Ch. 48 - The Case of the Heavenly Hound Eating Heart in Xinglong Street [Part 1]
The Famous Detective of the Red MansionThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Before dawn, a messy sound of horses' hooves shattered the tranquility of Xinglong Street.
However, the residents nearby have long been used to it. After all, the streets had been in chaos since midnight, and there was no peace at the moment.
Seeing white flags in front of him and many people surrounded by shadows, Sun Shaozong knew that he had reached the place, so he slowed down his horse speed slightly and said in a loud voice, "I’m Sun Shaozong, the Assistant Prefectural Magistrate of the Central Judicial Office. Who is in charge in front?"
"Magistrate Sun, you are finally here!"
Before the words fell, a small official in green flashed out of the crowd, but it was Zhou Da, the Criminal Inspector. He leaned over and flattered, grabbed the reins, and said, "Just now, the subordinate officer of the supreme guard urged me several times. If you still don’t appear, I really don't know how to reply!"
Since he was regarded as a scapegoat at the Reception Banquet, Zhou Da simply turned to Sun Shaozong in anger. Anyway, he was selected from the minor officials who drew up indictments, and he was not a serious scholar himself.
Although Sun Shaozong has not stated his position, it has not stopped him from posing as a lackey for the team.
"The subordinate officer of the supreme guard?"
Sun Shaozong frowned when he heard the speech. When the case was big, it should be handled by Han Anbang, the Minister of the Prefecture. When it was small, it should also have been the Governor of the Department, Liu Chongshan, who was especially responsible for criminal cases, but how could it fall on Jia Yucun?
Seeing that he frowned and did not speak, Zhou Da vaguely guessed the reason and hurriedly lowered his voice to explain, "Prefectural Magistrate Jia just moved to this Xinglong Street yesterday, next to Vice Minister Ge’s Mansion."
How unlucky was he! But if he moved here one day late, he was afraid the case wouldn't fall on him!
Sun Shaozong was a little speechless for a moment, thinking that Jia Yucun was possessed by a declining Go, but he didn't know that the source of this thing was actually in his own body.
Had it not been for his help, Jia Yucun's arrival in the Capital would have been postponed for three or four days, and moving to Xinglong Street would have had to wait until the middle of February. He would happen to be staggered by this strange case, which caused a stir for a while and ended in confusion.
Now…
When Sun Shaozong followed Zhou Da and hurried to Vice Minister Ge’s Mansion study room, he saw Jia Yucun standing in front of the knocked-open door with his hands on his back. His face was as black as ink, and his eyebrows, nose, and eyes all exuded terrible low pressure. No strangers were allowed to enter his surroundings!
Seeing Sun Shaozong appear, his face showed a bit of joy. Regardless of the presence of Zhou Da, Zhao Wuwei, and the others, he came forward and pulled Sun Shaozong's sleeve, saying excitedly, "My good brother, this time you have to help me no matter what!"
Sun Shaozong could understand his mood. He encountered such a big case by just taking over the post not long after as a new official. If he could solve the case, it would naturally be a great scene, but if he didn’t manage to solve the case... He could accept the punishment from the upper management, but the most important part was mainly because he would lose his face and his prestige would be swept away. What capital would he have to compete with Han Anbang in the future?
However, Sun Shaozong has not understood the basic information in this case. How did he dare to boast?
He could only make a solemn promise, "Don't worry, Prefectural Magistrate, I will do my best to find out the truth of this case!"
"That's good, that's good, that's good!"
Jia Yucun said, "that's good" three times in a row, but he forgot to let go of Sun Shaozong's sleeve, which showed that he was out of his wits at this time.
As a last resort, Sun Shaozong had to say again, "Your honor, can you let me go to the scene of the crime to investigate it and then ask the witnesses?"
"Right, right, right!"
Jia Yucun hurriedly pointed to the room on the east side and said, "Zhao Wuwei, take Assistant Prefectural Magistrate Sun to investigate the scene quickly. Zhou Da, you go and call all the witnesses!"
Sun Shaozong was then able to get away.
He was not in a hurry to enter the door, but first, he carefully observed the layout of Vice Minister Ge’s study room. The study room of wealthy families was often the host's living and receiving place, and Vice Minister Ge was no exception.
In the middle was an exquisite and elegant Flower Parlor, to the west was the real study room, and the location of the crime was in the bedroom to the east.
Sun Shaozong walked to the bedroom and immediately found that the door had also been forcibly knocked open. Judging from the broken horizontal latch on the ground, it should have been in a locked-in state, just like the door outside the Flower Parlor.
Murder in the secret chamber?!
Sun Shaozong's heart was tight. Although the murderer had covered up the cases he had solved before, it was done in a hurry after the event, so many clues remained.
But typically, the murderer had a well-thought-out plan before carrying out this kind of killing in the hidden chamber. The scene was often carefully cleaned up, and the difficulty of solving the case was far greater than that of ordinary cases!
There was another thing that made Sun Shaozong quite concerned. According to his experience these days, only the outer room of this suite was usually locked. To facilitate the servants' going in and serving in the middle of the night, the inner room wouldn’t even be equipped with chain gear.
The door of this bedroom was specially equipped with a lock, and if looked at carefully, it could be seen that the lock was added later.
So the two-door locks outside here, in the end, does it indicate a lack of security or hide unknown secrets?
In his mind, Sun Shaozong stepped into the bedroom and felt wet under his feet before he could see the situation inside.
There is a layer of water on the ground?
Sun Shaozong was stunned for a moment, but he immediately understood what was going on because there was an empty bath bucket not far from the left side of the door.
Not far from the bath bucket, a fat body leaned slanted on the cushion with colorful embroidery, with a huge hole opening in its chest, but it was ”clear water,” and there was not much pus and blood accumulated.
The skin and flesh of the wound were even more pink and white, which was clearly washed repeatedly after death!
Tch!
He was afraid it would be more difficult to find clues now.
Sun Shaozong bit on his dental calculus, having to crack his brain because of the toughness of the case, but his eyes suddenly caught something. He hurriedly gathered in front of the body and observed it carefully. As expected, he found that the liver, spleen, stomach, and kidney were all in the chest, but the most important organ—the heart—was missing!
"This is..."
Sun Shaozong carefully twisted up several main blood vessels, looked at the uneven fracture above, which seemed to have been torn vigorously, and couldn't help but gasp in shock. The missing heart was bitten by teeth!
Then he found more frightening evidence in the folds of the dead body's clothes. A small lump of chewed, minced meat!
Has that heart been eaten by the killer?!
This extremely abnormal behavior was derived from bitter hatred, or to cover up any important clues?!
Sun Shaozong pondered for a while and then handed the minced heart remains to Zhao Wuwei for sealing. He raised his eyes and continued to look at the situation at the scene.
Window curtains? There is still a thick curtain installed in this bedroom?
One must know that in these days, paper windows were used, and people couldn’t clearly see the inside from the outside during the day. Only a few people would install extra curtains.
Sun Shaozong walked to the window, carefully opened the closed curtain, meticulously observed it up and down, and found that the windows were also locked in.
Considering that the dead body was near the windowsill, the murderer shouldn’t have had a chance to lock the window after the crime. It could be seen that the house was indeed in a secret chamber before the door was knocked open.
Moreover, through this additional curtain, Sun Shaozong further confirmed that there must be some secret hidden in Vice Minister Ge!
And this secret—seven or eight out of ten—was the cause of his death!
"My Lord!"
Seeing Sun Shaozong stand in front of the window for a long time, Zhao Wuwei couldn't help but remind him, "You might as well see what's on the transom first."
Transom?
Sun Shaozong had also seen the open transom in the northwest corner, but that window was not much bigger than a palm, not to mention an adult. He was afraid that even children couldn't get out of it, so he didn't hurry to check it.
At this time, hearing Zhao Wuwei take the initiative to mention it and seeing his face full of fear, Sun Shaozong became interested. He stepped forward with his feet and looked at it a few times. He immediately made a sound, ”eh” and twisted a few gray hairs from the edge of the window, and muttered to himself, "This seems to be..."
"Dog hair!"
Zhao Wuwei trembled and said, "Master, this is definitely dog hair! It can’t be... It can’t be that it was caused by the haunt of the Heavenly Hound, right?!"