Su Yan's stern rebuke instantly attracted the attention of several thugs, who all stopped what they were doing and stared menacingly at Su Yan as she walked over.
The ringleader, a thug with shifty eyes and prominent buck teeth, leered at Su Yan, clasping his fists and asking, "Who the hell are you? Do you know who I am?"
Before Su Yan could answer, Sun San's voice came from behind her.
"Bucktooth, what are you doing..."
Bucktooth didn't recognize Su Yan, but how could he, as the leader of a gang, not recognize Sun San?
Upon seeing Sun San approaching, he was initially surprised, but his expression quickly changed, and he immediately became obsequious, smiling obsequiously as if he hadn't been the one bullying others just moments before.
"Officer Sun, what are you doing here?"
Sun San had a sullen face; he had seen the whole scene of the beating.
“It’s none of your business where I am… According to the laws of Daliang, assaulting someone without cause is punishable by ten strokes of the cane, five days in jail, and a fine of ten taels of silver.”
“Officer Sun, you know me. I would never do something like hitting someone for no reason. This old man’s son owes me a debt and won’t pay it back… I had no choice…”
Upon hearing this explanation, Su Yan sneered, "Since it's his son who owes the money, go find his son. It's wrong to resort to violence. Brother Sun, stop wasting your breath on him and take him straight to the yamen."
Upon hearing Su Yan's words, the buck-toothed man quickly explained, "If I could find his son, why would I come looking for him? Officer Sun, please be magnanimous and forgive me this time!"
Su Yan didn't bother looking at the buck-toothed sycophant Sun San, so she walked away and went to check on the old man's injuries.
Fortunately, the elderly man only suffered minor injuries and was otherwise unharmed.
Soon, Su Yan understood the general situation of the conflict between the two sides.
The old man's name was Wu Tiezhu, and he was a night soil collector in the city. His son, Wu Erhu, had become addicted to gambling and owed money to the gambling den. When the buck-toothed gang couldn't find Wu Erhu, they went to his father instead.
After Sun San's mediation, Wu Tiezhu decided not to report the incident to the authorities, while the buck-toothed men and others agreed to pay the old man's medical expenses.
Knowing he was in the wrong, the man with buck teeth reluctantly paid the medical bills and left cursing.
The elderly man, upon receiving the medical payment, repeatedly expressed his gratitude. His hunched back was bent, and his face was covered with dry, cracked wrinkles. His eyes were numb, like a faint glow in the darkness, as if they were about to go out at any moment.
He looked very kind, but just by looking at the old man's appearance, you could tell that he had been living a very hard life.
Su Yan couldn't bear to see people suffer. Collecting night soil was not only poorly paid, but also involved a lot of tedious and heavy work. Overwhelmed with compassion, Su Yan touched the only one or two taels of silver she had left and placed it in Wu Tiezhu's hand.
Wu Tiezhu was flattered and repeatedly declined, "Sir, this is unacceptable... I cannot accept your money..."
"Sir, please accept this... Don't do this kind of work anymore. You're getting old, you need to take care of your health."
As soon as the words were spoken, hot tears streamed down the old man's aged and helpless face, as if touched on a soft spot in his heart. He wept bitterly.
"Sir...I kowtow to you..."
After saying that, Wu Tiezhu knelt down in front of Su Yan with a thud.
Su Yan was terrified and quickly helped the man up. "Sir, you mustn't do this! You're shortening my lifespan! Please get up..."
Although Sun San really wanted to help the old man, he had no money. All the money in the house was managed by his wife. Even though he didn't have the money, he could still do his best to help with this small matter.
“Sir, if that buck-toothed fellow causes you trouble again, just come to the county office and report him to the authorities.”
"I understand, thank you, sir..."
Now that the buck-toothed man was gone, Su Yan had to continue her journey, so she helped the old man lift the manure bucket that had fallen to the ground back onto the cart. Fortunately, the filth in the bucket had not spilled all over the ground.
After a busy day, the two of them reeked of a foul odor, but they tried their best not to show it.
Su Yan didn't think anything of it, but Sun San was in a terrible state, his face almost turning purple from holding his breath.
Just as the old man was about to push his cart away, Su Yan's gaze fell on the filth on the ground.
With her keen intuition, Su Yan quickly noticed the anomaly.
Su Yan squinted and broke off a branch to use as a tweezers to search through the filth.
Sun San was already disgusted, and seeing Su Yan poking at it with a twig made him feel even more disgusted.
"Ugh... Brother Su, what are you doing...?"
Su Yan did not answer. She poked at the branch a couple of times, and a finger was fully revealed. Having examined countless corpses, she immediately recognized it as a human finger.
"Brother Sun, come quick!"
Sun San initially didn't want to pay any attention, but his expression changed instantly when he saw that one finger.
"Dismembered body?" Sun San was still in shock and couldn't recover for a long time.
Su Yan nodded, "Mm..."
Unexpectedly, before even returning to Chang'an, she encountered such a major case. Su Yan didn't know whether she should lament her Mercury retrograde or offer incense and pray to Buddha.
…………
Soon, government officials arrived at the scene.
When Shen Yao arrived at the scene, he saw Su Yan, who was covered in dirt, washing her face with a handkerchief. She looked extremely disheveled. As soon as he got close to her, an extremely pungent smell filled his nostrils.
Shen Yao frowned, looking at Su Yan with extreme suspicion. "It's only been one night, how did you manage to make yourself look so disheveled?"
Su Yan, who had just finished shoveling all the dismembered remains out of the latrine, immediately fell silent upon seeing Shen Yao's disgusted expression. She retorted angrily, "I hope Lord Shen will have some self-respect. I was just doing what a coroner should do."
Seeing that Su Yan was angry, Shen Yao immediately apologized, "It was my rudeness. Brother Su is hardworking and dedicated. It is a blessing for the people that the county government has such a talented person as Brother Su Yan."
Su Yan snorted coldly, ignoring Shen Yao's words, "Lord Shen, please stop flattering me."
"Seeing how hard you've worked, how about I give you an extra ten taels as a bonus when I pay your salary at the end of the month?"
"That's more like it..."
After saying that, Su Yan led Shen Yao to the dismembered body and took out ten pieces of the body from the bucket, which she then assembled into parts such as hands and legs.
“There are ten pieces of body parts in total. Judging from the bone age, the deceased was an adult, but it is currently impossible to determine whether the deceased was male or female,” Su Yan said, pointing to the whitish body parts on the ground.
"Can you determine the time of death?" Shen Yao pressed.
Su Yan shook her head with great difficulty, "The body was dismembered too many times, and it was thrown into a latrine. To determine the exact time of death, we need to find the torso and head. However, judging from the degree of decomposition of the dismembered body, the time of death should not be more than five days, or even less."
Shen Yao pondered, "If today was the first time the murderer disposed of the body, he will probably continue to do so in the future."
Su Yan nodded in agreement. "I think the murderer disposed of the body in Chang'an City. We should start by investigating the door where Wu Tiezhu collected night soil."
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