Xiao Jin Yu didn't speak a single word of official language, nor did he allow her to rise. "Was that plate of sweet and sour ribs prepared by you?"
Wan Niang knelt upright with proper posture, bowing her head as she replied steadily, "Your Highness, sweet and sour ribs is the signature dish of our humble establishment. Thanks to the patronage of nearby and distant guests, my version has gained particular renown. That day, it was Magistrate Lord Ji who ordered the dish to entertain guests. I dared not be negligent and naturally handled the preparation myself."
Xiao Jin Yu's voice lowered slightly, "Did you personally select the ingredients as well?"
Wan Niang's composed voice carried a hint of remorse as she kept her head lowered, "Your Highness, this matter brings me shame... Our shop has always purchased live pigs, carefully raising them for a full month before having our butchers slaughter them for use, ensuring premium and fresh ingredients. With the New Year approaching, live pigs have become difficult to procure, leading to a temporary shortage. We had to urgently source a batch from Full Fragrance Butchery. When preparing the sweet and sour ribs for Lord Ji, I deliberately selected what appeared to be the most tender cut. Who would have thought... Truly, it was my lack of discernment that implicated Lord Ji. My offense is unforgivable."
Ji Dong He, standing nearby, grew somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this. He stepped forward and bowed to Xiao Jin Yu, "Your Highness, Gathered Fragrance Pavilion has operated in Shangyuan County for five or six years. Proprietress Wan Niang is widely praised for her talent and virtue. I beg Your Highness to investigate thoroughly."
Before Ji Dong He's words fully settled, Tan Zhang reached out and pulled him back, "His Highness possesses clear judgment and will decide accordingly. Your unnecessary remarks are unwelcome!"
"Lord Tan, I merely speak the truth."
"You are already suspended pending investigation—a person bearing guilt! You have no right to speak!"
"Lord Tan..."
Xiao Jin Yu coughed lightly twice, and the two tense individuals immediately fell silent. Showing no intention of engaging with either, he scanned the remaining row of people, his gaze lingering between a young man in a long gown and a middle-aged man in similar attire before finally settling on the older man. "Are you the proprietor of Full Fragrance Butchery?"
The middle-aged man grew flustered under Xiao Jin Yu's piercing gaze. Startled by being addressed, his knees buckled, and he dropped with a "thud." "Th-this commoner... this commoner is Zhao Man, proprietor of Full Fragrance Butchery. May Your Highness live a thousand years!" Only then did he realize he had knelt too far away and hastily crawled forward several steps, kowtowing solidly before Xiao Jin Yu.
Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly, "You operate the butchery?"
"Yes, yes... but not exactly, not exactly..." Zhao Man wiped sweat from his forehead and pointed toward the back row. "It was opened jointly by five of us commoners. We're all butchers, but proper storefronts are too expensive. None of us could afford to open one alone, so we pooled our resources. I know a few characters and can keep accounts, so I became the bookkeeper—hardly a true proprietor..."
"Do you record which supplier provided the meat purchased by Gathered Fragrance Pavilion?"
"This... We're all from the same village, longtime neighbors. We didn't record such details, only noting how many pounds and what type of meat each household delivered. At month's end, we split the earnings accordingly. So, each day's meat gets mixed together upon delivery—we can't tell whose is whose..."
"Do the butchers slaughter and dress the pigs in their own courtyards?"
"Yes, yes... We country folk aren't particular. We do what's convenient."
Xiao Jin Yu nodded, his voice softening slightly, "Both of you may rise."
"Thank you, Your Highness."After the two of them got up, Xiao Jin Yu didn't say another word. Leaning back in his chair with a slight frown and his eyes gently closed, he appeared to be deep in thought. No one dared to make the slightest sound to disturb him until Chu Chu's distant shout broke the silence, "Wang Ye, the investigation is complete!"
Xiao Jin Yu slowly opened his eyes and watched as the guards and yamen runners accompanying Chu Chu carried a stretcher covered with a white cloth to the center of the hall and set it down. In a deep voice, he addressed the row of people, "Wan Niang, take your people back and prepare to reopen the business as soon as possible... Boss Zhao, you and your people should rest for a few days. You will be notified when the butcher shop can reopen... Until this case is closed, no one involved may leave the county and must be available upon summons. Violators will be charged as accomplices to the murder."
"This common woman thanks Wang Ye."
"Thank you, Wang Ye... Thank you, Wang Ye!"
After the row of people filed out one by one, two guards quietly slipped out in unison. Left behind were Tan Zhang and Ji Dong He, who were glaring at each other, several officials from the Prefect Magistrate's Office, and Chu Chu, whose small hands and face were red from the cold in the ice cellar but who was clearly in high spirits.
Her glowing expression made Xiao Jin Yu momentarily suspect that what lay beneath the white cloth was a fully reassembled, complete corpse.
Impossible. If the head, hands, and feet were all present, how could the officials and coroners from the Prefect Magistrate's Office have failed to find them?
"Wang Ye, everything that could be found is here. Though it's not complete, there's quite a lot."
Chu Chu lifted the white cloth, and aside from Xiao Jin Yu and the yamen runner who had already been nauseated in the ice cellar, everyone else instantly turned pale.
On the stretcher lay a pile of meat cut into various shapes: large slabs, small chunks, slices, shreds, and even a basin of minced meat. Xiao Jin Yu could see that the meat wasn't randomly piled but arranged, albeit incompletely, into the vague shape of a human body.
The officials from the Prefect Magistrate's Office couldn't even distinguish pork from human flesh, yet she had managed to identify which piece of meat belonged to which part of the human body.
Before Xiao Jin Yu could recover from his astonishment or the others from their nausea, Chu Chu stood ramrod straight beside the stretcher and began reporting earnestly, "Reporting to Wang Ye, the deceased is female, over twenty but under thirty years old, has never given birth, and died within the last two to three days. The body was dismembered after death. Based on the more intact pieces of meat, the person who dismembered the body had exceptional knife skills, with clean and precise cuts. However, the body is too severely fragmented, and many parts are missing, so the cause of death is still unknown."
After Chu Chu's brief report, the hall fell into dead silence.
Where did this young woman in her twenties who had never given birth come from? This was just a pile of minced meat!
Xiao Jin Yu also stared blankly at the pile of minced meat from a distance. Even in the past when he could handle corpses and examine them closely, all he could determine was the time of death, post-mortem dismemberment, and the characteristics of the cuts. The rest...
"How do you know the deceased is a woman?"
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