Concubine

Chapter 157 Two Traces
Old Master Yang told Butler Pang: "Go quickly, call the doctor to treat Young Master Yang's wounds." Butler Pang agreed and was about to run out.

Yang Qiuchi waved his hand to stop him, and said, "Uncle, my injury is fine, so I don't need to see the doctor."

Yang Qiuchi was originally just curious about Guo's nympho hanged himself, but after the ghost encounter in the small attic last night, Yang Qiuchi had a premonition, an ominous premonition—someone didn't want him to know something , He did not hesitate to use means to try to scare himself away, so Guo's death is likely to be tricky.

Now, for Yang Qiuchi, the coffin-opening autopsy was not simply to test whether Shan'er was the son of Mrs. Yang. Yang Qiuchi needed to verify his hunch from the coffin-opening autopsy.

Yang Qiuchi said to Mrs. Yang, "Uncle, let's do what we talked about last night."

Mrs. Yang felt apologetic for Yang Qiuchi's fall, injury, and coma in the small attic. Seeing that Yang Qiuchi didn't care, but cared about what he said last night, he was a little grateful, and said, "In this case, let's open the coffin after breakfast. Let's do an autopsy."

Old Master Yang's eldest son, Yang Qingshui, asked, "Father, open the coffin for an autopsy? Whose body will be examined?"

"Your Aunt Guo."

"Ah?" Yang Qingshui exclaimed, "Didn't she hang herself? She's been dead for two years, what else is there to test?"

Of course, Mrs. Yang couldn't say that the autopsy was to test whether the third concubine's son, Shan'er, was his Mrs. Yang's species.Although he was about to open the coffin for an autopsy, no one dared to say anything, but it couldn't stop others from talking behind his back, so he had to think of an excuse, but at this moment, he couldn't find a suitable excuse.

Yang Qiuchi interjected: "Cousin, last night I told my uncle that the attic has been haunted. We speculated that it might be related to the burial of the deceased Aunt Guo. We decided to open the coffin to see if there is any problem."

Yang Qingshui said: "What else could be wrong? At the beginning, Aunt Zhang said that it was unlucky for Aunt Guo to be hanged, and she must be haunted by evil spirits, so she invited a mage to perform the ritual and chose such a shady place for burial. Can't you suppress the evil spirit on her body?"

Yang Qiuchi looked at the beam in the living room, and said meaningfully: "Do you think my cousin is calm?"

"Even if you don't calm down, cousin, do you know how to read feng shui in yin houses?"

"No, but I used to be an apprentice for a period of time, so I can inspect dead people. Find out how this dead person died." After saying this, Yang Qiuchi stared at Yang Qingshui, and he stared at Yang Qingshui. Hairy.
Steward Pang said to Mrs. Yang: "Master, the opening of the coffin for an autopsy is no small matter. Should I ask the mage to check the date first and then make a decision?"

Mrs. Yang knew that Yang Qiuchi would go to Huguang to take up his post in the next year, and there was no time to waste. Besides, he was also eager to know whether this boy Shan'er was his son or not.Thinking that he might be wearing a cuckold and supporting others for nothing, Mrs. Yang felt agitated and waved his hand: "No need! There is no taboo, after breakfast, immediately open the coffin for an autopsy!"

Seeing that Mrs. Yang was angry, no one dared to speak again.

After a hasty breakfast, and called a few officers and helpers in the village, the entire Yang family dispatched to the grave of the third concubine, Tai Guo, to open the coffin for an autopsy.

Guo's grave is in a depression near the creek at the foot of the village. When Yang Qiuchi and the others entered the village, one of the dirt bags they saw at the entrance of the village belonged to Guo's.

Mrs. Guo is the concubine of Mrs. Yang. According to the rules, the concubine cannot be buried in the ancestral grave after her death. What's more, Mrs. Guo hanged herself after becoming a nympho.

After Guo's death by hanging, he asked a mage to do a rite and read Fengshui. The mage said that Guo's five elements belonged to fire, and he hanged himself because of a nympho, and got caught in an evil fire. Can live.

Arriving at Guo's cemetery, Yang Qiuchi stepped on the turf next to the tomb, feeling wet, and felt a little joy in his heart. This cemetery is so damp, the corpses buried below may have formed corpse wax, and then he can find a lot of valuables. Mark of.

Old Mrs. Yang, Song Tongzhi and the others were afraid of the filth and evil, so they stood dozens of steps away and waited.Under the command of Yang Qiuchi, he dug the grave and raised the coffin.

Feng Xiaoxue wanted to be with her husband, but was afraid of seeing the dead body, so Yang Qiuchi thoughtfully asked her and Mother Yang to wait there too.

Song Yun'er was just the opposite, she would not let go of this opportunity to be brave, and followed Yang Qiuchi's ass to watch the fun.

Xu Zuo dug open the grave and began to dig down. The more he dug down, the more water accumulated. When he dug to the top of the coffin, the pit was already full of water.

The officials all frowned, but Yang Qiuchi looked happy instead. If there is so much water in winter and enough rain in summer, it will be even more humid. The more humid the environment, the easier it is to produce wax.

The pit is full of water, what should I do?Xu Zuo and the helpers looked at Yang Qiuchi in embarrassment.Yang Qiuchi ordered the generals to dig down from both sides of the coffin, then use ropes to wrap the two ends of the coffin from below, and then pull them up.

After another hour, the coffin was finally pulled up from the puddle-like grave, and was carried to the two nearby logs by the coffins and helpers shouting at them.

The water in the coffin flowed out along the small gaps in the coffin.Yang Qiuchi ordered Zuo to open the coffin lid.The coffin had already begun to rot, and the lid was lifted without much effort.

The coffin was filled with muddy water, and it was impossible to see what was in the water.A corner of a wet red quilt was exposed.

Yang Qiuchi asked Wu Zuo to find a way to drain the water in the coffin.A man took an ax and squeezed it into the gap between the side panel and the back panel of the coffin. When he pried it hard, a big gap was opened between the two panels, and the water in the coffin flowed out from the crack. .Soon, it dries up.

The bones in the coffin were covered with wet and muddy red bedding.

Yang Qiuchi wore a pair of cotton gloves. Although they were very thick and affected the operation, there was nothing he could do. He didn't have rubber gloves, and he didn't want his hands to be covered with rotting tissue fluid. Have to design a new special glove.

Yang Qiuchi used an iron rod to lift the red quilt covering it away, exposing the bones underneath.Just as Yang Qiuchi estimated and hoped, Guo's bones did not decompose, but formed gray-white corpse wax, and it was systemic corpse wax.

Wax is formed by saponification and hydrogenation of subcutaneous adipose tissue decomposition fatty acids after the corpse has been kept in water for a long time or buried in moist soil with insufficient air.The reason why it is called corpse wax is because the surface of this corpse feels greasy to the touch and can be dented, similar to the feeling of touching a melted candle or softened soap.

The environment in which corpse wax is formed can inhibit the growth of putrefaction bacteria, prevent the decay of corpses, retain subtle traces such as surface damage, cord grooves, and even "goosebumps" on corpses, and can also inhibit putrefaction bacteria in the digestive tract, so that the contents of the stomach can be better Well preserved and of high forensic value.

Wax is generally localized, and systemic wax like Guo's is relatively rare.Although the corpse that formed the wax is not corrupt, but because the corpse has been soaked in water for two years, it is completely different from the general corpse, and it can even be said that it is beyond recognition. It is impossible to distinguish the original face. If Guo Shi had grown like this before his death Well, even if there are no more women in this world, I'm afraid Old Mrs. Yang won't marry her.

Whether Guo Shi hanged himself or not can be seen from the marks on his neck.

Yang Qiuchi lowered his head to carefully examine the marks on Guo's neck. Although he had been dead for two years, the marks on his neck were still clearly identifiable due to the wax formed on the body.

After Yang Qiuchi took a look, he immediately gasped, took out a sweat towel from his arms, and carefully sucked up the water from the neck of the corpse.

After careful identification, Yang Qiuchi found that there were two kinds of cable grooves in the neck of Guo's corpse:

The first type is located at the lower edge of the thyroid cartilage, starting under the left earlobe, passing through the left side around the front of the neck, the right side of the neck, the nape, and returning to the left earlobe, forming a knot seal.There was cyanotic subcutaneous hemorrhage on the edge of the cable ditch.The thyroid cartilage fracture at the cable groove can be felt by hand.

Strangely, there was a one-finger wide breakpoint in the right neck of the cable groove, and there was a bruised subcutaneous hemorrhage area.

The other kind of cable groove is located on the upper edge of the thyroid cartilage, wrapping around the neck on both sides of the neck before wrapping the arc, and lifting it to the external occipital tubercle without interruption.

The two cord grooves meet at the right side of the neck, with the latter on top of the former.

That is to say, Guo's neck was strangled twice!
The first type of cable ditch is horizontal and circular and closed. The front and rear of the cable ditch are roughly equal in depth, and there is no phenomenon that the cable ditch disappears at the hanging lift.Judging from the introduction of Mrs. Yang and the others, Guo committed suicide by hanging from a beam at that time, that is to say, he died by hanging in the air, but the characteristics of this cable ditch are inconsistent with this.

For hanging beams, most of the cable ditch runs obliquely from the arc to the lifting place, but this cable ditch is horizontal; the cable ditch of the hanged person should be the deepest cable ditch at the arc and gradually changes to the lifting place. Shallow, and the front and back of this cable ditch are roughly equal; the cable ditch of the hanged person will disappear at the lifting place, and it will be in the shape of a horseshoe. Because the rope is lifted into the air, it will form the phenomenon of "horoscopes do not intersect", and this cable ditch is closed in a ring shape. There is no emptying phenomenon.

Obviously, this rope ditch was not formed by hanging, but strangled!

The second cable trench is more in line with the typical characteristics of hanging.

The pattern characteristics of the two cable grooves are also different. The first cable groove is leather-like, thin and narrow, with knotted patterns on the surface of the cable groove, which is probably caused by ropes such as hemp rope.The second cable groove is wide and shallow, without such a pattern, it is likely to be a soft cable such as cloth with silk.

From the different characteristics of the two rope trenches, it can be known that Guo Shi was strangled by two kinds of ropes successively. The first kind is semi-hard rope like hemp rope, and the traces belong to strangle marks; the second is soft rope like cloth belt. Quality constriction rope, traces belong to constriction marks.

Judging from the intersection and overlap on the right side of the neck of the two kinds of marks, the second one is superimposed on the first one, indicating that strangled first and then hanged.

This strangle mark is obviously homicide.This conclusion can be drawn from the following aspects:

From a logical analysis point of view, because the thyroid cartilage is fractured at the cable groove and the cable groove is very deep, the force is very strong and the duration is relatively long.

When the strangulation rope presses the neck tightly, loss of consciousness can occur within 1 minute due to blood circulation disturbance, cerebral ischemia or congestion, and death can occur within 5 minutes.Judging from the strangle marks, it will take at least 10 minutes for the duration to form.Therefore, if Guo committed suicide, this strangulation would be enough to kill her, and she would have no way to complete the subsequent act of hanging herself.

Judging from the forensic evidence, there was cyanotic subcutaneous hemorrhage on the edge of the first cable ditch, but there was no subcutaneous hemorrhage in the second cable ditch.It shows that the strangle mark is an injury during life, while the constriction mark is an injury after death. (Although the latest theory believes that due to the hydrostatic pressure formed by the blood of the deceased, the hanged corpse sometimes also has subcutaneous bleeding and blisters at the edge of the cable groove, so this alone is not enough to judge the injury before death or after death. , but still has important reference value.)
From the analysis of common sense, if it is suicide, it will generally subconsciously choose softer ropes, such as cloth belts, instead of hard ropes such as hemp rope or even iron wire, especially for women.If there are only semi-rigid ropes such as hemp rope or even hard ropes such as iron wire, handkerchiefs, handkerchiefs and the like are often used as pads under the neck to relieve pain.This strangle mark reflects that the rope is a semi-rigid rope such as hemp rope, which is inconsistent with common sense.

In addition, since she chose soft ropes such as cloth belts to hang herself, if the strangle marks were also suicide, she would also use cloth belts to strangle her neck instead of hemp ropes.Common sense can't be justified.

From a negative point of view, the strangulation marks reflect that the strangulation is a single knot tied under the left earlobe, and then both hands grasp the ends of the rope and pull it to both sides, strangling the person to death.The position of the knot is under the left earlobe, and the direction of force with both hands should be the front and back of the body. If this action commits suicide, it is inconsistent with common sense and difficult to complete.

Judging from this, Mrs. Guo was probably strangled to death first, and then pretended to hang herself!

Yang Qiuchi picked up the sleeve of Guo's corpse arm, raised it up to observe, and found no resistance injuries such as scratches, but the absence of resistance injuries does not mean that there was no resistance. If the environment strangles Guo Shi, there will be no resistance injuries such as scratches.

When Guo's right hand was examined, it was found that the inner side of his right index finger had epidermal abrasions and bruised subcutaneous hemorrhage.

Yang Qiuchi felt a little strange, and then immediately remembered that the cable groove on Guo's neck had a finger-wide breakpoint on the right side of the neck, and there was a bruised subcutaneous bleeding area.Combining these two points, it can be seen that when the murderer strangled Guo Shi, when Guo Shi resisted, he tried to insert his right index finger into the noose and pulled the rope, thus leaving this resistance wound on his right index finger.

This resistance injury has fully demonstrated that Mrs. Guo was strangled to death, it was homicide.

So, who actually strangled Guo?Yang Qiuchi stood beside the coffin in thought.The hemp rope that strangled Guo Shi must have been brought by the murderer. It was disposed of after committing the crime and would not be left at the scene, otherwise it would have aroused suspicion.Maybe the cloth belt is still there, maybe something can be found from it.

Song Yun'er has been watching Yang Qiuchi busy all the time, not daring to interrupt casually, seeing him standing there in a daze after finishing his work, she asked, "Brother, how is it? Why have you been busy for so long?"

"Go and call them over, I have something to say." Yang Qiuchi said solemnly.

Song Yun'er guessed from Yang Qiuchi's expression that there was something wrong with this case, so she nodded excitedly, turned around and ran over, and after talking to Mrs. Yang and the others, all the people came over.

Old Master Yang asked Yang Qiuchi suspiciously: "Nephew, what's the matter, is there any problem?"

Yang Qiuchi first asked: "Where is the cloth belt that Aunt Guo hanged herself on?"

The original partner, Mrs. Pan, said: "Burn it, and burn it together with all the clothes and accessories of this coquettish fox. What do you do with this evil spirit that harms people!"

Old Mr. Yang asked: "Nephew, what do you ask this cloth belt for?"

Yang Qiuchi looked around at the crowd and said, "It's for investigating the case."

"Investigate a case?" Mrs. Yang faintly felt something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "Investigate what case?"

"In the case of Aunt Guo being strangled to death, she didn't hang herself, but was strangled to death!"

Everyone was stunned.Old Mrs. Yang asked in surprise: "What did you say? She was killed by someone?"

"Yes, Aunt Guo pretended to hang herself after being strangled first. It wasn't suicide."

Song Yuner's father, Song Tongzhi, of course knew what this meant, and asked, "Nephew, you, are you right?"

The young master Yang Qingshui looked very excited, and asked: "Cousin, was Aunt Guo really killed? Who is the murderer?"

The original wife Pan, second concubine Zhang and other women's relatives were afraid to come up. They heard that Guo did not commit suicide but was murdered to death, and they all started discussing in surprise.

Old Master Yang asked Yang Qiuchi: "Nephew, how do you know that your Aunt Guo was killed?"

Yang Qiuchi pointed to the two different scars on the corpse's neck, analyzed the findings just now, and showed the resistance wound on Zhang's right index finger.

As for hanged death and strangled death, "Washing Injustice Records" records in detail, and the ancients had a relatively deep understanding of these two very common methods of killing or committing suicide.Therefore, after listening to Yang Qiuchi's analysis and observing it for himself, Mrs. Yang, Song Tongzhi and others all agreed with Yang Qiuchi's judgment.

They were a little surprised that Mrs. Guo's body didn't rot. Housekeeper Pang also asked if the body was possessed by evil spirits, and whether they should invite a mage to exorcise evil spirits.Yang Qiuchi explained to them in as simple a language as possible, and only then did everyone understand.

The next question is very confusing. It stands to reason that it is not difficult to find the clues of these two traces. Why didn't they find it?
(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit www.CMFU.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)
(End of this chapter)