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His Highness has poor health,

yet he stayed up all night to make autopsy tools for me.

You made these with your own hands?

He even took me to investigate the case.

But I don’t know what my brother was thinking.

Why couldn’t he get along with His Highness?

And why must he take His Highness to

the witch doctor’s house to catch the ghost?

Indeed, they’ve caught the ghost,

but they discovered a body,

a eunuch’s body.

Domestic Service What secret does Sir Witch Doctor hide?

The Imperial Coroner

Episode 12

Multiple wounds caused by sharp weapons on the body.

The cuts are small and shallow.

The lethal injury was an upward stab

from the fifth rib

on the left

through the heart

to the upper left of the back.

The murder weapon

should be a hard cylindrical object

with a sharp point.

Like...

Like this.

Yes, like...

No, not like this.

This is the murder weapon.

This is the murder weapon?

The murder weapon and the body

were preserved together.

What was the purpose of the one who hid the body?

Oh,

if this iron rod is the murder weapon,

what is that blade for?

The positions of the wounds

are very strange.

What do you mean?

Most of the injuries were on the forearms,

Wound positions belly and upper part of the thighs.

The lethal injury at the top

was stabbed upwards.

In Out

What’s so strange about that?

The dead was a martial artist.

If one were to kill him,

the murderer would also be a good fighter.

Wait,

how do you know that he was a martial artist?

Miss Leng told me that

martial artists know when to yield.

It means when they know they

have to get injured,

they know the level of their own injuries.

The non-lethal injuries on this person

are long and shallow.

Because when the murder weapon cut his skin,

he drew himself back

from deep cuts,

which could cause heavy damage.

That’s true.

But there’s nothing strange about it.

The murderer is someone who

could kill a martial artist,

then he should attack the vital parts.

For example, head, throat.

But the murderer didn’t do so.

Girl, is this what you’re trying to say?

Yes.

But...

It’s not like the murderer didn’t want to,

he couldn’t.

Your Highness.

Here we go.

Other than the lethal injury,

the rest wounds are shallow.

The deepest is 5-centimetre deep.

However, the iron rod is at least 60-centimeter long.

It means the murderer and the dead

didn’t have

a close fight.

They kept about 60-centimeter

away from each other.

The dead has a wound on the right forearm,

which was stabbed upwards from left to right.

Cut my neck from the left.

The dead has another wound on the right thigh,

which was cut downwards.

And the wound on the belly

was cut from left to right.

The lethal injury was

an upward stab.

What are you doing?

Don’t take advantage of my sister.

Get up.

Chill out.

I didn’t say your sister took advantage of my brother.

Shoo!

Brother, I was being rude.

Brother, we’re trying to make an inference

of how the person was murdered

and how the murderer acted.

I played the dead, he played the murderer.

Somehow, something felt strange

in our inference.

The wounds on the dead

are at the same altitude,

same side.

And judging from his height,

the murderer’s attacks

were so low as if he’s a child.

But a child wouldn’t have the strength.

If the murderer was kneeling or lying down,

that would make sense.

What sense?

Nonsense, in my opinion.

It wasn’t a friendly match.

The murderer could just get up

and cut his throat, couldn’t he?

Why the extra steps?

He just wanted to take advantage of you.

You...

I couldn’t figure that out as well.

It’s not that he didn’t want to get up,

he couldn’t.

He couldn’t?

Do you mean...

Sir Witch Doctor?

His leg is injured.

He can’t stand.

So you mean the suspect is...

Sir Witch Doctor?

No way. Why would he murder someone?

Didn’t you see how they moved?

The eunuch wanted to kill him.

He fought the eunuch back

to keep himself alive.

It wasn’t his fault.

No, Sir Witch Doctor didn’t do it on purpose.

Hadn’t he killed the eunuch,

he would have been dead.

Yes.

It was a justifiable homicide.

Why didn’t he go to law enforcement?

If he didn’t want others to know,

he could’ve buried the body.

Why would he spend so much effort

keeping the body well-preserved

and hide the murder weapon and

the body in the wall?

He did this because

he was trying to keep the evidence.

Keep the evidence?

The evidence of the murder he committed?

Chu Chu,

you said

you heard a ghost’s cry

in this house

on a random day when you were little,

then people said it was haunted.

Can you remember

when it started exactly?

I can’t.

I do.

My father and I

helped Sir Witch Doctor build the walls.

Right after the walls were built, the house was haunted.

My father felt bad about it at the time.

He must have kept the evidence

for some reason.

But he didn’t want other eunuchs to find it,

so he kept the body and the murder weapon

in the wall.

Also, because it’s windy at night,

he made it a so-called haunted house.

A witch doctor’s business is related

to ghosts and spirits anyway.

Him living in a haunted house

makes sense to

common civilians.

The civilians fear but won’t doubts.

But Sir Witch Doctor never

mentioned that he had enemies.

We never saw anyone come to

seek revenge on him.

Should we go to law enforcement?

I’m a law enforcer.

Since the dead was eunuch,

the imperial palace needs to investigate it.

Listen up, the three of you.

Without my permission,

none of you is allowed to tell

anyone about what happened tonight.

Especially you.

It’s late.

Let’s go.

Collect the evidence

and take it back.

Father.

Chu Chu,

where were you in the middle of the night?

I went to get some wine,

you were all gone when I came back.

I wanted to go out to find you.

I’m a bad drinker,

I wanted some fresh air,

so I asked them out for a walk with me.

Sorry.

It was inconsiderate of me.

No, no. I’m glad you’re OK.

Where is Chu He

and the general?

My brother took General Xiao for a walk at the back.

They’ll soon be back.

They haven’t gone to the hill, have you?

It’s been raining on and off these days,

they mustn’t go to hill.

No, they haven’t.

Father, don’t worry.

They’ll soon be back.

Uh, is the table cleaned up?

No.

Let’s go clean up the table

and go to bed afterwards.

Please rest early.

Your Highness.

Follow me.

Yes.

Quickly, this way.

Put him in it.

The coffin hasn’t been here for years.

No one claims it.

You keep on the watch here.

Yes.

Archive

Chu He,

where were you and General Xiao

in the middle of the night?

Father, do you remember the wall

that you helped the witch doctor build in the summer?

Yes.

He said the walls were too old

and that he was afraid that they’d collapse in the rainy season.

I heightened and thickened

the walls in accordance with his requirements.

Why are you asking me this?

Father,

the witch doctor killed someone,

and hid the body in the wall.

What?

Shush!

The officer in charge of criminal cases

from Chang’an found it out.

I thought he was a phony,

so I wanted to humble him

with the haunted house,

but he actually figured it out.

The ghost is in the wall.

The officer also said that

it mustn’t be leaked

and that the leaker would be punished.

Why are you telling me this, then?

You serve in the Yamen,

how can you make this mistake?

Because I haven’t been clear

about his true identity.

What if he’s fooling us around?

If Lord Zheng knows

and blames it on us,

what do we do, then?

We’re the coroners of Guanling County.

It isn’t a small thing. Don’t mess around.

I’ll pry for information from the Yamen tomorrow.

Let’s find out who the officer is first.

It doesn’t matter if he’s from Chang’an,

or he’s in charge criminal cases,

he’s the real deal.

I feel like

he’s insightful.

He can’t stay in our house for long.

Is he suspicious of Chu Chu?

I don’t know.

But she told me that

the officer would

personally investigate her identity.

If he found it out,

Chu Chu’s life would be over.

How about this?

I’ll take her away.

Nonsense. Where are you taking her to?

If you take her away now,

you’re telling him that

there’s something wrong with Chu Chu.

I’ll break your leg

if you mess around.

Go to work.

Now.

Your Highness, General Xiao.

My house can’t compete with those in Chang’an,

but all the bedding is new,

and the table and chairs are cleaned up.

Don’t worry,

they’re all clean.

Brother, I’d like to speak to Chu Chu in private.

I’ll excuse myself, then.

Your Highness, your brother is so nice.

He listens to everything that you say.

He thinks everything that you do is right.

No, he doesn’t take orders from me,

I’ve just been spoiled by him since I was little.

My brother spoils me, too.

But he thinks everything that I say is nonsense,

and everything that I do is messing-around.

The witch doctor encourages you,

doesn’t he?

Why do you bring him up again?

Are you going to ask more questions about the case?

Chu Chu, what we discovered tonight matters a lot.

It’s come to this far,

won’t you tell me the truth?

Your Highness, you have questions about Sir Witch Doctor, right?

I’ve told you the truth.

Sir Witch Doctor is a good man.

I really don’t know where he is right now.

You know I’m not talking about that.

Your pendant

was handmade by my father.

The pendants

are the tokens of love between my father and mother.

This is my mother’s.

It pairs with the one in your hand.

When I first saw the pendant,

I knew that

you had clues about my father,

this is the only lead for me to find him.

Chu Chu, can you tell me

where you got the pendant?

So it is the pendant

that you care about.

Your Highness,

there has never been a second test, right?

You never wanted to hire me.

You keep me at your side because

you’re investigating the pendant, right?

You never thought of me the best coroner.

The purpose of your praises and compliments

is this pendant, right?

Chu Chu.

You can seize and interrogate me.

Don’t coax me like this.

No.

What’s wrong, Jinyu?

Let’s count the days.

It was four years after the rebellion of the Military Commissioner of Jiannan

that the eunuch showed up.

What happened back then couldn’t be that simple.

Our father didn’t return to the capital city,

didn’t contact Chang’an,

didn’t contact the imperial garrison in the southwest.

This matter must be one of the reasons.

I know that.

I mean...

What’s wrong with Miss Chu?

Up all night? What have you been doing?

Looking for the tomb of Chu Chu’s biological mother.

Looking for the tomb?

Both His Highness and I think

that the tomb of Chu Chu’s biological mother

is among the tombs that Chu Family often pays respects to.

But Chu Family pays respects to

every dead one that they examined or encoffined.

All my night has been

spent on that.

Have you found anything?

No.

Eat something first, then.

You drunk so much last night,

you should eat something for breakfast.

What are these? Are these just for me?

What’s your problem?

Are you going to eat them or what?

I’ll take them away.

I will.

Your Highness says

you aren’t allowed to eat while reviewing the case records.

Are you challenging me?

Fine. I’ll go tell His Highness.

January 9, the tenth year of Taihe reign

Wait.

No.

Out of my way!

Greetings, Your Grace.

What are you doing here?

Your Grace,

His Majesty knows it’s the death anniversary of the Prince Consort

and ordered me to pay respects.

Ma, put the offerings on the table.

Yes.

Who dares to take a step further!

Your Grace, years have passed.

Are you still holding a grudge

because I didn’t take the Prince Consort back?

Grudge?

Eunuch Qin,

stop thinking highly of yourself.

You don’t deserve my grudge.

How magnanimous of you.

Had I done a good job at the time,

Commandery Prince An wouldn’t

need to go to the southwest,

where rebellions often break out.

Commandery Prince An travels lightly,

I’ve been worrying about him.

Listen,

if you dare touch my son,

I’ll make sure you die horribly.

Come on,

what are you talking about, Your Grace?

I spend all my time

serving His Majesty in the palace,

how is it possible

for me to touch Commandery Prince An?

Rubbish!

Uh,

what?

Hasn’t Commandery Prince An

sent his regard to you after he left the capital city for a month?

Eunuch Qin.

Your Grace.

Lord Xue.

What? Are you here to pay respects to the Prince Consort as well?

I’m here on behalf of His Majesty.

However, Her Grace doesn’t seem to appreciate His Majesty’s concerns.

How strange.

I, too, was ordered to pay respects

on behalf of His Majesty.

He ordered me to take four fruits of the season

to put before the memorial tablet.

Since His Majesty has ordered you here,

why did he ask me to do the same?

Uh, uh...

I guess His Majesty must have forgotten that he sent me.

Since you reject the goodwill,

I’ll have to go back and tell His Majesty so.

See you. See you.

Come. Back to the palace.

See you.

Lord Xue.

Congratulations on your promotion to Minister of War.

You won’t have to speak behind the folding screen

in Jiangshan Hall.

Congratulations. Congratulations.

Let’s go.

Quickly.

Your Grace, His Majesty asked me to bring these.

I thank His Majesty’s concerns.

I haven’t congratulated you

on your promotion yet.

Don’t tease me, Your Grace.

I’m incompetent.

I undertake

the responsibility with great humility.

I fear that I might not live up to His Majesty’s trust.

Senior Jing said a long time ago that

you were a man of great talent.

You don’t pursue fame,

but have greatness in heart.

You will be given a peerage in no time.

You overrate me, Your Grace.

Master, you’re back.

Piss off.

What happened...

Bastard! Bastard!

You...

Why do you bring the food for the dead

into the room?!

Toss it out to feed the dog! Feed the dogs!

Idiots!

Out! Out! Quickly!

Yes, yes.

Out!

Master, did the widow upset you again?

Calm down. Watch your health.

Xue Rucheng

has Jing Zhi and the Xiaos backing him up.

He becomes overweening

right after being promoted to Minister of War.

Who does he think he is?

A poor and pedantic scholar who crawled into the imperial palace

dares to mess with me?

A disgrace!

A disgrace!

Master, calm down.

Even if he’s in charge of ten ministries,

he’s still a pathetic scholar.

If he disgusts you,

just say the word,

I’ll find someone and

make sure he disappears before tomorrow sunrise.

You...

You promised me the disappearance of many people!

Answer me,

it’s been so long,

what has Xu Rugui accomplished?

Where’s the head of Xiao Jinyu?

What about the female coroner?

Master,

when Xu Rugui ambushed Xiao Jinyu in Qianzhou,

Xiao Jinyu happened to lead

Qianzhou garrison there.

The ambush failed

and Xu Rugui lost half of his men.

He’s useless!

Master, please don’t be mad.

Xu Rugui has now made his new ambush plan,

which is a guarantee of success.

When the good news comes back,

you’ll be the first to know.

You know what? It feels quite strange.

The wood itself isn’t scary,

but once it’s made into a coffin,

it becomes pretty creepy.

When the arms and legs on a human,

they aren’t creepy.

When they’re amputated, they become creepy.

You shouldn’t say this around all these coffins.

The good thing is,

the coffins are all empty.

Empty?

This one isn’t.

Don’t try to scare me.

No coffin-maker would

put a dead body to try the coffin out.

From my years of experience,

the coffin must have been

used as a storage box.

Don’t believe me? Let’s have a look.

What is it? So well covered.

Don’t touch it!

Stop howling.

You’ve seen corpses before.

What’s wrong with those Chu people?

Why did you put a dead body in it?

Where should a dead body be if it isn’t in a coffin?

Watch your hand!

Chu Family didn’t put it in the coffin,

I did.

You did?

This is an important piece of evidence.

You figure a way to bring it

back to the Yamen later.

Speak. What’s the matter?

I got Chu Chu’s background.

What?

This is what I found yesterday

in the archive.

A suicide case in a large family.

The dead was the younger sister of the master of Xu Family

in Guanling County, who had been married.

His sister came to Guanling County,

seeking refuge under him for some reason.

The brother and sister had a fight

and she then committed suicide.

Why does it have anything to do with Chu Chu?

Check the date.

January 9, the tenth year of Taihe reign

January 9?

January 9

The case record says,

Chu Ping collected Mrs. Xu’s body.

He buried her on the very night.

So,

Chu Ping took a body

on Chu Chu’s birthday.

Yes. In my opinion,

Chu Chu is the abandoned baby

that Chu Ping took in when he buried Mrs. Xu.

Abandoned baby?

Your Highness, abandoned babies are common

in the southwest.

The land is barren in the southwest,

and natural disasters often happen.

When the life becomes too difficult,

a family

throws away the youngest kid.

Especially girls.

They are often dumped at graveyards

and let fate make the decision.

If a kind-hearted visitor sees the baby,

they may take her home and raise her.

If not,

she’s just another dead body in the graveyard.

Mrs. Xu should have been pregnant when she killed herself.

Yes.

I wonder how serious

the fight between them was?

Why would a pregnant woman kill herself

by desperately hitting her head on the wall?

Two lives!

How come the record is so brief?

What was Mrs. Xu’s full name?

Who was her husband?

What did she and her brother fight about?

None of these is recorded

when it got archived.

Last night, Zheng Youde told me that

the archive had a fire.

The old records were all burnt up.

These were re-recorded after the fire.

Does Chu Family pay respects to Mrs. Xu?

Yes.

Chu Family pays respects to anyone

that encoffined or examined.

Mrs. Xu was one of them.

Are you trying to...

You go back to the Yamen.

She’s rude.

Excuse me.

I’d like to ask you some questions.

Come in, please.

Mr. Chu,

this is the case record that

I asked my man to find in the Yamen.

The record says

you took care of

the dead body in this case.

Please have a look. Any impression?

Mrs. Xu...

So?

Yes.

The record is too brief.

Please recall the details

of that day for me.

According to the case record,

Mrs. Xu had been pregnant when she hit the wall to kill herself.

Since you took care of her body,

you should know

how many months she had been pregnant.

More than 8 months.

Nearly 9 months.

So she was near the time of labor.

Yes.

Why do you ask this?

She’s been dead for many years.

Chu He.

Yes, Mrs. Xu has been dead for many years,

what about the baby in her?

To be honest,

when the first I met Chu Chu in Chang’an,

I admired her skills

and wished to hire her,

so I asked my men to investigate her background.

I didn’t understand

what her birth is

so that the family that raised her

would rather let her be slandered

by a bastard

than defend her with the truth.

Now that I’ve

seen the case record,

I finally understand poignancy behind it.

Chu Chu isn’t a bastard,

nor is she an abandoned baby rescued at the graveyard.

She is the baby that you saved

from Mrs. Xu’s dead body.

The folks call them

coffin babies.

Chu Chu.

Chu Chu, don’t listen to him.

He’s made it up.

It’s not true.

Chu Chu, follow me out.

Enough.

We’ve been hiding the truth from her,

but we can’t lie to her.

Chu Chu, you’ve grown up.

I need to tell you something.

My lord,

she isn’t my son’s biological daughter.

But my son saved her and took her back.

Since she was taken to our family,

I saw her as my granddaughter since.

Father, I did it.

Let me speak.

My lord.

Father.

In the evening, January 9,

an officer from the Yamen

asked me to collect a body at Xu Family.

The officer said

the county magistrate had known her cause of death

Xu Family and that I didn’t need to conduct an autopsy.

Mr. Xu’s sister killed herself by hitting her head against the wall.

It was still new year period,

Xu Family thought it was ominous,

and paid me to take away the body.

I didn’t think too much

because Mrs. Xu did have an obvious bruise on her forehead.

Xu Family was cold-hearted,

they just rolled her body in a straw mat.

I thought it was heartless,

so I wanted to get her a proper coffin.

But something unexpected happened...

What’s the matter?

Why are you holding a baby?

Father, look.

Father, she just died.

She was about to give birth.

I thought this baby...

I thought this baby could be saved,

so I gave it a try.

And I did save her life.

It’s a she.

Her life is strong.

I’m sure she’ll have good fortune.

Who was she?

Mr. Xu Zongfang’s sister.

I heard that her husband’s entire family

was disastrously dead.

so she went to seek refuge under her brother.

But she wasn’t welcomed by her brother and his wife.

The butler paid me twenty coppers

to take the body away

and bury her at a random spot.

How about I send them a message

and ask them to take the baby home?

What message? Take her home?

A dead woman

gave birth to a baby in the coffin room

in a coroner’s house,

who would take the baby?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You’re right.

It’s January 9, Father.

It’s the Jade Emperor’s birthday.

The baby has survived.

Maybe she got God’s blessing.

How about we keep her in our home,

and after the Lantern Festival,

when the new year is over,

I’ll speak to Xu Family.

After all,

she’s a half Xu.

Also, Xu Family is rich,

They have enough food.

They can raise the baby.

She’s a poor soul.

OK, OK.

We buried Mrs. Xu’s body

and after the Lantern Festival,

I visited Xu Family.

I then knew that the entire family had escaped from trouble.

I didn’t want the baby

to be involved.

I didn’t know what trouble they got themselves into,

but even Mr. Xu had to

escape from it,

a newborn baby surely needed to be kept away from it.

So I didn’t tell anyone about her.

After all, the baby did nothing wrong.

So I brought her up as my own daughter.

I’ve heard all kinds of rumors.

Some say

she’s a bastard that my mistress and I had.

Some say

I picked her up in the graveyard.

But like you said, my lord,

it’s better than letting people

know a dead woman

gave birth to her,

a coffin baby.

My lord, Mrs. Xu is dead.

She doesn’t exist in this world anymore.

Chu Chu was born after her death.

She shouldn’t take the blame.

My lord.

Sir, please don’t.

If you convict us of hiding the truth,

we plead guilty.

But Chu Chu has nothing to do

with what Xu Family had done.

Don’t blame anything

on Chu Chu.

The pendant.

He’s after the pendant.

Chu Family did nothing.

It’s my fault.

Don’t punish them.

You investigated my background

and want to punish Chu Family

is because you want to know more about the pendant.

Whatever you want to know, ask me.

But please,

don’t punish Chu Family.

Please!

Is this your trust in me?

Please!

Is this how you trust me?

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♪Nothing can♪

♪Stop me♪

♪From missing you♪

♪All the time♪

♪It’s cold at night♪

♪Everything changes in the world♪

♪I have affection for nothing♪

♪But your hug♪

♪Close the eyes♪

♪Meet again♪

♪By your side♪

♪I brush your hair gently♪

♪Life is long but love isn’t♪

♪There’s regret in the world♪

♪Only with you around♪

♪We’ll never lose contact♪

♪The moment♪

♪You smile♪

♪Let me cherish it for good♪

♪Because of you♪

♪I care about my life♪

♪I’m not old yet♪

♪I still love you♪

♪At last I settle down for you♪

♪I can rely on you all my life♪

♪Hope we’ll spend our lives sweetly♪