Upon hearing this voice, Xu Jing's eyes flickered slightly as she looked at the deathly pale Mrs. Cao, with a hint of harshness in her eyes, and her eyebrows slightly raised.
Is this... finally losing her composure?
Prior, the main force ridiculing and provoking her had always been Aunt Xue or Mrs. Cao's personal maid, He Xiang. Mrs. Cao, as Peng Shi's legal wife, apart from saying a few words while presiding over the situation, had hardly behaved inappropriately.
Therefore, her outburst at this moment was entirely unexpected by everyone.
He Xiang looked at Mrs. Cao in surprise, gently patting her back and said, "Madam, don't worry, no matter what those scheming people have done, they can't hide the truth! The real murderer who killed the Lord will surely be caught soon!"
As she spoke, she fiercely glared at Xu Jing from the corner of her eye.
The scheming people, it was obvious who she was referring to.
However, Xu Jing didn't look at her and kept staring at Manager Mu, who stood silently beside Mrs. Cao.
Seeing him frown blatantly at Mrs. Cao's loss of control, with a pair of cold and silent eyes quickly scanning her, he said nothing.
Xu Jing was satisfied, her lips curling slightly, speaking unhurriedly, "Mrs. Cao's doubts are understandable.
But I haven't tampered with this silver needle. Proving that the deceased indeed has toxins in their body is not difficult."
While she spoke, Xu Jing slowly circled Peng Shi's body, "The deceased's nails are black, lips and skin are purple, blood oozing from the mouth, eyes, and nose, and there's a reaction to the silver needle test. The poison is likely arsenic!"
As she finished, Mrs. Cao's face turned even whiter, and her body seemed to sway. Xu Jing, noticing it from the corner of her eye, suddenly stopped and said to the Government Official who assisted her earlier, "Bring the glutinous rice balls I asked you to prepare, put them in the deceased's mouth, as deep as possible to the throat, then cover the mouth with paper."
After finishing, she glanced at the confused crowd and said calmly, "If glutinous rice is placed in the deceased's mouth and there is poison inside, the toxins will adhere to the glutinous rice ball. After an hour, feed it to mice. If the mice show symptoms of poisoning, it proves the deceased indeed had poison!"
Everyone understood this simple method, and their expressions changed slightly.
No wonder this woman earlier had the Government Official prepare glutinous rice balls. Could she have anticipated that others would not accept her autopsy results and prepared in advance?!
Surprised at her meticulousness, did they truly underestimate her?!
Seeing their shocked expressions, Xu Jing couldn't help but find it amusing.
Though she indeed foresaw their denial, she didn't prepare the glutinous rice balls just to shut their mouths.
In fact, the silver sulfide formed during the silver needle test can be wiped off with soap water, but due to varying oxidation levels, it's not always cleaned thoroughly.
The silver sulfide on Wu Wuzuo's needle could be wiped because there was very little sulfur in the corpse's mouth to react with the silver, forming a thin layer.
Xu Jing then steamed the corpse's abdomen with hot vinegar, causing toxic gases to rise, increasing the sulfur content in the mouth, forming a thicker silver sulfide layer.
Even so, Xu Jing couldn't be 100% sure this silver sulfide layer wouldn't be wiped off.
Thus, she hadn't intentionally embarrassed Wu Wuzuo. She inherently disapproved of the silver needle test, as its success largely depended on luck.
Her true intention for confirming the body's toxins was the glutinous rice ball.
Before that, she used the silver needle merely to assess the degree of oxidation, confirming if the toxins had truly been forced out of Peng Shi.
By coincidence, the silver sulfide formed this time wasn't wiped away!
Explaining this was troublesome, and since the unexpected effect was achieved, Xu Jing didn't bother mentioning it.
After the previous episode, the Government Official assisting Xu Jing somewhat admired her and quickly placed a glutinous rice ball into Peng Shi's mouth as instructed.
An hour isn't short, and it's impossible to stand all the time. Xiao Yi ordered chairs placed along the courtroom sides for waiting.
Xu Jing didn't sit but instead squatted beside Peng Shi's body, instructing her temporary assistant to expose Peng Shi's hands from under the white cloth, focusing intently.
Peng Shi was stout and robust, but pampered, cultivating tender, white flesh.
At this time, the exposed hands looked like two premium pork trotters, clean and hairless, making any marks especially noticeable.
When the Government Official removed Peng Shi's clothing, despite the white cloth cover, his hands and feet occasionally peeked out, drawing Xu Jing's cursory attention to some marks. Upon closer inspection now, sure enough!
— There were indeed ligature marks on Peng Shi's wrists!
The marks were dark red, with signs of blood pooling, indicating they formed before Peng Shi's death!
The marks were distinct, showing Peng Shi's wrists were bound with something substantial before death!
But why only the wrists?
Moreover, the marks were about three fingers wide, with no additional patterns, suggesting the perpetrator didn't use something like hemp rope to bind him...
Xu Jing then had her assistant turn over Peng Shi's hands, and instantly, her eyes widened slightly.
On Peng Shi's right wrist, besides the long blood pooling, there was a distinctly shaped blood pooling!
Blood pooling, an imprint from subcutaneous bleeding, usually appears when a deceased experiences bleeding before death, varying in depth by severity, with some barely visible.
Thus, Xu Jing laboriously identified the oddly shaped blood pooling, approximately a child's palm size, oval, with seemingly odd patterns...
"What on earth is that woman doing! She must be trying to tamper with something!"
A sharp voice suddenly rang out, Xu Jing looked up and saw it was, as expected, Aunt Xue speaking.
She sat close to Mrs. Cao, her hand on her back, appearing quite intimate.
Xu Jing recalled Mrs. Cao's unwell state, prompting Aunt Xue to sit beside her for comfort.
Since meeting the Peng Family today, Aunt Xue seemed always near Mrs. Cao.
Xu Jing, as if realizing something, stood up slowly with a smile, "I haven't touched even a finger of the deceased, and with so many eyes on me, what could I possibly tamper with?"
Aunt Xue was rendered speechless, stifled by Xu Jing's retort.
Xu Jing, seemingly drawn into the conversation, glanced from Aunt Xue to Mrs. Cao leisurely, "To be honest, considering Peng Shi's notorious reputation, I thought the women with him were mostly unwilling, but seeing your behavior today, there seems to be some genuine affection."
Other women aside, Aunt Xue today wasn't confronting her for the first time, and her aversion appeared genuine.
Xu Jing wasn't sure if she had affection for Peng Shi, but she definitely had feelings for the Peng Family, and not shallow ones at that.
This deep hostility towards Xu Jing, who "killed" Peng Shi, endangering the Peng Family, was evident.
Aunt Xue paused, perhaps surprised Xu Jing brought this up, clenching her teeth with conspicuous resentment, "Of course! Regardless of the Lord's reputation outside, he provided us a home and stable life!
My father is a drunkard. When the Lord took interest in me and had my father sell me, I once naively thought my life was over! Later, the Madam stayed by my side, comforting me, saying once I entered the Peng Family, I'd be one of them, and the Lord and Madam would never mistreat any woman willing to serve him.
I initially doubted, fearing the Peng Family might be a chaotic mess, like other large families I'd heard of.
However, both the Madam and the Lord treated us genuinely well, especially the Madam, treating us like sisters. With many women in the Lord's rear house, sometimes forgetting one, the Madam would even remind him to check on them.
When we were sick, the Madam would stay with us through the night.
The Peng Family is far better than my original home. Regardless of why we came to the Peng Family initially, we all willingly stayed!"