Chapter 2 The Murder of a Prostitute (Part Two)
Liu Cheng'an was genuinely afraid. Firstly, he feared failing to solve the case and letting down the people, which would weigh heavily on his conscience. As for whether he would be held accountable, that was a minor matter.
Secondly, it was because of "Mr. Kim" beside him.
The fact that Jin Shu was a woman was a huge secret in the Dingzhou government office! Only Liu Cheng'an's wife and his confidants knew about it.
Six years ago, Jin Shu's parents died unexpectedly, leaving her, who was only fifteen years old at the time, to raise her younger brother who was less than a month old.
Liu Cheng'an had a deep friendship with her father. While lamenting that heaven was jealous of such a talented person, he felt compassion for his friend who had left behind a daughter and a son.
Originally, he intended for Jin Shu to be a maid for his young lady, but to his surprise, she was proficient in the language of corpses. Within two days of entering the manor, she helped Liu Cheng'an solve a tricky case.
After that, Liu Cheng'an, who always cherished talent, felt that it was a waste to make her a maid.
However, in the more than two hundred years of the Great Wei Dynasty, there has never been a precedent of a woman entering officialdom.
After much deliberation, Liu Cheng'an ultimately couldn't resist her extraordinary talent. He concealed her true identity as a woman and gave her a position as a coroner in the county government's register.
This was well-intentioned, but if a woman were to enter officialdom, and a crime were to be fabricated against her, she could still be charged with the heinous crime of deceiving the emperor, which would lead to the execution of her entire family.
If Prince Jing were to discover her true identity as a woman at this moment, not only would Jin Shu be in grave danger, but she herself would also be implicated.
Thinking of this, the cold sweat on his back instantly soaked through his clothes. He took two steps forward, deliberately blocking Jin Shu behind him, cupped his hands, and bent his old waist at a ninety-degree angle: "This humble official greets Your Highness Prince Jing."
Jin Shu paused, her face paled, and she quickly followed Liu Cheng'an in bowing.
Didn't they say it would take two days to arrive?
She frowned, looking at the bluestone slabs on the ground, and lowered her head, afraid that Prince Jing would see her face.
"Lord Liu, no need for such formalities. I am traveling incognito, so there is no need for such formalities." He tilted his head slightly, his gaze passing directly past Liu Cheng'an and landing on Jin Shu, who was dressed in black behind him, with handcuffs tied at the cuffs and bloodstains still visible on the straps.
"I heard this morning that a female corpse was pulled from the well in Peach Blossom Valley. It seems that Lord Liu has already examined it?" Li Jin asked, noticing Liu Cheng'an's uneasy pause.
It was now late afternoon, the sun was setting, and Liu Cheng'an forced himself to sit up, glanced at Jin Shu behind him, pursed his lips, and then said:
"It has been verified. I am about to hand over the relevant information to the constables. We should have a clue about the woman's identity soon."
The two people in front of him seemed to be hiding something, looking hesitant and timid. Li Jin chuckled and took a few steps forward: "No rush, let's go and take a look together."
As he spoke, he stopped beside Jin Shu and looked the exceptionally thin man up and down.
Putting everything else aside, the coroner's black robes alone looked unusually large on him.
Li Jin frowned, recalling the secret report from Dingzhou about the corpse whisperer who was said to be comparable to the top coroner in the capital. He was rumored to be taciturn, thin, and exuding a sinister aura...
Indeed, as I saw it with my own eyes, this man had none of the masculine features one would expect from a man. He was also short, like a bean sprout that had been bullied.
"Lord Liu, lead the way." Zhou Zheng raised his hand and blocked Liu Cheng'an and Jin Shu's way, his face seemingly saying, "No one is leaving."
Zhou Zheng knew that his lord's purpose in coming to Dingzhou was not really to sightsee.
Besides gathering information about the former Crown Princess, I also want to see this bean sprout who is rumored to be kept under tight control by the Dingzhou Prefecture, is proficient in the language of corpses, and is never lent out.
What kind of skill does he possess that has made him famous in Chang'an, a city thousands of miles away?
In the back hall of the county government office, the corpses that had been laid out had not yet been sent to the mortuary. Liu Cheng'an, enduring various physical discomforts, gritted his teeth and stepped over the threshold.
Li Jin took two straps from Zhou Zheng and quickly tied up the wide cuffs. He glanced at Liu Cheng'an, whose face was extremely pale, and asked, "Has the protective document been written?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Cheng'an felt as if he had been saved, and said while backing away, "I've written it down, I'll go get it right away!"
Before he could finish speaking, he ran away.
Watching him leave, Jin Shu felt a chill run down her spine, fearing that her identity as a woman would be exposed. But when she looked up, she met Li Jin's scrutinizing gaze.
She could only give an awkward laugh: "Lord Liu is squeamish about blood and can't stand such scenes."
His voice was hoarse, like that of a child whose voice hadn't changed.
Li Jin increasingly felt that the bean sprout in front of him was poorly nourished, thin and timid, and looked even worse than an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy from the Six Doors. It seemed as if he could be blown over by the wind.
Could such a person truly be proficient in the language of the dead and able to communicate with them?
He narrowed his eyes slightly, raised his hand and ripped off the burlap covering it, looking at the girl whose face was no longer recognizable, and frowned: "Aren't you afraid?"
Jin Shu seemed to sense his provocation, looked at his face in surprise, and pointed at the person on the bed, saying, "I broke through all of this, what am I afraid of?"
Honestly, even Zhou Zheng, who had followed Prince Jing through thick and thin for over ten years, would feel nauseous seeing the current situation.
But the bean sprouts were quite indifferent, and walked straight towards the display shelf, took down a few flat boxes from it, and lined them up.
"Your Highness Prince Jing is of noble birth. If you require any further examination, I will take care of it."
She tidied up her tools, lit an oil lamp beside her, put on gloves and a face towel, and stood next to the corpse, as if she had become a different person.
He looked frail just a moment ago, but now his eyes are bright and piercing, and he looks exceptionally professional.
Li Jin lowered his eyelids slightly and pondered for a moment: "Let's start from the beginning and I'd like to hear your opinion."
He gazed at her profile, preparing to test the waters of this bean sprout.
"The deceased was a woman, around twenty years old. Before her death, she was beaten, her hands were tied, and she was thrown into a well and drowned."
She took a small knife from a box and, while cutting, said, "There is moss on the mouth, nose and throat, fluid in the lungs, completely cloudy corneas, and the skin is easily peeling off. I estimate the time of death to be 4 to 5 days ago."
At this point, Li Jin and Zhou Zheng, who were standing to the side, had a general idea of what was going on.
It was indeed the art of corpse speech, and he was certainly quite skilled. No wonder Liu Cheng'an was keeping it hidden, fearing that other prefectures would take him away.
But to everyone's surprise, Jin Shu didn't stop talking after she finished speaking.
"This girl used to eat bran and drink thin porridge, suffered from long-term malnutrition, and her intestines were full of stale bran and rotten grains. She also suffered from pedophilia, and traces of rouge and powder were still visible on her cheeks. It is speculated that she was a prostitute, and there is a high possibility that she was robbed and sexually assaulted."
She paused, then pointed to the marks on the woman's wrist and continued, "The murderer used cheap, thick hemp rope to tie her hands and feet. After being soaked in water for so many days, the rope was gone when she was pulled out. However, from the marks left on her wrist, we can infer that it was a three-strand hemp rope about a finger's width wide, which is extremely rare. This kind of hemp rope is not common and is very likely the work of someone in a special industry. However, the hemp rope itself is not very strong, so the murderer may have committed the crime in groups."
"The woman also had a birthmark on her back that looked like a half-moon. A rubbing of it has been given to Lord Liu so that he can identify the deceased."
After saying that, Jin Shu took out a handkerchief from the side, heated the knife over the oil lamp, carefully wiped it clean, and put it back into the box next to her.
"Does Your Highness Prince Jing have any further questions?"
[Author's Note]
Friends, when you see this, it feels like I've traveled back from 300,000 words.
I have something important to say.
Several readers have mentioned modern language, and I would like to respond here: indeed, some descriptions use modern language in order to maximize the inclusiveness of the text.
In addition, some of the professional ancient terms used in criminal investigation and forensic medicine are very obscure (such as 拥罨检讫, 顶心, 平头钉, 窥谋...). We are here to read novels, stories, and enjoy the sweetness, not to do research, so there is no need to deal with this.
In addition, the female protagonist only drank diluted Meng Po soup, and did not time travel and be reborn.
Thank you for your understanding. I hope you enjoyed reading.
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