Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

Zhang Sanlang looked at him: "Are you Han the Mute?"

The man nodded without saying anything.

Zhang Sanlang, hands behind his back, stared directly at Han the Mute, striking a pose of authority befitting a clerk, and asked, "Do you fetch the chamber pot from Yongning Nunnery twice a day, morning and evening?"

Seeing his gloomy face, Han the Mute finally spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse, "Reporting to the official, the afternoon batch hasn't been selected yet. The morning batch has already been selected."

Han the Mute turned his head towards the cesspool, then glanced at Fang Zhong'an. "It's hot today, so the abbot of the nunnery told me to chop the firewood in the backyard first. I had just finished chopping the firewood and went back to rest when this official came knocking on the door."

Seeing that he was rambling on and on, Zhang Sanlang asked directly, "Do you know who lives in the nunnery? Has anyone gone missing these past few days?"

Han the Mute lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up at Zhang Sanlang, "I only handle the washing buckets, I don't care about the people in the nunnery. I only know that there are four senior monks and two junior monks in the nunnery, all of whom are permanent residents."

"There are also a few empty rooms. Sometimes female patrons come to stay, and occasionally monks from other places stay overnight. I can't say who is here and who isn't."

Zhang Sanlang then changed his question: "Have any strangers been visiting that nunnery lately?"

Han the Mute thought for a moment, "A few days ago, a female benefactor wearing a blue silk robe stayed at the nunnery for two nights. I didn't see her face clearly, but I saw her standing at the back door early in the morning and late at night, as if she was waiting for someone. I haven't seen her since."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Sanlang exchanged a glance with Fang Zhong'an. "When did this happen?"

Han the Mute lowered his head and thought for a moment, "About three or four days ago. I don't remember exactly. Anyway, those two days I went to the side door to pick up the chamber pot, and when I passed the back door, I saw her standing outside."

"Anything else?" Zhang Sanlang asked again, "Is there anything else unusual happening at the nunnery?"

Han remained silent for a long time.

Fang Zhong'an, who was standing nearby, thought he wasn't going to answer, when he heard him say in a muffled voice, "There is one thing, but I can't quite put my finger on whether it's related to this."

"A few days ago, the room where that female benefactor was staying was lit up very late at night. Once, when I passed by the back door, I saw two shadows reflected in the window paper."

"One was standing, and the other was sitting. The one standing seemed to be talking, gesturing with his hands. The one sitting didn't move much."

Zhang Sanlang quickly pressed on, "And then?"

Han the Mute shook his head: "I didn't look at her much. I haven't seen that female benefactor since."

After saying this, he stopped talking, his hands hanging at his sides, his gaze fixed on his feet, as if he had said everything he could say.

Zhang Sanlang stood still and looked up at the sky.

The sun was blazing.

The stench from the cesspool was brought back by the hot air, and after a moment's hesitation, he let Han the Mute leave.

A commotion suddenly broke out outside the rope circle. Someone shouted, "Make way!" The crowd parted to the sides, and an elderly woman in her fifties squeezed through the gaps in the crowd.

She wore an indigo blouse, her hair neatly pinned up with a wooden hairpin, and an old bamboo basket slung over her arm. A faded coarse cloth covered it, obscuring its contents.

She stopped at the edge of the rope circle, peered inside, and her gaze fell on the corpse covered with a burlap sack.

Wang Shi stepped forward and nodded to her, saying, "Grandma Zhou, this way please."

He led Granny Zhou to the edge of the cesspool, and gestured with his chin toward Lu Qiucheng, "This is Lu, the coroner from the county government."

Granny Zhou walked up to Lu Qiucheng and stopped, placing the bamboo basket at her feet. She wiped her hands on her clothes and said, "My surname is Zhou. I have been a midwife for over twenty years. When the county government needs to examine a female corpse, they usually ask me to help."

Lu Qiucheng stood up, nodded to Granny Zhou, picked up the water that he had just had the archers draw from the nearby well, and slowly poured it onto the corpse.

Water flowed down the surface, carrying away a layer of dark brown grime and revealing the color of the clothes underneath. It was a grayish-brown fine cloth shirt, with a plain collar and cuffs, no embroidery or decorations at the folds of the lapels.

The trousers were also made of fine cloth, but in a slightly lighter color. The cuffs were tucked into the socks, which had turned yellow from being soaked in water.

He was wearing a pair of old cloth shoes, the soles worn smooth, and there was a tear in the upper of the left shoe, revealing the lining inside.

Lu Qiucheng poured another bucket of water.

This time, the water washed the corpse's face more clearly.

It was the face of an old woman, her skin white and swollen from being soaked in water, her original features unrecognizable, her cheekbones prominent, her eyes sunken, and her lips slightly parted, revealing a few teeth.

I couldn't quite tell her age, but I'd guess she was around fifty. Her hair was disheveled, with a few strands clinging to her cheeks, which would stick back after being rinsed away by water.

Lu Qiucheng squatted down and poured the water from the last wooden bucket over the corpse's limbs.

He straightened up, took the old cloth handed to him by Xu Fang, wiped his hands, took out a blank "Certificate of Inquiry" from the wooden box, laid it on the lid of the box, and dipped his pen in ink.

On the 24th day of the sixth month of the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo era, Sun Jizu, the county magistrate of Juancheng, Lu Qiucheng, the coroner, and Xu Fang, the criminal investigator, examined an unidentified female corpse near the cesspool outside Yongning Temple in the north of the city.

After Lu Qiucheng finished writing, he looked at Granny Zhou and said, "Start with the head. Begin at the hairline, go down to the jawline, and examine every part. If there are any injuries, point them out; if there are any marks, point them out. Start from where I told you to..."

Grandma Zhou calmly took out a small, rough pottery bottle from the bamboo basket, poured some soapberry water into her palm, rubbed it a couple of times, then dried her hands with an old cloth draped over the edge, wrapped it up, and squatted down to begin rummaging through the contents.

Lu Qiucheng stood beside her, a medical report already laid out in his hand, the paper pressed against the lid of the box. He picked up a pen: "Are there any marks on your forehead?"

Granny Zhou pressed her finger against the swollen skin on the corpse's forehead again: "No. The forehead is flat, no cuts, no bruises."

Lu Qiucheng wrote a line on the "Examination Report": No injury to the forehead.

Grandma Zhou continued to slide her fingers down the cheekbone to the jaw, then opened the corpse's lips to examine the teeth: "The teeth are all there, none are missing. The jawbone feels fine to the touch, not broken or crooked."

Lu Qiucheng wrote: His teeth and jaw were complete.

Grandma Zhou gently tilted the corpse's head to the left, revealing the right ear and the side of the neck.

She ran her fingers down the side of her neck, from behind her ear to her shoulder, then switched hands and ran her fingers from her right shoulder to her collarbone: "Your neck is fine, there are no marks from being strangled, and no one has pinched you. The bones are fine too, they're not broken."

Lu Qiucheng also wrote: There were no strangulation marks on the neck, and the neck bones were intact.

Grandma Zhou released her grip and gently laid the corpse's head flat. Then she moved down and examined the corpse's hands: "The nails are all intact, not broken, and the crevices are clean. The palms are smooth, without calluses or wounds."

Lu Qiucheng wrote again: His hands were unharmed, and his fingers were clean.