All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

Chapter 214 Opening the Coffin and Examining the Bone, Seeing the Soul of the Dead (Two in One)

Shen Lingxi's eyebrows jumped slightly.

According to her previous experience, when the confessions of the living and the dead do not match, there must be something wrong with one party.

Obviously, the former Crown Princess was by no means the one in question.

Shen Lingxi looked at Chu Yan, his back was facing her at the moment, so naturally he couldn't see her eyes.

However, it doesn't matter whether you can see it or not.

What the emperor's grandson is going to do, even if the imperial decree comes to stop it, it may not be able to stop it, let alone the third house of Xie's family.

Chu Yan said in a low voice, "If this is the case, then Gu should open the coffin for an autopsy. Now that Gu has found clues, the mother and concubine were killed by Yun Guo's spy. If the aunt died because of this, it must be the same person. for."

Third Grandpa Xie stopped, his expression paled instantly.

He trembled and wanted to kneel down to the ground to beg, but Chu Yan stopped him by holding his arm tightly with one hand.

Seeing this, the three old ladies whimpered and covered their faces and wept bitterly, "My poor daughter was kidnapped by thieves in the East Palace for no reason and suffered all kinds of torture. Now she has only been buried in the ground for ten years, and she is about to be robbed of her grave." The bad luck of exposing the corpse, if the princess concubine has a spirit in the sky, I don't know how sad she would be..."

Hearing this, Chu Yan felt a little coldness on the brows.

"Sheng Xie, Uncle and Uncle are getting old, you take them personally and send them back to the mansion."

He swept his eyes over the rest of the Sanfang clan who were kneeling on the ground, daring not to speak, and said in a solemn voice: "The embroidered clothes envoy handles the case, and everyone who has nothing to do with it will stay away. If you continue to stay here, you will be treated as a thief and brought back to the Beiya. .”

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked.

Beiya is a place where people come in but not out, and no one dares to die to enter.

Therefore, Sheng Xie stepped forward, supported the third grandpa Xie with his own hands, and ordered another embroiderer to help the third old lady, and then walked towards the carriage that Sanfang was staying at the side.

Seeing this, the Sanfang clan hurriedly followed, and no one dared to stay any longer.

Fundamentally put an end to their unreasonable troubles.

The grave was finally quiet.

Chu Yan stepped forward, took three sticks of incense from the embroiderer, bowed to the tomb, and then ordered: "Open the tomb."

Because of Mr. Xie San's remarks, Xie Zhanghua faintly sensed that something was wrong, and he kept his mind on the tomb.

Shen Lingxi took advantage of the time when the embroidered clothes envoy opened the grave, walked up to Chu Yan, and told Chu Yan about Xie Zhanghua's reaction.

Chu Yan's phoenix eyes were deep, "Xie Zhangting disappeared when she was living in the East Palace. After her accident, my father tried to make up for the Xie family's third son, Xie Wenlang. Lived happily."

As soon as he said that, Shen Lingxi vaguely understood.

The third wife of the Xie family gained power through Xie Zhangting's disappearance in the East Palace, and the Crown Princess felt guilty. If it is found out that Xie Zhangting's death is related to the death of the former Crown Princess, then Xie Wenlang's official career will come to an end.

The embroiderer's movements were not too slow, about half an hour later, he lifted Xie Zhangting's coffin out of the tomb.

At the same time, in order to examine Xie Zhangting's bones, Shen Lingxi also assigned several embroiderers to dig a five-foot-long, three-foot-wide, and two-foot-deep underground cave for the bone examination.

Even though Xie's family made a coffin for Xie Zhangting from high-quality sandalwood, after more than ten years, Xie Zhangting's body has turned into bones.

The coffin was opened, and a stale smell rushed over.

Even the notorious Embroidered Clothes Envoys all avoided by coincidence.

Only Shen Lingxi covered her mouth and nose with a fine cotton cloth, swallowed Suhexiang pills in advance to avoid bad smell, and walked to the coffin.

Xie Zhangting was lying in the middle of the coffin, wearing a fancy dress.

The funerary utensils and jewelry are still shining brightly under the sunlight.

But their master has turned into a dead bone.

Shen Lingxi took a look, and her eyes were attracted by the palm-sized black porcelain altar in the corner of the coffin.

"what……"

Xie Zhanghua floated to the side of the coffin, and reached out to touch the porcelain altar, "Why is this thing so similar to the jar that locks my soul?"

Shen Lingxi lowered her almond eyes, "Is it possible that they are the same thing?"

When Xie Zhanghua heard this, his expression changed instantly.

Shen Lingxi reached out and picked up the black porcelain altar.

This porcelain altar, no matter in terms of feel or appearance, is no different from the one in the Suohunjing underground palace.

If you really compare it carefully, the Suohunjing porcelain altar has not been sealed.

But the lid of this porcelain altar was tightly sealed with red mud. On the dried red mud, there were some spells painted with cinnabar.

Chu Yan was afraid that Xie Zhanghua's dead soul would be bounced away by the evil spirit around him, so he didn't approach the coffin.

From a distance, he saw Shen Lingxi take out a familiar black porcelain altar from the coffin, frowning slightly, beckoning an embroiderer to come to him, whispering a few words.

The embroidered clothes envoy obeyed the order, and walked quickly to Shen Lingxi's side. After asking her for instructions, he took out a dagger, peeled off the sealed red mud for her, and opened the lid of the altar.

This time Shen Lingxi was under the sunlight, and the light was sufficient, so she could see clearly what was inside without taking out the contents of the porcelain vase.

It is a complete jade bracelet.

Xie Zhanghua floated in mid-air, and said suspiciously: "I gave this bracelet to Zhang Ting, and it is a pair with the one I broke...Could it be that Zhang Ting's soul was also locked here?"

After she mentioned this, Shen Lingxi's brows moved slightly.

The talisman drawn with cinnabar on the sealed red clay is indeed a sedative spell.

Maybe, Xie Zhangting's soul is really sealed in this jar.

Thinking of this, Shen Lingxi hurriedly handed over the opened porcelain altar to the embroiderer.

She pointed to the shade of a tree two feet away from Chu Yan, "You take this thing there and put it under the shade of the tree."

Although the embroiderer was puzzled, he didn't dare to ask any more questions, so he went with the porcelain altar.

Shen Lingxi whispered to Xie Zhanghua again: "Please go and watch beside the porcelain altar. If Xie Zhangting's soul is really locked inside, I believe she will wake up like you in a short time."

"If so, that would be great!"

Xie Zhanghua was full of surprises, and hurriedly floated towards the porcelain altar.

Seeing her floating away, Shen Lingxi focused on the bones in the coffin again.

This time, she reviewed the dossiers of an embroiderer envoy in the carriage, and the biggest achievement she gained was that if she wanted to conclude the case in a reasonable, lawful, and aboveboard manner, all the evidence must be complete and correct to be able to convince the public.

Now, regardless of whether Xie Zhangting's soul is still in this world, since her coffin has been opened in public, the bones must be examined.

Not only the autopsy, but also the three official documents of the post-mortem examination, the autopsy statement, and the front and back humanoid figure must be filled out clearly, and signed on the spot before they can be included in the file.

The process was much more complicated than Shen Lingxi's embalming of corpses.

Fortunately, Chu Yan was well prepared for this time. When passing through the neighboring counties, he dispatched two assistants from the neighboring counties to follow her to help her. In terms of the official procedures, some omissions could be avoided.

A bone test is no better than an autopsy. A corpse has flesh and viscera, and many injuries and causes of death can be detected from the state of the corpse.

However, when only the bones remained in the body, many injuries in the flesh and viscera could not be seen.

We can only deduce what happened to the deceased through the remaining traces of the bones.

Shen Lingxi and the two foremen picked out the bones, cleaned them, and then threaded Xie Zhangting's bones one by one according to the structure of the human skeleton with twine, and then wrapped them tightly with straw mats.

She ordered the embroiderer to fill the dug cellar with firewood and burn it until she saw that the ground in the cellar was reddened by the fire. Then she ordered:
"Extinguish the open flame."

"Take two liters of wine and five liters of sour vinegar and pour them in."

Seeing a lot of heat steaming up in the cellar, the two savages quickly carried the bones wrapped in straw mats into the cellar.

This is the first step in the bone test, steaming the bones.

After about an hour or so, the ground in the cellar had cooled down, and the steamed bones were carried out by the workers and placed in the sun.

Shen Lingxi pinpointed the time just right, it was noon, the sun was shining brightly, and the sun was in full bloom.

She asked someone to fetch the red oil umbrella prepared in advance from the carriage, opened it to the brightest part of the sun, and covered it over the bones. Then she squatted down and began to examine Xie Zhangting's bones carefully.

The sun shines on the bones through the red light from the red oil umbrella. If there is a wound on the bone of the deceased, red lines and a faint shade of blood will appear. There will always be blood halos. Examine the bones with blood halo marks under the sun. If the color is ruddy, it is caused by beatings before death.If there is no blood on the bones, even if they are broken, they are still scars after death. 1
Shen Lingxi checked Xie Zhangting's bones from head to toe, and found the injuries Xie Zhangting suffered before she died, which can be described as shocking.

She pointed out those injuries one by one to Wu for inspection, and then Wu made a report, and the embroiderer recorded it in the official document.

After finishing all this and confirming that the records are correct, the writers put the bones back into the coffin, and then the embroidered clothesmen nailed the coffin as it was, and buried the coffin back again.

After Shen Lingxi finished the work in hand, her face was darker than ever, and there was a little anger in her almond eyes.

She cleaned her hands, walked in front of Chu Yan, and said unfairly: "Blood shading was found in Xie Zhangting's jaw, neck, ribs on both sides, and leg bones. He must have been severely abused before his death."

"For the time being, no matter who the murderer is, let's just say that Xie Zhangting is the daughter of a dignified family. She suffered such a serious injury outside and lost her life because of it. Xie's family should report to the police no matter what, so that the government can arrest the thief. The autopsy has never been done, so they just buried it hastily and let the murderer go unpunished, is this their attitude towards their 'loved daughter'?"

Chu Yan also had a serious face.

He pondered and said: "Mother Concubine was also there at the time. If Mother Concubine saw that my aunt was injured like this, she would never let it go. Why didn't Mu Concubine mention this matter before?"

"Because they covered up my injury at the time, my sister couldn't see it."

At this moment, a female voice with a hoarse voice came from a distance.

Shen Lingxi followed the prestige, and saw Xie Zhanghua with eyes full of tears floating side by side with a young woman in a Chinese dress from a distance.

The woman has a graceful figure, somewhat similar to Xie Zhanghua, a few years younger than Xie Zhanghua, with a red mole on her forehead, which looks gentle and elegant.

Shen Lingxi could tell from the woman's clothes and jewelry that this person was Xie Zhangting, whom she had just tested.

Unexpectedly, that black porcelain altar could really seal up a person's soul for ten years.

"Ms. Shen, all blessings." Xie Zhangting bowed to Shen Lingxi, "Thank you for saving me from that jar, and thank you for examining my bones."

Shen Lingxi hurriedly sideways to avoid it, and winked at Chu Yan.

When Chu Yan saw her suddenly looking in the direction of nothingness, she knew that she must have seen a ghost.

He waved his hand at the embroiderer, "Go back first, and leave Shengxie here."

The Embroidered Clothes Envoy and the Black Armored Guards all listened to the order to withdraw, and Sheng Xie also drove to a distance with great insight.

Just now, Shen Lingxi was only busy with the bone examination, and didn't notice the movement of Xie Zhanghua's soul.

Xie Zhangting had obviously been awake for a long time from the black altar, and heard about what happened after her death from Xie Zhanghua.

Therefore, after Shen Lingxi told Chu Yan that Xie Zhangting's soul was still in the world, and after the two had met each other, Xie Zhangting told Shen Lingxi all about what happened to her during her lifetime without hesitation.

"I met him in Qiqiaojie. He is handsome, personable, and very gentle in speech. I fell in love with him almost at first sight."

"He said that he was originally a child of a noble family, and he read a lot of sage books when he was young. However, his family was in decline. In order to make a living, he had to become a drug dealer. He knows the art of Qi Huang, not only does the business of herbal medicine, but also often treats the sick. As a free clinic for the common people, I see that he has a pure and kind heart, and I have a deep admiration for him."

"He thought he wasn't good enough for me, but he didn't want to miss out on me. He was very conflicted, so every time I deliberately went to his shop to talk to him, he avoided me."

"Then one day, I went to the mountain temple to offer incense and pray for blessings. On the way back to the city, there was a heavy rain. The mud dragon washed over the road, and the carriage I was riding overturned on the official road. He passed by and rescued me. After talking to each other, we also expressed our hearts to each other."

"I was out all night with him alone and widowed. After returning home, he came to my door to propose marriage. I thought that our marriage would be a matter of course. How could my father and mother look down on his background and insisted on marrying me?" Do not agree to this marriage."

"Not only did he not agree, he also pressed me to spend the night with him, went to the magistrate to say hello, asked the people from the government to trip him up, shut down his pharmacy, and threatened him that if he didn't leave Donghua Mansion, he would be cornered."

"I know my father and mother's usual tactics. I didn't want to hurt him, so I broke up with him cruelly and said many cruel words to him. In a fit of anger, he left Donghua Mansion."

"Since then, I have been depressed all day long. I wrote letters to my sister to complain about my pain. My sister loved me and took me to the capital and lived in the East Palace. She tried to make me happy. During the days in the capital, my sister and two My aunt's care, after a long time, I gradually looked down on this matter."

"I thought that I would never have anything to do with him again in this life, but I didn't expect that once I went to Manyifang with a new friend to play, and saw him again in the tiles of Manyifang."

"It's only been a few months since I saw him. He is no longer that powerless little drug dealer in Donghua Mansion. He has suddenly become the adopted son of the special envoy of Yunguo."

"His adoptive father is a middle-aged man in his 40s. He looks fierce and has a brown birthmark on his forehead. His eyes are very strange and light brown. As long as we look into his eyes, I will You will unconsciously follow his orders..."

　1. All the methods of bone testing can be found in Song Ci's "Xin Yuan Ji Lu". The red oil umbrella bone testing method is a creative physical detection method in ancient China, which is the same as the modern ultraviolet lamp irradiation method.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)