Coroner Su watched from the side and silently took notes. Because he was too focused, he happened to meet Song Que’s eyes and quickly lowered his head.
Song Que said, “I’ll bother Coroner Su later.”
Coroner Su quickly shook his head and said, “Young Master is joking.”
Coroner Su removed the linen covering Hu Er’s corpse. It was summer, and five days had passed. In addition to the discoloration of Hu Er’s corpse, there were also signs of decomposition, which increase the difficulty of Song Que’s investigation.
This was the first time Gao Fenglin saw a corpse with his own eyes. He was a liitle overwhelim.
Song Que stepped forward without changing his expression and looked at the entire corpse from head to toe. Song Que also asked Coroner Su to lift the corpse and squat down to look at the back of the corpse.
“Brother Wutong, where was the corpse found, and what was its posture when it was found?”
Gao Fenglin said: “The corpse was found in the woods near Zhang Mazi’s home.”
As for the posture, he was not sure, so he glanced at Coroner Su who went to the scene with the officers.
Coroner Su said quickly: “When the body was found, it was face up, with its hands hanging on the ground and its feet slightly apart.”
Song Que asked: “Is the corpse’s feet facing Zhang Mazi’s house, or is its head facing Zhang Mazi’s house?”
Coroner Su pondered and said with some uncertainty: “It seems that the feet were facing Zhang Mazi’s house.”
Song Que asked Coroner Su to lift the corpse from it shoulders. The clothes were so dirty that the original color could not be seen. You could only saw that the back was slightly worn. Song Que hesitated for a moment, but still did not touch it directly. Coroner was coroner, and an examiner was an examiner. He did not mean to challenge everyone’s nerves from the beginning, and said to Coroner Su “Check the degree of wear on the back of his clothes.”
Coroner Su checked it and said: “This area is much more worn than other places, and it feels like there are scratches along the back.”
Song Que nodded to Coroner Su, indicating that he could put the corpse down, and said to Gao Fenglin, “What does Hu Er do for a living?”
Gao Fenglin said: “He was just an idler. He didn’t have any proper job. He spent all day in gambling houses. Now that he is dead, I think his wife also expected this day.”
Song Que was thoughtful and asked Coroner Su to check the wound on Hu Er’s chest.
“Open his clothes.”
Coroner Su followed the instructions, and Hu Er’s chest was exposed. The wound in the middle was dark brown, like coagulated blood, but the skin were not shrunk and the bones were not visible.
Song Que said to Gao Fenglin: “This is an injury caused after death. If it was before death, the skin of the injury would shrink and the bones would be visible. If it was after death, the skin of the injury would be neatly cut and there was no curling of the skin. This blood stains can be washed away. Did you find the knife that consistent with the stab wound on the chest at Zhang Mazi’s house?”
Gao Fenglin was a little surprised, but he was not familiar with autopsies, so he subconsciously looked at Coroner Su. Coroner Su was just an ordinary coroner. It can be seen from the previous incidents that his ability was mediocre, naturally he didsn’t know this pattern.
Gao Fenglin pondered for a while and then said to the guard on the side: “Go get a basin of water.”
It’s not that he didn’t believe Song Que, it’s just that for such an unheard-of thing, the more evidence, the better.
The guard quickly brought water, and Corober Su stepped forward to clean the wound. He didn’t use much strength, but the blood on the wound quickly faded, revealing the white flesh.
Song Que added: “Coroner Su, please check if the injury was caused by a straight thrust or an inclined thrust.”
Coroner Su made an inspection and said: “It should be inserted straight in.”
Song Que asked the guards to turn Hu Er’s body over so that its back was facing up. Coroner Su checked the wound on the back like the wound on the chest, and found that just as Song Que said, the skin of the wound on the back was shrunk and the bones were visible, which was very different from that on the chest. No matter how he wiped the wound, blood stain always remained in the skin. Because of the angle of insertion mentioned by Song Que, Coroner Su did not need Song Que’s reminder. He also checked the wound and found that the knife was inserted from top to bottom, which was very different from the chest.
Gao Fenglin watched the whole scene from the sidelines. He has some vague ideas coming out of his mind, but he couldn’t string them together into a complete thread. He was impatient and asked quickly: “Does Zishuo have any ideas?”
Song Que nodded and said, “Hu Er’s clothes are seriously worn on the back, but he doesn’t do any physical work. He spends all day in a gambling house. Under what circumstances would such a person to have his clothes wear out? The place where the corpse was found was not the place where he was killed, but the place where the corpse was moved. The person who moved the corpse was Li Xiaowu. He dragged Hu Er’s feet to move the corpse. Hu Er’s back and head were rubbed against the ground, leaving traces.”
Gao Fenglin recalled several questions Song Que had asked, and quickly understood: “Is it because of the direction? If Hu Er came out of Li Xiaowu’s house and went to find Zhang Mazi and was killed in the argument, if the one who moved the corpse was Zhang Mazi, then Zhang Mazi would drag Hu Er’s feet and Hu Er’s head should be facing Zhang Mazi’s home.”
Song Que said: “This is not entirely the reason. After all, Coroner Su is not sure about this matter and cannot be used as evidence for inference, but it is still good to provide a direction. Remember what I said about the difference between injuries before death and injuries after death? The injury on the back was an injury before death, which Li Xiaowu himself admitted was his counterattack when Hu Er beat him. The injury on the chest is consistent with Zhang Mazi’s knife, but this injury was an injure after Hu Er’s death. Someone put him on the ground and stabbed him straight down with a knife. Zhang Mazi is a thug hired by the gambling house. He is responsible for collecting debts and to teach those who make trouble in the gambling house a lesson so they won’t dare to do it again. At present, it seems that Zhang Mazi and Hu Er have no personal hatred. What reason does Zhang Mazi have to stab Hu Er in the chest after his death? If he really did it, he would not gritted his teeth and not say anything when he was caught. No matter how serious the crime of insulting a corpse is, it is not as serious as the crime of murder. Dragging the corpse to the vicinity of Zhang Mazi’s house, and using Zhang Mazi’s knives to make wounds on Hu Er’s body, this kind of frame-up behavior comes from Li Xiaowu who made the stabbing on Hu Er’s back. Zhang Mazi had a argument with Hu Er that day, which was known to everyone in the street. Li Xiaowu set up a wonton stall on the street, so he naturally also knew this. Zhang Mazi was the only candidate he could think of in his panic.”
Gao Fenglin said: “Does this mean that Li Xiaowu is the real murderer of Hu Er?”
Song Que shook his head and said, “Do you know the bail period?”
Gao Fenglin knew little about this term, but Coroner Su had been in this business for many years, so he was somewhat familiar with it. Standing beside him, he explained to Gao Fenglin in a low voice: “Anyone who assaults and injures someone, if the person who was beaten dies on the spot, the person who injured them will naturally be charged with homicide. If the person who was beaten does not die on the spot, it also depends on whether the battered person can survive a certain period of time. If not, the person who assaulted that person will still be responsible for homicide. This period is the bail period. “
Song Que nodded and said: “Coroner Su is right. Although the duration of the bail period is not completely reasonable, it shows one thing. Beating may cause delayed death. According to the testimony and various evidences, Hu Er is indeed dead after Li Xiaowu stabbed him at the back. Whether it was the organ damage caused by the beating that caused death at that time or whether it was because of Li Xiaowu’s stabbing is something that cannot be determined now.”
Gao Fenglin had a headache. After going around in a circle, he came back to this issue. Who was the murderer, Li Xiaowu or Zhang Mazi?
“Then what else can be done?”
Song Que said resolutely: “Autopsy. Zhang Mazi only admitted to beating, but it is impossible to admit that he beat the person to death. The same is true for Li Xiaowu. Only the corpse cannot lie. Only by dissecting and examining the condition of each organ can we know who is the real murderer?”
Gao Fenglin was a little surprised, then hesitated: “This”
There was no such thing as an autopsy unless it encounters a highly decomposed corpse or an ownerless corpse that has been burned beyond recognition, and most of them just do some superficial examination of the corpse. After all, the body come from the parents, and they should not be damaged at will. There was also a saying that the deceased was the most important, and the body must be complete before it can be put into the ground for peace.
Song Que could completely understand Gao Fenglin’s hesitation and said: “Seizing the real culprit is the greatest respect for the deceased. If you can’t decide right away, we will check other things first. But don’t delay for too long, the higher the degree of decay, the less evidence we can obtain.”
Gao Fenglin sighed and asked, “What else can we check now?”
Song Que dragged him to Hu Er’s corpse and asked, “How tall is Li Xiaowu?”
Gao Fenglin recalled: “Similar to me.”
Song Que said: “Hu Er and I are similar in height. Li Xiaowu’s confession mentioned that Hu Er went to him to ask for money, but he really couldn’t get the money, so Hu Er pushed him next to the stove and beat him. Li Xiaowu felt he was about to be beaten to death by Hu Er so he struggled hard, grabbed a knife in a panic, and stabbed Hu Er in the back. Hu Er was frightened and ran out of his home. You and I will demonstrate.”
Gao Fenglin glanced at the surrounding tables and refused a little: “This is coffin home.”
Those tables were used to place corpses, and Gao Fenglin didn’t want to lie down directly on them.
Song Que stepped forward to hold his back and said, “Lay down, I will hold you.”
Gao Fenglin had no choice but to bend. Song Que lowered his body in cooperation. Gao Fenglin pretended to take a knife from the side and stabbed Song Que. The guards and Coroner Su next to them could see clearly that this stabbing should be done with one hand. The angle was straight down, with a slight deviation from bottom to top, because it was easy to exert force.
Song Que asked Gao Fenglin to try the angle of thrusting down, but Gao Fenglin felt a little uncomfortable.
After the two of them finished their demonstration, Coroner Su said, “Sir, I want to talk about the angle of the wound.”
Song Que was very pleased and nodded, ”Exactly. In terms of the depth, height, and angle of the wound, it was not an accidental injury during the struggle that Li Xiaowu claimed. Li Xiaowu was at the back, using both hands to hold the knife, and ruthlessly stabbed Hu Er’s back. This is not an accidental injury in the middle of the struggle, he’s got a real desire to kill. And why near the stove? If it was for money, why did Hu Er follow him into the kitchen? I guess that Li Xiaowu told him he wanted to give him a bowl of wontons, and Hu Er followed him into the kitchen. Let’s investigate what their relationship is.”
