klisemfg Chapter 123 Murder Case 6
Chapter 123 Murder Case 6
On her way back, Xiao Siyue kept thinking about this.
"Yue'er, what are you thinking about?" Xiao Qinian asked, noticing that Xiao Siyue hadn't said a word since getting into the carriage.
"Huh? Dad, I've always felt something's off, but I can't figure out what it is?" Xiao Siyue suddenly looked up and said.
“Something’s not right. Is Yue’er saying something’s wrong with this case?” Xiao Qinian touched his chin.
"Yes, Father."
"Father, why do you think Old Man Zhu would go to the back mountain to poison Old Woman Zhu? Isn't that unnecessary?" Xiao Siyue suddenly thought of this.
Poison, yes, it's poison.
"Father, where did Old Man Zhu find this poison? It's not a common poison. And this kind of drug, Li Mian, only causes strokes. How could Old Man Zhu have died?" Xiao Siyue asked, puzzled.
“This is indeed a bit off.” Xiao Qinian also felt there was something wrong after hearing Xiao Siyue say this.
"Yes, Father, do you think Old Lady Zhu really died from the poison of sleeplessness?" Xiao Siyue still felt something was wrong.
Xiao Qinian lifted the carriage curtain and said to the yamen runners outside, "Summon the coroner."
The carriage stopped, and the coroner got on it.
"Sir, you wanted to see me."
“Well, there are still some doubts about this case, and I’d like to ask you about them,” Xiao Qinian said.
"Will a person die if poisoned by the Sleep-Dispelling Poison?"
The coroner pondered for a while before saying, "Sir, in principle, poisoning should not cause death, but it is not always the case. If the person being poisoned is in poor health, it may still lead to death."
“But according to what we know, this old woman Zhu is in very good health. Did you find anything else when you examined the body?” Xiao Qinian thought of what Chen Lan and the villagers had said before, that old woman Zhu was in very good health.
The coroner thought for a while and then suddenly said, "Sir, when I was examining the body, I found red spots on Old Lady Zhu's body. They are different from lividity and seem to be rubella."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Siyue immediately sat up straight. "Hives?" she thought. "Isn't that just urticaria or an allergy?"
If it's an allergic reaction, that makes perfect sense. An allergy combined with the sleep-inducing poison would easily lead to death.
But allergies only occur when you come into contact with an allergen, so how could it be such a coincidence?
"You mean, Old Lady Zhu might have had rubella when she died?" Xiao Qinian said thoughtfully.
“Dad, I’ve heard before that some people get a disease similar to rubella after coming into contact with certain things,” Xiao Siyue said.
“Sir, what Miss said is true. I once met someone who couldn’t drink milk. Just one sip would cause him to break out in a rash and have trouble breathing. Do you think this old woman Zhu might be the same?” Upon hearing Xiao Siyue’s words, the coroner also remembered seeing someone like that before.
“What you said is not impossible. If that’s really the case, then it’s also possible that Old Lady Zhu is like that.” Xiao Qinian felt that this conjecture was very likely.
"Dad, should we go and ask Old Man Zhu?" Xiao Siyue suggested.
"it is good,"
Xiao Qinian and the others got off the carriage and brought Old Man Zhu over.
"Old Master Zhu, did Old Lady Zhu show any unusual signs before she died?" Xiao Qinian asked directly.
After being arrested by the yamen runners, Old Man Zhu remained silent. Now, when Xiao Qinian summoned him for questioning on the way, he showed no expression.
"Old Man Zhu!" Xiao Qinian called out in a raised voice.
Old Man Zhu looked up and glanced at the scene. After thinking for a moment, he said, "There's nothing unusual."
Are you sure you're being confident in your thinking?
"If there's anything unusual, it's that when the old woman died, she suddenly clutched her throat and couldn't speak, and her expression seemed to be one of great pain," Old Man Zhu said after careful consideration.
Xiao Qinian glanced at the coroner upon hearing this, and the coroner nodded.
"Do you know if Old Lady Xiao has experienced a similar situation before?"
"Similar... yes, yes, my wife used to experience this every time she ate honey, but she stopped eating it after that."
"Sir, my wife died because she ate honey, not because of me, right?" Old Man Zhu's usually lifeless face suddenly became excited.
"Alright, didn't you say that Old Lady Zhu has never eaten honey again?" Xiao Qinian said. Even if Old Lady Zhu had eaten honey, that doesn't mean Old Man Zhu is innocent.
"Old Zhu, I'll ask you again, where did you get the Sleepless Nightfall weapon from?"
"This... I obtained it by chance," Old Man Zhu said hesitantly.
"Ha, by accident? You'd better tell the truth." Xiao Qinian didn't believe it at all.
"My lord, I really obtained it by accident."
When Xiao Qinian saw that Old Man Zhu wasn't telling the truth, his suspicions deepened, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Alright, push it back down."
“Father, Old Man Zhu is clearly not telling the truth.” Xiao Siyue could tell as well.
"Hmm, I just don't know why Old Man Zhu would hide this matter,"
Could it be that the person who helped him sleep was someone he cared about deeply, and therefore he didn't want to involve them? Xiao Siyue wondered to herself.
"When you checked the pastries before, were there any honey inside?" Xiao Qinian asked the coroner.
"Sir, yes, there is some, but it's not very noticeable; it's masked by the smell of red dates," the coroner said. They had examined the date paste cake very carefully during their previous investigation.
Was this an accident or intentional?
Xiao Qinian summoned a constable and said, "Go to the pastry shops in town and check if they add honey to their jujube paste cakes."
After watching the constables leave, Xiao Qinian and his group continued towards the county.
As it was getting dark, the constables finally returned.
"Greetings, Your Excellency." The yamen runner clasped his hands in a salute.
"How is it?" Xiao Qinian asked anxiously.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, the jujube paste cakes made by the pastry shop do not contain honey." Honey is quite expensive, and the shop cannot afford it, so it is not added to the jujube paste cakes.
"That means the honey in the pastries was added intentionally," Xiao Qinian said.
"Then Dad, who do you think did it?" Xiao Siyue asked, not expecting there was another person behind this case.
"The most likely candidate is one of the other two members of the Zhu family," Xiao Qinian pondered.
“They are indeed highly suspicious, especially Chen Lan.” Xiao Siyue thought so too. There was a big conflict between Chen Lan and Old Lady Zhu. In Xiao Siyue’s opinion, unless Chen Lan was really a pushover, she would not be able to forgive and forget.
"Father, should we reinvestigate the two of them now?" Xiao Siyue thought. The case now had new doubts, so it couldn't just be closed like this.
“I will send people to investigate tomorrow,” Xiao Qinian said.
Now, in the eyes of those two, the case is closed, and they may lower their guard and reveal their weaknesses.