Autopsy Approved

Inside his jail cell, Lu Shen was desperately trying to defend himself against an accusation with a terrified look on his face.

“It wasn’t me… it really wasn’t me… why would I kill my own father? Governor Li, you must believe me! I would never do such a thing! I could never!”

Governor Li sat relaxedly on a chair outside the cell and almost spat on Lu Shen’s face when he heard these words, “What? You could never? You’re capable of anything! You even kept your own father captive!”

Lu Shen’s face was pale as he kowtowed hard, his head hitting the floor loudly, “Those are two different matters, Governor! I really just wanted to become an official! I wouldn’t dare to kill him! If I did that, then I would have to mourn my father by resigning and I would never be able to become an official after that!”

“Oh, so you didn’t want to mourn him and you only wanted to become an official.”

“That’s right! I really don’t have any reason to lie to you!”

Governor Li snorted, “If you just held your father captive, he could run away and ruin everything for you. But if you killed him, then that would settle everything, wouldn’t it? Just deal properly with the body, throw it somewhere where nobody would see it, report him missing to the authorities, and nobody would be able to do anything about it! As long as they couldn’t find your father’s body, he would remain missing and not dead. You wouldn’t have to mourn his death, and you could be an official for several years after!”

Lu Shen kowtowed so many times, his forehead started bleeding, “No, sir! No! It really wasn’t me… it wasn’t me…”

“It wasn’t you?” Governor Li got angry and slammed a hand against the chair, “If it wasn’t you, then why were these official robes found under your bed?”

He pointed at Lu Shen’s face and spoke with great sarcasm, “Young Mr. Lu, you’re really something. You’ve made the authorities go on a wild goose chase with your lies and you’ve got a thousand and one tricks up your sleeve! First, you locked your father up, then you secretly let him out, then you followed him, waited for an opportunity, put on Governor Pang’s official robes and killed him! That way, you could frame Governor Pang!”

“You watched your father look at you in fear! You watched as everyone became wary of one another and tried to hurt each other! And even if you were arrested, you could just say ‘I only wanted to become an official and I didn’t want to have to mourn’, so you would become the least suspicious of all… Lu Shen, aren’t you very proud of yourself?”

Lu Shen was very agitated and the veins on his forehead were about to burst, “It wasn’t me! Those robes aren’t mine! I’ve never seen Pang Qian’s robes before!! I don’t know anything about this! Someone must have put it in my house to frame me!”

“I think you’re the one who’s been trying to frame others!”

Governor Li exuded a rarely seen righteous air and stared down at Lu Shen, “I am going to make sure I get justice for your late father! Lu Shen, the evidence is clear! And you still dare to deny what you’ve done?!”

Song Caitang witnessed this scene while listening to Qi Yan update her and immediately understood what was going on.

Pang Qian’s official robes had been found in Lu Shen’s room.

It was such a coincidence – Governor Li wanted to look like he was doing a lot for the case, so he personally went to the Lu family residence to search the place. When he got to Lu Shen’s study, he noticed something wrong with the bottom of the bed in the room, so he pulled it open to find Pang Qian’s robes!

Once Zhao Zhi returned, the two factions were going to be at loggerheads again. Governor Li had suffered enough the last time at Zhao Zhi’s hands and had learned his lesson, so he dared not fight Zhao Zhi head on and had to try to find some other means to take over the case. Now that he had actually found concrete evidence, he wasn’t going to let go of it.

He hurried back to interrogate Lu Shen.

He was hoping to make Lu Shen confess to everything before Zhao Zhi came back.

But it was clear that Lu Shen was not willing to confess.

Time wasn’t on Governor Li’s side, so he didn’t intend to argue with Lu Shen for too long. If Lu Shen still didn’t admit his guilt within the next few minutes, Governor Li was prepared to torture him.

Song Caitang whispered to Qi Yan, “Where are those robes?”

Qi Yan pointed in a particular direction, “Come with me, I’ll bring you there.”

It wasn’t far. It was just on the table in front of the window.

Because Governor Li wanted to use this evidence against Lu Shen, he had brought it to show Lu Shen, then threw it onto this table after that.

Song Caitang immediately spotted a problem when she looked at it.

This robe was clearly very new and had either been only worn once or twice, or never worn before. It was extremely clean.

That night, the killer had worn these robes to kill Lu Guangzong. Lu Guangzong had drowned to death and was unconscious when it happened, so he did not struggle too much. At most, his nerves might have convulsed a little, but basically it probably didn’t take much effort to kill the old man, so it would only make sense for the killer’s clothes to remain clean. But moving the body after that was definitely tough work. The killer had to carry an unconscious, drowned man to a pigsty via a well used street, so they might have had to stop and hide every now and then to avoid being seen…

That would have been physically demanding, plus the route would have been poorly lit. Making sure the clothes remained in pristine condition would be impossible.

Also, how could the robes be so… neat? There wasn’t a single crease on these.

It was clear that this robe was not evidence.

Someone had planted it.

Who?

Who would do something so ridiculous? And why now?

It didn’t take long for a name to hit her.

Cao Zhang.

Besides him, Song Caitang couldn’t think of who else would do such a thing.

This was an attempt to force Lu Shen into agreeing to dissect Lu Guangzong’s body.

Cao Zhang was from the Green Gang, so he didn’t follow the books like the authorities had to. He just did things the way he wanted. And because he had faith in her, he had faith in her skills, or perhaps… because of Guan Qing as well, he had purposely done this.

But Cao Zhang had not appeared at all on her way here.

And he had called her and Guan Qing stupid, and said that there was no hope and they could just wait to die…

So, he turned out to be yet another dumb guy whose words didn’t match what he really thought and didn’t know how to express himself properly.

She put those thoughts aside and smiled.

Since he had given her this opportunity… she wasn’t going to let it slip by

Her eyes flickered slightly as she turned to say to Qi Yan, “I came over in a hurry and didn’t bring my coroner box. Can you send someone to the Guan house to tell my maid to bring it over?”

Qi Yan was not good at analyzing cases, but his brain worked well in such instances. He immediately realized that Song Caitang knew permission to conduct a dissection was on the way, so he broke into a big smile, “No problem! I’ll send my fastest man over to bring your maid here!”

“Thanks.”

Song Caitang straightened her dress, then walked toward the jail cells.

She had only taken a few steps before Lu Shen and Governor Li spotted her.

Governor Li frowned slightly and looked displeased, “I’m interrogating a suspect here. Shouldn’t you make yourself scarce?”

Song Caitang smiled faintly, “I’m here to help you get the killer.”

This was Governor Li’s biggest headache right now, so he stopped trying to chase her away and asked, “How?”

“I’m good at dissecting bodies, or according to the way many people describe it, I can communicate with the dead. I know everything a dead body has been through.”

As she spoke, she glanced casually at Lu Shen, “The dead cannot speak for themselves, but I can. Young Mr. Lu, there is evidence against you but you still insist that you’re innocent. In that case, would you dare to let me dissect your father’s body?”

“If I do that, I will know immediately who the killer is.”

These words not only hit Governor Li hard and made his eyes light up as he rubbed his chin to think, but they also hit Lu Shen’s heavily.

This woman could communicate with the dead, and she knew what a dead body would have gone through before they died…

If she got the opportunity to dissect the body, she would know who the killer was…

In other words, if she was allowed to dissect the body, she could prove that he wasn’t the killer. If she wasn’t allowed to, he would automatically be assumed to be the killer. Not only would he be thrown into the worst of jails, but he would be on death row and his entire family would go down with him!

The choice was obvious.

Lu Shen took a few steps forward on his knees as he turned toward her and kowtowed hard, “Miss Song, please dissect my father’s body! I beg you, please prove that I’ve been wronged!”

Song Caitang smiled faintly and looked at Governor Li, “What do you think, Governor Li?”

Governor Li glared at Lu Shen, “Once the results are out, I’ll see what else you have to say!”

Then he turned to smile at Song Caitang, “Please go ahead, Miss Song. I’ll be counting on you to crack this case!”

“I’ll do my best.”

Song Caitang raised her head slightly. The sun shone in from the window and illuminated her face, making it seem to glow brightly, “I dissect bodies for the sake of finding the truth, to speak on behalf of the dead, and to make sure that innocent people are not wrongfully convicted. I will make sure I find out who the killer is and make them turn themselves in!”

Her voice carried a unique, clear and bright quality, so even though she did not speak loudly, her words fell hard on the hearts of the hearers, like a hammer hitting a drum.

Governor Li was in awe for two seconds before realizing that a young woman had overshadowed his presence. That annoyed him.

Lu Shen, on the contrary, had both blood and tears dripping down his face. He was still kneeling, and remained on his knees for a long time.

He knew that he had been too blinded by his ambition and had made one mistake after another. He had done many things that he should not have done and did not deserve to be forgiven. It was only normal for the authorities to add another crime to his long list. He would have done the same thing if he were in their shoes.

Yet, despite all that, someone was still willing to stand up for the truth…

Someone with a pure and objective heart actually really existed.

Qi Yan acted very quickly, so it didn’t take long for him to arrive with Qingqiao and the very large box of tools. Governor Li had hurried everyone in the courthouse too, so Lu Guangzong’s body appeared in the autopsy room within minutes.

Wen Yuansi, Governor Zhang and anybody in the courthouse who wasn’t on duty had all gathered in the autopsy room to watch.

Only Zhao Zhi wasn’t around. He was still busy out there.

Qi Yan was rather excited and he even folded his fan and kept it. He remained standing against the wall as he stared unblinkingly at Song Caitang and rubbed his palms.

He had been looking forward to watching a dissection, and he finally got the chance to do so!

Dissecting bodies was something that Song Caitang was well used to, so after her initial excitement about being allowed to dissect the body, she was completely calm now.

“I’m going to wash my hands now. Alcohol, please.”

After she disinfected her hands, she dipped her index finger in the wine and rubbed it under her nose, “Ginger, please.”

Qingqiao took out a freshly sliced piece of ginger and put it inside Song Caitang’s mouth before quickly helping her into her gown and tying up the back.

Song Caitang put on her gloves and face mask herself, then bent over to pick the knives she needed from the box.

At the same time, Qingqiao put the usual herbs into a large pot and set them on fire. She also helped to pull away the white cloth covering the dead body.

Song Caitang walked over to the body with a knife in hand.

When the body was discovered, an initial autopsy had been performed and the report had been filed. This was the second time the body was being looked at and it was going to be cut open. Once she had checked the exterior of the body to make sure it was no different from the previous time she checked it, she placed the knife against the body’s shoulder and said, “This is the second time I am conducting an autopsy of Lu Guangzong’s body. I will start the dissection now.”

Lu Guangzong died by drowning, so it was most important to check his windpipe and lungs, and it would be best to inspect his stomach as well. So, she was going to start the cut from both shoulders toward the chest, then cut vertically across the abdomen.

She held the knife steadily at the correct angle and made the incisions without hesitation. The body was cut open within seconds.

As the blade moved across the skin, dark red blood seeped out.

The smell unique to a dead body began to waft out too.

The victim had been dead for several days now, so there wasn’t a lot of blood. The pale skin, the dark red blood and the terrible stench had quite the effect on the people watching.

Qi Yan almost immediately stopped rubbing his palms in excitement and stared at Song Caitang in horror.

This… this was so scary!!

Song Caitang was such a sweet, young lady. How was she able to do this??! Wasn’t she scared?

As always, her inspection started from the chest downward.

In such cases, many coroners would prefer to make one incision from the side of the jaw downward. But Song Caitang preferred the Y cut because it made the process more convenient.

If she wanted to check the neck area, she just had to pull the upper flap of the Y aside.

Everyone watched as Song Caitang held the tiny knife and sliced through the layers of skin, muscle and flesh, before finally pulling the skin over the chest upward, exposing the entire neck area.

The tendons, muscles, cartilage… everything was a dull red.

Governor Li thought that he wouldn’t have any reaction since he had gone through this before. But in the end, he couldn’t help but run outside to vomit.

Qi Yan…

Also ran out to vomit.

But unlike Governor Li, Qi Yan remained strong even after vomiting. He braced himself and went back into the room.

He didn’t care how many times he would end up vomiting. He had to watch the dissection from beginning to the end!

Song Caitang was focused on the body and she did not pay any attention to anything else.

She inspected the victim’s gullet and windpipe, then narrowed her eyes as she held her hand out at Qingqiao, “Forceps.”

Qingqiao was familiar with all her tools, so she found the forceps immediately and placed it on Song Caitang’s hand.

Song Caitang used it to pull out something from the victim’s gullet.

It was a short and curly strand of black hair.