Miss Truth
Chapter 244 - 153: Mysterious Blue Carving_2

Chapter 244: Chapter 153: Mysterious Blue Carving_2

Arrest Officer Qin was not afraid of corpses; after examining it for a few moments, he casually flipped the body.

Ran Yan slightly frowned, feeling very opposed to Arrest Officer Qin’s approach; even the slightest movement could potentially affect the coroner’s judgment. However, she did not stop him because any experienced forensic doctor could discern the cause of death of this body.

"The forensic doctor has gone to another county for an autopsy and will not be back until evening. Take the body away now. All the witnesses and suspects must remain here and are not allowed to leave!" Arrest Officer Qin declared loudly.

His words immediately caused dissatisfaction among the crowd. The shop was near the wharf, and most of its patrons were travelers from the south to the north. Who had time to be delayed here? If it took half a month to solve the case, wouldn’t they be stuck here for half a month?

"Which one of you is the young woman who fell through the stairs?" Arrest Officer Qin turned his head and asked the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper pointed towards Ran Yun and said, "This lady here."

Arrest Officer Qin nodded, glanced over Ran Yun with an indifferent look, and casually ordered, "Take her back to the government office for questioning!"

Ran Yan’s brows furrowed even more. She knew that Arrest Officer Qin was aware that Ran Yun could not be the main culprit, yet he was so rash! She stepped forward but then saw Liu Qingsong standing at the entrance with his medical box and raised her voice, "Forensic Doctor Liu, do you really plan to stand aside and watch?"

The crowd, eager to clear their names and leave, focused their attention on Liu Qingsong as soon as Ran Yan spoke. Nevertheless, he pretended to be oblivious, relishing the scene with great interest.

It was not until Arrest Officer Qin approached him and asked, "Are you the forensic doctor?"

Liu Qingsong looked left and right, prompting an impatient shout from Arrest Officer Qin, "What are you looking at! I’m talking about you!"

Startled by the shout, Liu Qingsong’s head buzzed, and it took him a moment to comprehend before Arrest Officer Qin grabbed his collar and dragged him to the side of the body, saying irritably, "Conduct the autopsy!"

"What are you yelling for! I am a doctor! I will reluctantly help the Ministry of Criminal Justice examine the body only when I am in the mood. My household is registered as an official; show some courtesy!" Liu Qingsong said, brushing off Arrest Officer Qin’s hand.

Arrest Officer Qin looked somewhat astonished. Hearing people call Liu Qingsong a forensic doctor, he had assumed Liu was of low status, hence the lack of any respect. But to his surprise, the man turned out to be of official status.

"I failed to recognize Mount Tai before me, but now... about this body..." Arrest Officer Qin’s face turned a bit red.

Imagine the embarrassment for an arrest officer to lose face in front of so many people, especially in front of his subordinates. How humiliating!

In many stories of later generations, the Tang Dynasty constables are portrayed as majestic and awe-inspiring, but in reality, the Tang Dynasty didn’t have constables, only government officials; and no matter the type, contrary to popular belief, they were all seen as lowly professions in ancient times. Constables or government officials not only were forbidden from taking imperial examinations themselves, but their children and grandchildren had to be separated from the profession for three generations before they could partake in the exams.

So, Arrest Officer Qin’s status was several levels below that of Liu Qingsong. No matter how important pride was, he had to bow his head.

Liu Qingsong, looking smug, straightened his clothes and set down his box, then kicked the corpse with his foot. "The body has stiffened to this extent; he has been dead for at least two hours. And look at this staircase, the break is so clean. It’s clear someone deliberately cut it, and this cannot be done without a certain amount of time. Check for people who have been in this inn for more than two hours!"

Liu Qingsong’s arrogant demeanor made everyone want to punch him hard in the face, but since he was of official status, striking him would likely lead to trouble they couldn’t afford.

"Other..." Arrest Officer Qin, having been a constable for many years, had never conducted an autopsy but had seen the forensic doctor perform numerous times and thus understood that human bodies begin to stiffen gradually only after half an hour post-mortem.

Liu Qingsong’s statement excluded only a few individuals, including himself. Since this inn houses guests, only a few customers had just arrived, with the rest being residents.

"This person froze to death," Ran Yan’s cold voice stated.

Liu Qingsong, witnessing Ran Yan’s icy expression, shuddered. It seemed that deliberately excluding himself had angered this venerable ancestor. He thought about the possibility of Ran Yan becoming Lady Xiao Song... Liu Qingsong’s heart suddenly felt cold, his future days could be torturous!

"Froze to death?" Arrest Officer Qin saw that Ran Yan was well-dressed and did not dare to ridicule her, but he truly remained skeptical. How could someone who had bled this much have frozen to death? Besides, could someone freeze to death in the month of August?

Ran Yan approached, grabbed Liu Qingsong’s sleeve, and forcefully pulled him closer to the body.

Before the people could react, Ran Yan suddenly used his wide sleeve to wipe the back of the corpse’s head, "See? This blood was clearly poured over afterward."

"A frozen body curls up, the skin turns pale, the skin of the exposed limbs contracts, causing ’goosebumps,’ and the private parts shrink. When faced with cold, the body automatically tries to regulate temperature. Anyone who has experienced cold knows, your body can become numb and lose sensation. Once the body can no longer regulate its temperature and remains in a state of heat loss, it will produce the illusion of feeling warm, sometimes causing one to undress."

This phenomenon is referred to in forensic medicine as the "paradoxical undressing" phenomenon.

Ran Yan bent down, used Liu Qingsong’s sleeve to cover her hand, and briefly inspected the body. "The pale complexion, lack of body warmth yet flushed cheeks, saliva dripping from the mouth that is not sticky—these are signs of death from freezing. The temperature of the body... is low; normally a body’s temperature drops to match the ambient temperature in about a day. Arrest Officer Qin might want to come and check; the temperature of this body is clearly lower than the current air temperature. If he had been dead for more than a day, the decomposition would have been much worse. However, if the body was frozen solid, the decay would have stopped, influencing the coroner’s judgment of the time of death. But to freeze someone to death, and to allow the body to thaw slightly to execute such an elaborate plan, it would require at least a whole night’s time, don’t you agree, Doctor Liu?" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with a recommendation ticket or monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)