Everyone held their breath.

Quietly waiting for Ji Yunshu to continue.

“But you never imagined that strychnine seeds have a layer of fine hairs. The hairs are non-toxic—ordinary people won’t have any reaction from touching them. But if someone has slightly sensitive skin, one touch will cause red rashes, unbearably itchy! They definitely won’t heal in a short time.”

As she spoke, Ji Yunshu rolled up Liu Zhi’s sleeve with one swift motion.

His hands and wrists were covered in red rashes.

There were also marks from scratching!

Like streaks of bloody traces.

“This is the rash you got from touching the fine hairs on the strychnine seeds. If you still refuse to admit it, we can have a physician come look and verify whether what I said is true or false.” Ji Yunshu said.

Liu Zhi’s expression changed dramatically.

His eyes tightened in shock!

His body nearly went rigid halfway.

When he came to his senses, he immediately pulled his hand back from Ji Yunshu’s grasp.

Then firmly hid it inside his sleeve.

His whole body trembling!

“I… I didn’t, it wasn’t me!” He refused to admit it. “Those marks on my hands are just from scratching myself, not any rash. You’re talking complete nonsense, framing me! I treated my wife extremely well—how could I do such a thing? I didn’t!”

“If you treated her so well, how could her whole body be covered in injuries?” Ji Yunshu reached under the white cloth covering the corpse and pulled out the deceased’s hand.

Everyone was terrified.

The onlooking crowd couldn’t help but shrink back.

Some people directly averted their gaze, not daring to look.

The county magistrate also leaned back.

Even Coroner Zhou, who was also kneeling to the side, was somewhat surprised. He wasn’t frightened—after all, this was commonplace for him—but he hadn’t expected that such a refined young lady would be so bold as to directly reach under the white cloth to touch the deceased.

This was simply extraordinary behavior!

Yet that young lady was clearly very calm.

After carefully pulling out the deceased’s hand, Ji Yunshu also rolled up the sleeve.

The stiff arm’s skin was purple.

Indeed death by poisoning!

The county magistrate pointed at her: “You… what are you doing?”

But she looked at the deathly pale Liu Zhi and said: “You keep insisting you treated your wife extremely well, yet you beat her until she was covered in injuries!”

“You… I didn’t! Where are there any injuries on my wife’s body?”

“I imagine the reason you used strychnine to kill was because you knew that people who die from strychnine poisoning turn completely purple! Only this way could you cover up the bruises left on your wife’s body, and use this to conceal the fact that you abused her!”

“No, no…”

“Although the bruises are covered up, Coroner Zhou is right here. Have him examine your wife, and we’ll know whether there are injuries on her body.”

“…” Liu Zhi was so nervous his teeth chattered.

After hearing this, the county magistrate’s eyes, narrowed to slits, filled with rage. He grabbed the gavel and struck it forcefully again, demanding of Liu Zhi: “Speak! Did you kill your wife? If you continue to conceal it, you’ll be beaten with the punishment rod!”

Liu Zhi trembled several times, then quickly kowtowed: “Magistrate, I’m wronged! Please don’t listen to her nonsense. I’m truly wronged!”

“Now there’s both evidence and reasoning. How do you explain this?”

“I… I’m wronged! I have no reason to kill my wife, Magistrate, I really…”

Before he could finish—

Ji Yunshu said: “Because you have a new love! Plus you never loved your wife at all, which is why you conceived murderous intent.”

She hit the nail on the head!

Liu Zhi was stunned and flustered.

For a moment, he couldn’t speak a single word.

“That night in the ruined temple, I saw you wearing a delicate sachet with excellent embroidery—definitely not embroidered by an ordinary household! And absolutely not embroidered by your wife. I imagine it was given to you by your lover on the side. I saw your wife was very afraid of you, not even daring to make eye contact, even speaking with extreme caution. When I stuffed the steamed buns into her hands, I saw bruises on her wrist and knew she must have been abused by you, which is why she was so submissive and fearful of you. While you looked at her with utter disgust. If we say you killed her because of this, it’s entirely possible! Things have come to this point, yet you’re still making useless excuses.”

“Uh!”

Liu Zhi finally couldn’t hold on anymore.

Faced with evidence after evidence, he could no longer exonerate himself!

In that moment, he collapsed on the ground!

“Yes, it was me who killed her.” He admitted through gritted teeth!

These words immediately caused an uproar both inside and outside the courtroom.

“It really was him!”

“He actually killed his own wife—worse than a beast.”

“And he’s a school teacher! Bah, corrupting his students.”

…

Numerous voices came from outside the courtroom.

The county magistrate said: “In this court, no commotion is permitted!”

Only then did everyone fall silent!

The county magistrate asked Liu Zhi: “Since you’ve already admitted it, why did you kill her? Is it truly as this young lady said—you killed her because you had feelings for someone else?”

“That’s right.” Liu Zhi stopped making excuses. He looked hatefully at his wife covered by the white cloth and said bitterly, “All these years, I rose early and worked late teaching at the school. When I returned home, I still had to look at her ghostly face! All day long she circled around me like a phantom. Every time I wanted to strangle her to death with my bare hands. I was married to her for ten years. In these ten years, she never bore me any children. This kind of woman is completely useless! Unfortunately, I’m a xiucai and a private school teacher, so I couldn’t openly divorce her. That’s why I found this opportunity to kill her. Once she died, I could be with Miss Xiu’er forever!”

This Miss Xiu’er he spoke of was his lover on the side!

For the sake of one woman, he killed his own wife.

And he was a xiucai, a private school teacher.

All those decades of studying—he must have learned it all with his backside!

After hearing this, Ji Yunshu felt both anger and sadness in her heart.

For a moment she couldn’t hold back, and her eyes reddened.

She said to Liu Zhi: “Your wife loved you very much. Knowing there was only one flatbread, she gave it all to you, willing to let herself go hungry! Such a wife is rare in this world! You say she constantly hovered around you and annoyed you, but you were her husband! If she didn’t revolve around you, didn’t follow you, where else could she go? Where else could she turn to? You’re a scholar, your family circumstances weren’t ideal, and in these ten years she followed you she must have suffered so much hardship. Yet she stayed with you through thick and thin. And you?”

And you?

These words were like knives stabbing into Liu Zhi’s chest.

Piercing him until he was bloody and mangled.

Suddenly he awakened with a jolt!

He thought of all the moments over these ten years.

He had studied hard in poverty before passing the xiucai examination. His wife never complained once, always silently supporting him from behind, managing the household.

If not for love, who would be willing to suffer such hardship?

He suddenly felt overwhelming regret.

He threw himself onto his wife’s corpse.

“Wife, I’ve wronged you.”

He cried until he could barely breathe.

But everything was already too late.

Some things, once lost, are truly lost.

They won’t come back.

Though this was a case that made one grit their teeth in anger.

In the end, it was also deeply regrettable.

At this point, the case was closed!