Chapter 42: Same Cause of Death
"Dengdeng, have you found Huaijiang?"
As expected, the first question Lady Dingxiang asked her when she saw her was this.
Qiandeng was at a loss for words. Although she despised Yang Huaijiang and knew he was the prime suspect in Shi Jingning's murder, he was, after all, the only son of Lady Dingxiang and the heir to the fourth branch of the Hongnong Yang family's Guozhou branch.
Now, if Yang Huaijiang really died in the palace, she didn't know how to explain to her aunt who came from afar to help with the funeral.
So she hesitated for a moment and just evaded the question, "The mansion is looking for him, but there was another fire in the storehouse, and the staff were transferred to put out the fire, so they couldn't look for my cousin for the time being."
Madam Dingxiang said anxiously, "The palace is surrounded by high walls and deep courtyards, and there are many guards. Huaijiang should be fine inside the palace. However, I think he seems to be extremely frightened and his behavior is a little abnormal. We should find him quickly to avoid any accidents."
Qian Deng was about to stammer a response when Madam Ge, who had been looking for someone outside, ran in in a panic, shouting, "Madam, this is terrible, this is terrible! I heard someone was burned in the fire just now!"
Seeing her rush in, looking bewildered, Lady Dingxiang scolded her, "The fire in the mansion is under the care of the owner. We are guests, why are we making such irresponsible remarks?"
"No, Madam, I heard, I heard..." Madam Ge ignored her scolding and knelt down in front of her, crying, "I heard that the person who was burned in the fire shouted for Shi Jingning before he died, and his voice was... hoarse and distorted..."
Lady Dingxiang stood up suddenly and rushed out. However, in her haste, she lost her focus and stumbled as she stepped over the threshold. She fell to the ground and was unable to get up for a long time.
Qiandeng and Madam Ge quickly helped her up. Madam Dingxiang's knee was badly injured and she could no longer stand. She just grabbed Qiandeng's hand and murmured, "Help me go take a look, go take a look..."
Qian Deng saw that she was unable to move, so she had the maids carry her back to the house and advised, "The fire is very dangerous right now. Aunt, please don't go near it. I'm having someone conduct a thorough investigation of the mansion. Let's first...find out who is in the fire, and then we can make plans."
It was almost midnight when the palace staff finished their thorough investigation. When the fire broke out, it was already dark and locked, with no one in or out of the front or back yards. Except for Yang Huaijiang, everyone else was there.
Cui Fufeng summoned Qiandeng from the west courtyard and informed her of the result. He then looked back into the courtyard with a somewhat hesitant expression, "Madam Dingxiang...how is the situation?"
Qian Deng shook his head and said sadly, "Let's wait until the body is found and confirmed before we talk about it."
Lady Dingxiang also couldn't sleep all night. She leaned on the bed and cried, waiting for news in agony.
There was no trace of Yang Huaijiang in the mansion, but the warehouse was burned down by fire, and they could finally walk through the ashes to search inside.
Thick layers of coke and ash were piled up, mixed with collapsed bricks. Workers used shovels and hoes to dig up the scorched earth and dug in the direction where the figure was buried in the sea of fire.
After shoveling all the way to the bottom layer, Ling Tianshui stopped everyone and asked them to change their tools to brooms and colanders and clean thoroughly.
After clearing the scorching ashes, something strange was revealed underneath. A charred corpse lay facedown on the ground, its skeleton now the only thing left.
Due to the collapse and weight of the wood above, the skeleton has been smashed into pieces, and one can only barely see the movements and postures before birth based on the shape of the limbs.
Ling Tianshui looked at the charred and broken corpse, lost in thought.
Ji Linyou stepped on the still smoking dust, walked behind him and took a look, then cried out, "This posture, this way of death... It's exactly the same as Shi Jingning's back then!"
Before she finished speaking, Lady Dingxiang, who had endured a night of hardship and forced Madam Ge to support her to get to the fire, burst into tears, broke free from the supporting hand, and staggered into the fire.
The moment she saw the charred corpse inside, she was so frightened that her face turned pale and she collapsed to the ground with her eyes closed.
Qian Deng and Madam Ge hurriedly helped her up. She clutched Qian Deng's hand tightly and murmured, "Have you found the person who disappeared in the mansion last night?"
Qian Deng knew that he couldn't hide this matter, so he could only reply with difficulty: "There is only one cousin, and he has not been found yet."
The anger that had been suppressed all night finally burst out. With a thud, Lady Dingxiang collapsed to the ground again, her eyes rolled back, and she lost consciousness.
Everyone helped Lady Dingxiang up. Some pinched her Ren Zhong, some pinched her Tiger's mouth, but unfortunately none of them worked.
Qian Deng sighed silently and ordered, "Carry the lady back first and have Doctor Jiang take care of her. Make sure nothing happens... Also, my cousin needs to rest. Don't disturb her. This matter must not be heard by her!"
Everyone agreed and quickly sent Lady Dingxiang back to the west courtyard.
Qian Deng calmed himself down and walked to Ling Tianshui with Cui Fufeng to check the charred corpse in the fire.
Under the weight of the collapsed wood, the body had already been torn into pieces. Although some tendons were still connected, there were many small pieces of broken bones scattered around.
Ling Tianshui donned thin leather gloves and pieced together the large bones, carefully picking out the broken bones from the ashes. Familiar with the human skeleton, he quickly located the complete skeleton by following the distribution patterns of the skeleton.
Although Cui Fufeng, a noble son of aristocratic family, was reluctant to touch human bones, he still found a pair of chopsticks to pick up the broken bones and help him piece together the small bones.
Soon, the bones formed the shape of the deceased when he fell down.
"The deceased was young, about five feet seven inches tall, of medium build. He lay facedown, his left arm hanging down, his right arm stretched out and raised above his shoulder, with something beside him..."
Ling Tianshui examined the burn marks and said, "It's a smashed paint bucket."
They were all people who had thoroughly investigated the previous kitchen fire, so they naturally knew better than Ji Linyou how similar the conditions of the victims were in the two fires.
The only difference is that this time the corpse has a paint bucket next to it, while the last time the corpse had an animal skeleton next to it.
Qian Deng calmly and meticulously recorded everything that happened at the fire scene in the case file. He said, "According to Jin Tang and the craftsmen, Yang Huaijiang—or rather, the deceased—acted like a madman at the time and scattered all the lacquer around the scene. Judging by the paint bucket he was still holding as he died, it seems he did it on purpose."
Ling Tianshui examined the burn marks on the bones and agreed, "Based on the manner of death, he was the one who doused the lacquer and ignited all the materials, causing the intense fire. He himself was the most thoroughly burned, probably because he was stained with so much paint."
When he said this, he paused for a moment and bent down to carefully examine the joints of several charred bones.
Cui Fufeng asked, "What's wrong?"
"Look, there are thin long marks on the bones of several joints." Ling Tianshui turned the bones a few times to show the thin marks.
Although Cui Fufeng had entered the Dali Temple, he was still a Shaoqing after all, and he felt a little uncomfortable with the act of fiddling with the bones. He took a look and asked, "Is it because the fire was too fierce and burned the bones?"
"No. The vertical and horizontal patterns of these marks don't match the cracks in the bones. They look more like they were... cut by some sharp weapon."
Upon hearing this, Cui Fufeng frowned and looked at the mark again.
Qian Deng said, "But we watched Yang Huaijiang collapse in the fire. Now that the fire has just been put out, we have found his body and examined it. Logically, his body cannot have come into contact with a sharp weapon."
"And most of the scratches are on several large joints." Ling Tianshui added.
"Could it be... that when the wood above collapsed, the cracks scratched or hit the bones?" Cui Fufeng said, but then shook his head, dismissing the idea. "If so, why are they all at the joints?"
The puzzling marks on the corpse reminded Qian Deng of something. After reviewing the files and comparing them with the corpses, he said to Ling Tianshui, "You examined the other parts of these two corpses very carefully, but there was no record of the toes."
"An autopsy examines wound scars, looking for signs of struggle, poison residue, and blood residue on the hair and skin to infer the fatal injury and cause of death. Toes are generally not considered as signs of death." Ling Tianshui flipped through the records of the kitchen corpses and apparently remembered what Yan Penglai said. "However, the people of the Hongnong Yang family all have longer middle toes than ordinary people?"
"Yes..." Qian Deng nodded, even though he refused to admit it in his heart. "After all, a bloody handprint similar to Shi Jingning's appeared in the backyard, and Yang Huaijiang suddenly went crazy. There must be a reason..."
Although the chances are slim, what if... what if Shi Jingning didn't die in the kitchen, but had been hiding in the backyard, so he left his bloody handprints on the rockery?
Ling Tianshui knew what she meant and squatted down to carefully examine the soles of the corpse's feet.
The burnt foot was broken at the ankle, and although it was damaged, fortunately the five fingers were still intact.
He pointed at the deceased's toes and motioned her to come up and check: "Unfortunately, this toe bone matches the descendants of the Yang family."
In the fire in the warehouse, the middle toe bone of this corpse was surprisingly longer than the other four fingers.
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