The corners of the quarry manager's mouth twitched slightly, and he looked a little panicked.
Although his expression flashed away, this micro-expression was still captured by Zhao Xun.
He knew there must be something fishy about it.
"This gentleman is joking. We are here to cut mountains and quarry rocks. There will be no murder."
Zhao Xun said in a deep voice: "Liu Neng worked in your quarry, right? He died in your quarry five days ago. You won't deny this, right?"
Upon hearing the words "Liu Neng", the quarry manager's face twitched instinctively, but he quickly concealed his panic.
"Liu Neng, he did work in our quarry. He hanged himself a few days ago."
Zhao Xun glanced at Liang Younian, the governor next to him. This statement was consistent with the official version.
But Liang Younian had almost come to an end with Zhao Xun. Zhao Xun was already convinced that there was something hidden in this case, so how could he possibly listen to the words of the quarry manager.
He just needs to know the whole process of Liu Neng's murder.
"We will know if he hanged himself and did an autopsy. Where is Liu Neng's body?"
The quarry manager forced a smile and said, "Are you kidding me again? How could this body not be buried? It would stink even in late winter. Liu Neng's body had been buried long ago in a thin-skinned coffin. It’s still a part of everyone. Look at this..."
Zhao Xun sneered when he heard this: "Buried? Well, I want to open the coffin and conduct an autopsy."
"Ah this..."
The quarry manager obviously didn't expect Zhao Xun to be so persistent. He was obviously prepared.
He was a little confused and didn't know what to do.
"My lord, the dead are the most important. Since Liu Neng has been buried, we really shouldn't disturb him anymore."
"Liu Neng's death is unclear. The owner of the suffering has been brought before me. If I can't live up to this official robe, I will."
Zhao Xun is a very principled person. Now that he has made up his mind, he will not change his mind easily.
Maybe he can't help everyone, or he can't help everyone, but at least he has to take care of the things he encounters and sees, and he has to respect his conscience.
Perhaps conscience is not important to people of this era, but it is important to Zhao Xun.
This is the principle, this is the conduct.
The quarry manager looked bitter and didn't know how to respond.
He looked at Governor Liang, but Governor Liang subconsciously turned his head away and did not make any substantial eye contact with him.
"Okay, I will take you to Liu Neng's tomb."
The quarry manager really had no choice but to nod in agreement.
After Liu Neng's case was concluded, his body was hastily buried in a sandy field overgrown with grass at the foot of the quarry mountain.
When Zhao Xun was brought there, he saw several lonely graves.
Liu Neng's tomb is located in the innermost part.
He strode closer and saw a tomb plaque made of wooden boards, which read the tomb of Liu Neng, a quarry worker.
It was obvious that the tomb was new.
Zhao Xun turned around without hesitation and ordered in a deep voice: "Dig the grave, open the coffin and conduct an autopsy."
He was an imperial envoy, so Governor Liang naturally did not dare to respond and quickly ordered the left and right to move.
More than a dozen people dug enthusiastically for a long time and finally dug out the coffin.
When the coffin lid was opened, everyone was stepping back, fearing that they would be exposed to bad luck.
Only Zhao Xun stood there motionless.
He is a person who crawled out of a coffin, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
It was late winter, and Liu Neng's body did not rot much.
Zhao Xun saw the strangulation marks on the neck of his corpse with his own eyes.
At first glance, this is indeed a hanging.
But Zhao Xun knew that there was probably something fishy about it.
"Take out the body."
Since Zhao Xun decided to investigate to the end, he naturally had to take responsibility for this case and had to start with every detail.
Although the government officials in Hanzhou City were very reluctant, they still held their breath and took out Liu Neng's body and laid it flat on the ground.
Zhao Xun walked forward without hesitation and squatted down.
When he was in Chang'an City, he experienced many major cases and handled many corpses for examination. Now he no longer has any taboos.
Although the experience cannot be considered rich, it is indeed quite a lot.
He first carefully examined Liu Neng's whole body and found that there were no obvious wounds. This proves that Liu Neng at least did not die of trauma.
As for poison...
Zhao Xun thought it was unlikely.
If Liu Neng was really poisoned, even if the body didn't show it at the time, it would have turned black and discolored after a few days.
But now Liu Neng's body is well preserved. There is nothing too weird about the color of the body's skin except that it is slightly dark and has some corpse spots on it.
Zhao Xun felt that there was no need for dissection.
Instead of dying from trauma or poison, what other way could there be?
Died by poison?
Zhao Xun feels that this possibility is not very high.
First of all, Liu Neng is just an ordinary quarry worker. Who would bewitch him?
Secondly, Hanzhou is located in a remote area and is far from a big city like Chang'an. It is extremely difficult to find a witch and Gu master.
But after excluding all these possibilities, it can basically be judged that Liu Neng really died of suffocation.
Could it be that there was something wrong with Zhao Xun's judgment?
wrong...
There is another detail that Zhao Xun didn't notice before.
He leaned over and carefully examined Liu Neng's neck.
He found that the scars on Liu Neng's neck were a little strange.
For a person who hanged himself, the rope marks only reached behind the left and right ears, and were dark purple in color. The eyes were closed, the mouth was open with teeth exposed, the tongue was hanging out, and the hands were clenched.
But the eyes of Liu Neng's corpse were open, and his palms were stretched. The marks on his throat and neck were very shallow, and his tongue was not sticking out.
Obviously, he was strangled and then disguised as hanging himself!
Fortunately, it had only been five days since Liu Neng's death. If it had been longer, even if Zhao Xun opened the coffin for an autopsy, most of the body would have rotted.
At that time, there was really no evidence of death.
"You are so brave, how dare you commit murder! Why don't you take it seriously!"
He scolded so severely that the quarry manager fell to his knees with a thud in fright.
"My lord, have mercy on me, my lord, have mercy on me!"
"The villain is just following orders. It's all arranged by the boss. It's all arranged by the boss."
Although Zhao Xun had already had psychological expectations beforehand, it was still a little hard to accept when he really knew the truth.
"I order you to tell the truth. If you conceal even a word, you will be severely punished."
The quarry manager knew that it was difficult to hide the truth, so he told the whole truth like beans poured out of a bamboo tube.
What a rich and unkind family! He is so evil-hearted.
If I hadn't heard it with my own ears or seen Zhao Xun with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
Hanzhou He family, right? You are dead this time.
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