"How do you know it will be a woman?"
The Seventh Prince spread his hands.
"First of all, it must be someone who died in the palace, and whose body can be preserved in the palace. Is this certain?"
"Well, if you want to bring in a body from outside the palace, even the emperor himself may not be able to do it."
"That's it. The most likely person is a palace maid."
Li Qingcha had a subtle expression.
She turned to the eunuch beside her,
The latter was helpless.
"Lord Li, since we are talking in a secret room with only three of us, I am not afraid to tell you the truth. Many palace maids... Alas... Some concubines gradually lost the emperor's favor, their minds became strange, and they took out their anger on some young palace maids. If you ask me to count this kind of thing, I can't count all of it. I'm afraid that the corpse outside is..."
Li Qingcha comforted him, "Eunuch, do your best and leave the rest to fate."
"That...alright. We'll do it right away."
"Thank you, father-in-law."
"What is Lord Li going to do next?"
"I want to meet Concubine Lin."
The chief eunuch looked at the Seventh Prince cautiously, and seeing that he looked normal, he stopped asking questions.
He said, "Then our family won't join in the fun."
After saying that, he stood up.
Li Qingcha and the Seventh Prince escorted him out of the side hall and happened to see Sirou entering the courtyard of Zhongcui Palace.
The chief eunuch stepped forward.
"Your Highness, the Emperor's decree is that this case will be handled by Lord Li Qingcha, the head of the Ministry of Rites's Reception Department, but someone needs to accompany him to the forbidden area of the harem, so he needs your help or Princess Yongjia."
Sirou nodded.
"I came here just because I heard your order."
As she spoke, she glanced at Li Qingcha calmly.
The two made eye contact.
The eunuch laughed.
"I will stay with the princess for a while."
Sirou didn't refute.
The four of them went straight into Zhongcui Palace.
At this time, Concubine Lin was sitting upright drinking tea. She seemed calm on the surface, but her tightly clenched, pale lips revealed everything.
When she saw the Seventh Prince, she stood up suddenly.
"Check it out?"
The Seventh Prince shook his head and introduced Li Qingcha to Concubine Lin.
"This is Lord Li, the head of the Reception Department of the Ministry of Rites, who is in charge of supervising this case. Mother will answer questions later, and you must not hide anything, especially when it comes to matters involving palace maids."
Concubine Lin naturally knew Li Qingcha.
When she heard that the Seventh Prince's close friend was in charge of the case, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"You know, mother has always been very cautious in the palace, and has always been kind to the palace servants. The allowance she gives to the palace servants is probably only slightly less than that given to the princesses, but much better than what the queen gives her..."
"Cough cough..."
A loud cough was heard.
The eunuch bowed.
"Master Li, please continue your questioning. I will leave first."
Li Qingcha clasped his fists and said, "I previously asked you to investigate the missing palace maid. Thank you for your help, eunuch."
"You're welcome, Lord Li."
The chief eunuch glanced at Concubine Lin again and walked out slowly.
He did not compile a list of missing palace maids, but went straight to the Qianqing Palace and reported the entire incident to the emperor, in detail without adding any judgment of his own.
The emperor sat behind his desk, looking dull, as if he was deep in thought.
a long time,
"Missing maid?"
The chief eunuch remained silent.
The emperor added: "Do as Li Qingcha says, organize the list as best as you can and hand it over to him."
"promise."
The chief eunuch obeyed the order and turned around.
Unexpectedly, the emperor spoke again.
"Did Li Qingcha really say in front of everyone when investigating the case that he wanted to find a coroner to determine whether the skeleton was a man or a woman? He even said that he wanted the coroner to draw what the skeleton looked like when it was alive?"
"That's what Lord Li said."
"No, what I'm asking you is whether he said it in front of everyone."
"This one……"
The eunuch recalled,
Then he nodded.
"Indeed, Lord Li did not say this in private. Many people could have heard it."
After he finished speaking, the chief eunuch also realized something was wrong.
How could Li Qingcha, such a cautious person, make such a low-level mistake?
Unless the mistake itself is meant to be seen.
The emperor hesitated for a moment and then asked, "What about asking you to find the list of missing palace maids?"
The chief eunuch said, "This matter was discussed in a secret room, but when we entered Zhongcui Palace, Lord Li also mentioned it to me when we said goodbye, so it must have been heard by many people."
"..."
"..."
There was an eerie silence.
Suddenly, the emperor sneered.
"It's just a small test of the water... Humph! Li Qingcha is such a cunning guy, setting traps everywhere."
The eunuch was shocked.
"Your Majesty means that Lord Li already has a target?"
"No, I guess he is just trying his best. However, I think the possibility of success is very high. After all, there are only a few people who can move corpses in the harem. It is normal for there to be some spies near Zhongcui Palace."
"..."
The eunuch didn't respond.
He already had some trouble understanding games at this level.
The emperor pondered.
"Well, take a skull, a male one, or one from a palace eunuch, and send it to the Imperial Observatory, Imperial Hospital, the Three Courts, and the Six Gates. Have their doctors or coroners paint it and see if anyone can see through the Yin and Yang and restore the deceased's appearance."
The chief eunuch was stunned and was about to say that the deceased was a palace maid, but then he seemed to realize something and swallowed his words.
How could the most scheming person in the world not know how to throw a stone to test the water?
Chapter 406: Larger Angle
Add more.
￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥
"Male?!"
"Yes, a man."
"..."
In Ziwu Palace, Sirou dismissed everyone and discussed the case with Li Qingcha.
Her Royal Highness the Princess looked at Li Qingcha with disbelief on her face.
"Then you just grabbed Concubine Lin and asked her questions, and all the questions you asked were about the palace maids. Questions like 'What is the heaviest punishment for the palace maids?', 'Will the monthly salary of the palace maids be deducted?', you are really good at acting, aren't you?"
Li Qingcha smiled.
"Thank you for the compliment."
The princess rolled her eyes at Li Qingcha.
Is that a compliment to myself?
She couldn't help but think of Concubine Lin's condition. She was sweating all over her face when being asked questions. It was so pitiful.
stare--
The girl's eyes fell on Li Qingcha, as if she was studying an alien species.
Li Qingcha coughed lightly.
"Cough cough..."
The air was a little awkward.
Si Rou said, "You didn't judge that the body was not a woman because its feet were not bound? Let me tell you, this judgment is wrong~"
Li Qingcha nodded.
"I know. Palace maids have to work, so they can't bind their feet. Besides, how can I tell whether a toe is broken from a body with separated toe bones? It's impossible."
"So you know it's a boy?"
"Both the pelvis and the skull provide evidence. However, the pelvis was my first clue."
Sirou still had a puzzled expression on her face.
Li Qingcha had no choice.
"Let's compare and you'll know."
Sirou was even more confused.
"We are both women, how can we compare?"
"Ah this..."
"???"
Li Qingcha suddenly felt tired.
He was so excited that he forgot his biological gender for a moment, and was seriously injured by Sirou's straight punch.
She coughed lightly and said, "Because women... um... to facilitate childbirth, their pubic bones are wider. To be more precise, the pubic angle is larger..."
Sirou blushed.
"What do you mean by 'wider angle', you pervert!"
"No, I just... this is clearly a purely scientific discussion!"
"Humph!"
Sirou turned her face away.
Li Qingcha: ￣□￣｜｜
