Chapter 48: The Tengu Heart-Eating Incident on Xinglong Street (Part 1)
Before daybreak, a chaotic sound of horse hooves shattered the tranquility of Xinglong Street.
However, the residents nearby have long been accustomed to it - after all, the streets have been in chaos since the middle of the night, and there has been no peace for a moment.
Seeing a white banner in front of him and many shadowy figures gathered around him, Sun Shaozong knew that he had arrived at the place, so he slowed down his horse a little and announced his name in a loud voice: "I am Sun Shaozong, the judge of criminal law in Shuntian Prefecture. Who is the person in charge in front of the gate?"
"Lord Sun, you are finally here!"
Before he finished speaking, a . It was none other than the Criminal Prosecutor Zhou Da. He leaned over and fawned over them. He held the reins and said, "The Prime Minister has urged me several times just now. If you don't come again, I really don't know how to respond!"
Ever since he was made a scapegoat at the welcoming banquet, Zhou Da simply joined Sun Shaozong out of spite - after all, he was selected from the clerks and could not be considered a serious scholar.
Although Sun Shaozong never expressed his position, it did not stop him from considering himself a lackey.
"Mr. Fu Cheng?"
Sun Shaozong frowned when he heard this. In a big way, this case should be handled by the prefect Han Anbang himself. In a small way, it should be handled by the governor Liu Chongshan who is in charge of criminal cases. How could it fall to Jia Yucun?
Seeing that he was frowning and silent, Zhou Da vaguely guessed the reason and hurriedly explained in a low voice, "Mr. Jia just moved to Xinglong Street yesterday, next door to Minister Ge's house."
What bad luck!
If he had moved in a day later, this case would never have fallen on him!
Sun Shaozong was speechless for a moment, thinking that Jia Yucun was possessed by the god of bad luck - but he didn't know that the source of this matter was actually himself.
If it hadn't been for his help, Jia Yucun's arrival in Beijing to take up his post would have been pushed back by three or four days, and his move to Xinglong Street would have had to wait until mid-February, which would have just avoided this strange case that caused a sensation but ended in confusion.
Now...
When Sun Shaozong followed Zhou Da and hurried to the study in the Ge Mansion, he saw Jia Yucun standing with his hands behind his back in front of the door that had been knocked open. His face was as black as if it was covered with ink. His eyebrows, nose, and eyes all exuded a terrifying low pressure. It was a no-entry zone within a ten-foot radius!
It was only when he saw Sun Shaozong appear that he showed some joy on his face. He ignored the presence of Zhou Da, Zhao Wuwei and others, stepped forward and grabbed Sun Shaozong's sleeve, and said excitedly: "Brother, you have to help me this time no matter what!"
Sun Shaozong could understand his feelings. A new official encountered such a big case right after taking office. If he could solve the case, he would naturally be glorious. But what if he failed... It would be fine if he was punished by his superiors, but the main thing was that he would lose face and prestige. How could he compete with Han Anbang in the future?
However, Sun Shaozong hasn't even grasped the basic circumstances of the case, so how could he dare to brag?
All he could do was to solemnly promise, "Don't worry, Lord Prime Minister, I will do my best to find out the truth of this case!"
"That's good, that's good, that's good!"
Jia Yucun said "that's good" three times, but he forgot to let go of Sun Shaozong's sleeve, which showed that he was in a state of panic at this time.
As a last resort, Sun Shaozong asked again: "Sir, can you let me go to the crime scene first to investigate and then question the parties involved?"
"Yeah!"
Jia Yucun pointed to the house on the east side and said, "Zhao Wuwei, take Sun Tongpan to investigate the scene. Zhou Da, go and call all the witnesses!"
Only then was Sun Shaozong able to escape.
However, he did not rush to enter, but first carefully observed the layout of the study in the Ge Mansion - the study in a wealthy family is often where the owner lives and receives guests, and the Ge Mansion is no exception.
In the center is an exquisite and elegant flower hall, on the west side is the real study, and the crime scene is in the bedroom at the east end.
When Sun Shaozong walked to the bedroom, he immediately discovered that the door had also been forcibly knocked open. Judging from the broken horizontal bolt on the ground, it should have been locked - just like the door outside the flower hall.
A murder case in a locked room?!
Sun Shaozong's heart tightened. Although the murderers in the cases he had solved before had covered up their crimes, it was done in a hurry after all, so there were still many clues left.
However, this kind of closed-room murder case is usually carefully planned by the murderer, and the scene is often carefully cleaned up, making it much more difficult to solve than an ordinary case!
There was another thing that concerned Sun Shaozong. According to his experience over the past few days, in such suites, usually only the outer room would be locked. In order to make it convenient for maids and servants to go in and serve in the middle of the night, the inner room would not even be equipped with locks.
However, a lock was specially installed on the door of this bedroom, and if you look closely, you can see that the lock was added later.
So do the two locks on the door here and there indicate a lack of security, or are they meant to hide some unknown secret?
Thinking in his mind, Sun Shaozong stepped into the bedroom. Before he could see the situation inside clearly, he felt something wet under his feet.
Is there a layer of water on the ground?
Sun Shaozong was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood what was going on , because not far to the left of the door, there was an empty bathtub.
Not far from the bathtub, a fat corpse was leaning on a stool, with a huge gash in the chest, but inside was only clear water without much pus or blood.
The skin and flesh at the wound were pink, tender and white, clearly as if they had been washed repeatedly after death!
Tsk~
It might be even harder to find clues now.
Sun Shaozong sucked his teeth in embarrassment, but his eyes suddenly focused. He hurried to the corpse for a closer look. As expected, he found that the liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys were all present in the chest cavity, but the most important heart was missing!
"This is……"
Sun Shaozong carefully picked up a few main blood vessels, looked at the jagged ends that seemed to have been torn apart with great force, and could not help but gasp - the missing heart was actually torn off by teeth!
Then he found even more horrifying evidence in the folds of the corpse's clothes—a small ball of chewed meat!
Could it be that the heart has been eaten by the murderer? !
Was this extremely perverted behavior caused by deep hatred, or was it to cover up some important clues? !
Sun Shaozong pondered for a while before handing the heart fragments to Zhao Wuwei for sealing. He then raised his eyes and continued to look at the situation at the scene.
curtain?
There is actually a thick layer of curtains in this bedroom?
You have to know that paper windows were used these days, and you couldn’t see clearly from the outside during the day, let alone at night, so few people would install curtains.
Sun Shaozong walked to the window, carefully lifted the tightly closed curtains, looked up and down carefully, and found that the windows were also locked.
Considering that the body was near the windowsill, it was unlikely that the murderer had the opportunity to lock the window after the crime. This shows that the room was indeed a closed room before the door was knocked open.
Moreover, through this extra layer of curtains, Sun Shaozong further confirmed that Minister Ge must be hiding some secret!
And this secret is most likely the cause of his death!
"grown ups!"
Seeing Sun Shaozong staring blankly at the window for a long time, Zhao Wuwei could not help but remind him, "Why don't you take a look at what's on the air vent first."
transom?
Sun Shaozong had also noticed that there was an open air vent in the northwest corner, but the window was only slightly bigger than a palm. It was too big for an adult to fit through, and even a child might not be able to get out, so he did not rush to check it out.
Hearing Zhao Wuwei mention it and seeing his panic-stricken face, Sun Shaozong became interested. He tiptoed forward to take a look at him. He immediately exclaimed "Huh?" and picked up a few gray hairs from the window frame, mumbling: "This seems to be..."
"Dog hair!"
Zhao Wuwei trembled and said, "Master, this is definitely dog hair! You...you don't think it's really the work of the Heavenly Dog?!"
