TGCFNM -Chapter 106 Never Had a Child

Wan Sanjin skillfully pried open the coffin nails and pushed the coffin open.

Su He unfolded his toolkit, preparing to begin the autopsy.

Chu Ling stepped outside to keep watch. The night was dark, the wind strong, rustling the leaves along the roadside, flipping them over.

Zhen Mingzhu quietly shed tears and couldn’t help but cry out, “D-did he… abandon me to go to that wretched woman? That wretched woman is already married, yet she could still harm her husband… and he brought her back?”

“What is that woman’s name?” Chu Ling asked casually.

“Lu Jinyao.”

Chu Ling turned to her with a smile. “You say your husband treats you well, yet you worry he might take another?”

“My lord…” Zhen Mingzhu sobbed, “how could I bear to let him go?”

“By the way,” Chu Ling said, “how did your father pick Ma Yuansheng at a glance back then? That judgment…” she clicked her tongue.

“It was excellent,” Zhen Mingzhu replied immediately. “He is the best. He’s kind, helps elderly women with their carts, protects playful children—he is the best.”

Chu Ling nodded, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. “Looks like your feelings for him run very deep.”

Zhen Mingzhu nodded shyly.

Soon, the autopsy inside the room was finished. Wan Sanjin resealed the coffin nails and walked out with Su He.

Chu Ling looked back at them. “What did you find?”

Su He said, “Miss Zhen likely had congenital weaknesses. Her body was extremely frail, her meridians very thin. She also suffered from chest obstruction, and the facial injuries were severe, likely caused by improper medication… My conclusion is she died of illness.”

“Her poor health… could it be because she miscarried?” Chu Ling asked.

Su He tilted his head. “Huh? No.”

“The storyteller said so,” Chu Ling said. “In such a convincing way too—he claimed after she miscarried a boy, her health worsened.”

“Miss Zhen’s body was always weak, and she could not have children at all,” Su He said firmly.

Chu Ling lowered her gaze, thinking for a moment. Then she said, “Let’s go back to the government office. The trial starts tomorrow.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The next day:

Chu Ling dispatched Wang Wei and Wang Yan to knock on the Zhen family’s main gate, taking Ma Yuansheng away. The woman speaking with Ma Yuansheng, Lu Jinyao, was taken along as well.

Upon learning this, Headmaster Shu of Cangzhu Academy immediately led his students to the government office, blocking the gate.

Curious onlookers gathered in increasing numbers. Fu Qingyu arrived as well, pulling Wan Sanjin aside. “What’s going on?”

Wan Sanjin whispered, “Last night, the lord took us to examine the body.”

Fu Qingyu’s expression changed slightly. He tugged at Headmaster Shu’s arm and said quietly, “Something doesn’t feel right.”

Headmaster Shu’s heart skipped a beat, but he insisted, “We all know Master Ma’s character—what major crime could he commit?”

The crowd began to murmur, huddling in groups to speculate wildly.

“I knew it. The Zhen family changing their surname to Ma? Something’s definitely wrong.”

“You can never know someone’s heart just by their face. Never would have guessed.”

“Hah, they’ve just hit hard times, yet insist on acting all noble.”

“Tsk, let’s see how the magistrate rules.”

“The magistrate is a fair and just man; he’ll definitely give a proper judgment.”

The students listened to the murmurs around them, their expressions growing increasingly grim. A few of them huddled together, their hearts beginning to waver.

Could it really be a case of deliberate extermination?

Ye Bisi gestured for silence. “Lord Chu is here—let’s hear what he has to say.”

In the main hall.

Chu Ling adjusted her official hat and sat upright beneath the plaque. She struck the gavel once; her expression was solemn and imposing. Instantly, silence fell over the yamen, inside and out—no one dared speak recklessly.

“Bring Ma Yuansheng and Lu Jinyao to the hall.”

Chu Ling lowered her gaze to the autopsy report on the desk, then to the testimony Zhang Dong had collected. She pressed her fingers lightly on the papers and looked at Zhen Mingzhu beside her.

Seeing Ma Yuansheng, whom she had longed for day and night, approach, Zhen Mingzhu couldn’t help running toward him, her eyes full of love. But when she saw Lu Jinyao, she could hardly contain herself and seemed ready to tear her apart.

Ma Yuansheng stood below the hall and cupped his hands toward Chu Ling. “Lord Chu, I do not know what offense I have committed.”

Lu Jinyao knelt and bowed once. “Your servant Lu Jinyao pays respects to the magistrate. If you ask about Zhen Mingzhu, I admit it was my doing.”

A collective gasp rose outside the yamen.

She admitted it—she actually admitted it?

Immediately, people outside began discussing it excitedly.

Zhen Mingzhu hissed, “It was you—it was you who killed me!”

Chu Ling struck the gavel. Once the hall quieted, she looked at Ma Yuansheng. “Last night, your wife appeared to me in a dream, saying her death was unjust and asking me to examine her body to avenge her. I went to do the autopsy, but found no one watching over the spirit. Ma Yuansheng, why was this?”

Ma Yuansheng was taken aback. “I fainted yesterday and called Xiao Lian over.”

“Someone, go find Xiao Lian and bring her here,” Chu Ling ordered. She held the autopsy report and looked at Ma Yuansheng. “According to the autopsy, Zhen Mingzhu was weak and sickly from childhood, suffered from chest ailments, and the area of her facial birthmark was ulcerated—possibly due to medicine. Moreover, she had never been pregnant.”

Ma Yuansheng was astonished. “How can that be?”

“You didn’t know?” Chu Ling asked curiously. “Were you aware of her frail health?”

Ma Yuansheng nodded. “She was weak, and her birthmark was large, so she didn’t like going out. Over time, she would easily develop fevers from slight exposure to cold winds. The small kitchen never stopped preparing her medicines.”

Chu Ling put down the autopsy report and brought over the testimony Zhang Dong had gathered.

“Ma Yuansheng, according to the testimonies of the household servants, both Master Zhen and Madam Zhen passed away after falling. They were the heads of the household, usually assisted by attendants—why would they suddenly fall, grow thinner by the day, and have no medicine save them?”

Ma Yuansheng shook his head, completely bewildered. “I don’t know about the falls. I wasn’t home; it was Zhu’er who personally cared for them.”

Chu Ling nodded and continued with the case. “Master Zhen and Madam Zhen had loyal servants who buried the remains of the medicines they drank. When I had a physician examine them, they were ordinary tonic medicines—but one thing was odd: the tonic contained ‘fan ye’.”

Chu Ling pinched her forehead. “The ‘fan ye’ had actually been carefully removed. When we investigated, we found one leftover leaf stem—that’s when we discovered it.”

Ma Yuansheng said righteously, “I never bought ‘fan ye,’ nor did I enter the kitchen where medicines were prepared. At that time, I was auditing at Cangzhu Academy, and fellow students can testify for me.”

Chu Ling nodded slightly. “Of course, it wasn’t you. The ‘fan ye’ was bought by a maid—a close attendant of your wife Zhen Mingzhu, Xiao Lian.”

Hearing this, Ma Yuansheng felt his mind spin. “Your Honor, are you saying my wife’s maid went to the pharmacy, bought ‘fan ye,’ and put it into the medicine pot? The medicine my father- and mother-in-law took when they were sick contained ‘fan ye’?”

He found it laughable—how could that be? Zhu’er, though not striking in appearance, was extremely virtuous, a truly kind woman.

And how could she possibly harm her own parents?

Chu Ling’s eyes narrowed slightly as she looked toward Zhen Mingzhu, whose veil had been lifted.

Zhen Mingzhu was staring at Ma Yuansheng, her eyes filled with a fierce possessiveness.