After about an hour, Mu Xueshi heard someone call from outside and followed Eunuch Shangde out.
“Reporting to my lord, that person has already been burned until only white bones remain. We have taken those bones away, and now there is nothing left on the ground.”
“So fast!” Mu Xueshi could not help marveling at how fierce the power of this Jiuyuan charcoal truly was.
Now that there was nothing left on the ground, Mu Xueshi was no longer afraid. He entered that room together with his two subordinates and walked toward the place where the corpse had first been laid.
The moment he saw the scene on the ground, Mu Xueshi was completely stunned. Compared with the outline on the floor of the Grand Tutor Manor, this was far too irregular. Because it had burned for nearly an hour, the marks on the ground were dark in some places and light in others. The color was darkest in the middle, then grew lighter toward the edges, and by the boundary, it was uneven, bulging here and dented there.
Clearly, even when a person was already dead, as they burned, the body would grow smaller and shorter until it became less than half a person’s length, which was where the deepest burn mark in the center lay.
But Grand Tutor Mu had still been alive before he was burned. Even if he had been unconscious, he should have struggled instinctively while burning, shouldn’t he? Even if he had not struggled at all, like a dead person, he still could not have burned so neatly!
With this, Mu Xueshi felt that it probably was not the effect of Jiuyuan charcoal after all.
Could it be that something very heavy had been pressing down on his body?
But even then, the body would still curl up while burning. And something that heavy would definitely be metal. Could it really burn until not even residue was left behind? This method did not make sense either! If one wanted to burn someone to death, would it not be much easier to pour in a drug to knock him out and then burn him? Why would there be any need to find something to press down on his body?
The more Mu Xueshi thought about it, the more his head swelled. He kept feeling that he could not understand the murderer’s reasoning.
“We’re going back to the Grand Tutor Manor. I still have to investigate there again.”
When Eunuch Shangde heard this, his face changed. He quietly advised from the side, “Judicial Affairs Minister, why not go again tomorrow? The sky is already getting dark. If you do not return soon, His Highness will worry.”
Mu Xueshi let out a long breath and said to Eunuch Shangde, “Send someone to His Highness to report that I am perfectly well and will return a little later. Tell him not to worry.”
“But…”
“There is no but. I must understand this today, or I won’t even sleep peacefully.”
Eunuch Shangde could only sigh and carry out Mu Xueshi’s order.
By the time they arrived at the Grand Tutor Manor, the sun had already set. Mu Xueshi was dressed in white, his black hat veil fluttering in the wind. Under the glow of the setting sun, he revealed the elegant bearing of a graceful young nobleman.
Here, Mu Xueshi once again saw Yuwen Tao. If not for Steward Wang’s reminder, he would almost have forgotten this person, Grand Tutor Mu’s close friend during his lifetime.
“This commoner kowtows to the Judicial Affairs Minister.”
“Quickly, dispense with ceremony.”
Mu Xueshi still respected Yuwen Tao very much. In modern times, he would have had to respectfully call him Uncle, though he was not Mu Xueshi himself.
Yuwen Tao looked Mu Xueshi up and down, and several rays of joy appeared in his eyes.
“With Young Master showing such promise, Brother Mu must surely be smiling happily in heaven.”
“Not at all, not at all…” Mu Xueshi felt somewhat buoyed by the praise.
Yuwen Tao withdrew his smile and sighed heavily again.
“After Young Master cleared your name, this old man thought this case would simply be left unsettled. I did not expect Young Master to still keep it in your heart all along. If your father could know all of this, how comforted he would be!”
Those words sounded a little strange to Mu Xueshi. If Grand Tutor Mu were alive and knew that he had taken over his son’s body, he would probably be so angry he went mad.
“May I ask what brought Uncle to the manor today?”
When Yuwen Tao heard Mu Xueshi take the initiative to call him Uncle, he was momentarily unable to react. After all, he had come and gone from the Grand Tutor Manor for more than ten years, and what remained in his mind was Mu Xueshi’s former cold and distant image. It was only later, after hearing that Mu Xueshi had lost his memory, along with the recent series of rumors, that he had tried looking at him in a different light.
“Oh, this old man came to offer a stick of incense to Brother Mu and also to visit Madam.”
Mu Xueshi nodded and politely invited Yuwen Tao inside for tea. Yuwen Tao declined, saying there was no need, that the sky was already dark and he had to return home. Mu Xueshi therefore did not insist on keeping him.
After Yuwen Tao left, Mu Xueshi impatiently entered the main hall, lit an oil lamp, and went to look at the patch of floor in the center.
“What do you think?” Mu Xueshi turned to look at the servants beside him.
The two subordinates who had just helped Mu Xueshi cremate the corpse both shook their heads. “It doesn’t look like it was burned at all.”
Mu Xueshi stood up, placed the oil lamp on the large table, and sat in a chair to think.
One of the subordinates could not help saying, “For it to have burned so neatly, it looks as if he had been nailed to the ground. And this definitely wasn’t ordinary fire. Could it have been… ghost fire?”
The other person immediately shuddered.
This time, Mu Xueshi was not afraid. Instead, he comforted the two of them. “Where would ghost fire come from? Besides, even if it existed, how could it happen to burn only my father?”
The two immediately fell silent.
After a while, a report suddenly sounded from outside, followed immediately by two people running in.
Mu Xueshi looked over and saw that they were Zhang Houde and Li Zhongzhi.
“This commoner… greets the Judicial Affairs Minister.”
After Mu Xueshi told them to dispense with ceremony, he asked them in a weary voice, “What brings the two of you here?”
“My lord, the servants you asked us to find have all been found. Those three are waiting outside now.”
“Then invite them in. The two of you may go receive your reward.” Mu Xueshi forced himself to gather his spirits.
After a while, an old woman, a young maid, and a thin middle-aged man walked in.
“Greetings, Judicial Affairs Minister.”
Mu Xueshi felt that the reason he was tired was probably because he had said “dispense with ceremony” too many times.
“Do you still remember when you last saw Master?”
The old woman spoke first. “This commoner does not remember. This commoner was always in the embroidery room doing needlework and seldom went out. On ordinary days, I rarely saw Master.”
“This commoner is the same. This commoner did odd jobs in the woodshed. The work itself was dirty and tiring, so I had even fewer chances to come into contact with Master,” the thin man added.
Mu Xueshi immediately felt that the silver he had rewarded them with was truly a waste! If he had known the people who left were all so irrelevant, he would not have sent anyone to look for them.
Looking at the last young maid with delicate features, Mu Xueshi said weakly, “Do you also not remember when you last saw Master?”
“This servant remembers.”
Mu Xueshi opened his eyes slightly wider, not expecting that there really was someone who remembered.
“When was it?”
“It was one hour before Master was killed.”
Mu Xueshi abruptly sat up straight, his eyes fixed intently on the maid.
“Where did you see him at the time?”
“In the kitchen. At the time, Master personally came over to make soup for Madam to drink.”
Mu Xueshi’s expression instantly grew tense. “Make soup… What kind of soup?”
The maid paused, then said softly to Mu Xueshi, “It was a pregnancy-stabilizing soup. This servant wanted to help Master at the time, but Master would not allow it. He insisted on doing it himself, saying that he had neglected Madam on ordinary days and wanted to properly make it up to her.”
“What was my father’s expression like at the time? Was there anything unusual?”
The maid frowned with her curved brows and thought for a moment, then slowly said, “At the time, Master only reeked of wine, and his steps were somewhat unsteady. This servant wanted to help Master carry the soup inside, but Master refused no matter what. In the end, Master personally carried it in himself.”
After hearing the maid’s words, Mu Xueshi kept feeling that something must have happened after Grand Tutor Mu entered Madam’s room. Otherwise, why would he suddenly have been burned to death in the main hall after leaving Madam’s room, while none of the servants outside noticed anything at all?
“How about this? Can you help me gather all the ingredients Master used to make the soup that day?”
“I… I can try…”
“You must gather them all.” As Mu Xueshi spoke, he called Eunuch Shangde to his side and signaled for him to take out two pieces of silver.
Although Eunuch Shangde was extremely unwilling, he still gritted his teeth and took them out…
“Take these two pieces of silver first. If you gather everything, I will give you an additional reward.”
The maid had probably never seen so much money before. Her hands trembled slightly as she quickly kowtowed and thanked him for his grace, then got up and trotted toward the kitchen.
Futile Devices Scans 
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