Chapter 92 Murder
Chu Li felt that Cui Yue must have been corrupt, but since his father had not exposed it, there might be other tricks.
This person doesn't need to move yet, she just observes first.
Before one crisis was over, another one arose, and Xue Yi, the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, stepped forward.
"Your Highness, there is a murder case that has not been solved. I have brought all the witnesses here. Please make the decision, Your Highness."
Chu Li looked at the second-in-command of the Dali Temple. Ever since Lu Dongchen was exiled, Xue Yi had been in charge of all the cases in the Dali Temple.
Xue Yi dared to do this, he must have been instructed by someone else.
She is now in charge of the Dali Temple, and criminal cases are originally under her jurisdiction. It seems that after the Liu Chuang case, some people thought she was lucky and wanted to deliberately cause trouble for her and make her look bad in public.
Chu Yue's eyes dimmed. Today was Chu Li's first day as regent. If she didn't show some power to Chu Li and cause her some trouble, wouldn't Chu Li be living too comfortably?
Xue Yi nodded and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is busy with state affairs, and I shouldn't have disturbed him. However, after the Liu Chuang case, Your Highness the Crown Prince has a very high prestige in the eyes of the people. The two people insisted on meeting Your Highness because their family head was killed by his adopted sister. Please give them justice!"
Chu Li sneered in her heart. It seemed that she had to solve the case on the spot today.
Xue Yi had already placed her on a moral high ground, and his words were ambiguous, as if she had no time to take care of the affairs of the Dali Temple.
Therefore, she must take care of today's matter and find out who is behind Cui Yue and is trying to deceive her!
"Bring the person up." Chu Li said calmly.
"Yes!"
A male corpse was carried out of the hall by the guards.
"Your Highness, the brothers Xia Chengming and Xia Changqing made their livings by fishing. When Xia Chengming was ten years old, he found a three-year-old girl on the beach and adopted her. The deceased was a kind person and had no enemies. I didn't expect that she was strangled to death at home last night."
While Xue Yi was speaking, the woman whose husband had been murdered looked dazed and her body was convulsing with tears.
She knelt on the ground and said, "Your Highness, I am Liu, my husband's death was unjust. It was my adopted sister Xia Qing'er who wanted to seize my husband's property and murdered him!"
Kneeling beside the woman was a pale-faced young girl named Xia Qing'er. She said with tears in her eyes, "Sister-in-law, how could you wrongly accuse a good person? My elder brother adopted me. An elder brother is like a father. How could I kill my elder brother!"
Next to the girl was a man who looked very similar to the deceased. His eyes were red, and he had never seen such a big scene before. He knelt on the ground trembling, pointing at Xia Qing'er.
"It was my adopted sister who killed my elder brother. Your Highness, please redress the injustice for my elder brother!"
Chu Li looked at the beautiful girl. She was the adopted daughter of the Xia family. Although her skin was a little bad due to the wind and sun growing up by the sea, she had a good temperament.
After Chu Li walked around the three people, he went outside to look at the corpse.
After finishing everything, Chu Li wiped his hands with a handkerchief and spoke loudly.
"Catch Liu!"
Liu was panicking, "Why did His Highness arrest me?"
Chu Li sneered, "First, your husband died last night. You knew you would meet me and other high-ranking officials today, so you dressed up specially."
Chu Li's fingers slid across Liu's face, leaving white powder on her fingertips. She raised her hand and said, "You see, if Liu had put on makeup last night, it would have been gone after crying all night. How could a woman whose husband had died still have the mood to put on makeup?"
All the ministers looked over. Although Liu's eyes were swollen from crying, the makeup on her face was still good.
The prince was right, this woman might not have any feelings for her husband.
"It's unfair! I can't possibly have that much strength to strangle my husband." Liu felt extremely aggrieved.
"You have an accomplice!" Chu Li smiled faintly and looked at Xia Changqing, "You and the deceased are twins, right?"
Xia Changqing's head suddenly banged as if hit by a stone. He kowtowed to Chu Li and said, "Yes, I and big brother are brothers, twins."
Chu Li looked up and down at Xia Changqing's clothes, then retracted his gaze and said, "Are you going to confess yourself or do you want me to do it for you?"
Xia Changqing said in a panic: "Your Highness, my brother is dead, and I am already in great grief. I don't know what I did wrong to cause Your Highness to have such a misunderstanding?"
Chu Li sneered, "You usually make a living by fishing, so it's common for your clothes to get torn. Who sewed your clothes for you?"
"It's Xia Qing'er!" Xia Changqing's palms were sweating, and he answered Chu Li's question without thinking.
Xia Qing'er frowned, "Second brother never lets me mend his clothes, but I am the one who mends the clothes on eldest brother."
Xia Changqing's face became even uglier. Xia Qing'er's words were very disadvantageous to him.
Chu Li approached him and sniffed. "Even if you sewed your clothes yourself, you smell not only of fish but also of women's rouge. The rouge smell is the same as that of your sister-in-law."
Liu was so frightened that her whole body went limp, and the prince actually smelled the scent of Xia Changqing.
Chu Li asked in a cold voice: "Xia Changqing, why don't you tell the truth?"
The officials on the side were stunned. This case was originally about Xia Qing'er who killed her brother to seize the family property out of revenge, so how did it involve Xia Changqing and Liu, the uncle and sister-in-law?
Also, how did His Highness discover these abnormalities, what was the smell on Xia Changqing's clothes, who sewed his clothes, and why did Liu dress herself up?
These small details are actually related to the case.
But just based on this point, we still can't find out who the real murderer is.
Ye Hanting's bony fingers tapped lightly on the chair from time to time, and his cold eyes looked at Chu Li with interest. It was really interesting, Chu Li's little head was very smart!
Mu Feng listened to Chu Li's analysis with his eyes fixed on him. His nephew had been really impressive recently, and people couldn't help but want to get closer to him and get to know him.
Chu Li, whose gender was indistinguishable, stood there, like a spotless orchid emitting a faint fragrance, making people want to take a second look.
Mu Feng's heart trembled. What was he thinking?
How could he look at Chu Li like that!
His ears turned red and he regained his concentration, continuing to listen to Chu Li's trial.
The eldest prince and Prime Minister Jiang looked at each other. Chu Li was indeed as meticulous as the rumors said.
He actually discovered so many details and used them as a breakthrough. The Xia family seemed to be panicking.
Chu Yue rolled her eyes. What Chu Li said was somewhat related to the case itself, but it seemed to have nothing to do with the cause of death of the deceased!
She was just trying to scare the Xia family to see who would confess first!
Finally, under Chu Li's strong questioning, Liu couldn't hold back any longer. She cried and said, "I don't know why His Royal Highness thinks that I am a murderer. Since we got married, my husband and I have loved each other. My husband was strangled to death. Why did His Royal Highness point the finger at me instead of investigating the murderer?"
Xia Changqing also cried out that he was wronged. "I respect my sister-in-law very much. She treats me like her own brother. My brother's case was originally committed by Xia Qing'er because she coveted my brother's money. She had my brother's 100 taels of silver and a jade pendant on her!"
Xia Qing'er, who was pointed out by Xia Changqing, turned even paler. How did Xia Changqing know all these things?