Chapter 84 The Case of the Female Corpse in the Theater
When a son is born, the mother will give the child a piece of jade.
This is not a tradition of Dingzhou, but a tradition of the Great Wei imperial family.
Ordinary families don't have the funds or energy to prepare a birth jade for a child who is not yet born and whose gender is unknown.
He glanced at Jin Shu's face, almost without a doubt that she would take out which piece of jade.
The pair of jade pendants that were presented as tribute from the Western Regions, those priceless treasures that shone brightly at Li Mu's wedding, the other one was indeed in Jin Shu's hands.
That jade pendant was almost the most powerful physical evidence to prove Jin Rong's identity, but... it was also a knife hanging over Jin Shu's head.
Before Li Jin's case is successfully overturned, if it falls into the wrong hands, it will cost both her and Jin Rong their lives.
The rain outside gradually subsided, and Jin Shu hurriedly headed home.
Li Jin stood under the eaves, watching the water droplets fall one by one onto the stone steps in front of him, and expressionlessly took out a small seal from his pocket.
This was found by Zhou Zheng in Chen Wen's study.
The stamped pattern is a thirteenth design that has never been seen before and does not belong to any of the twelve printed designs.
A bull's head.
Chen Wen became the thirteenth person on Li Jin's long scroll with printed patterns.
Fang Qing, with her four-petaled flower, and Xu Weiyou, with his bird, became one of Li Jin's targets.
After this incident, Chen Wen was exhausted and resigned from his post at the Ministry of Justice within a few days.
Approaching fifty, he lost his second son, and his daughter's family was imprisoned and scorned by the neighbors.
Chen Wen's once jet-black hair was now streaked with gray, his face was covered with wrinkles, and his expression conveyed a sense of despair.
He left the capital without a word, and no one knew where he went.
Born and raised in the capital, he, along with his steward, the two of them and a carriage, disappeared beyond the city gates in the light mist of a June morning.
Before this matter could even attract Li Jin's attention, another shocking murder case broke out in the neighborhood.
The cousin of the wealthy Liu family went missing three days ago after going out for a trip.
When they were discovered again, it was in a theater.
It fell from the sky and landed on the ground with a "bang" in front of all the guests watching the play.
"Oh dear, don't even mention it! I was terrified!" the shopkeeper said, catching his breath. "The play was only halfway through, and our martial arts actor had just appeared on stage, not even in the center yet!"
The troupe manager wiped his sweat, his face still showing signs of shock. He gestured as he planned, "Then we heard a loud thud, and someone fell right in the middle of the stage."
At this point, the fifty-something-year-old shopkeeper, with a stubble on his face, grinned and pointed to the center of the stage: "Don't even mention it, it was a bloody mess!"
After that, the theater was in chaos. When Feng Chao arrived with the constables from the Jingzhao Prefecture, he looked around for a long time but had no clue what to do, so he simply sent someone to the Six Doors to ask for reinforcements.
The Jingzhao Prefecture, a government office adept at handling domestic disputes, is really not good at this kind of case.
Li Jin looked around, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed at the four round pillars of the stage before him. He noticed that beneath the roof, at the very top of the stage, a wooden plank structure resembled a pavilion.
The fallen body was covered with a burlap sack and guarded by the head constable of the Jingzhao Prefecture. Since their arrival, no one except Feng Chao had seen it.
"Manager," Li Jin raised his hand and pointed to the top of the stage, "is that an attic up there?"
"Ah? No, no, it's made to look like an attic, but there's actually nothing there. The wooden planks are just to cover up the ugliness, to make it look nice." The shopkeeper said, pointing upwards.
"Several theaters in Beijing have been using this style for the past two years. I thought it looked nice, so I had it done like that too. It's just a thin board on top, not enough for a person to stand on."
Unable to stand, Li Jin pondered for a moment before his gaze fell upon the corpse.
Along with the body, a wooden plank also fell. Now that the plank is gone, a large rectangular hole remains in the top of the stage.
Jin Shu squatted down beside the corpse, examined it carefully, and shook her head, saying, "It's only an inch thick."
The shopkeeper was not lying; the thickness was only an inch, not enough for a person to stand on.
So here's the question: how did the body get up there?
“My theater underwent major renovations last year. The roof was completely re-sealed, and I spent a lot of money hiring famous carpenters from the capital.” The manager complained and sighed repeatedly. “Now look what’s happened. With such a big incident, who will come to watch the plays? For the next six months, we’re all going to starve.”
This Shuangji Theater is not very well-known in Beijing; it's a niche theater.
The operas performed were not particularly popular. If there was anything special about them, it was that there was a Mr. Ren in the opera house who was particularly good at writing scripts, and a female opera singer named Liu Mingze.
The two of them were responsible for half of the success of this theater.
Li Jin stood in the center of the garden, his gaze sweeping cautiously back and forth across the stage.
The stage wasn't large; it resembled a large sedan chair parked inside a house, with a sloping roof and very elegant decorations. To the left and right of the stage, there were eight square tables and several elegant rooms on the first floor, while the second floor had a long corridor, making it convenient to stand and watch from above.
But regardless of which side it is, there is at least one to two meters of hanging distance from the top of the slope.
While Li Jin was at a loss as to how the corpse had entered the interlayer, Jin Shu squatted in the center of the stage and yanked off the burlap covering the corpse.
She opened the box she was carrying, and the knife inside, engraved with the words "Corpse Whisperer," gleamed brightly, illuminating the shopkeeper's face.
As always, without the slightest hesitation, he fastened the handcuffs and put on the gloves. Without any fuss, he reached out and flipped the face-down, strangely disfigured corpse over.
The constables and yamen runners standing around instinctively took a half step back.
Only Jin Shu didn't seem to care. After tidying up the body, she looked at her face and frowned slightly.
This girl died with her eyes wide open. She was between 16 and 20 years old. Rigor mortis had completely subsided, and her body was extremely soft. Her eyeballs were completely cloudy, and the skin on her hands and feet was not yet completely peeled off.
“The time of death was about three days ago, but…” She raised her hand, pinched the girl’s jawbone, and looked her over for a long time.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Li Jin walked up from below the stage in a few steps, squatted down beside her, and asked, "What's wrong?"
As he asked the question, his gaze swept over the appearance of the corpse.
His face was contorted in a grotesque manner, blood was flowing from his seven orifices, and white, frothy vomit could still be faintly seen in his mouth.
"The preliminary assessment of the cause of death is poisoning, specifically arsenic," she said. "The body was bluish-purple, and there was a strong medicinal smell. These are the most basic characteristics of arsenic poisoning."
Even so, Jin Shu was still puzzled. She looked for a long time before letting go with a puzzled expression: "There are too many people here. We can only go back and look at it further."
Seeing that she hesitated to speak, Li Jin was somewhat surprised: "Arsenic is a deadly poison. I see you seem puzzled. Is there any other possibility in this situation?"
Jin Shu shook her head before speaking again: "It's not any other possibility, but arsenic itself has a very strong smell. Unless it's suicide, no fool would drink it."
"That's why I said we still need to take the samples back for examination. Perhaps the contents of her stomach can explain how she ingested the arsenic, and this method might be able to identify the murderer."
Upon hearing the words "murderer," the theater manager sighed, "Alas! What a tragedy!"
"This... the Liu family's daughter has been to my theater more than once or twice. I've seen her several times. What a lovely girl she was! And now she's gone just like that." The shopkeeper pursed his lips. "How despicable!"
Li Jin glanced at her as she took off her gloves, remaining silent, and pondered for a moment: "I'll have Feng Chaoyun take the body back. Can you do me a favor?"
He stood up, looked up at the huge black hole above him, and smiled: "Go up there and take a look for me, okay?"
Jin Shu, whose hands were half untied, was stunned: "Me?"
“Yes, no one here is thinner than you.” Li Jin’s smile deepened.
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