Chapter 188

Speaking with Qin Yutong, Hu Xiaotian felt an inexpressive sense of oppression, he didn't know why he had this feeling, their conversation was dull and boring, just like past tedious work talks, he disliked this feeling and intended to break the oppressive atmosphere, as if unintentionally but actually deliberately making Qin Yutong embarrassed, he said: "Do you want to help me examine it?" If he were facing Murong Feiyan, he would probably have already punched her, the best outcome would be to hear those four words: despicable and shameless.

But Qin Yutong remained unfazed, her clear, pure eyes seemed not to notice this fellow's sinister intent: "Sure, should we stay here or find another place?"

Hu Xiaotian truly experienced Qin Yutong's formidable nature, his forehead began to sweat, in the end it was he who felt embarrassed, Qin Yutong responded with unchanging composure to all his schemes, no matter what he thought, she remained aloof, Hu Xiaotian felt terrible, in her presence he suddenly felt like a child, no matter what he wanted to do, she could easily dispel it.

Hu Xiaotian sighed: "Forget it, men and women should not be intimate."

Qin Yutong said flatly: "Then forget it!" Although they exchanged words back and forth, not only did they not draw closer, but Hu Xiaotian continually felt an unattainable distance, this feeling was truly strange.

At this moment, the coroner Li Guangsheng of Qingyun County hurried toward the government office with his head down, seeing Hu Xiaotian he quickly stepped forward to salute, Hu Xiaotian asked him if he had been to the Charitable Estate, Li Guangsheng knew Hu Xiaotian was inquiring about the autopsy results, nodded and said he had already gone, the autopsy found nothing abnormal. According to procedure, as long as the coroner

Hu Xiaotian held considerable doubt about this fellow's autopsy skills, knowing that in this era autopsy merely examined the surface. Moreover, coroners in such a small county were mostly self-taught, lacking professional training, so failing to find anything was normal, finding something would be strange.

After Li Guangsheng took his leave, Hu Xiaotian conceived a plan, he told Qin Yutong: "I want to go first to the Charitable Estate to have a look." In Hu Xiaotian's view, even if a woman were bold, she would still fear corpses, you Qin Yutong have a good mindset? I want to see just how good your mindset can be.

Qin Yutong actually nodded: "Sure!"

There is only one Charitable Estate in Qingyun County. Recently the weather has been hot, exactly the peak season for deaths, business at the Charitable Estate naturally boomed. Even the courtyard was filled with coffins. As for the corpses stored in the Charitable Estate, they are ownerless bodies sent by the government, the Charitable Estate does not provide coffins, only offers temporary storage for corpses, after the coroner finishes the autopsy and takes evidence, these corpses will be wrapped in straw mats and buried directly in the potter's field outside the city. Of course doing this earns money, storing a corpse for one day costs five wen, helping to bury a corpse costs twenty wen. Although the money is not much, the Charitable Estate owner Zhu Yannian enjoys it immensely—even a mosquito's meat is meat, not making money would be foolish. Hu Xiaotian and Qin Yutong arrived at the Charitable Estate courtyard. Seeing the huge courtyard with coffins scattered haphazardly, most coffins still unpainted, Hu Xiaotian saw outside each person. The Charitable Estate's gate stood open, so he stepped inside and shouted loudly: "Is anyone there?" He shouted several times with no reply.

Both sides of the path leading to the rear courtyard were lined with coffins, behind was the temporary corpse storage area, the Charitable Estate has its rules: yin spirits cannot see sunlight, so the corpse chamber in the rear courtyard has no windows, the door is tightly shut, even the passageway is completely covered with black cloth, although it is scorching summer, entering there still gives an inexplicable chill.

An oil lamp glowed in the wall niche, by its faint light he walked inward, Hu Xiaotian again asked: "Is anyone there?"…

A squeaking creak came from beside him, it was a man inside the right‑hand coffin sitting up. Although Hu Xiaotian was an atheist, this fellow startled him, he focused his gaze—the man had disheveled hair and was yawning, a timid person would surely think it was a fake corpse.

The man rose from the coffin: "Who's looking for me?" When he saw clearly that the person before him was Hu Xiaotian, he hastily crawled out of the coffin, bowed deeply and said: "Commoner Zhu Yannian does not expect Sir Hu's gracious visit, please forgive my negligence."

Hu Xiaotian snorted, pointing at Zhu Yannian's nose: "You've got a problem, sleeping in a coffin in broad daylight, truly impressive, scaring people to death you know that?" He turned to look at Qin Yutong, Qin Yutong stood calmly behind him, showing no trace of fear, he couldn't help but marvel, this lass really has guts.

Zhu Yannian explained: "Sir, this place is cool and refreshing."

At that moment a person also sat up in the left‑hand coffin, Hu Xiaotian now had mental preparation, no longer the earlier jolt, that person was the Charitable Estate assistant Fan Tong, a young man who was diligent but because of his huge appetite Zhu Yannian jokingly called him a rice barrel, over time the nickname spread, even nearby neighbors began calling him that.

Upon hearing Hu Xiaotian's purpose, Zhu Yannian hastily led Hu Xiaotian and Qin Yutong to the corpse storage area.

Before entering the corpse chamber, Zhu Yannian specially gave them gauze to cover their mouths and noses, the weather was hot, inside there was no ventilation, the corpses had begun to rot, the stench was unbearable.

Hu Xiaotian covered his mouth and nose, still having a bit of pity for fragrance and jade, he told Qin Yutong: "Inside is too smelly, Miss Qin you need not go in."

Qin Yutong said: "No problem, physicians have no taboo about such matters."

Hu Xiaotian thought: you chose this yourself, if you vomit later don't blame me, then he followed Zhu Yannian and Fan Tong inside.

Zhu Yannian lifted a lantern, the two corpses lay on the planks, the coroner Li Guangsheng had just examined them earlier.

Hu Xiaotian endured the corpses' stench, leaned in and looked, then said softly: "The light here is dim, move the corpses outside to a bright place, I'll examine them."

Zhu Yannian nodded, Fan Tong stepped forward and lifted the corpses—though he was slender, his strength was considerable, he carried one on his hands and shouldered the other, actually carrying both corpses out with ease. Knowing that even carrying a living person is not easy, let alone a dead body which is unusually heavy, Hu Xiaotian secretly praised, this kid does have some brute strength.

Fan Tong placed the corpses in the rear courtyard, found a spot with ventilation and bright light, Zhu Yannian spread two straw mats on the ground and laid the two corpses on them. Actually the coroner had already examined the corpses, if Hu Xiaotian hadn't come, after Zhu Yannian woke up they would have taken these two corpses to the potter's field for burial.

Hu Xiaotian had Fan Tong strip the corpses of their outer garments, leaving only a pair of underpants to cover modesty. He furtively observed Qin Yutong beside him, discovering she felt neither fear nor shame, but half‑squatted beside one corpse and examined it carefully.

Zhu Yannian saw this young man and woman unafraid of corpses, seemingly braver than himself, the longtime owner of the Charitable Estate, he inwardly marveled and said to Hu Xiaotian: "Sir Hu, the coroner Li Guangsheng just came, he examined the corpses meticulously and said there was nothing wrong."

Hu Xiaotian replied: "What does he know?" This sentence left Zhu Yannian speechless.

Qin Yutong asked: "What did these two people eat last night?"

Hu Xiaotian answered: "Some of the food leftovers have been sealed and stored in the county office."

Qin Yutong said: "If we know what they ate, we should be able to find out what poison they took."…

Hu Xiaotian said: "That's not difficult." He drew from his waist the surgical knife he always carried, he currently keeps two knives on his person—one is this surgical knife of his own, the other is a dagger given by his future father‑in‑law Li Tianheng. He also took out a deerskin glove and put it on, this fellow was preparing to dissect the abdomen.

Although Hu Xiaotian is a medical doctor, he has never studied forensic medicine, even examining corpses he could see nothing from it, this fellow took out the surgical knife just to nauseate Qin Yutong, you aren't curious about my abdominal surgery? Today I'll demonstrate live how to open the abdomen and explore.

Zhu Yannian saw Hu Xiaotian pull out a knife, initially unaware of his purpose, but when Hu Xiaotian swiftly and cleanly cut open the corpse's abdominal wall, Zhu Yannian, though accustomed to corpses and standing in bright sunlight, was still stunned by the corpse's stench and the colorful intestines before him, he dared not look, this county magistrate is practically a demon reborn, how can he cut open a person's belly without blinking an eye.

Hu Xiaotian's gloved hand probed the corpse's abdominal cavity, pulled twice and extracted the stomach.

Seeing this, Zhu Yannian's face turned pale, his heart pounded, cold sweat covered his forehead, he dared not look nor leave, only turned his body away.

The assistant Fan Tong actually wasn't afraid, instead he watched with great interest and asked curiously: "Sir Hu, is this the stomach?"

Hu Xiaotian smiled: "Not bad!" While speaking his gaze shifted to Qin Yutong.

Qin Yutong's calm truly impressed Hu Xiaotian, she remained as before, focusing intently on the corpse's abdomen, she pulled out a silver needle and inserted it into the corpse's liver, the silver needle instantly turned black: "Poison!"

If Hu Xiaotian's purpose in dissecting the abdomen was to frighten Qin Yutong, now the one startled was actually himself, this lass truly has extraordinary courage, she showed not a trace of fear.

Hu Xiaotian opened the corpse's stomach, because the victims died quickly the food inside was barely digested, he used the knife tip to pick out a slice of mushroom.

Qin Yutong selected another silver needle, lifted that mushroom slice, then took a porcelain bottle from her deerskin pouch, sprinkled some unknown powder on the mushroom, after a while the mushroom showed no change. Qin Yutong said: "The food itself is not toxic." She had Fan Tong help open the victim's mouth to check, then examined each of their skin surfaces.

Qin Yutong observed minutely, finally discovered a tiny puncture mark in the armpits of both corpses.