CH 38

Normally, there was no reason for a suspect to go out and investigate his own case.

But the Emperor smelled the danger in the situation, so he turned a blind eye. He didn’t allow it, though he didn’t forbid it either, only withdrawing the confinement sentence, and let Xia Yujin run about. The city magistrate was clever. Immediately complying, he took the two of them to the coroner’s to let them examine Master Li’s body.

The stench of the coroner’s office was overwhelming. Ye Zhao strode in without batting an eyelash, but after two steps she saw that no one was following. When she turned around, she saw Xia Yujin’s pale face as he covered his nose, looking as though he was about to throw up. Halting her steps, Ye Zhao pretended to admire the scenery on the side while waiting for him.

A good while later, Xia Yujin arrived, panting. He looked at his wife, who was leisurely and carefreely examining the corpse. Feeling that he had to save face, he promptly gritted his teeth, gathered his masculinity, and strode across the threshold as fearlessly as he could pretend to.

“You have to look for the cause of death,” he said loudly, stepping up to the side of the corpse, “there’s no telling what you might have missed.”

The doctor in charge of the case was Dr. Xu, who had been doing autopsies for thirty-five years already. Because of the mean and low nature of his profession, he had no hope for advancement, and no need to ask whether he was married; he put all his devotion into research and autopsies. Confronted with Xia Yujin’s doubts towards his capacities, he simply lost his temper, raising his voice with a sour face. “You have all-seeing eyes, Your Highness, surely you can discern the cause of death in one glance.”

Xia Yujin was a little embarrassed; he’d come over believing that he’d stumble over clues by a stroke of luck.

But Ye Zhao slowly said, “Dr. Xu is the best medical examiner in the Great Qin. Sir He says you can tell the time and cause of death with one glance, and you’re never wrong.”

Dr. Xu humphed.

Talented people have great tempers, and those who only deal with dead bodies every day develop strange dispositions.

So Ye Zhao paid no heed to his arrogance. “I’ve been fighting since I was a child,” she added. “I’ve killed my share of people. I’ve studied the world’s most common weapons and I’m also very familiar with death and how to stab people. But, Dr. Xu, I’d like your advice.”

Dr. Xu finally remembered the rumors about General Ye and reluctantly nodded.

Ye Zhao leaned over and crouched down, seriously studying the wound, even reaching a finger in and carefully measuring it.

Holding onto her shoulder, Xia Yujin focused all his attention on her neck so as not to look foolishly squeamish. It was actually quite impressive.

Ye Zhao got up. “The blade stabbed through the heart, firmly and strongly, then quickly twisted around. That’s definitely not a suicide.”

“Yes,” said Dr. Xu, “when people commit suicide they tend to hesitate, and the wound is never so sharp and clean. Besides, once it’s penetrated your heart, your hands get weak. You can’t do that crushing twist. I told Sir He this… but he wouldn’t let me reveal anything.”

“Screw him!” Xia Yujin said angrily. “This bastard thinks he can just frame me to close the case!”

Dr. Xu glanced at him. “The neighbors’ dogs won’t bark if they see someone they know,” he said meaningfully. “Perhaps Sir He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of this.”

“What are you looking at!” Xia Yujin indignantly exclaimed. “I don’t know the dogs, I didn’t kill anyone!”

Ye Zhao patted his shoulder. “Well,” she said, trying to console him, “I determined from the beginning that you weren’t the killer.”

“Do you trust me that much?” Xia Yujin asked cheerfully.

“Not at all,” Ye Zhao replied, “but you can’t have made this kind of wound.”

“How do you know?” asked the coroner.

Ye Zhao fished out a short dagger from her lapels and threw it at him. “If you stab me with this knife, where do you aim?”

The coroner took the dagger in hand and demonstrated. “The abdomen, soft and easy to penetrate. Although death might not be so fast, as long as I stab through and twist the blade slightly, you’ll bleed to death no matter which organ I hit.”

“Why not choose the heart?” Ye Zhao asked.

“There are several bones in front of the heart,” Dr. Xu said. “If my angle is even slightly off, I’ll very likely hit a bone.” He had an epiphany when he said this, and excitedly continued, “When most people go for the kill, they generally stab the abdomen several times, or smash their head in with something heavy. But it’s extremely difficult to kill with a single blow if you go for the heart. And if you kill impulsively, you won’t take time to think it through.”

“If you stab the dagger in my heart,” Ye Zhao asked again, “which direction will you twist it in?”

Dr. Xu made a gesture. “To the right.”

Ye Zhao nodded. “Master Li is about as tall as me. Assuming the murderer is also about my height, or shorter than me, if he wants the dagger to pass through the ribs cleanly and penetrate the heart, his wrist must be raised relatively high. The back of the hand holding the blade must then face upward and then twist to the outer side. But the wound in Master Li’s heart is twisted inward, so I think the killer may be left-handed.”

“So the person who killed Master Li, even if he’s not a martial arts expert, is at least an experienced killer. This is not something that His Highness Prince Xia would be able to do.” Wholly won over, Dr. Xu cast aside his first prejudice, and repeatedly exclaimed, “So meticulous and clever!”

“You’re a coroner, but you don’t kill people often,” Ye Zhao promptly said. “It’s normal if you don’t think of these details. In fact I only know about blades; the other aspects of autopsy mean nothing to me.”

“You’re too humble!” Dr. Xu exclaimed with admiration. “You’re an expert!”

The two of them kept complimenting each other. Dr. Xu rarely encountered people who knew the basics of his profession; he was so happy that he almost wanted to take out corpses from other cases to have Ye Zhao look at them.

“Are the two of you done?” Xia Yujin had obtained the evidence to wash away his unfair accusation. After a moment of initial happiness, he remembered that his wife was a master killer, while he couldn’t even do in a chicken, and felt a little unsettled. Full of determination, he crouched on the side reflecting for a long time, until he finally remembered where he could prove himself. “The dagger that fell by the corpse’s side was made by Twice-Pockmarked Huang! I recognize his craftsmanship!”

Dr. Xu and Ye Zhao had started chatting. Bothered by Xia Yujin’s interruption, the coroner impatiently waved his hand. “Your Highness, there was Twice-Pockmarked Huang’s stamp on the dagger… Sir He has already looked it up. Master Li bought it himself before the incident.”

Shut down, Xia Yujin kept on crouching off to the side as he watched them.

Ye Zhao measured the length of the wound. “Are you sure that the murder weapon is this dagger?”

“The widths match,” the coroner said.

“Masters all have weapons they’re used to. Not many will use this kind of market stall garbage. Could it have been used after the murder to conceal their traces and throw the blame on Yujin? For example, they used a fine blade to kill, then stabbed with this knife, to create the illusion that it’s the murder weapon.”

“If they faked the murder weapon, the wound could look the same on the outside, but the blades would have left a difference inside the incision.” Dr. Xu muttered to himself for a moment, then turned around to take out his tools, excited. “Let’s dig out the heart to check!”

Ye Zhao nodded.

“Hey…” Xia Yujin struggled to let out. “Isn’t that disrespectful to the deceased?”

“Well, he has no family, and finding justice for him is a great cause,” the coroner replied happily as he worked. “I guess he won’t mind.”

A moment later, the internal damage on the heart appeared.

Dr. Xu patted the corpse’s thigh. “I can’t believe I missed it! There are two different incisions inside. The dagger’s wound is a fake, added later! So the actual murder weapon should be…”

“A stiletto blade,” said Ye Zhao.

How ironic, that the master forger’s cause of death was forged itself.

“So we’re looking for a martial master who’s left-handed, uses a stiletto, and whose qinggong is particularly good,” Xia Yujin summarized.

Ye Zhao stroked her chin. She looked at him with a faint smile, then suddenly seriously said, “Why does the murderer want to frame you? Are you a random scapegoat? Is it only to cover their identity, did they harm you by mistake? Or do they hold a grudge against you?”

Xia Yujin shuddered and smiled with embarrassment. “No, I haven’t offended anyone lately…”

Ye Zhao held out her fingers as she counted. “Liu Qian, Chen Dehai, Lu Laoer, Wu Ya…”

Cold sweat beaded on Xia Yujin’s forehead.

“I’ll assign more people to your protection at night,” Ye Zhao decisively said.

Back home that night, he thought about Master Li’s elusive murderer and remembered the horrible corpse he’d seen that day. He was anxiously gripping his blanket, fearfully jumping at the slightest noise; even the silhouettes of the maids and servants passing by the window looked like evil spirits, here to sneak up to the bed to kill him.

The more Xia Yujin thought about it, the more scared he grew, until he couldn’t sleep no matter how he tried.

After tossing and turning endlessly, he finally summoned Xishuai and gathered all his courage to fearfully tell him, “I… Your master can’t sleep.”

“You can’t sleep alone, Master?” Xishuai said knowingly. “Do you want someone to wait upon you?”

After some reflection, Xia Yujin felt that it was a good idea. “Yes!”

But who?

Since Concubine Yang had started taking charge of the household, she was very high-spirited and attached the most importance to her reputation. Fearing that other people would condemn her for trying to bewitch her master to gain more power, she’d become increasingly cautious and abided strictly by the rules. Young as she was, she made herself as inflexible as an old woman and frequently reported to the general; it would be annoying to go to sleep with her. Meiniang was a traitor, loyal to whomever she benefited from. Every time she saw the general, she looked like a lap dog, impatient to wag her tail. Disgusting. Xuan’er wasn’t actually bad, but she was a coward who screamed easily. If he slept with her and a cockroach or a mouse happened to creep into the room, he wouldn’t have to wait for a murderer to come in: he’d be scared to death by her screams.

Xia Yujin deliberated for so long that Xishuai had to ask him three times.

He decisively got up and made his way to Ye Zhao’s courtyard.

Ye Zhao was letting her hair air-dry, ready to go to sleep. When she saw him come in, she smiled. “Why did you come over in the middle of the night?”

“Why, are you occupied?” Summoning his courage, Xia Yujin put on his great lord and master’s airs. “It’s only right that a man seeks out for his wife to sleep! Are you failing in your duty? Your lord is resting here tonight!”

Ye Zhao raised her eyebrows and ambiguously answered, “Alright.”