Witnessing these body parts being unearthed with his own eyes, he had indeed been utterly astonished for quite some time...
"Then..." Chu Chu's voice lowered slightly, "Does Lord Ji know his wife is already dead?"
"Wang Ye has instructed that no one is to inform Lord Ji of this matter until the corpse manifest is completed."
"Then I'll examine the corpse quickly so Lord Ji can find out sooner."
A chill ran down Tan Zhang's spine—the way she said it sounded as if she were rushing to deliver good news. "Imperial Concubine, this... there's no hurry, no hurry..."
"Of course it's urgent! The sooner Lord Ji knows, the sooner he can burn incense and paper money for her. If she's well-fed, she won't be bullied by other spirits, and with plenty of money to offer the King of Hell, she can be reincarnated sooner. How can this not be urgent?"
"Yes, yes... The Imperial Concubine speaks most wisely, most wisely..."
☆、30 Sweet and Sour Ribs (10)
By the time Chu Chu finished the corpse examination and returned to the main hall, it was already the fourth watch. The guards and Ji Dong He were nowhere to be seen, leaving only Xiao Jin Yu sitting there alone.
"Finished the examination?"
Chu Chu appeared to be in particularly high spirits, her crisp voice carrying an unconcealed cheerfulness. "All done!"
Xiao Jin Yu cautiously eyed the food box she was holding. The last time her examination took this long was during the dissection of Xue Yue. This time, the murderer had already dissected the body for her—why did it still take so long?
"Did you find anything?"
Chu Chu, her face full of excitement, pulled several sheets of paper from her bosom and handed them to Xiao Jin Yu. "Of course, and quite a lot! Thanks to the guard brother who found her head!"
Xiao Jin Yu took them, glanced briefly, and frowned. The handwriting on the corpse manifest was crooked and chaotic, utterly illegible. "Who filled out this corpse manifest?"
"I dictated, and Lord Tan wrote it himself."
If merely recording could frighten him to this extent, it seemed he needed more time to get acquainted with corpses.
Xiao Jin Yu silently put away the corpse manifest. "Looking at the words makes me dizzy. Tell me what you found... Can you confirm that the dismembered body discovered tonight and the previous ones belong to the same person?"
Chu Chu nodded. "Absolutely no mistake."
Xiao Jin Yu's brow furrowed tighter. He had forced himself to stay awake until now just to hear her say this, but her mere affirmation wasn't enough.
He could tell that the knife marks on the incisions of the dismembered bodies found earlier and tonight were similar, and both sets belonged to individuals of comparable age. However, the earlier parts had been frozen in the ice cellar, while tonight's pile was excavated from the ground. Simply looking at them, one couldn't make such a definitive judgment. "What's the evidence?"
"That's thanks to Lord Tan! He placed several braziers in the morgue, warming the dismembered parts brought from the ice cellar until they were quite warm. After the corpses warmed up, a lot of bloody fluid seeped out. Tonight, we dug up several large bones that had been scraped clean, right? I washed one clean, dripped a bit of the bloody fluid on it, and the fluid all soaked in. If the ones from the ice cellar weren't Lord Ji's wife, they must have been from a blood relative of Lord Ji's wife around the same age. I asked Lord Tan, and he said Lord Ji's wife has no female relatives of that age in her family. So, she can only be Lord Ji's wife."
Xiao Jin Yu sighed inwardly. If blood drops could confirm kinship, they could certainly confirm identity. Why had he never thought of that before..."Alright..." Xiao Jin Yu was about to suggest returning to the residence when he suddenly realized someone seemed to be missing from the room. "Where is Lord Tan?"
Chu Chu frowned. "Lord Tan seems to have fallen ill."
"Ill?"
Wasn't he shouting orders energetically just moments ago while leading the constables to make arrests?
"Yes, when I was washing the bones, I asked him to help squeeze some bloody water from a corpse into a bowl. After that, he's been vomiting nonstop."
"...Let him rest. We can discuss other matters back at the residence."
Chu Chu shook her head repeatedly. "No, no! We must finish talking here. There are other things to do after this!"
Xiao Jin Yu lightly furrowed his brow and subtly adjusted his stiffened posture in the wheelchair. "Very well, speak..."
Chu Chu lifted the lid of the food box, extended both hands, and presented it to Xiao Jin Yu. "I've found the cause of her death."
Xiao Jin Yu glanced inside the food box, and a chill instantly ran down his spine.
Lying in the very same box that had just contained his meal was a deathly pale human head.
Maintaining his composure, Xiao Jin Yu leaned back slightly. "What was the cause of death?"
Chu Chu slowly placed the food box on the ground, carefully lifted out the head, and brought the severed side close to Xiao Jin Yu's face. Pointing at a faint, elongated indentation on the bloody cross-section, she explained, "See this mark? It was made while she was still alive by something sharp, long, and hard. It pierced through her throat and reached the bone. Although her head was severed along this wound, that happened after death. Injuries before and after death are different—you can still tell."
Xiao Jin Yu held his breath slightly and nodded silently.
Even seasoned coroners accustomed to life and death would tremble at the sight of a severed head, let alone ordinary young women. Yet she remained calm enough to hold it in her hands and examine it so meticulously...
Chu Chu set down the head and retrieved a large piece of flesh from the food box. Pointing at a bruise on the skin, she said, "Before she died, she was struck with a blunt object. It wasn't visible earlier because the body was stored in the ice cellar—too cold. It only showed after warming up in the morgue."
Xiao Jin Yu nodded gently again.
Only Tan Zhang would think of lighting a fire in the morgue. He must find time to properly discipline this incompetent old fool of an official...
"Also... her stomach contained a lot of undigested food. Identifiable items include rice, beef, chicken, oyster mushrooms, and cucumber."
Xiao Jin Yu endured a wave of nausea and nodded.
Seeing Xiao Jin Yu frowning without saying a word, Chu Chu thought he didn't believe her. That familiar mix of sour and burning grievance welled up inside her. Pursing her lips, she closed the food box and hugged it to her chest. "Anyway, everything I said is the truth. If you don't believe me, so be it... If you want to go back, go ahead. I still have work to finish."
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