Though there were many people with abundant vitality, Suzhen was still terrified.

The morgue was tolerable with its limited corpses, but here… Besides, before it had been broad daylight, but now the evening wind was fierce…

At the charity morgue gate, she kept drilling behind Leng Xue’s back.

Lian Qin looked at her with disdain and mocked: “Usually so bold, didn’t expect you to be afraid of this—coward.”

He walked to her side, poked her shoulder, made a ghost face, and said eerily: “Ghosts look for substitutes, you know!”

Lian Yu, who had barely spoken along the way and hadn’t paid much attention to Suzhen, now said in a slightly stern voice: “Ninth Brother, you go in first. You all go in first.”

Lian Qin, being scolded, glared at Suzhen and reluctantly jumped in first.

Lian Jie and the others all smiled, knowing that Lian Yu had some unclear feelings for this Huaisu. Even Qinglong and Baihu began treating Huaisu with utmost respect—only this Lian Qin was making trouble.

Leng Xue glanced at Suzhen, Wuqing patted his shoulder, and Xiaozhou, being very observant, had already pulled Leng Xue inside.

Everyone quickly left, leaving not one behind. Suddenly, before the dark and gloomy charity morgue gate with distant buildings and no nearby people, only Suzhen and Lian Yu remained.

Suzhen lowered her head slightly, feeling besides fear, also a sense of oppression and tension.

Lian Yu said: “So I’m more terrifying than ghosts and monsters.”

Suzhen thought that was about right—you really have self-awareness, but said: “Your Majesty truly jests.”

At this moment, she knew Lian Yu must have detected something about her hatred toward him. She naturally didn’t dare ask, and was thinking of saying something to cover it up when she saw Lian Yu open his folding fan and say leisurely: “Very well, since you fear ghosts, just wait here. We’ll come out and tell you the situation.”

As he was about to go in, with everyone already inside, how could Suzhen dare stay outside alone in the cold and fear? She shook her head repeatedly.

Lian Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, looking quite disdainful as he extended his hand. Suzhen was so moved she almost cried, grasping it tightly and letting him lead her inside.

The courtyard was pitch black. She and Lian Yu walked in relative silence. As Suzhen walked, she opened her eyes wide to look around. She could vaguely see the courtyard seemed to have nothing else, just some trees planted and a well… The tree shadows swayed eerily, and everything was so quiet except for some birds and insects cooing. Her scalp tingled—

“Hey, Li Huaisu, what do you think that jumping thing behind that tree is?”

Lian Yu’s voice suddenly drifted down from above her head. Goosebumps immediately rose all over her body as she desperately hugged Lian Yu’s half an arm. Lian Yu coughed lightly and pulled her into his embrace.

The man’s burning breath silently enveloped her. Suzhen only felt a wave of warmth, and though her heart felt strange, she couldn’t care about much else.

When they pushed open the door to enter, she hurriedly broke away. Lian Yu sneered coldly but said nothing.

Inside was another world entirely.

Multiple lamps were lit, and though many wooden boards were arranged in rows, only three had corpses lying on them.

From the situation, this charity morgue had already been carefully arranged beforehand.

Everyone was already there, with the addition of General Murong Jinghou and several neatly dressed young men who seemed to be his personal guards, plus a young woman. Suzhen found this woman somewhat familiar and suddenly remembered—it was the one she’d seen at the Guixiang Tower entrance that night at the trade exhibition.

General Murong Jinghou led the somewhat apprehensive young woman to pay respects to Lian Yu.

Lian Yu nodded, and those young men slowly removed the cloth coverings from the corpses.

Though mentally prepared, when those three corpses’ dark, stiff faces appeared before everyone again, each person’s heart still jumped.

The faces of old acquaintances—these were indeed the courtesan, Bai He, and Huamei.

Suzhen looked toward Lian Yu and murmured in confusion: “I clearly saw them burned to ashes with my own eyes. How…”

Lian Yu glanced at General Murong Jinghou, who said gravely: “What kind of person is that Quan Feitong? Your Majesty anticipated there would be variables. While those coroners were still examining bodies in court, Your Majesty had already sent guards disguised as common people protecting the Top Scholar to notify this old subject. Following Your Majesty’s instructions, this old subject led people directly to Guixiang Tower and found this young woman who usually helped the courtesan with various matters in the building. After the trial ended, that Coroner Wang brought runners to transport the bodies back to the building. This young woman gave some silver, pretending she and several other girls wanted to dress up mother and sisters’ bodies in the mourning hall before cremation. Coroner Wang agreed.”

The Guixiang Tower girl Qionghua said quietly: “Since it was dressing the bodies, naturally we closed the door—it wouldn’t be proper for Coroner Wang and those runners to see.”

“General Murong led people to hide in the inner room of the mourning hall. At that moment, the general switched three other corpses he had prepared beforehand with mother and the others. Afterward, we still carefully wrapped them, and since it took considerable time with Coroner Wang personally guarding outside the door without suspicion, we sisters personally watched—there was absolutely no way he could open the burial shrouds again.”

“So what Huaisu later saw cremated were other people’s remains?” Zhuiming exclaimed quietly.

“Yes, these were what this old subject had people quickly fetch from a nearby charity morgue.”

General Murong Jinghou smiled in reply.

Lian Qin and others already knew the whole story, but the Chief Justice Office people were all quite shocked looking at Lian Yu. Suzhen also secretly glanced at Lian Yu, suddenly thinking: This person… would she ever be able to get revenge on him?

Xiaozhou was very serious as he cupped his hands and said: “Your Majesty is brilliant and mighty! May Your Majesty live ten thousand years and unify the martial world—no, unify all under heaven!”

Lian Yu and everyone: “…”

Wuqing said at this time: “Is there someone who can examine these bodies? The way Huaisu looks, she’ll probably faint before examining half of them.”

Lian Jie smiled and rolled up his sleeves slightly: “I know some medical arts and have studied these matters somewhat. Let me do it. Sixth Brother asked me to help but didn’t bring an imperial physician or coroner.”

Seeing this elegant young gentleman, Xiaozhou was about to open his mouth in praise when Tieshou, to save everyone time, reached out and firmly covered his mouth.

Lian Jie quickly completed his work. When he raised his head, his expression was very grave, his eyes holding a strange, shocked light. The candlelight in the room flickered, unable to illuminate the deep furrows creased across his forehead.

Everyone was both shocked and puzzled. At this moment, a gust of wind somehow drifted in from nowhere and with a “puff” extinguished one lamp in the room.

Even though everyone present had their own courage and backgrounds, they all felt an ominous sensation.

Seeing this, Suzhen’s heart tightened as she said slowly: “These bodies were either actually switched once already and made up to look like the courtesan and others, or those several originally trustworthy coroners were indeed threatened or bribed through sophisticated means.”

“Seventh Brother, what do you say?”

Lian Yu’s gaze deepened as he looked directly at Lian Jie.

In an instant, everyone held their breath, looking toward this Seventh Prince.

Lian Jie said word by word: “Sixth Brother, everyone, originally the situation would be one of the two Huaisu mentioned. However, according to my examination, those coroners definitely weren’t bought by Quan Feitong, because these corpses indeed died from sharp objects like hairpins—wounds shallow but numerous. But they also weren’t switched early. I examined carefully—their faces show no special makeup or the extremely mysterious and skillful disguise arts of jianghu legend. Look…”

As he spoke, he slowly reached out and scraped forcefully across the fake “courtesan’s” face, but no human skin peeled away. Everyone was immediately stunned, unable to speak for a long time.

The bodies were still the original bodies—the courtesan and others themselves! But they hadn’t died from sword wounds as Suzhen originally examined, but from hairpin wounds!

That meant either Suzhen had examined incorrectly, or from the very beginning she had been… lying, covering up the truth for Mochou!

Everyone looked at the already pale-faced Suzhen.

Suzhen was also shocked and panicked, shaking her head repeatedly. Just as she was about to explain, Lian Yu spoke faster: “Impossible. Li Huaisu has no motive to favor Mochou so much. Furthermore, unless she bribed those coroners under my jurisdiction, who would help her maintain this lie during the second examination in court?”

Everyone had just been momentarily shocked, but now Lian Yu’s steady voice was like a sedative, naturally making them think clearly. Xiaozhou also stopped flattering and said: “Then what’s really happening? If Huaisu didn’t lie and didn’t examine incorrectly, then these bodies are still…”

“Switched!”

Nearly half the people in the room finished his shocked, questioning words in low shouts.

The Guixiang Tower girl was now trembling with fear, as if malevolent spirits lurked here.

“Moreover, they must have been switched before the court trial. Prime Minister Quan must have anticipated Huaisu would examine bodies in court. The bodies were transported from He Sai’s prefecture office and still had their original faces when unveiled in court—who would suspect these were fake bodies? The purpose was to have those four coroners conclude they died from golden hairpin wounds.” Wuqing frowned tightly as he analyzed.

But Lian Qin loudly interrupted him: “But these still have the original faces, meaning these are still the courtesan and others. How is this switching? At most it’s forging wounds.”

“No, Ninth Prince,” General Murong Jinghou smiled bitterly: “The wounds of the deceased cannot be forged. Seventh Prince, isn’t this correct?”

Lian Jie nodded heavily.

That meant these corpses were the courtesan and others, but their method of death had been changed—wasn’t this too bizarre? Everyone again fell into shocked silence, then all followed Lian Jie’s gaze to Lian Yu, who had been silent for quite some time.