After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

When they saw Lu Zhiyuan standing on a stool and using a dagger to cut open the victim's abdomen, everyone present, except for Captain Ma, was stunned.

Xie Chaoyun was astonished, astonished that her daughter possessed such courage. Then, recalling her ordeal at Chaoyun Villa, she wondered what her poor daughter had endured. Her heart ached terribly; she gripped her clothes tightly, averted her gaze, and held back the tears that threatened to spill.

Physician Jiang was astonished, surprised by Lu Zhiyuan's skillful technique, which seemed far from her first time. At only eight years old, this little girl from a noble family held a dagger larger than her own hand, remaining calm and composed.

Her hands were steady; she didn't tear open the stomach all at once, but rather slowly cut in layer by layer. The incision wasn't large, so the inside of the victim's abdominal cavity wasn't visible. The smell was pungent, even making the captain, who was closest to her, frown, yet he willingly assisted her.

Back in the Zhu family, he had already sensed that this young girl was no ordinary person, but he didn't want to delve deeper into it. In the capital, where powerful and influential people gathered, and where talented individuals abounded, it was not uncommon to encounter any kind of people or experience any kind of events. He came from humble beginnings, and his rise to his current position was due to the adage "it's good to be confused."

When she opened the deceased's stomach and touched the first thing, Lu Zhiyuan's expression was somewhat puzzled. She first looked at her mother, Xie Chaoyun, then at Physician Jiang, and finally her gaze settled on Captain Ma's face.

"What has Miss discovered?"

Lu Zhiyuan took out that thing. Commander Ma frowned, unsure how to describe it. Imperial Physician Jiang picked up the dagger Lu Zhiyuan had placed on the tray and gently poked at the thing, saying doubtfully, "It looks like cotton wadding, the kind sewn into clothes."

"It's old cotton wool. New cotton wool would be softer and more elastic. This has already clumped together."

"How come there's cotton wool in the old man's stomach?"

“It’s not the stomach, it’s the digestive tract.” Lu Zhiyuan looked at the incision: “Everything we eat goes into our stomach. Some things can be digested, and some can’t, like these old cotton wadding.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking why the old man ate cotton wool?” Captain Ma stared at the lump of stuff: “Is he crazy or stupid? Did he eat it himself, or was he forced to eat it?”

“She’s not crazy, nor is she stupid, she’s just hungry,” Lu Zhiyuan continued. “This is castor beans, this is uncooked purslane, and mulberry leaves. She’s using these things to fill her stomach.”

My gaze fell on the old lady's wrist, and several marks came into view. They weren't from rope, but from knotted strips of rag.

The old woman had been imprisoned, and it was highly likely that her own son had imprisoned her.

"Captain Ma, I want to see her son. I'm certain her death wasn't caused by the clinic, nor by those painkillers. Her stomach was full of foreign objects, and there was bruising in the spleen area, the shape and size of which suggested it was caused by an adult's knee. That force could very well have caused splenic hemorrhage."

“He’s in jail, I’ll take the girl there.”

"Wait a minute, we can't let the old lady leave like this, we have to stitch up her wound."

This time, it was Physician Jiang who assisted her.

Sew up skin is different from embroidery. If the pattern is wrong, you can start over, but you only have one piece of skin. Ten years ago on the battlefield, he had tried to sew up a soldier's skin with needle and thread. The difficulty was far beyond his imagination, so much so that he never did anything like it again after that.

Lu Zhiyuan held the needle and thread, her small hands deftly piercing through the skin. Unlike embroidery, she used a sewing technique he had never seen before. The sewn skin was not only perfectly sealed, but also smooth, without the slightest abruptness or grotesqueness.

Physician Jiang looked at Lu Zhiyuan with great excitement: "Yuan'er, where did you learn such techniques?"

Lu Zhiyuan had already thought of a solution, and calmly replied, "My beggar master taught me."

A beggar master?

Physician Jiang stared wide-eyed at Lu Zhiyuan.

While washing her hands, Lu Zhiyuan explained, "I grew up in a separate courtyard and spent most of my time alone. The courtyard I lived in was located at the back, next to the mountain wall. When I was about three years old, one late night, I smelled a particularly fragrant aroma that made my mouth water. Following the scent, I found the beggar master squatting in the moonlight, pulling weeds in my courtyard."

"The beggar said that the herb was called perilla and could be used to roast meat. I was a little curious, so I followed him."

"The beggar master was very skilled; he could even scale walls and roofs with me. He took me outside the courtyard wall and offered me a half-cooked rabbit roasting on a tree branch. Knowing I was in poor health, he taught me wall-climbing techniques. But my body was really weak, so the beggar master resorted to teaching me some tricks for self-defense. He also taught me autopsy and stitching techniques."

Physician Jiang grabbed Lu Zhiyuan's arm: "Where is your beggar master? I want to become his apprentice."

Lu Zhiyuan lowered her eyes: "He's dead. His body was cremated by the monks at Hanshan Temple. If the beggar master were still alive, how would my wet nurse and Bitao dare to bully me?"

Hanshan Temple did indeed cremate a beggar, but that beggar was just an ordinary beggar. The reason he became connected with Hanshan Temple was because he would donate money to the temple after each begging session, and he eventually died in the main hall of Hanshan Temple.

This matter was mentioned by the wet nurse when she was gossiping with Bitao and the others, and Lu Zhiyuan used it to cover it up. The beggar is dead, so what Lu Zhiyuan said cannot be verified. If she said that her skills were taught by the beggar master, then she was taught by the beggar master.

Physician Jiang looked regretful until Lu Zhiyuan told him that she could teach him what she knew, and only then did he show a slight smile.

The prison of the Commandant's Mansion was just as gloomy and terrifying as I had imagined, but much smaller and lower than the prisons depicted in movies and TV dramas. There were no tables, chairs, or benches inside, only dry straw. Through the cracks in the cell door, you could see rats scurrying in and out of the straw.

The prisoners were all sitting, not because they were obedient, but because they couldn't stand up.

Aside from the imperial prison for members of the royal family and the Ministry of Justice prison for officials, the rest were all short, dilapidated, and small like these. In Captain Ma's words, they were here to serve their sentences, not to enjoy themselves; they had to suffer so they would learn to cherish what they had.

The old woman's son leaned against the cell door: "Sir, we are the victims, the plaintiffs. How can you lock us up with those murderers?"

Commander Ma glanced at Lu Zhiyuan, cleared his throat, and stepped on the old woman's son's hand: "Victim? Plaintiff? Murderer? Dare you tell me how your mother died?"

The old woman's son grimaced in pain, trying several times to pull his hand away, but he neither dared nor succeeded.

"Your Honor, my mother was poisoned to death by the medicine prescribed by the clinic. I am so pitiful that I have neither father nor mother. Your Honor, you must do me justice and make them compensate me with money. Ten thousand taels, at least ten thousand taels, not a single coin less."

"You really dare to ask for that!" Commander Ma stomped his foot down hard, and as he released his foot, he stuffed the stinking package inside. "Take a good look and see if it looks familiar. I've seen unfilial sons and rebellious sons, but I've never met one like you before."