on Li's head, Dou Wen continued to order, "Look for any rocks nearby."

"Even if Li accidentally fell into the pond and couldn't swim, the water volume in the pond shouldn't be enough to drown a person. What's more, Li had a blow wound on her head. The blow wound was on her forehead. Unless she accidentally tripped here and hit her forehead on a stone, the brief dizziness caused her to roll into the pond. She could have drowned in the pond. Lord Tang, do you think I'm right?" Dou Wen looked at Tang Rui, who seemed a little guilty.

Tang Rui nodded instinctively, "That's right."

"I do have a question. When did you discover your wife's body?" Gu Jianchu asked lazily.