Old Lady Yang instructed Steward Pang: "Go quickly, call Lang Zhong to treat Young Master Yang's injuries." Steward Pang agreed, and was about to run out.

Yang Qiuchi waved his hand to stop it and said, "Uncle, my injuries are fine, don't look at Lang Zhong." ”

Yang Qiuchi originally just had a curiosity about Guo's nymphomaniac hanging, but after the ghost encounter in the small attic last night, Yang Qiuchi had a premonition, an ominous premonition - someone didn't want to know something, and he didn't hesitate to use means to try to scare himself away, so Guo's death was likely to be something wrong.

Now, for Yang Qiuchi, this open coffin autopsy is no longer simply to test whether Shan'er is the son of Old Lady Yang, Yang Qiuchi needs to verify his hunch from the open coffin autopsy.

Yang Qiuchi said to Old Lady Yang, "Uncle, what we said last night, let's do it immediately." ”

Old lady Yang was a little sorry for Yang Qiuchi's fall and injury in the attic, seeing that Yang Qiuchi didn't care, but cared about what he said last night, he was a little grateful, and said: "Since this is the case, let's go to the coffin for an autopsy after breakfast." ”

Old lady Yang's eldest son, Yang Qingshui, asked, "Dad, open the coffin for autopsy?" Whose corpse was examined? ”

"Your Aunt Guo's."

"Huh?" Yang Qingshui exclaimed, "She, wasn't she hanged?" It's been two years since they were dead, so what else is there to test? ”

Of course, Mrs. Yang can't say that the autopsy is to test whether the third aunt's son Shan'er is his old lady Yang's species. Although he wanted to open the coffin for an autopsy, no one dared to say anything, but he couldn't stop others from talking behind his back, so he had to think of an excuse, but he couldn't find a suitable excuse for a while.

Yang Qiuchi interjected: "Cousin, last night I talked to my uncle about the fact that this attic has been haunted, and we guessed that it might be related to the burial of the deceased Aunt Guo, so we decided to open the coffin to see if there was any problem." ”

Yang Qingshui said: "What else can be a problem?" At the beginning, Aunt Zhang said that this Aunt Guo was unlucky to hang herself, and she must have been haunted by evil ghosts, so she invited a mage to do things and chose such a piece of yin land for burial, could this still not suppress the evil ghosts on her body? ”

Yang Qiuchi looked at the beam in the living room and said meaningfully, "Does my cousin think it's calm?" ”

"Even if you don't stop it, cousin, do you know how to look at the feng shui of the yin house?"

"No, but I've been an apprentice for a while, so I'll check the dead. See how this dead man died. After saying this, Yang Qiuchi stared at Yang Qingshui, seeing that his hair was straight.

Steward Pang said to Mrs. Yang: "Master, this coffin autopsy is not trivial, should you ask the mage to take a look at it first and then decide?" ”

Old lady Yang knew that Yang Qiuchi was going to Huguang to take office after the New Year, and there was no time to delay, besides, he was also anxious to know if this child Shan'er was his son. Thinking that he might have cuckolded and fed the evil seeds for others, Old Lady Yang was irritable and waved his hand: "No need! There are no taboos, after breakfast, immediately open the coffin for an autopsy! ”

Seeing that Mrs. Yang was angry, no one dared to speak anymore.

After having breakfast in a hurry and calling a few servants and helpers in the village, the Yang family all went out to the grave of the third aunt Tai Guo to open the coffin for an autopsy.

Guo's grave is in a depression near the creek at the foot of the village, and when Yang Qiuchi and the others entered the village, one of the dirt bags they saw at the entrance of the village was Guo's.

Guo is the concubine of Mrs. Yang, according to the rules, the concubine cannot be buried in the ancestral grave after death, not to mention that Guo still hanged himself after becoming a nymphomaniac, which not only lost the face of the Yang family, but also was unlucky.

After Guo hanged himself, he asked the mage to do a rit to see the feng shui, and the mage said that Guo's five elements belonged to fire, and he was hanged by a nymphomaniac, and he was hit by the evil fire, so he must choose a low-lying and damp yin place to bury in order to be able to suppress it.

When he came to Guo's cemetery, Yang Qiuchi stepped on the turf next to the grave, feeling wet, and his heart was slightly happy, this cemetery was so damp, the corpses buried below may have formed corpse wax, and many valuable traces could be found.

Old Lady Yang, Song Tongzhi and the others were afraid of filth and evil spirits, and stood dozens of steps away and waited. Yang Qiuchi commanded the grave to dig up the coffin.

Feng Xiaoxue wanted to be with her husband, but she was afraid to see the dead body, so Yang Qiuchi thoughtfully asked her and Yang's mother to wait over there.

Song Yun'er is just the opposite, she will not let go of this kind of reckless opportunity, and follow Yang Qiuchi's ass to watch the excitement.

He dug up the grave and began to dig down, and the further he dug down, the more water accumulated, and by the time he reached the top of the coffin, the pit was already full of water.

The resentful servants all frowned, but Yang Qiuchi was happy, if there is so much water in winter and enough rain in summer, I am afraid it will be more humid, and the more humid the environment, the easier it is to produce corpse wax.

The pit is full of water, what should I do? The servants looked at Yang Qiuchi in embarrassment. Yang Qiuchi ordered to dig down from both sides of the coffin, and then use a rope to cover both ends of the coffin from below, and then pull it up.

It took about an hour for the coffin to be pulled up from the puddle-like grave, and then it was carried by the priest and the helpers to the two logs next to it.

The water in the coffin flowed down the tiny slit of the coffin. Yang Qiuchi instructed the coffin lid to be opened. The coffin had already begun to decay, and it didn't take much effort for the lid to be opened.

The coffin was full of muddy water, and it was impossible to see what was inside. A corner of a wet red futon was exposed.

Yang Qiuchi asked Yu Zuo to find a way to drain the water in the coffin. One of the servants took an axe, squeezed it into the gap between the side and back of the coffin, and pried it vigorously, and the two baffles cracked a large crack, and the water in the coffin flowed out of the crack. Soon, it drained.

The bones in the coffin were covered with a soaking red futon that was wet and muddy.

Yang Qiuchi wore a pair of cotton gloves, although they were very thick, which affected the work, but there was no way, there were no rubber gloves, and he didn't want his hands to stick to the tissue fluid of the corpse's decay.

Yang Qiuchi used an iron rod to pick open the red bedding covering it, revealing the bones below. As Yang Qiuchi estimated and hoped, Guo's bones did not decompose, but formed a gray-white corpse wax, and it was the corpse wax of the whole body.

Cadaver wax is formed by saponification and hydrogenation of fatty acids, the decomposition of subcutaneous adipose tissue, caused by the decomposition of subcutaneous adipose tissue by saponification and hydrogenation of the corpse in water for a long time or buried in moist soil with insufficient air. It is called corpse wax because the surface of this corpse feels greasy to the touch of the hand and can be crushed, similar to the feeling of touching a molten candle or soft soap.

The environment that forms corpse wax can inhibit the breeding of [***] bacteria, prevent the [***] of corpses, retain subtle traces such as surface damage, grooves and even "goosebumps" on the surface of corpses, and can also inhibit [***] bacteria in the digestive tract, so that the stomach contents can be better preserved, and have high forensic value.

Corpse wax is generally a local surname, and corpse wax with a full-body surname like Guo is relatively rare. Although the corpse that formed the corpse wax did not [***], but because the corpse was blistered for two years, it was completely different from the ordinary corpse, and it could even be said that it was unrecognizable, and it was impossible to distinguish the original face, if Guo looked like this during his lifetime, even if there was no woman in this world, I am afraid that this old lady Yang would not marry her.

Whether Guo hanged himself or not can be seen from the marks on his neck.

Yang Qiuchi lowered his head to carefully examine the marks on Guo's neck, although he had been dead for two years, due to the corpse forming corpse wax, the marks on his neck were still clearly recognizable.

When Yang Qiuchi saw it, he suddenly sighed, took out a sweat towel from his arms, and carefully sucked the water on the neck of the corpse.

After careful identification, Yang Qiuchi found that there were two kinds of grooves in the neck of Guo's corpse:

The first is located at the lower edge of the thyroid cartilage, originates under the left earlobe, passes through the left side around the front of the neck, the right side of the neck, and the neck, and returns to the left earlobe, forming a knot mark. There is a bruising subcutaneous hemorrhage at the edge of the groove. A thyroid cartilage fracture can be felt at the cord groove when touched by hand.

Curiously, the cord groove has a finger-wide break point on the right side of the neck and a bruised subcutaneous hemorrhage area.

The other groove is located at the upper edge of the thyroid cartilage, which wraps around both sides of the neck before the arc compresses the neck, and is lifted to the external occipital tubercle without interruption.

The two cords meet on the right side of the neck, and the latter is above the former.

That is to say, Guo's neck was strangled twice!

The first kind of cable ditch is horizontal annular and locked, and the depth of the cable ditch is roughly equal before and after, and there is no phenomenon that the cable ditch disappears at the hanging. Judging from Mrs. Yang's introduction, Guo committed suicide by hanging a beam at that time, that is to say, he was hanged in the air, but the characteristics of this rope ditch do not match this.

When the cantilever beam is hanged, the vast majority of the cable ditch is obliquely lifted from the holding arc to the empty place, but this cable ditch is horizontal; The rope ditch of the hanged man should be the deepest at the arc of the hanging, and gradually become shallower towards the empty place, and this cable ditch is roughly equal before and after; The rope ditch of the hanged person will disappear in the empty place, and it is horseshoe-shaped, because the rope will be hollowed out will form the phenomenon of "eight characters do not intersect", and this cable ditch is closed in the form of a ring, and there is no phenomenon of lifting the void.

Obviously, this rope ditch was not formed by hanging, but by strangulation!

The second cable ditch is more in line with the typical characteristics of hanging.

The pattern characteristics of the two cable grooves are also different, the first is a leather-like cable groove, thin and narrow, and there are knotted patterns on the surface of the cable groove, which is estimated to be caused by ropes such as hemp rope. The second cable groove is wide and shallow, and without this pattern, it is likely to be a soft rope such as cloth ribbon satin.

From the different characteristics of the two rope grooves, it can be seen that Guo has been strangled by two kinds of ropes, the first is a semi-hard strangler rope such as hemp rope, and the traces belong to strangulation marks; The second type is a soft rope such as a cloth belt, and the traces belong to the scars.

Judging from the overlapping situation of the right side of the two trace necks, the second kind is stacked on top of the first, indicating that it is strangled first, and then hanged.

It was obvious that he had killed him. This conclusion can be drawn from the following aspects:

From the point of view of logical analysis, because from the point of view of the thyroid cartilage fracture at the stroke groove and the deep groove of the cord, the force is very strong and lasts for a long time.

When the rope is pressed against the neck, loss of consciousness can occur within one minute and death within five minutes due to impaired blood circulation, cerebral ischemia or congestion. Judging from this strangulation mark, it takes at least ten minutes or more for the duration to form. Therefore, if Guo committed suicide, this strangulation mark was enough to make her die, and she had no way to complete the subsequent act of hanging.

From the forensic evidence, there was a bruised subcutaneous hemorrhage at the edge of the first cord groove, and there was no subcutaneous hemorrhage at the second cord groove. It shows that strangulation marks are antemortem wounds, while hangings are postmortem wounds. (Although the latest theory holds that the hydrostatic pressure formed by the blood accumulation of the deceased will sometimes cause subcutaneous bleeding and blisters at the edge of the groove after death, this alone is not enough to judge the ante-mortem injury or post-mortem injury, but it still has important reference value.) From the analysis of common sense, if it is suicide, it is generally subconsciously chosen a softer rope, such as a cloth belt, rather than a hard rope such as hemp rope or even iron wire, especially for women. If there is only semi-rigid rope such as hemp rope or even iron wire, it is often padded under the neck with a handkerchief or handkerchief to relieve the pain. This strangulation mark reflects that the rope is a semi-rigid rope such as hemp rope, which is not in line with common sense.

In addition, since she chose a soft rope such as a cloth belt to hang herself, if the strangulation mark is also a suicide, then she will also use a cloth belt to strangle her neck, instead of using hemp rope. It doesn't make sense of common sense.

From a negative point of view, the strangulation reflects that the strangulation rope is a single knot tied under the left earlobe, and then grabs both ends of the rope with both hands and pulls it to both sides, strangling the person to death. The knot is placed under the left earlobe, and the direction of the hands should be the front and back of the body, which is unreasonable and difficult to complete.

Judging from this, Guo is likely to be strangled to death first, and then hanged himself in disguise!

Yang Qiuchi picked up the sleeve of Guo's corpse's arm, raised it to observe, and found no resistance injuries such as abrasions, however, the absence of resistance injuries does not mean that there was no resistance, if Guo was strangled in a soft environment such as bedding on the bed or in water, there would be no resistance injuries such as abrasions.

Examination of Kwok's right hand revealed an epidermal abrasion and bruising of the inside of his right index finger.

Yang Qiuchi felt slightly strange, and immediately remembered that the groove of Guo's neck had a finger-wide break point on the right side of the neck, and there was a bruised subcutaneous bleeding area. Combining these two points, it can be seen that when the murderer strangled Guo, when Guo resisted, he tried to insert his right index finger into the rope sleeve and pull the rope, thus leaving this resistance wound on his right index finger.

This resistance injury has fully demonstrated that Guo was strangled to death and killed by him.

So, who strangled Guo? Yang Qiuchi stood beside the coffin and pondered. The hemp rope that strangled Guo must have been brought by the murderer, and it was disposed of after the crime, and it would not have been left at the scene, otherwise it would have aroused suspicion. Maybe the ribbon is still there, and maybe you'll find something out of it.

Song Yun'er had been watching Yang Qiuchi busy from the sidelines, not daring to interject at will, and seeing that he was standing there in a daze after he was busy, she asked, "Brother, how is it?" Why have you been busy for so long? ”

"You go and call them, I have something to say." Yang Qiuchi said with a solemn face.

Song Yun'er guessed from Yang Qiuchi's expression that there was something wrong with this case, so she nodded excitedly, turned around and ran over, and after saying a few words to Old Lady Yang, all the people came over.

Old Lady Yang asked Yang Qiuchi suspiciously: "Virtuous nephew, what's wrong, is there any problem?" ”

Yang Qiuchi asked first: "What about the cloth belt that Aunt Guo hanged?" ”

The original Pan said: "It's burned, and all the clothes and supplies of this fox are burned, what is it left with this kind of goblin that is a scourge!" ”

Old lady Yang asked, "Virtuous nephew, what are you asking for this cloth belt?" ”

Yang Qiuchi glanced around at everyone and said, "Use it to investigate the case." ”

"Investigating the case?" Old lady Yang faintly felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "What case is being investigated?" ”

"In the case of Aunt Guo's strangulation, she didn't hang herself, but was strangled!"

All the people were stunned. Old lady Yang asked in surprise: "What did you say?" She was killed? ”

"Yes, Aunt Guo was strangled to death first, and then hanged herself in disguise. Not suicide. ”

Song Yun'er's father, Song Tongzhi, of course, knew what this meant, and asked, "Nephew, you, you're not mistaken, right?" ”

The eldest young master, Yang Qingshui, looked very excited and asked, "Cousin, was Aunt Guo really killed?" Who is the murderer? ”

The original Pan family and the second aunt Tai Zhang and other female relatives were afraid to come up, and when they heard from afar that Guo did not commit suicide, but was killed by someone, they were also surprised to talk about it.

Old lady Yang asked Yang Qiuchi: "Virtuous nephew, how do you know that your Aunt Guo was killed?" ”

Yang Qiuchi pointed to two different scars on the corpse's neck, analyzed the findings just now, and showed the resistance wound on Zhang's right index finger.

For hangings and strangulations, the "Records of Clearing Grievances" recorded in detail, and the ancients had a relatively deep understanding of these two very common methods of killing or committing suicide. Therefore, after listening to Yang Qiuchi's analysis and observing it in person, Old Lady Yang, Song Tongzhi and others all agreed with Yang Qiuchi's judgment.

They were a little surprised that Guo's corpse did not decompose, and Steward Pang also asked if the corpse was evil, and if he wanted to ask a mage to exorcise the evil spirit. Yang Qiuchi explained to them in as plain terms as possible, and everyone understood.

The next question is very puzzling, it stands to reason that it is not difficult to find the clues of these two traces, why not find them?

(To be continued)