Chapter 512: The Small Meeting

Chapter 512: Chapter 512: The Small Meeting

Xue Gui was originally writing the case report, which was to be read by several heads at the Ministry of Justice. It was more of a prompt submission, mainly to describe the initial discoveries at the scene and the direction of the subsequent investigation.

Among them, the cause of Qin Xiuyuan’s death was the first thing to clarify at the crime scene.

At first glance, it was obvious Qin Xiuyuan hadn’t died a natural death, but had been killed. The preliminary cause was asphyxiation, but what led to the asphyxiation? Xue Gui suspected: swallowing some kind of drug, or caused by some kind of magic.

As for the details, Xue Gui’s thought was to wait for the forensic doctor to thoroughly examine the corpse before making any deductions. But he hadn’t expected that the people from Xuanqing Guard seemed to have already found some clues elsewhere.

Just from Li Qing’s account, Xue Gui could tell that the famed Lord Shen from Xuanqing Guard really did have some skills. Rumor had it that Lord Shen rose from humble beginnings and earned his position through genuine ability, which now seemed to be true.

Simply looking at the exterior of the body should be enough to rule out most "death by asphyxiation" possibilities. Magic rarely leaves traces, and to secretly kill someone obviously under surveillance in Prince Shou’s Mansion would be too difficult. That leaves the possibility of "swallowing" something fatal.

What was it?

Xue Gui hadn’t thought it through previously. Now, following Li Qing’s report, Lord Shen of Xuanqing Guard suspected "fragrant candy."

From the lack of odor in the latrine, he deduced there was little or no excretion, which was linked to scant eating. Thus, the possibility of dying from Prince Shou’s Mansion food could be excluded. What remained was what Qin Xiuyuan had brought himself as food, wasn’t it?

Unlike Li Qing, Xue Gui knew about fragrant candy. People like Qin Xiuyuan had the habit of eating fragrant candy—this did not surprise him. What did surprise him was the empty bottle found from Qin Xiuyuan’s storage bag. The lingering fragrance inside was the same as the faint aroma in the blood clots of the corpse, meaning the bottle had once held fragrant candy—just that he’d finished it all.

That was just too much of a coincidence. He happened to die right after finishing the last piece in the bottle?

Xue Gui also detested the word "coincidence." Especially in criminal cases, whenever "coincidence" popped into his mind, it usually hinted at problems.

"Go back and keep an eye on the forensic doctor. Bring back the forensic doctor’s conclusion immediately. Then have the corpse returned to the Government Charity Hall for storage. Without my written order, no one is to tamper with it."

Li Qing acknowledged the order and left. She still had doubts in her heart, not convinced that the man surnamed Shen had any actual skill—maybe Lord Xue was just overthinking things?

...

Inside the barracks of the Jingxi Town Governor’s Office, Shen Hao sat with Wang Yiming and several others who’d been assigned to "assist in the investigation."

This sort of small meeting was unseen elsewhere—unique to the style of the Black Banner Battalion in Fengri City, especially among the frontline Black Banner. Every discussion of a case was pretty much like this.

"Everyone, share your findings." Shen Hao poured tea for his subordinates, and Wang Yiming took charge of passing it around.

After distributing the tea, Shen Hao sat back down. Counting himself and Wang Yiming, seven people had come. He wasn’t the only one busy at the scene earlier—everyone else had been working as well.

"Lord, that house is surrounded by water on three sides, with one path leading in. Across the pond is the Inner Guard post. It’s practically impossible for someone to sneak in and kill without being noticed—unless they’re incredibly advanced in their cultivation."

"It couldn’t have been a master cultivator. Looking at Qin Xiuyuan’s corpse, a real expert wouldn’t have left him time to struggle or left so many clues."

"Also, I walked the night market streets. Fragrant candy is sold only in the north part of the Imperial City; no other market has it. The magnolia scent kind is highly sought after—lots of people use it. Tracking anything down quickly is nearly impossible. But Qin Xiuyuan’s Purple Jade Bottle is pretty famous over there."

Upon hearing this, Shen Hao pointed to the speaker, signaling him to elaborate about the Purple Jade Bottle.

"Lord, same as with the candy itself, the bottles used for fragrant candy are popular among the Upper-tier circles in the Imperial City. They’re like jade pendants—there’s etiquette involved even in producing the bottle. When I asked a shopkeeper about it, he told me Purple Jade is the best material for these bottles, and there are a lot of categories and details—some are master-carved pieces, and money alone can’t always buy them.

I asked him for examples. He boasted that last month he sold a top grade Purple Jade Bottle to the third master of the Qin Family, describing it exactly like Qin Xiuyuan’s."

Shen Hao: "So, the fact that Qin Xiuyuan liked eating fragrant candy, and that he owned a Purple Jade fragrant candy bottle, is widely known?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Lord, based on your earlier comments about the condition of the body, I think someone calculated the timing, emptied Qin Xiuyuan’s candy bottle in advance, then put in a single medicine pill laced with a special ingredient. Qin Xiuyuan isn’t a cultivator and can’t recognize poison. He’d just arrived at Prince Shou’s Mansion, was nervous and afraid, and in his panic didn’t look closely—he tilted his head back, swallowed the ’candy’ pill, and died." ℯℯ𝘭.

"Yes, I agree! At least for now, it seems Qin Xiuyuan was killed this way."

Everyone present was a veteran case-solver from the Black Banner Battalion. Combined with the details Shen Hao provided, and their visits tonight to Prince Shou’s Mansion and several spots in the Imperial City, a few lines were enough for them to deduce the outcome.

Exactly as Shen Hao had been thinking.

Shen Hao raised his hand for silence; the chatter immediately died down. He said, "The person knew Qin Xiuyuan’s habit of eating fragrant candy, could get hold of the candy bottle he treasured and carried, and had the chance to switch it. Plus, a motive for murder. Who do you think it could be?"

"Heh, I’ve got no guess, but definitely not Prince Shou."

"No kidding. Prince Shou hasn’t even shown his face—afraid he’ll get tainted by it. He has no reason to kill Qin Xiuyuan."

"Could it be the Qin Family themselves? They’re discarded now. If any of them are caught and spill, wouldn’t that be disastrous? So clean up their own mess?"

"That doesn’t add up either. If they wanted to clean house, why not act earlier? Why wait until Qin Xiuyuan was already at Prince Shou’s Mansion?"

"Can’t it be deliberate misdirection? Using Qin Xiuyuan’s routine of eating fragrant candy to time the death precisely isn’t that hard, is it?"

...

Shen Hao didn’t speak for the rest of the discussion. There was a difference in the amount of information he and his subordinates possessed. Many deeper aspects of the "Qin Xiuyuan Case" were unknown to others. By this point, the conversation was missing the essentials. But the earlier analysis had given Shen Hao quite a bit of inspiration.

For instance, the ones most anxious for Qin Xiuyuan’s death were not outsiders, but the very Qin Family behind him. Because right from the time Qin Xiuyuan carelessly let those street informants’ loose ends go untied, he’d landed the Qin Family in deep trouble. If Qin Xiuyuan confessed, the whole Civil Servant Group, not just the Qin Family, would be implicated.

Furthermore, logically the ones best able to win Qin Xiuyuan’s trust and get close enough to him were, naturally, his own family.