Coroner's Diary Episode 10 Recap
> Coroner's Diary Recap
After examining Master Qin An, Qin Wan determined he was not suffering from a natural illness but had been poisoned, indicating someone was eager to silence him. She carefully inspected the medicinal herbs Master Qin An had consumed recently, identifying the poison as mineral poisoning. Though seemingly a small dosage, it was lethal for Master Qin An, whose body was already weakened by advanced syphilis, accelerating his organ failure and mental deterioration.
Yan Chi emphasized that the Qin Mansion case had to be reported to the Ministry of Justice, a process that would take at least half a year. He urged Qin Wan to cure Master Qin An's mineral poisoning so he could live to face legal punishment, and Qin Wan agreed. Yan Chi pondered Madam Qin's actions, wondering why she, having always doted on her descendants and done so much for Master Qin An, would resort to such a cruel method.
He concluded she was sacrificing him to protect Qin Chen's future, as Qin An could not be saved. However, Qin Wan countered that if Madam Qin truly wished to silence him, she would have chosen a quicker, less agonizing method. This suggested the poisoner might be someone else, someone who hated Master Qin An even more and wished for him to suffer.
They both agreed that the buried bodies in the well case was the root cause of all the murders in the Qin Mansion, suspecting revenge from the victims' families. Qin Wan and Xu He meticulously examined thirteen sets of skeletal remains, successfully identifying a skeleton with distinct exostosis marks on the second joint of the left thumb, finally allowing Concubine Yang to be reunited with her daughter.
They learned that the Yang family had experienced a fire after Concubine Yang's disappearance, in which her husband died. The local residents knew about this incident. It was revealed that Concubine Yang had two daughters; the elder one was beautiful and capable, and she had escaped the fire because she was out delivering goods for her father that day.
Qin Wan and Yan Chi surmised that the elder daughter, now in her twenties, was the sole survivor of the Yang family and could have infiltrated the Qin Mansion to seek revenge after discovering her mother and sister's fate. They considered her a potential mastermind or a key accomplice, given the intricate planning behind the series of murders.
Prefect Huo was ordered to search Master Qin An's quarters and study for portraits of Concubine Yang to aid in finding her daughter. However, no such portraits were found, and even general female portraits were missing from his collection. This prompted Qin Wan and Yan Chi to search the Qin Mansion's storerooms, where they discovered a secret room. Inside, they found numerous portraits, including one bearing Qin Chen's inscription, depicting a woman who was not his wife.
They deduced that Concubine Yang's portraits had likely been deliberately destroyed by someone else, possibly Qin Chen or Liu Chun, who had access and motive. Qin Wan administered needles to Master Qin An, rousing him from his stupor. In his agony, he confessed that it was Liu Chun who drugged the thirteen young girls with soporifics and threw them into the well. He revealed that Qingyuan Pawnshop, knowing his depraved preferences, regularly trafficked women and delivered them to his residence.
Master Qin An admitted he only wanted to dispose of the "unhealthy" ones. He also confessed that only the younger of Concubine Yang’s daughters was initially abducted by the pawnshop, but Concubine Yang, out of intense motherly love, tracked them down. When Master Qin An went to "pick up the goods," he found them about to kill Concubine Yang. Seeing her beauty and hearing her desperate pleas to enter the mansion with her daughter, he bought them both.
He callously admitted to exploiting Concubine Yang's love for her daughter to control her. Qin Wan, enraged by his lack of remorse, almost used her needle to inflict further pain, but Yan Chi intervened. In the struggle, Qin Wan accidentally pricked Yan Chi's arm, immediately treating him to prevent the transmission of syphilis. Later, Caihe, Madam Qin’s most trusted maid, delivered a new, brightly colored umbrella to Qin Wan.
Qin Wan found it odd, as she was still in mourning, and such a vibrant color was inappropriate. Yan Chi noted Caihe's usually meticulous nature, suggesting this oversight was unusual. He speculated that secretly moving the demon-suppressing stone was the very first step in the revenge plan, and the killer had waited patiently for the right opportunity to set their elaborate scheme in motion. The death of Lianye, he believed, was an unplanned incident, likely a silencing measure.
Upon reinspecting the Purple Bamboo Grove, Qin Wan discovered that the killer had utilized the unique flexibility of bamboo to move the heavy demon-suppressing stone. By wrapping multiple ropes around the stone and securing them to pre-selected bamboo branches, only two people were needed to move it, even if one was a woman. This led them to hypothesize that Concubine Yang's daughter had infiltrated the Qin Mansion a year ago and recruited an accomplice.
Yan Chi ordered the immediate sealing of Qingyuan Pawnshop, ensuring that by acting on two fronts simultaneously, they would prevent any communication among the conspirators. The pawnshop owner, despite being apprehended, brazenly boasted that his unseen master was beyond Yan Chi's reach. Undeterred, Yan Chi ordered an immediate investigation into the true identity of Qingyuan Pawnshop’s owner and their connections with high-ranking officials. Qin Wan then sought out Li, her Second Brother, to question him further about Lianye’s death.
She revealed that Lianye had died in the Purple Bamboo Grove, an uncomfortable fact for Li, who initially tried to avoid discussing it. Li recounted that he had seen Qin Chen enter the Purple Bamboo Grove on the night Lianye was killed, though he had not believed Qin Chen could be a murderer. Qin Wan pointed out that Lianye had joined the Qin household before Caihe, but Madam Qin had favored Caihe, promoting her over Lianye.
This fueled Lianye's resentment, and she became determined to find something to hold against Caihe. On the night she died, Lianye had followed Caihe out of the courtyard, but those in the sewing room, where Caihe claimed to be going, saw neither of them. Qin Wan theorized that Lianye had witnessed Qin Chen and Caihe’s clandestine relationship and was subsequently murdered to silence her.
Qin Wan then confirmed to Li that Caihe was indeed Concubine Yang's daughter, and the entire series of events was orchestrated for revenge. News arrived that Concubine Yang's husband suffered from color blindness, a condition that could be passed down to his children. Yan Chi immediately connected this to Caihe, recalling Qin Wan's earlier observation about Caihe's unusual choice of a brightly colored umbrella despite Qin Wan's mourning period.
Recognizing the significance, Qin Wan instructed Wanxing to inform Yan Chi of Caihe's name, knowing he would understand its implications. Qin Wan also sent word to Prefect Huo to prepare for upcoming developments. Later, Qin Chen, the Eldest Young Master, confronted Qin Wan. He desperately pleaded with her to delay informing Prefect Huo, offering to take Caihe away that very night, disregarding his wife and unborn child, and even his mother and sister.
Qin Wan condemned his willingness to abandon his family and commit murder for Caihe's sake. Enraged, Qin Chen declared that the killings were their victims' just desserts. He confessed to constantly wishing Master Qin An dead ever since discovering his true nature, asserting that Master Qin An did not deserve to live.
Qin Chen vehemently claimed that Caihe had already given up on her revenge for his sake, sacrificing much, even agreeing not to be his concubine so he could marry Xinlan and gain power. He declared that "he" was the one who sought revenge for Caihe. However, Qin Wan cruelly exposed Caihe's true nature, revealing that it was Caihe who had put musk in Xinlan’s medicine, and that Caihe was the mastermind who poisoned Master Qin An.
Qin Wan asserted that Caihe sought not only to punish those who had harmed Concubine Yang but also to ensure the third branch of the Qin family would have no descendants. Furious, Qin Chen refused to allow anyone to slander Caihe, and in a desperate attempt to bury the truth, he produced a rope, intending to strangle Qin Wan.
