The Prime Minister's Darling novel Chapter 1142

Chapter 1142: 557 Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron! (Second Update)

Minister Xing had absolute trust in Xiao Liulang, first because Xiao Liulang was just a frail scholar who, facing a vicious criminal, could not ever possibly commit murder to silence someone, and second, because Xiao Liulang had always made an impression as someone who avoided worldly affairs and was incorruptible and upright.

Nobody could fabricate evidence, but Xiao Liulang would not!

Far from worrying that Xiao Liulang might falsify anything, Minister Xing was more concerned that Xiao Liulang, seeing a living person die before his eyes, might feel compunction and be left with a shadow over his investigation.

Minister Xing did not recall in the slightest that Xiao Hen had once worked as a coroner; having dissected corpses, was he going to be scared by a living person dying?

The main thing was that Xiao Hen’s current state made him look rather shaken, "...If only I had given him a heavier dose, he wouldn’t have recovered so quickly and committed suicide out of fear of his crimes. We could have learned much more."

Yes, that man had only confessed to a royal princess but did not specify which one.

This was where Xiao Hen’s cleverness lay.

Sometimes such a small regret or imperfection could instead make an event seem more natural and logical.

Minister Xing patted Xiao Hen’s shoulder, consoling him, "You’ve already done very well. Not just anyone would’ve been able to find any clues."

"I appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him..." Xiao Hen started to say, then hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing his face.

Minister Xing said to the two yamen officers, "You go in and clean things up a bit first. Liulang, come with me."

"Yes."

Xiao Hen followed Minister Xing to his office.

"Do you have something to say?" Minister Xing asked.

Xiao Hen replied, "Bai Kun did not commit suicide out of fear of his crimes. He committed suicide by biting his tongue because he dared not reveal his mastermind behind the scenes."

Minister Xing looked curiously at the confession that had just been placed on the table. "Then this confession...?"

Xiao Hen nodded, "The confession is real. I... used a bit of torture on him, but that is as much as he dared to say. He was profoundly secretive about that person’s name and would not reveal it no matter what."

It made more sense now; Minister Xing had been puzzled. How could an assassin so easily commit suicide out of fear for his crimes? If he was afraid of committing crimes, why become an assassin?

Minister Xing mused, "It appears that this person is extremely cunning, enough to intimidate an assassin to his death without daring to speak her name. But who could it be?"

To call her a sister of the current emperor meant she was one of the present emperor’s sisters.

The late emperor had many children, including seven princesses, but only four were younger than the emperor, namely Princess Ning An, Princess Xinyang, Princess Deqing, and Princess Huaiqing.

Among them, Princess Deqing had died of illness two years earlier.

Princess Huaiqing’s mother was a cousin of the late emperor and held the title Luan Zhaoyi.

Luan Zhaoyi had once been favored, but since giving birth to the intellectually challenged Princess Huaiqing, both mother and daughter had fallen out of favor.

So the question remained: Who was actually the young master of Xianle Inn? Was it the mentally challenged Princess Huaiqing, Princess Xinyang, or... Princess Ning An?!

"I will make a trip to the imperial palace. Besides, Bai Kun committed suicide out of fear for his crimes."

"Yes."

Severe torture often led to people confessing under duress; to prevent unnecessary trouble for Xiao Hen, Minister Xing decided to handle Bai Kun’s case as a suicide out of fear.

Whether others would be convinced was a test of Minister Xing’s own ability.

Minister Xing reminded him, "His Majesty may summon you. Just remember, you did not use torture. You moved him with empathy and enlightened him with reason, sincerely urging him to confess."

"Yes."

Xiao Hen said, "My lord, there is something else I forgot to mention." _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

Minister Xing asked, "What is it?"

Xiao Hen said earnestly, "Hua Xiyao is in league with them; she is also an important witness. I think she might know something."

...

About the events before returning to the Ministry of Justice, Xiao Hen also wrote a document detailing the events.

In the document he stated outright that Mo Qianxue was still alive, had approached Gu Jiao under the guise of a patient, but he omitted the fact that they knew each other, only mentioning that Gu Jiao had not known the other party was Xianle Inn’s courtesan, thinking she was just a regular wounded person.

A healer’s benevolence; she had found her on the road and brought her back to the Medical Hall for treatment.

During this time, an assassin from Xianle Inn made an attempt on Mo Qianxue’s life, but in reality, it was to divert attention so Mo Qianxue could seize the opportunity to assassinate Gu Jiao.

Little did she know that Gu Jiao, unaware of the situation, fought desperately to protect Mo Qianxue, even suffering injuries in the process.

Mo Qianxue was moved by Gu Jiao’s actions and abandoned her intent to assassinate her.

Three days ago, Xianle Inn’s Hua Xiyao approached Mo Qianxue, pressing her to lure Gu Jiao out of the capital city.

Mo Qianxue knew that there was little chance for Gu Jiao to survive the ordeal, and she could not bring herself to do it.

Mo Qianxue then devised a plan; she drugged both Gu Jiao and Hua Xiyao, disguising Hua Xiyao as Gu Jiao, using the pretense of escorting "Gu Jiao" out of the capital to make her escape.

Gu Jiao and Xiao Hen had been monitoring her closely, and they immediately gave chase out of the city, which led to the later events of killing the expert and capturing Hua Xiyao and bringing them back to the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Xing knew about Gu Jiao, the renowned physician of the Medical Hall, Xiao Hen’s wife.

It seemed the true culprit behind the scenes must have had a grudge against Gu Jiao or had some conflict of interest with her.