Chapter 38: Case of the Headless Male Corpse (Part 3)

After the notice was posted, people came to report to the authorities one after another that someone in their family was missing. They were already anxious, so when they saw the notice, they hurried to open the door. However, after careful questioning, the Dali Temple ruled out that these people who came to report missing persons were not the deceased in their case.

Since the most important case right now was Xiao Qingshan's, the ordinary missing persons case was first handed over to Jingzhao Prefecture for handling. After three consecutive days, there was no progress in confirming the identity of the deceased.

One day, a resident of Ye'er Hutong in the west of the city came to report to the officials that his brother had been missing for more than a month and had stomach problems and often suffered from stomach pains. Upon hearing this, everyone in the Dali Temple thought that this person was the deceased, and Xie Hui even took people to the morgue in person.

The weather is getting warmer now, and the body has been left for three days. Even though there are ice cubes in the morgue, the smell inside is really unpleasant.

This time he went in with great expectations, but ended up returning disappointed. The people who came to identify the body said with absolute certainty that the deceased was not his brother, because there was a small burn on his brother's thigh, which was caused by him when he was playing with his brother when he was a child, so he remembered it very clearly, so the deceased was definitely not his brother.

The case seemed to have hit a dead end at this point, and Xie Hui had no choice but to have someone register the missing person's information and then send the person away.

When Xie Hui came back from the morgue, he saw Shen Yun coming out from the Temple Minister with a frown on his face.

"Master Shen, what happened?"

"Sir Xie, the person who just came..." Halfway through his speech, Shen Yun realized that if the identity of the deceased had been confirmed, Xie Hui would not have had the same expression as now.

"Alas, the Lord Temple Minister ordered us to solve the case as soon as possible. Now the case has spread inside and outside the capital, and the people are in a panic. We are asked to find out the truth and catch the murderer as soon as possible to comfort the people."

After Shen Yun finished speaking, he pressed his brows in distress. Now that the identity of the deceased had not been confirmed, solving the case was even more out of reach.

Xie Hui was puzzled, "Why did the case spread so quickly? Was there someone who deliberately spread it?"

"That day, the doctor found the body on Xiaoqing Mountain and reported it to the authorities. People from Jingzhao went to check it out. When they brought the body back, the people nearby came forward to watch. Xiaoqing Mountain happened to be near the official road, and word spread quickly that a headless male corpse had been found on Xiaoqing Mountain.

If it were just that, it would be fine. But yesterday, a story suddenly spread in the capital, saying that a demon who specialized in chopping off people's heads appeared in the mountains. Although it didn't say it was Xiaoqing Mountain outside the city, the case that happened recently made people think of it. "

I guess even if this incident is over and the murderer is caught, Xiaoqingshan will become "untouched" like Daqingshan for a long time.

As long as you don't go too far when writing storybooks, the government can't interfere. In the early years, some people even alluded to the present in their storybooks. Nowadays, people don't mention anyone by name, they just write a story, but readers can't help but associate it with the story.

Xie Hui said to Shen Yun, "We'll have people go to the villages outside the city to investigate tomorrow. No matter what, we can't investigate this case without first confirming the identity of the deceased."

"That's all we can do. We've received quite a few missing persons cases in the past two days. I'm afraid the people in Jingzhao Prefecture must be getting fed up with seeing our Dali Temple people every day."

Well...even though the Dali Temple is very busy, they feel much better with the support of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Neither Shen Yun nor Xie Hui had expected that things would take a turn for the better the next day.

A fishmonger came to report to the police and said that the person mentioned in the notice looked very much like a local thug named Liu Shun'er in their village.

"I am Liu Erchun from Liujiazhuang outside the city. Today I went into the city to sell fish and heard someone say that the government was investigating someone who had a stomach disease. I thought it might be him."

Liu Erchun only went to the city to sell fish every two or three days. It happened that he heard people talking about this matter while selling fish today. He thought about it for a long time before he dared to go to the Dali Temple to report it.

According to Liu Erchun, Liu Shun'er was from Liujiazhuang. Because his parents had a son when they were old, he had bad habits and had been stealing things in the village since he was a child. The villagers were very annoyed by him, but they also thought that Liu Shun'er's parents were good people, so they kept asking for compensation and apologizing behind their son's back. Since they were all neighbors, they would meet each other every day, so most of the neighbors tolerated it and just let it go as long as some small things were lost.

Two years ago, Liu Shun'er's father died, and his mother was left alone, so she couldn't control him. He would beat chickens and play with dogs in the village every day, and no one could control him, which made the people in Liujiazhuang miserable.

Ironically, the reason why Liu Erchun discovered that Liu Shun'er was missing this time was because the villagers of Liujiazhuang had been living a quiet life in recent days. Everyone realized belatedly that Liu Shun'er had not appeared for several days.

"Liu Shun has never been like this before. When it's time to eat, it's never enough to finish eating at home. He always goes to ask for a steamed bun or an egg from one house to another."

Liu Erchun had not originally intended to report to the authorities, so if he never showed up again from now on, it would be a good thing for the villagers of Liujiazhuang.

But Liu Shun'er's mother cried at the entrance of the village every day these past two days, saying that something must have happened to her son. Liu Erchun couldn't bear to see her like that, thinking that at least there would be a result whether he was dead or alive.

After listening to him, Shen Yun asked him: "If I asked you to identify the body, would you be able to recognize it?"

Liu Erchun swallowed his saliva and shook his head cautiously. He heard that there was no head, so how could he dare to look at it.

"I'm not familiar with Liu Shun'er. If I could see his face, I would recognize him. If..."

Liu Erchun was a little scared, fearing that these officials would get angry if he refused to identify the body.

Shen Yun could understand Liu Erchun's concern and did not force him to identify the body. Moreover, a headless body would be hard to recognize if one was not close to the body.

Liu Shun'er's only relative left is her old mother. If she is asked to come and take the blame, she is afraid that the old lady will not be able to take care of herself. However, there is no other choice. She has finally got some clues and cannot let it go.

So Shen Yun asked someone to rush a carriage to pick up Shun'er's mother to meet him, and specifically asked them to drive slowly on the way.

"Thank you, sir, can you please let me go home and tell me? We have to go home late again today."

It would take a lot of time to go back and forth to Liujiazhuang. If we recognize that the man is Liu Shuner, we will have to start investigating the case without stopping. It is not certain whether we can go back tonight.

There is a rest house in the backyard of the Dali Temple for officials, and it is okay to stay there occasionally. Shen Yun has already sent someone home to tell him that if it is too late today, he may stay there.

After thanking Shen Yun, he asked his bodyguard to go home and tell his mother.

While they were picking up Liu Shun'er's mother, Shen Yun and Xie Hui had dinner in the backyard of the Dali Temple.

"father!"

Shen Yun was having dinner. When he heard the voice suddenly, he thought he was dreaming.