Chapter 174 The Real Intention to Call Him Back
There were more traces at the crime scene than in the surrounding area.
Before Li Jinren even reached the inner room, he spotted several clear red footprints in the main hall.
“My son has been with the Six Doors for quite some years, and I still know some basic forensic knowledge,” Yun Jianlin said. “We only had two constables take a careful look at this house and courtyard, avoiding all traces, and had an artist draw what the scene looked like. No one else has been inside.”
Although Li Jin did not respond to him, he listened to every word he said.
Besides the red footprints, there were also several bloody footprints with shoes on them, the two sets mixed together.
The table was overturned, the stools were scattered, and the wooden stand of the washbasin was broken and lying on the ground, making the room very messy.
Li Jin's gaze was fixed on the scene investigation, while Jin Shu, having already tied her hands and put on gloves, carefully stepped inside and stood beside the victim's body.
The man, in his fifties, was shirtless and lying in the corner of the room, his body curled up on his side on the floor, with a large pool of blood beneath him.
Jin Shu adjusted her posture, found a suitable spot to squat down, looked at the victim's pale skin, and gently pressed along the faint lividity.
"His pupils were slightly cloudy, rigor mortis had spread to his fingers, and he had lost his body temperature. He died about six hours ago." As she spoke, she slightly straightened the victim's neck.
With just one glance, she witnessed a scene she rarely saw.
Jin Shu frowned and clicked her tongue, saying, "The cause of death should be a ruptured carotid artery, leading to hemorrhagic shock. The process of dying was extremely painful."
Looking at the wound in front of her, she felt somewhat speechless.
Li Jin stepped over the overturned table and chairs, stood on the other side, and asked with some surprise, "A sharp weapon injury?"
Jin Shu didn't turn around and gave a negative answer: "We'll know once we take him back." After saying that, she added, "But it's definitely not a sharp weapon injury."
She stared at the wound on the man's neck, a unique sight she had never seen before.
Tiny splinters of wood were visible to the naked eye near the wound, embedded in the everted skin and flesh.
Apart from the fact that the wound was a complete mess, Jin Shu couldn't see much else.
"Lord Yun," Li Jin called out, "please trouble you to take the body back to the yamen first."
After he finished speaking, he paused and added, "When moving the object, try to preserve the original appearance of the scene."
The better the scene is protected, the more room Yunfei has to maneuver. Li Jin frowned slightly as he looked at the bloodstains splattered on the wall.
After an hour of struggling, several constables worked together to finally carry Doctor Hua out of the room.
Li Jin glanced at the wound on his neck in the courtyard and understood what Jin Shu meant.
The wound was definitely not caused by a sharp object; it was a unique and strange wound he had never seen before. He couldn't tell what could have caused it to look like that.
The skin and flesh were rotten, a complete mess, and the bone was visible.
Inside the coroner's office in Shengzhou, Jin Shu looked at the corpse in front of her, leaned over and squinted, carefully examining the wound on the neck.
“Like an awl,” she said. “The kind with a pointed head and a thicker tail.”
Li Jin stood to the side, hands behind his back, leaning over, also looking at the scene before him, his brows furrowed: "...This is truly something I've never seen before. Awls are usually long and thin, so something this thick and rough is probably not an ordinary item."
Jin Shu nodded as she pulled out the tiny pieces of wood from the victim's body one by one.
As he pulled, he said, "It might require Your Highness to spend some money."
Li Jin turned her head to the side, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
Jin Shu glanced at a piece of wood on the victim's shoulder, gently pulled it out, and set it aside. After a pause, she said, "I want a few pieces of pork, the kind without skin, and thicker ones."
Upon hearing this, Li Jin was taken aback, straightened up, and asked in surprise, "Sir, you have a guess about the murder weapon?"
Jin Shu didn't look up, pulling another finger from behind her back and holding it in her hand: "Some ideas... it could be a pointed hammer, or it could be a meat mallet used to pound minced meat, or it could be..."
She held up the shards of wood in front of Li Jin: "It could be a wooden awl, similar to a peach wood vajra."
These items left Li Jin speechless.
He chuckled and looked at Jin Shu: "You don't want to prepare these things too, do you?"
“If Your Highness can wait until Yunfei arrives the day after tomorrow before learning the specific murder weapon, then there’s no need to make any arrangements.” After saying that, Jin Shu smiled smugly and turned back to continue her examination.
She opened a small cabinet door, and Li Jin, seeing the hammer and saw inside, subconsciously took a few steps back. "I know," he said, "It'll be done in a bit."
Before he could finish speaking, Jin Shu raised her hand and slashed down, causing Jin Shu to frown even more deeply.
Just then, Yun Jianlin, preoccupied with something on his mind, walked in from the doorway.
He originally planned to avoid being noticed and, while Jin Shu was examining the body, inform Li Jin of the Ministry of Revenue's movements in this small house.
Before he even entered the house, he only glanced inside and his breathing quickened noticeably; he staggered slightly.
Li Jin quickly came out and helped him up.
"The prince's coroner is indeed extraordinary." Yun Jianlin, his face pale with fright, sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "Oh dear, I'm getting old, it's too stimulating to watch."
After saying that, he chuckled twice: "No wonder the mortuary said that the four bodies of the Xuan family had been judged by the King of Hell."
Li Jin chuckled, glanced back at the room, and through the carved window, looked at Jin Shu's focused profile. He jokingly comforted Yun Jianlin, "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the King of Hell; he has no place to stay where he goes."
Upon hearing this, Yun Jianlin's eyes widened slightly, and the smile on his face became even more awkward.
"Lord Yun hastily summoned me back; solving the case is secondary, isn't it?" In the courtyard, Zhou Zheng served two cups of tea, then stepped back to a slightly farther place, cautiously observing his surroundings.
Yun Jianlin nodded: "The Prince had just left the city this morning when Yang Qingyun's courtyard was flooded, and my study was ransacked."
He lowered his voice: "One thing after another happened. Just as we were putting out the fire, someone from the Ministry of Revenue came and said that a minor official in Shengzhou had resigned due to the many official duties. They also said that if there were any land transactions or sales in the future, I should go to the capital to handle them personally."
"I was thinking, why not take advantage of this case to invite the prince back so we can discuss this further?"
Li Jin held the Jun porcelain teacup with her slender fingers and gently blew away a mouthful of foam.
He remained silent for a long time, then raised his eyebrows and looked at Yun Jianlin: "Lord Yun's study was also searched? Was anything stolen?"
Yun Jianlin shook his head: "I just checked, and nothing is missing."
Li Jin lowered his eyes and smiled faintly, "There are quite a few things, so there must be more than enough."
He put down his teacup and looked at Yun Jianlin's face: "Lord Yun, please make sure to check carefully later."
He said, "Now that we've found it, we can turn the tables on them."
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