Big Commotion

Lu Shen’s eyes were swollen and his voice was hoarse as he turned to the crowd and said loudly, “I’m not the only one who doesn’t agree. My family, my clan, everyone whose surname is Lu – none of us will agree to this!”

“My father worked very hard all his life and did not get to enjoy his last years, so I will not allow his body to be cut up and buried in pieces!”

The victim’s son was suddenly speaking in such a severe manner, so the entire place fell silent.

Everyone had a different opinion. There were people who supported either side.

Some felt that the death of a person was a very serious matter and that person ought to be treated with respect. Slicing a dead person’s body did seem rather cruel. Besides, Lu Guangzong was such a good man who did so many good things during his lifetime, so it was only right to give him a good sendoff. It was already terrible enough to have died in this manner, so how could they do something that might cause his soul to not rest in peace but cry in the nether world instead?

But there were people who said that it was precisely because Lu Guangzong had been such a good man but died such a wrongful death that the living ought to do anything they could to find the killer and avenge him. Wasn’t arresting the bad guy of utmost importance now?

Besides, everyone had already heard about what happened with the Tianhua Temple cases. This Miss Song had supernatural powers in her hands, as though she had lived alongside the Lord of Hades and was an expert in every dead person’s past even after they had already died. She just needed to slice the body open and inspect their internal organs, and she would know where they’ve been, what they did, what they ate, whether they’d been poisoned, what poison it was, when all of this happened. She would know everything!

As long as she was allowed to use her tiny knives to make a few cuts, the murderer would be found very quickly!

Meanwhile, Wu Bo had finished examining the body and stood up to look rather sternly at Lu Shen, “Young Mr. Lu, you might feel strongly about this because you don’t understand the process. But you really don’t have to be so worried.”

He took a few steps forward and continued, “It’s my first time in this area and I’ve not had the chance to witness the process, but I’ve heard a lot about the details. Miss Song does not get a knife and randomly chops up the body like a butcher. She observes a particular order and makes her cuts with great technique, so it is done with great respect toward the victim. Regardless of how many organs she removes or how even if the victim’s bones are broken, once she has finished examining each section, she will always take the time and effort to sew everything back together. Besides one line across the abdomen, the victim will look just like what they did when they died. Once their clothes are put on, nobody would be able to see that line. You don’t have to worry.”

After he said all that, everyone started recalling what happened the last time.

Wu Bo was right – after Song Caitang cut the body open, she did not leave everything as they were. She would carefully put everything back in place and sew the body up, so there was almost no difference before and after the dissection. In that case…why not let her try?

They would be able to find the killer even faster that way too!

The eyes of everyone in the crowd suddenly got busy.

Some looked at Wu Bo and thought, since the experienced coroner says so, then he must be right! The fact that he’s willing to learn from Song Caitang means that Song Caitang’s skills are truly extraordinary! The Lus should consider allowing her to cut Lu Guangzong’s body open!

Some looked toward Song Caitang with a look of admiration. There was some fear mixed in, so they didn’t dare to look at her for too long and even subconsciously moved a little further away from her.

Some looked at Lu Shen as though they wanted to convince him. Everything was done for the sake of cracking the case. Why couldn’t he think that way instead?

Governor Zhang was standing right next to Lu Shen, so he tried persuading the young man, “It’s very important that we crack this case, and when something’s really important, then there are certain things we should give up for the bigger picture. I’m sure you would want to know how your father died and what he went through over the past few weeks. Why don’t we all work hard together to find the killer? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Lu Shen refused to listen to him and even retorted loudly, “Not at all! I don’t care what other reasons you come up with! The Lus will NOT agree! There are so many murder cases every year and we’ve never had to dissect a body to solve it! So why can’t we do that this time? Are all of you now admitting to being incapable and that you have to rely on a woman to get your work done? If you can’t do the job, then move aside and transfer someone new in! I’m sure someone else would be happy to take my father’s case!”

These words were both insulting and discriminatory. They were very nasty to hear.

Zhao Zhi slapped Lu Shen across the face, “Your father just died and you’re screaming and shouting away. You think that’s appropriate behavior?”

Lu Shen’s eyes grew redder and he glared at Zhao Zhi like he was an enemy. He lowered his head, then let out a roar from inside his throat, ready to charge at Zhao Zhi and fight the man.

Wen Yuansi quickly held the younger man back by pulling hard against his arms, “We understand that you’ve just lost your father, so you’re very upset and emotional. But you’ve been an official for some years in Luanze yourself. Don’t you know what sort of people we are? Do you really see us as irresponsible officials?”

Wen Yuansi then pointed at Zhao Zhi, “I don’t think you’ve seen this gentleman before and you don’t know who he is. This is Mr. Zhao Zhi, a surveillance commissioner sent here from the capital. He has orders from the emperor to move from place to place in order to observe and check on the judiciaries there. There’s no one more suitable than him to oversee this case…”

His voice carried a special rhythm, a tone and words that could quieten the other person’s heart and make them calm down. Wen Yuansi was an expert at getting others to change their attitude.

He patted Lu Shen’s shoulder and said in a grave voice, “You might have gotten this far by your own hard work, but from today onward, your father is no longer around. He will not be there to be proud of your achievements, he will not be there to carefully correct you when you’ve made a mistake, and he won’t be around to encourage you when you are down. Young Mr. Lu, you need to learn to grow up. As an official who takes care of a department and the people in it, there were some things you said earlier that were really not appropriate. If you have doubts about the authorities, that’s the same as casting doubt on your own colleagues as well as yourself.”

“No matter how upset you are, you have to care for yourself and your own…”

Lu Shen pursed his lips tightly and stared straight at Wen Yuansi. He looked like he was about to burst, but he did not say anything.

At this juncture, the butler who had come along with Lu Shen, Loo Zhong, finally came running over. He pulled Lu Shen back and tried to counsel him, “Young Master, don’t be rash, don’t be rash! No matter what’s happened, and no matter what thoughts you have, everyone here are reasonable people and we can discuss this slowly. Don’t do anything rash!”

After he was done counselling Lu Shen, Loo Zhong smiled ingratiatingly at Wen Yuansi, “My Young Master has been very badly affected. When he heard that Old Master had passed on, he fainted, then came running here the moment he woke up. If he has offended you in any way, I hope you can be understanding toward him. He didn’t mean to say those things. With regard to the dissecting of the body…we all understand that the authorities would want to crack a murder case as quickly as possible. But you can’t just ignore the wishes of the family, right?”

Loo Zhong was a smart man.

He looked like any ordinary person and there was nothing special about him. But he had a pair of very bright and energetic eyes despite his age.

His words did not offend either side and even comforted both sides. The atmosphere was no longer as tense before.

But those who were listening carefully would notice that he was still on Lu Shen’s side.

Of course, that made perfect sense. He was the Lu family butler. He would be on his employer’s side and not on the courts’ side.

Lu Shen did not speak, but he did not agree to anything. This reaction was a problem in itself.

He wasn’t going to say anything. He was just going to stand here and see if anyone would dare to do anything about his father’s body without his permission!

“HAHAHAHA!”

A loud outburst of laughter suddenly resounded. Everyone turned and saw that it was coming from that drunkard who spoke without filter.

The runners had held him back, so he couldn’t get anywhere near them and his eyes were not very focused, but that mouth of his never stopped, “You’re all assholes who have lice on their heads and ulcers on their dicks! Your entire house is filled with robbers and whores! You don’t want to let them cut the body open and you don’t want to find the killer? Is it because you’re guilty of something?!”

“Young Mr. Lu, I hope you’re not one of those bastards written in those plays, the type who kills their own father!”

Lu Shen flew into a rage, “That’s utter rubbish!”

“No?” The drunk man chuckled, “Ah, I know! Lu Guangzong wasn’t your real dad! Killing him isn’t considered killing your father! HAHAHA!”

Lu Shen’s face was all red with fury, “Niu Baoshan, you’d better watch your words! Or I’ll get them to arrest you!”

But the drunk man, Niu Baoshan, didn’t back down at all. He retorted loudly, “Go ahead and arrest me then! If you’ve got the guts, kill me so that I can be reunited with my son in the nether world and I can go to the Lord of Hades to tell him all about your family! I want everyone to know that your family is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites!”

Song Caitang wasn’t the only one frowning and wondering what was going on. A lot of people in the crowd were equally bewildered.

But someone soon answered her questions.

While they argued, Governor Zhang started filling them in, “This Niu Baoshan is quite pitiful too. His family died in a famine, leaving him with one son. He worked hard to bring his son up and didn’t take another wife for his son’s sake. When his son was all grown up and it was finally time for him to relax, his son suddenly disappeared into thin air. He was never found. His son had always been an honest and filial child and wouldn’t have kept anything from his father. So, when there was absolutely no news from his son, Niu Baoshan got very anxious and reported it. Pacification Commissioner Lu happened to be on a journey on the emperor’s orders and was also a very reputable official from the capital. The local officials weren’t able to give Niu Baoshan a satisfactory answer, so he ran to ask the pacification commissioner for help, but…of course, that didn’t end satisfactorily either, so Niu Baoshan started to hate Pacification Commissioner Lu.”

“Initially, things weren’t so bad. Pacification Commissioner Lu was an official based in the capital and did not spend a lot of time travelling, so Niu Baoshan didn’t get to see him. Niu Baoshan ended up wasting his life away and lived by himself in the mountains, so for a long time, nobody even saw him. But after Commissioner Lu was transferred to Luanze two years ago, Niu Baoshan couldn’t sit still anymore and appeared very often. Either he yelled at the commissioner or blocked their carriage, which was very frustrating to the Lus. But that’s all he did. He didn’t cause harm and didn’t do anything to break the law, so the Lus couldn’t arrest him or anything like that.”

Governor Zhang concluded, “This man has a feud with the Lus and he’s definitely more than happy to add insult to injury now that the Lus are mourning. You have to be careful if you want to use his words as evidence.”

Meanwhile, the two men weren’t done arguing. Niu Baoshan was glowering and he had now moved to a slightly different topic, “Are you saying I’m wrong about that? If there aren’t any robbers and prostitutes in your house, then what’s going on between your father and that widow? That Fourth Missy Gan is very pretty, isn’t she? Your dad was having a lot of fun, wasn’t he? Look at that long face you’re pulling! Not happy with what I said? Oh! Is it because I missed you out? You were having fun along with your dad?”

Before Lu Shen could fight back, someone else came forward first.

“Niu Baoshan, watch your words! If you want to curse at the Lus, go ahead! Don’t involve my mother! You have no proof, so stop spouting nonsense!”

This person was familiar to Song Caitang.

It was still that mother and son she saw at Tianhua Temple…the one who had stepped forward was the son.

The boy was about 14 or 15 and he was accompanied by his fairly young and beautiful mother. His face was filled with rage, while the woman’s face was red, crying quietly as she pursed her lips. She looked so pitiful.

Governor Zhang started filling them in on the sly again, “This mother and son are famous around here. The woman’s surname is Gan and everyone calls her Fourth Missy Gan. She’s a very good cook and she isn’t from here. She came here more than ten years ago and she was already pregnant. She didn’t have any family here and she didn’t get married either. She rented a small place, gave birth to her son, then when her savings ran out, she used her culinary skills to earn enough to raise her child. Her son carries her surname and his name is Gan Zhixuan.”

“A widow with a son and no family…you can imagine what sort of reputation she’d have. Regardless of whether the rumors are true or not, she truly loves her son and refuses to let him suffer at all. She’s saved up every cent she’s earned so that Gan Zhixuan can have a good education. The boy has worked hard and is quite good at studying too, so his results are excellent and he’s very filial to his mother…”

The argument was now between three people instead.

Niu Baoshan would argue with Lu Shen, and when he was done, he would attack Madam Gan and her son. Madam Gan seemed very afraid and would just silently grip her son’s shirt tightly. Gan Zhixuan became angrier and angrier when he saw his mother’s fearful reaction, so he yelled at Niu Baoshan and told Lu Shen to do something about him.

Gan Zhixuan was educated, so his language was not as filthy, but he was still very good at insults. On top of that, Lu Shen just lost his father and was still very emotional, plus he was a hot tempered man. The more they argued, the nastier things became.

And the bigger the mess became, the more Loo Zhong couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. He started trying to use his words to calm the situation down.

It was really messy, but really entertaining. Everyone was enjoying the show.

But as time passed, Song Caitang felt something was amiss. The longer the argument went on for, the more information was revealed. She suddenly felt that this mother and son did know the Lus in some way.

Perhaps it was Lu Shen, perhaps it was the butler, perhaps it was the late Lu Guangzong.

Things had come to a point where it was pure chaos and it was affecting the investigation.

Song Caitang threw Wen Yuansi a glance and walked toward Lu Shen.

Wen Yuansi immediately understood and went to put an end to this chaos. He got the runners to chase the crowd away as well as pull the people arguing apart. The most important part was to keep Niu Baoshan quiet. Once he stopped agitating the rest, the whole thing would blow over.

Song Caitang headed straight toward Lu Shen.

Lu Shen clearly did not want his father’s body to be cut open. But standing here and refusing to move at all wasn’t going to help with anything, so she might as well let him cool down first.

“Young Mr. Lu, you’re the victim’s family and I can understand if you do not want his body to be cut open. But I must explain a few things to you.”

Lu Shen narrowed his eyes at Song Caitang, “Please, go ahead!”