Catching Monsters

Chapter 91 Cause of Death
Li Fugui recalled carefully and said, "I only remember that Mr. Zhang went to the Ministry of War today and had a drink with several other officials from the Ministry of War at noon."

"Mr. Zhang must have been drunk. After he came back, he went to the bedroom to sleep and rest."

"At 3 p.m., I'll go wake up Mr. Zhang."

"Master Zhang is no longer breathing."

After Li Fugui finished speaking, he said anxiously: "Every word I said is true."

Jiang Yun frowned. Could it be that he died from drinking too much?

No, if he just drank himself to death, would the emperor ask the Jinyiwei to solve the case within a deadline?

Jiang Yun turned his head and looked at Qian Buchou beside him: "What was the cause of Mr. Zhang's death?"

Qian Buchou whispered, "The coroner we invited said at first that Mr. Zhang died of drunkenness..."

"Then report it to the higher-ups. His Majesty doesn't believe it."

Jiang Yun frowned when he heard this. If it were him, he wouldn't believe it either.

He was a high-ranking official of the third rank, who had just returned to Beijing and had offended the rebels of the Red Lotus Sect.

He suddenly died of drunkenness.

Who believes it?
Jiang Yun didn't wait any longer, and took Qian Buchou with him and walked into Zhang's house.

Zhang Wenqi's body was lying on the bed in the bedroom.

Wei Huaian was leading people to search inside to see if there was anything suspicious.

"Did you get anything out of the butler's mouth?" Wei Huaian turned around and asked.

Jiang Yun shook his head, slowly walked to the corpse, and examined it carefully, but did not find much.

He was a Taoist priest in his previous life, not a forensic doctor. It would be difficult for him to find any useful information just by looking at the corpse.

Qian Buchou, who was standing next to him, whispered, "Brother Jiang, don't you have any magic to summon spirits?"

"If it were up to you, I'd better summon Mr. Zhang's spirit and ask him what's going on."

Upon hearing this, Wei Huaian's eyes lit up and he looked over curiously.

Jiang Yun shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Soul summoning is the biggest taboo in Taoism."

"You thought you could call him up and ask him questions honestly, and he would answer."

"And then leave obediently?"

"Once the dead souls come back, they will want to stay in the world of the living because they don't want to be reincarnated."

"Transformed into a ghost."

"And the person who summons the spirit will be killed immediately."

Listening to Jiang Yun's words, Qian Buchou looked miserable and paced back and forth, feeling troubled.

Jiang Yun glanced around the room and asked Wei Huaian in a deep voice, "Master Wei, tell me, if we rule out accidents, who would want Master Zhang to die?"

"A rebel from the Red Lotus Cult." Wei Huaian said without hesitation: "After all, Lord Zhang Wenqi did not accept the Red Lotus Cult's recruitment, and..."

Having said that, Wei Huaian paused, and he also realized that some logic didn't make sense.

Jiang Yun said in a deep voice: "No court official or minister would easily accept the Red Lotus Cult's recruitment. Could it be that the Red Lotus Cult wants to kill all the court officials one by one?"

Wei Huaian's heart sank, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

"What benefits will killing Master Zhang Wenqi bring to the Red Lotus Cult?" Jiang Yun touched his chin. "Or will someone else gain more benefits by killing Master Zhang Wenqi?"

When Wei Huaian heard this, he quickly came to Zhang Wenqi's body and asked in a low voice: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Yun squatted beside the corpse and said in a deep voice: "Brother Qian, why don't we ask the coroner to come and open up Master Zhang Wenqi's stomach to see how Master Zhang Wenqi died."

"Oh, okay." Qian Buchou was stunned for a moment, then quickly went out to ask for a coroner.

Wei Huaian narrowed his eyes and gave Jiang Yun a look.

The two walked out of the bedroom, and Wei Huaian asked in a low voice: "Do you suspect that someone else in the court did it?"

"Just a suspicion." Jiang Yun nodded, but then frowned: "But logically speaking, even if Lord Zhang offended someone in the court..."

"He is now so highly regarded by His Majesty and is in high spirits. No one should take action against him at this critical moment."

Jiang Yun's mind was a little confused now.

Zhang Wenqi's death was too strange. Logically speaking, neither the Red Lotus Cult nor the people in the court had any reason to kill him.

"We have to wait for the coroner to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of his death."

Wei Huaian frowned and looked up at the night sky from time to time.

If the case cannot be solved before dawn.

They are all in trouble.

His Majesty is furious and has ordered an investigation. He is not kidding you.

If he fails to solve the case, at the very least, he, as the general commander in charge of the case, can forget about staying in the Jinyiwei.

But now, this case seems quite strange.

He drank at noon, came back to take a nap, and then died.

No one saw how he died.

Soon, a coroner in his forties was called in.

The body was also carried out of the bedroom and placed on a wooden board outside the door.

"Sir, do you really want to open the body?" The coroner brought a set of precise and sharp tools and asked several people for confirmation before the operation.

"Open." Wei Huaian nodded.

The coroner quickly took off Zhang Wenqi's clothes and performed surgery.

Jiang Yun said: "See what's in the stomach."

The coroner was experienced and quickly cut open the stomach to examine it.

They are all ordinary food that has not been digested yet.

"There's nothing unusual..." the coroner whispered, "According to my experience, he probably died from drinking..."

Upon hearing this, Qian Buchou cursed, "Nonsense! Mr. Zhang's alcohol tolerance is quite good. How could he die just by drinking a few glasses of wine?"

Jiang Yun squatted beside the corpse, looking at the bloody scene in front of him, and fell into deep thought.

Jiang Yun said, "I don't have enough experience in handling cases. What do you think, Lord Wei?"

Wei Huaian took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and whispered in Jiang Yun's ear: "If we follow the usual methods of our Jinyiwei..."

"Catch all the suspects and torture them for questioning."

"It always tortures someone to the point where they can't stand it anymore and admit that they did it."

"But His Majesty is furious, so I'm afraid this trick won't work."

"Brother Jiang, since you were able to solve the Changxin Temple case, this shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

Jiang Yun touched his chin. There were no injuries on his body, no poison in his stomach, and no obvious cause of death.

Jiang Yun then put his hands together and chanted, "Wandering soul, where can you live? In the wild places beside the river, in the graveyard and in the forest. You were frightened and lost your true soul. Please help me find it quickly, God of the Road."

Then, Jiang Yun cast a yellow spell into Zhang Wenqi's body...

Qian Buchou, who was standing next to him, saw this and asked in surprise, "Brother Jiang, what are you doing?"

Jiang Yun said in a deep voice: "Summon the soul."

Qian Buchou was stunned and asked in confusion: "Didn't you say that summoning spirits is useless?"

Jiang Yun did not answer, but continued to chant the spell, but he failed to call back Zhang Wenqi's soul.

Jiang Yun stopped, and said with some idea in mind: "I summoned his soul just to test whether his soul is still there."

"Even if he comes back as a fierce ghost, with so many Jinyiwei, we can capture him."

"But I can't bring back his soul."

"There's only one possibility."

"His soul has been taken away by someone."

"This is the real cause of his death."

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(End of this chapter)