Chapter 2424 Taihe Academy

About twenty volumes of files were missing from the bookshelf. Su Yan did not have time to read so much content last night, and she did not know what Cheng Wenshan had recorded.

Judging from the files she took away, it might be related to the preferences of other people. As for the identities of these people, everyone has guesses in their hearts, but no one says it clearly.

The files were probably taken away by Yunzhou and Yunxing. The two of them only took the files away, while the iron chains, hemp ropes and leather whips were still there.

Captain Zhao sorted out all the tools, all of which were used to torture people. When he counted them carefully, there were more than ten of them, and almost every one of them was stained with blood.

Su Yan didn't know who these tools were used on, but whoever it was, it must have a dark past.

When Captain Zhao saw these, he always thought of his children at home.

Although they were a poor family, they raised their children with great care. When Captain Zhao thought of his own children and looked at these things, he really couldn't make any associations.

"All these things must be taken back and stored. The county magistrate must be informed of this matter first. It is up to him to decide what to do. I cannot make the decision." Captain Zhao waved his hand, signaling the constable to throw the things back into the box, and he led Su Yan out. "What about the skeleton under the pond?"

"From what we can tell right now, there are four people in total. Judging from the length of their bones, they are all children, three girls and one boy."

Captain Zhao asked, "Can you tell the difference between a man and a woman?"

"The skeletons of men, women, young and old are all different. For example, men have heavier bones while women have lighter bones. The most obvious is the angle of the pubic arch, which is larger in women. Judging from the healing of the skull sutures, the shape of the mandible, the shape of the pubic symphysis and other features, the age is around ten years old."

When he was young, Captain Zhao hated studying. His mother had hoped that he would win the first place in the imperial examination, but unfortunately, he had a headache just by reading. He had no idea what Su Yan said, and he had never heard the old coroner talk about it before.

Pubic symphysis? What is it?

Seeing this, Su Yan explained more patiently: "For example, children aged 6 to 17 have an arc-shaped pubic surface when viewed from the side. The older they are, the flatter they become. There is also a promontory..."

"Forget it, just fill out the autopsy form for me," Captain Zhao felt a headache when he heard this and hurriedly stopped Su Yan. He looked at the bones collected from the bottom of the pond, wanting to check something, but couldn't bear to look closely, so he asked, "I see there are many cracks on the bones. Is it because he died many years ago?"

Su Yan understood that Captain Zhao was worried that they had been bullied before they died. She didn't want that to happen either, but she could only smile bitterly and said, "Although it's not very obvious, there are signs of regeneration in the injured bones. I'm afraid they were injured before they died. They were abused before they died and were thrown into the pond after they died."

Captain Zhao felt as if a huge rock was blocking his heart, as if the child was not thrown into the pond, but into his heart.

"We must investigate thoroughly," Captain Zhao's hand subconsciously moved to the sword at his waist, as if only this would make him feel at ease, "Even if County Magistrate Qin doesn't allow it, we must investigate!"

The bones have not been completely fished out yet, and the means of examination are currently limited. Su Yan is not in a hurry to perform an autopsy. She would rather follow Captain Zhao to Ciyu Village.

The so-called Ciyu Village was actually a large courtyard built by Cheng Wenshan outside the city gate. A fixed amount of food was supplied every month, and children could go to school in the academy. Ordinary people could also adopt children if they were interested. If they adopted a child, they would get a few dou of rice every month.

Unfortunately, the world is in a bad state nowadays and ordinary people can hardly support themselves, let alone raise another child. Few children in Ciyu Village are adopted.

Yin Yuan was in charge of all the affairs of Ciyu Village. When Yin Yuan was not there, the affairs were handed over to two women who stayed in Ciyu Village to take care of the children. The main person in charge was Lianxiang.

When Captain Zhao and his men arrived, Lianxiang was playing Cuju in the yard with a few children.

The rooms in the Salesian Village were not built luxuriously, but they were sturdy enough to shelter from wind and rain. The children were dressed simply but decently, and there were not even patches on their clothes.

Many ordinary people's clothes are patched one after another.

These details also reveal why the people of Anle Town respect Cheng Wenshan so much.

Captain Zhao deliberately put away his knife. Lianxiang also tactfully drove the children to the side room before coming out to see Captain Zhao, "Brother Zhao, has something happened again? Has the murderer of Master Cheng been caught? The children are clamoring to see Master Cheng, and I don't know how to explain it to them."

"This... let's talk about it later." Captain Zhao looked at Su Yan, "Do you have anything to ask?"

Lianxiang looked at Su Yan in confusion.

In her eyes, Captain Zhao was already a person of high status, and all detectives should obey his orders. Why did he ask for the opinions of others? And she was a woman.

"Who is this?"

"I'm a coroner named Su Yan. You can just call me Xiao Su," Su Yan said politely. "Just now I saw that the children in the yard were not very old?"

Although Lianxiang was shocked that Su Yan was a coroner, she couldn't show it too obviously in front of Captain Zhao, so she answered first, "The oldest is seven years old, the youngest is only three years old, and there are a few who are just a few months old. They can't play with everyone else, so they are all in their rooms."

Captain Zhao asked, "What's wrong with your age?"

Su Yan said: "It seems that there are no older children."

"There were some in the past," Lianxiang explained. "There was a 10-year-old child last year, but he was adopted. The older ones are all married now, so they naturally won't stay here."

When Captain Zhao heard the age, his heart dropped. "A 10-year-old child was adopted? How many children like this are there?"

Lianxiang recalled for a moment and said, "I have been here for four years, probably three or four years. I can't remember the exact time, but Mr. Yin should have recorded it. Brother Zhao, do you have any questions?"

Even if ordinary people want to adopt a child, the younger the better, as older children will always feel unfamiliar.

Or maybe they want to take them back to do farm work? But now most of the people's land has been seized by landlords and officials. It's hard for them to be tenants, so how can they think of adopting children?

Su Yan said: "Where is Mr. Yin's record, do you know?"

"They are all in the warehouse. I'll go get them."

There are too many secrets hidden in Ciyu Village. Captain Zhao ordered several detectives to look for evidence everywhere, while he took Su Yan and Lianxiang to the warehouse.

The warehouse was divided into two parts, one part was for storing grain, and the other part had desks and shelves, which was where Yin Yuan worked on weekdays.

Probably to show off to outsiders, the records Lianxiang mentioned are not difficult to find.

It clearly records the circumstances of all the children, including those who were adopted.

They are all around ten years old, and the information of their adoptive parents is also recorded.

Captain Zhao was a little confused for a moment.

It was Su Yan who reminded: "Brother Zhao, the information of these adoptive parents must also be verified."

Captain Zhao suddenly understood.

After verification, it was found that Yin Yuan had a total of 19 children adopted. Each time the adoption was extremely secretive and outsiders had almost no idea that there were more children being adopted in Ciyu Village.

Captain Zhao tried to contact these people who adopted children, but without exception, he could not find them.

Even in the county government, no records about them could be found.

There is probably only one destination for the children.

Su Yan looked at these records and couldn't calm down.

Lianxiang still didn't know what happened. She just thought they had found a better home. She sighed, "From the perspective of time, they should have married and maybe have children now. It's their blessing that they can grow up safely. It's also the merit of Master Cheng. How could such good people be killed?"

Su Yan didn't know how to answer. She thought of the temple fire and asked, "Who were the children who died in the temple that year? How old were they?"

"I'm not sure. I was still young at that time," Lianxiang said. "You should ask the people who were in Ciyou Village back then."

Su Yan asked: "How can we find them?"

Lianxiang pointed to another file and said, "It should all be recorded."

Working in Ciyu Village provides quite generous food and silver, and being able to work here is a good thing for most people.

Su Yan carefully checked the lists of names over the years. Ciyu Village has a long history, and when there were many children, many people were needed, so the total number of people was quite large.

Especially when the temple caught fire that year, probably because they wanted to find someone to be held accountable, many people came and went.

Captain Zhao got a headache when he saw the list. "There are so many people, some of them may not even be alive. Do we have to look for them one by one?"

"Not necessarily," Su Yan pointed at the names of two of them and said, "This Chun Jie was sold to a merchant's house by her family to be a maid a few years ago. The lady she met was kind-hearted and gave her freedom, and even promised her to someone else."

"So what?"

Su Yan explained: "Look, it's mentioned here that Sister Chun was taken in to Ciyou Village by Master Cheng because of her poor family background."

Captain Zhao smiled bitterly and said, "Cheng Wenshan wanted to gain a good reputation for himself, so most of the people who stayed in Ciyou Village were poor."

"But Sister Chun is different from the others. She left on her own initiative. Ciyu Village distributes food on a monthly basis. Perhaps the government offices are not as punctual as Ciyu Village. She was already quite old when she left, and she was in good health. Why did she leave suddenly?"

Captain Zhao hesitated after hearing what Su Yan said, "Maybe there are just no detailed records?"

Su Yan suggested, "I'm free anyway, so why don't I go over there and you can continue investigating whatever you need to, Brother Zhao."

Captain Zhao scratched his head innocently, "I always ask you for help. Your sister-in-law will scold me again if she finds out."

Su Yan pretended to be serious, "Brother Zhao, don't say that. Although I am just a coroner, I also want to contribute to the government office. I can't let down those who died tragically."

Captain Zhao was moved.

Look at him, he is so aware at such a young age. Compared with Su Yan, he is really a villain!

Captain Zhao was about to praise Su Yan when he heard her happy voice, "Yeah, I have another excuse to eat noodles with soybean paste."

Captain Zhao: “…”