Brocade clothing

Chapter 4 The Truth About Death
The village was quiet at night, and the movement here has already attracted many onlookers. Seeing that more and more people gathered, the servant's voice became more and more arrogant: "I tell you, lame Zhang got all the stolen goods. Still clutching stolen things! This kind of untouchable scumbag, committing suicide is taking advantage of her!"

Chu Qing didn't seem to hear the servant's humiliating words, she just stood at the gate of the courtyard like a clay sculpture and wood carving, and the servant's words echoed in her mind, rumbling like thunder.

Master is dead...

She can no longer see the master's loving smiling face, nor hear the master's voice calling her to eat in a low voice after cooking, and urging her to eat more.

In this cold ancient society, she no longer has any relatives, and is left alone.

The boy scolded for a long time before leaving resentfully under the persuasion of the village head and others, and dropped a word before leaving.

"If you don't collect the corpse tomorrow, I will throw the corpse to the mass grave to feed the dogs!"

*
There was a mist in the early morning of this day, the willows were green, the spring rain was misty, and the air was filled with unresolved moisture. Everything seemed to be overwhelmed by the mist and rain, and there was no sound in the world.

There was a sound of footsteps at the end of the road, heavy and slow.

A slender figure appeared in the dense fog. There were many mud spots on the coarse clothes and shoes, and the rough hemp rope was deeply strangled on her shoulders, but she still stubbornly moved forward.

Because only in this way can she pull the wooden cart behind her.

A few tattered straw mats were spread on the car, and under the straw mats, the outline of a corpse could be vaguely seen.

Guqiao Village was right in front of her eyes, Chu Qing paused her footsteps, and the hemp rope on her shoulders was slightly loose, only then did she realize that her shoulders were already in pain.

She readjusted the position of the hemp rope, gritted her teeth, and moved on.

Master, apprentice took you home.

Aunt Tian, ​​the water seller, had just moved out of the stove when she saw this scene.

Seeing that Chu Qing's shoulder was stained with blood, but still slipping forward step by step, Aunt Tian pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the water from the corner of her eyes.

Between the sky and the earth, that frail figure was struggling to walk, almost inch by inch towards home, although extremely slow, it was getting closer and closer.

Behind Chu Qing, Aunt Tian's slightly choked sobs floated in the wind.

"Poor old Zhang... How can you earn so much money from a nobleman!"

In a somewhat tidy courtyard in the village, Xiao Manniang was holding Xiao Man tightly, preventing her son from rushing out the door.

"Mother, let me go! I'm going to see Chu Qing!" Xiao Man struggled desperately, with a stubborn face, and shouted outside the courtyard, "Chu Qing, Chu Qing, wait for me—"

"My little ancestor, stop making trouble!" Xiao Manniang was so anxious that she quickly covered her son's mouth, looked out in panic, and lowered her voice nervously, "Mother knows that you and Chu Qing The relationship is good, but don't forget, they offended the nobles in the county government! Didn't you see that even the village head dared not stand out, let alone our family!"

Seeing Xiaoman who was covered in her mouth screaming, with an urgent and distressed expression on her face, Xiaomanniang couldn't help but shed tears.

"Mother also knows that Chu Qing is a good child, but this baby's fate is not good, and being adopted by the cripple Zhang is destined to be a pariah..." Xiao Manniang pulled up her skirt and wiped her tears, choked up, "At this time, our family really can't get involved. Chu Xiaowa's side! Even if you are not afraid, you still have to think about your father, your father finally got a job in the church, you can't make trouble for him at this time!"

Hearing Mother's words, Xiao Man knew that she would not be able to go out today no matter what.

Hearing Chu Qing's footsteps gradually drifting away, Xiao Man plopped down on the ground, feeling sorry for Chu Qing.

Xiao Manniang breathed a sigh of relief, seeing her son's distressed appearance, she couldn't help slowing down her tone: "Xiao Man, if you wait until night and go secretly to take a look, you've done your best."

Xiaoman choked up and couldn't speak, but just nodded.

Chu Qing, who was walking in the village, didn't seem to hear any sound from the outside world, and just walked forward mechanically.

At this time in the past, the village was already full of bustle and bustle. Those who opened the door to sweep the yard, those who fed chickens and pigs, those who carried hoes to the ground, and those who fetched water and washed clothes, constituted a village life that Chu Qing was very familiar with. picture.

But today, at this very moment, the village is dead silent, the gates of every house are closed and there is no sound, as if they are afraid that some bad luck will be tainted as soon as they are opened.

Chu Qing lowered her head, put all her strength on the cart, but kept her back straight.

The master must not have committed suicide in fear of committing a crime by stealing something. Even if the whole world does not believe in the master, she firmly believes in this.

But it is not easy to clear up the grievances of a disobedient person from a humble background.What's more, the person who convicted the master was the head of a county.

She can only rely on herself.

In two lifetimes, she has never felt such heavy pressure like this moment.

Carrying the master's body into the yard and placing it on the simple coffin she set up when she left, Chu Qing knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.

"Master, trust me, I will definitely return your innocence!"

She doesn't believe in any spirit in the sky, or any god's blessing, she only believes in herself.

After washing her hands and face, she changed into a clean dress and walked to the coffin.

Taking a few deep breaths, she forced herself to calm down and slowly lifted the straw mat.

Even though she kept telling herself before, she must remain objective, only as if she was examining an ordinary corpse, as if she was working, but at the moment when she saw the master's corpse with her own eyes, she still couldn't completely restrain her emotions .

The extremely familiar face was close at hand, still so kind, but no longer angry.The eyes of the master on the spiritual bed were wide open, his teeth were clenched tightly, and his corpse was stiff, which is a typical death.

But Chu Qing, who is well versed in forensic medicine, knows that the so-called death is not closed, but at the moment of death, the orbicularis oculi muscle did not receive the eye-closing signal from the brain, so the eyes were not closed.In fact, scientific statistics have shown that more than [-]% of the dead did not close their eyes when they died, so this phenomenon is not uncommon.

She forcibly controlled her slightly trembling hands, untied the lame Zhang's shirt, and began a full-body examination.

Chu Qing's complexion suddenly changed when she saw the large piece of blue-gray skin exposed under the clothes.

She bit her lip tightly, reminding herself to stay awake, and continued the autopsy in silence.

This is the first time she has examined the corpses of her relatives in her two lifetimes.

After a long time, she stopped what she was doing and covered the corpse with a white cloth, her movements were gentle and careful.

After finishing these, she walked aside and took out a pen and paper.

She was the only one in the whole process, and she was the only one who recorded it.

"The deceased, Chu Tingzhang, known as Lame Zhang, male, aged 46, died around two days ago at Choushi. There was a bump injury with a diameter of one inch and three minutes on the forehead, which caused a depression in the skull. The area around the wound was bruised. There are scrapes on the outside of the left forearm and the outside of both legs, all in the color of injuries."

The so-called wound color is a term used in forensic medical examinations. It refers to a wound with dark black blood. This kind of wound refers to the color of the wound after the blood coagulates, that is, after the blood circulation stops.

According to the statement given by the county government, Chu Tingzhang's body was found in a deserted well in the backyard. The water in it had already dried up. Chu Tingzhang committed suicide by jumping into the well, hitting his head on a rock at the bottom of the well and died. .

Judging from the bruises on his forehead and the scratches on his body, Chu Tingzhang did fall into the well, but these wounds were formed after Chu Tingzhang died.

That is to say, Chu Tingzhang died before being thrown into the well.

Chu Tingzhang restrained the grief and indignation in his heart and continued to record.

"The neck, waist and abdomen, and limbs of the corpse had a total of 27 bruises, six large and small lumps, fourteen stab wounds, multiple rotten fingertips, suspected to be caused by instruments of torture, and needle wounds on the soles of the feet, not counting The number..."

The more she wrote, the more her hands trembled.

Different from the previous wounds, these wounds were all life-responsive. She couldn't imagine how cruel torture she had suffered before her master died.

Chu Qing took a deep breath, and wrote the conclusion at the end of the autopsy sheet.

"Cause of death: massacre."

As the last point of the word "kill" fell, a gust of cold wind blew suddenly, causing the white cloth on the bier to float up slightly, and the small courtyard unexpectedly had a somewhat gloomy atmosphere.

Chu Qing looked in the direction the wind was blowing, and looked at Chu Lian's motionless corpse under the white cloth, her eyes gradually turned cold.

"Master, I swear to the sky, Chu Qing, I will definitely find the murderer who killed you!" In the drizzle, the girl looked resolute and her voice was as cold as ice, "Even if he is the prince and grandson, I will definitely let him do it for you!" life for a life!"

Chu Qing wiped her face hard, and when she stood up again, her solemn face was aloof and cold, and the firmness between her brows was as tenacious and unyielding as a green bamboo in the drizzle behind her.

She walked to the corner and brought the master's work box that she brought back from Longmen Town to the mourning hall.

It was stained with blood and mud, and Chu Qing wiped it off little by little.

Opened the work box, there were three neatly placed inside, but it was messy at this time.

If it wasn't for the emergency that the master used for his living, how could he have left his own box and died alone in the dry well so far away from Liu's house?She wanted to avenge her master, so she had to do three things before that.

The first thing is to find out the reason for the master's tragic death for no reason. He was tortured before his death, which is more like extorting a confession by torture. What is the other party's questioning?

The Liu family asked the master to go to Longmen Town for an autopsy, and it was the county magistrate who passed it. The first person she was going to question was the county magistrate!

And the second is to write a pleading paper to appeal for grievances, and let the county magistrate file a case to thoroughly investigate the truth about the master's death.

However, given the magistrate of Cheng County's temperament of being afraid of power and power, he might not offend that nobleman in Longmen Town - the Liu family.A branch of the Liu family in the capital, because of Liu Guojiu and the Empress Dowager Liu, became a chicken and a dog and ascended to heaven alone, domineering in Longmen Town, and few people in the connected towns dared to offend his Liu family.So if you want the county magistrate to file a case, you must have a reason, a reason to go to the Liu family in Longmen Town.

The last thing is about her.

Everyone knows that the master has offended the nobleman, so no one dares to perform an autopsy on him. Since she is the only apprentice of the master, then this mantle will be inherited by her, and she will personally let the old man's corpse speak out to everyone. .

(End of this chapter)