Castor Beans

Wen Yuansi frowned slightly and was rather displeased with the mocking in the room, especially what Zhao Zhi said.

Song Caitang was around too! How could they let an innocent, young lady like her listen to such uncouth words?

But when he turned to look, not only was Song Caitang completely unaffected, but she could still slice the victim’s stomach open cleanly.

He didn’t know that Song Caitang wasn’t a teenager from ancient times. She was from the modern era and majored in forensic science. She was already bold enough to dissect dead bodies just like that, so there was nothing she hadn’t seen, and nothing she hadn’t heard. She had heard things way worse than this. This was nothing.

It was better to just focus on analyzing the case on hand.

She used her forceps to pull out the things inside the stomach and suddenly frowned.

“What’s the last thing the victim ate?”

Because she hadn’t flinched even at those words, Zhao Zhi had even more respect for her now. When he heard her question, he immediately tried to recall what the notes on the case said, “According to her maid’s statement, Yun Nianyao suffered from very severe morning sickness the day before. She felt nauseous, felt like puking, kept falling asleep and couldn’t eat anything or even drink water. She did not eat anything after breakfast.”

“She didn’t eat anything after breakfast?” Song Caitang used her forceps to pull out something white and round. Her eyes were as clear as glass as she said, “Impossible.”

“The victim must have taken dessert before sleeping. And it’s a sweet, thick soupy sort of dessert.”

The sun shone in from outside the window, glittering like gold as it fell on her face, making her irises a light brown that was almost amber. But that intelligent glint in her eyes did not fade in the least and she looked extremely charming.

Zhao Zhi paused for a moment before he said in a grim voice, “The maid was lying?”

“Not necessarily.” Song Caitang shook her head, “When pregnant women aren’t feeling well, their mood is affected and not even their usual maid would always be allowed to stay with them, right?”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked, “When did the victim consume this dessert?”

Song Caitang replied, “The food is still in its original shape and hasn’t become soft yet. The victim probably met her demise less than half an hour after eating.”

“According to the maid, Yun Nianyao was unwell but was sensitive to noise. She didn’t sleep well in the afternoon and went to bed very early that night, and did not allow anybody to come near her. She woke up once after going to bed, saying that she was hungry and that she felt like eating red bean pancakes. The maid quickly ran to make some, but by the time she returned, Yun Nianyao had gone back to sleep. The maid did not dare to disturb her, so she put the pancakes down in the room and left the room. The next morning, Yun Nianyao did not respond for a long time, so after quite some hesitation, she finally plucked up the courage to open the door and wake Yun Nianyao up, only to find that she had already passed away. The pancakes were still on the table and had not been touched at all.”

Zhao Zhi fell into deep thought as he repeated the notes from memory in a low voice.

The victim said she was hungry, but instead of eating the red bean pancakes, she drank some other dessert…

Who brought the dessert? What time was that? Was it before the maid came with the pancakes or after?

Song Caitang lowered her gaze, “It’s hard to predict a pregnant woman’s appetite and she was suffering from the effects of the poison too. But you said she hadn’t eaten all day, so it’s natural for her to feel hungry at night and ask for something to eat. Yet, she went to bed without eating and slept so soundly…I think something’s not quite right here.”

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow, “So, while the maid was making pancakes, someone entered Yun Nianyao’s room.”

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes, “And they brought a bowl of something to eat, like a show of concern for the victim.”

“Yun Nianyao accepted this show of concern and ate it.”

So…

The two of them looked at each other with a similar glint in their eye.

That must have been the killer!

During this not very long or short period of time, the murderer had avoided detection, entered the room, killed Yun Nianyao, set up the place to make it look like she had fallen asleep, and then escaped.

Who could it have been?

Did this person happen to be there? Or were they observing the situation all along and decided to strike when they saw a chance to?

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang seemed to read the same thoughts in each other’s gaze, which made the atmosphere rather strange for a moment.

Wen Yuansi suddenly broke the silence, “Could this have anything to do with that light yellow tassel found on the victim?”

Zhao Zhi turned to stare at him icily immediately upon hearing those words, “Does Magistrate Wen think that light yellow tassel is an important piece of evidence?”

Wen Yuansi paused to think, then said, “It could be, but it also might not be. But anything found on the body is evidence and it must point to something, so it should not be overlooked.”

Song Caitang did not join in their conversation and bent her head to continue staring at the food in the stomach very seriously.

The food eaten was liquidy but sticky. The fluid in the stomach was sticky, but the food was definitely sticky to a certain extent, so she was sure it was a soupy dessert.

She bent lower to take a sniff. Besides the decomposing smell of the body, there was also the smell of alcohol fermentation.

It was very light and very faint, but her nose was very good at identifying smells.

She tilted her head slightly, “Before this, Coroner Sun mentioned that there was a bit of alcohol on that light yellow tassel.”

Wen Yuansi nodded. His expression was friendly and his gaze was warm, “That’s right. It wasn’t obvious, but it definitely carried the smell of wine.”

Song Caitang nodded and asked, “What sort of wine does Gao Zhuo like to drink?”

Gao Zhuo was somewhat closely affiliated with Yun Nianyao, so everyone’s attention was on him and she was certain both Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi would know a thing or two about him.

“Something stronger,” said Wen Yuansi in a clear voice as he glanced at Zhao Zhi, “I heard that Mr. Gao might be a well-educated man, but he’s a wild warrior at heart, so he doesn’t like his wine too mild. Does that concur with the surveillance commissioner’s understanding of him?”

Zhao Zhi nodded and chuckled a little, as though there was some inside joke going on, “Magistrate Wen is right. Gao Zhuo doesn’t drink weak wines, but if it’s a wine that’s very strong, a wine that burns the mouth and cuts the tongue, he would definitely want to try it.”

Song Caitang asked, “What about sweet wine?”

“Sweet wine?”

Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi couldn’t understand why she was asking such a question.

She raised her eyebrow a little, “For example, glutinous rice wine and the like…”

Wen Yuansi chuckled, “Impossible. This man won’t even go near huangjiu¹, because he thinks it’s too easy to swallow.”

Zhao Zhi looked more keenly at Song Caitang and felt like she was driving at something.

His lips curled upwards a little, “Does Miss Song already know what Yun Nianyao ate before she died?”

“Yes.” Song Caitang nodded without hesitation, “The last thing the victim ate was probably sweet fermented rice balls².”

Everyone was silent.

A moment later, Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. He stroked his chin with his right hand and had a knowing smile on his face, “Well, we can now go investigate who touched this sweet fermented rice balls that night.”

Tianhua Temple was a buddhist temple and they would never prepare anything that involved the use of alcohol. Even if it was just glutinous rice wine, of which some had low levels of alcohol, it would still give off a smell. It would be impossible to hide.

Song Caitang thought the same way. With such clues, it would be easier to find this person.

It was too bad that the victim did not eat anything before that and her breakfast had been digested well before her death. Her stomach only contained this clue and nothing else. As for clues about this poison…

There was none.

“What poison was in the victim’s body? You haven’t found it, right?!”

She looked up to see that Coroner Sun was done puking and had returned to continue his battle with her.

Song Caitang’s lips curled into a faint smile, “Coroner Sun, you’re back so quickly?”

“Who do you think I am! I’m a coroner, so I wouldn’t be afraid of such things! My stomach just wasn’t well because of what I ate! I know how to recover from that!”

Of course, every coroner knew a method or two of recovering from their natural visceral response to the smell of rotting flesh.

“Oh, I guess I didn’t think of that.” Song Caitang took out needle and thread from her box and began sewing the stomach back together again, “I was just concerned for your health, you didn’t have to get so worked up.”

Coroner Sun scoffed. She wasn’t concerned about him! She was mocking him!

“Stop trying to change the topic! What about the poison?” His expression was nasty, “Our bet is about the poison! I don’t care about the rest of your autopsy results. As long as you can’t identify what poison it is, it means you’ve lost!”

Song Caitang was very patient and did not react. Her slim fingers moved along nimbly and she was done sewing up the stomach in no time. Her stitches were neat and clean.

“Did I say that I’m done with examining the body and I can’t find the poison?” Her voice was a little louder and filled with confidence, “You couldn’t identify it because you were incapable. There’s nothing wrong with being incapable, but once you become proud of it and refuse to improve, then that’s something wrong.”

“Why, you!!” Coroner Sun nearly started hopping in anger.

Before he could say anything else, Song Caitang cut him off with a loud voice, “Watch me find that poison!”

Her hands worked quickly and deftly as they pulled out the victim’s small intestines and she began searching every inch of it by making small slits starting from the top end.

Coroner Sun started puking again.

She was very lucky. She didn’t have to go too far down the intestine and was able to use her forceps to pick out an oval shaped object with light and dark brown stripes…

She removed a few broken bits as well and based on the color, it looked like the crushed version of the oval object.

Song Caitang held the oval shaped object up for Coroner Sun to take a closer look, “Coroner Sun, do you know what this is?”

Coroner Sun frowned. Judging from this thing’s characteristics, it looked like some seed…

But of which plant? He had no idea.

His face turned a little red because he realized he didn’t have the answers, but he refused to admit it and retorted, “Who cares if I know? You’re not going to say this is the poison, are you?!”

Song Caitang smiled, “Coroner Sun’s very clever! You immediately guessed correctly that this is the poison!”

Coroner Sun was speechless.

Song Caitang knew that everyone else in the room had also been waiting for this part, so she stopped keeping them in suspense and started explaining.

“This is a castor bean. It’s very toxic. It takes six to eight of them to be fatal, but if you chew it properly, two will be enough to kill. Because its skin is thick and hard, it’s very hard to digest, so if you just swallow it whole, you actually won’t get poisoned.”

“It will destroy one’s circulatory system and cause it to breakdown completely. The person will feel a burning sensation in the mouth, nausea, vomiting, stomachaches, drowsiness, rupturing of the blood cells, blood in the urine and elsewhere in the body. In serious cases, the person could go into shock, go into a coma and die.”

“It has one more effect…”

Song Caitang’s brows were slightly raised and her eyes reflected the brilliant sunshine, “It causes miscarriages.”

While Song Caitang was busy conducting the autopsy in the room, the people waiting outside didn’t just sit around and do nothing. Those who were bolder would secretly peek from the windows, then come back with news. The case was kept secret from anyone without connections to the case, but there were no restrictions on those connected to the case. Those seated in the hall quickly heard about what was going on.

Qi Zhaoyuan and Goa Zhuo couldn’t bear watching the autopsy, so they had left the room where the body was and was seated with everyone else.

When the news about the marks under the victim’s armpits was reported, Qi Zhaoyuan had a nasty look in his eyes as he slammed the table, “Someone killed Yaoyao and set up the scene after that!”

Gao Zhuo’s eyes were glazed over. His mind was filled with what the dissection would look like, “Yaoyao has been sliced open…”

Madam Ji couldn’t bear to see him like this, but she didn’t dare to go too close to him because there were too many people around. She bit her lips hard, “There’s no use in knowing this information! Go get the killer and solve the case!”

After news about how the victim had been badly poisoned, how her circulatory system had been destroyed, how her internal organs were swollen, and how her heart had gone into a spasm and stopped suddenly, Qi Zhaoyuan slammed a table so hard, it broke, “Damn it!”

Gao Zhuo still looked like his soul had left him, “Yaoyao has been sliced open…”

Madam Ji’s expression was filled with indignation and anger. Madam Ge…Madam Ge just shook her head.

When the poison turned out to be castor beans, everyone was shocked. Madam Ge lowered her gaze and sighed quietly, “This case can finally be solved.”

Meanwhile, Qingqiao had also managed to find Guan Qing and passed on Song Caitang’s message secretly.

After Guan Qing finished hearing her out, she looked down at the floor for a few moments, then let out a scoff, “That aunt of mine is really capable.”

Song Caitang wasn’t great at the infighting going on at home but her mind worked quickly and she was willing to be observant and to think, which was how she managed to link all these parts together. And if she could think of it, then Guan Qing, a young lady who had spent more than ten years in such an environment and developed plenty of schemes and methods along the way, definitely could think of what was going on.

Someone had actually set up a trap for her and wanted to harm her!

Harm her with what? The handkerchief she lost by accident the last time she came to Tianhua Temple?

It seemed like Madam Zhang already had a plan the last time she was here…

Before hearing what Qingqiao said, she hadn’t taken notice and hadn’t thought about this. Now that she knew about this, she knew what to do next.

Guan Qing patted Qingqiao’s head, “Be a good girl and go back to your Young Mistress to serve her well. Qinxiu looks like a smart girl, but she’s not one of ours, so I’ll feel more relaxed if you’re there to help Caitang.”

Qingqiao tilted her round head slightly and looked a little conflicted, “But Young Mistress told me to protect you.”

She was so glad that she had made it in time. Eldest Young Mistress had been in the main hall all this time and had not gotten up even after kneeling and praying for more than an hour. If she had gone for a stroll, then not only would it be too difficult to find her, but she might have given someone else the chance to entrap her.

Qingqiao wished she could remain by her Young Mistress’ side too, but she had to obey instructions…

Guan Qing scoffed, “Am I so incapable that I would need a low ranked maid to help me? What could you do for me? Make tea? Bring me water to drink?”

Qingqiao didn’t know how to respond to that.

This Eldest Young Mistress of the house really spoke very…directly.

“Your Young Mistress needs more help than I do. Does she think she can really become part of the investigation team so easily for a case involving an aristocrat?” Guan Qing had to sound even nastier when she saw that Qingqiao was still hesitating, “Run along now, go help your Young Mistress and watch that Qinxiu. If she dares to do anything to hurt Caitang, come and report to me, I’ll make sure to deal with her!”

Qingqiao didn’t dare to stick around any longer and nodded quickly, “Yes, Eldest Young Mistress.”

“Also…” Guan Qing frowned when she thought about how Song Caitang was surrounded by a large group of court officials, “Keep a lookout. If anything doesn’t look right and Caitang might be taken advantage of, come back here and report to me immediately.”

She was a businesswoman and an unmarried young lady no less. She might not be of help, but she could at least get Old Madam Li to help.

She had heard that Old Madam Li was acquainted with Zhao Zhi, the surveillance commissioner. So if anything happened, she figured that getting the old lady to protect the “young and ignorant” Song Caitang wouldn’t be a problem.