"Come here, call Qingbi."
"Let's go inside and talk to her."
"it is good."
The Seventh Prince ordered his men to clear out a side hall, and then led Li Qingcha and the chief eunuch in.
Not long after, the palace maid named Qingbi came in.
She looked terrified, her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were rolling around in her sockets. She glanced at Li Qingcha and the eunuch suspiciously, and it was obvious that she had not yet recovered from the discovery of the skeleton.
Li Qingcha pointed at the chair.
"sit."
Qingbi slowly moved over and sat down, but only dared to sit on the edge of the stool.
It's like being tortured, it's better not to sit at all.
tsk...
trouble.
Li Qingcha poured her a pot of tea.
Unexpectedly, this would backfire, and Qingbi shrank back in fear.
"I... um... your servant... knows nothing!"
The eunuch standing by couldn't help but laugh secretly, thinking that Li Qingcha was really inexperienced.
In the palace, people like to kill people to silence them, and they like to poison them. Qingbi has heard so many conspiracies and tricks, how could she dare to drink the tea poured by others?
The eunuch drank the tea in one gulp, and then got another cup.
"Drink if you are told to."
"Thank you, father-in-law."
Qingbi took the teacup and took a sip.
Call ~
He let out a long sigh and looked much better.
Li Qingcha simply asked: "Qingbi, when I ask you a question, don't add your own judgment, just answer truthfully. First of all, when was the pool emptied this month?"
Qingbi said "Ah?" She didn't expect Li Qingcha to ask such a question.
She tilted her head in thought.
"It should be the 15th day of the month. Yes, that day. Because the queen said that we should prepare a month in advance."
The full moon is the sixteenth day,
Li Qingcha tapped the tabletop with his fingers, then took out a pencil and drew a timeline directly on the wooden table.
rustle--
A faint friction sound was heard in the room.
The eunuch knew he shouldn't look at it, but he couldn't help but take a peek out of curiosity. He found that the timeline of Li Qingcha's painting also included the end of the Three Sects' Discussion, the preliminary selection of the prince's wife, Chu Anyun's appearance on the stage, and many other events.
Judging from this timeline, Li Qingcha believed that the matter was related to the Seventh Prince.
The room was quiet.
Everyone was silent, waiting for Li Qingcha to sort out his thoughts.
a long time,
"Second question, what was the situation when the body was found today?"
Qingbi didn't quite understand.
"My Lord, what do you mean?"
"That is, when you found the body, which part of the body did you find first? What was the soil at the bottom of the pond like? Questions like that, just tell me as much as you can remember."
"Well……"
Qingbi recalled again,
She seemed more at ease and less nervous.
"At that time... um... it should be this part."
As he spoke, he pointed under his chest.
Li Qingcha nodded.
"rib cage?"
"Yes, I first found a rib sticking out of the mud at the bottom of the pond. I didn't think much of it at the time and continued to move the pickled petals over there. But when I got closer, hmm..."
Qingbi seemed to think of the situation at that time and her body trembled.
She continued, "I felt something was wrong and wanted to take a look, but I didn't dare. Finally, I couldn't help but take a look out of curiosity and found that in addition to the ribs, the top of the head was also exposed."
This description should be true, and it fits the suicidal mentality of people towards horrific things.
Emmm...
It's like watching a horror movie.
Li Qingcha nodded.
"Go wait outside first."
Qingbi was stunned. She didn't expect there were only two questions.
She got up hastily and ran out of the room.
The Seventh Prince looked at Li Qingcha.
"What did you find?"
Li Qingcha said: "It is basically certain that he did not drown."
"what?"
"First of all, how deep can the water in the pool of Zhongcui Palace be? I think it's only deep enough to raise a fish or a turtle, but the possibility of drowning a person is too low."
The Seventh Prince listened, nodded at first, then quickly shook his head.
“Isn’t that necessarily true?”
Li Qingcha was not annoyed at all when he was refuted.
"how to say?"
"Many people are not good at swimming and get panicked when they encounter water. Take Thirteenth Brother for example. His feet could clearly touch the bottom of the tub and he could stick his head out of the water if he stood up straight. But because he was panicked, he kept burying his head in the water and floundering around, and had to be rescued by others."
"This is very rare."
"It's rare, but it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Besides, the deceased might have been drunk or just woken up and was confused."
The progress of the Seventh Prince is indeed very great;
Li Qingcha nodded approvingly, and then said: "In fact, there are many reasons to judge that it was not drowning. Just now, Qingbi described the situation when the body was found. What do you think?"
The Seventh Prince groaned, a trace of doubt flashed across his face.
"Speaking of which, it was a pool of stagnant water, the water was almost still. If he drowned, how could the body not be discovered before it was covered by mud after entering the pool?"
Li Qingcha nodded.
"besides."
"There is also the issue of time. Every year, my mother drains the pool for one and a half months. There is little rain in the capital in autumn, so the mud at the bottom of the pool will naturally dry up and crack, and the body cannot be hidden at all. In other words, if the body was buried at the bottom of the pool when there was water, it would be impossible to trace it back to before the last time the pool was drained, which was August last year. Will the body rot into bones in less than a year?"
"Not bad, not bad, but you forgot one thing."
"what?"
"The body was buried in the pool when it was built, in the deepest layer. After Concubine Lin entered Zhongcui Palace, the pool was drained once a year. The bottom of the pool had to go through a process of drying, wetting, drying, and wetting over and over again, and eventually the body was exposed. This is also possible."
The Seventh Prince was startled, then smiled.
"I see. That's good, at least it can clear my mother of suspicion."
Unexpectedly, Li Qingcha shook his head.
"No, I just proposed a possibility, and this possibility is almost non-existent. Your Highness, you have to figure it out. How many people and eyes did the imperial palace have to build? Could someone really take advantage of this opportunity to hide a body?"
"Ah this..."
The Seventh Prince couldn't do it anymore.
He looked at the timeline drawn by Li Qingcha again, and gradually figured it out.
"You mean, the body was buried recently? Just after the 15th day of this month, in order to frame my mother?"
Li Qingcha did not comment.
"To solve a case, we must rule out all impossibilities. It is not appropriate to jump to conclusions now."
Chapter 405: Casting stones to ask for directions
The eunuch glanced at Li Qingcha and said nothing.
Li Qingcha really had no guesses?
I'm afraid not entirely.
It's just that this person is used to being cautious and doesn't like to say things he is not sure about.
The Seventh Prince frowned.
"If it was a frame-up, could it be that someone stripped the flesh from the corpse and made a skeleton?"
Li Qingcha almost laughed out loud.
"Your Highness is too bold. If it is really a newly made skull, the skull must be heavy in the hand, and there must be tiny scratches on some corners."
"You just touched the eye socket of the skull to confirm this?"
"almost."
"Well……"
"Moreover, making a skeleton is definitely not something that an ordinary person can do. It must be at least a veteran in criminal law. If such a person wants to frame someone, he would never use such a clumsy trick. What do you think?"
The tone was questioning, but the attitude was decisive.
The Seventh Prince could not refute.
The skeletonized body will lose calcium, phosphorus and other substances, and the weight will naturally decrease.
Li Qingcha has just tried it and the body outside has this characteristic, so it can be concluded that the time of death is definitely more than a year ago.
The seventh prince tapped the desktop with his fingers, and the frequency became faster and faster.
Suddenly, he turned his head.
"Eunuch, can you find the list of missing palace maids?"
The eunuch's mouth twitched.
"Your Highness should know that the maids in each palace are managed by the respective madams. The term 'missing' is a particularly serious accusation. Besides, the maids' lives are at stake..."
"..."
"..."
The two were silent.
Li Qingcha shook his head and sighed.
The harem is a "lawless place" in a sense. The punishments for palace maids who make mistakes are different in different palaces. Some are cruel and may beat the maids with ten or twenty boards for minor mistakes.
Many of those little girls, aged thirteen or fourteen, could not bear the torture and were beaten to death.
Starting from this aspect, it will take a long time to find out.
Li Qingcha glanced at the Seventh Prince.
