Episode 255

The Eagle Guards were a group that was at the disposal of only the emperor. They were trained to be elite fighters in secrecy and executed royal orders. Their existence alone was top secret. You had to be of sufficient rank to even know who they were.

For example, the previous emperor kept this a secret from even his empress and all of his concubines.

Zhao Zhi knew about them because he had previously contributed greatly to the country and fought tough wars along the border, as well as a special trust the emperor had in him. But even so, he only knew a tiny bit. He knew this group existed, but he had no idea who the members were or if he knew any of them personally.

And he didn’t dare to probe.

The crown prince knew about them because he was heir to the throne and would eventually come to be their commander-in-chief, so the emperor would tell him a little about them. But just like Zhao Zhi, the crown prince only knew they existed. He didn’t know who the members were and could not instruct them at all.

Qiu Wenkang was the crown prince’s head administrator, so it was normal for him to be very sensitive to such things. If what he said was true, then it was understandable why he would be so afraid of talking about what happened then.

Zhao Zhi’s biggest question right now was whether the suspects in the case, especially Jing Yan and the person Lin Feizhou was searching for, had anything to do with something very important.

Because if not, the emperor wouldn’t have mobilized the Eagle Guards.

The case had suddenly become extremely complicated. Zhao Zhi told himself that he had to meet with the emperor as soon as possible…

Either way, the current case was the most important.

He also sensed that the emperor would be very interested in the details of this case.

Zhao Zhi did not think about all this for too long because the case was still nowhere near solved. He didn’t want to dela further and quickly called for another meeting with Song Caitang, Qi Yan and Wen Yuansi.

He shared everything Qiu Wenkang told him, with the exception of the Eagle Guards.

Qi Yan’s eyes reddened as he slammed the table hard. “Could that body be…be…my uncle?!”

Jing Yan had died for five years now, but only a gravestone had been erected and there was no body at all. His jade pendant had been taken by Fourth Missy Gan and the time she was trying to pawn it off was the same time he got news about his uncle’s death. This was too much of a coincidence!

“Calm down,” Wen Yuansi patted Qi Yan’s shoulder to comfort him, then turned to look at Zhao Zhi. “Then do you know where the body was buried? That’s where Fourth Missy Gan stayed at back then, right?”

Zhao Zhi nodded. “I’m afraid we’ll have to make a trip to Qingxian.”

While he could investigate the case himself, time was of essence here. It was best if everyone could combine their efforts.

Song Caitang was thinking a step further. Regardless of who this body was, the person died five years ago. According to Qiu Wenkang, Fourth Missy Gan had buried the body in the yard without a coffin, which meant that the body was not protected in any way from decay. The body was definitely nothing more than bones by now.

And inspecting bones was the most difficult. Just trying to identify the body was going to be very hard…

She stopped to think, then said quietly, “I need to bring my two coroner’s boxes along.”

Zhao Zhi looked at her gently. “Qingxian is not far from Bianliang and I’ve already made transport arrangements. We’ll leave in an hour and I guarantee your boxes will be brought along.”

Everyone quickly parted ways to get ready to leave.

To make sure they had sufficient energy for the investigation, they got into the carriage and did not chat idly. Besides analyzing a few more clues, they spent the rest of the journey either seated in silence or they took a nap.

The carriage moved quickly and it was just after 1am when they arrived at Qingxian. The sky was very dark and it was a long way to sunrise, but everyone was energetic.

Qi Yan was the most anxious, so he immediately ran toward Song Caitang once they had arrived. “Tangtang, are you still able to examine the body at this hour?”

As long as she had energy, the time of day never bothered Song Caitang. “As long as I have sufficient light.”

“Got it!” Qi Yan turned toward Zhao Zhi. “Brother Zhi, let’s get lots of people to light as many torches as they can! Make sure the yard is as bright as day!”

Before coming to Qingxian, Zhao Zhi had already made arrangements. The house and yard that Fourth Missy Gan stayed at had already been secretly emptied out. As for the neighbors, there were some who had to start preparing for work at this hour anyway, so it wasn’t considered too much of a disturbance to them.

Zhao Zhi snapped his fingers and his men immediately got to work.

By the time Song Caitang got to the house, everything was ready to go. All sorts of lamps and torches were lit and the yard was bright. Every corner could be seen clearly.

Zhao Zhi gathered his men and gave the order, “Start digging!”

It had been a few years, so Qiu Wenkang’s memory was a little hazy. He only remembered that Fourth Missy Gan was trying to bury a body, but he couldn’t remember exactly which part of the yard it was. But he was certain it wasn’t smack in the middle.

Thankfully, the yard wasn’t too large. It didn’t take long for the men to dig up the corners.

“We got it! It’s on the east side!” The team digging that corner called out to the rest and everyone went over immediately.

Three inches beneath the dark yellowish soil lay thin and long, white bones that were shorter than a foot. They were human arm bones.

Now that they knew where the bones were, the men had to dig more carefully. Zhao Zhi’s men dug out a hole that measured around 1.8 meters long, one meter wide and half a meter deep, which unearthed all the bones.

Out of everyone present, Qi Yan was the most anxious. He kept hopping about, scratching his ear and cheek with a glum look on his face. This whole thing was driving him nuts because the bones they had dug up didn’t have any flesh or skin on it at all. How was he supposed to know who this was?!

He couldn’t possibly imagine what this person must have looked like before they got buried here…

So who in the world was this? Was it his uncle or not?!

Meanwhile, Song Caitang had already opened her boxes and got ready to examine the bones.

An autopsy table had already been prepared in the middle of the yard and a cloth had already been placed on it. Zhao Zhi glanced at Song Caitang, who had just lit the atractylodes and honey locusts, and told his men, “Shift the bones.”

While they dug out the bones one by one, another man had a pen and paper on hand to draw what the bones looked like in the ground, in case something happened while the bones were being moved.

The men started with the head and carefully shifted each bone to the table.

During this process, the dirt on the bones were also dusted off, so Song Caitang could see them more clearly. Once the bones had all been dug out, everyone walked toward the autopsy table.

Song Caitang noticed that a few bones weren’t in the right places, so she quickly moved them into the right position.

The first thing to do now was to determine the sex, age and height of this person.

“The pelvis is high and narrow, the bones are thick, the pelvic cavity is high and narrow, so it resembles a funnel. The pubic symphysis is located high up… This skeleton belongs to a man.”

“The epiphyses of the limbs and trunk are fully fused. The coronal suture, lambdoid suture, and occipitomastoid suture of the skull have started to fuse, while the sagittal suture is not completely fused. The pubic tubercle and pubic symphysis are fully fused, and a ridge-like protrusion appears at the lower end… This man was between 25 and 30 when he died.”

After she finished determining the sex and age, she asked for a ruler to measure the length of the skeleton.

They were lucky in this aspect, since the skeleton was a complete one. So, she could just measure the length of the bones, add in a little extra to account for flesh and she would get his height.

She checked everything carefully, made mental calculations and concluded, “The deceased was around 1.79 meters tall.”

Qi Yan’s eyes reddened. “My uncle died when he was 26 and he…was around 1.79 meters tall.”

Everyone was silent. It was frighteningly silent.

In most cases, Song Caitang would proceed to see if there was anything unusual about the bones, or if there was scarring on the bones. If the deceased was suffered any injury to the bones, she could use that as evidence and that could help the others ascertain who this person was.

But this skeleton…was a little tough.

The skeleton was complete and wasn’t missing bones, the bones themselves were not in one good piece. The joints were broken, and broken pretty badly. There was a hole in the skull, an impact that threatened to shatter the chest bone, and the four limbs were broken to different extents.

Song Caitang wasn’t the only who noticed this. Everyone present did as well.

Qi Yan gritted his teeth. “Regardless of whether he was my uncle or not, this man must have suffered terribly before he died!”

Wen Yuansi shook his head. “Not everything might have been inflicted before he died. The bones weren’t buried very deep, so after years of wind and rain, people walking about on the surface, or the gnawing of animals, the bones would have suffered some damage.”

So, one could not use such an observation to determine the cause of the man’s death.

Zhao Zhi looked at Song Caitang. “Do you have some way to differentiate between the injuries suffered before and after death?”

“Yes,” replied Song Caitang confidently with a calmness in her eyes. “I’ve already made some preparations for that, but I’ll need your help for some other things.”

Zhao Zhi said, “What do you need?”

Song Caitang replied, “This method is a little special and I need a deep trench, so could you get your men to dig a hole? We could use the hole where we found the skeleton too. If you don’t find anything else after inspecting it, I just need them to dig an additional 30 centimeters deeper.”

All the men couldn’t get their heads around these instructions.

Wasn’t she here to inspect the bones? Now she was asking them to dig a hole? How were these things related?

Everyone had heard about Song Caitang’s incredible dissection skills, so they were curious to find out what she would do with this body since there was nothing left to dissect. And now, she wanted to dig a hole?

What? How strange!

This female coroner was a little strange to begin with, and she was surrounded by very strange incidents too. Everyone was rather excited now.

Zhao Zhi gave the command, “Start digging!”

Everyone immediately got to work.

Song Caitang didn’t just stand there and wait either. She fished out some linen thread and a thick bone needle, went back to the autopsy table and started sewing the bones together. As she did that, she continued making requests, “I also need charcoal, firewood, five liters of strong vinegar, two liters of liquor, quilts, clothes, and bamboo mats.”

Zhao Zhi waved a hand without even thinking. “Go and fetch those things!”

They were just digging a hole and not a body, so the numerous men were able to dig the hole she wanted in no time.

“Place the charcoal and firewood at the bottom and light them on fire,” instructed Song Caitang. “Let everything burn until they’re red hot.”

Besides digging a hole, she wanted it red hot? What in the world?

They were all puzzled, including Zhao Zhi, Wen Yuansi and Qi Yan.

But that didn’t matter. They all carried out her instructions and knew deep inside that Song Caitang was about to blow their minds again with her corpse examining techniques.

Nobody had ever seen or heard anything like this before!

It didn’t take long for one of the guards to cry out, “The hole is red hot!”

Song Caitang remained calm, her gaze like the stars and moon in the sky, clear and bright. “Pour the vinegar on the flames and put them out.”

They had finally gotten the fire to red hot and she was putting the flames out? And with vinegar?

No wonder she wanted so much vinegar…

But the guards didn’t dare to make any protest. “Yes, Miss Song!”

The hole in the ground was so hot that you didn’t have to stand close to it to feel the heat. A bucket of vinegar was poured over the flames, causing it to instantly vaporize and fill the air with a sour stench.

Many of them quickly covered their noses, but Song Caitang didn’t seem to be bothered at all. After she was certain the fire had been completely doused, she said, “Pour the liquor in.”

The liquor was all poured in. She pointed at the skeleton that she had sewn together and wrapped in thick clothing and bamboo mats. “Put it in.”

They blinked at Song Caitang with blank looks on their faces.

Put the skeleton in?

She had made sure the skeleton wouldn’t fall apart, but…how was this going to work?

While that was what everyone was thinking, nobody stopped moving. They quickly carried out her instructions and placed the wrapped skeleton carefully inside the hole.

Song Caitang said, “Pour the warm vinegar.”

Pour the vinegar they did.

She added, “As long as the mats and blankets are wet, that’s good enough.”

But that wasn’t all. After they had done that, Song Caitang got the guards to light some charcoal around the hole but not too close.

After all that was also done, everyone looked on with anticipation.

What was next?

But Song Caitang did not give new instructions even after they had waited for a few minutes.

An anxious one called out, “Miss Song, what do we do next?”

Song Caitang lowered her quiet gaze. “We wait.”

Without the help of modern technology, she could only think of so many methods. Song Cai’s Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified listed such a method.

In general, this method was used only in the middle of winter, when the weather was especially cold. Even if it was early spring and the weather was still relatively cold, applying heat with hot ricecakes would have been enough.

But tonight, the coldness of winter lingered and it was very cold. Also, she was trying to examine bones this time, which was even harder. This was the only way to see everything more clearly.

Whether the bones suffered damage before or after the deceased’s death, what the deceased went through before dying…

The bones would tell her soon.