Miss Truth
Chapter 91 - 57 - s: Petals in the Corpse

Chapter 91: 57 Chapters: Petals in the Corpse

Ran Yan’s petite face was mostly covered by a mask, revealing only her eyebrows and eyes. The seriousness in her dark eyes as she examined the horrific corpse could be unsettling to those who didn’t appreciate such intensity. However, Xiao Song simply watched indifferently, the corners of his lips upturned in a faint smile.

"The autopsy shows the blood is still fluid, dark red in color, with congestion in all the organs and petechiae under the organ capsules," Ran Yan swiftly conducted the examination, focusing on the lungs and upper respiratory tract, "There is residual blood in the respiratory tract, likely because the deceased involuntarily inhaled the blood from facial injuries due to lack of oxygen while hanging."

Ran Yan meticulously checked all the internal organs and did not find any injuries caused by external forces.

After completing the autopsy, Ran Yan’s gaze lingered on Cui Mei’s delicate pale hands, still wearing that jade bracelet, her nails trimmed neatly and covered in dancong, all very short. Ran Yan guessed it might be because one nail had broken, so she had trimmed them all to the same length.

"There were no signs of a struggle, resistance, or fighting in the deceased before death, and there were no injuries on the body’s surface or internal organs caused by external forces; the cause of death is determined to be self-hanging. The facial cuts are neat, the skin is everted, and there is a slight inflammation, which occurred before death. If it were post-mortem, the cuts would be neat, but the skin wouldn’t evert, nor would there be any inflammation..." Ran Yan straightened up and summarized her judgement.

Xiao Song suddenly interrupted her, "What is inflammation?"

Ran Yan looked at him quietly, struggling to organize words that the ancient people could understand, and spoke after a moment, "Inflammation, commonly known as getting inflamed, occurs when the skin is injured and then gets infected by pathogens, leading to symptoms like redness, heat, and pain at the wound."

"What are pathogens?" Xiao Song asked again.

Ran Yan clenched her hand secretly, really wanting to punch that seemingly smiling face. Clearly, he could understand, yet he insisted on dwelling on a certain unfamiliar term. Ran Yan felt he was not sincerely asking but deliberately nitpicking!

"This gentleman, I still have another body to examine. If you have any questions, we can discuss them in detail later," Ran Yan said evenly.

Xiao Song noticed her anger, his smile growing brighter, along with the aura emanating from him, making his smile seem to contain something intolerable for ordinary people.

Ran Yan was not to be outdone either, her dark eyes dead and somber. Coupled with her cold demeanor during the autopsy, it suddenly made one feel a chill starting from the bottom of their feet.

"Seventeen Miss, come take a look at this body," Liu Pinrang hurriedly intervened to break up their staring contest, aware of Xiao Song’s status and that even the Ran family could not afford to offend him, especially since he had accepted favors from Ran Yan, naturally, he had to look after her.

Ran Yan withdrew her gaze and followed Liu Pinrang to the next wooden platform, where the body was already beginning to decay and emitted a putrid smell from half a yard away.

Ran Yan pulled back the plain cloth, and aside from Feng Sanxun and Ran Yan, everyone gasped. Even the always composed Xiao Song could not help but change his expression slightly.

Yin Miaomiao’s maid, Fan Chun, had been dead for more than three days, and from this point on, the changes would become increasingly disgusting and terrifying. Ran Yan sighed softly and slowly said, "No matter how beautiful someone is, they all end up the same after death, ultimately turning into a black, bloated corpse filled with the stench of decay, no matter how attractive they were... they won’t turn into a more beautiful black, bloated corpse."

Xiao Song’s eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, while his expression returned to normal.

How did Fan Chun die?

Ran Yan bowed her head and examined the corpse intently. Frothy blood had leaked from the mouth and nose, which was a normal sign three days after death, but she noticed a slight white trace on the skin near the nose and lips, and turned her head to ask Feng Sanxun, "Was she drowned by someone?"

"Exactly." Having had his earlier determination about Cui Mei’s death overturned by Ran Yan, Feng Sanxun decided he needed to perform well this time to avoid letting Inspector Liu think him incompetent. "The color of the livor mortis on the body is pale and appeared slowly, the skin is pale and wrinkled, and there was a light red fungal froth around the mouth and nose, which seems to have been wiped off. When I examined her, the froth at the tip of the nose had appeared afterwards. The corpse’s fists were clenched, but she hadn’t grabbed onto things like water plants or gravel. I believe she wasn’t drowned in a river or pond."

Ran Yan nodded. "I want to know where she was drowned. After performing the autopsy, we’ll know."

Having put on her gloves, Ran Yan undressed the deceased and immediately began the autopsy from the neck to the abdomen. If Fan Chun had indeed been drowned alive, then her respiratory tract, thoracic cavity, heart, and stomach would all show varying degrees of response, particularly the respiratory tract and the stomach. Since Fan Chun was basically confirmed to have been drowned, yet the exact location was unknown, looking at those organs might reveal some residual substances.

As everyone knows, when a person is drowning, the first response is to hold one’s breath and then grasp at anything that might save their life. When they can’t hold their breath any longer, they involuntarily swallow water, allowing a lot of water to enter the stomach.

Fan Chun’s body showed many signs of struggle, with bruises and scratches on her neck and shoulders, and the wounds on her forehead were clearly inflicted post-mortem.

As Ran Yan carried out the autopsy, she explained to Feng Sanxun about the pulmonary edema, the "drowning spots" on the lungs, and changes in the heart of a drowning victim.

Sure enough, when she opened the respiratory tract, she found something. With careful precision, Ran Yan used tweezers to pick the sticky substance off the trachea—a yellowing and decomposing petal. From its shape and veins, it was faintly discernible as a petal, but the exact type of flower was still uncertain.

With this discovery, Ran Yan examined the entire respiratory tract and lungs carefully. Near the lungs, she found two more petals, one of which was relatively intact and long, somewhat resembling a chrysanthemum. But it was summer and chrysanthemums generally had not yet bloomed. Carefully observing the petal reminded Ran Yan of the honeysuckle vines planted in her own yard.

"Could it be honeysuckle?" Ran Yan placed the petal on a clean white cloth for everyone present to identify, while she began the dissection of the stomach.

The stomach was swollen with water. Upon cutting it open, she immediately saw many petals, many of which were still well-formed, even emitting a revoltingly sweet scent mixed with decay.

"It’s jasmine," Xiao Song, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke up. "Besides honeysuckle, there’s jasmine, and perhaps other types too."

Ran Yan carefully extracted the petals preserved in the stomach and laid them out on the white cloth.

Among them, the most numerous were oval petals the size of a fingernail, their color no longer distinguishable. Given the decayed, sweet scent that had emerged upon opening the stomach, they were undoubtedly very fragrant flowers. During June and July, when jasmine blooms most prolifically, it was very likely these flowers.

So, how did these petals end up inside the body? (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, we invite you to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)