I’m Good At Making Conjectures Too

Song Caitang did not return to her residence with the cloth. She went to look for Wen Yuansi instead.

Wen Yuansi and Governor Zhang were having lunch.

“They’re only eating now?”

Song Caitang was rather surprised. The dissection process had gone smoothly and hadn’t ended late at all, so she had returned just in time for lunch. On top of that, she had taken her time to eat her own lunch, went for a nice stroll to digest her food, and then took a long route back here. So much time had passed, but the two men were only just eating their lunch?

The one who answered her question was Wen Yuansi’s headmaid, named Liuhong. Just like her name, her features were like a pomegranate flower in May, and she was really pretty, except that her face was very red now…

“Young Master and Governor Zhang were very concerned about work, so once you finished the dissection, they didn’t rest but went to talk to the other officials connected to the case…”

Her voice sounded hesitant, and her gaze was shifty.

Song Caitang paused to think and figured it out.

It wasn’t that the two men were being workaholics. This was a side effect of witnessing the gruesome dissection.

They had never been part of such a procedure but wanted to be part of it…both the visuals and the smell were hard to bear. And being able to eat immediately after such a procedure was something that only a veteran like herself could do.

Governor Zhang had puked during the dissection, too. It was going to take a while before his appetite could return.

Song Caitang felt bad for them, “Is there meat in their food?”

Liuhong shook her head, “It was supposed to include meat, but after I heard what happened earlier, I switched their meals for the vegetarian meals provided by the temple.”

“Atta girl! You did the right thing.”

Liuhong realized Song Caitang had seen through her flimsy excuse and didn’t try to cover up for her Young Master anymore, “They looked like they didn’t have a good appetite for lunch, so I figured they were probably not in the mood to eat…should I tell them that you are here?”

“No need,” Song Caitang waved a hand and smiled, “they need to eat some, even if they’re not hungry. I’ll just take a seat over there and wait for them.”

“Thank you for being understanding.” Liuhong bowed, then led Song Caitang to another smaller room, “Please take a seat here, I’ll get you some tea.”

In the end, she didn’t have to wait long. Wen Yuansi and Governor Zhang came over just 15 minutes later.

“So fast?” Song Caitang blinked in surprise. She looked at Wen Yuansi, then at Governor Zhang. She suspected they hadn’t eaten their fill.

Wen Yuansi sighed.

Governor Zhang didn’t look too good either, but he waved his hand about, “Work is more urgent now. We won’t die if we skip a meal or two.”

He made it sound like he was being hardworking.

“Miss Song, you have something to discuss with us?”

Song Caitang went along with Governor Zhang and just smiled as she took the piece of cloth out, “I went to the mountainous area in the northern section just now and saw this.”

“The northern section?” said Governor Zhang a little loudly before turning to look at Wen Yuansi. They exchanged grim glances and had very odd looks on their faces.

Song Caitang put the cloth on the table, “Why? Am I not supposed to go to the northern part of Tianhua Temple?”

Governor Zhang looked like he was deep in thought and seemed hesitant, while Wen Yuansi narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingertips lightly against the table. He then nodded slightly at Governor Zhang with a resolute glint in his eyes.

Governor Zhang frowned deeply, then relaxed as though he had made a decision. His gaze was as sharp as a sword as he looked straight at Song Caitang, “I heard from Magistrate Wen that you decided to dissect the body in order to identify the victim because you interrogated someone connected to the case last night. Ma Sanniang.”

“That’s right.”

“Without knowing anything about the case, you were able to quickly find a direction and clues from a person connected to the case. Can I conclude that you’re not only familiar with the skill required to dissect bodies and accurate in your observations of corpses, but you’re also good at making conjectures about cases?”

Governor Zhang’s expression was very serious, so Song Caitang tilted her head slightly to glance at Wen Yuansi.

Wen Yuansi nodded at her with a look of encouragement in his eyes.

Song Caitang fluttered her lashes slightly. She got it now.

Governor Zhang was testing her.

She had convinced Governor Zhang that she was as good as a qualified coroner, but the case they were taking on next was no ordinary case. Governor Zhang did not want to place an unreliable person on the case.

She smiled and said, “When I arrived, I heard from Liuhong that both gentlemen were very anxious to crack the case and decided to talk to the other officials about the case instead of taking a rest and having lunch. I suppose you don’t have anything urgent to attend to right now, so would you mind sparing me a few minutes of rambling time?”

Governor Zhang sat up straight with a gleam in his eye, “Please go ahead!”

“When I got here last night, I didn’t know much about the case, and the magistrate could not tell me much because of his professional obligations, so I just made a few guesses.” Song Caitang’s brows were relaxed, and her aura was confident, “This body could have been three people.”

“The victim was ultimately identified as Ximen Gang. He was healthy and strong, but he died from being beaten by someone stronger. His knuckles are twisted from overexertion, and the nails on his right hand are curved back for the same reason. I found skin under his nails, too, so it is clear that he had inflicted pretty serious injuries on his opponent, too. The murderer we’re looking for must look rather… ‘handsome’ right now.”

“He was literally beaten to death without the use of weapons. It looks like a quarrel, an argument between prideful men. It wasn’t some major feud, just a matter of trying to win the fight. Or perhaps it was a challenge. The one who won would live, and the one who lost would back out – doesn’t it sound like an infighting?”

Song Caitang held her teacup up, and her eyes were covered by a layer of steam, making her look ethereal for a moment.

“Magistrate Wen said that the victim had two companions. They were all from elsewhere with no family or any other ties to this place. According to Ma Sanniang, the three men were sworn brothers who were very close and were always moving about together. Shi Qun was the leader and the bravest, Ximen Gang was number two and had a terrible temper. If not for Shi Qun, he might have gotten into trouble a lot more often. An Pengyi is the youngest but with a poor constitution, and his two older brothers often had to take care of him…if there was infighting, it won’t be hard to guess who killed who.”

Governor Zhang narrowed his eyes. One name popped up in his mind: Shi Qun.

Song Caitang took another sip of tea and went on, “What sort of people would become sworn brothers? They sound like a group of fellow martial arts disciples who stay together and protect each other, but even though they are strong and know how to fight, they aren’t very skilled. It took so much to finally get one of them killed. And they don’t have a fixed place to stay, and they’re constantly wandering about?”

They didn’t seem too clever, relied on their physical prowess, did not have much of a plan, but didn’t manage to make a very good living either. Perhaps they were shady characters.

“My guess is that these men have gone through a lot of things together. If they had committed major crimes like murder and arson, the authorities would be after them by now. So, they might have done some things that are against the law, but not too serious.”

For example, they might be thieves, burglars, swindlers or something along those lines.

Those were crimes that were not punishable by death, and were hard to crack down when the perpetrators were from out of town.

“As for why it was hard to identify the body, I supposed it was either because the three of them were of similar height and stature, or because someone had identified the body differently from Ma Sanniang.” Song Caitang looked at Wen Yuansi, “Am I right?”

Wen Yuansi shook his head at Governor Zhang, “I didn’t tell her any of that.”

Governor Zhang stroked his beard and looked rather intensely at Song Caitang, “That was exactly the case. Shi Qun and Ximen Gang were around the same height and stature, but both of them went missing. Ma Sanniang said that the body was Ximen Gang. An Pengyi caught a cold and ran a fever during this time, so he was delirious, but he identified the body as Shi Qun.”

That was why Wen Yuansi had so much trouble.

The case itself wasn’t very complicated, as Song Caitang had analyzed earlier, and Wen Yuansi was able to investigate the people easily and sort out the case details very quickly because he had the authority to do so. But for as long as he wasn’t sure who the body was, he couldn’t send a wanted notice out.

One was dead, and one was missing – whose name should he write? He couldn’t possibly write both names since that would make the authorities look bad. Anyone who found out why two names were written would laugh their heads off!

“In that case, who smashed the victim’s face?”

Song Caitang rubbed a slim finger around the rim of the teacup, “Ma Sanniang lives by herself in the city, has a pretty face, a charming figure, and attractive eyes. There was something off about her expression when she talked about Ximen Gang…”

Wen Yuansi put a fist near his lips and coughed a few times.

“I’m guessing that she had a not-so-ordinary relationship with Ximen Gang. I’m even more sure now that Magistrate Wen has reacted this way – the two of them were in a relationship of sorts,” Song Caitang’s gaze was clear as she looked at Wen Yuansi with a relaxed expression, “There’s no need to feel so embarrassed, Magistrate Wen. We’re just talking about the case.”

Governor Zhang burst out laughing and patted Wen Yuansi on the back, “Gosh! Miss Song is steadier than you are!”

Wen Yuansi cast his gaze downward but there was a twinkle in his eye as he picked up his teacup, “My bad, my bad.”

Song Caitang continued, “Women usually don’t have as much strength, so even if they want to inflict harm on someone, they would rarely think of a method that requires brute force. Using a rock to smash a face needs too much strength. I would have chosen to do something less strenuous, like maybe use a knife or something sharp to disfigure him instead…”

Governor Zhang’s eyes lit up, “So, you think the one who came later to smash the victim’s face is An Pengyi!”

Song Caitang smiled faintly, “Actually, I’m really curious too. Didn’t both of you question him already? Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“Hahaha!” Governor Zhang laughed merrily, “You’re right! After we parted ways, Magistrate Wen and I went to question An Pengyi immediately, and he confessed to everything! He said he got there too late, so he was only in time to see Shi Qun kill Ximen Gang and run off!”

Wen Yuansi added, “He couldn’t stop Shi Qun from running off but didn’t want to betray his brother. Ximen Gang was already dead and couldn’t be saved, but he wanted to at least keep his Eldest Brother safe. After giving it some thought, he came up with the idea of smashing the victim’s face.”

Song Caitang looked at the two men. Wen Yuansi looked a little distracted, while Governor Zhang looked completely relaxed. They both looked like they were done with a big case and were ready to go on holiday.

She sighed quietly, “Perhaps both of you think the case has been solved and you just need to capture the killer. But I still feel that some things are not really clear yet…” she frowned, “like what was the infighting about?”

And that Ma Sanniang too. Something told her that that woman was hiding something.

Wen Yuansi paused for a moment, then said, “I think things have gone a little too smoothly too.” The case didn’t look difficult and things could be confirmed once they caught the killer. But the place and time it happened made him uneasy, “Why…did it happen together with the other case?”

Governor Zhang’s expression fell again.

He fell silent for some time, then looked intensely at Song Caitang, “To be honest with you, Miss Song, there has been another murder case in Tianhua Temple. The body is lying in a standalone residence in the north of the temple, and the situation is very complicated. I would love for you to be part of it, but I’m not sure if you would be bold enough to do so?”

Song Caitang was immediately full of energy. He was finally going to talk about this!