Chapter 214: Postmortem Examination (2/2)

Mr. Qin Dashu was stunned. ”That’s impossible. Xiao Boli wasn’t breathing at the time. I think the Qin ancestors were disgusted with his actions and brought down retribution on his head.”

”Open the coffin so I can conduct an autopsy!” I sighed.

When Mr. Qin left to fetch the tools, I turned to Bingxin and said, ”It’s better if you don’t see this.”

Bingxin pursed her lips. ”What's the big deal? I’ve seen tons of male corpses at school. By the way, how did this necrophiliac die?”

”He most likely died the same way that Zheng Zaihao did. Poisoned by the locust tree, he fell unconscious and was buried alive as a dead man. However, there’s still one thing I’m not sure about, that is, did Mr. Qin commit intentional homicide? Did Xiao Boli accidentally save Zheng Zaihao when he came to rape the body? Or did Zheng Zaihao first escape before Xiao Boli raped the corpse?”

”So you want to examine the body to see if there’s any soil under his fingernails?” Bingxin suddenly realized.

”That’s right!” I replied.

”Song Yang-gege, which scenario do you hope it’ll be?” asked Bingxin.

A faint smile played across my lips. ”Just look at you! That’s called having preconceptions! I don't hope for anything. I’ll wait to examine the body and deduce the truth from the facts.”

”I still hope Mr. Qin won’t have to go to jail,” she said.

Mr. Qin was a father who deeply loved his daughter. Perhaps Bingxin’s heart had given birth to sympathy because she saw a trace of Sun Tiger within Mr. Qin.

A while later, Mr. Qin came back with a spade. Just as he was about to shovel dirt, I interrupted, ”I'll do it!”

”No, no. It’s better I do the rough work!” he insisted.

I shook my head. ”I'm not being polite with you. I'm afraid you might destroy some details.”

Mr. Qin muttered, ”What could there be in the soil? Isn't it all the same?”

How mistaken he was! Dozens of clues could be gathered from the soil alone. I slowly shoveled, scooping up a bit of soil before I crouched and picked out a blade of grass to carefully examine. Then, I asked Bingxin if she noticed anything. I tested her whenever I got the chance in order to train her into a competent assistant.

”This blade of grass was cut by a shovel, and it happened not too long ago,” observed Bingxin.

I nodded and looked around. A layer of turf was missing from the area around the grave. ”Go over there and see if there are any traces of scrabbling on the ground!” I instructed.

We worked separately, and soon I caught sight of the coffin. It was indeed made out of locust wood. ”Why use locust wood?” I asked Mr. Qin.

He explained, ”We couldn’t order a coffin in time because it happened so suddenly and it was also New Year's. So I cut down an old locust tree and made a coffin from the wood. After all, I used to be a carpenter.”

”Isn’t locust wood unsuitable for striking the coffin?” I asked.

”I checked with a fortune teller. Based on my little girl’s birth chart, the fortune teller said that she has an unstable life so using expensive wood is only detrimental to her.”

Bingxin came back and excitedly reported, ”Song Yang-gege, there aren’t any traces of scrabbling. They all look like shovel marks.”

”Did it rain yesterday?” I asked.

Bingxin recalled, ”There was light rain in the early morning.”

I turned over a layer of soil and looked underneath.

Giving in to his curiosity, Mr. Qin asked, “It's getting late. What are you looking at? Why don’t you quickly open the coffin?”

I thought to myself, We’re trying to prove your innocence, okay?

The soil in the grave was evenly wet. It didn’t rain heavily yesterday so there was no way the wetness penetrated so deeply into the soil. This showed that the soil was covered later.

We were one step closer to proving Mr. Qin’s innocence. Truth be told, I was sincerely happy with this development.

Before opening the coffin, I examined it. The four corners of the coffin lid showed no signs of being nailed. Then, I pried open the coffin with the shovel, turning over the coffin lid with a crash. I was immediately greeted with the pungent smell of fresh locust trees.

There were two bodies lying in the coffin–one was the bride in her phoenix headpiece and wedding dress and the other was a disheveled man. The pale bride had wrapped her arms tightly around the man, lips curled into a Mona Lisa smile. The whole thing was very strange!

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