Cao Hanyu introduced: "Master Bu, this is Cui Xiao. She is a widow from Dieshui County. Cui Wuzuo, this is Master Bu, from the capital, the commander of the Jinyi Guard."
Cui Xiao saluted Bu Changbei again.
He is indeed a high-ranking official. What rank is the commander of the Imperial Guard? I don’t know, but he looks quite majestic anyway, he must be quite big, and he has real power.
Bu Changbei didn't care about rescuing people. It was just a matter of effort. No matter who the other party was, he would save them. But there was some surprise: "Is your widower from Dieshui County a woman?"
"Yes." Cao Hanyu explained: "In our small place, it's hard to find workmen. Cui Wuzuo's father is a local old man. Cui Wuzuo has been with his father since he was a child. He has been influenced by his ears and eyes. He is better than his masters and has superb skills. That's why he was chosen If I stay in the Yamen, I can be regarded as inheriting my father's legacy."
So that's it, Bu Changbei nodded.
It is understandable that being a freelancer is really difficult to find. It is not a profession with a good reputation, but it requires a high level of ability in all aspects, including being brave, careful, and knowledgeable.
Those who are not capable cannot do it, and those who are capable do not bother to do it.
Not to mention, he always felt that he was missing a good wife in his royal guard, but he could never find one.
But it's just a female widow... Bu Changbei didn't say anything, he just said calmly: "You guys can do things as usual."
Duan has a leadership posture.
Magistrate Cao hurriedly asked everyone to do things, and he followed Bu Chang north step by step.
Before leaving, Bu Changbei glanced at Cui Xiao again, but said nothing.
He must have mistakenly admitted the person. Cui Xiao patted the dust on his body and called to the officer: "Brother Zhao, Brother Qian, come and help us move these two corpses out. Be careful."
Two servants came over to help, whispering as they worked.
Dieshui County is at least seven or eight days away from the capital. The embroidery workshop caught fire in the middle of the night yesterday and burned until early this morning. As soon as the fire was extinguished without a stick of incense, people from the capital arrived. Then they obviously didn't come for the fire. It just happened to happen.
So what do people from the capital do? Could it be that something happened, a bigger case than the fire in the embroidery workshop that killed dozens of people?
Cui Xiao didn't know that she wasn't good enough to care about such high-level matters. She just had to do her job well.
She and the guards continued to clean up the bodies.
I was busy until dark.
The Pingxin embroidery workshop was burned very thoroughly. In autumn, the weather was dry, and countless pieces of cloth and silk were piled up in the embroidery workshop, as well as coal and wood stored for winter. They were all flammable and flammable things. If it hadn't happened to rain heavily, , this fire will not be extinguished for a while.
The largest yard was cleared, and the corpses were neatly placed one by one.
Thirty-two bodies in total.
Bu Changbei stood aside with his arms folded: "Pingxin Embroidery Workshop, how many people are there in total? Is there a roster?"
County Magistrate Cao said with shame: "I think there is a roster, but a fire has destroyed them all, so I really can't find them. But the thirty-two people are counted together."
Magistrate Cao took out his own list.
"What's this?"
"This is calculated by the official based on the memories of the surrounding people. The embroidery workshop has been open in Dieshui County for several generations. The embroiderers employed there and the owner of the embroidery workshop are all familiar to the surrounding people, so this number, It shouldn’t be wrong.”
Not only the number of people, but also the names, genders and ages are included. There may be errors, but they won’t be too big.
Bu Changbei took the roster and looked at it.
Bao Maodian, the shopkeeper of the embroidery shop, has a family of five, including two husband and wife, an old mother, and two children, one three years old and one six years old.
The housekeeper Pu Xiangdi, the cook, maids, and boys, plus the embroiderers and workers in the embroidery workshop.
Thirty-two people, thirty-two corpses, no one too many, no one too few.
Bu Changbei pondered: "Although this is correct, can we be sure that these thirty-two corpses are the thirty-two people in the embroidery workshop?"
Magistrate Cao was blocked for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "This is indeed not guaranteed."
If the corpse could be identified, the neighbors would recognize it. But now there are only about a dozen corpses with identifiable faces, and the rest are so charred that even the most familiar people cannot be identified.
Many people here have methods for living people.
For the dead, there is only one thing left to do.
But after all, Wu Zuo is just Wu Zuo, not a god.
Bu Changbei walked to Cui Xiao: "Miss Cui, you may be able to tell whether these corpses died in the fire, or were they dead before the fire?"
Bu Changbei's suspicion was clear.
These people were burned to death. Or was he killed and then set on fire?
Cui Xiao sighed. She was not tired mentally, but physically.
Even if she had been working in the industry for many years, she had never encountered a big case in which thirty-two people died at one time. Even if it had happened, she couldn't have been working on it alone. Is it really impossible to set up a bureaucracy in the yamen?
"Back to you, sir." Cui Xiao said, "I have examined twenty-two corpses. These twenty-two corpses have soot in their mouths and noses. They were indeed burned to death alive. But..."
The scariest but, the most hopeful but.
Cui Xiao said: "But these people were not burned to death under normal conditions."
Bu Changbei said hurriedly: "How to say?"
Cui Xiao said: "Sir, look at the eyes of this corpse."
The corpse in front of Cui Xiao was a better one among the many corpses, and it was also one of the few corpses whose faces could be seen clearly. But all the clothes on his body were burned away, his hair was burnt off, and his face was covered with burnt flesh. To say that I can see the face clearly is to say that I can barely see clearly.
Because the facial features of most corpses could no longer be seen, only a ball of burnt black coal.
Cui Xiao said to look at the eyes. Everyone looked at the eyes of the corpse, but they didn't see anything.
All he could see was that he was completely burned.
"I checked his eyes." The skin and flesh of the corpse's eyes were burned and stuck together. Cui Xiao used a tool to open the corpse's eyes: "His eyes were also burned very badly."
When everyone saw it, it was true.
His eyelashes were all burnt away, and his eyes were filled with black ash.
Cao Hanyu couldn't help but said: "What does this mean?"
Cui Xiao said: "It means that he had been in the fire scene for a while with his eyes open."
It was obvious that Cao Hanyu trusted Cui Xiao very much and only asked about the result.
But Bu Changbei was different. He asked: "How can I see it?"
Cui said with a smile: “Due to smoke stimulation and self-protection of the human body in a fire scene, the victim often reflexively closes his eyes tightly, thus forming a “goose claw-like” change in the outer corner of the eye that is not blackened by smoke, which is called outer canthus wrinkles. .”
Everyone listened to Cui Xiao with expressionless faces.
The local magistrates and police officers are used to it. Cui Wuzuo is so professional. Her judgment of the corpse is very accurate every time, but sometimes she can't understand what she says. Maybe it's because of the family background. After all, each industry has its own unique skills and won't tell others about it, so I can't ask too many questions.
If you ask others and don't tell them, that's called stealing from your master.
Bu Changbei and the group of people he brought wanted to ask, but were too embarrassed to ask. Once asked, it seemed that they were inferior to the local policemen.
So in the charred ruins, Cui Xiao continued: "And there is no soot or charcoal in the eyes. At the same time, because the eyes are closed tightly, only the tips of the eyelashes are burnt, which is called eyelash syndrome. These symptoms are all symptoms of burning to death before death. signs.”
But the corpse in front of him was obviously not.
Bu Changbei pondered: "You mean, this person is in the fire scene, watching himself being burned with his eyes open?"
"Yes." Cui Xiao said, "This is unreasonable. No one can keep his eyes open in the smoke unless he feels neither fear nor pain."
Before entering the fire scene, he was already a walking corpse.
This is not something that can only be done by the brave. Even if a person is determined to let himself be burned to death, he must close his eyes when he should. This is the body's protection of itself and is not dependent on the person's will.
Cui Xiao's words were obviously beyond everyone's understanding. Bu Changbei, who came from the capital, was well-informed and said: "Besides the burns, did he have any other injuries on his body? For example, he was threatened. Or, what drugs did he take before his death?" , driving him insane."
Cui Xiao was surprised. He didn't expect Bu Changbei to have two brushes.
