In the middle of the night, there was no one on the streets. It was empty and silent.
Julie tied Pan Li's body with a hemp rope and hung it on the pillar at the front gate of the government office, making it look like a suicide.
She placed Pan Li's confession letter and the land deed she found in Pan Li's room into the gap of the government office's door.
Julie even made sure Pan Li's face was facing directly towards the main entrance, making it easy for others to recognize her.
After doing all of this, Julie left.
At dawn, the gatekeeper of the government office came to open the door. It was time for the morning check-in.
The gatekeeper, not expecting anything strange, opened the gate and immediately saw a woman with messy hair and wide-open eyes staring at her. The woman's face looked twisted and terrifying.
The gatekeeper, who was still a little sleepy, instantly woke up.
She screamed loudly, turned around, and ran inside as fast as she could, even losing one of her shoes without noticing. She was terrified that something might chase her.
While running, she shouted, "A dead person! A dead person! Someone come quickly!"
It was too scary to see something like this early in the morning.
The county secretary, who looked a little tired, walked out from inside. She rubbed her forehead and lazily sat on a chair.
"What's going on? Why are you making such a fuss early in the morning?" she asked, not hearing clearly.
The gatekeeper, her face pale, stuttered, "At the gate... a dead person... Secretary, you should go take a look... Should we call the magistrate?"
The magistrate hardly worked. Most of the time, he was either eating, drinking, having fun, or on his way to do those things.
He rarely showed up to court.
Most matters were handled completely by the secretary.
Hearing this, the secretary's expression became serious. She hadn't expected something like this to happen so early in the morning.
She thought about the magistrate for a moment, but decided against it. She would go and check first.
"I'll go take a look," she said.
The secretary's name was Dong Miao. She was around forty years old and seemed to be a serious and humble person.
She called a few officers to go with her to the gate, knowing that the more people there were, the braver she would feel.
After all, it was still barely light outside.
Even though she prepared herself mentally, she still felt a little scared.
When Dong Miao reached the gate, she saw that the body hanging there was the village head from Dashan Village.
Her eyes showed a flash of surprise.
Wasn't this person just here yesterday to give the magistrate gifts?
He didn't look like someone planning to kill himself.
They needed to take the body down quickly. Leaving it hanging would scare the people and damage the government's image.
She quickly waved her hand, telling two officers to take the body down and carry it inside.
She also called for the coroner.
At that moment, she saw the land deed and confession letter on the ground.
She compared the handwriting on the confession letter with samples they already had. It matched, and the fingerprint on the letter also matched Pan Li's.
The coroner soon finished examining the body.
There were no signs of stabbing or poisoning.
There were marks on the neck showing it was hanged, and some marks on the body.
The coroner ruled it as a suicide but said they couldn't completely rule out murder.
Julie had already thought about this.
She wouldn't make such a basic mistake like giving Pan Li poison.
If there were signs of poisoning, it wouldn't look like a proper suicide.
What Pan Li had swallowed was just a simple medicine to clear heat and prevent heatstroke.
It had no toxins, so no signs of poisoning would show up during the examination.
Dong Miao carefully read the confession letter twice.
It was full of repentance and talk of seeking forgiveness.
At the end, it even said the village head position should be returned to Julie, the daughter of Leng Yun, the one Pan Li had harmed.
Reading it, everything seemed reasonable.
However, Dong Miao had known Pan Li for many years and knew that she was someone who cared a lot about money and reputation.
Would she really repent like she wrote in the letter?
Dong Miao thought about calling Julie over for questioning.
But since the only person who could speak was now dead, what was the point of questioning?
The magistrate didn't care about official duties. He lived just to enjoy himself.
Even if Dong Miao wanted to do something great, her position and power were too limited.
She sighed.
She would go and report this to the magistrate and see what he had to say.