Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 777
"Sir, why do you think this is not an accident, but a homicide?" Li Yu asked puzzled.

With his hands behind his back, Li Canghai murmured, "Before the body was found, all of this was just an accident. But after the body was found, I was sure that it was not an accident."

"Why is that?" Di Qing asked curiously.

"First of all, the location of the deceased's body. The deceased fell from the cliff behind the ancestral hall, but the body was found ten miles away. This is one of the suspicious points." Li Canghai said.

"What's so strange about this? Maybe it's because the water flow was too fast, and the dead body was rushed ten miles away?" Li Yu guessed.

Li Canghai shook his head: "I have checked the water flow, and it is not as fast as I imagined. Moreover, there are reefs all over the river, if the corpses flow with the waves, they will be easily blocked by the reefs like these kite skeletons, and it is absolutely impossible to appear in the river." Ten miles away. What's more, shortly after the kite fell, the townspeople immediately went down the cliff to rescue, so how could they not find the body nearby?"

"This is suspicious." Li Yu rubbed his chin and pondered.

"Secondly, the time of death of the deceased. I checked the body of the deceased. It took only three hours from the time the deceased fell to his death until the body was found. But I found corpse spots on the body of the deceased." After a pause, Li Canghai continued: " Although the corpse spots will appear within one or two hours after death, there is a premise that the temperature cannot be too low. If the temperature is too low, the blood will freeze, and the speed of the corpse spots will slow down. When the dead is found, the dead The corpse is already frozen, imagine a corpse that has been frozen for a long time, how can there be such obvious corpse spots?"

Di Qing propped her chin with both hands, blinked her eyes and said, "In this way, the deceased is indeed dead! But we clearly witnessed the death of the deceased with our own eyes? How can this be explained?"

"About this point, I haven't figured out the key point yet. This is also a crucial part of this case. If I can figure this out, this case must be easily solved." Li Canghai paced and pondered.

Li Yu rubbed his chin and said curiously: "Since this case is defined as murder by the husband, I don't know what clues the husband has found?"

Li Canghai took a sip of hot tea, pointed to the various things on the table, and said, "I found these from the cliff top and the river at the scene of the crime, but I haven't figured it out yet. The key to that."

Li Yu and Di Qing leaned over, lay down on the table, and looked carefully.

Candles, kite skeletons, thin cotton strings….

No matter how you look at these things, they are extremely common, and the two of them really can't figure out how they have anything to do with the murder case.

"Sir, why are the lengths of these two cotton ropes so different?" Li Yu asked while holding two cotton ropes in his hands.

Li Canghai took a look and said, "These two cotton threads were found from different places. The longer one was found at the place where the corpse was found, and the shorter one was found at the top of the cliff."

Li Yu snorted, looked down at the two cotton threads, and thoughtfully said: "The two cotton threads are made of similar materials, although they are different in length, but they are located in two places, it seems that it is by no means a coincidence!"

Li Yu's words made Li Canghai think of something. After he picked up the two cotton ropes, he hadn't compared them yet. Now after Li Yu said it, he found that the two cotton threads were very similar in material and thickness.

Li Canghai walked over, took the two cotton threads in his hands, and compared them carefully in front of the candles.

Only after this comparison did Li Canghai discover that the two cotton threads are not only different in length, but also have other differences.

The short one showed signs of being burned on the head, but the long one did not.

Besides that, the long one showed some unnatural bends.

Li Canghai thought for a while, straightened the long cotton thread, and laid it flat on the table.

I saw that the cotton thread began to curl slightly, and then bent into a large arc.

"How did this happen?" Li Yu and Di Qing asked in surprise as they watched the changes in the cotton thread.

Li Canghai frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

The reason why the cotton thread has this change is because the cotton thread has been bound to something in a loop, but because the binding is too tight, the cotton thread has maintained this shape, so it will show an unnatural bend.

Li Canghai closed his eyes and carefully recalled the scene where the body was found.

Suddenly, his heart moved, and an idea popped up in his mind.

"Could it... be like this?" Li Canghai frowned and started talking to himself.

At this moment, Lu Jitong's voice came from outside the door.

"My lord, the county magistrate is here to see you."

"Let him in." Li Canghai put away the cotton thread and said.

The door creaked and was pushed open, and Jiuyuan County Magistrate Zhou Chang walked in.

"My lord sees you." Zhou Chang hurriedly saluted Li Canghai.

"Why did Master Zhou come here?" Li Canghai asked.

Zhou Chang took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, and respectfully said to Li Canghai: "My lord, this is the information about the deceased that the lower officials found, please have a look."

Li Canghai took the note and read it carefully.

"Cang Hai, did you find anything?" Di Qing leaned over and asked.

Li Canghai frowned and said, "There is not much difference between what Liu Yang said and what was written above. The deceased was eccentric by nature, rarely interacted with others, and never had any disputes with others, let alone having enemies."

"That's strange. If he had no enemy, who would kill him?" Li Yu asked puzzled.

Li Canghai put the note away, paced and pondered for a moment, and said, "I just thought of something, and now I need to confirm it."

After a pause, Li Canghai said to the two of them: "Get some rest early, tomorrow is the sacrificial ceremony, so don't oversleep."

After saying this, Li Canghai took Zhou Chang and Lu Jitong out of the inn and went to Yizhuang.

Lantern Chen's body was stored in the Yizhuang, and is now under the care of the government officials. No one is allowed to enter the Yizhuang without permission.

When he came to Lantern Chen's body, Li Canghai immediately inspected the body.

Soon, Li Canghai found an inconspicuous strangle mark on the neck of the corpse.

The scars are very thin, and it is difficult to find them without careful inspection.

Li Canghai carefully compared the strangle marks, then took out the cotton rope found at the place where the body was found, and wrapped it around the strangle marks.

Sure enough, the cotton rope exactly matched the strangle marks on the neck of the deceased!
"My lord, could it be that the deceased was strangled to death by this cotton rope?" Lu Jitong said in surprise when he saw Li Canghai compare the strangle marks.

Li Canghai looked solemn, he did not speak, but stared at the cotton rope in his hand, lost in thought.

This cotton rope is extremely thin, it is impossible to strangle the person to death, but the corpse has strangle marks of the cotton rope, the function of this cotton rope is the most puzzling.

(End of this chapter)