Chapter 35 Coincidence?
The inhuman scream still echoed in mid-air, and even the crowd that had just scattered and dodged for cover forgot to move. In addition to the smell of blood, there was also an indescribable sense of dread in the air.
"Dead...dead?" The first to come to his senses was the constable who had restrained the madman.
He first tentatively touched the madman's shoulder, and when the man didn't move, he tremblingly probed under his nose.
Her hand jerked back suddenly, her voice trembling: "She's...she's not breathing! She's really not breathing!"
Pei Zhiwei was shocked. When she stopped the madman, she clearly felt that his strength was abnormally great and there was no sign of him dying at all. How could he suddenly stop breathing?
She quickly walked over, squatted down, and placed her fingers on the madman's neck to feel his pulse.
The skin was still warm, but the pulse had completely stopped.
Xiao Yunzhan also stepped forward, and Pei Zhiwei looked up at him and gently shook her head.
"Lord Zhou, immediately send someone to the government office to request a coroner, the sooner the better," Xiao Yunzhan ordered in a deep voice.
One sentence pulled Zhou Wenbin back from his shock. He hurriedly turned around and shouted to the constables behind him, "What are you all standing there for? Run! Tell the coroner that it's an important case and there's no time to lose!"
"Yes!" the constable replied, and ran off towards the yamen.
Yu Haijing squatted down and carefully examined the madman's face by the sunlight overhead.
His already furrowed brows suddenly tightened even more, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
He reached out and wiped the bloodstains from the madman's face.
The bloodstains were wiped away, revealing a familiar outline underneath. He gasped, his voice trembling, "This... isn't this the manager of Suhetang?"
Zhou Wenbin was still figuring out how to explain the "sudden murder on the street" to Xiao Yunzhan when he heard this and was suddenly stunned. He quickly squatted down to take a closer look.
He was the magistrate of Suzhou County, and Suhetang was the largest pharmacy in the city, so he naturally recognized the shopkeeper's round, chubby face.
After seeing clearly, he subconsciously looked at Xiao Yunzhan, "Your Highness, it really is...it really is the manager of Suhetang! How could he suddenly go crazy like this just now?"
Pei Zhiwei was also shocked.
They were just discussing at Linhe Tower about going to Suhetang to investigate "bewitching grass," how come the shopkeeper appeared in this way and died on the spot as soon as they set off?
This is too much of a coincidence.
She couldn't help but look up at Xiao Yunzhan, and her eyes met his.
This is by no means a coincidence.
Just then, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted in a panic.
"Ah...that person is bleeding so much! They look like they're about to die! Help!"
These words immediately drew everyone's attention away from the corpse.
Pei Zhiwei looked in the direction of the sound and saw the two people who had been attacked by the madman lying on the street not far away.
One of them was clutching his arm, blood seeping from between his fingers, his face as pale as paper.
The other one was still lying on the ground, the wound on his back was open, and the bloodstains had spread a large area on his dark clothes. The pool of blood under him was even more shocking.
"Save the person first!" Pei Zhiwei immediately got up and ran quickly toward the injured.
Xiao Yunzhan followed closely behind and instructed the constable beside him, "Go to the nearby clinic to fetch a doctor, and find a clean cloth to stop the bleeding for the injured person!"
Pei Zhiwei ran to the person who was covering their arm first.
The man was about thirty years old, wearing a slightly worn blue cloth long gown, and looked like a scholar.
His lips were trembling, and his eyes were still fixed, clearly not yet recovered from the shock he had just experienced.
She crouched down and asked softly, "How are you? Besides your arm, are there any other injuries?"
Hearing the voice, the person slowly turned their head. Upon seeing Pei Zhiwei, their gaze focused slightly. They shook their head, their voice trembling.
"No...no, just my arm...my arm was slashed, it hurts terribly..."
Pei Zhiwei gently lifted his hand from his arm.
The wound wasn't deep; it was just a cut about three inches long, with the skin turned inside out and blood slowly seeping out.
She breathed a sigh of relief and got up to walk towards the person lying on the ground.
The man was wearing shorts, but the wound on his back was much longer, about five inches long.
Pei Zhiwei carefully supported the other person's shoulders, wanting to turn them over to check their injuries. But as soon as she exerted force, she felt the other person's body go limp, as if they had no bones.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the person had a wound on their chest.
Although not as deep as the wound on his back, it was still bleeding. His face was already bloodless, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
"He also has a wound on his chest!" Pei Zhiwei shouted to the constables, "Don't wait for the doctor, quickly find a door panel and carry him directly to the clinic! It might be too late if we wait any longer!"
Two constables hurriedly ran to find a door panel, and the surrounding people spontaneously made way for them. A man in a coarse cloth shirt even came over to lend a hand: "I'll help you carry it!"
The group carefully lifted the injured person onto the door panel and hurried towards the end of the street. You could vaguely hear them telling the injured person to "lift slowly" and "don't touch the wound."
The scholar with the injured arm watched as the man was carried away, his face growing paler and his lips trembling even more violently.
Xiao Yunzhan: "Don't be afraid, tell me slowly. What exactly happened just now? Why did the manager of Suhetang suddenly start slashing people with a knife?"
Mentioning "chopping people," the man visibly shuddered, as if recalling the horrific scene from just moments before.
He swallowed hard, and after a long pause, he said haltingly, "I...I went to Suhetang to get medicine today. My mother has been coughing for several days and hasn't gotten better..."
When I walked down that street, and was still two or three steps away from Suhetang, he... he suddenly rushed out from the alley next to me.
Holding a machete in his hand, making strange "hoarse" noises, he was like a madman, hacking at anyone he saw..."
His voice trailed off, his eyes filled with lingering fear. "The man next to me was walking fast. He was first slashed in the chest, then turned to run and was slashed in the back, and collapsed instantly..."
I was terrified. Then he swung his sword at me again. I dodged, but I was still hit in the arm...
The pain almost made me faint. Then I heard someone shout, and then... then he was held down..."
Xiao Yunzhan: "Has the manager of Suhetang always been like this? Has he ever shown any signs of madness?"
"No!" The man immediately shook his head, his tone very certain.
"I've gone to Suhetang to get medicine several times. The shopkeeper is a very gentle person and speaks very politely. I've never seen him like this before..."
As soon as he finished speaking, an aunt stepped out from the crowd.
She walked up to Xiao Yunzhan and hesitated before saying, "Sir, I... I also often go to Suhetang to get medicine. The shopkeeper is really not crazy."
Although he wasn't the kind of kind-hearted person who would lend medicine to the poor on credit, he would still lend a hand if he saw someone in real trouble.
For example, if a family member has a sudden illness and doesn't have money to buy medicine, he will lend them one or two doses of medicine on credit to help them in their emergency.
A while ago, my old man suddenly fell ill and we didn't have money to buy medicine. It was he who gave me two doses of medicine on credit, saying that I could pay him back when things calmed down. That's how my old man's life was saved..."
“Yes, yes!” A man next to him chimed in.
"I broke my leg last time and went to him to get it set, but I didn't have enough money with me."
He didn't kick me out; he first set my bones and said I could pay for it later.
If it weren't for him, my leg would definitely be crippled.
How could such a good person suddenly go insane and start attacking people?
"Yeah, it's so strange..." Everyone started discussing it amongst themselves.
Pei Zhiwei stood aside and listened. A normally gentle pharmacy owner who would even lend medicine to people in times of emergency had suddenly turned into a madman who would kill anyone he saw, and in the end, he died on the spot.
If he didn't have a history of mental illness, then was he drugged, or...?
Just as he was pondering this, the shouts of the yamen runners suddenly came from afar: "The coroner is here! The coroner is here!"
The crowd quickly made way for an elderly coroner carrying a body examination kit.
The coroner's surname was Chen. He had worked in the Suzhou government office for more than ten years and was very experienced in examining corpses.
I just heard at the yamen that "someone died suddenly from an acute illness on the street," so I rushed over without even finishing my meal.
He walked to the body and first bowed to Zhou Wenbin and Yu Haijing.
He opened the autopsy kit, put on linen gloves, and squatted down to begin the autopsy.
The sunlight shone directly on the corpse. Coroner Chen first carefully examined the deceased's complexion and then touched his skin.
While examining the body, the examiner said, "The deceased's lips are cyanotic, purple in color, and the skin is reddish, which does not resemble the state of a normal death. The pupils are dilated and do not respond to light at all."
He then carefully examined the deceased's limbs and torso, reaching out to check the deceased's wrists and ankles—where red marks remained from the ropes the constables had used to bind the body.
"Did you tie this up?" he asked, looking up as he picked up the hemp rope that had just been untied.
The constables nodded hurriedly: "Yes, he's gone mad. It took us a lot of effort to tie him up."
The coroner nodded and asked, "I just heard the bailiffs say that the deceased was extremely strong and even wielded a knife to kill people?"
"Yes!" A constable who had previously restrained the madman quickly responded.
Without asking any further questions, the coroner took out a silver needle from the autopsy kit, then a small porcelain bottle. He rinsed the silver needle in water, carefully inserted it into the deceased's throat, lingered for a moment, and then removed the silver needle.
The once silvery needle tip had turned black, making it look particularly glaring.
He picked up the porcelain bottle that had been filled with water, poured some water onto the silver needle, and gently wiped it with his finger, but the blackness on the needle tip didn't fade at all.
He then took out a small bottle from the box, poured the water from the bottle onto the silver needles and wiped them again, but the black color remained unchanged.
“Lord Zhou,” Coroner Chen stood up and said to Zhou Wenbin, “The silver needles are still black after being washed with soapberry water. The preliminary judgment is that the deceased died suddenly from poisoning.”
Zhou Wenbin couldn't help but press further: "Coroner Chen, could you identify what kind of poison it was?"
Coroner Chen shook his head. "It's too early to draw conclusions."
The body needs to be carried back to the yamen for a thorough internal examination to determine the cause.
After the examination, I will fill out the autopsy report and present it to you, sir.
Xiao Yunzhan: "Then let's take the body back to the yamen first and examine it carefully. If we find anything, we should report it immediately."
Coroner Chen glanced at Zhou Wenbin, and seeing that he did not object, he responded and called over the constables to wrap the body in cloth and carefully lift it onto a stretcher.
Pei Zhiwei couldn't help but look at Xiao Yunzhan again, and he happened to turn his head to look at her as well.
Sunlight fell on Xiao Yunzhan's face, his brows furrowed slightly, his eyes full of thought—clearly he was also pondering the strangeness of the situation.
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