Chapter 1141: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 1141: Xiaohua, It's Me Who Burdened You

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Regarding the autopsy matter, some might think the deceased's family cannot hire a forensic examiner themselves, but those who have experienced it know it actually depends on the circumstances.

For ordinary non-criminal deaths, the family is generally allowed to commission a qualified forensic examiner or appraisal institution to conduct an autopsy.

Only in criminal cases — for example, homicide or suspected homicide — do public security organs have the legal authority to order an autopsy, and the family cannot refuse or perform their own autopsy, though they may attend as witnesses and may also commission another qualified institution to participate in the autopsy with the public security organ's permission.

Li Zhongxian's body had already undergone a preliminary appraisal by the public security organs, which ruled out a criminal case and initially determined the cause of death as sudden death due to myocardial infarction.

Therefore, Wang Xiaohua and Li Jianjia, as Li Zhongxian's family members, were legally permitted to reapply for a forensic appraisal.

At first Wang Xiaohua thought he would encounter heavy obstacles, but when he went to apply, he discovered that both the public security organs and the prison unit actually agreed very quickly.

This left Wang Xiaohua surprised, and the various conspiracy theories that had shrouded his mind gradually dissipated, making him wonder:

Could it be that his father-in-law really did die of an accidental sudden death?

The appraisal institution Du Xiaojuan helped find was famous throughout Guangzhou for its precision and authority.

The forensic examiner assigned by the appraisal institution soon contacted Wang Xiaohua and Li Jianjia, and after completing the autopsy formalities, the examiner conducted a new round of examination on Li Zhongxian's body.

Preliminary results generally come out in one to two days; if a complete autopsy report is needed, it takes 7 to 15 working days; and if further testing such as pathological sections or toxicology analysis is required, it may extend to around 30 days.

One day later, the appraisal institution issued the preliminary appraisal result, which was almost identical to the result of the forensic appraisal commissioned by the public security organs: sudden death caused by myocardial infarction.

The appraisal institution asked whether they wanted a complete autopsy report; if so, they would proceed, and the fee could be discounted out of consideration for Du Xiaojuan's face.

If not needed, it would end here.

The forensic examiner's suggestion was that it was no longer necessary.

The deceased had no external injuries and no signs of food poisoning; all the characteristics presented were the standard state of sudden death.

Wang Xiaohua and Li Jianjia discussed it and finally decided not to continue the examination.

They accepted this result.

Since they accepted the result, the next step was to handle Li Zhongxian's funeral arrangements.

Wang Xiaohua had Li Jianjia contact her family's relatives; the dead are the greatest, so at least let friends and relatives see Li Zhongxian off on his final journey.

Li Jianjia said she wouldn't contact them; the funeral would be simplified in every way.

Have the hospital issue a death certificate, then contact the crematorium and take him directly for cremation; no need for others to attend the funeral, she herself couldn't host them anyway.

Wang Xiaohua didn't have much objection to her approach.

After all, ever since Li Zhongxian fell from power, many of the Li family's relatives had avoided the Li family like the plague; Li Jianjia had probably been chilled to the bone long ago and didn't want any further contact with those relatives, which was why she made this choice.

Thus one saw this strange scene: on the day Li Zhongxian was taken to the crematorium, only Wang Xiaohua, Wang Erhai, and Wang Dashan — the three brothers — accompanied Li Jianjia to the crematorium.

Inside the crematorium, everyone else had long funeral processions, wearing mourning clothes.

On their side, there were just these few people, and none of them wore any special clothing.

The cremation took place at the crematorium in Baiyun District; after cremation, they had the staff turn the bones into ashes, bought a 3,000-yuan urn at the crematorium, placed the ashes inside, and left silently.

They didn't even light a single string of firecrackers.

Li Jianjia planned to take her father's ashes back to the house in the county town for storage.

On the road back to the county town, Wang Erhai drove, while Wang Xiaohua and Li Jianjia sat in the back seat.

Wang Dashan drove back to Guangzhou by himself.

Li Jianjia held the urn, expressionless.

Wang Xiaohua's mobile phone rang; he took it out and saw it was surprisingly the counselor from the school calling.

"Hello, Teacher, what's up?"

"Xiaohua, I saw your leave slip; you said your father-in-law passed away, is that true?"

The counselor's tone carried an interrogative note.

She clearly didn't quite believe the reason Wang Xiaohua gave.

After all, at Tsinghua University, there aren't many undergraduates who get married during their studies.

At least in her many years as a counselor, she had never seen or heard of an enrolled undergraduate at the university getting married.

"Yes, Teacher, I just sent my father-in-law to the crematorium for cremation today."

Wang Xiaohua answered truthfully.

But the counselor said in a cold tone:

"Take a photo of your marriage certificate and send it to me; otherwise I cannot approve this leave of yours."

Wang Xiaohua was stunned, feeling somewhat depressed.

He should have known better than to ask for leave; he could have just skipped class.

University is so free anyway; now it's the second half of junior year, missing ten days or half a month of classes won't cause any problem as long as roommates help handle roll call.

He was too honest for his own good, actually taking the initiative to ask the counselor for leave — simply asking for trouble.

But since things had come to this, and the counselor had made this demand, Wang Xiaohua could only comply:

"Okay, wait a moment; I'll send it to you on WeChat in a bit."

Wang Xiaohua hung up, found the marriage certificate photo he had taken before on his phone, and sent it to the counselor.

After receiving it, the counselor called Wang Xiaohua again.

"Xiaohua, not that I'm criticizing you, but you're a Tsinghua University student — why the rush to get married? So afraid you won't find a partner? How can you act like a rural junior high dropout delinquent? Do you know how hard it is for someone from the countryside to test into here? You don't study properly, why get married so early?"

Like a parent, the counselor gave Wang Xiaohua a full lecture.

Wang Xiaohua was momentarily dumbfounded; he couldn't help glancing at Li Jianjia beside him, truly afraid she would hear the counselor's words and start having wild thoughts again.

After all, the current Li Jianjia's nerves had become extremely sensitive and fragile.

"Teacher, thank you for your concern, but that is my own decision, it is my private matter, please respect my choice."

Xiao Hua answered the Counselor calmly.

The Counselor, however, still kept talking non-stop:

"No, you got into Tsinghua University after all, how can you have this kind of awareness? You tell me, what kind of person is that woman, what is good about her, to the point of making you so anxious to go get the certificate with her, locking up your originally promising life!"

Xiao Hua frowned slightly:

"We are high school classmates, we grew up together, she loves me, I also love her, that is enough, Teacher, your concern is really a bit over the line, I'll say it again, please respect my choice, this is my private matter, you actually have no right to interfere."

The Counselor let out a long sigh:

"Alright, alright, this is your own choice, I indeed have no right to interfere, but I hope after graduation, ten years later, twenty years later, when you think back on this rash marriage choice of yours, you won't regret it. The leave slip, I've approved it for you."

After saying these words, the Counselor hung up the phone.

Xiao Hua looked at Li Jianjia once more, discovering she was still expressionless, without any reaction, as if she hadn't heard the conversation between Xiao Hua and the Counselor.

But after a long while, Li Jianjia suddenly blurted out a sentence:

"Xiao Hua, it's me who burdened you..."