Chapter 544 Ending without a cure
September 21st, morning.

The three-day deadline given by Luo Tianjin has come, so he summoned everyone to gather in the central hall. He wanted to settle the matter of Jiang Yiwei's sudden death in public, so as to avoid panic and mutual suspicion among the people in the mansion.

In the central hall, except for Luo Tianjin who was in a lazy posture, everyone else sat upright with a solemn expression.

"Liu Xunyi, where is Li Jia?"

Luo Tianjin went straight to the point and asked Liu Xunyi for someone, which attracted everyone's attention.

Liu Xunyi stood up quickly, bowed to Luo Tianjin, then turned to the outside of the hall and called out, "Bring it up!"

Accompanied by curious gazes, Liao Chuan and Liao Hai worked together to lift a broken door panel and quickly walked into the hall.

At this moment, a ragged, bloated and rotten corpse was lying on the door panel, emitting a foul stench that caused everyone to cover their mouths and noses.

"Master, this is Li Jia's body!" Liu Xunyi said respectfully, "We found it downstream of the Luo River."

"hiss!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the hall.

"Li Jia is dead?" Xie Xuan frowned slightly, half believing and half doubting, "How did he die?"

"According to the coroner's examination, Li Jia's fatal wound was on his neck, and he did not drown." Liu Xunyi explained, "In other words, he was killed with a knife and then dumped in the river."

Qin Ku added: "When we found Li Jia's body, we discovered that all the valuables on his body were gone, so we suspected that he was murdered for money."

Having said this, Qin Ku's eyes rolled around and he said, "At least, that's the appearance."

"Any clues about the murderer?" Yan Bugui asked calmly.

"No." Qin Ku curled his lips and said, "In the middle of the night, there was not even a ghost on the bank of the Luo River, and there was no evidence at all. It is very likely that a thug who passed by was tempted by the money and immediately fled Luoyang after killing Li Jia. Without any clues, trying to find the murderer is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is almost... impossible."

"How did Li Jia escape from the Xianwang Mansion?"

Facing Yan Bugui's questioning, Qin Ku pretended to be confused and asked in return: "Why did Fourth Master Yan assert that Li Jia 'escaped' from the mansion?"

As soon as these words came out, Ling Xiaoxiao's eyes changed quietly, and a trace of uneasiness arose in her heart.

Yan Bugui remained calm and replied calmly, "That night, the gatekeepers did not find Li Jia coming in or out. He did not 'escape', so he 'flew' away?"

Qin Ku smiled and did not argue, saying, "What Fourth Master Yan said makes sense, but the protection of Prince Xian's Mansion has always been the responsibility of the Second Zhongping Gate..."

"Deputy Chief Qin, are you blaming us for not guarding well enough?" Luo Qi said dissatisfiedly.

"How dare I?" Qin Ku joked, waving his hands repeatedly, "I'm a newcomer, and I can only follow the rules of the Xianwang Mansion mechanically. If I've offended you, I hope Qing Zhishan will forgive me."

"you……"

"Forget it!" Luo Tianjin interrupted Luo Qi's rebuttal, glanced at Li Jia's body, and said quietly, "Call all the coroners who performed the autopsy on Jiang Yiwei here. I want to personally investigate."

"Yes."

After a while, seventeen coroners came to the hall one after another.

Among them were old and young, male and female, and they were Yan Bugui, Deng Changchuan, Huang Yulang and Murong Bai who were brought from different places.

At first glance, the seventeen coroners seemed to be strangers to each other. In fact, someone had helped them to come up with a unified story before they entered the government office.

"Everyone has examined Jiang Yiwei's body, but I wonder what the cause of his death was?" Luo Tianjin's eyes were full of anticipation, and in order to avoid making the coroner panic, his tone was quite gentle.

Hearing this, the seventeen coroners looked around, and then an old man stepped forward and said, "To reply to Palace Master Luo, after our inspections, the results we obtained are different, but they are similar in some ways."

"Oh?" Luo Tianjin asked with interest, "What do you mean, sir?"

"Among us, some believe that the cause of Mr. Jiang's death was the poison of the herb Gnaphalium, some believe it was arsenic, and some believe it was the herb Huaxi grass or the five-poison root..." the old man answered intermittently, "Because Mr. Jiang's symptoms were too strange, the results of our deductions were also very different. As for what the poison was... In my humble opinion, it was probably a mixture of multiple poisons, so it is difficult to determine."

"This is the difference." Xie Xuan asked suspiciously, "May I ask what do you mean by 'same effect in different ways'?" "Although we cannot tell what kind of poison Mr. Jiang San died of, we can assert that his sudden death was due to 'poison attacking the heart'."

"What is the poison attacking the heart?"

"Poisonous congestion refers to the deadly poison that accumulates in the internal organs." The old man explained, "This poison cannot accumulate overnight. It takes at least... six or seven days to form. Lord Luo doesn't know that every poison in the world has its own particularity, so the symptoms of poisoning and the time of death from poisoning are also different. But no matter what kind of poison it is, if there is no antidote, the poison will affect the living when it breaks out. The mildest one will feel uncomfortable, and the worst one will die. It will never form poisonous congestion."

"You mean..." Luo Tianjin narrowed his eyes slightly, looking up and down at the anxious old man with his eyes full of brilliance, and said thoughtfully, "Jiang Yiwei was poisoned ten days ago, but for some reason the poison did not work in time, and he died suddenly three days ago when the poison attacked his heart, right?"

"The reason why the poison didn't take effect in time might be that Third Master Jiang had taken the antidote." The old man didn't dare to look directly into Luo Tianjin's eyes, and said timidly, "But the amount of the antidote was insufficient, or it was taken too late, so it could only offset part of the toxicity but not eliminate it, so the remaining toxins accumulated in the body, forming toxic congestion..."

"That's enough." Luo Tianjin interrupted the old man impatiently and asked, "Just tell me, was Jiang Yiwei's death due to the failure to remove the poison ten days ago in time, and not due to other reasons?"

"That's probably it." The old man pondered, "If Mr. Jiang San has other fatal injuries, we will definitely find them out."

"You guys also make the same judgment?" Luo Tianjin stared at the other sixteen coroners and asked in a cryptic manner, "Do you have any objections?"

"We all have no objection."

Faced with Luo Tianjin's questioning, the sixteen coroners answered in unison without hesitation.

"Brother Jin, they are all the most prestigious coroners in Luoyang." Ling Xiaoxiao waited for an opportunity to speak, "Especially the old man in the lead. He used to work in the Criminal Justice Department and was taught by Song Ci, the first Criminal Justice Commissioner of the Song Dynasty. His autopsy skills are considered to be the best in the world. If even he can't find any problems, I'm afraid... Jiang Yiwei's death is really beyond suspicion."

"Li Jia once told Liu Xunyi that Jiang Yiwei had already woken up." Luo Tianjin hesitated, "If he had already woken up, why did Li Jia run away? And why did Jiang Yiwei die of the poison?"

"Maybe it's... a last gasp of life?" Xie Xuan assessed the situation and took the initiative to cooperate with Luo Tianjin. "I guess that Jiang Yiwei did wake up that night, but it was not a recovery, but a last gasp of life. At first, Li Jia mistook the 'last gasp of life' for awakening, so he ran to the study in a hurry to ask the Lord of the Mansion for credit, and met Liu Xunyi on the way. But after the two separated, Li Jia suddenly realized that something was wrong, so he did not ask to see the Lord of the Mansion, but returned to Jiang Yiwei's room to find out, only to find that Jiang Yiwei had died of poison at that time. Fearing that the Lord of the Mansion would punish him, Li Jia packed his bags overnight and took a lot of gold and silver, trying to escape. Unexpectedly, he encountered a robber on the bank of Luoshui River. Seeing that Li Jia was alone and carrying a lot of valuables, the robber suddenly decided to rob Li Jia of his money and kill him, and threw Li Jia's body into the river."

Xie Xuan's explanation was completely consistent with the cause of Li Jia's death and the conclusions of the seventeen coroners.

"There is another question. How did Li Jia escape from the palace?" Murong Bai questioned. "How did this person, who does not know martial arts, avoid the guards in the palace and leave the Xianwang Palace without anyone noticing?"

"In fact, there are many ways to sneak out of the mansion, and the methods are very simple." Yan Bugui thought, "As everyone knows, the guards in the mansion have always been tight on the outside but loose on the inside. It is indeed difficult for outsiders to sneak into the Xianwang Mansion. But for people in the mansion to sneak out, especially when everything is normal in the mansion and there are no special circumstances, it is easy. For example... disguised as a servant who pours night incense, disguised as a servant who buys goods, etc. Most of these people get up at three o'clock in the morning to do work, and go in and out of the back door day after day. Over time, the guards in the mansion naturally neglect to guard against these servants, and it is even more impossible to check them one by one. Li Jia has been in the mansion for many years, and he must be familiar with these things."

"I see." Deng Changchuan nodded slowly, and said self-deprecatingly, "It seems that the death of the Third Master is indeed not suspicious. We were worrying too much."

Although everything sounded logical, Liu Xunyi still felt depressed and uneasy in his heart.

First, Pan Yuyin had reminded him that there was something fishy about Jiang Yiwei's death. Second, everything that happened today seemed to go too smoothly, almost completely overturning the conclusions made three days ago, and it was well-reasoned and almost linked together.

However, Liu Xunyi's intuition told him that beneath the calm surface of the water there was often a raging storm.

"Palace Master!" Liu Xunyi was unwilling to accept this, so he suggested to Luo Tianjin, "Why not invite Granny Taohua and Miss Pan? We are all laymen when it comes to the theory of 'poison attacking the heart', so why not listen to their opinions?"

"No need!"

What surprised Liu Xunyi was that Luo Tianjin, who had been so sure and determined three days ago, turned a blind eye to all the strange things today. He waved his hand and said, "Grandma Taohua and Miss Pan said goodbye to me last night and left the Xianwang Mansion early this morning."

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi and Ling Xiaoxiao's eyes changed at the same time. The difference was that Liu Xunyi's eyes were hesitant, while Ling Xiaoxiao's eyes flashed with a hint of joy.

"Master!" Huang Yulang interrupted, "Since the truth has been found out, should Jiang Yiwei's funeral be..." At this point, Huang Yulang's expression darkened, and he continued, "After all, he has served the Xianwang Mansion for many years. Even if he has no merits, he has worked hard. If the body is kept unburied, I'm afraid... it's not right."

"That's right!" Luo Tianjin agreed, "Luo Qi, quickly arrange everything and give Jiang Yiwei a grand funeral."

"Yes."

"Remember! Jiang Yiwei's matter should be treated as a farce. No one is allowed to criticize it, so as not to tarnish the reputation of the Xianwang Mansion."

"I will follow the orders of the Palace Master!"

"Let's break up!"

After saying that, Luo Tianjin slowly stood up with the help of Ling Xiaoxiao, and left the hall without looking back under the complicated and respectful gazes of everyone.

……

(End of this chapter)