Case One: Double Corpses in the Flowerbed
What did five hundred taels of silver represent in Jinzhou?
Zhong Li roughly estimated that in modern times, it would be enough to buy a two-hundred-square-meter house in a second-tier city.
Calculating this, she figured the owner of this residence was quite wealthy in Jinzhou, and their business must have been doing well.
With this thought, she turned to the makeup box behind her and checked the drawers one by one.
There weren't many pieces of jewelry, but a few were valuable. This further confirmed her assessment of the residence owner's wealth. However, the style...
Zhong Li placed the hairpin back inside and walked out of the room, following the pebble path extending from the main hall towards the backyard.
According to the case file, the two bodies were discovered buried in the flowerbed in the backyard. Upon arriving, she saw a flowerbed seven feet long and three feet wide, dug up and filled with mixed soil.
She approached the flowerbed and gazed at the excavated hollow. "What did the bodies look like when they were found?" she asked.
Ren Wenshu hurried forward and replied, "Two bodies. The taller one had its hands bound behind its back underneath, its head here..."
He pointed to one end of the flowerbed.
"The slightly shorter one also had its hands bound behind its back, its head here." He moved to the other end of the flowerbed and pointed. Then, he added, "One head was facing up, the other down."
That's the 69 position.
Zhong Li quickly processed this information. Based on Ren Wenshu's description, she recalled the two bodies at the yamen. It seemed to be consistent.
Moreover, the taller person had three keys in their mouth.
"Besides the bodies, was anything else found in this flowerbed?" she pressed.
"When the bodies were discovered, the neighbor, Lu Chao, smelled an unspeakable odor and reported it. We thoroughly searched all rooms, and finally found the smell emanating from the flowerbed. Coupled with the fact that the soil in this flowerbed had been recently disturbed compared to the surrounding ones, we quickly found the two bodies. As for anything else, a hammer, about the size of a fist and the length of an arm, was found beneath the two bodies. The rest was the clothing on the bodies," Ren Wenshu replied truthfully.
Zhong Li scanned the other flowerbeds. Indeed, the soil in this particular one was the most distinctive.
The murder weapon also matched the fatal wounds on the deceased. The clothing on the bodies was made of material only slightly better than that of commoners, with common embroidered patterns. It merely indicated that the deceased was not lacking in money; it offered no other substantial clues.
"Did you find any flowers or plants?" Zhong Li asked.
"Flowers?" Ren Wenshu shook his head. In the middle of winter, besides plum blossoms, what other flowers would be blooming?
Zhong Li looked at the still bewildered Ren Wenshu, realizing he didn't understand her question. She shifted her focus and asked, "When will Miao Fenghua return?"
This time, Ren Wenshu had an answer. He quickly replied, "My father knows Miss Zhong needs to investigate the case and will have to question the residence owner. I've already dispatched someone to Yongcheng to find them today."
"Today?" Zhong Li seized on the key word in Ren Wenshu's statement.
Ren Wenshu nodded, clearly not understanding the implication of her question.
Zhong Li said, "This case happened quite a few days ago. Why weren't you looking for Miao Fenghua earlier? Why the delay?"
Ren Wenshu paused, his lips parting but unable to form an explanation. He knew that whatever answer he gave the woman opposite him, it would still result in criticism for the Jinzhou Prefectural Office's inefficiency and sluggishness.
"Never mind. You said the report came from the neighboring residence?" Zhong Li asked.
Ren Wenshu nodded.
"Go and bring him here. I have something to ask." After she finished speaking, Ren Wenshu quickly hurried towards the adjacent residence.
Zhong Li knew that Ren Wenshu's trip would take at least a quarter of an hour, assuming Lu Chao was even home. Using this time, she squatted down and began to examine the entire backyard.
Because the yamen officials had moved the bodies from here previously, the footprints in the yard were scattered and disorderly. Just as she was about to conclude that no relevant traces of the crime could be found at the scene, her gaze suddenly fell near the woodpile in the backyard.
There, she saw a pair of footprints.
Zhong Li looked from the flowerbed to the woodpile, then back. They were about ten paces apart. She determined that it was unlikely the killer would have been in that spot while committing the crime, nor would the yamen officials have been there while clearing the bodies. With a sense of doubt, she approached.
She squatted down and slowly traced her fingers over the footprints. Due to the cold weather, the soil on the ground was incredibly hard. Yet, why were these footprints so clear?
With curiosity, Zhong Li glanced at the surrounding footprints. Her own footprints with Ren Wenshu were still visible on the ground, but none were as deep as the ones before her. How had these been formed?
As Zhong Li pondered, her gaze swept around. It was only when she saw that the wood core in the pile of firewood opposite had a slightly darker and harder color that she understood.
"Miss Zhong, the person is here." At this moment, Ren Wenshu arrived with Lu Chao. Seeing her squatting in the corner of the woodpile in silence, he couldn't help but ask, "Miss Zhong, what are you doing?"
Zhong Li looked up at Ren Wenshu, her gaze falling on Lu Chao, whom he had mentioned.
The man was not tall, wearing a blue satin jacket, with a protruding belly, exuding an air of indulgence.
Her attention then shifted to Lu Chao's feet. He was wearing black cotton boots, his feet not large. It seemed he wasn't the one who left the footprints.
"Has it snowed in Jinzhou recently?" Zhong Li asked, standing up and dusting the soil from her fingertips.
"Ah?" Ren Wenshu had expected her to ask about the case, but instead, she posed a nonsensical question.
Zhong Li did not intend to explain to Ren Wenshu. Her gaze remained on Lu Chao, and she asked again, "Has it snowed, rained, hailed, or anything similar in Jinzhou this winter? Or has this area experienced such weather?" She asked this for a reason; sometimes, a city could experience half clear and half cloudy conditions, all related to the movement of cloud layers.
Lu Chao thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, it snowed a little here about half a month ago."
Zhong Li narrowed her eyes and asked, "What was the weather like in Jinzhou before it snowed?"
This time, Lu Chao did not hesitate. "For the month preceding that, the weather in Jinzhou was not good. Although it was a bit cold, it's a coastal area, so it was still bearable."
As he spoke, he glanced at Ren Wenshu beside him.
Ren Wenshu quickly nodded in agreement.
Zhong Li looked at the footprints on the ground, a slight smile gracing her lips. The footprints were just as she had suspected. Jinzhou hadn't been particularly cold recently, and the surface temperature was higher. The snow that fell had melted, making the ground damp. After the owner of the footprints had come into the yard and left their tracks, the surrounding area cooled, and the soil solidified into a fixed shape. Furthermore, since no one else had disturbed this spot, the footprints naturally remained until now.
"Then do you recall if anyone had been in the yard when it snowed half a month ago?" Zhong Li asked.