Su Zhen read to this point and covered the letter.

The person who wrote the letter was extremely meticulous in thought, carefully presenting the entire process to her, but limiting it to mere narration, cleverly avoiding everyone’s thoughts.

Of course, since everyone was both companion and enemy to each other, each person’s thoughts might not necessarily be revealed to others.

However, what everyone observed in the mansion, the conversation with Philanthropist Liao, and even the later conversation with the little maidservant were all quite meaningful, revealing two points of suspicion.

First: It was said that these four households had already agreed, but later, upon careful consideration and relying on their advantageous position, they went back on their word. Philanthropist Liao was someone who even owed his mansion’s maids their wages – how could he so easily agree to give each household ten more taels, even having Hu Wei take the money directly for negotiations? Not to mention when the other party reneged! He could simply use his own influence to pressure them, and would those four families dare to make a sound?

Second: Shuangcheng had asked Philanthropist Liao if he had other land enclosure construction projects. Philanthropist Liao knew this couldn’t be concealed, since all engineering and construction projects were recorded by the government, so he had no choice but to answer truthfully that he did.

One might boldly hypothesize that if four families suffered legal troubles due to land enclosure, other common people would dare not demand compensation increases for future land seizures, or even if forced to accept less silver when land was forcibly taken, they could only endure it silently. Who wouldn’t fear unexpected calamity!

This was probably the true reason behind Hu Wei’s death.

Philanthropist Liao wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, so that in future forcible land seizures, he wouldn’t need to spend much money – a few lives in exchange for all the benefits!

Reasoning it out this way provided the motive.

But this motive was too subtle, and with no substantial evidence to support it, it couldn’t be used to overturn the case.

As for the suspicion about the “second house” that Shuangcheng mentioned, that was a major turning point!

The court records had been passed around among several women. Though she hadn’t read them carefully, she had listened attentively to the clerk’s case presentation in the prison that day.

“That’s it.”

She snapped her fingers, almost immediately thinking of what was improper about this.

She opened the letter again.

The letter continued, describing how while everyone was thinking, Shuangcheng didn’t waste time and pointed out the suspicion: “At that time, why did the bailiff, when asking the homeowner for water, bypass the nearer option and not ask the owner of the first house, going directly to the second house instead?”

“Perhaps the first house had no one home at the time, but in a household of several people, it’s not unusual for one or two to come and go. For the entire family to be out would only happen for occasions like weddings or funerals. Yet the court records don’t even mention that this bailiff first went to the first house to ask for water, found no one, and then went to the second house. They directly visited the second house.”

When she mentioned the court records, everyone had more or less thought of this point. Now they all showed pleased expressions: the bailiff knew in advance that the second house had something suspicious!

In other words, these two bailiffs were problematic!

Later, when everyone questioned the villagers again, someone remembered that on the day the corpse was discovered, except for the household head Guan Qiaozi who had gone up the mountain to cut firewood, his elderly parents and wife and daughter were all at home in the first household.

This case, the deeper they went, the more it seemed like sinking into a quagmire. With this suspicion now confirmed, everyone was undoubtedly reinvigorated.

But this could only serve as a suspicious point in the case – they would need to investigate the bailiffs involved that day to make a determination. Based on this point alone, they still couldn’t overturn the case. Lian Yue ordered the soldiers to light torches, and the women decided to explore the scene again.

Miao Yin was careful and instructed the soldiers: “This place has already been trampled by many villagers who came to watch the excitement. Don’t all go in together – just guard outside and don’t damage the traces further. Have two people with candles follow us.”

Once inside, they saw that though this was called a courtyard, it was merely a circle of bamboo and wood fencing. Inside were two pens built – one with a stone feed trough, the other scattered with brown-black feathers and hardened animal droppings. These were apparently used to raise pigs and chickens and ducks respectively. A sour, rancid smell wafted from the feed trough, where the remaining pig feed had long since rotted. Whether it was piglets, chickens and ducks, or the dog that had discovered the corpse that day, all were nowhere to be seen. Presumably when the family members traveled far, they had hastily disposed of them, either killing or selling them.

None of these women had ever been to such a place. Lian Xin simply waited outside the fence. Murong Xin covered her nose in disgust, said “unlucky,” and turned to walk out. Miao Yin and Lian Yue frowned and also successively retreated.

Only Shuangcheng and Wu Yan remained unmoved, standing inside to carefully observe the environment.

After a while, Miao Yin straightened her expression and re-entered. Lian Yue quickly followed. Lian Xin took a breath, lifted her silk skirt, and also went in. Murong Xin frowned, hesitated slightly, then also entered.

Near the left side exit of the fence, there was a well. Beside the well were exactly two branches, not tall, with a dark clothesline stretching between them. The house door was tightly closed in the center. About half a zhang in front of the house, there was a circle of loose soil, with even a few small mounds of earth piled to one side. Looking carefully, it appeared to be a large pit that had been dug up and then filled with soil.

Needless to say, this was where the body had been exhumed that day.

Lian Yue called several soldiers over and instructed: “Dig up this soil.”

“Yes, Princess Imperial.”

The soldiers received their orders and quickly re-excavated the pit. This pit was quite deep – actually seven or eight chi deep. Normally, coffin burials were only about ten-odd chi in depth. Inside, the reddish earth was dark purple-black, carrying a thick, fishy stench.

This was caused by corpse blood and flesh entering the soil.

The several women couldn’t help but be alarmed, but they didn’t retreat.

The bones had already been removed, and there seemed to be nothing more to see here. But according to the court records and the murderers’ confessions, this was the primary crime scene.

That day, three men and one woman (the fourth household head was a widow) had arranged to meet secretly with Hu Wei behind the grain stacks at the village end. Hu Wei urged them to consider quickly, saying this price was already extremely generous, and instructed them never to reveal it to other villagers, otherwise if others demanded price increases, it would be troublesome. He also said his visit was secret.

The other three households were already somewhat moved, but Er Niu the butcher from the second household, upon hearing about the secret visit, suddenly had evil thoughts and came up with a plan. He pulled the other three aside and made a slashing gesture.

It was said that Er Niu was normally cruel and vicious, a famous troublemaker in the village. He was used to killing cattle and slaughtering sheep with ruthless efficiency.

As soon as this idea was proposed and with a little instigation, it immediately gained the approval of the other two household men. If Hu Wei died, they could just make it look like he absconded with the money, and Philanthropist Liao would have to pay another sixty taels per family – that would become 120 taels, quite a large sum!

Er Niu also said that since the idea was his, the location would be set at his house, and he would do the deed himself… This was why the murder and burial location was chosen at the second house.

The woman from the fourth household initially hesitated, but couldn’t resist the persuasion and temptation, and finally agreed as well.

After brief discussion, they quietly brought Hu Wei to Er Niu’s house. The woman called Er Niu’s mother-in-law and two children to her own house, saying she needed help making pickled vegetables. The other two household men suddenly attacked, holding Hu Wei’s hands and feet on either side while Er Niu brandished the sharp knife he used for killing cattle and sheep… Since this was murder, the butcher was somewhat afraid after all, lacking his usual efficiency in slaughtering livestock. He stabbed four times before killing Hu Wei, then placed the corpse under the bed.

The coroner’s autopsy report essentially matched Er Niu’s confession.

By evening, Er Niu told his wife he had been hired to slaughter cattle in a neighboring village. The woman took the opportunity to have Er Niu’s mother-in-law and pair of children stay overnight at her house, saying that as a widow she wanted company. Er Niu and the other two men quietly carried the corpse hidden under the bed to the courtyard, dug a deep pit, and buried it, waiting for time to pass until the bones decomposed completely.

However, this was only the one-sided testimony of the several prisoners. What kind of threats had they endured that they would maintain their original confessions even before the Emperor?

Lian Yu had previously deduced that their relatives must have been captured and used as leverage.

Seeing today’s situation, this deduction was probably frighteningly accurate. If the real murderer was indeed Philanthropist Liao or someone from Huang Tianba’s side, then these families’ relatives hadn’t left Min Mountain Prefecture at all. Rather, before and after the court dispatched Yan Da and Li Zhaoting to Min Mountain for thorough investigation, they had been secretly threatened, told the villagers false stories, and then taken away and hidden to threaten the four household heads.

What was chilling was that they hadn’t just abducted one person from each family, but entire households! The real murderer wanted no flaws whatsoever, forcing the four prisoners to be completely compliant, following their taught confessions exactly, putting all blame on themselves. After all, one person dying was better than the whole family suffering.

This case essentially had no key witnesses left!

Everyone attempted to re-enact the sequence of events. Lian Yue frowned slightly and spoke first: “If the murderer is indeed Liao and Huang, Hu Wei should have been killed beforehand, and only after death was he framed at this location. At the time, these four households probably knew nothing about it. Several days later, when the corpse’s stench spread and the household dog barked wildly, Er Niu accidentally discovered the dead body in front of his house door and was scared half to death. However, since it was broad daylight, he dared not rashly dispose of the body. Who knew that officers would arrive shortly after to ask for water to quench their thirst, and due to the dog’s wild barking, they discovered the bones.”

“Correct. If the murderer wasn’t these four household heads, this would be the true sequence of events,” Miao Yin continued, then frowned with doubt: “But why were the bailiffs able to arrive just in time when the dog was barking wildly, thus discovering the suspicious situation?”

“That’s not difficult,” Wu Yan said: “Someone with intent doing intentional deeds. They just needed to hide nearby and observe from time to time.”

Once she said this, everyone thought it made sense, but all of this was still speculation with no substantial evidence to support it!

At this time, Shuangcheng said calmly: “Unless we can prove that this was not the primary crime scene.”