Chapter 30 Corpses Containing Grievances
Song Que and County Magistrate Gao became pen pals.
The story went like this.
Song Que had previously accepted Magistrate Gao’s apology and accepted Magistrate Gao’s favor. One way or the other, it was not even, instead Song Que owed him a little. Song Que went into Magistrate Gao’s house under the guise of expressing his gratitude formally.
Who knew that Gao Fenglin’s family was so unconventional, Song Que chose the right time to be a guest, but he still bumped into the time Gao Fenglin was having a meal. Song Que later learned that Gao Fenglin had changed the meal time specifically to have a pretext for rejecting people he didn’t want to see. As for the people he wanted to see……
The concierge in front of Gao Fenglin’s door said respectfully: “Young Master Song, if you don’t mind, our master invite you to come in and have a meal together.”
Song Que laughed.
This thing was normal in the previous world, but in this world, it will make Gao Fenglin very unconventional.
Song Que himself was not very particular about etiquette, so he just went in.
Gao Fenglin’s house had fewer servants than the Song family. Song Que felt a subtle sense of guilt in his heart.
Gao Fenglin and his wife were sitting at a round table having a meal together. His wife had an ordinary appearance. Her hair was neatly combed with only three or two hairpins. She was neither too plain nor overwhelming the guest, but rather very homely. Song Que only glanced briefly and bowed to the two of them.
Gao Fenglin said happily: “My wife and I bet on whether you would come in or not. My wife said no, but I said yes. Now it seems that I have won.”
Madam Gao signaled the maid aside to add a bowl for Song Que. Song Que sat down obediently and said with a smile: “Madam must have thought that a gentleman would not disturb others while eating, but who would have thought that Song is not a gentleman.”
Madam Gao glared at Gao Fenglin angrily and said to Song Que: “I think he has a wild temper. Ordinary people would be scared away by him. If you are willing to come in, then it is a rare thing for him to have someone who is like-minded. Don’t take this the wrong way.”
Song Que smiled and said nothing.
Gao Fenglin said: “Brother, I’d like to offer you a glass of wine. I’m really sorry for what happened earlier. Doctor Liang told me that this injury was not serious to you because you have the foundation, but if you hadn’t practiced martial arts, or you were weak in nature, you may have died. And this case was solved thanks to your careful thinking. I used to be proud of my talent. When I saw someone’s learning was far inferior to mine, but because of their beautiful appearance, he was admitted to the Imperial Academy. But I can only come to this remote place to be a small county magistrate. I feel resentful. Now it seems that my ability is not enough to even serve as a county magistrate.”
Gao Fenglin originally just wanted to apologize, but accidentally said too much.
Song Que drank the glass of wine, accepted the apology, and persuaded him in turn: “Brother Gao, you are only following the rules. Seeing that the evidence is complete, moreover, it was a murder case, it is natural to punish the suspect to obtain a confession. This matter ends here, I won’t mention it, and you shouldn’t mention it either.”
Seeing the two of them drinking like brothers. It was not appropriate for Madam Gao to stay any longer, so she could only shake her head and silently exit the front hall.
Song Que didn’t know how much he drank that day and what he talked about with Gao Fenglin. Anyway, the two of them treated each other as brothers and exchanged letters. He was the first friend Song Que made after coming to this world.
On this day, after Song Que finished writing his reply, he called Ji Qiong and asked him to deliver it to Gao Fenglin. Ji Qiong responded loudly, took the letter enthusiastically, turned around, and ran out, almost bumping into Liu Fang. Butler Liu turned half a circle to dodge, and sighed: “Brother Ji, please slow down.”
Ji Xiao responded and still walked out in a hurry, Song Que could only shake his head when he saw this.
Ji Qiong felt he was working in the Song Mansion, but other servants didn’t think so. That’s why Butler Liu called him ‘Brother Ji’.
Song Que didn’t insist on ordering this half-grown boy. He didn’t let Ji Xiao do anything and Jing Qiong didn’t even dare to take a bite of rice. Song Que had no choice but to give him the job of delivering the letter. This job was not that heavy and it could put him at ease.
Song Que had already greeted Gao Fenglin and said he wanted to help Ji Qiong. Therefore, when Ji Qiong was delivering letters back and forth, no one really regarded him as an errand boy, and the servants from both families politely called him “Brother Ji.”
Ji Qiong sent the letter directly to Gao Fenglin, who was processing the file with a frown. Ji Qiong sent the letter and wanted to leave, but was stopped by Gao Fenglin: “A-Qiong, please wait a moment. I will write a reply right away. You can help me bring it to Zishuo so that he can read it as soon as possible.”
[Song Que Courtesy name. Courtesy name is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one’s given name, According to the Book of Rites, after a man reached adulthood, it was disrespectful for others of the same generation to address him by his given name]
Gao Fenglin usually replied slowly and never in a hurry. Although Ji Qiong felt a little strange, he scratched his head and waited aside.
Ji Qiong took the reply to Song Que and said, “Sir, the county magister asked you to read it earlier.”
Ji Qiong initially called Song Que ‘Brother Song’, but after Song Que took him to study for two days, he changed to called Song Que ‘Sir’. After Song Que failed to correct him twice, he let him.
Song Que opened the letter.
The two had been exchanging letters for some time. Gao Fenglin admired Song Que’s intelligence. This time he encountered a mysterious case and didn’t know how to solve it, so he wrote to ask for Song QUe’s opinion.
Song Que quickly took a look at the case and found that it was indeed difficult to handle. The deceased was Hu Er, a street thug. His body was found on the side of the road. The murder weapon was found after a search, as were the two suspects. However, there were difficulties in convicting them.
Two people who had entanglements with the deceased on the day of his death were Zhang Mazi, a thug from a gambling house, and Li Xiaowu, a wonton seller on the street.
After investigation, it was found that Hu Er owed a debt to the gambling house. On the orders of the gambling house owner, Zhang Mazi beat Hu Er in broad daylight. Many people saw it. When Hu Er left, he was still alive. Another person saw Hu Er looking for Li Xiaowu at night. The two had a conflict, and then there was the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. Hu Er stumbled out as if he was drunk. After that, everyone saw Hu Er’s corpse on the street, with one wound on his back and two wounds on his chest. After comparison, the wound on the back and the wound on the chest were two types of wound. Knives of the same size were found in the homes of Li Xiaowu and Zhang Mazi respectively.
Li Xiaowu confessed to the stabbing but insisted that Hu Er walked out alive. It must be Zhang Mazi’s doing, causing Hu Er to die on the roadside.
However, Zhang Mazi only admitted that he beat Hu Er, but did not recognize the fatal wound on Hu Er’s body or the missing knife.
Song Que flipped through the thin letter several times and decided to pay a visit in the afternoon. Ji Qiong was watching eagerly from the side. When he saw Song Que had finished reading, he asked cautiously: “Sir, what’s the matter?”
Song Que said: “Brother Wutong encountered a difficult case. Asking me to give him some advice. I can’t tell you all the details. You’ll study with A-Yi and A-Shu in the afternoon.”
[Gao Fenglin courtesy name]
Song Que invited a teacher to his home and asked Song Shu, Song Yi, and Ji Qiong to study together. Only the young Song Yuerong escaped, but when she got older, Song Que would also going to throw her to study.
Scholar Jiang was an old scholar who had failed the imperial examinations many times and was a bit arrogant. He had a hard time teaching in the county school, Song Que quickly poached him to teach in his house. If it wasn’t for his failing the exam at his age, no matter how much money Song Que spent, Song Que couldn’t get Scholar Jiang to come over willingly. Not to mention anything else, Scholar Jiang’s foundation was still very good, which was more than enough to teach a few children the basics.
Although Ji Qiong preferred to stay by Song Que’s side, he didn’t refute it when Song said that.
Song Que went to the county government office in the afternoon. Gao Fenglin was processing the files. He was a little surprised when he heard Song Que was here, and said, “Have you thought of a way?”
Song Que said: “You think too highly of me. I’m here to see the autopsy report. What you wrote in the letter is too sparse, so it’s not easy to make a judgment.”
Gao Fenglin sighed, and while rummaging around, he said, “That’s all the information written on the autopsy grid. If you don’t believe me, read it yourself.”
Gao Fenglin handed over a thin piece of paper. As he said, basically all the information was written in the letter.
Song Que frowned and said, “Where is the corpse?”
Gao Fenglin said: “Place In coffin home.”
[义庄 (yìzhuāng) is a temporary coffin depository where the coffins containing the cadavers of recently deceased people are temporarily stored while awaiting transport to the place of burial]
Song Que said: “Can I take the coroner with me to go there?”
Gao Fenglin was a little surprised, then pondered for a while and said, “I’ll go with you.”
Song Que scanned the documents of this case.
Gao Fenglin said: “The county register is still here, let him do it.”
[主簿 (zhǔbù) is the name of an official position in ancient China and belongs to the civil service. This position is responsible for documents and seals. That is, drafting some documents, managing archives, and various seals. Roughly equivalent to the modern secretary or chief secretary position]
County registers Ge on the side lowered his head silently. Since Gao Fenglin took the post, his workload has been getting bigger and bigger and he can’t say anything. After all, although Gao Fenglin was more devoted to official duties than the previous county magistrate, he was much easier to serve.
Gao Fenglin summoned the coroner and took him to the coffin home. Because it was an unsolved official case, Hu Er’s body was put in a separate compartment for re-examination.
Gao Fenglin was overwhelmed by the stench of the corpse as soon as he came in. He felt a little nauseated, but he didn’t want to show it. He endured it but ended up running out and throwing up
Although Song Que also frowned, it was not as serious as Gao Fenglin’s. He took out some coins from his sleeve pocket and said to the servant who came with them: “Can you please buy some fragrant pills and vinegar?”
Fragrant pill was a common medicine in pharmacies. The servant took the money and quickly walked out of the coffin home.
Song Que walked up to Gao Fenglin, patted him on the back, and said, “Brother Wutong, why did you follow me?”
After Gao Fenglin finished vomited, he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and wanted to throw it away. When he saw that there was his wife’s embroidered calligraphy on it, he stuffed it into his sleeve with a heartache expression and struggled: “I want to see your thoughts. “
Song Que said: “We need evidence and reason to solve a case. Witnesses may lie, but the corpse cannot. If the available evidence is not enough to draw a clear conclusion, why don’t we go back and look for more evidence? Your autopsy was too haphazard. The deceased gave more information than you thought.”
Although Gao Fenglin still felt a little nauseous, he couldn’t help but look thoughtful after hearing these words.
The servant returned and handed the things to Song Que. Song Que took out a fragrant pill and gave it to Gao Fenglin. The rest were divided among the people present. He walked in first and sprinkled vinegar in the room. The stench was gradually covered up.
Gao Fenglin put the fragrant pill on the tip of his tongue. He felt somewhat clear-headed since entering the coffin home
