Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 200 Shocked!

"Isn't this Mrs. Tao's family? How could her daughter be killed?"

"I heard that Miss Tao's appearance is like a fairy, and I don't know who is so vicious that she killed Miss Tao!"

"Look, the adults have gone, let's join in the fun."

……

When the onlookers heard that there was a murder case, they immediately became interested, and followed them one after another, walking towards Shilipo.

Shilipo is located in the south of Zhengyang City. It is said that the slope is actually a low-lying land. Because there is a river winding through it, there are many shrubs growing on Shilipo.

When Kang Xu and Xiao Wu arrived, Chang Feng was leading a group of yamen servants to search the surrounding bushes carefully.

On the grass near the river, lay a drenched female corpse, and beside the female corpse sat a haggard old man.

The old man was wearing silk brocade, with a look of haggardness and pain on his face.

Seeing Kang Xu coming, he hastily greeted him, cupped his hands and said, "Little old Tao Youran, I have seen the magistrate."

"You don't need to be too polite, Mr. Tao." Kang Xu nodded and said.

The Tao family is a big family in Zhengyang City, unlike Zuo Hongji, Zuo Hongji has a lot of money but no power to rely on, so he was used by Wang Buquan.

The Tao family was different. The Tao family was originally a big family in the local area, not to mention Tao Youran had a son who was an official in Beijing, and the official was a Hanlin scholar.

Therefore, even Wang Buquan didn't dare to offend the Tao family easily. All the wealthy gentry in Zhengyang City respected him and respected Tao Youran as 'Mr. Tao'.

Fortunately, the Tao family didn't run amok like Wang Buquan and Zuo Hongji, and Li Canghai didn't care much about the Tao family. He only met Tao Youran when he was entertaining wealthy gentry and announcing reforms.

"My lord, why are you wearing a veil?" After Tao Youran saluted, she couldn't help being puzzled when she found that Kang Xu was wearing a veil.

Kang Xu took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth, coughed a few times, and said in a low voice, "I have been feeling cold recently, and I am not feeling well. I am afraid that I will infect other people, so I am wearing a veil. If you are impolite, I hope Mr. Tao Forgive me."

How could Tao Youran care about his affairs, he said tearfully, "My lord, show her...she died unjustly! I heard that my lord is good at solving cases, so I asked my wife to report the case, let my lord come to solve the case , if you bother me, please forgive me more."

"Dead people can't be resurrected, Tao Gong is sad and obedient. I will find out the truth, find the murderer, and bring him to justice." Kang Xu comforted him a few words, and then took Xiao Wu to the corpse.

Chang Fengshuo had come earlier and had already set up a straw shed where the corpse was found.

Kang Xu squatted in front of the corpse and began to observe carefully. Tao Zhaoxue was wearing a light green dress with a brocade wrapped around his shoulders, which was very similar to the color of the grass.

After giving Xiao Wu a wink, Xiao Wu understood, and then ordered people to use curtains to surround the thatched shed.

Chang Feng was asked to accompany Tao Youran, and Kang Xu and Xiao Wu got into the hut together to start the autopsy.

At first glance, the deceased's eyes were wide open, and his expression was extremely painful, as if he had experienced inhuman torture before his death.

The corpse's hair was in a messy bun, and there were many damages between the clothes. The most obvious thing was that there was a circle of obvious pinch marks on the neck of the corpse.

In addition, there were obvious signs of being bound on the wrists and ankles of the deceased.

These marks were about the thickness of a thumb, and seemed to be the marks of hemp rope or the like. Due to the deep binding, the dirty blood gathered under the skin, showing a purple-black color, which was in stark contrast to the white skin of the corpse.

Xiao Wu wore the gloves used for the autopsy, touched the corpse for a while, and said: "The deceased was stiff all over, and the time of death should not be less than six hours, but because the corpse was soaked in water, the skin on the surface of the corpse softened. The time of death has yet to be determined.”

Since Xiao Wu has just been appointed as the assistant, Li Canghai has not yet provided him with assistants, so Kang Xu has no choice but to step in and fill out the autopsy form for him himself.

Holding a pen in one hand and a form in the other, Kang Xu moved his pen like flying, and recorded on the form step by step.

"Xiao Wu, check the cause of death first." Kang Xu stopped writing and said.

Xiao Wu nodded, and then untied the dead man's clothes.

But when he unbuttoned the dead man's clothes, he gasped in shock at what he saw.

"My lord...look." Xiao Wu said with a trembling voice.

Kang Xu was recording the surface features of the corpse, when he heard Xiao Wu's startled voice, he quickly stretched his head to look.

Seeing this, he was also shocked.

There were shocking scars all over the body of the deceased, extending from the chest to the legs. Not only that, but the back of the deceased was also covered with scars.

Some of these scars were scratched by sharp blades, some were whip wounds, and some were actually scalded!

The two hissed and took a breath of cold air at the same time. They glanced at each other, and their faces instantly became extremely dignified.

Xiao Wu calmed down his flustered mind, and carefully examined the corpse.

In addition to these shocking scars, Xiao Wu found that there was a black line on the nails of the index fingers of both hands of the deceased.

Touching the dead man's fingers, Xiao Wu felt that there seemed to be something hidden in the nails.

He hurriedly ordered someone to boil a clay pot of boiling water, put a cotton cloth in the boiling water to heat it up, and then covered the dead man's stiff nails with the cotton cloth.

After an incense stick, the dead man's stiff fingers began to soften. Xiao Wu rubbed the dead man's fingers carefully. After a while, he found a long and thin steel needle under the dead man's nails!

Kang Xu was no less shocked than Xiao Wu. He was stunned for a while, and then he picked up the steel needle with tweezers and looked at it in front of his eyes.

This steel needle is about two inches long, as thin as a cow's hair, no different from ordinary household steel needles.

At this time, Xiao Wu gradually discovered nine steel needles one after another from the ten fingers of the deceased.

"This... this is too cruel! What kind of person is able to torture a woman with such a vicious method?" Xiao Wu looked at the steel needle pulled out from the dead man's nails, and was very surprised.

Ten fingers connected to the heart, and a steel needle was wedged between the nails. This kind of pain is definitely not something ordinary people can bear.

Kang Xu's face became extremely serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Let's see if there are any other fatal injuries."

All indications indicated that this was an extraordinary murder case, and the cruelty of the method was simply appalling.

Xiao Wu nodded hastily. He examined the corpse carefully and said, "My lord, there are no other injuries except for the injuries that can be seen on the surface. It seems that the deceased must have been tortured to death."

Kang Xu lowered his head in thought, and after a while, he frowned and said, "Although the wounds on the deceased's body are serious, they will not be fatal immediately. There must be other fatal causes that we haven't discovered. Let's examine them carefully."

Xiao Wu was stunned for a moment, and he asked in surprise: "My lord, how do you know that the deceased died immediately and was not tortured to death?"

Kang Xu looked solemn, pointed at the deceased with a pen, and said: "The expression on the deceased's face was frozen before death. Judging from her painful expression, she should have suffered a more serious and fatal injury, and this injury is enough to make her Instant death."

Xiao Wu nodded heavily, and hurriedly checked again.

But this time, no other fatal injuries were found.

Kang Xu put down the autopsy form, took out a magnifying glass, and approached the corpse.

This magnifying glass was made by Li Canghai in his spare time. According to the shape of the magnifying glass in his previous life, he was polished and made by a skilled craftsman with Zuo Hongji's magnifying gemstone. It has been stored in Li Canghai's cloth bag.

At this time, Kang Xu pretended to be Li Canghai, and simply took his cloth bag with him.

Taking out the magnifying glass and looking down the head of the corpse, Kang Xu suddenly found a few strands of cotton in the mouth of the deceased.

Kang Xu hurriedly used tweezers to carefully remove the cotton wool, put it in front of his eyes for a closer look, and then put it in the evidence box.

This is what Li Canghai taught them. When encountering a case, all kinds of evidence are very important. However, for post-mortem investigations, they must bring evidence bags and evidence boxes containing evidence.

"The way to solve a case, any subtlety may affect the whole case. Don't think that inconspicuous little things are not evidence. Small things provide far more information than big things."

They remembered what Li Canghai often said, and carefully put all kinds of small things into the evidence box, and they were going to study them carefully after the cause of death was found out.

"My lord, we have checked twice, and there are no other fatal injuries. Could it be that the deceased was really tortured to death?" Xiao Wu asked.

Kang Xu did not speak, but carefully searched for clues on the corpse with a magnifying glass.

What Xiao Wu said is not unreasonable, the murderer's method is horrific, it is simply outrageous, even a man may not be able to bear this kind of torture, not to mention that the deceased was only a young woman?

However, his intuition did not believe this judgment.

After his inspection over and over again, he really found a clue.

It is said to be a clue, but it is actually just a halo of blood appearing at the navel of the deceased.

The blood halo is light in color, and with the scars on the lower abdomen of the deceased, it is easy for people to ignore it.

Xiao Wu leaned over, looked at the bloody halo with some puzzlement, and asked, "My lord, what does this bloody halo mean?"

"Look, the deceased's body is covered with scars, bruises in many places, his body is stiff and white, and he has no blood color, but there is a halo of blood around the navel, don't you think it's strange?" Kang Xu pressed the deceased's navel with his hand , frowned and said: "There seems to be a foreign object in the lower abdomen of the deceased."

Xiao Wu was taken aback when he heard the words, and hurriedly pressed his hands over it. Because the corpse was stiff, he didn't notice any abnormality at first.

But immediately, he felt a bulge half an inch below the navel of the corpse, like a mole, so tiny that it was hard to detect.

And the blood halo at the navel is formed by that protruding point.

Xiao Wu instantly understood what Kang Xu said, there was probably something hidden in the abdomen of the deceased.

But what would be the foreign body in the abdomen of the deceased?

He had inspected the surface of the deceased several times, but he did not find any direct scars. How did the foreign body enter the abdomen of the deceased?

A series of doubts emerged in Xiao Wu's mind. He looked at the solemn Kang Xu and asked, "My lord, I still can't figure it out. There is no puncture wound around the deceased's abdomen. How did the foreign object enter the deceased's abdomen?" ?”

"I guess it should have entered from the body of the deceased." Kang Xu said in a deep voice.

Xiao Wu's face turned red in an instant, he was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and he had never even touched a woman's hand on weekdays, and it was the first time even to examine a woman's corpse.

If it wasn't for Kang Xu by his side, he would have been at a loss, let alone the autopsy.

(End of this chapter)