Chapter 154: Chapter 80 A Skull_3
Pei Yunmeng turned her head slightly, and Lu Tong had already lowered his head, her expression hidden in the shadow of the candles, indistinct and unclear.
He looked at Lu Tong with a half-smile, "Shall we go in and take a look?"
Lu Tong did not speak.
The two entered the room together.
The room was a complete mess. Cabinets and trunks had been turned upside down, and the paper and pens that had been neatly placed on the desk were carelessly thrown onto the floor, trampled everywhere. Du Changqing stood to one side, eyes bulging with anger, stamping and shouting in frustration, while Yin Zheng and Ah Cheng stood at the door, holding a vase and picking up clothes, respectively.
The previously spacious bedroom was now crowded with many people, instantly becoming cramped. Several Pawn Shop Soldiers were stooping down, forcefully dragging out an object from under the bed.
Lu Tong’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
It turned out to be a copper chest, about three feet in length and width, with a small lock dangling on top, as if it had been embroidered on.
Shen Fengying asked, "Whose room is this?"
Pausing for a moment, Lu Tong stepped forward and said, "Responding to Lord Pei, this is my room."
Shen Fengying turned around, sizing her up from head to toe.
The woman was dressed in a simple moon-colored silk gown, without any jewelry on her entire body, only a few clusters of fresh osmanthus velvet flowers adorned her hair, her eyes black as lacquer, her eyebrows like ink paintings, and under the lamplight, she was truly a delicate beauty.
Such a beauty accused of murder and hiding a corpse sounded far-fetched indeed.
Moreover, his subordinates had nearly turned Renxin Medical Hall upside down that night, and aside from the evidence not yet unearthed under the plum tree, there had been no discoveries up until now. If it weren’t for the fact that the person who lodged the complaint was from Renxin Medical Hall itself, Shen Fengying would have almost doubted whether this complaint was some kind of cruel prank.
He asked the person in front of him, "What’s in this chest?"
Lu Tong replied, "It’s some ordinary items."
However, she spoke somewhat vaguely.
Hearing this, Shen Fengying frowned slightly and pressed, "What ordinary items?"
"Responding to Lord Pei, they are some inexpensive trinkets," she said.
The more vague she was, the more Shen Fengying’s suspicions were aroused, and he gestured to his subordinates with a look.
Seeing the signal, the Pawn Shop Soldier who had dragged out the chest shook it, producing a "thud thud" sound from inside, like some heavy object rolling around.
"Open the chest," Shen Fengying ordered Lu Tong, his gaze no longer gentle, but cold and harsh.
"Responding to Lord Pei, the key has been lost for a long time and cannot be found," she replied.
The room fell silent; the other Pawn Shop Soldiers had stopped their movements at some unknown point. Du Changqing’s gaze shifted between the copper chest and Lu Tong, his eyes unable to conceal his shock and suspicion.
If it were just an ordinary chest, she should just have opened it forthrightly. Lu Tong’s evasiveness seemed like... as if she were deliberately covering something up.
At this moment, Du Changqing still wanted to struggle, forcing a smile and saying, "Doctor Lu, could it be that you have secretly hidden silver behind my back and even under the bed? That’s a bit dishonest, isn’t it?"
But Shen Fengying turned to Pei Yunmeng, "Lord Pei, what do you think..."
The case appeared to be reaching a conclusion. Whoever took the lead would claim the credit. Shen Fengying wasn’t sure whether Little Lord Pei would want to seize the glory for himself.
Pei Yunmeng’s lips curled up slightly, "You handle it."
That meant he wasn’t getting involved.
Shen Fengying’s heart leaped with joy, and without hesitation, he said to the Pawn Shop Soldier holding the chest, "Smash it open for this official!"
The Pawn Shop Soldier, receiving orders from his superior, did not hesitate, immediately drawing the sword from his waist and brutally chopping down at the chest’s lock on the ground.
With a "bang—"
The rusty copper lock was broken in half down the middle, teetering on the lockplate, "clack" it fell to the ground.
The lid of the chest was also forced open by the impact, and a bundle wrapped in cloth "rolled" out.
Several gazes in the room converged on it at once.
"What’s this..."
Xia Rongrong, who had curiously come to the doorway with Bai Shouyi, let out a startled cry, "Ah!" and turned her back, using Bai Shouyi’s body to block her view, unable to stop herself from shivering all over.
On the open space in the room lay a bundle wrapped in white cloth. Whatever was inside, it was not clear, only the round outline and the blood that covered it could be seen.
It was a blood-stained bundle.
Vaguely... it resembled the shape of a head.
The room was dead silent.
Du Changqing’s complexion turned pale, while Shen Fengying felt a surge of elation.
Evidence, this was evidence!
He had not expected that this seemingly frail female doctor would truly commit murder in the medical hall and even store the decapitated head of a corpse in a chest under the bed. This was simply too malicious, indeed knowing faces but not hearts!
He cleared his throat and put on an interrogatory manner, sternly asking, "What is this?"
The woman’s complexion turned a transparent pale in the lamplight, her lips pressed tightly as she fell silent.
Xia Rongrong turned her back to the chest, not daring to look back, her voice trembling as she spoke, "There couldn’t be... there couldn’t be..."
Shen Fengying let out a cold laugh, drew his sword, and approached the bundle. The tip of his sword lifted a corner of the wrapping, ready to unveil it.
Pei Yunmeng stood by the door, observing the events inside the room, and glanced at Lu Tong at that moment. The woman was bowing her head slightly, her frail shoulders trembling faintly in the shadows of the lamplight, as if she were shaking from guilt.
A flicker of interest passed through his eyes, and a strange suspicion flashed through his mind.
Before he could comprehend where that feeling of strangeness had come from, Shen Fengying forcefully lifted the corner of the bundle with the tip of his sword.
An intake of breath hissed through the room.
Xia Rongrong held her breath, her eyes tightly shut, waiting for the resulting scream. Yet the room remained quiet, and after a moment, the expected shouts did not come.
Cautiously, she opened her eyes and looked up at Bai Shouyi to see that he was staring blankly at something behind her, his expression somewhat bemused.
This look on his face... What had he seen?
Xia Rongrong turned around, summoning the courage to take a quick glance at the blurry object in the center of the room, and was immediately stunned.
The wrapping cloth was completely unfolded, stained with mottled blood, the gleaming candlelight revealing a head inside the bundle.
The head of the pig was covered in blood, cleanly severed below the neck, its eyes wide open, staring eerily at everyone present.
It was a pig’s head.