This white bone is very complete, Yang Qiuchi breathed a sigh of relief, he is most afraid of a large pile of messy bones piled together, and he has to distinguish whether it is a human bone or an animal bone, it is a few human bones, and now there is no instrument, it is even more troublesome to distinguish clearly, but fortunately, this white bone is complete.

Yang Qiuchi glanced at the pelvis of the white bones, and preliminarily concluded that this was a skeleton with a female surname. Because in order to adapt to the needs of pregnancy and childbirth, the morphological characteristics of the female pelvis are obviously different from those of the male surname. The female surname has a slender pelvis, the upper mouth of the pelvis is round or oval, wider, and the lower mouth has a large transverse diameter; Whereas, a man's pelvis is heart-shaped and much narrower. In addition, there are also obvious differences in the location of the pubic symphysis, obturator foramen, etc. I also looked at the characteristics of the skull and the whole skeleton, this bone is relatively slender, which conforms to the characteristics of a woman's skeleton, and if it is a man's skeleton, it is relatively thick and has a rough surface.

Yang Qiuchi measured the length from the top of the skull to the base of the foot, and added five centimeters (the thickness of the soft tissue under the foot) to the obtained data, which was the person's original height. The height of the bone was measured to be 4 feet 86 (equal to 1.62 meters).

Next, he needs to judge the age of this person, lean down and carefully observe the teeth of this white bone, and he has to infer the age of this white bone from the degree of wear and tear of the teeth. After observation, the crest and edge of the first molar of this white bone were only slightly worn, and it was judged that the degree of wear was not up to the first level, and the age of this white bone should not be more than 20 years old.

To judge the accurate age of a person, mainly depends on the bone age, [***] examination is generally to examine the X-ray photos of the palm, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee, and ankle of the person, but the white bone is much more available for examination.

Yang Qiuchi examined the sternal ossification point of the white bone and found that the third to fourth and second to third segments of the sternum had healed, but the second segment had not completely healed, indicating that the age of the white bone should be about 18 years old. The appearance and healing of ossification points in the scapula, sacrum, and coccyx were also examined, which was consistent with the previous conclusions.

Judging from the above examination, this white bone is a girl who is 1.62 meters tall and about eighteen years old, I don't know if she is beautiful, but she is not beautiful now.

Next, Yang Qiuchi needed to check the cause of her death. Soon, Yang Qiuchi found the answer. At the top of the skull of this white bone there is a clear fracture area with the fracture lines intersecting each other, forming multiple bone fragments, an annular fracture around the foramen magnum, the cervical vertebrae embedded in the skull, the vertebral compression fracture, and the symmetrical fracture of the ribs.

Yang Qiuchi sighed, it seems that the girl fell from a height and died, and her head hit the ground first. The fractures that were just checked out were all typical of high fall injuries, and the huge impact even caused her cervical vertebrae to rush into the cranial cavity, resulting in a compression fracture of the spine, which could not be formed by ordinary murder weapons.

However, judging from the fracture situation, the degree of high fall injury is not very serious, the height of the fall should not be very high, it is estimated that it will not exceed two floors, or, the height is a little higher, but the ground is relatively soft, such as hard sand or even grass, but unfortunately only this white bone is left, otherwise, Yang Qiuchi can judge the situation of the fall site from the attachment that adhered to the scalp when the top of the deceased's head hit the ground, so as to provide clues for judging the murder scene.

Falling from a high place is mostly a suicide or accident, and a few are homicides, or killing the victim first, and then throwing it from a high place, pretending to be a suicide or accident. Whether the girl committed suicide or homicide must also be carefully observed.

Yang Qiuchi stretched his upper body into the coffin, lowered his head and slowly checked the suspicious traces little by little. Finally, a thin fracture line on the temporal bone on the right side of the white bone caught his attention.

This fracture line was obliquely from the front down to the back up, and what attracted Yang Qiuchi's attention was that one of the crushed fracture lines at the top of the skull extended downwards and intersected with the fracture line in the right temporal region, and it stopped at the intersection and did not continue to extend downward.

This is strange because the skull fracture extends from the point of force to the periphery, while the fracture line of the temporal bone is isolated and does not extend from the point of focus, and when the fracture line that extends from the point of force intersects it, it is interrupted. This shows that the fracture line of the right temporal bone existed before the crushed fracture at the top of the skull!

In other words, the girl received two blows to the head, one to the right temporal region and one to a high fall on the top of the head. The right temporal part should be the first and the high fall injury last, because the right temporal slam caused the fracture line to be oblique to the back and upward, and after the fracture line is formed, the fracture line caused by the high fall extends down to the temporal bone fracture line, and it will be blocked.

Therefore, the girl was hit in the head with a bar-shaped murder weapon, resulting in a linear fracture of the right temporal bone, before being thrown from a high place.

The fracture line of the temporal region is relatively long, and it can be concluded that the strength of this heavy blow is relatively large, which is enough to cause the victim to lose the ability to move immediately, and judging from the direction of this fracture line and the strength of the blow, this trauma cannot be completed by itself, so it can be concluded that this girl was murdered!

This fracture line is in the right temporal bone, generally speaking, the strength of a person's forehand is greater than that of the backhand, and in a premeditated homicide, the murderer will unconsciously choose to use the maximum force of the blow, so generally not with a less powerful backhand strike. The fracture line was in the right temporal region, and it was a forehand strike, indicating that the killer was most likely left-handed.

Yang Qiuchi's entire upper body was put into the coffin, his head was almost on the face of the white bones, and he carefully observed the fracture line of the temporal bone, and found that there were several subtle abrasions on both sides, because the hardness of the skull is similar to that of metal copper, so the murder weapon should be something harder than metal copper, such as iron, stones, etc., to leave abrasions on the skull, plus the fracture line is relatively long, the murder weapon should be an iron rod or something.

Next, to determine the time of death, this is more troublesome, if the corpse has not yet decomposed, there are many that can be detected, such as corpse stiffness, corpse spots, corpse temperature, corneal turbidity, the appearance and growth of fly maggots, [***] blisters and so on. The white bones are much more difficult, and the bones have been transferred. Therefore, based on the degree of white ossification and the local climate and soil temperature, it is estimated that the girl died two years ago.

It is more difficult to determine the identity of this girl, but judging from the quality of her hair and the delicacy of her bones, this girl did not engage in heavy physical labor during her lifetime, and she is well nourished, and she is likely to be a rich girl.

That's all the information that this white bone can provide. The next step is to go to the first scene of the crime to investigate again to see if there are any other findings, and then restore the skull of this white bone.

Song Yun'er, Song Qing and others have been watching Yang Qiuchi busy and dare not disturb. It wasn't until Yang Qiuchi finished his investigation that Song Zhixian cautiously asked, "Nephew Xian, how is it?" ”

Song Yun'er also asked nervously and excitedly: "Yes, brother, have you found anything?" Song Qing stared at Yang Qiuchi with big eyes and inquiringly.

Yang Qiuchi asked Yu Zuo and the other idlers to avoid it before he whispered: "This white bone turned out to be an eighteen-year-old girl, probably a rich girl, four feet eight inches tall, who was hit on the right temporal part with a hard object such as an iron rod, and then threw it off the height, and the top of the head landed on the ground first to die. That's all there is to know now. ”

"This sister is so miserable!" The mud doll Song Qing looked at this white bone and sighed, "He must have been very beautiful when he was alive, if only he could see what she was like before." ”

"That's fine, when I restore her skull, you can see if she's beautiful or not."

"Really? Can you really restore her to her original form? Song Qing asked excitedly, the charming dimple flashing on her round and white face, "Brother Qiuchi, you are so amazing!" ”

Song Yun'er patted her sister Song Qing's shoulder: "How is it?" I kid you not. Song Qing nodded, grinning, revealing the neat row of small teeth.

Master Jin said, "Brother Yang can really restore the original appearance of this skeleton? Song Zhixian also looked at Yang Qiuchi eagerly. Of course, Song Zhixian knew that if this skeleton could be restored to its original appearance, then the identity of this person could be found, and clues to the crime could be found, so as to determine the suspect, and the significance of this to solving the case was conceivable.

Yang Qiuchi said: "This girl's skull is complete, and her hair is also there, there should be no problem with recovery, although I dare not say that it is exactly the same, but it is not far from ten." ”

Song Zhixian was very excited when he heard Yang Qiuchi say this: "Then there is Lao Xian, a virtuous nephew." I don't know how long it will take to get it done? "Song Zhixian is now eager to solve the case immediately, although there is a dead little carpenter as a scapegoat, there will be no danger of dismissal for the time being, but there is always a hanging in his heart, only by solving this case, it is possible to completely get rid of this crisis, maybe it can also help his political achievements, no wonder he is so nervous.

Yang Qiuchi smiled: "No more than two days." He had done this kind of skull restoration many times before, and he was familiar with it. Although there was no soft rubber clay in the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that the effect of replacing it with clay for ordinary pottery is similar. "You must first carry this corpse back to the yamen and put it in my house, so that I can recover."

Song Qing said in surprise: "Put it in your house?" …… Aren't you afraid? ”

"I'm afraid, will you accompany me?" Yang Qiuchi blinked his eyes and asked with a smile, it is very pleasant to joke with beautiful girls.

Song Qing smiled a little shyly, and the small dimples were intriguing: "Am I alone?" He looked at Song Yun'er.

Song Yun'er grimaced: "What are you looking at me for?" People want you to accompany me! ”

Song Qing thought about it, bit her red lips, put her hands behind her back, and said with her towering chest: "Okay, I also want to see how you restored this skull to its original appearance." ”

Yang Qiuchi didn't expect her to really agree, a little surprised, and a little moved, glanced at Song Qing's slender figure, and her heart was pounding.

Song Zhixian asked Yang Qiuchi, "Virtuous nephew, will we go back now?" ”

"Well, send the bones to my house first, and then we'll go to the vegetable patch and see if there's anything else to find."

Song Zhixian nodded, and ordered Yu Zuo to renail the coffin and carry it back to the county yamen to put it in an empty room in Yang Qiuchi's house. Then the group went to the vegetable field where the bones were found.

There is a low fence outside this vegetable field, separating the vegetable field from a small road outside, and walking along the path, it is not far from the main street of Xicheng District of the county seat, which is not far from the city gate. There are several families next to the vegetable patch, including Long Zixu's home.

Half a year has passed since the bones were dug up in this vegetable field, and the original owner of the vegetable field did not dare to ask for this vegetable field again, so it has been deserted and ignored.

Yang Qiuchi first asked Master Jin to send someone to call the owner of the vegetable field to inquire about the discovery of the bones. The owner of this vegetable plot is an old couple.

Yang Qiuchi asked them how they found the white bones in the vegetable patch. The old man replied, "That morning I went into the vegetable field to pick some cabbage, and as soon as I opened the fence gate, I saw that the vegetable patch was trampled in a mess, and there was a big pit, and a lot of earth was turned up, and it was piled up everywhere. I was so angry that I scolded, and after scolding for a while, no one paid attention, so I sorted out the rotten vegetables, and then went to fill the hole, and at a glance I found that there was a white dangling thing sticking out of the dirt in the pit, I knelt on the edge of the pit, reached over and cut the dirt, and when I looked closely, it almost scared my soul away. It turned out to be a dead man's bone. ”

Yang Qiuchi asked, "How deep was that pit at that time?" ”

The old man thought for a moment, "Probably up to my knees." ”

"What bones of dead men do you see?"

"It's like a hand, and the flesh is gone, only a skeleton remains. It scared people to death, and I didn't sleep well for several nights in a row. Speaking of this moment, the old man still has palpitations.

The old woman nodded and said, "Yes, I didn't dare to come over after hearing what he said, so I quickly reported it." ”

Yang Qiuchi asked, "Didn't that pit exist before?" ”

The old man said, "No! Absolutely nothing! I had to go to the garden every day to pick vegetables, and the first night was fine. ”

Yang Qiuchi lowered his head and pondered, the pit was only half dug, and the bones were exposed to a hand, there are all kinds of possibilities, maybe the digger wanted to dig up the bones and transfer them to another place, but suddenly encountered something, interrupted the excavation and fled; It is also possible that the skeleton was transported here from somewhere else to be buried, and half of it was buried, and it escaped in an accident; Or they deliberately dug up the bones that were originally buried here, only half of the excavation, and stopped when the hands were exposed, in order to let others see them. Of course, there are other possibilities.

What is the reason for this? Yang Qiuchi couldn't find a clue.

Yang Qiuchi asked the old man to point out the exact location of the pit, and then asked the servants to start digging carefully, and report any suspicious items as soon as they found them.

(To be continued)