After his wife and daughter died tragically, the scumbag prince's hair turned white overnight

"That's one of the points," Pei Wang pointed his slender finger at the horrific face in the painting. "Look, this woman's face was peeled off. The coroner at the time of the autopsy found that the skin on the woman's face was turned outwards. He inferred that blood was still oozing from the wound before she died, indicating that her face was peeled off alive."

Even though this was just a simple sketch with annotations on it, it was enough to make Liang Huai gasp.

He was in charge of the government office in the capital and had seen many secrets of the imperial court, but this was the first time he had seen such an inhumane massacre.

"What kind of hatred or grudge could make someone so cruel and crazy?"

No, it can no longer be described as insane.

The person who did it was simply...

He is worse than an animal.

Pei Wang's face was solemn. "The skin on the female corpse was peeled off, which means that the person who killed her didn't want anyone to know her true identity."

"No," Liang Huai retorted, "If you don't want people to know the identity of the female corpse, why are there so many loopholes?"

He muttered to himself, "The hairpin and wooden bracelet both point directly to the Rong Junwang Mansion; and Liuxi Village belongs to Changhe County. In the first year of Su Kang's tenure as the county magistrate of Changhe County, his wife gave birth to a daughter. To highlight that he treated the people like his own children, he named her Liuxi..."

And now, what happened between Su Liuxi and Gu Shi is no longer a secret in Shangjing.

But today, when he brought something to the Rongjun Prince's Mansion to test him, Su Liuxi kept trying to get information out of him, intentionally or unintentionally...

"It's indeed suspicious." Liang Huai muttered to himself.

What's worse, he suspected that even Gu Shi might be an insider.

But he still couldn't figure it out.

"If our hypothesis is correct, Su has a connection to the murder of the female corpse in Mulan Mountain. But Su is just a woman, how could she know those bandits?"

"Is it possible that she initially just wanted to find a few farmers in Liuxi Village as scapegoats to get rid of the thorn in her side, but she didn't particularly understand the livelihoods of Liuxi Village?"

Pei Wang's eyes flashed with sarcasm as he reminded him, "Don't forget, Su Kang's rise to prominence over the years has been due to his outstanding political achievements in Changhe County. As for the source of the tax money paid by the subordinate village of Liu... do you think he would care?"

will not.

Liang Huai touched his nose. "So, your Excellency is saying that the bandits in Yueyaao are not only related to Liuxi Village, but are also very likely to be from Liuxi Village?"

Pei Wang didn't answer but asked, "Most of the fields in Liuxi Village are abandoned. Hasn't Lord Liang ever wondered what the people of Liuxi Village do for a living?"

Liang Huai was speechless after being asked by Pei Wang.

He is an official in the capital and does not often deal with murder and gangster cases. What could he suspect?

"In this case, I will report this matter to the Emperor..."

Before Liang Huai finished speaking, Pei Wang raised his hand to interrupt him.

"I won't report it for now. The Liuxi bandits dared to so brazenly massacre the villagers of Mulan Pass and claim the land as their own. They must have something to rely on."

"You suspect..."

Pei Wang's eyes darkened slightly. "It's just a suspicion. The corpse of the woman from Mulan Mountain accidentally opened a loophole for us. Before we have other substantial evidence, we should not alert the enemy."

All speculations are based on the identity of the female corpse being the commoner wife that Prince Rong married in Danyang.

The most important thing right now is to confirm that their guess is correct.

Pei Wang carefully put away the blueprints, silently thinking about how to "invite" Prince Rong to go to the "Yi Zhuang" to identify the body tomorrow.

...

Go to court early the next day.

Pei Wang stopped Gu Shi.

"Please stay, my Lord."

Gu Shi and Pei Wang were not familiar with each other.

But someone who can sit on the position of Dali Temple Minister at such a young age is definitely not an easy person to deal with.

With a kind attitude, he stood there politely, waiting for Pei Wang to come to him.

"Master Pei, this is..."

Pei Wang smiled humbly at him and said, "I have something to discuss with His Majesty the Prince. I wonder if His Majesty the Prince has time to accompany me?"

If he had not known his identity in advance, Gu Shi would never have imagined that this man who looked as gentle and elegant as a scholar would actually be in charge of the judiciary and be highly valued by the emperor.

Today, Gu Shi had made an appointment with Yu Yuexi to take her flying a kite.

It is obviously impossible to refuse Pei Wang at the moment.

He could only smile back at Pei Wang and said, "Master Pei, please."

When Shen Muxi regained consciousness, she just heard Pei Wang's invitation.

She didn't know what Pei Wang wanted to ask Gu Shi to do.

Feeling uneasy, he couldn't move even half a foot away from Gu Shi.

He had no choice but to look towards the direction of Prince Rong's Mansion with concern.

...

noon.

Rongjun Prince's Mansion.

In the deserted and dilapidated courtyard.

Gu Xiaoxiao slept soundly for the first time.

Although she had begun to gradually get used to the quietness of the world around her.

But not being able to hear any sound doesn't mean she won't be hungry.

Her throat was very dry.

Just when she thought she had to go to the well outside to get water to drink, she found a small copper pot on the table.

She hurried forward to check.

The copper kettle is full of water.

Inexplicably, she thought of the young lady who gave her meat porridge yesterday.

She looked different from Sister Shuandi, but she cared for her just as much as Sister Shuandi did. She even gave her a cake and bandaged her injured left hand...

After thinking for a while, Gu Xiaoxiao clumsily took out the small pancake from her arms with her left hand and ate it with cold water.

If only mother were here.

Her mother would cook delicious meals and porridge for her...

Granny An would make her some crispy pancakes, and Sister Shuandi would pull out sweet, crispy fruits from her bosom like magic...

At that time, she could repay that beautiful sister with the cakes given to her by Grandma An and the fruits given to her by Sister Shuandi.

Then you won’t take advantage of the beautiful sister for nothing.

Tears kept welling up in Gu Xiaoxiao's eyes, wetting the oil paper wrapping the pastry.

She missed her mother, Grandma An, and Sister Shuandi...

Daddy is bad, she doesn't want him anymore.

She wanted to cry, but she didn't dare cry too loudly. If she attracted the bad guys who beat her, she might not even have the bread to eat.

Finish eating the pancake.

She went back to bed crying.

Her small body curled up on the dirty bed. She didn't know how long she cried. Her eyes were sore and tired.

I closed my eyes tiredly and was about to fall asleep.

A brute force pulled her away.

What followed was that her head was hit by something, and the back of her head hit the ground hard. The pain made her see stars and she almost fainted.

Before she could even catch her breath.

A beautifully embroidered shoe pressed down on her head.

Gu Xiaoxiao tried hard to focus her eyes on the person who was stepping on her head.

After recognizing that person, her emotions immediately became excited——

This is the bad sister who cursed her mother to death, snatched her father away, and bullied her a few days ago.

At this time, the bad sister smiled strangely and moved her mouth.

She couldn't hear what the other person was saying.

But from that malicious smile, she felt that the other party seemed to want to hit her again.

She wanted to ask her why he hit her.

But my mother said that a polite child should listen carefully to what the other person says before speaking...

Yu Yuexi watched as Gu Xiaoxiao didn't make any sound after being kicked by her, and just looked at her in a daze.

She smiled maliciously.

"I didn't believe them when they said you were deaf. I didn't expect that you were not only deaf, but also mute."