Chapter 369: Digging up Graves and Bones

Chapter 369

The infant who died prematurely at twelve years old was unrecognizable to her own kin. Not even her mother could recognize her.

If evidence really had to be provided, they could only... dig up the grave and touch the bones.

It was still possible to discern the differences in the bones between a full-term infant and a seven-month fetus.

However, whether in the previous dynasty or the current one, digging up graves was quite taboo, even more so for the grave of a young child that could not be entered.

Old Lady Jiang had also gone through repeated psychological struggles before gritting her teeth and instructing, "Go call on the Yao family. Have Yao Siqing and her father come to know where exactly that child was buried."

"Old Madam..." Tan Yue said anxiously, "This is offending the Yao family!"

"Go!" Old Lady Jiang said sharply. "Even if it offends the Yao family, I have to make Mrs. Liao know her mistake and realize how preposterous her error is!"

Tan Yue had no choice but to hurry away.

With guards escorting her, she rode a horse at the fastest speed back to Fengjing.

No one knew how much was said and how many lips were worn out, exhausting the goodwill between the two families. After half a quarter hour, there was finally movement outside the temple.

Mrs. Liao, slumped on the ground, also looked up, a glimmer of anticipation in her eyes.

Before long, the entrance to the meditation room was opened. The dust-covered Yao Family Patriarch appeared with Yao Siqing, carrying a black box in his arms, looking exhausted and distressed.

Old Lady Jiang leaned on her cane to stand up. Before she could say anything--

Mrs. Liao suddenly rushed towards the box. "I knew it, I knew you would dig up my child. My son is in here, isn't he? My son..."

The guards reacted swiftly to block her firmly.

"Don't stop me. I want my child. I want to see her. It's been twelve years..." Mrs. Liao wept. "I miss her, my child."

Old Lady Jiang realized why Mrs. Liao refused to take out evidence but instead demanded that the Jiang family produce evidence.

She was certain that Jiang Sheng was the Yao family's child and was also certain that the corpse buried in the Yao residence was the baby she had carried for seven months.

What kind of misunderstanding made Mrs. Liao so firmly convinced?

And who had misled her to this point?

Old Lady Jiang's eyes turned fierce. "Open the box."

The change happened when the Yao Family Patriarch's wife conceived again and was about to give birth. Someone poisoned her again, causing the originally full-term child to be stillborn.

Only then did the Yao family realize the true culprit was Chunhua. Qiuyue had died wrongfully. The Yao family's eldest daughter had died wrongfully. Although the Yao Family Patriarch's wife was rescued, she did not last much longer before passing away.

After dealing with Chunhua, the Yao Family Patriarch also changed his ways and never fooled around again.

But the dead could not be revived, and the happy household could never be the same again.

Even today, whenever the Yao Family Patriarch recalled the past, tears would fill his eyes, filled with guilt, regretting not acting sooner.

Such was life. A wrong step, a moment of carelessness, and disaster struck, irrevocable.

No matter how hard one lamented, it changed nothing.

"To preserve the Yao family reputation and for my unworthy nephew, the Yao family covered up this story. They only announced externally that the full-term child died prematurely." Old Lady Jiang took a deep breath. "But every member of the Yao family knows the child died from poisoning."

After twelve years, the poison in the corpse of a poisoned infant could still be detected.

Wen Zhiyun's eyes lit up. He immediately pulled out a silver needle and carefully probed. Upon contact, it immediately blackened.

Apart from the Yao father and daughter, everyone else's expressions changed.

"Impossible." Mrs. Liao cried out hysterically. "You're lying to me. You poisoned my child. It can only be you who poisoned her!"

Stubborn to the deathbed.

Seeing the coffin before shedding tears.

Even the timid Wen Zhiyun could not help but speak. "The toxicity exhibited on an infant poisoned to death in the womb and one poisoned after birth are different."

He picked up the dark silver needle. "The discoloration upon contact, as deep as ink, shows the toxicity has penetrated to the bone marrow while still in the womb."

Moreover, there were many ways to kill an infant - strangulation, drowning, throwing. Poison was less convenient than those methods.

Mrs. Liao did not dare contemplate further, shaking her head vigorously with tears flung onto the floor, congealing into little mud pellets. "Impossible. My mother would not lie to me. She said my child had two moles on her feet. Jiang Sheng's body is smooth and flawless. She cannot be my child. Impossible."

This mother she spoke of was obviously not Old Lady Jiang.

Unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, everything led back to the Liao family.

Jiang Jizu clenched his fists and turned to the guards. "Take all the Liao family members in the meditation room and tie them up. Not a single one, whether family head or servant, should be spared."