Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 53: No merit, no fault

In the resting hall, Yan Ciwan was carefully examining every wound on Lan Ying's body.

Most of them were long and thin whip wounds, mostly concentrated on the chest, waist, abdomen, and thighs.

In addition, there were scars on Lan Ying's wrists and ankles left by being tied up. Looking at the depth of the scars, it was enough to imagine how fiercely she struggled at that time.

The most conspicuous wound was on the chest, which looked like a knife wound.

This must be because Chaolu was forced to be stabbed by the real murderer.

Yan Ci Wan took out the drawing paper from his sleeve, unfolded it, and held the dagger in the painting close to the corpse. He carefully compared the knife edge and the wound, and the details were almost identical.

This proved that her guess was correct, and the wound was indeed left by Chaolu.

Yan Ciwan looked at the clerk and lowered his voice deliberately to make his voice sound more like a man's.

"Where is the certificate?"

"I'll get it. Please wait."

Qian San took out a certificate from the cabinet and held it in front of Yan Ciwan with both hands.

Yan Ciwan took the certificate and flipped through it page by page.

Over the past year, the autopsy results of all corpses involved in cases in Xiangzhou City have been recorded here, including the serial rape and murder cases that have caused panic in the city in recent days.

She turned to the last page and saw the autopsy conclusion about Lan Ying.

There were blood bruises on the deceased's face, his eyeballs were bulging, blood was flowing from his mouth and nose, there was a wound on his chest caused by a sharp weapon, the wound was about two inches deep, he had lost a lot of blood, his pants were dirty, he had urinary incontinence before his death, there were many whip marks on his body, and his hands and feet had bruises from being tied up.

Yan Ciwan raised his eyes to look at Qian San and asked.

"Why is there no specific cause of death written here?"

Qian San answered cautiously, "This is the custom of the coroner. He usually only examines the corpse. It is the duty of the constable to estimate the cause of death."

Yan Ciwan frowned, obviously dissatisfied with the answer.

Qian San quickly continued, "Although the coroner did not write the cause of death in the autopsy report, he said privately that Lan Ying might have died of suffocation."

Chaolu, who had just stepped over the threshold, couldn't help but stop when she heard this.

She immediately quickened her pace and ran to Qian San, asking anxiously, "How could Lan Ying die of suffocation? Shouldn't she have been stabbed to death?"

Qian San was confused by the question: "I'm not a coroner, so I don't know the details. If you want to know the reason, you can wait for the coroner Shang to come and ask him in person."

They didn't have to wait long before the coroner Shang Benxin arrived, and with him came the judicial assistant Wei Lansheng.

Yan Ciwan had met Wei Lansheng once.

She knew that this man was thoughtful and upright, and was not easy to fool, so after he came in, she stepped back unnoticed and lowered her head to avoid his gaze.

Wei Lansheng was in charge of investigating and trying the serial rape and murder case. When he heard that the Internal Guard had sent someone to examine the bodies of the victims, he immediately put down his official duties and quickly rushed to the resting place.

When he arrived near the resting place, he happened to meet the coroner Shang Benxin.

So the two of them appeared in front of Yan Ciwan and others together.

Wei Lansheng glanced at Cha Bingliang and his companions, half believing and half doubting: "Are you all internal guards?"

The Inner Guard is a sharp blade in the hands of the saint, and all of its members are highly skilled, but the three people in front of them don't look like they know how to fight.

Especially the thin young man standing at the back, with a sallow complexion and pale lips, as if he would fall down at the slightest wind. How could such a weak person be able to enter the Inner Guard Palace?
Cha Bingliang smiled slightly: "To be honest, I used to work in the palace's eunuch department, and later I was transferred to the Internal Guard Palace. Now I am sent by the Grand Councilor." Wei Lansheng had come into contact with eunuchs when he was in Chang'an before, so he quickly realized that the person in front of him should be a eunuch.

Cha Bingliang accepted the other party's scrutiny calmly, and he did not show any shyness about his identity as a eunuch.

He pointed at Chao Lu and Yan Ci Wan and introduced them, "These two came out of the palace with me. Although they are not as skilled as the inner guards, they are literate, very careful in their work, and have some knowledge of medicine."

Wei Lansheng's gaze stopped on Yan Ciwan. Somehow, he felt that this person looked familiar, as if he had met him before.

He suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

Yan Ciwan lowered his head and answered in a low voice, "I am Li Yan."

Seeing that Wei Lansheng was staring at Yan Ciwan, Cha Bingliang was afraid that Wei Lansheng might notice something, so he quickly interrupted.

"We are here at the government office to check on the progress of the case under the order of the Grand Chamberlain. I have a few questions for the coroner."

Wei Lansheng was suspicious of Li Yan's identity, but the other party was holding the token of the Inner Guard House, and had the guarantee of the Inner Guard House's chief minister. Without solid evidence, Wei Lansheng could not do anything to the other party, so he could only look away and said:
"go ahead."

Cha Bingliang then expressed Yan Ciwan's doubts.

Shang Benxin, who had been silent since entering the door, had to stand up at this time. He explained with a flattering smile.

"The deceased's abdomen was swollen, his eyeballs were protruding, blood and water were flowing out of his mouth and nose, his face was red and black with bruises, and he was incontinent. These are all signs of death from suffocation after someone blocked his mouth and nose."

Wei Lansheng added: "The other victims in the serial rape and murder case also had the same death characteristics. They were all abused and raped, and then suffocated by covering their mouths and noses."

Cha Bingliang asked again: "Where is the file? Can I take a look?"

"This case has not been concluded yet, and the files have not been closed. The relevant evidence and testimony are still being sorted out. If you are interested, you can come with me to take a look."

"Then I'll have to trouble Wei Fazuo to lead the way."

Cha Bingliang asked Yan Ciwan and Chaolu to stay here to record the results of the autopsy so that they could report to the chief minister. Then he and Wei Lansheng left the resting hall together.

As soon as Wei Lansheng left, Yan Ciwan breathed a sigh of relief.

She had just sensed that Wei Lansheng was suspicious of her.

It was not advisable to stay here for long, she had to speed up as soon as possible.

Yan Ciwan picked up the certificate and asked Shang Benxin.

"Since you knew that Lan Ying died of suffocation, why didn't you write the cause of death into the autopsy report?"

Shang Benxin smiled awkwardly.

Yan Ciwan frowned: "Why?"

The other party was from the Internal Guard House, and Shang Benxin didn't dare to offend him, so he had to tell the truth.

"Death by suffocation is just my personal inference. Symptoms like abdominal distension and urinary incontinence are not necessarily caused by suffocation. If death is caused by other reasons, similar phenomena may occur. If it is found out in the future that the cause of death is not suffocation, then I have misled the case. How can a small coroner like me bear such a big responsibility?"

Everyone has his own way of survival. Shang Benxin’s way of survival is not to seek merit, but to avoid mistakes.

Chaolu asked anxiously, "In other words, you can't be sure that Lan Ying was suffocated to death?"

Shang Benxin was in a dilemma: "How should I put it? Nothing is absolute in this world. If you insist on thinking this way, that's fine."

(End of this chapter)