The Imperial Coroner Episode 6 Recap
> The Imperial Coroner Recap
Jing Yi and his team searched a secret chamber and found partially burned monitoring records hidden within a bookshelf. These files contained information about Princess Xiping's Manor, including a banquet on the 25th of the previous month, as well as inquiries into Xiao Heng's whereabouts and the activities of Xiao Jinyu and other court ministers. Meanwhile, in the palace, Emperor Xuanzong admonished a new eunuch for clumsiness.
Qin Luan swiftly approached to assist, nearly exposing himself when the Emperor noticed strands of beard caught under his shoes. Qin Luan quickly claimed they were his own hair, shed in his haste to attend to the Emperor, who then dismissed the matter.
Emperor Xuanzong then instructed Qin Luan to order Xiao Jinyu to attend a tea gathering the following day, emphasizing that Xiao Jinyu must be present, even if he had to be "kidnapped," as the Emperor worried about his strained relations with the ministers. Xiao Jinyu meticulously drew Xu Rugui's portrait for an arrest warrant. However, Chu Chu felt Xu Rugui's appearance was unusual, like his features were pieced together from different regions, leading her to suspect he was in disguise.
Her intuition proved correct: Xu Rugui had fled Rugui Tavern and met with General Zhou Han of the Shen Army, where he removed his facial disguise. Zhou Han urged Xu Rugui to leave Chang'an by dawn, warning him about Xiao Jinyu. Xu Rugui confidently asserted that Xiao Jinyu, having only seen his disguised face, could not possibly recognize him, as his true face had been hidden since Xiao Jinyu was an infant.
Zhou Han then informed Xu Rugui that Eunuch Qin had ordered him to hide and await further instructions. At Xu Rugui's hidden residence, Xiao Jinyu observed that Xu Rugui was right-handed and trained in martial arts. After learning that Xu Rugui habitually kept keys in his left sleeve, he deduced that a different set of keys, for another residence, must be kept in the right sleeve.
He also noted that Xu Rugui's shoes had mud and rice paste, indicating a connection to an area with construction. Using a map of Chang'an and the steward's information about Xu Rugui's daily routines, Xiao Jinyu pinpointed a neighborhood for the hidden residence. He dispatched Jing Yi to post the portrait and instructed city gate guards to meticulously check all who entered or exited, especially those dressed as Shen Army members.
Later, officers en route to Tonghua Gate were intercepted by men in black, who merely bought time for Zhou Han before retreating upon a whistle. When the officers reached the gate, they learned that Zhou Han and his men had left the city half an hour prior. At the newly discovered residence, Xiao Jinyu found a unique tassel from Ruyi Pawnshop near a stove.
Observing that the stove was long unused but the storage jars for black beans were clean and frequently moved, he realized valuables had been hidden there. He deduced that Xu Rugui rented lockers at Ruyi Pawnshop and shared them with hired killers, using a tally system for transactions. Given Rugui Tavern's closure, he inferred Xu Rugui had likely just paid the killers, who would now rush to retrieve their money.
He instructed Jing Yi to take Xu Rugui's portrait, interrogate the pawnshop owner for the locker number, and monitor it to catch the killer. A letter from Leng Yue arrived with details about Chu Chu's background. It confirmed that her father's wife had been deceased for years before Chu Chu's arrival, leading the local community to believe Chu Chu was her father's illegitimate daughter, with her birth mother's identity unknown.
The Chu family had only maintained close ties with a solitary witch doctor who had left the region five years ago and remained missing. Xiao Jinyu went to the city gate to question the guards about Zhou Han's departure. They reported that Zhou Han's group consisted of five riders, a carriage, and a flat wagon carrying a corpse in a Shen Army uniform, purportedly a plague victim.
Noticing the wagon's unusually deep tracks for just one corpse, Xiao Jinyu deduced that another person—Xu Rugui—was hidden beneath it. He instructed the guards to let Zhou Han's team back into the city without acting suspicious, so as not to alert him. The next morning, Xiao Jinyu walked Chu Chu back to the Three Judicial Offices. He asked her about the embroidery on her handkerchief, which depicted a bone.
Chu Chu explained it was the fifth rib bone on the left chest, the closest point to a person's heart. Upon arriving at Princess Xiping's Manor, Xiao Jinyu adopted a serious demeanor. His mother, Princess Xiping, was upset about his absence and the commotion at Feng Manor, threatening to have him removed from his post. Xiao Jinyu calmly assuaged her.
During lunch, he presented the monitoring records that mentioned "Xiao Jinyu lynched the remaining members of Chen Ying's party" and "Xiao Heng escaped luckily," revealing that someone was spying on the Princess's Manor. Princess Xiping was shocked. Her shock intensified when Xiao Jinyu mentioned seeing the other half of her engagement pendant in the possession of a girl from Qianzhou. Overwhelmed, she insisted Xiao Jinyu cease his investigation, recall his men, and remove Chu Chu from Chang'an.
Xiao Jinyu pressed her for the truth about his father, emphasizing the danger they faced. Princess Xiping finally revealed that Xiao Heng's grave in Chang'an was merely a cenotaph, as his body was never recovered. She explained that when news of his death reached Chang'an, it coincided with the devastating Ganlu Incident, a fierce power struggle where the eunuch-led North Yamen massacred the minister-led South Yamen. Even her father, the Emperor, was confined during the chaos.
Fearing a full-scale investigation would bring calamity upon her family in the precarious political climate, she accepted the official story given to her by Shen Army General Zhou Han: Xiao Heng had secretly reported the treason of Jiannan's Military Commissioner, Chen Ying, and was murdered by him. By the time the Shen Army arrived, it was too late to recover the body. Hearing this, Xiao Jinyu's expression grew solemn as he concluded that his father might still be alive.
