How did I, a mere son-in-law lying down, become a "Fenglang Juxu" (a legendary martial art

"Yes, yes, sir! The problem lies here. Please look here again."

Liu Shan flipped through the case file to the list of investigators, pointed to one place, and said in a slightly faster voice, "Ding Lu's identity is that of a coroner, while Tian Fugui's identity is that of Ding Lu's assistant!"

He Qiong had worked his way up from the bottom of the government office and was very familiar with the trial process. He understood what Liu Shan was trying to say almost instantly.

Tian Fugui is not qualified to perform autopsies!

Moreover, Tian Fugui, as Ding Lu's assistant, also violated the rule that the personnel conducting the initial and follow-up examinations were not allowed to meet or interact.

He patted Liu Shan on the shoulder and laughed, "You figured that out, kid? Not bad, not bad!"

In He Qiong's view, regardless of whether the case can be solved, a serious attitude is extremely important. It is already quite remarkable that the son-in-law of the Li family could see the clues so quickly on his first time as a clerk.

“However, my dear nephew, next time you can show me the list of investigators first, and then the autopsy signature. That will make the process much smoother,” He Qiong suggested.

"So, Lord He, now...?" Liu Shan asked meaningfully.

"Notify Liu Xinian that we are retrying the Wang Pinlian case!" A sharp glint flashed in He Qiong's eyes.

When Liu Xinian learned that He Qiong wanted to retry Wang Pinlian's case, he was writing at his desk and did not seem to have much of a reaction.

The clerk standing beside him seemed a little nervous. "Master, what do you think we should do?"

After the initial confrontation that morning, Liu Xinian was much calmer now. "Heh, let them interrogate me. As long as I'm in Jinhua County, I can't escape my control!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Xinian finished writing the last stroke, and the four characters "You die, I live" appeared on the paper.

The clerk standing nearby gasped, "Hiss...you're going to 'hmm~' them?"

As he spoke, he immediately made a throat-slitting gesture.

Liu Xinian glared at the clerk, "Kill the head of the government office on your own turf? Are you crazy, or am I crazy?"

"So what do you mean by that...?"

Liu Xinian glared at the clerk with disdain, "Let Ding Lu commit suicide, and do it cleanly."

Liu Xinian emphasized the word "suicide."

The advisor nodded silently, turned around and walked out. His greatest strength was his strong execution ability.

Soon, Liu Xinian stopped him again and added in a deep voice, "I remember Tian Fugui's name is also on the case file. Let's deal with him as well. Be clean and don't leave any trace."

Upon hearing this, the advisor paused for a moment, inevitably feeling a sense of shared sorrow.

Inside the room, Liu Xinian kept staring at the clerk's back until he disappeared from sight. Only then did he come to his senses, crumple the Xuan paper on the table into a ball, and casually throw it away.

……

Inside the post station, Liu Shan and He Qiong reviewed the case files and immediately set off for the county government's women's prison.

Just as Liu Shan had predicted, Ge Yuniang had indeed been subjected to severe torture.

At this moment, she was curled up in a corner of the prison, covered in wounds, some of which had become infected, and she looked very pitiful.

When she saw someone coming, she curled up even more, her body trembling uncontrollably, and she kept muttering, "I confess, I confess, I confess everything, I confess all my sins."

"Find a doctor to give her some simple treatment."

After Master He finished giving his instructions, the jailer did not take any action.

"Are you openly defying your superiors' orders? Have you considered the consequences?"

Liu Shan was immediately annoyed. He couldn't stand such disregard for human life and aiding and abetting evildoers.

The jailer casually cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to your honor, this has already been treated by a traditional Chinese medicine doctor."

"You really are Magistrate Liu's lackeys, aren't you? You just spout blatant lies without batting an eye," Liu Shan couldn't help but mock.

"Sir, the doctor really did treat it. There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me."

For the first time, Liu Shan truly experienced what it meant to be a troublesome little devil.

"Could you please go and get me some water?"

After a while, Liu Shan snatched the water bag from the jailer and personally fed Ge Yuniang a few sips of water.

Ge Yuniang finally regained some strength and leaned against the mottled wall, letting down her guard and slowly recounting what had happened.

Wang Pinlian, Ge Yuniang's husband, was an assistant at the county blacksmith shop. Just over half a month ago, he suddenly felt weak all over and had to ask for leave to go home.

Ge Yuniang was worried about her husband's health, so she closed her stall early that day and went home to take care of Wang Pinlian. Following Wang Pinlian's instructions, she made two large bowls of tonic soup with longan, goji berries, jujubes, ginseng, and other ingredients, and gave it to Wang Pinlian to drink immediately.

After drinking the tonic soup, Wang Pinlian felt much more energetic. Since the weather was getting colder, he asked Ge Yuniang to heat up the kang (a heated brick bed). In order to recover his body as quickly as possible, Wang Pinlian even covered himself with a winter quilt to sweat and ward off the cold.

Unexpectedly, when Ge Yuniang woke up again after one night, she was greeted not by her husband's recovery, but by his cold corpse.

What surprised her even more was that Wang Pinlian's face was bluish and blood was flowing from his mouth and nose, making him look like he had died from poisoning.

Upon seeing this, Wang Pinlian's elderly mother felt that her son's death was too suspicious and suspected that he had been poisoned. She then reported the case to the county government.

Ge Yuniang burst into tears, feeling wronged. "How could I possibly poison my husband? We were even discussing having children at the beginning of the year, but who would have thought he would die so mysteriously, sob sob sob... My lord, I really didn't harm him! My lord, you have to believe me!"

She lay prostrate on the ground, her voice hoarse and shrill.

Seeing this, He Qiong and Liu Shan did not urge her immediately, but waited until her emotions gradually stabilized before continuing to ask questions.

"And then?" Liu Shan listened while taking simple notes.

"Afterwards, the body was transported to the county government office, where the magistrate ordered Ding Lu to examine the body. Ding Lu's conclusion was that the person died of poisoning... But how could that be?! Your Honor, you must believe me! I really didn't poison him!"

Ge Yuniang's tears welled up again, but fortunately she recovered quickly this time and continued, "The day after the autopsy, I was taken back to the county yamen by the magistrate for interrogation. At first, I refused to confess. Then the magistrate heard a rumor from somewhere that I had an affair with Instructor Chen and demanded that I admit to adultery with him. But he was just an ordinary customer who occasionally patronized my noodle stall. How could I have an affair with him? But the magistrate didn't believe me and used severe torture on me to force me to confess to adultery with Chen An and conspiring to poison Wang Pinlian. Your Honor, I had no choice, I really had no choice! It hurt so much, it really hurt so much, I couldn't bear it!"

After Ge Yuniang finished speaking, she collapsed to the ground like a catfish that had lost all its strength.

Liu Shan had read historical books and knew that punishments such as finger-crushing, pricking the breasts with red-hot iron needles, and pouring boiling water on the back were commonly used punishments for women in history.

Ge Yuniang's current condition suggests that she has likely suffered greatly from these tortures.