The grave of the widow of Zhou is on Changze Mountain in the eastern suburbs of Dongyin County.

The carriage drove away from Quzhai along the barren, broken and rugged road, crossed another bridge, and entered Dongyin County. Shi Feng, Shi Yun and Yan Qinghai were already waiting by the bridge. When Xie Xuan's carriage came, he hurriedly followed.

The news that Qu Qiyuan did not commit suicide, but was killed by Qi Wu, after a few hours of brewing, had already spread. I also heard that I would dig up the grave of the widow of Zhou again in the afternoon and conduct an autopsy, and the people of Dongyin County stayed in a favorable position early to see if it was true or false. Seeing that the convoy was really slowly heading towards the eastern suburbs of Dongyin County, the bold ones immediately followed behind. The timid ones also formed groups of three or five and began to talk about it.

The object of discussion is Chen Chaoyan.

As for what is discussed, it goes on and on.

Although Widow Zhou was the victim, in the feudal era, the cause of her death was particularly disgraceful. Therefore, compared with the crispness and width of Qu Qiyuan's cemetery, hers is quite desolate.

When the convoy stopped at the official road, it was full of weeds that were deeper than a person. The soldiers managed to clear a path with their swords, but they couldn't find her grave. After cleaning up all the weeds around her and still not finding her grave, Shi Feng simply called someone to forcibly call her son Zhou Zhiping and nephew Zhou Zhigang. Even so, after Zhou Zhiping and Zhou Zhigang came, they also searched for a long time before finding out her grave.

Originally, after finding Widow Zhou's grave, he should have hurried to report to Xie Xuan. But after wiping the sweat on his forehead with the handkerchief handed by Shi Yun, Shi Feng couldn't help but take a few steps over and kicked Zhou Zhiping twice, "Your mother never treated your sister badly before she died, and after she went, your sister treated her like this!" ”

Zhou Zhiping was silent.

Zhou Zhigang muttered very unevenly: "Whoever has such a mother, don't stay away." ”

When Shi Feng heard this, he couldn't help but kick him twice, "What's wrong with who is such a mother, is she willing to suffer this crime!" ”

Zhou Zhigang rubbed his thighs and was silent.

Shi Feng couldn't bear it, "You two are just waiting over there!" After Miss Chen comes up and finishes the autopsy, I will slowly clean you up! ”

Zhou Zhigang wanted to mumble again, but Shi Feng gave him a cold look, which made him sneer, and reluctantly pulled Zhou Zhiping to the place he designated.

And Shi Feng didn't have time to care about them anymore. After walking quickly down to the official road and finding the grave of Widow Zhou towards Xie Xuanyuming, he quickly took out Shi Yun's handkerchief and wiped two handfuls of hot sweat from his forehead before he got off the carriage. When Xie Xuan got out of the carriage, he suppressed the heat again, and quickly led the people to the hillside.

Widow Zhou's grave is a small mound.

A few of the soldiers used less than a cup of tea to dig up the bones of the corpse, which was wrapped in only a broken straw mat.

Obviously, seeing the broken straw mat, Shi Feng was angry again. But because of Xie Xuan, he didn't have a seizure, he just glared at Zhou Zhiping and Zhou Zhigang in the distance.

Qu Qiyuan was protected by a coffin, and only a pair of white bones remained. Widow Zhou only rolled a broken straw mat, which was even more unbearable.

Chen Chaoyan put on protective clothing, masks and gloves, carefully entered the new mud, and it took more than half an hour to pick up the bones scattered everywhere. Then, it took more than half an hour to piece together a complete skeleton of all the bones on the newly spread bamboo mat.

And at this moment, it is already the end of the unitary time.

The sunset cleared, and the darkness fell.

The soldiers lit the torches, and the fierce fire illuminated the area as bright as day.

At the end of the day, that is, near where Zhou Zhiping and Zhou Zhigang were standing, there were still gathered people who watched the excitement in twos and threes. These people are either whispering or judgmental, and although the hour is not early, they are still full of energy.

In the center of the day, after Chen Chaoyan put together the skeleton, he did not check it immediately, but asked the waiter to bring the case file, and after a quick pass through the fire, he checked it carefully.

According to the case file, the widow Zhou was stabbed with eleven knives, all of which were in the chest and abdomen.

Widow Zhou's flesh has been dissolved, leaving only bones. Chen Chaoyan asked Ruolan to come closer with a torch, and after that, he checked his whole body as usual to make sure that there was no damage elsewhere before he looked at the chest and abdomen.

The bones are scattered.

In order not to miss a trace, Chen Chaoyan could only pick up the bones one by one or piece by piece to examine. Fortunately, the location had been enclosed, and soon, she found seven blade wounds on five ribs.

asked the waiter to take Qu Wensheng's 'murderous' dagger, and Chen Chaoyan began to compare.

Dagger. Seven inches long, elbow single-edged.

Although it has been idle for 20 years, it is still as bright as new.

Chen Chaoyan used the blade or back of the dagger to carefully jam the various marks on the ribs.

Without exception, whether it is a stab wound on the blade or a wound on the back of the knife, every trace can be perfectly matched.

In other words, judging from the blade marks on the ribs alone, the eleven wounds on Widow Zhou's chest and abdomen were indeed from Qu Wensheng's dagger.

Although he had been mentally prepared for this result, Chen Chaoyan couldn't help but wrinkle his eyebrows.

Xie Xuan stood next to her, seeing her furrowed eyebrows, although he had already witnessed the whole process, he still asked, "The result is not satisfactory?" ”

"Not really." After Chen Chaoyan replied casually, he picked up one of the ribs and looked at the light screen under the pretense of observing the firelight. She wanted to see if there was myelodysplasia in the blade wound of the rib to determine whether it was a prenatal or postmortem injury. However, the rib section has long been stained with mud, and even the light screen cannot be fully seen.

I can only take it back first, wait for the sun to come out tomorrow, and then judge according to the bone steaming method recorded in Song Ci's "Collection of Grievances". Putting down the ribs, Chen Chaoyan walked to the place where the bones were dug up, preparing to collect some soil under the chest and abdomen and bring it back for a poison test.

Ruolan took the torch and followed her closely.

Comparing the corresponding places on the chest and abdomen of Widow Zhou, Chen Chaoyan used a dagger as a pen, circled the broken grass mat and the soil under the straw mat, and prepared for a while to let the Zhichong soldiers collect in circles.

Ruolan quickly grabbed her hand and stopped the tragedy when the dagger was about to hit her calf.

Chen Chaoyan took a look at the position of the dagger and his calf, and after secretly saying that he was in danger twice, he was about to thank her, but in the afterglow, a flash of light suddenly flashed.

Chen Chaoyan quickly raised his eyes.

But they saw nothing.

Although it was very likely that it was the light produced when the torch burst out, Chen Chaoyan still took the torch in Ruolan's hand, motioned for her to stand aside, and squatted to find it one by one.

An instant.

An iron nail, about an inch long and only as thick as two embroidery needles, was found by her from the broken raw edges of the straw mat.

Most of the nails have rusted, and only the tail is still polished. It was probably when Ruolan rescued her just now, the torch inadvertently shone on it, which made it refract light.

The nail wasn't supposed to be short, as it was clearly the second half of it that she was holding.

After wrapping the iron nail in a handkerchief and handing it to Ruolan to hold, Chen Chaoyan searched for it again. But this time, she searched for a long time and couldn't find it. Although she wanted to continue looking, after taking a look at the sky outside, she gave up this plan.

The corpse wrapped in a straw mat carried an iron nail...... This is not normal no matter how you look at it.

Chen Chaoyan took the iron nail back from Ruolan's hand, looked at the torch for a moment, and then walked thoughtfully to the skeleton of Widow Zhou.

Find the location of the nail corresponding to the skull.

Returning the torch to Ruolan, Chen Chaoyan squatted down to pick up Widow Zhou's skull.

Widow Zhou's skull is very complete, and there is no trace of damage on the surface.

But the method of killing people with iron nails from the skull is a familiar story to her. Therefore, almost effortlessly, she saw an eyelet in the Baihui acupoint of Widow Zhou's skull, which could easily be overlooked if she did not look closely.

The nails are rusty, and they can't be eyeletted. However, the presence of eyelets proves that the top of Widow Zhou's head had been beaten with iron nails. At the same time, the cause of Widow Zhou's death is also up for debate.

Putting away the iron nails, Chen Chaoyan got up and took two steps back, and said to Xie Xuan while untying his gloves: "I'm a little tired, let people bring back all the bones, and the other circle of straw mats and the soil under the straw mats are also brought along, and I will check it tomorrow." ”

Xie Xuan glanced at her glittering eyebrows, then at Widow Zhou's bones, and finally at the short nail that Ruolan was holding in her hand, and then ordered her words.

Before leaving, Chen Chaoyan paused, "Leave a few people here to guard." ”

There was no need for Xie Xuan to tell him about this, and when the soldiers heard her words, they arranged it themselves. In order to teach Zhou Zhiping and Zhou Zhigang a lesson, Shi Feng also called the two over and ordered them to follow and stay here. Zhou Zhiping was still silent, Zhou Zhigang wanted to resist, but he was afraid of the soldiers, so he could only respond stupidly.

On the way back to the Qu House.

Chen Chaoyan took out the short nail again, spread his palm and handed it to Xie Xuan: "Can the rust on this be removed?" ”

Xie Xuan took the short nail, looked at it twice, and asked her, "This is the murder weapon that killed Widow Zhou?" ”

"Not sure yet." Chen Chaoyan said truthfully, "I have to wait until tomorrow to wash her bones, steam them with wine and vinegar for an hour or two, and then see which of the blade wounds on the ribs and the nail wounds on the skull are injuries before death and which are afterlife." If a blade wound is a prenatal wound and a nail wound is a postmortem wound, then a dagger is a murder weapon and vice versa. ”

"Wine and vinegar steaming?" Xie Xuan raised his eyebrows.

Bai Shao and the waiter also looked at her.

Chen Chaoyan glanced at everyone and nodded calmly: "Yes." ”

Xie Xuan leaned back against the soft pillow and asked with interest, "Tell me, how is the steaming method?" ”

Glancing at everyone again, Chen Chaoyan deliberately hooked the corners of his mouth and said slowly: "Wash the bones and wrap them in a clean straw mat." Dig a pit a few feet larger than the bones, burn the pit with firewood, then take out the firewood, pour in two litres of good wine and five litres of sour vinegar evenly, and then use the hot air to lay the straw mat flat into the pit to cover it. After steaming for an hour or two, when the pit has cooled down, the bones are taken out and placed in the sun, and then the red oil umbrella is used to block the sunlight for inspection. If you can see red blood marks on the bones, it proves that it is a premortem injury, otherwise, it is a postmortem injury. ”

"Dissect the corpse, boil the bones." Xie Xuan chuckled, "Such a shocking thing, but the princess said it so carelessly, it seems that she has done a lot." ”

"It's not much, but it's not a lot." Chen Chaoyan agreed. The corpses that need to be boiled for examination are basically nameless and dead for a long time, and it is impossible to judge the age based on their appearance. There are always one or two or three or four such corpses throughout the year. It's not a lot, but it's not a small amount.

Bai Shao and Shishu really couldn't imagine the picture of putting people's bones in a pit or boiling them in a pot, so looking at Chen Chaoyan's gaze, they couldn't help but feel two more indescribable respects.

Xie Xuan glanced at a few people, hooked the corners of his mouth slightly, and handed the rusty short nail to Ruolan.

Back in the courtyard, it was past the hour.

Chen Chaoyan numbly followed Bai Shao to the dark, bathed, and changed clothes, went to Xie Xuan's main hall to have dinner together, returned to the east wing, soaked the straw mat and soil he brought back with water, and fell asleep.