"Does Zhong Si wish to know where the unidentified corpse from a year ago was found?"
As the three returned to the yamen, Dong Qing looked at the composed woman opposite him and asked.
Zhong Li nodded. "Based on preliminary examination, I suspect both cases were committed by the same perpetrator, so I wanted to inquire about the details of the first body from Magistrate Dong."
Dong Qing nodded, turned, and re-entered the inner chambers. When he emerged, he held a case file, which he handed to Zhong Li.
Zhong Li opened it to examine.
"Late last autumn, a teacher from Yongcheng Academy was sketching outdoors in the southern suburbs with his students. They suddenly spotted something by the riverbank. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a headless corpse, and thus, the case was reported," Dong Qing casually mentioned the location where the body was discovered, seeing Zhong Li engrossed in the file.
"So, both bodies were found in the southern suburbs," Zhong Li seized upon the key point in Dong Qing's words.
"Yes, both were in the southern suburbs. I had previously dispatched men to search the southern suburbs. It's possible that due to the abundant rainfall in autumn and the fact that the body had been submerged in water for several days, coupled with the presence of Yongcheng residents wandering nearby, all relevant evidence, apart from the body itself, was long gone," Dong Qing continued.
Hearing this, Zhong Li's brow furrowed slightly. She recalled the scene when Qi Shui Shui's body was discovered.
Over a hundred common folk had gathered around, and only three junior constables from the yamen had arrived. When the body was brought up from the water, the scene had become chaotic. Fortunately, many onlookers were fearful, and the stern demeanor of a constable prevented overcrowding.
"Apart from these two incidents, have there been any similar cases before?" Zhong Li pondered and asked.
"Similar cases..." Dong Qing deliberated for a moment and then shook his head. "I have been in Yongcheng for three full years, and in these three years, there have been none!" Kuai Shu Ge
Zhong Li closed the case file in her hand, her expression somewhat somber. The file contained little information about the unidentified corpse from last year. She didn't know which scribe had written it; to fill space, they had even included a great deal of useless information, which was simply a waste of her time.
"Magistrate Dong," she returned the file to Dong Qing. "Do you have a list of reported missing persons from last year? Could you let me see it?"
"A list?" Dong Qing's expression turned troubled upon hearing Zhong Li inquire about this matter.
"What? There isn't one?" Zhong Li asked.
Dong Qing shook his head. "There is, but I fear that if Temple Master Zhong sees it, you might regret investigating missing persons from this angle."
After he spoke, he went into the rear hall again. When he emerged, he held two ledgers.
"So many?" Zhong Li appeared surprised. One must understand that the Nan Yue Kingdom had requirements regarding the number of pages in official accounts and ledgers. Most case files or accounts were around a hundred pages. Now, Dong Qing had produced two ledgers, meaning there were at least a hundred missing persons.
Lu Wu Xie, who had initially intended only to accompany her and lend support at the yamen, was also greatly surprised to see the two ledgers in Dong Qing's hands.
Typically, a city like Yongcheng would have fewer than ten missing person cases under control. If so many were missing, why hadn't the Dali Temple intervened?
"It's like this," Dong Qing quickly explained. "Last year, Gong County, a subordinate county of Yongcheng, experienced a flood in the autumn. Among these are the missing persons' information lost during the flood."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li took the ledgers from Dong Qing and began to examine them. Indeed, most of the missing people were concentrated in the autumn of last year.
However, this did not reduce the difficulty of the investigation. The case involved the victim's identity and characteristics, as well as the killer's modus operandi. Apart from the clue of Qi Shui Shui, the rest was like blind men trying to understand an elephant – who knew if the killer might have taken advantage of the flood in Gong County to dump the bodies into the lake and fish in troubled waters?
After all, everyone knew that to hide something without a trace, one must place it among a pile of identical items.
Based on the few clues from the first body, Zhong Li made a general deduction about the victim: the deceased was female, approximately twenty years old, had no history of childbirth, and her height, based on the average skull size and combined with the skeletal remains, was about five feet five inches. She quickly sifted through the list of missing persons.
Excluding males, those whose ages did not match, and those with a history of childbirth, there were eight women who fit the characteristics of the remains found in the yi zhuang.
Zhong Li selected each of these eligible individuals from the ledgers and placed them before her for close examination. Lu Wu Xie and Dong Qing, seeing that there was some progress, also leaned in to assist.
"Zhu Yin?" Lu Wu Xie picked up the portrait of one of the eight women and murmured.
Zhong Li had heard him mention this matter before coming. She glanced at the Xuan paper in his hand and asked, "Is this Zhu Yin the same Zhu Yin?"
Lu Wu Xie shook his head. "I only heard about this from Liu Xiang Er. As for her appearance, I am not clear."
Dong Qing stood not far away, watching the two of them babble over a missing persons' list, and curiosity got the better of him. He craned his neck to get a closer look.
"Zhu Yin?" he exclaimed in surprise.
Zhong Li looked up at Dong Qing. "Magistrate Dong, do you know this person?"
Dong Qing cleared his throat. He had intended to pretend ignorance, but when he met Lu Wu Xie's probing gaze, all his evasive thoughts were swept away. "I... sort of know her."
"Sort of know her?" Zhong Li disliked ambiguous remarks the most. "What does Magistrate Dong mean by that? Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing. What kind of statement is 'sort of know'?"
Dong Qing was taken aback. He had heard that the newly appointed Temple Master Zhong of the Dali Temple spoke with a cold and decisive manner, and now he had witnessed it firsthand. He gave an awkward laugh and said, "Zhu Yin is a woman from the Jiaofang. I have been to the Jiaofang several times before and have seen her a few times."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li looked down at the outline of the woman depicted in black ink on the paper in her hand. Although it was just a few casual strokes by an ordinary painter, it was still possible to discern the exquisite features on the woman's small, goose-egg-shaped face. Such uncommon beauty indicated she was either a noble's daughter or a prodigious talent trained as a "shou ma" (a concubine trained for beauty and talent) for the Jiaofang.
Next, her gaze shifted downwards to the informant's name filled in at the corner – Liu Xiang Er.
She pondered for a moment and then said to Dong Qing, "Did Liu Xiang Er identify that corpse?"
Dong Qing nodded. "Yes, she did, but..."
"But what?" Zhong Li pressed.
Dong Qing glanced at Lu Wu Xie again. He could somewhat guess that Lu Wu Xie's selection of Zhu Yin's missing information from among these individuals must be related to Liu Xiang Er. Since it couldn't be kept secret, he decided to speak the truth. "Temple Master Zhong, it is not that I intended to trouble this courtesan, but I felt that the female corpse could not possibly be Zhu Yin's."
"Oh?"
"Last year, Zhu Yin was a renowned popular figure in the Jiaofang. Many noble young gentlemen would spend a fortune just to catch a glimpse of her. However, she did not actually go missing," Dong Qing explained.
"Then... where did she go?" Zhong Li inquired further, knowing that Dong Qing must have some insider knowledge.