Scene Of The Crime

When Qingqiao saw Song Caitang, she burst into tears as she ran over to hug Song Caitang tightly, “Young Mistress!!! Young Mistress, how could you do that??? You don’t want Qingqiao anymore???!!”

She couldn’t stop crying and her nose was all red. The girl looked so pitiful.

Song Caitang patted her head and said, “Qingqiao is so adorable and so capable, of course I want you. Even if someone else tried to snatch you away from me, I wouldn’t allow them to take you. I wouldn’t bear to let you leave.”

Qingqiao used her sleeve to dry her tears but she continued to cry, “Young Mistress, you’re just trying to console me with nice words…”

“Alright, alright, I’ll promise never to do that again, okay?”

Qingqiao knew she should not behave like this, so she tried her best to stop crying and looked pitifully at Song Caitang, “You…you have to keep your promise, okay? Don’t abandon me again, regardless of the situation…”

“Yes, yes, I don’t do that again.”

After she managed to get her maid to calm down, she asked, “How did you get here?”

Qingqiao pointed at Wen Yuansi, “When I woke up and discovered that you were gone, I knew you had done that on purpose to force me to go down the mountain. I wanted to look for you, but I didn’t dare to go against your wishes, so I went down the mountain, returned to the city and tried to look for Magistrate Wen.”

“What about Old Madam Li? Is she alright?”

“Yes, Old Madam Li is fine. But for some reason, the city gate was closed for a long time yesterday, so it was very, very late by the time I got back in, got to the Wen residence and met with Old Madam Li. Magistrate Wen was very busy and seemed to be attending to something urgently, so I spent the entire afternoon and night going round and round the city to look for him. Old Madam Li sent people out as well but they couldn’t get to him either. We always got there just that bit too late and we finally managed to get in touch with him late at night.”

“So Magistrate Wen came over once he heard what happened?”

“It was very dark by then, so it was too hard to see even if we carried flame torches. Then…I don’t know how he got the idea, but Magistrate Wen ran to the river and continued moving along the water. That’s how we got here. I’m so glad you’re here!”

By the time Qingqiao had explained what happened, Wen Yuansi and Zhao Zhi were done talking and they approached Song Caitang.

“We’ve found Pacification Commissioner Lu’s body.”

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes, “His body?”

“That’s right,” Wen Yuansi nodded, “It’s in the city now. Surveillance Commissioner Zhao says he’s going down the mountain right now to take a look. What about you? Do you want to take a look too?”

Song Caitang straightened her crumpled clothes, then looked up with an intelligent gleam in her eyes, “Let’s go!”

They were all clever folks and they didn’t always have to say everything out loud. They just needed to exchange a few words, a few expressions, and they could put the rest together themselves.

The people that Wen Yuansi had brought along were enough to help put out the fire and deal with the dead bodies of the assassins that were lying about nearby.

Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi also pointed out the place where they had reburied the bones they found the night before. Wen Yuansi’s subordinates made careful note of the place, dug the bones out and sent them back to the court for examining and investigation.

The courts had proper procedures for dealing with such cases and everyone was familiar with what to do, so the three of them did not have to worry about that part.

Since they were all in agreement, the next step was to head down the mountain immediately.

Zhao Zhi refused any help and walked with his back straight. He didn’t hop on one leg and actually looked as though he was walking with ease. His torn and bloodstained clothes were the only signs that showed what he had gone through.

Song Caitang figured that Zhao Zhi’s leg was alright.

His leg’s wound wasn’t deep, just that it had poison on it. But he had applied medication on it immediately and it had taken the night to take effect, so it was alright now.

Qingqiao had a pained look in her eyes as she stared at her Young Mistress, “Young Mistress, you must be so hungry…and these clothes really need to be changed…and your hair hasn’t been combed either…”

The quiet atmosphere didn’t last long.

As they made their way down, Wen Yuansi broke the silence and briefly explained the discovery of the body. It had been found in a small alley toward the later half of the night, the scene of the crime had been cordoned off and the body had remained unmoved.

Song Caitang raised an eyebrow, “What about the coroners? Not there yet?”

Wen Yuansi nodded, “Coroner Sun applied for a transfer half a month ago and has gone to a different province. The new coroner has been familiarizing himself with the cases over the past few days but he has not officially started in his new position yet. But since this is a big case, I’m sure he’d go over and take a look. I just don’t know if he’s gotten there yet.”

Zhao Zhi asked, “What about the governors? Who’s around?”

Wen Yuansi replied, “Governor Li and Governor Zhang are both around.”

That was pretty interesting.

Wen Yuansi spoke very calmly, as though he was reporting something very routine. But with these two governors around, and given Governor Li’s temperament, they were definitely going to fight over this case again.

But Zhao Zhi had suddenly returned. Governor Li’s expression wasn’t going to be pretty…

Song Caitang started thinking about something else and asked Wen Yuansi, “I heard that when Pacification Commissioner Lu went missing, his son, Lu Shen, went to report it, and the authorities went to investigate. Did anything come out of that?”

Wen Yuansi paused to think, then said, “Pacification Commissioner Lu had been an official for many years in the capital and had always been a righteous man with an excellent reputation. But recently, just the past few months since the New Year, rumors about him being an unethical, corrupt and bloodthirsty person suddenly started circulating…”

Song Caitang took note of the word “suddenly”.

When there was sudden disruption to a stable situation, it meant that something was wrong.

Either someone was trying to smear Lu Guangzong’s reputation, or Lu Guangzong was guilty of these accusations and for some reason, the people who knew about it couldn’t stay quiet anymore and had an outburst.

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes, “Do a lot of people believe them?”

Wen Yuansi stopped to think, then replied very carefully, “Based on the reactions I’ve observed, most people are still on the pacification commissioner’s side.”

Zhao Zhi nodded and didn’t have further questions.

Wen Yuansi then started talking about Lu Guangzong’s study.

“After Lu Shen filed a missing persons report, the authorities went to Pacification Commissioner Lu’s place to investigate. His study had been ransacked and the signs were extremely obvious. According to his family members, Pacification Commissioner Lu was always working and his study was a very important place to him. If he was not inside, no one would be allowed to go in. And even when he was in, only his butler, Loo Zhong and his son, Lu Shen, were allowed to enter.”

“But the two of them had confirmed that nothing in the study was lost, and they were both very nervous.”

Zhao Zhi asked, “They didn’t lose anything, so why were they nervous?”

Wen Yuansi stopped to think for a long time before shaking his head, “The atmosphere at that point in time was very solemn. Perhaps they were worried about Pacification Commissioner Lu…”

As they discussed the case, they soon found themselves at the foot of the mountain.

Wen Yuansi was a meticulous man after all. He couldn’t bring a lot of stuff up the mountain, but he had plenty prepared once they reached the foot.

They took a rest at a farmer’s teahouse by the road, then Wen Yuansi got Zhao Zhi to change into the clothes he had prepared. Of course, there was a change of clothes for Song Caitang too.

He hadn’t had much time to prepare, but the clothes he got for them were certainly not randomly picked. The design, quality and workmanship of each piece was some of the best, and even the choice of color was based on what each of them preferred.

The only problem was that Zhao Zhi was a little too tall, so it was hard to find such clothing for his height and his outer robe was about half a finger too short. Song Caitang’s clothes fit very well, on the contrary.

The dress had white hems, pear blossoms embroidered on it, with narrow sleeves and a skirt with a smaller flare than usual. Not only was the dress pretty, but it suited her small figure and it was light and easy to move around in.

Qingqiao redid Song Caitang’s hair and she looked even more radiant and youthful once the hairpins were added.

Wen Yuansi’s lips curled upward slightly after he had taken a few more moments to look at her, then waved at the owner of the teahouse. The owner’s wife quickly served them breakfast.

There weren’t a lot of dishes, just plain porridge, a few standard side dishes that went with porridge, an extra plate of fried bread and some fried pickles. Everything looked simple yet appetizing.

“The case has to be solved, but your health is important too. As the saying goes, the time taken to sharpen the axe before chopping firewood isn’t a waste of time – we can afford to eat a little before returning to the city.”

Wen Yuansi had prepared everything they needed and he made good sense, so of course, Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang weren’t going to protest. They quickly sat down and started eating.

As usual, Song Caitang didn’t eat much. A small bowl of porridge was enough for breakfast.

Zhao Zhi’s appetite was as large as ever. Despite his elegant movement, he ate as quickly as a tornado, emptying every plate his chopsticks hit.

Wen Yuansi…only managed to get one piece of fried bread.

And a bowl of porridge that the owner’s wife had served him earlier.

But that was enough.

The three of them had differing expressions and thoughts as they finished their breakfast and made their way toward the city.

They came to the place where Lu Guangzong’s body had been found in no time.

As Wen Yuansi had described earlier, this was an area where commoners lived. The streets were small but packed. There were houses everywhere with children running and playing, so it was bustling with activity and very noisy. The closer they got to their destination, the more people they had to get through. Everyone had crowded around the cordoned off area and were watching curiously.

Lu Guangzong’s body had been found in the pigsty of one of the families living here.

The head of the household was an honest farmer who was diligent in rearing his pigs. He heard an unusual noise among the pigs toward the later half of the night and got up to take a look. He didn’t notice anything amiss the first time, but when he woke up again and looked more carefully, he noticed something wrong. There was a person lying in his pigsty, but his attempts to wake the person up came to nothing. That was when he realized that something was very wrong.

Song Caitang followed Wen Yuansi in and the first people they ran into were Governor Li and Governor Zhang.

Governor Zhang was very happy to see her and smiled merrily as he stroked his beard and greeted her.

But not Governor Li.

Especially when he spotted Zhao Zhi. His eyes were open so wide, they nearly fell out of their sockets!

When Zhao Zhi came closer, he smiled ingratiatingly, “Surveillance Commissioner Zhao, this case…”

Zhao Zhi raised his chin and said frostily, “You take care of it, I’ll just be observing from the side.”

Governor Li nearly yelled, that’s what you said the last time too!!!

A dead body…a pigsty…

Either way, the smell in the air wasn’t great.

But Song Caitang’s expression didn’t flinch as she walked straight for the pigsty.

As she walked, her gaze wandered slightly to observe the scene as well as the people watching.

Many people were making comments among themselves.

“It’s true that good people don’t live long, while the wicked seem to live forever. Commissioner Lu was such a good official, so how could something like that happen to him?”

“Exactly. Most other officials are such hypocrites, and it’s so rare to find an upright one who practices what they preach like him. How did this…”

“What a pity…”

“Some days ago I heard some nasty rumors about him that said that he’s the sort who claims others’ credit and receives a fat paycheck for doing nothing, and that he’s corrupt and takes bribes. I don’t believe that at all. If he’s really such a person, then there are no good officials in this world!”

“All of a sudden? I think his death is more complicated than it looks!”

“Tsk, that’s what you think. Who knows? Maybe this fellow is a really good actor and isn’t a good man?”

“Which little asshole said that? What terrible upbringing you must have! Commissioner Lu has done so many good things since he arrived in Luanze! I don’t know about other people, but I’ve definitely benefited! If he hadn’t helped my family, we would have lost a few acres of farmland to those wicked people! I’m definitely not worthy of receiving such help! Only a good official would go to such an extent!”

Just like what Wen Yuansi had said earlier, Lu Guangzong had a very good reputation and most people believed those rumors were false.

As Song Caitang continued to observe the crowd, she found two familiar faces.

They weren’t people she knew personally and she did not know the names of this mother and son pair. But on the day she left Tianhua Temple, the pretty, frail, worried-looking woman and her son who looked like her, except that he had a look of disapproval in his eyes, left a deep impression on Song Caitang.

The mother’s expression was still the same. Her brows were slightly furrowed, as though she was both worried and upset about something. The son looked aloof and didn’t have much of an expression.

Were these two…just here for fun?

They lived nearby?

“HAHA! He’s dead! He’s dead! Lu Guangzong’s dead! He deserved it! I’ve waited so long for this day!”

Just as Song Caitang got to the pigsty, she heard a voice that stood out from the crowd.

She turned and saw it belonged to a man.

The man’s hair was tied very messily, his beard was untidy, his clothes filthy, his nose and cheeks very red, walked unsteadily and reeked of alcohol. He was clearly drunk.

But despite his unsteady gait, he was very strong and managed to push everyone out of his way as he approached the pigsty.

The guards quickly ran over to pull him away so that he wouldn’t affect the investigation.

Song Caitang looked away and finally turned to look at the scene of the crime.

It was a pigsty, so it wasn’t very clean. There was poop everywhere and it smelled awful.

Because it was a murder case, the pigs had been moved to a different place, leaving only the body near the wall.

The poop had probably been cleared quite recently and hadn’t piled up very high. It was easy to spot the body since the sun was shining brightly.

Lu Guangzong’s head was leaning against the wall with his face up, but his body waist down was turned and lay the other way, so his body was lying in an oddly twisted position.

Song Caitang walked over, squatted down to look at the body for a while, then started frowning.

The victim had redness in the whites of his eyes, and there were small red spots underneath the clear covering of his eyes. There was also white froth that resembled fungus at his mouth and nose.

These were clear signs of someone suffocating to death in water. In other words…

“It looks like he was drowned.”

An older male voice suddenly said out loud what Song Caitang was about to say.

She turned and saw that an old man in coarse linen who looked around 60 had suddenly appeared.

He had a stern look in his eyes and his stance was very polite as he greeted her, “My name is Wu Bo and if my guess is correct, you must be Miss Song, the one who is extremely skilled in dissecting dead bodies.”