TGCFNM -Chapter 45 Autopsy Results

The spirit banner quivered slightly. Wan Sanjin moved it aside and set it down, then rushed out, exhaling deeply, his face pale as death.

From inside, Su He called out, “Sanjin, come help me.”

Wan Sanjin quickly held his breath and returned, helping Su He seal the coffin lid.

Once it was sealed, Wan Sanjin dashed out again, gasping for air, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

Su He stayed behind to make some final annotations in the autopsy report, then slowly emerged.

“How is it?” Chu Ling asked, looking at Su He.

Su He handed over the completed autopsy report. “The body has been restored; it won’t affect anything. You can call Zhong the blacksmith and the others back.”

Chu Ling nodded slightly, signaling the officers outside to deliver the message, then opened Su He’s autopsy report.

“Are you certain it wasn’t drugs?” Chu Ling asked.

Su He’s face darkened as he nodded. There were indeed no traces of drugs. However, traces of poison were found in Miss Hong’s throat, likely administered post-mortem.

Chu Ling studied the section noting the poison, then looked at Zhong the blacksmith, who had regained a bit of strength, and nodded to him before asking directly, “Master Zhong, does your family have any enemies?”

“Enemies?” Zhong immediately shook his head. “Our family just works with iron—we wouldn’t have enemies.”

Chu Ling hummed in acknowledgment, then looked at Zhong. “Let me get straight to the point: Miss Hong was assaulted before her death…”

Zhong’s eyes reddened, tears falling. “It’s my fault… all my fault… I shouldn’t have gone after that wedding feast.”

A-Zhong hurriedly supported Zhong, glaring angrily at Chu Ling. “Couldn’t you speak more gently?”

“The suspect would do best to stay silent. Otherwise, you’ll be sent to the jail for trial today. Then no one will be around to take care of your master,” Chu Ling said coldly.

A-Zhong gritted his teeth and fell silent.

Chu Ling continued, “Miss Hong was assaulted before death, but unlike other women, she likely regained awareness quickly and struggled. The elbows show wear, leaving marks. Her fingers were clawed, stiff from struggling. Pressure on the neck, face cyanotic, eyes congested—she died from asphyxiation. In other words, she was smothered to death.”

“Surely it was that flower thief!” Magistrate Zhao ground his teeth.

“Additionally, Miss Hong was administered poison after death. The poison only reached her throat, not her lungs or internal organs. The perpetrator likely feared she wasn’t fully dead, so they gave her poison as a precaution,” Chu Ling explained, closing the autopsy report. She looked at Zhong Hong and murmured, “There’s also another possibility: she may have seen the person’s face, which is why the poison was administered after death, just to be safe.”

Zhong the blacksmith staggered forward, grabbing Chu Ling’s arm. “Sir… what did you say? My daughter was smothered after death and then given poison?”

“Any problem? The autopsy makes everything clear,” Chu Ling pressed. “Is there something I don’t know?”

Trembling, Zhong fished a neatly folded piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Chu Ling.

Chu Ling unfolded the document and found, to her surprise, a suicide note. The content roughly stated that Zhong Hong had been humiliated and could not bear to live, so she chose to take poison.

Chu Ling’s eyes widened, and instinctively she looked at Zhong Hong.

Zhong Hong shook her head desperately. She hadn’t written any note. She hadn’t taken poison.

A-Zhong spoke quietly, “That’s why, at first, I didn’t want you to perform an autopsy. My master and I both knew that Sister Hong had supposedly taken poison, so why deny her that last shred of dignity?”

“It wasn’t poison—it was suffocation,” Chu Ling said, clutching the “suicide note.” “Who was the first to discover Zhong Hong’s body?”

“It was me.” A-Zhong carefully glanced at Chu Ling. Seeing that she didn’t appear angry, he continued with relief, “That morning, someone came to the shop wanting a small knife made. Sister Hong was the best at making them, so Master told me to call her over.”

“When I got to her door and knocked, there was no response. A strange bitter smell was in the room. Feeling something was wrong, I kicked the door open and found Sister Hong… she was lying on the ground, her clothes disheveled. Beside her was a small black porcelain bottle, blood at the corner of her mouth, and a note on the table.”

A-Zhong closed his eyes, rage barely contained. “I knew it… it was that flower thief again… it was him! Again, it was him!”

Chu Ling frowned and looked at Magistrate Zhao. “The previous nine women—confirmed suicides?”

“Confirmed. The former coroners confirmed it—each had taken their own life. But this time… this time…” Magistrate Zhao hesitated.

“It’s because I refused,” the blacksmith Zhong said painfully. “I didn’t want… didn’t want my daughter to also be autopsied… because of that, I almost let the murderer of my daughter go…”

“Was Miss Hong literate?” Chu Ling asked.

Zhong the blacksmith nodded, then looked at A-Zhong.

A-Zhong explained, “Master thought it was necessary for us to know how to read and write for business dealings. He sent me to study, and when I returned, I taught Sister Hong to read and write.”

Chu Ling asked curiously, “If Miss Hong didn’t take poison and was suffocated, then how could she have written a suicide note?”

A-Zhong immediately replied, “I know you might doubt me, but I realized something was off the moment I saw the note. I handed it to Master, and he specifically had it examined by a scholar. The ink was common, and the handwriting was indeed hers. I even tried to imitate it, but it looked similar yet was clearly not right—it wasn’t me.”

Chu Ling looked at the note once more, then folded it and tucked it into her sleeve. “I’ll take this note with me.”

She also intended to study the other nine case files carefully, to see if the ten murdered women shared any common threads. If she could find their shared link, she could pull that single thread from the tangled skein and unravel the whole case to catch the killer.

After bidding farewell to Zhong the blacksmith, Magistrate Zhao personally arranged for them to be escorted back to the Fulai Inn.

Once at the inn, Wan Sanjin instructed the innkeeper to prepare hot water for washing, and everyone returned to their respective rooms.

After closing her door tightly, Chu Ling had Zhong Hong sit down and asked quietly, “Su He told me that for the poison in your throat there are two possibilities: either you still had a bit of life left when it was administered, or it was given after death.”

“If you still had a breath left, that means the person didn’t dare finish you off. It’s also possible they didn’t know whether you were dead, so they lifted the pillow and saw you still had a breath. Do you remember anything that happened that night?”

Zhong Hong shook her head in pain. “Master, I was dazed, completely weak. I had no strength to resist. I was powerless. I didn’t notice anything in particular.”

Chu Ling comforted her with a gentle pat on the hand and asked, “Also, I found it very strange. Normally, I only encounter spirits when I touch bones, or in places where the deceased’s resentment is strongest while alive. Why were you by the river and not in your own bedroom?”

Zhong Hong fell into confusion. “Master… I don’t know.”