How did the teahouse owner learn about the dismemberment case?
Just as Su Yan was wondering, Shen Yao had already led her to the place where wild dogs were buried.
Dogs bury bones in their nature, which is why you don't see any bone fragments in the alleys.
Shen Yao squatted down and dug away the soil. Soon, human remains were exposed in the pit.
Su Yan immediately recognized the human pelvis, and she and Shen Yao exchanged a glance, their thoughts coinciding.
Then Shen Yao cleared all the bones out of the pit and brought them back to the yamen. Su Yan then picked out the human bones from the pile of bones.
Because it had been gnawed on by wild dogs, there was basically no muscle or organs left on the bones, only dried brown and black bloodstains remained.
It's not easy to piece together scattered bones into a complete skeleton, but without a head, Su Yan worked on it from noon until sunset, a full five hours.
By the time I finished, my stomach was growling loudly.
As soon as Su Yan stepped out of the morgue, she saw Shen Yao leaning against the wall, seemingly dozing off, as if he were waiting for someone.
But there was no one else in the morgue except her.
"Lord Shen...you were waiting for me..." Su Yan asked, pointing at herself with some disbelief.
At this moment, Shen Yao opened his eyes, turned to look at her, and handed her the food box that was on the ground. "You've been busy for so long, let's eat first!"
Upon hearing that there was food, Su Yan's eyes lit up instantly, and she excitedly took the food box. When she opened it, she saw a bowl of pork rib soup inside, with a few green scallions floating on the white soup.
In the past, Su Yan's favorite food was pork ribs, but today, with a huge pile of bones, she feels nauseous whenever she sees them.
Seeing Su Yan's face darken instantly, Shen Yao asked, "What's wrong? Don't you like it? I remember your favorite food is ribs, so I specially made some for you in the kitchen."
Su Yan wanted to cry but didn't dare refuse Shen Yao's kindness. Looking at the ribs in the food box, tears streamed down her face. She lied and said, "Thank you so much, Lord Shen. Ribs are my favorite food. Waaah... You're so good to me... Waaah..."
Shen Yao wasn't stupid; he could tell that Su Yan was forcing herself, so he snatched the food box back.
"If you don't want to eat, don't force yourself."
Before Su Yan could react, the food box was suddenly snatched back, and she was pulled to the kitchen by Shen Yao.
It was already late at night, and the kitchen was empty, but the ingredients were laid out to the brim. Shen Yao rolled up his sleeves and walked in as if no one was there.
She stood calmly by the stove, washing and chopping vegetables, starting the fire, and stir-frying the vegetables, all in one smooth motion.
Su Yan was stunned; it was the first time she had ever seen Shen Yao possess this skill.
A short while later, a steaming bowl of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and shredded pork was placed in front of Su Yan.
Shen Yao's face remained stern as he said in a deep voice, "Try it. If it's not good, I'll make it again..."
Su Yan smiled more brightly than a flower. After all, it was her boss who made it for her, so she couldn't possibly refuse him any face.
"Need not……"
Su Yan smiled and picked up her chopsticks, then put a noodle into her mouth. The noodles were perfectly cooked, with a wonderful chewy texture, and left a lingering fragrance on her lips and teeth after each bite.
Su Yan, who was already starving, quickly finished her plate. As soon as she wiped her mouth, she gave a thumbs-up and praised generously, "It's delicious! Lord Shen, your cooking is amazing..."
At this moment, a barely perceptible smile appeared on Shen Yao's lips, his heart filled with insane joy.
This was the first time Su Yan had ever seen Shen Yao blush when praised.
At this moment, Su Yan suddenly remembered Sun San's words; there was indeed something strange between her and Shen Yao.
Shen Yao seemed to always indulge her, and even knew her preferences. This sudden kindness made Su Yan uneasy, and she didn't know if it was just her imagination.
However, Su Yan wasn't the type to keep things bottled up. Since she had doubts about Shen Yao, she decided to ask him directly instead of letting it bother her.
Su Yan took a deep breath and asked solemnly, "Lord Shen...do you like...that...that..."
Shen Yao was completely confused. "That?"
"It's that...you know..."
"Huh?" Shen Yao was even more confused. "What exactly is it..."
Su Yan licked her lips, hesitatingly saying, "It's...men with men..."
Before Shen Yao could answer, Su Yan felt a sharp flick on her forehead, making her gasp in pain.
Looking up, she saw Shen Yao scolding her with exasperation, "What on earth is in your head?"
Su Yan clutched her head in pain, "Be gentle..."
Seeing Su Yan wince in pain, Shen Yao couldn't help but mock her, "Serves you right, who told you to think about all sorts of nonsense all the time..."
Although Shen Yao had stated his position, Su Yan still insisted on pressing the issue, "So? Lord Shen doesn't have that kind of fetish?"
Shen Yao rolled his eyes speechlessly, "Of course not... Why are you thinking about these things at such a young age?"
Su Yan patted her heart, still shaken. Luckily, she had been overthinking things. If Shen Yao had really fallen for her, she would be in a real mess.
After finishing their meal, Su Yan and Shen Yao returned to the morgue and discussed the case.
"The deceased was male, aged between thirty and thirty-five, with a height of eight. The cause of death is unknown, and the time of death was three days ago. The dismemberment cuts and the cuts on the hands and feet we found in the latrine bucket were all made with the same tool. Therefore, we have concluded that the skeletons found today and the ones in the latrine bucket belong to the same person."
Shen Yao looked at the skeleton spread out on the table. Although some parts were missing when the dismembered body was pieced together, it was clear at a glance that it belonged to a man. Generally, the upper opening of a man's pelvis is heart-shaped, the pelvic cavity is narrow and funnel-shaped, the sacrum is prominent, and the angle of the lower pubic angle is smaller. Compared with the female pelvis, there would be a great difference. Therefore, it was determined that the deceased was male.
"But how do you know the time of death was three days ago..." Shen Yao couldn't help but ask curiously.
Because the body was gnawed down to bones by wild dogs, determining the exact time of death is quite difficult.
Su Yan picked up a piece of bone from the dismembered body and pointed to the bone marrow inside. "It is indeed difficult to determine the time of death from dismembered bodies, but judging from the degree of decomposition of the bone marrow, the time of death is no more than three days. In addition, the dismembered body parts were found earlier, and the environment in which the body was disposed of would have accelerated the decomposition. Combining the two, we can determine the accurate time of death."
“Three days ago…” Shen Yao narrowed his eyes, pondering as he muttered to himself, “Wasn’t that the day before I arrived in Chang’an?”
Su Yan nodded, "That's right, but the victim's head hasn't been found, so we can't identify the victim based on these clues."
Thinking about this, Su Yan felt somewhat discouraged.
However, he quickly recalled the suspect's portrait described by the teahouse owner that day and couldn't help but ask, "By the way, is there any clue in the portrait I drew?"
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