Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 19 Gao Yuntian wants to show off his power
Gao Yuntian seemed not to have heard what Old Zheng said. He blinked and asked, "Are you saying that the deceased didn't commit suicide, but was murdered?"

Jia Chuan looked up at Gao Yuntian in surprise and couldn't help saying, "You figured it out without me saying it directly. That's great!"

Gao Yuntian ignored Jia Chuan's 'compliment' and nervously looked at Old Zheng, who had already taken off his gloves and was carefully taking notes, and asked, "Is he right?"

"What do you remember about me? You just saw it. The deceased's face was blue and purple. If he had committed suicide by hanging, his face would have been pale, his tongue would have been sticking out, and his feet would have been hanging down... Even without considering all that, just looking at the stool, you can tell it wasn't suicide."

Jia Chuan pointed at the long cloth on the ground and said, "This room doesn't look like someone lives there every day. There's only a mattress on the bed. The floor and table are clean, but the bed is covered in dust. This long cloth is clean, where did it come from? The deceased wasn't a member of this family, so she probably couldn't come and go as she pleased, especially in the bedroom. She must have been temporarily placed in this room..."

Before Jia Chuan could finish his words, Gao Yuntian turned and walked out the door. He shouted at the uncle and nephew who were trembling with fear in the yard, "Is there anyone else living here?"

The uncle and nephew just looked at Gao Yuntian in astonishment, their eyes filled with fear and confusion, as if they didn't understand what Gao Yuntian was saying at all.

Inside the house, Old Zheng put down his pen, squatted next to Jia Chuan, and asked in a low voice, "Where did you learn all this?"

"For a period of time, I had some strange dreams continuously, and then these appeared in my mind." Jia Chuan didn't even raise his head, carefully examining the scars on the deceased's arm, and then carefully looked at the nails.

"Is this possible?" The wrinkles on Old Zheng's face relaxed in surprise.

Jia Chuan did not explain any more, he did not know how to explain. He had thought about sleeping and going back countless times, but who could know where the past was just a dream?

This is all he has, and the Huang Luling case exposed everything to him. But if you think about it carefully, if he even conceals this little ability, he will probably starve to death in this life.

So when Old Zheng deliberately wanted to test Jia Chuan today, Jia Chuan didn't even hesitate and went straight to the body for an external examination. There was no point in trying to cover it up at this point, so he simply started talking about metaphysics.

Gao Yuntian's patience was already gone. He grabbed the middle-aged man's shirt and opened his mouth wide to ask again, "Is this your home? Who else is in your family?"

Inside the house, Jia Chuan turned to Old Zheng and said, "Gaoshen is not such a fool. He knows the murderer isn't the uncle and nephew."

"Why can't it be the uncle and nephew?"

"If they knew the deceased was dead, they wouldn't have responded in the courtyard the way they did just now. They would have simply said the deceased had already passed away, and they wouldn't have taken the deceased to the backyard after the yamen runners arrived. They can't explain this kind of thing clearly. What's the point of just hoping for a judge to sit in court?"

Old Zheng tilted his head and thought for a moment, then heard Gao Yuntian in the courtyard shout, "You don't usually go back to your parents' home, but you went back today. Tell me where your father-in-law lives?!"

Jia Chuan stood up and walked to the door and said, "I'm afraid a woman can't hang someone up there."

Gao Yuntian turned around and glared, shouting, "You tell me?!"

Old Zheng also came to the door and said, "Hurry up and tell someone to go back and drive the donkey cart and take the body back to the county government office as soon as possible. I'm afraid it will be difficult to leave the hospital soon."

Gao Yuntian was even more furious and shouted, "By the time you remember, the flowers will be cold! I'm taking a confession, don't bother me anymore!"

Old Zheng shrank his neck and retreated into the house, but Jia Chuan began to check the doors and windows, listening to the conversation in the yard with his ears perked up.

"I hope the captain will investigate. When Qing'er wanted to stay here last night, I knew her stepmother would come today and there would be a quarrel. What kind of person is that woman? The captain will find out by asking around, so I asked them to go back to her parents' home to hide early this morning..."

Jia Chuan leaned over and asked, "Your family doesn't agree with you letting Qing'er stay overnight, right?"

The middle-aged man looked at Jia Chuan, sighed, and nodded.

The young scholar finally spoke, his voice as weak as a mosquito: "Uncle had no choice but to let me be with Qing'er."

Jia Chuan didn't hear clearly, so he walked up to the scholar and asked, "What did you just say?"

Gao Yuntian impatiently stopped Jia Chuan and said, "You have nothing to do here. Go in and continue the autopsy."

Jia Chuan glanced at the hand blocking his way, squinted his eyes at Gao Yuntian, and asked jokingly, "I already know who the murderer is, why do I need to perform an autopsy?"

Gao Yuntian widened his eyes, opened his mouth, and uttered four words: "I know that too!"

"Who is it?" Old Zheng asked.

"Who else could it be? It must be..." Gao Yuntian looked at the middle-aged man and asked anxiously, "Have your wife and children ever come back?"

"No! They left at daybreak and never came back."

"Is there a back door in this courtyard?"

"I built this backyard myself. I erected a high wall and never left a back door."

Gao Yuntian turned his head and looked at Jia Chuan, as if to say: You see, there is no back door.

Jia Chuan snorted and asked, "Is this all you can do?"

"You can do it!"

Jia Chuan said, "First, order someone to find the mother and son. They must be not far away. Once they are found, take them directly to the county government office."

Gao Yuntian was even more anxious than the middle-aged man. He asked anxiously, "When will it be your turn to teach me how to do things?!"

The middle-aged man pushed Gao Yuntian aside and hurriedly explained to Jia Chuan, "It can't be them, mother and son. They, even though they don't agree with what I'm doing, they won't kill Qing'er. If they don't want to keep Qing'er, they can just kick her out when I'm not paying attention. Why bother..."

"Where are your own parents?" Jia Chuan looked at the scholar and asked.

The scholar lowered his head and said, "He died young."

"How old were you when you started living with your uncle and aunt?"

"Thirteen."

Jia Chuan looked at Gao Yuntian and asked, "Do you understand?"

Gao Yuntian turned his head and looked at the detectives and shouted, "What are you still standing there for? He won't tell you where his father-in-law lives, so why don't you ask the neighbors? Once you find out where he lives, immediately take the mother and son back to the county government office! Has the vehicle to transport the corpse arrived? Old Zheng, get ready. Once the vehicle arrives, return to the government office immediately. You two and you..."

Gao Yuntian pointed at the old woman and the people she brought with her: "Let's go to the county government office together!"

The woman said hurriedly, "Of course we have to go. I'm the victim! They killed my daughter, so they have to pay me some money..."

"Have you seen the deceased from last night to today?" Jia Chuan interrupted the old woman and asked the scholar loudly. The scholar quickly shook his head and said, "It starts from emotion, ends with etiquette, and is hidden in the heart, without exceeding the rules."

"Then why do you let her stay here overnight?" Jia Chuan asked with a frown.

"Her stepmother forced her to marry someone else as a concubine. She refused and was often beaten by her stepmother. However, I really couldn't afford the betrothal gifts, so my uncle thought of using this method to save her. She really didn't want to go back, so, so..." The scholar couldn't help but shed tears as he spoke.

"Whose daughter is raised for nothing? You guys are calculating, but now you want to make me lose both my money and my life? No way!"

The old woman jumped up and down and cursed.

Jia Chuan frowned and looked at the old woman and asked, "You must be over seventy, right? The deceased was in his prime, so it's not an exaggeration to say you're his grandmother. I'm curious, is the deceased's father blind? Why would he marry a woman as his second wife?"

As soon as Jia Chuan finished speaking, the only two constables left in the yard burst into laughter. The old woman had never suffered a loss in her argument. Even if she couldn't win the argument, she could win it back with a pair of sharp claws. But the person in front of her was a yamen runner, so she didn't dare to do so. She could only shout at the top of her voice that she was not yet forty.

Jia Chuan looked impatient and waved his hand, saying, "Don't lie. You can tell someone's age by looking at their face. You and the deceased's father will both go to the county government office soon. Then..."

"His father died two years ago! He left us an orphan and a widow..."

"You have a son?" Jia Chuan asked in surprise.

"Of course there is, I gave birth to it!" said the old woman proudly.

Jia Chuan nodded in understanding and said, "I thought people like you would have no descendants, but I didn't expect you to have a son. That means you're planning to sell your daughter, who isn't your biological daughter, to provide a betrothal gift for your son, right? As for how to explain it to the deceased's father when you meet him in the underworld, you're definitely not willing to think about it for now..."

"She eats my food and drinks my drinks, so she has to pay it back..."

"Who says it isn't true? You beat her, scolded her, and sold her. I think she'll want to return it to you. Let's start tonight."

After Jia Chuan finished speaking, the old woman's determination to bite people disappeared in an instant, and she stood there stiffly, as if she was frozen.

Jia Chuan turned his head to look at the middle-aged man and asked, "Your nephew is well-educated and well-mannered, and he speaks very nicely. What about you? Have you seen the deceased between last night and just now?"

The middle-aged man waved his hands quickly and said, "No, no! Qing'er came yesterday afternoon. We just met briefly, and then his aunt took care of him..."

"She stayed in this room last night?"

"Yes."

Jia Chuan nodded and looked at Gao Yuntian and asked, "Do you know what happened?"

Gao Yuntian subconsciously shook his head, then nodded and said, "The deceased died last night."

"You reacted pretty quickly, but the timing was wrong."

"Old Zheng, you've been performing the autopsy for a long time but haven't told me when the deceased died. I'll definitely tell you when I get back..."

"I performed the autopsy. Why are you looking for Old Zheng? The deceased died at the end of the Mao hour today. Have you ever thought about how a living person could be strangled to death quietly without any resistance? This house is small. If the deceased had screamed, the uncle and nephew would have heard it, especially so early in the morning. If they had heard it, Qing'er might not have died."

Gao Yuntian stared at Jia Chuan with wide eyes, his eyes clear and filled with hard thinking.

Just then someone shouted, "The car is here!"

……

Gao Yuntian originally wanted to let Jia Chuan see his power, but he didn't expect to return to the county government office with doubts and a hung head.

Gao Yuntian was very tired along the way.

Gao Yuntian had no suspicion towards the uncle and nephew. If they knew that Qing'er was dead, there was no need to say anything more to the old woman. They could just say that the person had not come last night or had left last night, and they would dispose of the body properly. Even if they could not bury it as soon as possible, they would not leave the body hanging there.

But Jia Chuan was right in his reminder. Since the deceased was of marriageable age and had been abused by her stepmother at home, she had to do all kinds of heavy work. She was not a weak woman. No matter who wanted to hurt her, how could she not do anything?

The yard they just visited was really small. Not to mention screaming, even if you farted in the backyard in quiet hours, people in the front yard might hear it. If Qing'er had cried for help, the uncle and nephew would not have failed to hear it. If they had heard it, they would not be like this today.

As for that old woman, although she was hateful, there was nothing suspicious about her. If she hadn't asked someone to report to the police, this murder would not have been discovered. She could have reported it to Shenming Pavilion.

Shenming Pavilion was built in the fifth year of Hongwu. Taizu was worried that the people in the fields were unaware of the prohibitions and often violated the law by mistake, so he ordered the officials to build Shenming Pavilions in all prefectures, counties, and villages to resolve civil disputes.

The old woman did not think of going to Shenming Pavilion to find the village elder to file a lawsuit, but instead filed a complaint with the county government, hoping to make the matter bigger. Naturally, she could not be the murderer.

To be honest, this case was Gao Yuntian's own fault. He could report it to the county government office or push it to Shenmingting. Gao Yuntian simply wanted to show off in front of Jia Chuan, but his power ended up causing a murder.

Gao Yuntian thought about returning to the county government office and secretly asking the clerk in the clerk's office to write a petition for the old woman. These people didn't understand the law. If he hadn't wanted to show off his power, no one would have gone to that house today. How would this murder case end...

When Gao Yuntian thought of this, he suddenly thought of another question. If the mother and son killed someone, how could they end it without anyone knowing?

……

On the way, Gao Yuntian wanted to ask Jia Chuan several times, but he held back. It was just some details that he couldn't figure out. He thought that if he went back to the court for interrogation and showed him the torture instruments to scare him, he would be able to hear the truth, and then his doubts would be resolved, so there was no need to ask anyone.

It's just that it's a bit difficult to hold the court today. According to the rules of the county government, the case must be received first, and then the magistrate will read it carefully. Then he will summon the plaintiff, defendant and witnesses for detailed questioning. Only on the day the case is released can the court be held.

But Gao Yuntian couldn't wait. His heart was a thousand ants crawling around. He feared he wouldn't be able to sleep or eat until he got to the bottom of this. But he also knew he couldn't rely solely on the county magistrate's approval for a trial today. So he wanted to solve two problems first: why had the deceased not resisted? And second, if the case hadn't been discovered, how would the mother and son know about it? How could a living person just disappear?

The easiest way to solve the first problem was naturally to drug the victim to make him unconscious first, and then strangle him to death. However, he asked the constables who followed him, and they did not find any drug residue. Even if the murderer was innocent, they would still have to buy medicinal materials to boil them. This would be clear once they checked!
Gao Yuntian immediately ordered the police to go to the pharmacy on the street to investigate.

The next question is, could there be accomplices? This requires more witnesses.

This case required the participation of the Lijia and neighbors in the trial. Gao Yuntian also sent two constables to find the Lijia and neighbors of the victim and the defendant's residence.

So, when they returned to the county government office, all the constables who had followed them, except for the two people in front and behind, were sent out by Gao Yuntian.

……

(End of this chapter)