Abused Female Corpse

It was the 16th day of the seventh month. The day after the Ghost Festival.

At the lunch table, Song Caitang faced Guan Wan’s bright, watery eyes filled with anticipation and… agreed to refill her rice bowl.

“I just want half a small bowl of rice, no more than that.”

Song Caitang spoke very firmly.

If she ate anymore, she would probably collapse here from being too full. She wouldn’t be able to even walk out of the dining hall.

Guan Wan was being trained to become a good housekeeper and future mistress of the house, but while she was reluctant to learn about how to manage finances, take charge of the servants or learn music, art, literature and chess, she cared about what food her family ate. It could be the main meal, soup, dessert or even dried fruit. She was very particular about everything and kept working on improving her culinary skills, and wished she could just live in the kitchen. To her, it was best if all the people she loved ate what she cooked for them and didn’t want anything else.

She was very happy that Song Caitang wanted more rice, so she refused to let the other maids do it and took Song Caitang’s bowl herself.

As she put more rice into the bowl, her face turned a little red.

It seemed like her cousin preferred salty stuff. She had to work harder in the future to please her cousin’s taste buds!

Song Caitang stared at the nearly full bowl of rice Guan Wan had placed in front of her and used every ounce of effort to stop herself from burping out loud.

“Wan’er, you call this… half a small bowl?”

But when it came to being cute, Guan Wan was an expert. She was way better at it than Song Caitang.

She felt bad about purposely getting Song Caitang an entire bowl of rice even though Song Caitang had specifically said not to, but what was done… was done…

She bowed her head slightly, then looked up at Song Caitang with teary eyes as she pouted, “But you barely ate any breakfast today. The bowl is so small, even Grandmother needs two bowls to feel full. You’re always so busy every day and you’re already so skinny, so you’re going to collapse at this rate. Eldest Sis told me to take care of you and help to adjust your diet accordingly… or is it because my cooking is not nice to eat? You don’t like the food?”

As she spoke, more tears gathered in her eyes and she looked like she was about to cry.

Song Caitang didn’t know how to respond.

She admitted defeat and pulled the bowl closer to her, “Wan’er, your culinary skills are amazing, so everything you cook is delicious. I like your cooking very much.”

Guan Wan immediately burst into a smile and put more food into Song Caitang’s bowl excitedly, “Eat more then! I’ll improve and make more new dishes for me to try!”

Song Caitang was speechless.

But Guan Wan was a really good cook. She knew she couldn’t eat anymore, but her mouth couldn’t say no…

At this rate, she was going to grow fat and die!

After she finished the rice, she paused for a moment, before meeting with Guan Wan’s large eyes filled with anticipation once more.

No! She had to insist on not eating anymore!

But instead of asking her to have more rice, Guan Wan reached for the soup ladle, “How about a bowl of soup? I’ve added a lot of good herbs and I tried it just now, it’s not bad!”

Song Caitang stared at her tummy in despair.

It really couldn’t take any more food…

Just when she was desperately thinking of a way to reject Guan Wan without upsetting her, someone came to her rescue.

It was a runner from the courthouse.

“A female corpse has been found along Qingling River, I’m here to bring Miss Song there to take a look.”

It was work.

Song Caitang immediately stood up with a serious look on her face, “I’m sorry, Wan’er, but I have to leave now.”

Guan Wan looked disappointed as she put the ladle back down, “I’ll make soup for you again next time.”

When Song Caitang got to the river, she discovered that she wasn’t the only coroner the courthouse summoned. Wu Bo was here too.

After the Yun Nianyao case at Tianhua Temple had closed, Coroner Sun had been too embarrassed to remain in Luanze as the official coroner and transferred to a different place. The new official coroner was Wu Bo.

When Lu Guangzong’s body was discovered, Song Caitang and this older coroner had inspected the body together, but because Wu Bo had to take over everything Coroner Sun had been working on, he did not participate in that case. But things were different now. He was the official coroner working at the courthouse, while Song Caitang was only a freelancer. According to policy, he was the first line of contact and Song Caitang was a secondary contact.

Whenever a body was discovered, the runners had to contact the coroner. As long as the higher ups did not give any special instructions, they would just call on the nearest coroners available.

“Miss Song,” Wu Bo greeted Song Caitang politely with a stern look on his face.

Song Caitang bowed slightly in return, “Mr. Wu.”

Wu Bo did not bother with too many niceties or small talk like many officials did. Instead, he motioned toward the river, “I just got here too. Why don’t we take a look at the body first?”

Song Caitang did not have an opposing opinion, “Sure.”

On her way here, the runner had briefed her: the victim was a very well dressed woman whose body had not decomposed much, so she had probably just died. The body was found in deep waters and should not have been discovered, but someone had gone fishing in the morning and his hook had caught onto the victim’s clothes, so the rest of the body got fished out too…

The runner’s expression shifted quite obviously when he recalled what happened then. Song Caitang could imagine how terrified the poor guy who went fishing must have looked.

The two coroners came to where the body was laid.

The body was placed on the shore and the surroundings had been cleared so that the onlookers could only see from afar and could not see anything clearly.

They had arrived very quickly, so the victim’s clothes were still wet, and her wet hair was plastered against her face.

Song Caitang’s first impression of this female corpse was that this woman was very beautiful.

She had the perfect face shape, proportionate features, clean and youthful looking, so she was very pleasant to look at. Her ears were delicate, her skin fair and smooth, her eyelashes dense, her eyes large. They were shut, but Song Caitang imagined they would be able to draw you in. She definitely had a pair of charming eyes, which would be such a lovely sight if she were still alive.

The victim also had beautiful long hair, thick and jet black. It had clearly been well taken care of. Because of the water, most of her hair pins were gone or broken. Only one tourmaline butterfly pin that was small and light but well weaved into the hair remained just above her ear.

And a pair of earrings.

The victim had teardrop shaped ruby earrings hanging from her ears, framed with pure gold osmanthus flowers. It was elegant yet intricate, so it had to be really expensive…

Once they were done with a superficial inspection of the body, Song Caitang put on gloves and squatted with Wu Bo to do an initial, thorough inspection.

Wu Bo noticed the dark bruises on the victim’s wrists first. The pattern of the ropes were very clearly imprinted, “The victim’s hands had been tied before for at least two to four hours for such clear imprints to be left behind.”

Song Caitang went for the head first and pulled the eyelids back.

“Her pupils are dilated, cornea slightly cloudy.”

She undid the victim’s top a little to look at the shoulders.

“The livor mortis are not obvious,” Wu Bo tried moving the victim’s arms, “but the rigor mortis is quite severe.” He tried to bend the victim’s legs and found it very difficult, “It’s spread through the entire body already.”

Song Caitang’s gaze flickered, “So, this body is quite fresh. She died within the last 12 hours.”

It was noon now, so 12 hours ago would have been…

The 15th day of the seventh month. Midnight of the Ghost Festival.

Wu Bo agreed with Song Caitang’s estimate, “It should have happened last night.” His brows were furrowed as he looked toward the river, “The body was found in deep waters, so regardless of whether it was suicide or murder, the aim is clear. They didn’t want anybody to know.”

But someone had coincidentally decided to go fishing in this area and had a line long enough to fish this body out.

“It’s probably a murder.”

Song Caitang pointed at the victim’s belt, “Mr. Wu, don’t you think this belt has been tied a little weirdly?”

The victim was a very beautiful woman who was particular about her hairstyle and accessories, so she was one who cared about how she looked. Such a woman would have tied the belt tighter if she had done it herself. Even if she hadn’t tied it tight, she would have made sure it was fitting. But this belt was very loosely tied. It was just sitting on the clothes.

The water could have loosened it, but the belt was tied with a dead knot, which wouldn’t be easy to loosen.

The angle was also strange, making the knot seem out of place, as though the person tying it wasn’t familiar with how to do it.

A woman used to tying her own belt for years wouldn’t tie it like this.

Someone else put on this belt for her.

Or perhaps, someone had put on all these clothes for her.

And if that was the case, it was easy to conclude that this was a murder.

“You’re right,” Wu Bo nodded. After he had taken note of what they observed earlier, he proceeded to undo the victim’s clothes.

Both of them got a shock.

This entire body was… covered in wounds!

Dark green and purple spots covered the body from the neck down. There was also an obvious cut in the left of the chest where the heart was. A dagger had clearly been stabbed right here before.

Such a wound could only be inflicted by another person. This was a murder.

And based on the other wounds, this woman must have gone through unspeakable abuse before she died.

Song Caitang had examined a lot of corpses before and had seen a lot, so she was normally able to remain neutral. But this time, even someone like her couldn’t help but frown and utter, “What an animal!”

“Do we know the cause of death yet?”

A voice resounded from behind.

Wu Bo was inspecting the wounds very seriously and either reacted slowly as a result, or did not hear the question. Either way, he did not respond immediately, so Song Caitang answered for him, “It’s a murder. The victim was badly tortured and lost a lot of blood–”

“That’s not necessarily so, is it?” the man glanced at the spots on the body, “You say these spots are signs of abuse? Not livor mortis?”

Song Caitang could hear the hostility in his voice and turned around to look.

It turned out to be someone she knew.

That was Judge Guo. The one who also got a real slap in the face during the Yun Nianyao case.

Coroner Sun had left, but this guy was more thick skinned and didn’t leave. He had been reprimanded by the higher ups, taken leave and disappeared for a while, but he was back.

This man seemed to naturally disagree with her. Questioning her words were like a natural reflex to him.

Song Caitang raised an eyebrow slightly and ignored him.

“Hey, you!”

Wu Bo interjected in a slow voice, “The victim has died for no more than 12 hours. The body was soaked in the water and floated with the current, so the body was not always in a fixed position plus the water temperature is low. Formation of livor mortis would be slower and in a different pattern from usual. The marks you see on the body have indeed been caused by something hitting her hard and repeatedly. There is no question about that.”

Judge Guo didn’t react much to those words. He didn’t have a bone to pick with Wu Bo.

To him, coroners were a special job that was different from his. He conducted investigations and convicted criminals, so he was a proper official with the hope of getting a promotion. When it came to the career path of an official, how the case was cracked and the truth wasn’t really very important. Keeping the higher ups happy throughout the investigation was of utmost importance.

If he could crack the case and keep his bosses happy, he was going to sail through his career.

He didn’t like Song Caitang, Governor Li didn’t like her either, and that surveillance commissioner had left… If he didn’t seize this chance to perform, when would he get such a chance again?

He had failed to settle the Yun Nianyao case well, so he was determined to do well in this one and impress all his bosses!

With that in mind, Judge Guo came closer.

“Miss Song,” he narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the body and spoke in an insinuating voice, “You say these wounds are from abuse?”

Song Caitang had a calm look in her eyes, “Yes.”

“Not caused by practicing dancing or something similar?”

“Definitely not.”

“And what sort of abuse is this? Bedroom abuse? What a man does to a woman in bed?”

“Yes.”

Judge Guo snorted, “Where’s the semen then? Why don’t I see that anywhere? Miss Song, don’t tell me you’re feeling sympathetic and emotional just because the victim’s a fellow woman, and you’re just shooting your mouth off!”

“Judge Guo, can’t you see how wet everything is?”

Song Caitang nearly snorted from her disbelief. This corpse was so fresh, it had probably been thrown into the river not long after she died. The water was enough to loosen her hair and wash away all her makeup. There was nothing the water couldn’t wash off!

Besides, because of the deep stab wound in her left chest, she had lost too much blood and the entire wound was white. There was no blood to be found.

Humans had so much blood, yet it was gone entirely from the body. What more, a little semen?

Was this man blind?!

Judge Guo snickered.

“Miss Song, you’re an unmarried woman, so you might not understand. This woman is clearly a promiscuous one, one who loves having fun and one who allows men to have fun with her. Besides, this murderer seems… to be on the extreme side. He wouldn’t stop after just going once.”

“I’ve seen how you inspect bodies. You emphasize on being detailed and you like analyzing the body and re-enacting what happened to the victim before death. Would you be able to do that for this woman?”

With each sentence, Judge Guo’s voice grew louder and demeaning. Song Caitang knew what he was trying to do. He didn’t have real questions or suspicions, and he wasn’t trying to actually get to the bottom of the case. He was trying to humiliate and embarrass her!

She had never met such a despicable man in her life.

Where did this superiority complex come from?

Just because he was a man?