Magistrate Wang suddenly widened his eyes in shock.

Coroner Qian pulled away the cloth covering the outside, holding up the revealed object with both hands—it was unmistakably an imperial edict.

Magistrate Wang rubbed his eyes, still unable to believe what he was seeing.

Chi Can impatiently twitched the corners of his mouth and was the first to kneel: “Long live His Majesty, long live, long live!”

Shao Mingyuan paused slightly before following suit and kneeling.

Immediately after, Yang Houcheng knelt, Jiang Wu knelt, and in waves spreading from near to far, everyone collapsed to their knees with a thunderous sound of kowtowing that shook the earth.

Qiao Zhao silently knelt under the tree’s shade, curving her lips slightly in a soundless smile.

The world’s foremost coroner—without the most noble person in the realm having spoken, how could one so confidently accept such a title?

Coroner Qian had possessed this imperial edict for decades.

Grandfather Li had once told her about how, years ago, a certain marquis had died of illness but left a will claiming his heir was unfilial, requesting that the young son of his second wife be established as the new heir instead. The entire city was in uproar. Just when the original heir’s position was precarious, the heir’s maternal family invited Coroner Qian, who ultimately proved that the marquis had not died of illness at all, but from poisoning. The Three Judicial Offices reopened the investigation and eventually discovered that the poisoner was none other than the young and beautiful second wife, and even her son was illegitimately born with her lover.

The second wife and her lover were eventually executed, the young son was sold into slavery, and the heir who inherited the marquis title was so grateful to Coroner Qian for turning the tide that he specially petitioned the emperor for this commendatory edict.

Later, Coroner Qian left the capital and lived in seclusion in Taishui. As time passed, the once-famous world’s foremost coroner gradually faded into obscurity, becoming an eccentric old coroner in Taishui City, not accepted by the world.

Coincidentally, that heir was none other than Marquis Zhenyuan, whose entire family was executed twenty years ago for treason.

Qiao Zhao now somewhat understood why Coroner Qian kept such a low profile. His reputation as the world’s foremost coroner came from Marquis Zhenyuan, and since Marquis Zhenyuan later fell from the emperor’s favor and met such an end, it would be awkward for Coroner Qian to constantly bring up past events.

However, awkward as it might be, the title of the world’s foremost coroner was undoubtedly personally bestowed by the current emperor. As long as Coroner Qian didn’t mention the former Marquis Zhenyuan and simply performed his duties under this title, no one could question it.

At the very least, there was no coroner in the world with more authority and prestige in autopsy matters than Coroner Qian.

Coroner Qian slowly unrolled the imperial edict and held it before Magistrate Wang: “Would Magistrate Wang like to examine whether this is real or fake?”

Magistrate Wang awoke as if from a dream, his legs went weak as he knelt, sweat pouring like rain.

How could a coroner have an imperial edict? Could it be that his approach today was wrong?

Jiang Wu quietly raised his head, a gleam flashing in his eyes.

No wonder his adoptive father wanted him to pay attention to Miss Li’s group. Setting aside everything else, these people were truly fascinating.

“Magistrate Wang, do you think my conclusions can convince the masses?” Coroner Qian asked, holding up the imperial edict.

Magistrate Wang twitched the corners of his mouth.

The old fellow was practically poking the imperial edict into his eyes—could he possibly say “no”?

Magistrate Wang smiled awkwardly and nodded.

Only then did Coroner Qian roll up the edict, wrap it up again, and stuff it back into his robes.

Everyone stood up.

Shao Mingyuan couldn’t help but turn around and gaze at Qiao Zhao under the tree.

Their eyes met, and Qiao Zhao smiled slightly at him.

Shao Mingyuan suddenly understood.

So when Zhaozhao went to invite Coroner Qian to come out of retirement, calling him the world’s foremost coroner wasn’t just empty words—she had already anticipated encountering various doubts and obstacles and had made the most appropriate arrangements in advance.

Zhaozhao was like this: whether or not he was by her side, she would always rely on her strength to do her best.

Shao Mingyuan took another deep look at the young woman under the tree.

Although this was such a solemn and sorrowful occasion, at this moment his heart suddenly pounded like a drum.

He couldn’t explain what caused this sudden, intense heartbeat, yet he didn’t want to suppress such feelings.

Being able to fall for such a girl was a very, very good thing. He was willing and had no regrets in this life.

“Since the magistrate has no objections to this old man’s autopsy results, let’s examine the next one. General Shao, you may have your men rebury Master Qiao.”

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but walk quickly in that direction, but was firmly held back by Binglu: “Miss, you mustn’t go over there—it’s terrifying!”

Held back by Binglu and unable to move, Qiao Zhao’s face darkened: “Binglu, let go!”

Seeing her mistress angry, Binglu quickly released her grip.

Ahem, compared to the future son-in-law, she naturally listened to her mistress.

Qiao Zhao walked quickly over, but Shao Mingyuan blocked her path and said to Yang Houcheng, “Chongshan, have your brothers dig open the graves nearby first. Don’t disturb my father-in-law’s grave yet.”

Yang Houcheng nodded and called out: “Come on, everyone put in some effort—you won’t be shortchanged afterward.”

The Jinwu Guards weren’t afraid of grave-digging, as being able to curry favor with the Champion Marquis would be very helpful for their futures.

“General Shao, what do you mean by this?” Hearing Shao Mingyuan’s instructions and seeing him block her way, Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but ask.

“Don’t be anxious.” Shao Mingyuan gave Qiao Zhao a reassuring smile, bent down to replace the coffin lid that had been pushed aside, then straightened up and said, “They should arrive soon.”

“What?” Qiao Zhao looked puzzled.

Shao Mingyuan gazed into the distance and pointed: “Here they come.”

Soon, everyone present heard the commotion and turned to look, seeing ox carts slowly approaching with heavy creaking sounds. The carts carried uniformly new coffins, and many strong men walked alongside them.

Leading the convoy was none other than Ye Luo, who hadn’t returned all night.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but look at Shao Mingyuan.

Given they were in public, Shao Mingyuan couldn’t say much, only smiled slightly at her before looking toward Ye Luo.

Ye Luo quickened his pace to reach Shao Mingyuan, clasped his hands, and bowed: “General, we acquired twelve coffins in total: two nanmu wood coffins, three pine wood coffins, and seven cypress wood coffins.”

Shao Mingyuan nodded slightly: “You’ve worked hard. Go rest now.”

Twelve coffins didn’t sound like many, but finding ready-made ones wasn’t simple, especially the two fine nanmu wood coffins, which ordinary coffin shops didn’t sell.

Ye Luo’s eyes were bloodshot as he acknowledged the order.

With the help of the strong men, Shao Mingyuan had Master Qiao properly re-interred and kowtowed heavily several times before his grave.

Qiao Zhao watched silently, her emotions particularly complex.

She thought that if she had come to Jia Feng alone, she probably couldn’t have been as thorough as Shao Mingyuan.

When the sun was about to set, all the Qiao family corpses had been examined. There were twenty-six bodies in total—except for two who died in the fire, the remaining twenty-four had all died from having their throats cut.

Due to insufficient coffins, except for the main members of the Qiao family, the other servants could only be interred two or three together in single coffins. When row after row of new graves reappeared, all the onlookers shuddered with cold.

The Qiao family members had been murdered! No wonder Master Qiao appeared in his son-in-law’s dreams—he truly could not rest in peace!