Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 41 The Changes in the Heavenly Battle
Xie Laosi's eyes widened with excitement. He rushed over without thinking, trying to grab Zhou Zhao's hand.

It wasn't until Zhou Zhao used the judge's pen to draw lines that he came to his senses, and he knelt down on the ground, bowing slightly in embarrassment.

"I apologize for being so abrupt. But this has become my obsession..."

He couldn't figure it out, and he refused to give in, so he just lived like this, half-dead. He thought he would never get over this hurdle until he died, but he never expected that this day would come.

He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, and Zhou Zhao's actions tonight would surely serve his purpose, but so what?
If you hear the Tao in the morning, you may die in the evening.

"If the body is still alive, the coroner only needs to cut open the deceased's throat to check for soot and burns in the trachea during the autopsy;"

"If that's still not enough, then the lungs can be removed, for the same reason."

"Because when a person is alive in a fire, they will inhale the scalding smoke and dust. But the dead do not breathe, so there is no smoke or dust in their bodies."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he thought for a moment and added, "Next time you encounter something you can't judge, you can use a pig or other livestock as a substitute. At the same crime scene, how did the pig die? Was its face distorted? Was there smoke or dust in its mouth and nose?"

"Compared with the deceased, the facts of the case are clear."

Xie Laosi's eyes shone brightly. He regretfully pounded his head, "If I had known this earlier, would there have been any trouble later?"

The more he thought about it, the more regretful he became, and he slapped his chest.

"What should we do now? The body has turned into bones, and all evidence has vanished."

Zhou Zhao shook his head. "If what you said is true, and the child was beaten to death by Li Zhan, then there should be marks on his bones."

Xie Laosi was anxious and agitated, and he pointed to the ground.

“I’ll dig out the skeleton, you can see. There’s no obvious indentation in the deceased’s chest, but after it turned into bones, I found signs of fracture.”

"But after so many years, bones are easily broken, and there is no way to determine whether the break occurred before or after death."

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment, then looked at Liu Huang, who was standing to the side like an invisible man, and asked, "Huang, tell him, is there any way to deal with this situation?"

When the topic of autopsies came up, Liu Huang stopped stammering.

The two people and two corpses in the room suddenly became three people and one corpse.

"You can steam the bones. If the bones have red marks, it means the person was beaten before death. If there are no red marks, it means the person was beaten after death."

As he spoke, he looked at Xie Laosi, and their eyes met by accident. Liu Huang felt as if he had been burned and quickly looked away.

He had a ridiculous illusion that Xie Laosi was looking at him as if he were looking at his own father!

Being a father requires a lot of talking, so he's not going to be a father!

"Is there really such a secret technique?" Xie Laosi suddenly stood up.

Seeing Liu Huang's excitement, so intense it seemed he was about to reach out and pull him away, he tried to back away, but there was nowhere left to retreat.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhao immediately diverted Xie Laosi's attention, "Of course you can. There are plenty of talented people in the world. The Court of Justice once had someone steam bones to examine injuries and investigated an old case. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to check previous cases."

"Whether it's your Xie family or the Cheng family, you both have members in the court. Although you are now in Tianying City, it is not difficult for you to do these things."

Tears welled up in Xie Laosi's eyes, and his voice choked with emotion. "I believe you! I believe you! After all, you even know which stone slab I hid the child's remains under."

Zhou Zhao was not surprised. Xie Laosi had investigated the case, and no one understood the case-solving process she was talking about better than him.

The laws of the Great Qi Dynasty were not perfect. Local officials and the court officials often encountered cases they didn't know how to investigate or judge. In such cases, a common approach emerged: "follow established precedents." If you don't know something, ask your predecessors!

Even if they've died and gone to the underworld, we still have to bring them back and question them!

What else can we do? We can't just leave it uninvestigated and unpunished.

Zhou Zhao tapped the ground with his judge's pen. "Although each paving stone is the same size, it is not completely flat. This one doesn't align with the ones around it. I guess when you pried up the body and then re-laid the bricks, you accidentally moved it, causing it to switch sides."

Zhou Zhao explained how she discovered the location of the body, but she didn't mention how she was certain that Xie Laosi was a local official.

After all, it's the secrets that make someone seem divine!

"Thank you, Lao Si. I helped you. Now it's your turn to help me."

Xie Laosi thought to himself, "As expected." He looked away from the floor tiles and at Zhou Zhao, "You already know the method, aren't you afraid I'll cheat on you?"

Zhou Zhao chuckled and waved the judge's pen in her hand. "You don't actually think that steaming bones means putting them in a pot to steam, do you? Or do you think you can withstand even one move from me?"

Xie Laosi was startled, thinking about how the Judge's Pen had mysteriously disappeared, and instantly couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zhou Zhao stopped laughing. She looked into Xie Laosi's eyes and said seriously, "Because I believe you are not that kind of person."

"That's why I'm standing here doing these things tonight, instead of just killing you. After all, I almost lost my life because of you."

Xie Laosi's pupils contracted sharply, and he raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes.

No one believed him, but the stranger in front of him did.

He knew Zhou Zhao had ulterior motives, but the feeling of being held hostage was damnably sweet.

Zhou Zhao knew when to stop and didn't force Xie Laosi to make any promises. She turned her gaze and stood up. "What is your agreement with Sun Youshan?"

“Cheng Yuyuan is suspicious and distrustful of everyone except her brothers. That monkey was sent by her to monitor Sun Youshan. Sun Youshan came to me and said he had a plan to get Li Zhan to admit that he killed Cheng Nan, so that Cheng Yuyuan would have no reason to detain me in Tianying City.”

"If Cheng Yuyuan learns the truth, she will surely collapse. Under such circumstances, he can become the leader of Tiandou Village without losing a single soldier."

"I know this is like asking a tiger for its skin, and Sun Youshan is no saint either, but I desperately want an answer..."

Xie Laosi paused, then continued, "Moreover, I was given a chance to see the remains again. I thought I could find some evidence, but..."

The result, of course, was a complete lack of clues.

“Sun Youshan told me to hide the body after I stole it, and then just hold on until he returned to the city. I only need to hold on for one more day... and then we’ll see the outcome.”

As Xie Laosi was speaking, he was suddenly startled!
Zhou Zhao's expression also changed. He exchanged a glance with Liu Huang. Last night, during the torrential rain, they encountered Sun Youshan and his group in the dilapidated temple. As soon as the rain stopped, Sun Youshan led his group back to Tianying City. It had been almost a day since they entered the city...

Will Sun Youshan take any action tonight?

Was he really trying to get Li Zhan to talk, or was he deliberately creating an opportunity for Xie Laosi to steal Cheng Nan's body, to provoke Cheng Yuyuan into madness, and then seize the loophole to "change things up"?
No matter which one it is, the muddier the water in Tianying City, the better!
After all, if they don't make a move, Zhou Zhao will be impatient to do it herself!

She was determined to become the chieftain of Douzhai that day.

As Zhou Zhao was thinking, she heard a commotion in the courtyard. "Brothers, our village is on fire! Hurry and put it out! Brothers of Tiandou! Sister Zhao! Are you awake? Brother Sun is calling everyone to put out the fire!"

coming!

Zhou Zhao thought to himself.