Jiang Wu changed his clothes, took out the clothes and coat he had prepared in the autopsy room, and began to perform a detailed autopsy on the deceased.
An autopsy is not always required for experimental corpses. For this corpse, for example, just through the examination of the corpse surface, it can be known that the deceased died at the time of last night, and the cause of death was mechanical asphyxia, which is what we commonly call
"strangled"
"The deceased, Lu Mei, had a very deep wound on his neck. Judging from the location and depth of the strangle marks, the murderer should be a male, and the position of the two people at that time should be that the murderer was behind Lu Mei. The two were in a lying position, and the murder weapon was a piece of hemp.
It’s a rope or a belt, but it’s not too thick, so it’s probably an ordinary hemp rope.”
Jiang Wu pointed to the two hemp ropes on the plate next to him and said: "These two ropes are used to bind the hands and feet of the deceased. Judging from the binding method, the murderer cannot be said to be a very meticulous person, and the knotting is also
Common and common type."
Fu Heng nodded: "Song Qi and Lu Mei are friends outside?"
Jiang Wu nodded: "Song Shangshu's daughter is said to be in love with Lu Mei. I have already asked her. She stayed at the house last night and ran out this morning because she had a quarrel with her father."
Seeing that Fu Heng didn't speak for a while, she took off her gloves and said, "The autopsy has been preliminarily completed here. Your Excellency, please come with me to ask the people who were there at the time."
Fu Heng said: "The watchman in charge of this area has arrived at Yinshi last night."
The two then left the autopsy room and walked to the lobby.
The watchman was an honest man, over fifty years old. When Fu Heng asked, his face was blank. He said: "I just drank two more bottles of wine last night. It's too cold today, and I didn't hear anything strange."
The sound was so loud that the villain didn’t even see anyone coming.”
Logically speaking, watchmen should patrol every street when patrolling, but because the weather was really cold and yesterday was New Year's Eve, the rules were looser.
The watchman hesitated and couldn't explain why, and finally started crying, saying that he didn't expect that someone would take advantage of him if he was neglectful for such a day.
Fu Heng said: "You have been on duty these days?"
The watchman nodded and said: "In the past month, it was me, and last month it was someone else. We take turns."
Fu Heng frowned slightly. Yinshi was a time when people were sleepy and it was very late. Although the murderer's methods were rough, Lu Mei was still a serious young lady, not a girl from the Qin Lou Chu Palace. It was New Year's Eve again.
Why was she running out alone?
Jiang Wu said: "Do you find a place to rest for a while every night at a certain time?"
The watchman blushed. If he said this in the lobby, wouldn't he lose his job? He shook his head and pretended to be stupid and said no.
Jiang Wu sneered and said directly: "You don't have to worry about this job. If you tell the truth and provide us with clues, you might be able to keep your job. But if you don't tell the truth, your job will be ruined."
there is none left."
The watchman was startled and hurriedly kowtowed and said: "My lord is wise, I do rest for a while in the thatched house at the end of Xinyang Street every night after walking all the streets, but the time will not be very long, I will only rest for one day."
hour.
Jiang Wu pondered for a moment, "Your rest time is Yin Shi, right?"
The watchman murmured for a long time, then nodded.
Jiang Wu sighed. The watchman was resting at this time. Lu Mei happened to be walking by, and something unexpected happened. In this case, the most important thing was not when the watchman would take a rest. In fact, the most important thing was Lu Mei itself.
She is an unmarried girl. According to Song Qi, her address is some distance from Xinyang Street. What was she doing on Xinyang Street in the middle of the night? There is a large possibility that she made an appointment with someone. Here
Meet.
…
Lu Mei's family is in the tea business. The business is not big or small, not enough to be an imperial merchant, but it can be regarded as a wealthy country squire. There are four sisters in Lu Mei's family. His father married the third aunt, and Lu Mei is in the middle.
Her status is neither embarrassing nor awkward. According to the servants of the family, Lu Mei is a concubine born to her second aunt. She is usually a bit timid, rarely talks, and is timid in doing things.
The person who came out to greet her was the mistress of the Lu family. She looked like a middle-aged woman who was somewhat philistine. After all, Lu Mei was not her biological daughter, so she didn't feel bad about it. The head of the Lu family had gone to other places to do business, and he didn't know about the second daughter.
News of unexpected death.
Later, the maid in Lu Mei's room said that she didn't know when she went out, because the young lady usually stayed in her room and embroidered her dowry.
"Dowry? She wants to get married?"
The little maid nodded uneasily, holding the corners of her clothes nervously with both hands, as if she had something to say but didn't dare to say it.
Jiang Wu understood the idea and said deliberately: "Can you please take me to Lu Mei's room to see it?"
The mistress frowned, but still put on a smile on her face: "Master, to be honest, according to our rules here, it is a bad thing if an unmarried girl dies, so the clothes and other items must be burned immediately. Official
I’m afraid it’s inconvenient for me to go see this matter…”
Jiang Wu raised his eyebrows, but before he could speak, Fu Heng had already said coldly: "The Jin Yiwei is handling the case, do you dare to interfere?"
The mistress choked for a moment, but she still said: "Sir... Sir, there's nothing I can do about it. You have to do things according to the rules, right?"
Fu Heng sneered, and the corner of his official robe drew a sharp mark in the wind. He said: "If the case is delayed, you will be exiled according to law!"
Sure enough, the mistress was startled when she heard this, her face turned pale to the naked eye, "Second, how could you two officials?"
It's a pity that no one pays attention to her anymore. The identity of an ordinary tea merchant is really not enough for Jin Yiwei. What's more, her messy behavior not only failed to stop Jin Yiwei's investigation, but made the Lu family even more suspicious.
.
Lu Mei's maid led them to Lu Mei's yard. Once they entered the yard, they realized that what the servants said was true. Because Lu Mei's yard was located in a remote place, and there were signs of wall peeling falling off the walls.
Inside, the light was very poor even in broad daylight. As soon as she entered the house, the maid saw that her mistress did not follow her. She could no longer bear it and knelt down to Jiang Wu with a thud.
Jiang Wu was startled and quickly went to help her up. The little maid saw tears falling down her face. She choked and said, "You are Miss Jiang, right? I heard Miss Jiang talk about you."
Jiang Wu was confused, "Your young lady? Lu Mei? Why has she heard of me?"
The little maid said: "The young lady said that there are two people she envies most, one is you and the other is the eldest lady of the Song family. She said that you two can live a free life, but she cannot."
She lowered her eyes and said word by word: "The mistress is taking advantage of the master's absence to sell the young lady to a sixty-year-old landlord outside the city."