There is a god in the sky

Chapter 26 The Yicun Murder Case 8

Xiao Ji rented a small house in the county town and brought Fu Qingyan back to the city to recuperate.

With Wei Laodao imprisoned, Wei Lanxiang had no time to care for the injured.

Xiao Ji pawned a jade pendant he carried with him and received fifty taels of silver as a thank-you gift.

Wei Lanxiang initially refused, but the other party said, "Your godfather is in prison. Even with my and Lord Fang's help, it will still cost money to bribe officials. Moreover, the prison is a damp and dark place, and the old gentleman will need money to recuperate after he gets out."

What Xiao Ji really wanted to say was that if Old Daoist Wei really killed someone, Wei Lanxiang would be all alone in the future, and these fifty taels would be enough for her to live on for several years.

Wei Lanxiang thought that since she was about to leave, it would be good to keep the money for her godfather's retirement, so she accepted it.

Around midnight, Wei Lanxiang arrived at the mortuary carrying her toolbox.

This place is remote, and tonight the moonlight is faintly visible, accompanied by the hooting of owls, making it look like a scene from a horror movie.

Sui Feng stood at the door with his sword in his arms to greet her. He glanced at her and smiled, "Miss Wei, you have quite the courage."

Wei Lanxiang walked forward expressionlessly.

Sui Feng, standing nearby, reminded her, "Miss Wei, you should be prepared. In this hot weather, corpses will decompose very quickly."

Wei Lanxiang nodded, put on her coat, mask and gloves at the door, and put a slice of ginger in her mouth before going inside.

Sui Feng glanced back at her from time to time, his eyes filled with surprise. "Miss Wei, you came prepared."

Wei Lanxiang just nodded without saying a word.

Although there were only two corpses in the mortuary, the stench was unbearable.

Sui Feng covered his nose and walked in, saying, "Sir, Miss Wei has arrived."

Without saying a word, Wei Lanxiang opened the toolbox and lit ten candles, placing them on either side of the corpse to increase the lighting.

Xiao Ji smiled; it seemed he had struck gold.

“This is Guihua’s body, let’s start with her,” Xiao Ji said, stepping aside.

Wei Lanxiang asked him, "Who is in charge of taking notes?"

Xiao Ji took out paper and pen, "I'll do it."

He wanted to see Wei Lanxiang perform the autopsy with his own eyes.

Wei Lanxiang lifted the white sheet covering the corpse. In just two days, the body had already begun to decompose and was emitting a foul stench.

She had examined the wound on her neck yesterday, so she immediately reached out and unbuttoned Guihua's clothes.

Except for Xiao Ji, Sui Feng and Sui Ying both turned around.

As Wei Lanxiang worked, she said, "Actually, there's no need for that. It's just a corpse; she wouldn't care if a strange man saw it."

"How do you know?" Sui Feng retorted.

"Because she would definitely rather have the murderer brought to justice than clear her name."

Xiao Ji asked, puzzled, "Why do you insist that she was murdered?"

“If Wang Pozi hadn’t died, I wouldn’t be sure, but the fact that she died that very night suggests there must be something more to it.”

Once her clothes were removed, Guihua's scars were fully exposed.

After two days of lying in state, lividity became apparent, leaving mottled marks on her skin from the injuries she had suffered during her life.

"The examination revealed that the deceased died between 1-3 AM and 3-5 AM. He had suffered severe beatings for many years, with old and new wounds interspersed throughout his life. His left hand was fractured, and there was a large burn scar on his abdomen..."

After examining the visible injuries, Wei Lanxiang took a cotton swab and pried open the deceased's legs.

Even Xiao Ji couldn't stay calm now and turned his back.

He never expected that this young girl would even know about this.

Soon, he heard Wei Lanxiang say, "The examination revealed that the deceased had engaged in sexual activity before her death, so the possibility of her being raped and then murdered cannot be ruled out."

"What?" The three grown men turned around to look at her in unison.

Xiao Ji raised a question: "How can you be sure it was rape and murder just because they had sexual relations? She has a husband, and she ran away in the middle of the night, so it's also possible that..."

Wei Lanxiang knew what he was trying to say.

"Lord Xiao, please look here..." Wei Lanxiang pointed to Guihua's collarbone.

Yesterday, she was covered by clothes and only saw the wound on her neck, but now, she was completely naked, and the scar on her collarbone was clearly visible.

“There are obvious fingerprints near the neck, and even more obvious on the back of the neck. Unless it is a very serious injury, it is impossible to leave them on a corpse.”

Xiao Ji frowned. "She was strangled to death."

Such obvious fingerprints, yet the county coroner failed to notice them!

"There is a 90% chance that the murderer raped Guihua, strangled her, and then used a rope to hang her from a tree to make it look like she had hanged herself."

Wei Lanxiang took out paper and pen and traced the fingerprint.

"What's the use of this?"

"We don't know yet. Maybe if we find the suspect, we can compare the length of their fingers."

Xiao Ji praised, "Miss Wei is incredibly meticulous."

"Lord Xiao, please continue recording."

"it is good."

"The examination revealed that there was skin and flesh tissue under the victim's fingernails, which should have been left on the perpetrator during the struggle."

Sui Feng said happily, "That means the murderer was scratched; he must have wounds on his body!"

"Yes, but scratches of this severity will heal in two days."

Wei Lanxiang covered the body with a white sheet and said to Xiao Ji, "The man who raped her was rough with her. He must have had a sexual fetish. There is a very obvious ring of teeth marks on her chest, and she is missing an upper tooth. These are very obvious characteristics."

"Perhaps the murderer is her husband, Wang Daniu," Sui Feng speculated.

Wei Lanxiang shook her head, "When Guihua ran away the night before last, Wang Daniu didn't chase after her, so it shouldn't be him."

After examining Guihua's body, Wei Lanxiang moved the candle to the other side.

Granny Wang's corpse smelled even worse, but the stench on her body came from the latrine.

Xiao Ji waved his hand and instructed his attendants, "You two go and fetch water to wash the body."

Wei Lanxiang waited to the side and asked Xiao Ji, "Has the coroner examined Granny Wang's body?"

"It has been tested."

"How to say?"

Xiao Ji's eyes turned cold. "You can tell just by looking at her like this. The coroner in the county office probably wouldn't even bother to give her a second glance."

This is actually normal. The perpetrator was caught at the scene, and with so many witnesses, the coroner could afford to be lazy.

But he certainly didn't expect that there was an even more skilled coroner in Aoki Prefecture.

After rinsing the body twice, Wei Lanxiang began the autopsy. After giving the basic information, her first step was to pry open the deceased's mouth.

"There was no filth in the deceased's mouth; she did not drown in a cesspool."

People struggle before they die. If Granny Wang died in a cesspool, her nasal cavity and mouth must have been full of filth.

But now, there is some dirt in her nasal cavity, but not in her mouth, which means that she was thrown into the cesspool after she died.

Sui Feng pinched his nose and asked, "Who has such a deep hatred for her that they would kill someone and then throw the body into a cesspool? That's too much."

"She had no other injuries, and the preliminary diagnosis is drowning. May I perform an autopsy?"

Wei Lanxiang's question made Xiao Ji fall silent for a moment.

The Da Xi Dynasty valued the afterlife and respected the deceased. Coroners were not allowed to perform autopsies unless necessary or with the consent of the family.

Wei Lanxiang said softly, "I'll only look at her trachea and lungs; I won't touch too many other parts."

"Uh... what if the family finds out?"

"Only by determining her cause of death can we speculate on the primary crime scene."

"The first crime scene?" This term was new to Xiao Ji, but also easy to understand.

"Okay, you do it. Leave the rest to me."

Even a family like the Wang family wouldn't dare to challenge the mighty Chief Justice.