I bring bad luck to my husband, you bring bad luck to your wife.

After settling Old Mrs. Zhou in, Yang Tongchuan rushed back to the yamen, where several constables had just finished transporting the body back to the morgue.

This thing was so rotten that the flesh and bones were separated, it was impossible to lift. It took several people a lot of effort to get it back.

The coroner had not yet finished his examination at this point.

Let's interrogate the custodian together with County Lieutenant Zhou first.

When Yang Tongchuan went to find County Magistrate Zhou, he discovered that County Magistrate Zhou had developed a high fever in his room.

"Oh no, he's been frightened." Yang Tongchuan arranged for a yamen runner to fetch a doctor, then left one person to attend to him while he went to interrogate the pawnbroker.

"Tell me, what's going on with this house?" Yang Tongchuan didn't give the broker a friendly look.

"Officer Yang, there's nothing wrong with this house. The owner is a distant relative from my husband's family. They went to do business in another city, and the house has been empty for over a year. They wrote to me recently saying they don't plan to come back for the time being and asked me to rent it out for them. There really isn't a problem at all. If there were a problem, how could I dare rent it to the county magistrate? Do I want to live too long?" The broker said, taking out the owner's letter of authorization.

"Stop joking around and talk to me properly. Explain the whole rental process to me clearly."

Yang Tongchuan wasted a long time with the brokers and didn't get any useful information.

The broker had also inspected the cellar and found nothing unusual. He couldn't even remember if the large vat had been placed there.

Yang Tongchuan did not release the man easily, but locked him up, making him think carefully about what else he might have forgotten to say.

There's absolutely no lead to this case right now.

Yang Tongchuan arrived at the morgue, but the coroner had not yet finished examining the body.

"Officer Yang, wait a moment. This is difficult to examine. It's almost completely rotten. It's probably been dead for several months." The coroner was most afraid of encountering such a corpse in the summer; it was too painful.

While Yang Tongchuan was waiting for the autopsy results, the constables below came to report that they had finished looking at the scene and found no signs of a struggle.

However, the signs of struggle in the cellar suggest that the deceased was still breathing when he was locked inside.

Another very useful discovery was that they found a bloodstained stone in the cellar, which, judging by its size, was probably used to weigh down pickled vegetables in the winter. They have brought it back.

Yang Tongchuan's mind was in a mess. He didn't know where to start to sort out the case, so he picked up a pen and paper and wrote down all the information he knew to help him think.

"Officer Yang, County Lieutenant Zhou is looking for you."

Yang Tongchuan thought that County Lieutenant Zhou had remembered some crucial information, so he hurriedly went to his room.

Unexpectedly, County Lieutenant Zhou only instructed Yang Tongchuan to handle the case seriously and seek justice for the deceased, and then rambled on and on about nonsense.

Yang Tongchuan was already cursing in his mind.

"I understand. County Commandant Zhou, please rest first. I will come and report to you as soon as I have sorted out the case."

"Okay, go ahead. Also, about finding a place for me, I think it's better to find someone else. Find me a reliable one and arrange it as soon as possible. The price should be about the same as the current one. My mother shouldn't stay at your house for too long."

"I understand, I'll arrange it right away. Now that we've found a house, shall we take you to see it first, or should we bring the old lady along?"

"Let my mother take a look. As long as she approves, I have no objection."

"Understood, I'll take care of it right away."

After all that rambling, the real point was finding a new place to live.

Yang Tong was currently unable to leave, so he could only send one of his constables to his home first to inquire about Zhou's mother's requirements, and then go to a broker to look at houses.

After all that work, the coroner has also found something out.

"Officer Yang, look, these are the preliminary findings." The coroner handed the roll of paper to Yang Tongchuan.

The deceased was a male in his twenties.

He has an old fracture in his lower back that has healed, and he is missing two fingers on his right hand.

There was a knife wound on his lower back, but it was so badly rotten that it was impossible to tell anything from it. There was also a wound on his skull from a heavy blow.

"How did he die?"

"It doesn't seem like he was stabbed to death. It's more like he was smashed half to death, bled out, and then died from exhaustion." It's a bit difficult for the coroner to find more information in such a short time.

"What happened to this old injury on your lower back?"

"The bone repair marks look quite old, like they were left from a splint."

"Has he been punished with a cane?" That means there's a criminal record that can be checked.

"It seems so," the coroner said tactfully.

"Is there any other information that could reveal their identity?"

"There's nothing left now. The clothes were cut open, but we couldn't find the body, and we can't make out any facial features."

"Continue the testing." Yang Tongchuan was not satisfied with the result; he needed more useful information.

The deceased was a man in his twenties who had been flogged in the government office and was missing a finger. With only this information, it would be difficult to find the deceased.

The only option was for the police to conduct a needle-in-a-haystack search. They checked missing persons records while also reviewing old case files.

It would be troublesome if the deceased was not a local.

When I got home in the evening, Xiangxi was preparing dinner. The food for Grandma Zhou needed to be prepared and brought to her room.

"Thank you for your hard work." Yang Tongchuan saw that Xiangxi was working hard and offered to lend a hand.

"It's not hard work. Old Mrs. Zhou has her own maids, so I don't need to serve her. It's just cooking. Wash your face, change your clothes, and get ready to eat." Xiangxi didn't need his help; she had been working hard all day and needed to rest when she got home.

"Then I'll go take a shower first." Yang Tongchuan washed himself clean from head to toe and changed into casual clothes.

In the main hall, Xiangxi had already set out the meal and was feeding Xuebao.

It's getting hot, and the child doesn't want to eat. I have to coax him to eat every time.

"It's hot today, so I made cold noodles for you. I also made some chili oil for you; it smells so good." Xiangxi finally finished feeding Xuebao.

Xiang Ge, who was serving him, took Xue Bao and led him to play in the yard.

Let Second Master and his husband have a peaceful meal.

"Eat quickly, Mother had Rui-ge deliver a jar of homemade pickled vegetables today." Yang Tongchuan didn't say anything about what happened today, and Xiangxi didn't ask either, just ate first.

After the meal, Xiangxi poured Yang Tongchuan a cup of dandelion tea to help him cool down in the summer heat.

Yang Tongchuan sat in the armchair in the main hall, drinking tea while watching Xuebao playing in the courtyard.

"Once I'm done with this busy period, I'll have someone build a shaded area in the yard so that Xuebao won't get sunburned when he plays outside in the summer."

"Okay, when you have time." Xiangxi sat down to keep track of the expenses. This was a habit Xiangxi developed after moving to the new house; if she didn't keep track of the expenses, she wouldn't even know where the money went.

Neither of them realized that they were becoming more and more like Mr. and Mrs. Yang.

She can support a family on her own now.

"We encountered a big case this morning, related to Old Mrs. Zhou's family."

Only then did Yang Tongchuan recount the events of the day to Xiangxi in detail, omitting the gruesome state of the corpses.

"You mean, the Zhou family has been living with an unidentified corpse for so long?" I can't even stand the thought.

"Possibly." Yang Tongchuan rubbed his furrowed brow.

"That's terrible." Xiangxi's assessment was quite accurate.

"I'm pretty pathetic too." Yang Tongchuan wanted to slap himself when he thought about how he had confidently told County Magistrate Zhou that he would help him catch rats. How come he didn't notice the abnormality of the cellar on the spot?

That night, Yang Tongchuan didn't sleep well at all; his mind was filled with this case.