Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 44 Steaming Bones for Autopsy
As dawn broke in the east, a figure gradually became clear at the edge of the line of sight where a golden light rose from the ground.

He carried a black coffin gilded with gold patterns on his back, a small wooden box on his side, and held a red umbrella that looked as if it could drip blood in his hand.

His wide robes completely concealed his battered body, as if in doing so he had returned to his former self, once again becoming the cautious and self-disciplined official.

When they arrived at the gate of Tiandou Village, Xie Laosi stopped. He tilted his umbrella to the side and looked at the sun in the sky. The sunlight fell on his face, so dazzling that it almost brought tears to his eyes.

He didn't linger for long. He held up the umbrella, carried the coffin on his back, and walked step by step toward Zhou Zhao's location.

Tian Dou Village had experienced a bloody battle last night, and the blood in the village had not yet been cleaned up. With Cheng Yuyuan absent, everyone who was cleaning up the battlefield turned their attention to their newly appointed third leader, Zhou Zhao.

The little girl sat on the steps, looking a bit sleepy. Bathed in the morning light, she appeared exceptionally gentle.

But no one looked down on her because of this; her sleeves were still stained with the blood of the previous third-in-command.

"Let's go! Xie Laosi, go and return the chieftain's son to her."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he yawned.

Han Dashan saw Liu Huang follow him like a shadow and wanted to exchange glances with him to discuss a plan, but he only saw a bamboo hat that seemed to cover his entire face.

Damn it, how come someone is wearing a straw hat on their face and it doesn't fall off!

Han Dashan thought for a moment, his eyes darting around, and then he didn't follow.

He's just a nobody; if he went to watch the gods fight, wouldn't that be like the God of Longevity hanging himself to death?

Cheng Yuyuan's courtyard was burned to the ground. At this moment, she was staying in the small courtyard that Tiandou Village had prepared for distinguished guests, although this bandit den never had any guests.

"Fourth Brother Xie! It really was you! Now that you've returned our young master, today is your death day!"

As soon as Zhou Zhao and his companions stepped into the courtyard, Cheng Ming's roar rang out. He sat imposingly on the stone bench facing the courtyard gate.

Behind him was a bamboo recliner, where Cheng Yuyuan lay asleep, fully clothed. Li Zhan knelt beside her, gently fanning himself.

Upon hearing the words "young master," Cheng Yuyuan suddenly opened her eyes. She raised her hand and knocked the fan out of Li Zhan's hand, then stood up abruptly.

"Zhou Zhao, what's going on? Why are you here with Xie Laosi? Did you conspire to plot against me?"

Her eyes were incredibly sharp, a stark contrast to her dazed expression the night before.

"Xie Laosi, you despicable and shameless scoundrel, give my son back to me!"

Zhou Zhao raised an eyebrow, signaling Xie Laosi to lower the coffin. She then cupped her hands in a gesture of respect to Cheng Yuyuan, saying, "Chief, you are mistaken. I have come here to curry favor with you. I know Xie Laosi, and I owe it all to Second Brother Cheng. If it weren't for him staying up all night to assassinate me..."

"I am not privy to that past event. I am not capable, but I have a way to find out the truth about the young master's murder back then."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he took out a jade pendant engraved with the character "Cheng" from his sleeve.

She swiftly hooked him down from his waist when she kicked Cheng Ming.

Cheng Ming's face turned pale and then red in an instant. He reached out, trying to snatch the jade pendant back, but Zhou Zhao flipped her wrist, and the jade pendant returned to her sleeve.

"What did you say? You said you can do something?"

“Zhou Zhao, if you dare to lie to me, today is your death day. Don’t think that just because I only have Cheng Ming left, I can’t kill you. Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them. Even if you were a dragon, you would have to coil up in my Tian Dou Village.”

Cheng Yuyuan remained calm, but the storm raging in her eyes was about to burst forth.

Zhou Zhao, however, was not afraid at all. She thought to herself, let alone dragons, even that venomous snake Sun Youshan almost became the boss of Tiandou Village, didn't he?

This threat is not as strong as Zhou Buhai's beatings and punishments of copying case files. "Although Zhao is not a good person, he never jokes about the dead. I come from Wuling, and my father is a minor county magistrate. If you send someone to inquire, you will know about the Zhou family woman's recent case of murdering her father and husband that has shocked Wuling."

“My sworn brother is the mortuary caretaker. Chief, you must have some suspicions about Li Zhan since you keep him by your side.”

"If a person is burned to death, their face will turn pink from inhaling the smoke and fire, like a hibiscus flower in bloom. But if they die before the fire starts, there will be no such change, and no smoke or dust will be inhaled into their mouth and nose from breathing."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuyuan's face immediately darkened. Xie Laosi had also pointed this out when he convicted Li Zhan.

"Furthermore, my sworn brother possesses a secret ancestral technique that allows him to make people speak even when they are reduced to mere bones! This technique is called 'steaming bones to examine injuries'!"

Cheng Yuyuan's eyes widened in disbelief: "You mean, you want to steam my son's remains? How am I supposed to know if you're telling the truth or not?"

Zhou Zhao wasn't surprised by Cheng Yuyuan's questioning. She had already discerned from Sun Youshan's rebellion that Cheng Yuyuan was inherently suspicious and not someone who easily trusted others. Moreover, the idea of ​​steaming bones sounded too absurd, so it was normal for Cheng Yuyuan not to believe it.

“It’s very simple. You can make a comparison yourself. Cheng Ming has killed more people than chickens. Find a skeleton whose bones you once broke, and then break another bone in front of everyone. Remember the location, and examine this skeleton together with the young master’s skeleton.”

"The truth will be clear in time. You found the skeleton yourselves; I can't fake it."

Cheng Yuyuan immediately looked at Cheng Ming, "Go find him. Go to the dry well and retrieve Guan Lang's body. Cheng Dong punched him and broke his right rib."

Guan Lang was the former chieftain of Tian Dou Village. Here, whoever has the biggest fist has the most say, and everyone has come from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Zhou Zhao listened and sighed inwardly.

The number of good people in Tianying City can truly be counted on one hand.

Cheng Ming hesitated for a moment, glancing warily at Zhou Zhao before turning to Cheng Yuyuan and saying tentatively, "Then this way..."

Cheng Dong is dead. If he leaves, Cheng Yuyuan will be completely powerless to fight back.

Cheng Yuyuan shook her head. "If Zhou Zhao wanted to kill me, she wouldn't have killed Sun Youshan last night. Don't worry, she won't let me die now."

Cheng Ming cupped his hands in greeting and used an extremely contorted lightness skill to fly away. In no time, he returned carrying a piece of white bone. The bone consisted only of the rib section, with several ribs missing from the right side, making it look jagged.

Without hesitation, Cheng Ming casually placed the skeleton on the ground, then raised his hand and punched his right side again, breaking the bone instantly.

Zhou Zhao didn't hesitate either, giving Liu Huang a look.

If Han Dashan were here, he would definitely exclaim in surprise, "Damn it, how can someone with a bamboo hat covering their face still have their eyes visible!"

Liu Huang squatted down without saying a word, reached out and opened the small coffin, revealing the skeleton of a child who was about five or six years old.

Cheng Yuyuan swayed, her eyes instantly reddening.

Liu Huang silently walked to the well, drew a bucket of water, then went into the house and fetched a clean straw mat. He then quickly washed the two skeletons that were to be steamed and placed them on the straw mat.

"Are we digging a cellar?" Zhou Zhao asked.

Liu Huang nodded and found a suitable spot in the courtyard, "five feet long, three feet deep, and two feet wide."

As he spoke, he looked around, found a flower hoe in a corner of the yard, and started digging without saying a word!
Xie Laosi, who was standing to the side, felt that he had finally found an opportunity. He jogged over, found a shovel in the corner, and helped out. Wouldn't that be a way to openly learn from Xie Laosi?

Xie Laosi sighed inwardly, but when he turned around, he was dumbfounded.

In the blink of an eye, a pit had appeared in the courtyard, exactly five feet long, three feet deep, and two feet wide...

How many burial pits must have been dug under the cover of darkness to achieve such incredible speed!
Liu Huang walked around the courtyard as if no one was around. After a while, he found a basket of charcoal in the storeroom of the small courtyard, poured it into the pit, lit the fire, and then opened the autopsy box that Xie Laosi had carried over, and took out two wine bottles from it.