SFTD -Chapter 52 The Tragedy of an Entire Family (Part 5)

Zhao Xinli reached into the dead man’s pants pocket and felt a hard object. He pulled it out.

Xu Biao cried out in surprise.

“Holy crap, it’s actually a gold hairpin! So many gemstones—definitely real at a glance. But why is there blue fuzz stuck to it?”

Zhao Xinli nodded as well.

“This weight alone says it’s authentic. Tossed casually into a pants pocket like this? It was absolutely stolen!”

Zhou Hai picked up the gem-encrusted hairpin and held it before his eyes. The overall design featured two chrysanthemums intertwined together, brilliant sapphire blue and reddish gold complementing each other beautifully. Every gemstone had been carefully polished, though lacking the modern ‘Hearts and Arrows’ cutting technique, making them appear slightly muted.

Yet the craftsmanship was incredibly lifelike and vivid.

Using the tip of a needle, Zhou Hai lightly touched the blue portion. Sure enough, it lifted slightly.

“This is kingfisher feather inlay. Top-tier craftsmanship, and the gemstones are first-rate as well. An item with this kind of quality probably came out of the imperial palace during the late Qing Dynasty.”

He turned the hairpin over and, as expected, found an oval embossed maker’s mark on the back. Holding it under a magnifying glass, he examined it closely.

Three characters were engraved there:

“Juyuanlou.”

Zhou Hai vaguely remembered hearing of the shop before. It seemed to have been a famous jewelry store during the late Qing era and had even accepted custom commissions from the imperial court.

Holding up the hairpin, Zhou Hai frowned slightly.

Stuffing it carelessly into a pocket would seriously damage the kingfisher feather inlay. Was Tong Xinwei simply indifferent to it, or had he deliberately hidden it there?

“A poor kid from the rural areas of Linfen in western Shandong Province, who managed to get into Southeast University and stay on as faculty, then willingly became a live-in son-in-law. That means his family circumstances were terrible, and the burden at home was heavy. Someone like him would hardly ever have the chance to come into contact with antique jewelry like this. So why was this hairpin in his pocket?”

“He stole it!”

Xu Biao declared confidently.

“Could it have been planted on him?”

Zhao Xinli looked at Zhou Hai suspiciously.

Zhou Hai shook his head slightly.

“Let’s do the autopsy first. Have Captain Liu find someone to authenticate and date it.”

The two nodded.

Xu Biao photographed the hairpin, then carefully sealed it into an evidence bag before personally heading upstairs to report it. Just from Zhou Hai’s expression alone, he could tell the thing was extremely valuable.

The moment Captain Liu took it, he recognized it as extraordinary and immediately arranged for an expert appraisal.

Meanwhile, Zhou Hai had already begun dissecting Tong Xinwei’s body.

Zhao Xinli secretly observed the working style of the group.

The people in Second Team really were quite distinctive.

Though Zhou Hai had a cold personality, his seriousness toward work and toward his team was genuinely moving. The explanations earlier had clearly been directed at him personally.

And what had he himself done?

Nothing more than helping out with errands and handling insignificant support tasks whenever Zhou Hai got busy.

As for Xu Biao, his protectiveness toward Zhou Hai rivaled that of a mother hen—any perceived threat and he instantly bristled.

That Fengzi and Xiao Liang were now already capable of independently performing autopsies. From the brief glance Zhao Xinli had stolen earlier, their speed and technique were absolutely no worse than his own.

For a moment, he found himself envying the three people who worked under Zhou Hai.

Sentiment aside, Zhao Xinli turned his head and suddenly caught sight of the victim’s partially flayed face.

The muscles in his cheeks twitched in fright.

Why did this technique resemble the way pork head meat was carved at butcher shops?

The thought caused his hands to falter slightly as he held the hooks apart.

Zhou Hai sharply lifted his eyes toward him.

“What did you think of?”

“Dr. Zhou, the technique used to strip flesh from this victim resembles the preparation of a local Dongnan dish called Hongyun Dangtou. When I was little, the family next door were butchers who sold roasted meat. I used to lean over the wall watching him carve meat all the time. His knife skills with pig heads were unbelievable—one stroke and half the pig face would separate cleanly from the bone. Honestly, even forensic doctors like us can’t compare to that kind of technique.”

“I’ve never seen a butcher do it myself, but that’s actually a very good lead. After all, there are an unusually high number of chopping wounds and defensive injuries on the victim, which suggests Tong Xinwei discovered the killer during the murder.”

“That’s possible.”

Both Xu Biao and Zhao Xinli strongly agreed with Zhou Hai’s analysis.

Although Tong Xinwei’s condition looked the most gruesome, the autopsy itself was relatively straightforward. Due to excessive blood loss, the lividity on his body was extremely faint, and there was no damage to the internal organs or brain.

Every chop wound and defensive injury was photographed and measured.

The longest chop wound measured only 6.5 centimeters, deepest at the center and shallower on both sides.

Every single strike had cut all the way to the bone.

After compiling all the data, Zhou Hai’s confusion only deepened.

The weapon had a curved blade; otherwise it could not have produced wounds like these. But a blade with such curvature would have been unlikely to create Zhang Junming’s wounds.

Could there really have been two killers?

After all, there were now clearly two distinct sets of data.

That meant the shoe covers and gloves had not merely been used to conceal footprints and fingerprints—they had also been intended to hide the fact that two people committed the crime together.

Once the chest and abdomen were sutured shut, Zhou Hai suddenly felt weak in the legs.

He looked up at the clock.

The hands pointed to eleven.

A full fifteen hours.

At last, all the autopsies were complete.

Beside him, Xiao Liang had already arranged for the bodies to be transported away. Zhou Hai removed his gloves and isolation gown.

Xu Biao rolled his neck and patted Zhao Xinli on the shoulder.

“Thanks, buddy. Today really changed my opinion of you.”

Zhao Xinli punched Xu Biao lightly in the shoulder.

“I came here to learn.”

Xu Biao rolled his eyes and shoved him away.

“I just started thinking better of you, and now you’re pulling this fake humble routine again. Stop with the nonsense! Hai-zi isn’t the type to hide his knowledge. We welcome interruptions anytime!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Then came a thunderous growl from someone’s stomach.

The group exchanged looks.

Xu Biao wore a face full of grievance.

“What’re you staring at? Hurry up and wash up so we can eat! Lord Xu Biao’s about to starve into the afterlife here. My true qi is leaking out already!”

Ten minutes later, after showering, the group stepped out of the changing room only to find Director Pang standing there with a cheerful smile.

Everyone immediately froze in place.

“Don’t just stand there. Hurry to the cafeteria and eat! Everything’s already prepared for you. You all worked hard today. But you’ll still need to put in some overtime and organize the reports. We can’t hold back the criminal investigation team.”

After saying that, Director Pang headed upstairs.

Though exhausted, Zhou Hai completely agreed with the sentiment.

“Let’s eat first. Tonight Fengzi and I will stay here to organize the reports. The rest of you go back and rest. Don’t we still have the task force meeting tomorrow morning?”

Xiao Liang was about to object when Zhou Hai raised a hand to stop him.

“We can’t all stay here. Once we review the lab reports, if necessary, Xu Biao and Xiao Liang will need to revisit the crime scene tomorrow.”

Hearing Zhou Hai say that, no one argued further.

The group immediately charged toward the cafeteria.

Zhou Hai and Fengzi worked until four in the morning organizing reports. More than forty test reports were delivered one after another, and gradually, a complete sequence of events began taking shape in Zhou Hai’s mind.

Fengzi eventually fell asleep sprawled across the desk.

At this hour, Zhou Hai no longer felt sleepy at all.

He marked the reconstructed sequence onto the crime scene layout map.

At 7:30 a.m., Zhou Hai sat drinking coffee when Fengzi finally stirred awake, rubbing his eyes as he looked toward him.

“You didn’t sleep at all?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“You shouldn’t drink coffee on an empty stomach. I’ll go get breakfast.”

Just as he stood to leave, the office door was pushed open and Xu Biao came charging in energetically.

“Egg-filled pancakes and sago milk porridge! Don’t worry, there’s no scallions added. Hurry and eat!”

The two didn’t refuse. They grabbed the food and wolfed it down.

Then Xu Biao turned around and spotted the glass whiteboard behind them.

He let out a startled cry.

“My god! Hai-zi, did you make all this last night?”