Ye Wanmian immediately dismissed her own thought the next moment.
She knew that with the capabilities of King Mu, King Xuan and others, there were many ways to prove that the body was not the Crown Prince's. They didn't need a "country woman" like her to remind them.
If she showed the slightest clue at this moment, she might only get herself into trouble.
After all, it would be difficult for her to explain how a "country woman" like her could recognize the Crown Prince.
Even though Xiao Yixuan repeatedly assured her that he would not disclose her identity to others, she couldn't fully trust him. After all, he was the son of the noble consort and a favored son of heaven, with the ability to compete with the Crown Prince.
There was a possibility that he might kill her to silence her.
Ye Wanmian constantly admonished herself in her heart that she was just a "country girl" with a silly mother and an unknown father. She had a whole heap of troubles of her own to deal with and couldn't meddle in too many things.
Whether the Crown Prince was alive or dead was not something a small person like her could decide. All she needed to do was to learn medical skills from her master, protect her mother well, and cure her mother's madness as soon as possible.
That was all.
The night wind blew, and Ye Wanmian sneezed. Only then did she realize that her clothes were soaked with sweat.
When she came to her senses, she saw the yellow dog squatting right in front of her, quietly looking at her.
For some reason, when she met that gaze, she felt a strange sense of guilt in her heart.
She lowered her head and smelled her sleeve. Frowning, she said, "It stinks. I have to change my clothes."
She quickly walked into the house and took out a clean set of clothes and shoes. As she took off her clothes, something fell out of her sleeve. She picked it up and then remembered that she had taken out some black mud from the corpse's nails earlier.
Biting her lower lip, she closed her eyes tightly and threw the handkerchief into the corner. Then she turned around to change her clothes.
Watching all this, Xiao Jingcheng looked at the woman's delicate body without a single stitch of clothing. There was no more lewd thought in his heart, only deep disappointment.
He had thought...
Lowering his head, he smiled self - deprecatingly.
What was he thinking? Compared to others, her hatred for him was no less. How could she care about his business?
If he wanted to survive and regain everything he wanted, he could only rely on himself.
His gaze fell on the handkerchief placed in the corner. Xiao Jingcheng lowered his eyes and turned around.
Maybe she had stayed in the morgue for too long. Ye Wanmian felt that her body was filled with the stench of the rotting corpses. Even after changing into a clean set of clothes, she still felt uncomfortable.
She grabbed her hair and smelled it. Frowning, she sighed resignedly. She fetched a basin of water and carefully washed her hair with cold water.
Not satisfied with this, she grabbed the yellow dog and planned to wash it too.
At first, Xiao Jingcheng struggled to escape her grasp, but Ye Wanmian's words nailed his limbs in place.
"If you don't wash off the stench of the corpses on you, you'll never be allowed on my bed again!"
Resignedly giving up struggling, Xiao Jingcheng let the girl wash the fur on his body.
The clear night sky was reflected in his pupils. Compared to the eerie morgue and the undercurrents surging beneath the water, this small courtyard was a rare quiet place.
...
At the Liuxiang Tower.
The coroner from Tianyuan County Yamen knelt on the ground and reported the results of his autopsy to Xiao Tianchi.
"Your Highness, after my careful examination, the age of the corpse is about twenty - two to twenty - three years old. The body is about eight feet tall, and the time of death is roughly more than fifteen days..."
What the coroner Ming said was not much different from the results of the autopsy by Doctor Wang on the river beach during the day. However, with a complete set of tools in hand, Coroner Ming found many details that Doctor Wang had not mentioned and wrote a detailed report which he presented to Xiao Tianchi.
"The fatal injury of the corpse was indeed drowning. But the main reason was that the body fell from a high altitude into the water. After that, the internal organs were impacted. The ribs and internal organs of the corpse were damaged to varying degrees, so it was difficult to break free from the bottom of the water and drowned."
Xiao Tianchi quietly flipped through the autopsy report in his hand, coughing from time to time, as if he didn't hear what Coroner Ming said.
Xiao Yixuan and Xiao Wuchen both looked at him, and their hands unconsciously clenched into fists at their sides.
Xiao Tianchi was in charge of investigating the case of the Crown Prince's attack and disappearance. Since he didn't speak, Xiao Yixuan and Xiao Wuchen didn't dare to say anything. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the sound of him flipping through the papers, and there was no other movement.
Although he was a sick man who seemed to be on the verge of death at any moment, the aura of oppression he exuded was not to be underestimated.
Coroner Ming knelt on the ground. Since he didn't receive any instructions or answers for a long time, he gradually became more and more uneasy, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
It was said that in the last years of the Chu State, when this King Mu was still in good health, he had served as the assistant judge in the Supreme Court and solved several old and unsolved cases. After all these years, no one knew if his perceptive eyes could detect any clues.
The sound of flipping through the papers finally stopped.
Xiao Tianchi looked up and handed the papers to Eunuch Wang. Covering his lips, he coughed a few times and said hoarsely, "So, is that corpse really the Crown Prince?"
Coroner Ming quickly lowered his head and said, "I dare not make a hasty judgment. All my findings are written in the autopsy report."
Xiao Tianchi sighed, "I still can't believe that the Crown Prince left us in such a way. He was so ambitious when he left the capital. It's a pity that he was so young and hadn't even married or had any heirs before he was separated from us by death."
"If His Majesty and the Queen Mother knew about this, they would be heart - broken."
This meant that they had confirmed that the corpse was the Crown Prince!
Xiao Yixuan tightly pinched his fist, trying his best to control his emotions so that no trace of joy showed on his face.
He said in a deep voice, "If possible, I really wish it was me who went on the southern inspection back then. Then the Crown Prince wouldn't have suffered such a disaster."
Xiao Wuchen glanced at him but didn't say anything in agreement. He just loosened his tightly - clenched fist. There were clearly several deep nail marks on his palm hidden under his sleeve.
Xiao Tianchi said, "Although we have the autopsy results from Coroner Ming, after we return to the capital, the corpse still has to be sent to the Supreme Court for further examination. The weather is hot, so we must ensure the integrity of the corpse and prevent it from rotting further. King Xuan, I'll leave the matter of protecting the corpse to you."
Xiao Yixuan immediately agreed.
Xiao Tianchi looked at Xiao Wuchen, "We must quickly catch the murderer in the case of the Crown Prince's attack. Those who dare to harm the Crown Prince are no different from traitors. It's a great crime that deserves the punishment of exterminating nine generations of their family. They must not be let off lightly."
Xiao Wuchen calmly replied, "Yes."
After giving these instructions, Xiao Tianchi asked someone to fetch silver to reward Coroner Ming and then asked someone to send him back to Tianyuan County Yamen. Then he couldn't hold on any longer. Holding his head, he looked extremely dizzy.
Eunuch Wang anxiously supported his body and called out, "Your Highness, Your Highness?"
Putting his hand on Xiao Tianchi's forehead, Eunuch Wang was greatly shocked. It was so hot!
"Quick, go and summon the imperial physician!"