Chapter 40: Palace Banquet Storm (10)

"Hurry up and start." After saying this, Zhuo Qing lifted the gauze curtain first and walked in.

Dan Yulan lifted the gauze curtain slightly, Yan Hongtian walked in with big strides, Xu Xunsi followed, and Hu Xi'ang also wanted to follow, but was blocked by Dan Yulan. Curling his lips, Hu Xi'ang stood against the curtain, still faintly able to see the corpse on the ground.

Lou Xiyan glanced at Su Ling beside him, thinking he would return to his seat and sit down. Who knew that he, like him, stood still outside the curtain, watching the situation inside with great interest.

Seeing that the three had stood still, Zhuo Qing asked while putting on gloves and checking the tools: "Can we start now?"

The corpse on the ground lay stiffly, its skin showing a blue-black color, eyes bulging, completely devoid of beauty. No one would have any other thoughts after seeing such a corpse, only feeling terrified and hideous. Yan Hongtian was somewhat impressed by her ability to ask questions so naturally and calmly.

Nodding slowly, Yan Hongtian replied: "Start."

Zhuo Qing started with the deceased's throat and slowly extended to the chest cavity. The bleeding volume was not very large, but the bloody smell still permeated the whole hall instantly. Watching a person's chest cavity being cut open in front of him, Xu Xunsi felt a wave of unbearable nausea surging up. And the person lying on the ground was none other than his sister. Turning his gaze away several times, he couldn't bear to watch.

Zhuo Qing focused on what she should do from beginning to end, explaining clearly while dissecting, so as to record it, as if she had performed countless autopsies before.

"There is a small amount of effusion in the deceased's chest cavity, the color is black-red. The surface of the two pleura is adhered to the chest wall, the thymus is swollen, and the positions of the organs in the chest cavity are normal. The heart is obviously dilated, the myocardium color is dark black, there is infarction, the aortic wall is smooth, the coronary artery is extremely hardened, there are a small amount of bleeding points on the endocardium, the myocardium is stiff, and the left and right ventricular muscles are hypertrophied. The kidneys are blue-black, and the capsule is peeled off. Both lungs are atrophied, with brown-red blood spots appearing in many places on the surface, and the cross-section color is black-red."

The clear and cold female voice rang out in the hall, which was somewhat terrifying along with the bloody smell. Without accident, Zhuo Qing heard several obvious vomiting sounds. It was very normal; not everyone could bear it.

If she could do a spinal cord and cell test to see the degree of change in the follicles and red marrow, it would be even better. Zhuo Qing sighed again, it was really inconvenient without equipment. Zhuo Qing was complaining in her heart and was about to check the respiratory tract when a pair of clean white gloves was handed to her side: "Change a pair, be careful of the poison in the blood."

Zhuo Qing raised her eyes and saw it was Dan Yulan handing her the gloves. His eyes were fixed straight on the corpse on the ground, and the heat in his eyes was what Zhuo Qing was familiar with. She was like this when she first started working. She was very excited about every study. It seemed that he didn't have many opportunities to perform autopsies.

Dan Yulan's heart was beating very fast. He had also performed quite a few autopsies, but this was the first time he had seen such a meticulous examination, and her technique and understanding of the corpse were absolutely above his. He must ask who her teacher was!

Zhuo Qing changed into new gloves and continued her work, but this time her movements were relatively slow, and every step was to let Dan Yulan see clearly. "The esophageal mucosa of the deceased has no erosion or bleeding; there is little stomach content, the mucosa is slightly adhered, the stomach wall has no bleeding, necrosis, perforation, and other changes, and there is no abnormal smell."

Changing a knife, Zhuo Qing cut from the side of the cranial cavity and continued: "There are multiple hematomas in the cranial cavity, centered on the needle hole, the blood color is turbid, and it tastes salty and fishy."

The examination was basically completed. Zhuo Qing finally raised her head, looked at the three men with different expressions, and said: "The poison erosion in the deceased's heart, lungs, and kidneys is obvious. It can be determined that the deceased died of poisoning. There are no signs of poison erosion in the esophagus, stomach, and other organs. The wine she drank was non-toxic. The reason for her death was the wound at the back of her head. The venom entered the blood circulation directly through the needle prick, causing myocardial paralysis and kidney failure in a short time. Do you have any objections?"

"No." Dan Yulan responded first. Yan Hongtian only nodded coldly. He was really shocked by her performance just now. In three years, she had really changed. After Xu Xunsi nodded hurriedly, he couldn't bear it anymore and rushed out.

No objections, then she could finish work!

Ignoring them again, Zhuo Qing began to suture the wound seriously. Yan Hongtian glanced at her with complex eyes but didn't say anything. He walked out of the curtain, and Dan Yulan followed him out of the curtain.

Yan Hongtian returned to the dragon chair. The Empress was already so shocked that she bit her lips tightly, and her breathing was unstable. Yan Hongtian's brows furrowed slightly, and he hummed coldly: "If you are afraid, return to the palace."

The Empress finally came back to her senses and trembled: "This concubine... this concubine is fine."

Averting his gaze with disgust, Yan Hongtian looked at Xu Xunsi, who was still pale below, and asked coldly: "Third Prince, since the Princess didn't die of poisoning from drinking our Qiongyue's wine, but died from being pricked in the back of the head by a needle, what do you have to say?"

After the scene just now, Xu Xunsi hadn't recovered yet. Yan Hongtian's question made him unable to help but ask coldly: "Does the Qiong Emperor mean to determine that this Prince killed his own sister?!"

"Whether it is the Third Prince, of course, needs further investigation, but the Third Prince is currently the person most likely to have committed the crime..."

Before Yan Hongtian finished speaking, inside the curtain, Zhuo Qing looked at what she had just found, and a voice with surprise and emotion rang out faintly: "He should be the person least likely to have committed the crime..."

The cold female voice interrupted his words. Yan Hongtian's face turned black. Was this woman going against him? She was the one who drew the conclusion just now, and now she said Xu Xunsi couldn't be the murderer?

Dan Yulan believed Zhuo Qing had her reasons for saying so, but the Emperor's displeasure was already on his face. Dan Yulan immediately asked: "Since the deceased died from a needle pricked into the back of her head, only the Third Prince approached the Princess just now. Why do you say he is the person least likely to have committed the crime?"

Lifting the gauze curtain, Zhuo Qing took a porcelain plate and walked out. Handing the things in her hand to Dan Yulan, Zhuo Qing replied: "Because I found this when I was suturing the wound on the back of the head just now." She had originally thought the wound at the back of the head was left by directly holding a needle and sticking it in. It turned out it wasn't.

"This is..." Dan Yulan looked at the porcelain plate. On it was a black thread slightly thicker than a hair and about an inch long. After distinguishing it for a long time, Dan Yulan said hesitantly: "Is this a silver needle?"

Xu Xunsi also looked over curiously. This thing looked more like a poisoned silver thread.

Zhuo Qing nodded and asked: "Who among you has the ability to stick such a thin silver needle into the back of her head one inch deep from such a close distance without damaging her skull?"

Scanning the room, Zhuo Qing stopped her gaze on Su Ling, because in this hall, there should be no one with better martial arts than this general.

Dan Yulan sent the silver plate to Su Ling. Su Ling only took one look, didn't even frown, and replied frankly: "I can't do it."

Zhuo Qing shrugged. She didn't need to explain. Even General Su admitted he couldn't do it, so Xu Xunsi was even less likely to do it. If he had used a hidden weapon to wound the Princess, he would have had even less need to run over so quickly and invite suspicion, because the poisoned Xu Yanyun was bound to die.

Her overly confident appearance was very piercing! Yan Hongtian asked aggressively: "So you know who the murderer is?"

"I don't know." Zhuo Qing answered very readily: "All I can do is perform an autopsy, not solve the case. Next is his job." She was just a forensic doctor and never thought she was omnipotent. Even the great general admitted so frankly that he couldn't do it, so what was she afraid of?

Zhuo Qing retreated to the long table behind Lou Xiyan, wanting to sit down and rest for a while, but a resentful and creepy gaze stared at her tightly. Zhuo Qing felt a chill on her back. She forgot, there was still a Princess behind her!

Reluctantly retreating to her old seat, standing beside Mo Bai, leaning against the pillar behind her, Zhuo Qing hammered her legs on her own, not caring about the group of people in the hall who were still at a loss.

Lou Xiyan shook his head and smiled. Did she not know that her casualness was seen as arrogance by others? Coughing lightly, Lou Xiyan smiled faintly: "Finding the murderer is actually not difficult. Official Dan should have already thought of who the murderer is." This sentence successfully attracted everyone's attention to Dan Yulan.

This person was truly vengeful. Didn't he just let his woman show off for a while! Dan Yulan gritted his teeth and replied: "Prime Minister Lou is really praising this official."

Fortunately, he did have a suspect in his heart. Dan Yulan held the porcelain plate, swept his sharp eyes over everyone, and his clear voice rang out in the hall: "To shoot such a thin silver needle at the Princess in front of all the civil and military officials, the murderer must have a hidden weapon to assist, and he must still be in the Great Hall."

Who exactly was it?

This was the question in everyone's heart. The whispering discussion sounded like thousands of mosquitoes buzzing, making people feel annoyed, and they couldn't hear what was being said.

Dan Yulan walked to Hu Xi'ang's side and asked coldly: "The wine the Princess drank was non-toxic. From the time the Princess put down the cup until her death, only General Hu touched the wine cup. Can you explain why poison was detected in the wine in your hand?"

"What do you mean by that?" Hu Xi'ang faced Dan Yulan, furious, and cursed: "How would I know why there was poison in the wine? Since the murderer can kill the Princess from a distance, it is also possible to poison from a distance, creating the illusion that the Princess died from drinking poisoned wine. I just happened to be eager to know the cause of the Princess's death and went to get that cup of wine! Just because of this, you determine that I am the murderer? Isn't that too childish!"

"General Hu's words are reasonable. Such a judgment is indeed a bit childish." Dan Yulan looked at his wrist and asked with feigned suspicion: "Then can General Hu tell me where the thing you have been wearing on your wrist has gone now?"

The bracelet Hu Xi'ang wore was very special. He had noticed it from the beginning, but after finding the silver thread, it disappeared for no reason. Wasn't this very strange?!

Xu Xunsi had already felt Dan Yulan's obvious suspicion of Hu Xi'ang, but he didn't speak out. Hu Xi'ang's back stiffened slightly, and his eyes darkened.

After a while, he took out a bracelet about an inch wide, inlaid with several precious gems, from the purse at his waist, and replied unhurriedly: "This is a relic left by my mother. It's just an ordinary bracelet. In our Beiqi, men wearing bracelets is a symbol of wealth and status. The Third Prince also has a bracelet in his hand, what is strange about this? I just put the bracelet into the purse for safekeeping."

Zhuo Qing raised her eyebrows slightly. This person wasn't simple. Just now in the Great Hall, he acted like a reckless man. Now he looked very calm.

If it was really that simple, why did he hide it? Dan Yulan asked in a deep voice: "Can you lend it to me to see?"

"Take it." Handing the thing in his hand to Dan Yulan, Hu Xi'ang looked calm and indifferent.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 41 =====