Chapter 61
“Big brother, this place is no fun.” Wei Yi furrowed his brows and pouted. His face had an ‘I nearly puked up my meal!’ look written all over it.
“Stand over there and don’t move.” Ji Yunshu spoke.
“Oh.”
No matter how unwilling he was to do so, Wei Yi obediently did as Ji Yunshu ordered, standing to the side, still covering his nose.
Ji Yunshu secretly smiled. ‘Who told you to eat so much.’
A moment later, she returned to her professional attitude. After she put on the white gloves that were placed beside her, she lifted the white shroud on the table, revealing the yin yang skeleton!
The yamen runners had been meticulous in their work; The skeleton was properly excavated and its condition had been preserved.
At this moment, the magistrate and a few yamen runners entered. The magistrate cast a sidelong glance at Wei Yi; He was still upset about his meal being stolen!
He walked to Ji Yunshu’s side as he asked, “Is this case a troublesome one?”
“I’m still not sure. After all, this corpse is already two years old.” Her gloved hands hung in front of her chest. She asked, “Have you investigated if there have been any missing persons in Jinjiang city in the past two years?”
“The adviser is still investigating the book of households. I have also ordered people to go and ask around. There should be results soon, though the most important part of drawing out the appearance still relies on you, Yunshu.”
“Reconstructing the appearance based solely on bones requires time. I should be able to get it done the day after tomorrow.”
“That’s good. I’ll go and get people to investigate in your stead. We can’t have you tired out.”
‘Wow! When did this magistrate become such a sweet talker?’
Getting back to work, she continued inspecting the pile of bones while speaking, “This yin yang corpse should have been stabbed by at least 20 stabs with most of them puncturing in between the ribs and the shoulders.
The wounds were inflicted from a higher angle and should have been caused by a weapon being stabbed using a reverse grip 1. From this we can conclude the murderer was taller than the deceased.
The deceased shows no sign of having been poisoned nor the hands having been broken. Therefore, there’s the possibility that the victim could have defended himself before his death. Hence, it’s highly probable that the culprit is a man.”
Everyone listened intently to her lengthy explanation.
Ji Yunshu’s gaze landed on the lower half of the skeleton. Her brows furrowed as she pressed on the ankle bone. “The deceased suffered an injury to his leg?”
In order to confirm her hypothesis, she tapped against the ankle bone before turning around and gave an order to a yamen runner, “Go and bring over some camphor oil and vinegar.”
“Understood.”
The runner hurriedly brought the items she asked for and placed them at her side.
Ji Yunshu poured the contents of the bowl of camphor oil over the ankle bone. Then, she soaked a piece of white paper in white vinegar before wrapping it around the ankle bone.
After a moment of wait, the originally white piece of paper slowly turned red.
No one understood what she was doing.
“Teacher Ji, what are you doing?” The runner asked.
Not in a hurry to reply, she unwrapped the paper and held it. Suddenly, she called, “Wei Yi.”
Wei Yi, who had been hiding in a corner of the room, trembled when he heard his name. From the moment Ji Yunshu lifted the shroud to reveal the pile of white bones, he had been frightened into a stupor and his legs were shaking tremendously. He appeared desperate, and wished he could find a hole to crawl out of here!
Not receiving a reply from Wei Yi, Ji Yunshu turned to look at him with a very serious expression. “Wei Yi, come over there!”
“Big brother, I’m scared.”
“It’s just a dead person, what are you so afraid of? You should be more scared of the living!”
‘Uh…’ The people in the room, who were very much alive, felt the corners of their eyes twitch!
Wei Yi lowered his head and shifted his steps under Ji Yunshu’s threatening tone. He shuffled over to Ji Yunshu, but he did it in a way he wouldn’t need to see the skeleton.
“Wei Yi, do you know what happens when a person sprains their ankles?”
‘Why is Ji Yunshu asking this question out of nowhere?’ Wei Yi’s head remained lowered as he replied in a low voice, “It’ll hurt!”
“And what else?”
“And…” His eyes suddenly lit up as he lifted his gaze to meet hers. “It will become red there. After the red goes away, it will turn green. Then, it’ll get better.”
“That is correct Wei Yi. You are very smart.”
“Thank you big brother.”
And he completely forgot that he was standing next to a pile of bones.
Ji Yunshu slightly lifted the paper in her hand as she continued with her lecture. “Then remember what I’m about to say next. No matter how long a person has been dead, if you first apply camphor oil to the bone, and then a white vinegar-soaked piece of paper to it and it turns red, it means the bone had been damaged not long before death. If it turns green, it means the damage had already been there for quite some time before the person’s death. This is used to determine whether or not the damage was caused before or at the time of death, and hence whether or not it was caused during a struggle against the murderer.”
“Did you understand all that, Wei Yi?”
Wei Yi’s reaction time was a bit slow. In the end, he still nodded his head as he pointed at the paper in her hand and exclaimed, “I understand big brother, that means he must have hurt just now.”
“Not ‘just now’, it’s ‘just before death’!” She corrected him in a serious tone.
“Oh, I got it.”
She made sure that he really understood before turning to the magistrate and the yamen runners and asked them, “So, did you understand?”
Everyone nodded.
Wei Yi retreated back to his corner as she placed the piece of paper down.
Ji Yunshu started to inspect the remains of the clothes on the skeleton. ‘It’s made of silk. No wonder it managed to last for two years!’
“A normal person’s clothes would be made of linens but these are made of silk. Hence the deceased should be from a distinguished or wealthy family. It seems that this skeleton must have once been a rich person.”
Another close examination revealed several blade-inflicted tears on the clothes.
“There are several tears in the clothes made by a sharp object. They must have been made when the murder weapon stabbed into the deceased.”
Ji Yunshu explained as she continued her examination. However, the magistrate narrowed his eyes slightly as he asked her in a small voice, “Yunshu, why did you explain that much to that… fellow?”
‘Hey, I’m being serious here! Lord Magistrate, there must be something wrong with your brain!’
However, Ji Yunshu did not get upset. On the other hand, she even gave a smirk as she cast a cold glance at the magistrate. “Don’t you think that Wei Yi is actually quite smart?”
“Smart? Him?” The magistrate found her words inconceivable, “But he’s an idiot.” His voice was lowered to the maximum!
“I don’t think so. I believe that if he’s taught well enough, he’ll make a great coroner.”
“Ah?!” The magistrate’s eyes widened in surprise. Casting a glance at Wei Yi, he could not help but think, ‘That cowardly guy? How can he be a coroner?’
“Yunshu, you aren’t… planning on taking him as your disciple are you?”
“I’m currently considering it.” Ji Yunshu’s good-looking eyebrows raised.
She took off her gloves and patted her hands. Ignoring the magistrate, who had been stunned silly, she continued, “That’s about all the information I can glean from this skeleton for now. For the time being, let the adviser note it all down. Once we have determined the identity of this skeleton, we can use the information along with these clues to find out the murderer!”
They woodenly nodded!
Ji Yunshu walked to Wei Yi’s side and asked him, “Do you like this place?”
He shook his head while replying, “No, I don’t.”
“Then let’s go.”
She left with Wei Yi trailing behind her, leaving behind the magistrate who had a stiff facial expression!
He was sure he did not hear wrongly. Ji Yunshu was actually planning on taking Wei Yi as a disciple.
‘Aren’t you making a mistake?!’
1.Reverse grip: thumb holding onto the opposite end of the pointy bit