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Chapter 270 Poison

"What do you mean?" Lu Qing asked.

He didn't know anything about autopsies. He had just watched the coroner work for a long time, looking very serious, and thought he was a serious and reliable person. However, judging from Zhu Yu's reaction, it was clear that this was not the case.

Let alone a mere coroner from the Shuo Kingdom, even if the Prefect of the Capital were standing here now, Lu Qing would not hesitate to trust Zhu Yu's judgment.

“I’m not sure how long this person has been dead, but let alone within an hour, it’s not even today.” Zhu Yu sneered, reaching out to touch Jia Jun’s neck. “If a person has only been dead for a mere hour, then touching him now would at most feel slightly cool, or even not feel anything at all.”

The corpse was already ice-cold; it must have been dead for at least twelve hours. Zhu Yu rolled his eyes.

"If he died yesterday or even earlier, why didn't the body become stiff?" Lu Qing was puzzled. Although he was not an expert in autopsies, he still had some understanding of the reactions after death. Hearing Zhu Yu's words, he was even more surprised.

“I just tried to pry open Jia Jun’s jaw, but it was already stiff. However, his limbs were not stiff. This means that after Jia Jun died, just as his body was about to stiffen, someone moved him, which disrupted the stiffening process, making it seem as if his body hadn’t even started to harden yet.” Zhu Yu then reached out and touched Jia Jun’s cold skin and his undergarment. “His skin was a little damp, which made his undergarment feel damp.”

And look at the wound on his neck. Look at the scratched skin, the edges of the broken flesh curling slightly inward. This is not what a fresh wound caused within an hour would look like.

In my opinion, this corpse was clearly placed in a cold storage or ice cellar to slow down rigor mortis and decomposition before being taken out and hung on that rope.

Lu Qing frowned and pursed her lips without replying.

Zhu Yu reached out and lifted Jia Jun's chin, then carefully examined the scratches on his jaw. Seeing that the wounds were continuous, running from below his chin to above his collarbone, it was not hard to imagine how bloody it had been.

She removed the coroner's hastily put-on undergarment, forcefully turned Jia Jun's body over, and examined his back. Sure enough, she saw some dark red bloodstains on his back. She pressed her finger on them, and the dark red bloodstains faded slightly. After she released her hand, they slowly returned to their original color.

"This..." Lu Qing was stunned for a moment upon seeing this. "When a person dies, the blood congeals. If this person has been dead for more than a day, why did the color fade when you pressed on that crimson scar?"

“It is precisely because of these bloodstains, and the slight changes that occur after pressing them, that my earlier conjecture is further confirmed.” Zhu Yu released his hand, allowing Jia Jun’s corpse to lie back on the ground again. “If he had been strangled and then faked to hang himself about an hour ago, with his body hanging high on the beam, there would be no bloodstains on his back at all!”
The very marks on his back indicate that for a long time after his death, his body lay flat on the ground with his back pressed down on it.

Furthermore, the surrounding area must have been cooled with ice or something similar. Because the ambient temperature was extremely low, the blood drop appeared relatively late and has yet to settle.

Lu Qing suddenly realized and looked up at the roof beam, where the rope was still hanging brightly. It faced the door of the study, and the long swords and spears on the weapon rack in between were not enough to cover the corpse hanging under the beam.

He looked thoughtfully at the rope, then suddenly asked Zhu Yu, "So, was Jia Jun really strangled to death?"

"He was poisoned." Zhu Yu's tone sounded very certain. "Although I don't know exactly what kind of poison it is, I can be sure that it's not something that can be detected by pricking him with a silver needle. After the poison entered his throat, there should have been a strong burning sensation, which is why Jia Jun felt pain and scratched his throat until it was bloody and mangled."

The coroner said that Jia Jun was either hung or strangled and instinctively tried to grab it. This kind of thing can indeed happen, whether someone strangles him or he hangs himself.

However, with the rope around his neck, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach the part of his body that was pinned down by the rope.

If Jia Jun was indeed strangled and, in the struggle, scratched his own neck, there should be a broken section in the middle of the wound.

Zhu Yu pointed to the front of Jia Jun's neck: "But look, it's all connected, which means there was no obstruction here when he was scratching."

Lu Qing smiled, but his eyes were cold, making his smile not only devoid of warmth but also sending a chill down one's spine: "You're right, it seems this place really is haunted."

Zhu Yu pulled Jia Jun's undergarment back up and pointed to the boots on his feet: "Not only is he a ghost, but he's a stupid ghost."

When a person dies, they were probably barefoot or wearing other shoes before they died. Their ankles were stiff. They could have just put on any pair of shoes, but they insisted on wearing boots!
My foot was stuck inside the boot, unable to turn around.

Luckily we arrived quickly enough, otherwise our boots would have fallen to the ground before everyone was even here.

“It’s not so much stupidity, it’s more like being too clever for one’s own good.” Lu Qing’s gaze swept over the pair of boots on Jia Jun’s feet. “If it’s not for important business or to meet someone important, even an official of the court wouldn’t need to wear such boots at home.”

After hearing what he said, Zhu Yu understood even more clearly and couldn't help but sneer: "This filthy coroner seems to have been promised a lot of benefits."

He had just done all sorts of things, useful and useless. The marks from the strangulation were clearly imprinted on his neck, and his hands were freezing cold, yet he still meticulously touched and examined everything, trying to put on a show for laymen and make it clear to everyone that he was carefully inspecting the area.

However, he was lucky that I noticed something was wrong. Although he can't escape punishment, he can probably save his life.

Otherwise, if this matter were to be covered up and passed away, by the time the dust settles, that coroner's worthless life would be pretty much over; he would undoubtedly be silenced.

"Don't worry, it's too easy for him to die." Lu Qing took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Zhu Yu so she could wipe her hands. "Let's go out and take a look. By now, Chief Secretary Zuo should be arriving soon."

We still need to go see how they put on this show.