The Comeback of the Charming Farmer's Wife-Chapter 2120 - 2122: Investigating the Coffin

The one holding the lamp was Baili Yan’s trusted eunuch. As he was about to step forward with the lamp, Mu Shaoling hurriedly said, "Go change the candle, put a glass lampshade over it, don’t use this tung oil lamp."

"Understood!"

Soon, a young eunuch brought a new lamp. Mu Shaoling took it and asked, "Left hand or right hand?"

The Seventh Prince quickly responded, "Right hand."

Mu Shaoling directly examined the Grand Emperor’s little finger, and upon careful inspection, indeed, there was nothing there.

Fearing that the Seventh Prince had misremembered, he specifically checked the left hand as well; similarly, there was no red birthmark as the Seventh Prince described.

"Nothing at all!"

Baili Yan’s expression was not very pleasant; in fact, at this moment, he did not suspect the Seventh Prince.

Now that he was the Emperor, if the Seventh Prince wished to, like others, live a wealthy, leisurely life in Great Zhou, a bit of wisdom would prevent further provocation.

"I really wasn’t lying. In my memory, Father Emperor truly had a red birthmark on his hand." The Seventh Prince, seeing that Mu Shaoling observed the same nonexistence of the mark, confirmed once again, fearing Baili Yan might think he was speaking nonsense.

At this point, Mu Shaoling looked at the person inside the coffin again, scrutinizing carefully from head to toe before saying, "This body shape seems a bit different, likely a few inches shorter than the Grand Emperor. Because it’s lying down, without close observation it would be difficult for an ordinary person to notice."

"Are you sure?" Ye Zi’an asked him.

"Please don’t doubt the vision of someone renowned as a divine doctor," Mu Shaoling said proudly. "You can bring a ruler over for measurement if you don’t believe me."

"But this appearance is too similar," State Duke Tong commented, "and there’s no twins among the Grand Emperor’s brothers."

Hearing this, Mu Shaoling, with his gloved hands, felt around the face of the person inside the coffin, eventually detecting something different behind the ear.

"It should be a human skin mask," Mu Shaoling said to Baili Yan, "Emperor, the person has been dead for a long time and has been frozen as well. The mask on the face is likely fused with the skin. Even if you tear it off, the skin beneath will be damaged, and it will still be indistinguishable. However, if the ice and herbs are fully removed, the corpse will thaw, causing the skin mask to bulge or even fall off. Shall we try it?"

State Duke Tong said, "Emperor, although we don’t know why this person impersonated the Grand Emperor, considering the deceased’s dignity and the fact that we’re in the royal palace, it may be inappropriate."

"No problem!" Baili Yan waved his hand, "The royal palace is protected by the True Dragon’s aura, so there is no fear of such things. Moreover, impersonating the Grand Emperor and enjoying the reverence of the royal descendants keeping vigil is already the greatest respect for him. The fact that I haven’t ground his bones to dust to restore the royal family’s honor is already his fortune."

"I don’t know who you are, but you should know right from wrong. Impersonating a royal family member is a capital offense even for the living; for the dead, escape from misfortune is unlikely. I am not holding you accountable today, and I hope you will be sensible; otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless."

Baili Yan directed these final words to the person inside the coffin.

The reason he said this was influenced by Ye Zi’an’s visit to pay respects to Old Madam Luo.

"Go help bring out the things inside."

Removing the ice and herbs was naturally a task for the eunuchs.

Mu Shaoling reminded them, "Remember to use cloth to wrap and carry it."

"Thanks for the reminder, Lord Marquis. Emperor, I’ll bring people to handle it now."

When the ice and herbs were all cleared away, the body that had originally been well-preserved suddenly melted like an iceberg, and corpse water seeped through the coffin wood and flowed out.

Along with this, a foul smell of decay spread throughout the room.