Chapter 88: Separated by Mountains

Separated by Mountains

Nie Jinxuan didn't expect that the person entering the room at this time was not Xiao Xiu but Yin Fengzhan, so for a brief moment, she was stunned. Afterward, Nie Jinxuan wanted to get up, but the moment she opened her eyes, she paused slightly.

"Uh... what, what happened?"

Turning her back to the outside of the bed, Nie Jinxuan spoke in a low voice, but while speaking, she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable tension, and even her speech was a bit stuttering.

Suddenly, Nie Jinxuan felt annoyed. At this moment, hearing this, Yin Fengzhan, who had already walked to the bedside, just frowned and said again,

"Someone is dead!"

Yin Fengzhan's words were still simple and clear. Upon hearing that someone had died, Nie Jinxuan was shocked. Afterward, she couldn't care about the tension and shyness from just now, instantly raised her body, and looked at Yin Fengzhan to ask,

"What's going on? Who died?"

"A floating corpse was just discovered in the Bi Pool of Zi Feng Lin."

"Discovered in the Bi Pool? Could it be that the deceased is a member of the imperial family in the villa?"

Zi Feng Lin was an imperial garden, and there were strict guards around it. Moreover, it was currently the spring festival, and Emperor Shuncheng was personally present, so the security around should be even stricter. And since the Bi Pool was in Zi Feng Lin, then a corpse was found in the Bi Pool, so who else could the deceased be but someone from this villa?!

It seemed that the matter was indeed troublesome!

Therefore, thinking of this, Nie Jinxuan didn't talk nonsense anymore, got out of bed and changed her clothes, and then went out with Yin Fengzhan. Once she walked out of the room, seeing Nie Jinhui also coming over with a nervous expression, looking like she had heard the news, Nie Jinxuan took Nie Jinhui and followed Yin Fengzhan to the Moon-Gazing Pavilion in the front courtyard.

……

The Moon-Gazing Pavilion connected the various rooms and courtyards of the front yard. It could be said to be a pavilion, but with the shrubs and lawns around it, it was quite spacious. When Yin Fengzhan's group arrived, the area around the Moon-Gazing Pavilion was already full of people, and Emperor Shuncheng was sitting in the Moon-Gazing Pavilion, pursing his lips and remaining silent.

The surroundings were silent. Looking at the situation around, Yin Fengzhan took Nie Jinxuan and the Nie sisters to a corner that was not very conspicuous. But at this time, seeing Yin Fengzhan arrive, Prince Gong Yin Fengxuan squeezed over.

"Fourth Brother, why did you just arrive?!"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing! It's just that Father was looking for you just now!"

"Looking for me? What for?"

"I don't know, but I was wondering if it was..."

Speaking in a low voice to Yin Fengzhan, Yin Fengxuan couldn't help but glance at Nie Jinxuan, who was standing on the other side of Yin Fengzhan. Seeing him like this, Yin Fengzhan's eyes flashed instantly, and then he asked again,

"Have you found out who it is yet?"

"Hmph, find out?! Find out what?! The face has been soaked in water until it's almost like paste, I don't even know if it's a man or a woman, who knows who it is?!"

Listening to Yin Fengzhan asking about the identity of the deceased, Yin Fengxuan snorted coldly. But then he paused slightly and nudged his chin toward the front.

"Besides, Fourth Brother, it's not that I want to say anything, look at the one examining the corpse... heh, still examining, I reckon he's almost scared to death! What's there to examine. Honestly, it would be better to have the one from your house, Fourth Brother..."

Saying this, Yin Fengxuan couldn't help but glance at Nie Jinxuan again over Yin Fengzhan. Upon hearing this, Yin Fengzhan didn't speak either, lowered his eyes to look at Nie Jinxuan, and then cast his gaze back to the corpse not far in front of him...

……

The afternoon sun of spring was bright, but at this moment, the area around the Moon-Gazing Pavilion was shrouded in a strange atmosphere. No one spoke, and even the air revealed a suffocating tension and oppression.

And the eyes of the crowd were fixed on the corpse in the open space in front of the Moon-Gazing Pavilion, or rather, on the person who was examining the corpse, waiting to hear the final result.

Time passed bit by bit, and after a long while, so long that the surrounding imperial family members couldn't help but start whispering, the person examining the corpse still hadn't announced the result.

Seeing this, Emperor Shuncheng, who was sitting in the Moon-Gazing Pavilion with an ugly face, couldn't help but turn even gloomier.

"Is there a result?"

"Uh... this servant, this servant..."

Emperor Shuncheng spoke, but upon hearing this, the person examining the corpse was startled, stuttered for a long time, but couldn't say a complete sentence. Seeing him like this, Emperor Shuncheng was furious and slapped the stone table in front of him hard.

"I am asking you if there is a result!"

Emperor Shuncheng was angry, and being roared at by Emperor Shuncheng, the person examining the corpse fell to his knees with a "thump".

"This servant deserves to die, but Your Majesty, this servant is from the Imperial Hospital. If it were to seek medical advice or diagnose an illness, there would be no problem, but this corpse examination... this, this servant really... really... and this corpse has been soaked in water for many days, unrecognizable, this servant really can't examine it..."

It turned out that among the group for this spring festival, no coroner had been arranged to come along. So, now that this had happened, the people below had no choice but to call over the Imperial Physician Wang, who was accompanying them. Although Imperial Physician Wang usually had good medical skills and could be considered a master of medicine in the Imperial Hospital, the saying goes that "different professions are like mountains," so when it came to examining a corpse, Imperial Physician Wang knew nothing!

Helplessly, Imperial Physician Wang had to tell the truth. Upon hearing this, Emperor Shuncheng was furious, but then Emperor Shuncheng's eyes turned stern, and he scanned the crowd around him... finally, his gaze fell on Nie Jinxuan, who was standing beside Yin Fengzhan, without any surprise.

"Fourth one's wife."

"Your daughter-in-law is here."

Emperor Shuncheng spoke in a low voice. Nie Jinxuan couldn't help but purse her lips and stepped out in response. Seeing Nie Jinxuan come out, Emperor Shuncheng's face improved slightly.

"Fourth one's wife, you were poisoned last time, is your body better?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, thanks to your concern, your daughter-in-law's body is no longer a problem."

"En, that's good!"

Nodding slightly, Emperor Shuncheng sized Nie Jinxuan up again, and then got to the point.

"Since that's the case, I will speak directly... Just now, when the Crown Prince, the Fourth one, and several others accompanied me to Zi Feng Lin, a floating corpse was suddenly discovered in the Bi Pool. And you have just seen the person, he has no experience in examining corpses, so if possible, can you examine the corpse in public, so as to find out who the deceased is and obtain some clues?"

Emperor Shuncheng spoke politely, and in front of so many members of the imperial family, it could be considered giving Nie Jinxuan great face. Therefore, upon hearing this, Nie Jinxuan naturally couldn't refuse. So, after Nie Jinxuan responded, she stepped forward directly.

At this time, the area around the Moon-Gazing Pavilion was still silent. The previous Imperial Physician Wang, seeing that Emperor Shuncheng did not punish him, hurriedly made room and retreated to the side. When Nie Jinxuan arrived beside the corpse and lowered her eyes to look, she couldn't help but frown slightly.

It turned out that Nie Jinxuan had been standing a bit far away just now, so she hadn't seen it clearly, but now that she looked closely, she realized that this corpse was damaged so severely!

The corpse's face was completely festered, and because it had been soaked in water, it was white and swollen. There were many damages on the corpse, and there were obvious traces of fish and shrimp gnawing in the pool. Just by identifying the clothes worn by the corpse, the deceased should be a woman.

Therefore, after measuring the corpse in front of her, Nie Jinxuan put on the sheepskin gloves prepared for her by Emperor Shuncheng, and without a word, she squatted down, and while starting to examine the corpse, she said in a low voice,

"The deceased is a woman, height one meter... uh, between four feet eight inches and five feet, age is about sixteen to twenty years old..."

"The deceased's face has multiple injuries, and there are traces of human destruction..."

Her eyes were slightly lowered, her brows slightly furrowed, and she spoke seriously and earnestly. At this moment, hearing Nie Jinxuan say that the deceased's face had traces of human destruction, Emperor Shuncheng's eyes flashed.

"So, it's murder?!"

Emperor Shuncheng interjected at the right time, but upon hearing this, Nie Jinxuan just looked at Emperor Shuncheng and said with pursed lips,

"Whether it's murder is hard to say now, it could also be that the deceased committed suicide first, and then was disfigured after being discovered."

As a forensic doctor, Nie Jinxuan had to be accurate and rigorous in every word she said. After finishing, Nie Jinxuan didn't wait for Emperor Shuncheng to ask again, and lowered her head again.

"The deceased's neck has traces of being strangled by a rope... come, you two come over and help me turn the corpse over..."

……

Nie Jinxuan examined the corpse in public, called two eunuchs to help, then used scissors to cut the deceased's clothes, wiped the deceased's corpse, and finally picked up a knife to dissect it in public!

Time passed bit by bit, from afternoon slowly to dusk... and the area around the Moon-Gazing Pavilion remained silent. Everyone present was stunned by Nie Jinxuan's skillful movements. Of course, a large part of the people closed their eyes the moment Nie Jinxuan cut open the corpse, not daring to look at it anymore.

From beginning to end, Nie Jinxuan was busy, sweat on her head layer after layer, until after a long time, Nie Jinxuan breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.

At this moment, seeing Nie Jinxuan stand up, the crowd present and Emperor Shuncheng were shocked at the same time, and then they heard Nie Jinxuan say in a low voice with a calm face,

"The deceased is a woman, height between four feet eight inches and five feet, age is about sixteen to twenty years old... time of death is about three days ago, the deceased's neck has strangulation marks, the chest ribs have multiple fractures, caused by impact with heavy objects. At the same time, although the deceased was discovered in the Bi Pool, there was no mud or turbid matter in the mouth and respiratory tract, and there was no edema in the lungs, so it can be judged that it was not drowning. Therefore, the true cause of death is that the deceased suffered a severe impact on the back of the head, and died of ruptured cerebral blood vessels."

"At the same time, according to the traces of the wounds on the corpse, it can be inferred that the murderer first attacked the deceased from behind, killed the deceased with one blow, then strangled the neck, hit the chest with heavy objects, scratched the face, and finally pushed the deceased into the Bi Pool!" ===== CHAPTER 89 =====