The next day, Lu Zheng brought Bao Zheng and others to the Yizhuang, where there was indeed a headless corpse. The previous coroner had already experienced the corpse and could only confirm that the deceased died of suffocation and his head was chopped off after death. His body was slightly swollen, and he was thrown into the river after death, and then the body was washed ashore and discovered.

The coroner's examination was very simple, and it was limited by the anatomical level at that time. There was nothing that could be done. Fortunately, Lu Zheng had told Shihu what he knew about anatomy on the way. Shihu did not ask him how he knew it, but learned from him very seriously. Now it was time to test his learning results.

Dendrobium lit ginger and atractylodes, and after reciting a mantra for the dead, the white cloth covering the corpse was lifted. When everyone saw the corpse, their faces changed at the same time.

When Lu Zheng was studying, he had heard his seniors in the forensic department talk about the phenomenon of giantism. He still remembers the indescribable expression of the seniors at that time, but he never thought that he would see such a horrible scene in his lifetime.

The corpse was blue-gray in color, with a bulging chest and abdomen, swollen limbs, and even some parts of the skin falling off. The cross section of the neck was crawling with white maggots, and the whole body exuded a strong odor.

Lu Zheng ran to the side and vomited after taking the first look. Bao Zheng was not much better than him. He just held back and didn't vomit, but his expression was also livid. The only one who remained calm was Shihu.

Shihu first determined that the time of death was three days ago, which was consistent with the fisherman's confession and the previous coroner's opinion. Then Shihu opened the abdominal cavity according to Lu Zheng's instructions and barely identified the gastric remnants, which were probably meat and peanuts.

Finally, Shihu concluded: "The deceased was tall and fat, about five and a half feet (about 1.9 meters). He should have died within one to two hours after the meal. Judging from the meat in the meal, his family should be well-off, at least not poor. Judging from the old knots on his fingers, there are many old knots in the base and joints of his left hand, but his right hand is much better."

Lu Zheng frowned and thought for a while before saying: "The murderer wanted to chop off his head to hide his identity, and this person's figure should be very rare in Nanxia County. And I don't think he has a good family background. He has meat and peanuts in his stomach. It is very likely that he ate snacks while drinking. If his family is well-off, the snacks will never be so simple, and I also suspect that this person is single."

Bao Zheng asked doubtfully: "Can this be seen?"

"If a family member had been missing for a few days, the family would certainly come to look for him, but the case file is clean and no one has reported him missing recently."

"It is also possible that the woman in the family is afraid, so she dares not, or it is also possible that the woman killed her husband, so she is afraid of being discovered!" Bao Zheng said confidently.

"That is also possible." Lu Zheng did not refute him outright, "If that is the case, as long as the identity of the person is found out, the case will be solved."

Bao Zheng scratched his head. Although he felt that Lu Zheng seemed to be right, he always felt that he was mocking himself.

Lu Zheng asked Shi Hu again: "Did you find anything else?"

Shi Hu nodded: "This man is left-handed. Although most of his nails have fallen off, I can see from the two remaining nails that his nails are very short and gray-yellow, which should be caused by frequent work."

Lu Zheng was still a little hesitant: "If this is the information, it may be too little."

Shi Hu shook his head: "Without a head and no clothes, there is really not much we can do." He covered the body with the white cloth again.

Lu Zheng said, "Let's go to the place where the body was found first."

The person who found the body was a fisherman who lived on his boat. According to his recollection, early that morning, he was rowing his boat when he suddenly found a figure on the shore. He was worried that someone was drowning, but after rowing the boat closer, he found that it was a body.

At this moment, the fisherman stood trembling in front of Lu Zheng and others.

Lu Zheng said gently, "Don't be nervous, old man. We just want to ask, what happened that day?"

"That day the weather was very good, the sun was out, and it seemed to be a little windy. Oh, the weather has been like this for the past few days..." The fisherman talked about the situation in a rambling manner, and Lu Zheng did not interrupt him, which made him more relaxed.

"…The upper reaches of this river is Fanyun Lake." The fisherman thought for a moment and said, "If you want to catch something in Fanyun Lake, it's probably not possible. Fanyun Lake is not only large, but also very deep. If you drop something in it, you can't find it at all."

Bao Zheng whispered to Lu Zheng, "My lord, do you think the murderer dumped the body in Fanyun Lake?"

Lu Zheng shook his head, "No, I suspect the murderer only dumped the head in Fanyun Lake."

"If that's the case, why didn't he dump the whole body in Fanyun Lake? Just like the fisherman said, by then the body would have been eaten by fish and there would be no way it would be found."

"Maybe he couldn't have taken the body so far." Lu Zheng shook his head. "These things are just suspicions before we find useful information."

After asking the fisherman some detailed questions, Lu Zheng let him go.

The three stood by the river. Lu Zheng asked Shihu: "Can you calculate the weight of the deceased?"

Shihu nodded: "Yes."

Lu Zheng squatted on the ground and used a branch to do a physics problem on the mud. Of course, they had to calculate the place where the body was dumped. The water flow speed, wind direction and even the underwater plants would have an impact. However, they had no other way now. They could only use this method temporarily and roughly estimate the location.

After calculation, the three of them walked slowly upstream. However, halfway through, Lu Zheng suddenly asked Bao Zheng: "You said, does Magistrate Ma really not know the identity of the deceased?"

Bao Zheng frowned: "Why does he know to hide it from you, sir?"

Lu Zheng said: "Now that I think about it, I feel that Magistrate Ma's attitude is very suspicious. He doesn't seem to worry that I can find the murderer. Although the headless corpse is troublesome, but also because of this, once the identity can be determined, the case can be solved quickly. If he really wants to make things difficult for me, isn't it too unsafe to use this method?" "

Your Excellency said so, have you discovered something?" Bao Zheng asked.

Lu Zheng pointed at the weeds on the roadside and said, "Look at these fallen grasses. Many people must have walked here. This place is rarely visited by people. How could so many people come here?"

Bao Zheng bent down and indeed found something wrong.

The three of them followed the vague traces on the road and slowly walked to a muddy ground. Sure enough, there were many messy footprints on it, and it looked like there were at least three or four people.

Bao Zheng cast his eyes on Lu Zheng, who frowned and said, "I am more and more certain that they know who the deceased is, or they even know the murderer."

Bao Zheng hesitated and said, "This...could it be that the murderer's body was not?"

Lu Zheng shook his head, "If there were so many murderers, why didn't they throw the body directly into Fanyun Lake?"

Bao Zheng said angrily: "They are really going too far. If they have really identified the deceased and the murderer, why would they play tricks on us like this?"

"They may not be playing tricks on us." Lu Zheng was not as angry as him. "If I couldn't find out at all, I would probably be suppressed by this County Magistrate Ma in Qingxi County. The County Magistrate of Jin must know about it, but he let this kind of thing develop. I'm afraid his thoughts are not much different from those of County Magistrate Ma."

"This Qingxi County is becoming more and more interesting." Lu Zheng smiled softly.

Soon, Shihu found a clue: "Sir, there is a belt here."

Lu Zheng and Bao Zheng followed and found a dark green belt in the grass. Perhaps it was because the color of the belt was too similar to the weeds, so it was not discovered. Shihu picked up

the belt. The belt was made of linen, which confirmed the two people's speculation that this person's family was not rich. Shihu sniffed gently and found that in addition to the smell of blood, there was also a greasy smell.

"The deceased is a butcher?" Lu Zheng and Bao Zheng said almost in unison.

Having confirmed that the deceased was a butcher, the scope of the search was narrowed down a lot. Bao Zheng soon found out the identity of the deceased. The deceased was named Li Si, a butcher in Qingxi County. He was a bachelor and had no hobbies on weekdays. He just liked to drink. Although he had a bad temper, he had a good relationship with his neighbors and had no enemies.

When they identified the body, not long after, County Commander Ma came with Master Fu.

"Looking at Lord Lu's appearance, I think you have found out the identity of the deceased?" County Commander Ma said with a smile.

"Why do you have to ask when you already know the answer?"

"Haha, Brother Lu, you are a little angry." County Magistrate Ma laughed, "It's not that I am deliberately making things difficult for you, but if you can't even find out the identity of the deceased, you don't need to find out the murderer."

"From what you said, Lord Ma, you know the identity of the murderer?"

"I do know."

"I would like to hear the details."

"Lord Lu, I will tell you the identity of the murderer, but I have to kindly remind you that if you know, the case can be closed."

Lu Zheng couldn't help but get angry: "Lord Ma, what you said is not right. Since we know who the murderer is, of course we have to bring him to justice. Otherwise, what am I doing as a county lieutenant?"

County Magistrate Ma smiled and said, "Lord Lu is young and hot-tempered, and I understand that. But as for the murderer, even if you know him, you can't catch him."

Lu Zheng knew that County Magistrate Ma was provoking him, but this behavior was really unbearable for him, so he said directly: "Lord Ma, there is no need to say more. If I knew who the murderer was, I would definitely bring him to justice!"

"Well, I admire Lord Lu's courage." County Commander Ma lowered his voice, "The murderer is the legendary red-robed thief."