"I won't make a mistake. The deceased did die a day ago. The weather is relatively hot now in summer, and the pressure on his body will not subside. In addition, the degree of rigor mortis has begun to ease, and the joints of his fingers have begun to heal. He moved a little bit, so the time of death must have been more than twelve hours."
Yao Shu does not allow anyone to question her professional level. This is the most basic knowledge.
Fu Xiujin obviously agreed with Yao Shu's insistence on the time of death. He turned to ask Guo, "Is there any witness to the fact that the deceased was still in the study at noon yesterday?"
"Yes, Manager Wang is watching."
"Then let's go to Cao Mansion first."
Fu Xiujin immediately changed his route and decided to go to Cao Mansion first. He asked Guo to ride in his carriage to learn about the situation on the road. Yao Shu applied to ride in Guo's carriage so that he could have a cursory look at the body in the car. Fu Xiujin thought for a moment and accepted.
Yao Shu did find new clues in the car. The nail on the left index finger of the corpse was broken. There was some dark red unknown powder in the gap between the nails on the middle finger and ring finger. There was also a gold chain stuck on the neck. Tiny yellow threads...
Cao's Mansion is not far away, but it only takes a quarter of an hour to arrive.
Mrs. Guo gave a few instructions to the porter and led Yao Shu and her group inside. The porter looked horrified and did not dare to delay. He tremblingly moved Cao Hongfa's body down with the boy on the carriage.
The body was quickly placed on the beauty's couch in the study. Yao Shu took the autopsy toolbox handed over by Zhao Shaobai and began to perform the autopsy without any distractions.
It wasn't until a sharp cry broke into her eardrums that she realized that half an hour had passed unknowingly.
"Master! My master! Damn it, who is it? Who harmed me?! You don't want me to live!"
A woman wearing a rose-red coat and skirt burst into the door. She had tears and runny nose on her face. Her makeup had long been stained. When she saw Yao Shu performing an autopsy, she jumped up to Yao Shu and tugged on Yao Shu's sleeves and started shouting. , Yao Shu turned away from her in disgust and took two steps back.
Before she could say anything, Mrs. Guo hurried in with a man. When she saw the woman throwing herself on the body, her face turned darker.
"Aunt Su, if you still don't get out of the way, you can't afford to hinder the adults of Dali Temple from doing their work!" Turning her head, Mrs. Guo pointed to the man behind her with a guilty look on her face, "This is Manager Wang. He saw the master reading the account book in the study at noon yesterday."
Manager Wang shivered and glanced at the body on the beauty's couch, then immediately knelt down.
"Sir, I'm not lying. Yesterday, the master was in the study reading the account books early. I directed others to dry the quilt in the yard outside. I also saw the master change his position. He only closed the window when I went to arrange lunch."
As soon as Yao Shu heard this, she ran outside, stuck her head out of the window, and then ran in quickly.
"Did you not see the face of the deceased? I just looked in from the outside and could only see the back of the person sitting on the chair."
Manager Wang didn't know Yao Shu's intention, so he just nodded. He did not see the master's face. After all, the window faced the back.
"I just inspected the body and found that there were large cadavers on the buttocks and thighs of the body, which proves that the deceased remained in a sitting position for a period of time after death. The deceased was probably moved to the study to sit after death."
"But when I came to deliver food at noon yesterday, the master lost his temper and smashed things, and told me to get out." Aunt Su, who had been standing by wiping her tears, suddenly interrupted and pointed to the ground in front of the desk. There was a smashed teacup.
When Mrs. Guo heard this, she immediately became angry.
"You bitch! Every time I punish you, you secretly come to me to plead for mercy. You are so shameless and disobedient."
"You came to deliver lunch after Butler Wang left. You didn't enter the study at that time, right?" Fu Xiujin interrupted Guo's scolding. He suspected that there was someone else in the room.
Aunt Su lowered her head and glanced at Mr. Guo, then whispered yes.
Yao Shu felt strange and asked Mrs. Guo: "Mrs. Cao, so Mr. Cao has not appeared in the house since yesterday afternoon. Didn't any of you look for him? No one knew that he was missing? This is not possible. It’s been all night.”
Guo showed an uncomfortable expression on her face, and finally sighed helplessly, "My master usually loves beauty, and sometimes he would stay in Flower Street. In the past, I would send people to look for him. Later, as time went by, he was either staying in this oiran house or In that singer's room, I won't cause trouble for myself."
Yao Shu knew it, and seemed to be used to colorful flags flying outside. Guo also agreed yesterday that Cao Hongfa went to a brothel to spend the night.
"The murderer should have killed Mr. Cao and then moved the body to the study. He hid in the room and changed Mr. Cao's posture. He also yelled at Aunt Su, creating the illusion that he was not dead. Then he found the right opportunity to hide the body. The people under the carriage wanted to wait for an opportunity to destroy it, but unexpectedly, our carriage collided and the body fell out in broad daylight."
After Fu Xiujin finished speaking, he turned to look at Guo and said firmly, "The murderer must be someone from the mansion. He is familiar with the behavior of Mrs. Cao, Manager Wang and Aunt Su, and borrowed your eyes to fake the time of death."
Yao Shu secretly praised Fu Xiujin in her heart. He was worthy of being a leader. He was good-looking and quick-thinking.
She glanced at the female family members in the room and added, "I examined the corpse carefully just now. The reproductive organs of the corpse were removed. The wounds showed no signs of life and the amount of bleeding was very small. It was obviously removed after death. This method was most likely used. It was love and hatred. The strangulation mark on the neck was very deep, and the direction was at an upward angle. The assailant stood behind him and strangled Mr. Cao to death. The cervical vertebrae were broken, and the assailant was very strong. Judging from the angle of the fracture, , the murderer should be a man about five feet four tall."
Guo and others were all dumbfounded, while Zhao Shaobai tightened his legs, obviously making up something in his head.
Fu Xiujin said something to Guo in a deep voice, and Guo immediately asked Butler Wang to gather all the male servants in the house who met the height requirements. Two young men soon stood in the yard.
Butler Wang introduced them respectively. One of them was a chubby one named He Tian who was the cook in the mansion, and the other one with dark skin and strong build named Liu Dali was the nurse in the mansion.
The two of them had already heard Butler Wang explain the reason on their way here, and He Tian had already knelt down tremblingly before Fu Xiujin started questioning him.
"My lord, you are aware that the most I can do is kill chickens and cows. I don't dare to kill anyone!"
