Chapter 289: Side Story: Joy Record One

Side Story: Joy Record One

Early morning, in a remote room in the backyard of the Huining County Magistrate's office, Pei Yaoguang stared at the corpse on the wooden rack in front of him, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

Standing on his left were the yamen runners Old Zhou and Little Li, whom he had brought from the Jingzhao Prefecture. Standing on his right were Magistrate Liu and Assistant Magistrate Gu of Huining County.

The room was not large, but with several people standing in it, it seemed even more cramped. The surroundings were silent, and an unpleasant smell permeated the air, revealing a trace of weirdness and tension.

Pei Yaoguang didn't speak, and Magistrate Liu beside him was sweating on his forehead, not daring to make a sound, but he was suffering in his heart...

It turned out that a few days ago, a murder case occurred in Wang Family Village, which was under the jurisdiction of Huining County. The deceased was a villager named Wang Er. It was said that he was fine the night before, but the next morning, he was dead. This Wang Er had been working outside and had only been back for two days. So, seeing his youngest son, who had just returned home, die like this, Wang Er's mother, Sun, went dark in front of her eyes and fainted directly. Wang Er's older brother, Wang Da, was anxious and angry. Thinking about it, he felt that his younger brother had been murdered by his younger sister-in-law, Liu!

After all, he had been fine before, and now, after only one night of sleep, he was dead. Sister-in-law Liu was naturally the most likely suspect. So, in a fit of anger, Wang Da ran directly to the county magistrate's office, accused Liu of the crime, and insisted that Liu had murdered her husband.

Wang Da spoke decisively. Afterward, when people went to check, it was indeed as Wang Da said. Wang Er had died on the bed, there were no other wounds on his body, but there were some saliva marks from Wang Da on the pillow beside him. So Magistrate Liu also believed Wang Da's words, thinking that Liu had smothered her husband with a pillow, and immediately had the yamen runners arrest Liu.

At the same time, when the incident happened at the Wang family and Liu was arrested, the news spread to Liu's maiden family. Upon hearing the news, Liu's maiden family was in an uproar, believing that Wang Er's death had nothing to do with Liu and that Liu was wronged. Afterward, they came to the magistrate's office to cry out for injustice. But in Magistrate Liu's view, Liu's maiden family was just making trouble, so he sent them away and directly sentenced Liu to death, reporting it up.

When things reached this point, in Magistrate Liu's view, there was no mistake, and he even felt that he was so clear-sighted and decisive in handling the case, and he was quite proud of himself. It was just unexpected that although Liu's maiden family was a small family and didn't have many people, they were all stubborn. So, seeing their daughter sentenced to death, Liu's maiden family directly found someone to write a complaint, dragged the whole family, and went to the Jingzhao Prefecture to cry out for injustice!

Huining County was a small county near the capital of Eastern Ling and was also under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhao Prefecture. Regarding the matter of Liu's maiden family filing a complaint, Magistrate Liu had heard some things before, but didn't pay much attention, thinking that they were just wild villagers, and if they filed a complaint to the Jingzhao Prefecture, the people there wouldn't care about them. But he didn't expect that as soon as the complaint from Liu's maiden family was filed to the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Jingzhao Magistrate brought people from the city early the next morning.

Magistrate Liu was stunned. You must know that he, a Huining County Magistrate, was only a seventh-rank sesame official, while the Jingzhao Magistrate was a third-rank high official in the capital. To crush him, he didn't even need to use his feet; one memorial up, and he would be finished. So, hearing that the Jingzhao Magistrate had come, Magistrate Liu, who was still in his bed, was scared out of his wits and hurriedly put on his official uniform and ran over.

So at this moment, Magistrate Liu was trembling. Seeing Pei Yaoguang staring at the corpse without blinking, his heart jumped to his throat, and he didn't even dare to breathe.

The surroundings were still silent. Afterward, until after a long while, Pei Yaoguang moved his eyebrows and turned to look at Magistrate Liu beside him.

"Magistrate Liu, how did the deceased die?"

Raising his head slightly, Pei Yaoguang was full of habitual arrogance. Hearing this, Magistrate Liu couldn't help but tremble all over, blinked his eyes, swallowed his saliva, and responded respectfully:

"Replying to Lord Pei, this deceased... the deceased was smothered to death by the murderer with a pillow..."

"How do you know he was smothered to death?"

"Uh... the subordinate went to the scene to check personally. Wang Er died on the bed, there were no other wounds on his body, and there were saliva marks on the pillow beside him, so..."

"So you think the deceased was smothered to death?"

"Uh... yes..."

Not daring to raise his head, Magistrate Liu responded in a low voice. But as soon as his voice fell, Pei Yaoguang's eyes widened instantly.

"What do you mean yes? Who do you think you are? You see saliva on the pillow and say the deceased was smothered to death? There is also saliva on my pillow. Was I also smothered to death? If I were dead, is the person talking to you now a ghost?!"

Pei Yaoguang never spoke politely. Being scolded by him like this, Magistrate Liu was trembling all over and could only nod repeatedly. Watching his appearance, Pei Yaoguang rolled his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, then calmed down and said:

"I have already read the case file you submitted. However, in my opinion, there are still several doubts in this case. So, even if Liu's family hadn't gone to the Jingzhao Prefecture to file a complaint yesterday, I would have come here today."

As he spoke, Pei Yaoguang glanced at Magistrate Liu. Seeing his trembling appearance, he didn't bother to talk nonsense with him and directly spoke about the case.

"Magistrate Liu, let me ask you, what is Liu's reputation usually like?"

"Uh... this... should... be..."

At this time, Magistrate Liu was trembling all over because he didn't know why Pei Yaoguang asked this, and he really didn't know what Liu's reputation was like. Seeing that he couldn't answer, Pei Yaoguang's eyes widened again. Seeing that the situation was bad, Assistant Magistrate Gu on the side hurriedly answered for Magistrate Liu:

"Replying to the Lord, Liu's reputation in the village is quite good. After Wang Er left home many years ago, Liu has been serving her parents-in-law in the Wang family, and her relationship with her sisters-in-law is also quite good. I haven't heard of any idle gossip."

Compared to Magistrate Liu, who was scared, Assistant Magistrate Gu was much calmer. Hearing this, Pei Yaoguang glanced at him and asked again:

"Besides her family, who does Liu usually associate with?"

"I haven't heard of that either..."

Assistant Magistrate Gu answered truthfully. At this time, listening to the conversation between the two, Magistrate Liu was stunned and looked up at Pei Yaoguang.

"Lord, are you saying that Liu has no motive?"

After all, he had been an official for so many years. Although he was a bit small, Magistrate Liu was not stupid. He was scared before, but now that he had calmed down, recalling Pei Yaoguang's words, Magistrate Liu suddenly realized.

At this time, seeing that Magistrate Liu was not as embarrassing as before, Pei Yaoguang said unpleasantly:

"What else did you think? It's written clearly in the file. Wang Er has been away for many years, and Liu has been staying at her in-laws'. So use your brain and think, if Liu were truly dissatisfied with her husband or had evil intentions, she would have found a reason to return to her maiden family long before Wang Er returned! Why would she wait until Wang Er returned to kill him?"

Being able to become the third-rank Jingzhao Magistrate at a young age, Pei Yaoguang had not only a hard bone but also keen observation and judgment. And human life was greater than heaven, so when he received the file submitted by Huining County, Pei Yaoguang opened it and took a look as soon as he saw it was a murder case. He immediately discovered the doubts!

Afterward, Liu's maiden family came to the Jingzhao Prefecture to file a complaint, saying that their daughter was wronged. Pei Yaoguang didn't even think and came directly.

Now that Pei Yaoguang had made it clear, Magistrate Liu also knew that he had been too arrogant and confused before, and hurriedly admitted his mistake. Then he looked up at Pei Yaoguang, seeing that he was no longer scolding, and asked carefully and seriously:

"Uh... but Lord, how should we handle it now? Should I call all the Wang family members over to see if we can ask for any clues..."

Magistrate Liu was also well-intentioned, but who would have thought that as soon as his voice fell, Pei Yaoguang scolded him with wide eyes:

"Ask what? Now that you don't even know how the person died, what can you ask?"

While scolding Magistrate Liu, after the sound fell, Pei Yaoguang was too lazy to bother with him and directly shouted to Old Zhou beside him:

"Old Zhou, ride a horse back to the city and go into the palace, and call that girl to me!"

Actually, as the Huining County Magistrate, Magistrate Liu was considered okay. Although he was not very capable, generally speaking, he had not been corrupt or broken the law for so many years, just occasionally confused and arrogant. And this Huining County was close to the capital, and the folk customs were simple, so there were rarely any major events, let alone murder cases. Therefore, it was not surprising that Magistrate Liu was negligent.

And in the past, when such murder cases with unknown causes occurred, the first person Pei Yaoguang looked for was Nie Jinxuan. But ever since Nie Jinxuan fell into a coma, Pei Yaoguang had no way. But he couldn't stand the craftsmanship of the coroners in the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Ministry of Punishments, and sometimes he wanted to kick them to death when he saw them performing autopsies. So finally, there was no way, Nie Jinxuan finally found another person, and this person was Shui Yun.

Shui Yun was a person around Nie Jinxuan. Back then, Nie Jinxuan performed many autopsies, and Shui Yun had always been helping on the side, so she naturally knew many things. Plus, Shui Yun was a dead soldier, with extraordinary skills, a steady hand, and no fear, which was much stronger than some coroners who had been doing it for more than ten years! Therefore, ever since Nie Jinxuan fell into a coma, Pei Yaoguang had been looking for Shui Yun to help from time to time.

Now, counting it, it had been three years, and Nie Jinxuan was still in a coma... Thinking of these, Pei Yaoguang couldn't help but sigh, and heard the report from outside that Old Zhou had brought Shui Yun. ===== CHAPTER 290 =====