Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Murder Case

These sudden words caused the air in the hall to stagnate.

The man standing nearby holding the document shouted in shame and anger, "Wretched slave!" He grabbed Lin Lin's hand, intending to press it onto the document.

But the originally limp and powerless hand suddenly lifted and struck the man squarely on the bridge of his nose.

Caught off guard, the man let out a cry of pain, and the document in his hand fell to the ground.

"Lord Chen—" Servants from both sides rushed forward to support the man.

The hall became noisy.

The Old Woman watched this scene and gave a light snort: "Then continue the beating."

If she didn't confess, they would keep beating until she died. And if she did confess, she would still be beaten to death—only more quickly, perhaps ending with a single blow of the club, without this slow grinding of flesh. In any case, the situation she now faced was that she was going to be beaten to death.

Although Lin Lin had chosen death not long ago, at that time death had been the best outcome—a death worth dying.

But not now. She had just come back to life; she couldn't die without doing anything.

"Don't beat me, don't beat me—" she shouted again, "I—I have something to say—"

She thought she was shouting with all her might, but in truth this body was already spent, and the voice that came out was thin and feeble.

It sounded pitiful and wretched.

But no one in the hall showed any pity.

"What more do you have to say!" The man from before pushed aside the servants surrounding him, wiped the blood from his nose, and glared angrily. "What more do you have to quibble about!"

Lin Lin actually had nothing to say—after all, she had just returned from the dead, a blank slate knowing nothing.

"I didn't. I didn't do it," she shouted.

Because she didn't know the situation, she had to say meaningless things—perhaps this would draw out meaningful words from the other side.

Sure enough, as her words fell, the man stepped forward again.

"You didn't? Huang Qin and Qiao Man saw you arguing with Yao Ying and leaving together," he said coldly, pointing with his hand.

Lin Lin followed his gesture and saw three women standing on the left, seventeen or eighteen years old, dressed differently from the maids beside the Old Woman...

As the man pointed, a round-faced woman and a woman with a mole at the corner of her mouth looked at Lin Lin, then averted their gazes in fright.

Those must be Huang Qin and Qiao Man, Lin Lin thought, as she heard the man's voice continue.

"...Zhang Yalan also said that you and Yao Ying had been competing for the position of Physician Liao's disciple since you were in the capital."

The other one was Zhang Yalan. When their eyes met, she did not look away, making no effort to hide her anger.

"...Yao Ying was clutching a jade hairpin in her hand, and Caixia, the Princess Dowager's maid, testified that it was the one the Princess Dowager had previously bestowed upon you."

The man's voice rose again.

"Lin Lin! Do you still have anything to quibble about?"

Lin Lin! Lin Lin's heart leapt with joy—so this body was also called Lin Lin. Was this the reason she had died and been reborn here? The man's voice continued in her ears.

"...Are you still going to say you didn't kill Yao Ying?"

As he spoke, the man pointed to the other side.

Lin Lin followed his gaze. Lying on the ground right beside her was a woman...

The woman was soaked through, her face pale and bluish, her eyes bulging wide as they stared at her.

...

...

One corpse, three witnesses.

From the few words just spoken, Lin Lin had already sketched out the general picture of what had happened.

This woman named Yao Ying was dead. Someone had seen her and Yao Ying leave together, someone could testify that she had a conflict of interest with Yao Ying, and when Yao Ying died, she was clutching an accessory that belonged to her.

Witnesses and physical evidence both proved that it was she, this Lin Lin, who had killed Yao Ying.

"...I truly never imagined you would dare do such a thing!"

"Yao Ying's acupuncture treatment of the Princess Dowager this time took effect, and I recorded her merit and wrote a letter of recommendation for Physician Liao. I never expected it would stir up your jealousy..."

"You actually pushed her into the lake and drowned her. You killed her, thinking you could replace her as a medical woman?"

The man angrily picked up the confession document and thrust it before Lin Lin again, shouting.

"Will you still not confess!"

Whether it was Lin Lin's crime, Lin Lin did not know, but she could not confess—if she confessed, she would be beaten to death on the spot...

"I didn't do it. I didn't." She shouted again.

Compared to last time, her voice had grown much louder, sounding pitiful and shrill. Not only that, she reached out and tore the confession document before her to shreds.

This action stirred the hall into commotion again, and the man grew even more furious.

"Beat her. Beat her!" he shouted.

The old woman seated in the chair lowered her eyes and shook her head without speaking, only turning the prayer beads in her hand.

The servants standing on both sides raised their wooden staffs to strike, but the prostrate Lin Lin suddenly lurched sideways and rolled onto the ground. Blood seeping from her dress smeared across the floor, like a blood-red flower suddenly blooming.

The servants and maids in the hall let out screams.

Lin Lin nearly screamed too—it hurt! It hurt so much! Though she had been feeling pain ever since waking up, the single motion of rolling off the wooden bench nearly made her faint from agony.

This body had truly been beaten to a pulp!

"Grab her!"

The man shouted in fury.

The servants, snapping back to their senses, hurriedly dropped their staffs to seize Lin Lin, but she rolled again on the ground, reaching Yao Ying's corpse. She threw her arms around the drenched body and sobbed.

"Yao Ying, Yao Ying, wake up, wake up—"

The woman's shrill, hoarse cries rang through the hall.

The two servants stared at the woman clinging tightly to the corpse on the ground, momentarily frozen, as if unsure how to pull her away.

"It's too late for crying now!" the man coldly rebuked. "You're not crying for Yao Ying—you're crying for yourself! Pull her off—"

"Yao Ying, I see you, you're not dead yet, you're right here." Lin Lin shrieked, clutching the corpse and shaking it. "Get up, get up and tell everyone what happened!"

The people in the hall wore strange expressions—some looked around in fear, some looked confused, and some carried a hint of contempt.

"Has she gone mad from fright?"

"I think she's playing dumb."

An older stewardess looked at the man with displeasure: "Secretary, are you conducting an interrogation or putting on a farce?"

How could he not even control a single female apprentice?

The man addressed as Secretary flushed red, and no longer urged the servants. He stepped forward himself and reached out to pull Lin Lin, but the frail girl, beaten bloody, could not be lifted. What was more, the girl on the ground rolled over again, still clutching the corpse.

The people in the hall let out another low gasp, and the maids standing around the Old Woman were especially tense, because the corpse was rolling toward them...

"Stop it."

"Don't frighten the Consort Dowager."

They called out urgently.

The man lunged forward, but taking advantage of the roll, Lin Lin flipped Yao Ying's corpse on top of herself, and the man found himself unable to pull them apart for a moment. He could only stamp his foot and say, "Carry them both out!"

More servants surged over, grabbing at everything in a flurry—corpse and Lin Lin alike—and just as they were about to lift the dead and the living together, a sharper female voice rang out.

"Yao Ying didn't drown—she was poisoned—"

Lin Lin looked up at the corpse being carried alongside her, and saw dark red blood sliding from Yao Ying's nose, dripping onto her cheek.