Miss Truth
Chapter 195 - 124: So Many Corpses

Chapter 195: Chapter 124: So Many Corpses

The drizzling twilight rain sprinkled across the river and sky, cleansing the autumn anew.

The morning had been bathed in sunlight, but by afternoon, the clouds had densely gathered, culminating in a drizzling evening rain. Surrounding Yuncong Temple were centuries-old ginkgo trees and extensive maple forests. Amid the misty rain, the yellow appeared as brilliant as sunlight, and the red as fierce as flames, igniting the poetic and picturesque rainy day in Jiangnan with a bit of fervor.

From morning till evening, Ran Yan had been discussing the case with Liu Pinrang inside Yuncong Temple. The death of Jing Yuan was too strange; although she had plotted early to kill Ran Yan, the beginning and end of the case still didn’t connect, and up to now, nobody knew why she wanted to kill those young men. Yu Bohao boldly speculated that it was to satisfy her personal desires, and then to silence them afterward.

This could also vaguely explain why each young man was found with semen on his body.

"What you say makes sense, but... why were the three young men killed in different ways? It seems she particularly favored the third young man. Could it be that this young man satisfied her the most?" Ran Yan wondered.

Liu Pinrang’s seasoned face stiffened, and Yu Bohao also coughed a few times with an embarrassed expression. They had already developed a bit of immunity to Ran Yan’s directness, so they barely managed not to lose their composure.

Ran Yan glanced at them indifferently, seemingly unaware of their reaction, and continued, "The blood drawn from that young man was found in Huan Kong’s mother’s grave, and it was arranged in such a manner; it’s probably not a coincidence. Do you know if there was any connection between them?"

"The identities of several nuns before they entered the convent are being investigated, but there has been no news yet. However, yesterday the Inspector ordered a thorough search of the ruined temple and the excavation of the jade orchid fields. Some items were found in the ruined temple." Liu Pinrang signaled with his eyes, asking Yu Bohao to bring the items forward.

Yu Bohao took a cloth bag from the box next to him, wrapped his hand with a handkerchief, and took out the items inside, "It’s a piece of blood-stained clothing, which appears to be men’s clothing, and... "

Yu Bohao said excitedly, "Based on the shape of the murder weapon drawn by the Wife, we found a corresponding item in the ruined temple. The ruined temple was Guan Gong Temple, and the suspected murder weapon was the handle of a long knife in the hand of a Guan Gong statue. Due to its age, the blade was missing, leaving only a handle, which could be pulled out."

"Jade orchid garden? Any results?" Ran Yan asked while inspecting the blood-stained clothing.

Although Liu Pinrang had verbally agreed to start digging immediately when Xiao Song ordered it yesterday, he needed time to arrange manpower. He felt that searching the ruined temple was more important and thus instructed his team to search the temple first, so he didn’t really start digging the garden until after noon today.

Ran Yan wasn’t surprised, as people in official circles usually say one thing and do another.

When she came to the inner garment, Ran Yan suddenly paused, gazing at a slashed hole in the clothing, and said excitedly, "The murderer was injured!"

"Why do you say that?" Yu Bohao expressed Liu Pinrang’s doubts as well.

"Look at this undergarment and outer garment; here is a hole. Although there are many bloodstains on the clothing, most are on the outer garment, but this patch is only on the undergarment, with very little on the outer garment..." Ran Yan explained.

Yu Bohao had a sudden realization, "The murderer was injured, and the blood seeped out from inside!"

Liu Pinrang said, "That makes sense, but this hole is clearly round; why are the bloodstains elongated? They don’t look like they were formed by flowing blood."

Ran Yan pondered for a moment and said, "Looking at the quantity of blood, it’s clearly only a minor laceration through a layer of skin. It’s very likely that the victim tried to stab the murderer with a sharp object, but the murderer grabbed the victim’s wrist. So, instead of causing a deep wound, a blood streak was formed during the struggle."

"It’s a hairpin!" Liu Pinrang and Yu Bohao exclaimed in unison.

Ran Yan flashed back to those three bodies—no, three bodies had their hair tied with silk ribbons, one with a headband, and none used a hairpin. Moreover, such a struggle would be a matter of life and death, requiring significant force, yet no bruises were found on the wrists of the three bodies...

If the victims all eloped with a woman...

"There must be more than these three bodies!" Ran Yan stated confidently. She suddenly admired Xiao Song greatly because he had already thought of this issue and guessed where the murderer had hidden the bodies; otherwise, he wouldn’t have ordered the excavation of the jade orchid garden without reason.

The inspiration must have been sparked by those few begonia flowers.

By now, Liu Pinrang and Yu Bohao had also realized this issue.

Ran Yan said, "Let’s conduct an autopsy."

"Which body should be autopsied?" Yu Bohao wondered; hadn’t all the bodies been already examined?

"Of course, it’s Jing Yuan," Ran Yan almost blurted out "sexual relations" but managed to restrain herself somewhat, "I want to know whether she had any intercourse and whether she has any injuries on her body. How else would we know without performing an autopsy?"

"But she is a nun..." Yu Bohao hesitated.

"Once everyone is dead, they are just a body, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, and certainly regardless of whether or not they were a nun," Ran Yan believed that all bodies were evidence and could not be ignored. Yet, she quickly remembered that this was ancient times, where beliefs were different, so she added, "She committed the heinous act of murder under the guise of being a nun, so why should we care whether she was a nun!"

Regardless of whether Jing Yuan was the murderer, her intention to kill Ran Yan was an undisputed fact.

"Seventeenth Madam speaks rightly." The door was pushed open, and Song walked in, a faint smell of alcohol drifting in with the breeze.

He sat down cross-legged, with hands clasped, "Besides, a private examination without dissection— who would know?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a ghostly wail arose from the courtyard, "So many bodies! So many bodies! In the flower garden..."

The expressions of everyone in the room tightened, and the tipsy haze around Song also completely dissipated, his eyes regaining their usual clarity as he abruptly stood up.

As they reached the porch, the Government Official who had come to report had his eyes roll back and fainted right there in the rain.

So many... how many could there be?

"Move!" Liu Pinrang was nearly jumping up and down in his irritation. Wasn’t he just promoted to a Fourth-Rank Inspector? Was even Heaven looking unfavorably upon him? One murder case after another, and each one a major case. Three deaths were already too much, and now there were "so many"!

Without waiting for anyone else, Liu Pinrang swiftly put on his wooden clogs and rushed out the door with the Government Official holding an umbrella scurrying behind him.

Yu Bohao also swiftly followed.

As the nearby Government Official handed over two umbrellas, Song glanced at Ran Yan’s arm, took a larger oiled-paper umbrella, and looked back to ask Ran Yan, "Are you coming, or are you waiting for your Maid?"

Ran Yan nodded, went to the porch to put on her wooden clogs, which were placed on the partition of the porch. Ran Yan hooked one with her foot, and one of the clogs actually fell off.

Before she could even bend down, she saw that Song had stooped to pick up the clog and had also placed the other one in front of her.

Ran Yan paused for a moment, quickly put on her shoes, and Song was already standing in the rain holding the umbrella open, "Are you waiting for your Maid to come, or will you join me?"

Getting to the scene first was all that mattered to Ran Yan, who, without thinking twice, dashed under his umbrella, "Let’s hurry." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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