"I don't know. I really don't know what happened," Zhao Sheng sobbed, tears and snot streaming down his face. "I thought I was just going to the yamen to answer a few questions. I passed by my mother's pancake stall and even told her to save me a bowl of noodles, that I'd be back to eat it. But when the yamen finished the autopsy, they bullied me and twisted things around..."
"How dare you!"
The attendant beside him barked, "Show some respect to the Kaifeng Prefecture!"
Zhao Sheng trembled violently, shrinking his neck as he stammered, "The yamen said after the autopsy that I beat my own father, that I gave him bruises all over his body and beat him to death. The fatal wound was on his head. But I never hit him! The gash on my father's head came from him smashing it into a cabinet himself."
That made it even stranger.
Yan Tongshu was deeply puzzled. "Did your father have any conflicts with anyone in the past two days? Could the injuries on his body have come from someone else?"
Zhao Sheng shook his head.
The attendant who had just scolded Zhao Sheng stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Lord Yan, I know about this."
With a serious expression, the attendant said, "Lord Yan, my name is Xu Qiu, and I'm from the capital. On that day, Judge Li sent me and my colleague Zhou Zheng to investigate the area. I visited several nearby households and also asked Zhao the Second. It was confirmed that Zhao Gengtian hadn't been in any disputes in the past week—not even a fight or a quarrel."
Yan Tongshu frowned. "Not even a quarrel?"
"None at all," Xu Qiu said with certainty. Then he glanced at Zhao Sheng, who was kneeling on the ground, and lowered his voice. "Lord Yan, don't let this petty scoundrel fool you with his smooth talk. He's nothing but a punk, and people like him never tell the truth."
Yan Tongshu nodded slightly. "Brother Xu."
Xu Qiu quickly bowed. "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare."
Yan Tongshu said politely, "Thank you for the insight."
Seeing that Yan Tongshu seemed persuaded, Zhao Sheng panicked and shouted hoarsely, "Lord Yan, I'm really innocent! I didn't kill anyone!"
Yan Tongshu raised a hand to calm him. "Don't rush. Let me ask you a few more questions."
Zhao Sheng nodded repeatedly.
Yan Tongshu asked, "What was Zhao Gengtian's temper like usually?"
"That old crow—that old bastard!" Fearing another reprimand from the attendant, Zhao Sheng corrected himself quickly, speaking with resentment, "His mouth is filthier than a cesspit. He's always cursing at people, loves to take advantage and grab things. If you're walking down the road eating a sesame cake and a crumb of sesame falls into his field, he'd never let you pick it up. He'd insist that since it fell into his field, it belonged to him."
Yan Tongshu pressed on. "Has Zhao Gengtian ever gone this long without picking a fight with anyone before?"
Zhao Sheng was taken aback. He thought hard, then shook his head in confusion. "I never kept track, but he was always causing trouble."
Hearing this, Yan Tongshu's suspicion deepened.
A man who was constantly stirring up trouble and never stopped cursing had been peaceful for seven consecutive days?
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Yan Tongshu continued. "When Zhao Gengtian made you steal the recipe for your mother's noodle topping and you refused, what did he say when he hit you? Something like, 'If you don't go, I'll beat you to death'?"
Zhao Sheng shook his head.
Yan Tongshu narrowed his eyes. "That wasn't what he said?"
"He said... 'I'll beat you to death, you damn mongrel.'" Zhao Sheng's voice dropped, carrying a trace of bitter sorrow. "My grandfather never liked me. He thought that if my mother hadn't given birth to me, our house would have gone to my uncle. In his eyes, my mother and I were outsiders. So he always called me a mongrel."
Zhao Gengtian came for the topping recipe, but he wasn't particularly insistent about it. Strange.
As Yan Tongshu's thoughts shifted, he asked, "Did your grandfather ask your mother and you for the topping recipe because your uncle also opened a pancake stall?"
Zhao Sheng curled his lips in disgust. "Not only did they open one, they tried to steal my mother's business. But unfortunately, they're as stupid as pigs, with no such luck. The topping they made was both salty and disgusting, and their portions were small. They ran it for a month—didn't make a single coin, and ended up losing everything."
Yan Tongshu said, "Alright, I see."
He had Zhao Sheng taken away, then turned to Xu Qiu. "Brother Xu."
Xu Qiu quickly bowed, waving his hands. "Ah, Lord Yan, you're a high-ranking official of the fourth rank. You don't need to be so polite to us common folk. Just call me Xiao Xu."
Even so, Xu Qiu couldn't hide the pleasure in his expression at this show of respect. He asked proactively, "Does Lord Yan have any further instructions?"
"Brother Xu," Yan Tongshu said solemnly, "would you take me to examine Zhao Gengtian's body?"
Before Xu Qiu could reply, Pearl let out a loud cry, "Young Master, you're going to see the corpse!"
Her face turned deathly pale in an instant. She grabbed Yan Tongshu's sleeve. "Young Master, don't go. Please don't go. That corpse is terrifying. What if a ghost follows you back to the mansion and haunts us forever..."
"You, oh you."
Yan Tongshu gently tapped Pearl on the forehead with his finger. "Enough nonsense. There are no ghosts in this world."
Pearl was terrified. "But what if there are?"
Yan Tongshu smiled. "Alright, silly girl. Wait for me at the entrance. Brother Xu and I will go together."
Pearl opened her mouth, reluctant to let Yan Tongshu go, yet too afraid to offer to accompany him.
Xu Qiu laughed heartily. "Miss Zhenzhu, don't be afraid. If any ghost is foolish enough to come out and scare you, I'll chop it in half with my knife."
Yan Tongshu turned to Xu Qiu. "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Xu."
Xu Qiu led the way, taking Yan Tongshu and the trembling Pearl to the morgue.
The closer they got to the mortuary, the paler Pearl's face became. By the time they reached that eerie, heavy door, all color had drained from her cheeks, and her lips were quivering. She was truly, extraordinarily terrified.
Xu Qiu spoke with the mortuary's keeper, who finally allowed them entry. Pearl clutched her clothes tightly, rooted to the spot, unable to take another step.
Yan Tongshu patted her shoulder and then followed Xu Qiu into the mortuary.
The morgue was a low, one-story building in the back courtyard, filled with many corpses. To preserve the bodies and slow their decay, the room had been specially treated, making its temperature much lower than the outside air. As soon as Yan Tongshu entered, she felt a biting chill.
Xu Qiu led her past bodies covered in white cloths until they reached Zhao Gengtian's bier. He lifted the cloth. "Lord Yan, this is Zhao Gengtian, who died five days ago."
Yan Tongshu nodded and approached Zhao Gengtian.
Zhao Gengtian had been dead for five days. Even with the morgue's cooler temperature and the Kaifeng Prefecture's careful preservation, the body had begun to decompose. But fortunately, it was only slight and didn't affect examination.
Yan Tongshu asked, "Is there a record from the coroner's examination?"
Xu Qiu thought for a moment. "Do you mean the autopsy report?"
Unfamiliar with the local term for records, Yan Tongshu nodded, suspecting that "autopsy report" meant the same thing.
Xu Qiu pointed at the wall and said, "The autopsy report is usually copied three times. One copy is posted near the body for easy reference; the other two are filed—one for the records and one submitted as part of the case documents. Zhao Gengtian’s report should be right… here…"
Xu Qiu walked to the head of Zhao Gengtian’s body, took a report from the wall, and handed it to Yan Tongshu: "Lord Yan, please."
Yan Tongshu opened it and read it slowly.
This autopsy report was very… official… following the fixed format required by the government, clearly marking the locations and colors of the bruises caused by beatings on Zhao Gengtian’s body.
But to say it was done with great care—no, not really.
The wording for the fatal wound on the back of Zhao Gengtian’s head was vague. For instance, it mentioned "skin broken and bleeding," but it didn’t clearly define the extent of the bleeding.
Yan Tongshu held the report, comparing the documented injuries one by one with those on Zhao Gengtian's body.
As the report indicated, Zhao Gengtian’s body was covered in bruises, clearly from being beaten.
Xu Qiu said, "Lord Yan, I told you, those murderers’ words can’t be trusted. Which one of them doesn’t cry injustice when thrown into the prison? A few years back, there was a man who killed someone right on the street and was caught red-handed, yet he still cried injustice in the cells."
Yan Tongshu didn’t argue, only replied, "Yes, Brother Xu makes a fair point, but unless we investigate thoroughly, Aunt Yang will never give up hope."
Upon hearing this, Xu Qiu let out a sigh.
He knew Aunt Yang too—she had been kneeling at the entrance of the government office for a long time, holding up a petition for justice.
He also had an old mother at home and could sympathize with Aunt Yang’s deep love for her son. But murder is murder. Just because Zhao Gengtian had a bad character didn’t mean he deserved to be beaten to death without anyone paying for his life.
Yan Tongshu put the autopsy report back in place, bent down, and examined the wound on the back of Zhao Gengtian’s head.
According to Zhao Sheng, Zhao Gengtian had fallen backward on his own, hitting his head against a cabinet.
The coroner’s judgment in the report was the same, though the coroner speculated that Zhao Gengtian had been pushed onto the cabinet, causing his death.
Yan Tongshu parted Zhao Gengtian’s hair with her fingers.
Subcutaneous hemorrhage, no skull fracture.
Yan Tongshu crouched down and examined it carefully.
She couldn’t cut open Zhao Gengtian’s head right now to dissect it and see the condition of the dura inside, but with no skull fracture and not much bleeding, it was highly possible that this wasn’t the fatal wound.
If it really wasn’t the fatal wound, how had Zhao Gengtian died?
Yan Tongshu lowered her eyes in thought: "If only I could cut open the head."
Lost in thought, Yan Tongshu didn’t notice at all that beside her, Xu Qiu was staring, eyes bulging and mouth wide open, utterly shocked into silence.
Good heavens, this young lord, who seemed so noble and delicate, with such fair and tender skin, had actually touched the corpse directly with his bare hands.
Even he—Xu Qiu—hadn’t dared to do that in his first year at the Kaifeng Prefecture.
Yan Tongshu pulled open Zhao Gengtian’s clothes.
The bruises were many, scattered unevenly, with no pattern.
The deepest part of the bruise was dark black, while the edges were bluish-red.
Yan Tongshu pressed a finger onto the bruise—there was no swelling.
Her eyes twitched slightly. "I see."
Xu Qiu was startled and quickly asked, "Lord Yan, have you figured something out?"
