Chapter 303 Taihe Academy

In this case, it is unclear whether this was a homicide.

Su Yan said: "Since the body has not been found yet, why did you bring me to the academy?"

Captain Zhao glanced at Su Yan secretly, still not daring to look her in the eye. "I know you have a sharp mind. There were several cases in the past that could not be solved without you. Taihe Academy is very important to our town. Although the body has not been found, the master is indeed missing. I think someone was afraid that the murder would be discovered, so they hid the body before the students rushed over. Girl Su, you should go to the scene and take a look."

Because of the brilliance of the top scholar, the county gave a lot of silver when Taihe Academy was built, and it became quite large.

As soon as you enter the door, you will see a spacious courtyard with a huge coral stone placed in the center. There are two long corridors on the left and right ends leading to the wing rooms.

The wing rooms near the gate only display works. After passing through a winding corridor built in a flower and grass garden, there is a lecture hall, with wing rooms on each end.

There are teaching rooms and libraries in the back, and the backyard is where the students live.

Captain Zhao took Su Yan into the academy through the back door, and after passing through a winding corridor, they arrived at the building.

There are four courtyards in the building. The main gate of each courtyard is not closed. Walking into the main gate is a small courtyard with a wing room on each side. The two wing rooms are where the gentlemen live.

Some of the teachers in Taihe Academy have already started families and careers. They go home on time after teaching every day, while others are as carefree as Chu Feng and live in the academy for a long time.

Going further, there is another door, which is locked on time and the key is kept by the gentleman who is staying temporarily or permanently.

Captain Zhao pointed to the second door and said to Su Yan, "This door is usually locked to prevent students from wandering around. But over time, it's just a formality. They often go through the small door. Although it takes a detour, they don't have to go through the trouble of unlocking it, and the teachers turn a blind eye."

"The first person to notice something was wrong was Di Jun. He was walking back from evening classes with the others and saw Yin Yuan through the window. According to him, Yin Yuan had his eyes tightly closed and blood was flowing from all seven orifices. It was obvious that something had happened."

Yin Yuan was one of the teachers in the academy and lived here all year round.

Su Yan did not go to Yin Yuan's room immediately to check, but opened the door that should be locked and walked to where the students lived.

After entering the door, there are long corridors on both sides, and the corridors are next to the picture windows. Su Yan walked to the picture window facing Yin Yuan's room, and he could really see the situation inside Yin Yuan's room.

"The doors and windows of the wing were always open?"

"Yes," Captain Zhao said, "If we close the window, we won't be able to see what's going on in the wing."

Su Yan narrowed his eyes, looked at the height of the window of the wing room, and doubts appeared in his mind.

Captain Zhao asked, "What's the problem?"

Su Yan shook his head and said, "Let's go to the wing room and take a look."

Yin Yuan was in his forties and was an old acquaintance of Cheng Wenshan, the head of the academy.

The head of the hall, Cheng Wenshan, was nearly sixty years old and was a well-known kind man in the town. In addition to Taihe Academy, he also adopted a dozen children who were abandoned by their parents and opened the Ciyou Village, which had been open for twenty years.

After County Magistrate Qin took office, Ciyu Village became a government-run Ciyu Bureau.

Yin Yuan is Cheng Wenshan's right-hand man and is highly respected.

However, what he was good at was not teaching, but handling the trivial matters of the academy, such as representing Cheng Wenshan in communicating with Qin County Magistrate.

His room remained as it was, with the doors and windows open. As soon as Su Yan entered the room, he could feel Yin Yuan's unique status.

The wing room was divided into three parts by the antique shelf. On the left was the bed, on the right were the desks and brush holders, and in the middle was the reception area with two rose chairs. In front was a square table. According to Di Jun, who was the first to discover the unusual situation, Yin Yuan, who he saw at the time, should have been sitting on the table.

As soon as Su Yan walked into the room, she smelled a pungent smell of blood. She was extremely sensitive to the smell of blood when she was a forensic doctor, and this became even more so after she came to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Su Yan frowned slightly and gently fanned his nose with his hands. The smell lingered at the tip of his nose and could not be shaken off.

When Captain Zhao saw this, he knew that Yin Yuan was most likely killed.

Although Su Yan has a good temper and is always smiling, when she encounters a case, she will be more serious than anyone else.

Judging from her current condition, Yin Yuanxiong is in great danger.

Su Yan squatted beside the table and observed carefully along the edge.

When he saw a slightly darker area, he stopped and gently wiped it with a white handkerchief. Then he handed it to Captain Zhao to look at. "Although the bloodstains have almost merged with the color of the table, there are still some traces, and the bloodstains have been wiped."

"Wipe it?"

"Yes," Su Yan asked, "Did Di Jun really say that he saw the gentleman sitting at this table?"

Captain Zhao nodded, "Yes, they all thought it was haunted. It was very violent last night."

It's no wonder they were scared. A person with blood coming out of all seven orifices was sitting on a table after sunset, and the window just happened to see this scene. Anyone would be terrified.

Su Yan, however, had a thoughtful expression, "Really? It seems a little strange."

"Of course it's strange," Captain Zhao said with a bitter face, "Yin Yuan's body has not been found yet. If the academy is still built in the mountains, it would be fine, but now a person is missing in the town?"

Su Yan didn't respond, but stood up and checked the room.

The room was in great order. Yin Yuan was a clean person, and even the antique display shelf was spotless.

In addition to some antique vases and calligraphy and paintings, Su Yan also found a carpet filled with copper coins, with no signs of damage.

"If what Di Jun said is true, Mr. Yin has already died. There are no signs of fighting in the wing room, so it is not the first scene. The body that Di Jun saw was carried here by the murderer." Su Yan walked to the window. "There is a little dust on the window sill. The doors and windows are intact, and the door is open. The murderer's activities are only near the square table."

After he finished speaking, Su Yan looked up at the beams, "Is there any clue on the beams? I'll have to trouble Captain Zhao to fetch a ladder..."

Before Su Yan finished speaking, there was a sudden noise outside the door.

Captain Zhao picked up his sword and walked out the door. He saw two men in green robes running to the back door in a hurry. As they ran, they said, "Mr. Yin must have been captured by the ghost. Otherwise, how could he be missing without a trace? What's the point of interrogating us now?"

"What nonsense are you two talking about?" Captain Zhao scolded, "You are students of Taihe University, how can you get such talk about ghosts?!"

The two men stopped and looked over timidly, not daring to say a word.

Captain Zhao wanted to teach him a few more words, but Su Yan came out and gently pressed down Captain Zhao's arm, asking, "What do you mean by ghosts?"

The two had never seen Su Yan before, and were a little confused when a little girl suddenly spoke to them.

One of them scratched his head, as if he was complaining about something in his heart.

Captain Zhao scolded again, "Just answer whatever you are asked. Why are you hesitating?!"

The man didn't expect that Captain Zhao would listen to a little girl, so he bowed his hands and said, "Captain, we are not making it up, it is true."

Su Yan asked: "Is the academy haunted?"

People in the Zhou Dynasty believed in ghosts and gods. Su Yan has handled many similar cases. People have deep faith in ghosts and gods, which is usually a difficulty in handling cases.

The student responded, "It's been a while. We can often hear the crying of the female ghost at night, and things are always missing from everyone's room for no apparent reason. The things that are missing are all women's stuff. All the people living here are men, and women have very few things, most of which are for their families. Who would collect these things? It must have been stolen by the female ghost."

Su Yan was a little surprised. "How can we determine it's a ghost just by the crying sound? Maybe there's just a thief in the academy."

"It must be a ghost! And it must be the ghost of the woman who was burned to death ten years ago! We all saw it. Early in the morning, there was always a string of unburned charcoal in the corridor. This is the path the ghost walked!"

Su Yan had only known Chu Feng for a short time and didn't know much about what was going on in the academy. He had never heard of a woman being burned to death in the academy.

"Can you tell me more about this?"

As soon as the student hesitated, Captain Zhao was ready to draw his sword and said hurriedly, "Miss, it's not that I'm hiding something on purpose. I haven't been in the academy for long, so I don't know exactly what happened. But everyone in the academy knows that there was a fire in the academy ten years ago, and a woman was burned to death. The woman was unwilling to give up, and she has not left, and has been wandering around the academy!"

"That's a bunch of nonsense!" Captain Zhao frowned coldly, looking quite dignified. He shouted sternly, "I've been on duty for many years and have never heard of a fire in an academy! There were no women in the academy! How could a woman die tragically in the academy? I think you've read too many books and have lost your brains!"

The two said in panic, "This, this, this, Captain Zhao, I really don't know, but everyone says so, so I... and we did hear the woman crying!"

Captain Zhao snorted coldly and said, "I think there is someone with ulterior motives. In order to cover up the crime he committed, he wants to find a ghost to take the blame for him. But you still believe it."

The two held their breath and didn't dare to breathe.

Su Yan said nothing.

When Captain Zhao spoke to Su Yan, his tone softened unconsciously, "Su girl, just listen to their nonsense, don't believe it."

Su Yan asked thoughtfully, "Captain Zhao, don't you want to know why someone would make up such nonsense?"

Captain Zhao was startled, and then said, "Of course it was the murderer who killed Mr. Yin, who deliberately disturbed our sight."

"But he wanted to emphasize the gender of the ghost? If he just wanted to get rid of suspicion, why did he go to the trouble of emphasizing the gender? To steal women's things?" Su Yan said, "Maybe there is a hidden story."

After hearing Su Yan's words, Captain Zhao's heart was alarmed, "You mean there is a clue? But there has been no fire in the academy in these years, I am sure of this."

"Perhaps the fire has other meanings. The rumor specifically mentions gender, and I think there is a deeper meaning behind it."

Captain Zhao looked at the two men and said fiercely, "Tell me, where did you hear that?"

The two men buried their heads and looked at each other nervously, their backs barely straightened. After a long while, they murmured, "I, I really don't know. We heard it from others. If I lied, I would never pass the imperial examination!"

Su Yan was about to ask more questions when a man's roar suddenly came from the distance, "Captain Zhao! We've found the body! We've found it!"