Chapter 96: Find Xie Zhao if you need anything
The woman's finger joints were severely deformed. Jiang Yuzhu raised one hand to observe carefully and said to Zhang Song, "Mr. Zhang, have you found any clues?"
Zhang Song looked down and replied after a while: "The deceased must be from a poor peasant family. Her palms have a lot of calluses. She is definitely not a lady who has never touched women."
The two were discussing when Xie Zhao pushed the door open and walked in. He held a coat in his hand and put it on Jiang Yuzhu: "Madam, the temperature in the cold storage is a bit low, be careful not to catch a cold."
Jiang Yuzhu didn't notice anything wrong and accepted it with a clear conscience. She turned to Zhang Song and said, "Mr. Zhang, the clothes the deceased was wearing had patches on them and they fit her well. They should not have been altered by anyone. And we found her around the farmland. It's not difficult to determine her identity."
Most of the farmland around Beijing is owned by someone else, and most villagers are tenants, relying entirely on farming to produce very little. During the slack season, they have to leave the village to do hard labor.
"You can see that the skin on her fingers is slightly shrunk. It seems that she has been soaked in water for many years. The joints are swollen and deformed. She must be a washerwoman near the dock."
Jiang Yuzhu lowered her eyelids and gave instructions to Zhang Song.
The person had not been found before, and their people had investigated, but no one in the surrounding area had reported missing, so the case was at a standstill.
Zhang Song didn't expect that Jiang Yuzhu could easily guess the identity of the deceased based on just a few points.
"Ma'am, how do you know it's near the dock?"
Zhang Song's family has been coroners for generations. If he had not seen Jiang Yuzhu performing an autopsy on Lu Qingxue before, he would never have brought her into the cold storage.
It was sheer nonsense for the noble lady to go and see the corpse just for the sake of excitement.
However, at this moment, Zhang Song was convinced and took notes seriously, and was more respectful when asking questions.
Xie Zhao lowered his eyes to examine the dead man's hands. After a long moment, he raised his eyes and said in a clear voice, "Zhang, the washerwomen who take jobs all year round in the capital are all at the docks. This is one reason. Second, poor families don't have horse-drawn carriages or ox-drawn carts. After killing someone and dumping the body, they can't go far by pushing a cart."
Xie Zhao had already determined that the murderer was hiding in a village not far from the farmland.
Having more specific clues about the deceased will make it easier to find the real culprit.
A few days later, the case of the headless female corpse that had caused panic among the people of the capital was solved, and the Jingzhao Yin Yamen specially posted a notice.
The young woman who died was not from Beijing, but married into the Qian family in the suburbs of Beijing.
Because of a quarrel, she was killed by her husband, Boss Qian, who chopped off her head and dumped her body.
Boss Qian worked as a waiter in an ice storage in the capital. He hid the head in the ice storage and announced to the public that his wife had returned to her parents' home, and no one was suspicious.
The human head was originally hidden in the box at the bottom, but it was unexpectedly sent to Xie's house as shrimps and crabs. By chance, the case was soon solved.
By the beginning of May in the lunar calendar, the struggle between the Jiang and Wei families had reached a fever pitch.
After Madam Wei became ill from anger, the two families completely broke off relations without any mercy, and it became a matter of either you or me.
Civil and military officials each took sides. Prime Minister Wei had many disciples, and Jiang Fulu was at a disadvantage, so he was busy forming cliques.
Jiang Yuzhu continued to sleep until she woke up naturally every day and took her maid to wander around looking for business opportunities. Her show was far less ostentatious than before, but her deterrent power was no less severe.
Seeing the steward of the Jiang Mansion going out to buy things, Jiang Yuzhu asked, "When will my father return home soon?"
When Jiang Fulu was busy, Chen Shi also had no time to spare.
If you count carefully, Jiang Yuzhu hasn't seen her parents for several days, and she is preparing to go back to the Jiang Mansion to stay for a few days.
The Jiang family steward replied respectfully, "Miss, the master is very busy with official business. He returns home after dark every day recently. He doesn't even have time to have dinner before going to bed."
Jiang Yuzhu frowned and asked, "How can that be possible?"
Jiang Fulu is now middle-aged and naturally not as physically strong as young people.
With Zhang Hanlin as her aide at home, Jiang Yuzhu just hopes to reduce her father's burden.
Seeing that there was no one around, Manager Jiang whispered, "Miss, it's not easy for the master to be an official in the court."
"It's the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The emperor is in the mood to lead all officials to worship the river god and race dragon boats. Wei Shoufu has formed a team and issued a declaration of war to the master."
In the past few days, Jiang Fulu has been running around and sighing about this matter after leaving the government office.
Jiang Yuzhu raised her eyebrows and asked, "I know about the dragon boat race, but what is my father worried about?"
Manager Jiang's eyes flickered and he spoke vaguely. Under Jiang Yuzhu's questioning, he finally revealed the truth: "The dragon boat can accommodate 22 people. Wei Shoufu's disciples are everywhere, so it's easy to gather enough people, but the master..."
There were at most five or six officials from the Ministry of Personnel. In addition, there were Censor Lu, Li De, and the newly joined Yu Jijiu. Including Jiang Fulu himself, there were only a little over ten people, still half a head short.
"Only officials of the seventh rank and above can participate in this dragon boat race. Lord Li Deli, the brother-in-law of Censor Lu, has just been promoted. Otherwise, there will be even fewer people."
Jiang Fulu was very concerned about his reputation and said a lot of harsh words. He was extremely anxious as he saw that he had not yet gathered enough people for the Dragon Boat Festival.
After learning the whole story, Jiang Yuzhu raised her eyelids slightly and said calmly, "What's the difficulty?"
"Uncle Jiang, after you finish shopping, go directly to the Jingzhao Yin Yamen and look for Xie Zhao."
Jiang Yuzhu has only one goal, which is to find Xie Zhao when she is in trouble.
It would be so tiring and time-consuming to solve the problem by herself, so Xie Zhao happened to owe her a favor by performing an autopsy and solving the case.
Manager Jiang asked awkwardly, "I'm afraid this will cause trouble for the son-in-law."
In the past, whenever the Jiang family encountered problems, they mostly had to handle it on their own.
"We are all family, why should we be afraid of trouble?"
Jiang Yuzhu had no psychological burden. At least in name she was Xie Zhao's legal wife. With this status, the two families were in-laws and closer.
In the afternoon, Jiang Yuzhu prepared gifts and returned to her parents' home, and found the atmosphere at home a little depressing.
In the side hall, the eldest sister-in-law, Xiao Chen, was crying silently with red eyes, while the mother Chen kept silent and fiddled with a feather duster in her hand.
"Mom, sister-in-law, what happened at home?"
Jiang Yuzhu sat next to Xiao Chen and handed her a handkerchief.
Xiao Chen is weak-willed and has no ideas. If she marries into a powerful family, she will easily be eaten alive.
In the Jiang family, with her aunt as her mother-in-law, Xiao Chen lived a very comfortable life.
Faced with the concern, little Chen sniffed and stammered, unable to speak. She hated her own weakness and started crying again for a while.
Chen felt a dull pain in her forehead, her brows knitted into the shape of a "川" character, and she angrily said, "It's not your fault, why are you crying?"
Chen was very disappointed with her niece and wanted to scold her, but she was worried that little Chen would be upset.
"Mother, little sister, my husband thinks I'm narrow-minded and is in a cold war with me."
Speaking of matters between husband and wife, Xiao Chen felt a little sad. Jiang Huaida stayed in the study last night, and Xiao Chen cried all night.
The cause of the incident is not complicated.
Back then, Jiang Huaida had fallen in love with Lin Xinyue, the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Jiang Fulu was only a fourth-rank official at that time. Jiang Huaida was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and had no official achievements, so the Lin family looked down on the Jiang family.
Not long after, Lin Xinyue married far away, and Jiang Huaida also married his cousin Xiao Chen.
Many years had passed since the incident and no one mentioned it again.
"Two days ago, my husband ran into Lin Xinyue on the street and learned that Miss Lin was not living well after getting married and that she divorced because she had no children. The two of them drank tea in a teahouse and reminisced about the past..."
Before Xiao Chen could finish, a servant came back and reported, "Madam, Miss Lin's carriage is waiting in front of the mansion. She sent someone to deliver a letter to pay her respects to you."
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