A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 232 Headless Female Corpse (20)

Winter days are short and nights are long. By the time the group arrived at the mass grave at breakneck speed, the sun had already begun to set.

The cold west wind blew from the wilderness and mountains, making the mass graves, piled high with bones and littered with rotting corpses, stinking and terrifying.

In addition, flocks of crows circled and cawed, and vultures, which love to eat carrion, were gnawing on the corpses!

This scene was unsettling not only for the people, but even for the horses, who reared up and neighed incessantly!
"dismount!"

Mu Qingcheng jumped off his horse and instructed Jiang Zhan, "Tie the reins securely to prevent the horse from being startled and running away."

Jiang Zhan led the constables to personally tie up the horses, hoping to avoid the situation and slow things down, lest they couldn't resist running away before the horses even started.

"Sister Mu."

Bai Zhizhi leaned closer, called out softly, took Mu Qingcheng's arm, turned her face away, not daring to look at her for long, her body trembling slightly.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Mu Qingcheng gently patted Bai Zhizhi's hand, then glanced at everyone and joked with a smile, "We're all people who wield knives, why are you afraid of rotting corpses and bones? Fortunately, it's the dead of winter now. If it were summer, the will-o'-the-wisps alone would scare you to death. Alright, with me, the coroner, here to keep things under control, everyone can rest assured. Don't let An Si'er laugh at us."

After speaking, she looked at An Si'er, whose expression remained unchanged, and was quite surprised. "This place is frightening even during the day, and it's even more terrifying at night. You're quite brave!"

An Si'er smiled obsequiously and said, "Sir, you don't know this, whether you're brave or not depends on whether you want to live. As long as you can get through your fear and steal some food, you can have a full meal. Who cares about being afraid?"

Mu Qingcheng seemed to be deep in thought.

She paused, then looked at the mass grave that covered about three acres and asked, "An Si'er, where was the woman's body from that night thrown? Can you still find it?"

“Sure, I’m a regular at mass graves. I could find my way around even with my eyes closed.” An Si’er’s joy and anger were written all over his face, and he looked smug.

"Okay, go find it quickly!"

"Alright, alright, please wait a moment, sir!"

Mu Qingcheng signaled Jiang Zhan to lead the constables to follow, in case An Si'er escaped.

Jiang Zhan reluctantly accepted the mission, tore off a piece of his clothes to cover his mouth and nose, and led An Si'er deeper into the mountain of corpses.

Mu Qingcheng looked around, and for some reason, she felt that the landscape of the mass graves in the capital was very familiar, as if she had been there before.

Seeing her confused look, Bai Zhizhi asked with curiosity and concern, "Sister Mu, what's wrong?"

Mu Qingcheng did not answer.

Her gaze moved from the giant, snake-head-shaped rock protruding in front of her to a century-old tree beside her, and finally settled on two opposing stone walls that formed a narrow passage between the rocks.

"Zhizhi, I feel like I've been here before, or maybe I've seen it in a dream. There was even a boy in my dream..."

Mu Qingcheng tried hard to recall, but a sudden dull pain shot through the back of her head. She couldn't help but reach up and press her hand to the back of her head, her fingertips touching the scar left by the old injury. She felt inexplicably flustered and confused, as if a gap in her memory was missing. "Zhizhi, have I... have I forgotten something?"

Bai Zhizhi quickly grasped Mu Qingcheng's shoulders and said anxiously, "Sister Mu, has your old injury flared up again? Once we get back to the yamen, we'll ask Lord Song to find the imperial physician. He'll definitely be able to cure you. It's all my fault. I remembered this a while ago, but somehow I completely forgot about it!"

"It's nothing, it's an old injury from over ten years ago, there's no rush." ​​Mu Qingcheng took deep breaths. With official duties at hand, she couldn't allow herself to be unwell, so she cleared her mind and stopped forcing herself to recall the past.

"Master Mu, we've found it!"

Just then, Jiang Zhan's shouts rang out.

Mu Qingcheng shook her head vigorously and instructed, "Zhizhi, just wait for me here. Don't go over there. I'm afraid you'll have nightmares tonight."

"Okay, I'll listen to Sister Mu."

Bai Zhizhi didn't try to be brave. They were currently on the outskirts of the mass grave, far away, so they couldn't see very clearly. If they were to step inside, they would probably throw up their dinner from the night before.

Mu Qingcheng strode over but did not see the female corpse. An Si'er hurriedly explained, "Sir, I can confirm that the female corpse in the sack was found in this location on the eve of the winter solstice. It was a fresh corpse that had just died. After taking the jewelry, I stuffed the corpse back into the sack and then left the mass grave."

"Then why did you only go to pawn the body today?" Jiang Zhan angrily retorted. "If you had discovered that the deceased might have been beaten to death, you should have reported it to the authorities immediately! Now that the body is gone, can you take responsibility?"

An Si'er knelt down with a thud, trembling with fear, and said, "Sir, I am just a lowly refugee trying to survive. How could I dare to meddle in other people's business? Besides, if I were to steal valuables from a corpse and then go to the Jingzhao Prefecture to report it, wouldn't I be walking into a trap? I've been hiding those pieces of jewelry for days, afraid that the corpse might cause trouble and bring trouble upon myself. That's why I thought I'd wait and see. Today, I really couldn't beg for food, and the weather is cold. I have no clothes to wear, my stomach is empty, and I'm about to starve. That's why I risked going to pawn them..."

At this point, An Si'er was already in tears. "Why don't you just lock me up in jail, sir? At least I'll have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, and at least I'll have food to eat, so I won't freeze to death..."

"Shut up!" Jiang Zhan couldn't stand it anymore. He frowned, took the water bottle from his waist, and handed it to An Si'er. "Stop rambling on. Drink some water first. When we get back to the yamen, I'll do as you wish and lock you up for ten or eight years, so you'll never have to worry about food or drink."

An Si'er was overjoyed, "Thank you, sir!"

Jiang Zhan was too lazy to pay attention to An Si'er anymore. He ordered him to stay put and then turned to look at Mu Qingcheng, only to see her squatting on the ground, studying the marks there.

The blood, black and red, had seeped into the ground and frozen solid. There were drag marks on the ground, but they were very short, indicating that the body had been dragged away. "This is..." Mu Qingcheng's sharp eyes suddenly fell on a clump of blood-stained, dark hair tangled in firewood. She put on pigskin gloves, carefully picked it up, examined it closely, and confirmed, "It's hair!"

"Hair?" Jiang Zhan was taken aback. "Dead people lose their hair?"

Mu Qingcheng frowned and said, "The cut is clean, it was obviously chopped off! I think I know what happened."

Jiang Zhan's mind raced. "Master Mu, do you mean the female corpse An Si'er saw was a headless corpse? And this clump of hair was cut off during the beheading?"

"Let's assume that after the victim was murdered, he was stuffed into a sack and thrown into a mass grave. Then, An Si'er appeared, stole the victim's jewelry, put the victim back into the sack, and after An Si'er left, another person came, cut off the victim's head, and then carried the body to the Su River..."

As Mu Qingcheng deduced this, she suddenly remembered something, "An Si'er, do you remember the color of the clothes the female corpse you saw was wearing?"

An Si'er replied, "Sir, although I was holding a torch, the light was dim, and the woman's clothes were stained with blood. Moreover, they were a ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and a shangyi (another type of traditional Chinese dress), and the colors seemed to be different. I couldn't tell them apart and dared not make any wild guesses."

"Not white?" Mu Qingcheng's eyes narrowed.

“White?” An Si’er tilted her head and thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, “It’s not white, it’s definitely not.”

Mu Qingcheng pondered, "If the two female corpses are indeed the same, then the victim's clothes were stripped off by the murderer who disposed of the body. Officer Jiang, spread out the men and search everywhere!"

"Yes!"

Jiang Zhan accepted the order.

The constables scattered and searched different areas.

Mu Qingcheng took out the evidence box, put the hair inside, and picked up a few strands of hemp thread left on the ground, which she also put away.

Soon, Jiang Zhan, who was near the First Line of Sky, sent word, "Master Mu, we've made a discovery!"

Mu Qingcheng immediately rushed over.

"We found a bunch of charred clothes." Jiang Zhan pointed to the burnt items in the crevice of the stone wall and said, "Fortunately, a few pieces of cloth were preserved. I wonder if they are the clothes we are looking for?"

Mu Qingcheng picked out the remaining fragments of charred cloth one by one. Sure enough, they were different colors, including pink, green, and light blue.

"This green cloth has two layers and is lined with cotton, like it's used to make a cotton-padded jacket. The light blue part is the sleeves, and the pink part looks a bit like a skirt."

Mu Qingcheng asked An Si'er to confirm again. An Si'er wasn't sure, but she felt it looked quite similar.

As darkness approached, Mu Qingcheng said, "Captain Jiang, hurry up and continue searching to see if the head has also been thrown here."

Jiang Zhan nodded, "Yes!"

After collecting the evidence, Mu Qingcheng also joined the search.

But when it came to heads, their luck ran out. A dozen or so people searched the more than three acres of mass grave for over an hour, turning over every nook and cranny, but to no avail!
Night falls.

As the temperature dropped, and everyone had been outdoors for too long, they were starting to feel the heat.

Mu Qingcheng then led his men back to their residence.

Outside the Jingzhao Prefecture government office, Song Li waited and waited, and just as his patience was about to run out, he finally saw the main force returning in the distance. He immediately ran back to the main courtyard to report to Song Shuyu.

Song Shuyu, who had been anxious all afternoon, finally felt relieved.

He went to the door to greet him, only to find a man squatting next to a shop opposite the yamen, staring longingly at the yamen.

Song Shuyu frowned, beckoned, and the guard immediately came over, bowing and asking, "Your subordinate is here, please give your orders, sir!"

"Who is that?"

The constable followed Song Shuyu's gaze and replied, "Reporting to you, sir, that man arrived half an hour ago. He claimed to be the manager of the Bai family business and requested to see Miss Bai Zhizhi. However, Miss Bai was not at the yamen, so I sent someone back. That man is stubborn and has been waiting there ever since."

"Bring the person over here," Song Shuyu ordered.

"Yes!"

The constables rushed over, brought the man back to report.

Song Shuyu sized him up and, seeing that the man had an honest face and dressed like a shopkeeper, asked, "What business do you have with Miss Bai?"

"This humble subject pays his respects to the Prefect of the Capital!" the man said hastily, kowtowing.

(End of this chapter)