There is a god in the sky

Chapter 107 The Strange Case of Fuchunju 5

Shen Lan watched as the yamen runners reburied the bodies, burning paper money and placing offerings in front of each grave, showing their utmost sincerity.

These people died painfully, and even in death they are being disturbed; it is indeed necessary to appease their spirits.

Back at the government office, Shen Lan said helplessly, "We didn't find much. Now we just have to see if Suiying can find yesterday's body."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Suiying rushed in.

"Sir, we have made a discovery."

Xiao Ji and Shen Lan exchanged a glance, and smiles appeared in their eyes.

"Let's go and see together."

What Suiying and his companions discovered was a small slaughterhouse, the place where Zhang Ada, a butcher in the city, slaughtered pigs.

"There's a sewage pond in the backyard, and we found a severed arm in it."

Zhang the Butcher's voice came from inside.

"Sir, I really don't know what happened. How could I possibly kill someone? This sewage pool is where we usually wash pigs. The water is filthy. I don't even know when the severed arm was found."

The stench could be smelled from a great distance.

Shen Lan gave each of them a mask, saying that wearing a mask would make them feel more comfortable.

They stood by the sewage pool watching the officials continue the dredging.

It was full of pig hair and offal; the smell alone was nauseating.

The severed arm has been retrieved, but everyone wants to see if the other limbs are also inside.

"Sir, look at this knife..." An official brought over a boning knife to show Xiao Ji.

Shen Lan had previously stated that she suspected the murder weapon was a sharp boning knife.

This knife is sharpened every day before slaughtering pigs, making it extremely sharp, which is indeed very much in line with the murder weapon that Shen Lan had imagined.

"Take the person back first, and thoroughly check everything here."

"Yes."

Xiao Ji turned around and saw Shen Lan squatting on the ground examining the severed arm.

“It’s not from the corpse. That arm was cut off more than two months ago; it couldn’t be this fresh,” Shen Lan said, standing up.

This is probably a different case.

Over there, the officers who were retrieving the body also finished, and no other limbs were retrieved.

Everyone was somewhat disappointed, since that case was the top priority at the moment.

"Sir, should we continue with the interrogation of this butcher?"

"This is your case, Prefect Dou. This is a new case, and new cases are not under my jurisdiction."

He wasn't the chief criminal officer of Tanzhou, yet he had to investigate every case for them.

Xiao Ji took the boning knife with him, and when he arrived at the yamen, he saw that the butcher had already been beaten with a board.

"Lord Dou, isn't it too early to administer the punishment now? They haven't even found the body yet."

Prefect Dou raised his hand to signal a halt, then came over and led Xiao Ji to a corner, whispering, "Lord Xiao, the young prince isn't involved in affairs right now, could this case be..."

Xiao Ji interrupted him, "No, there are other judges and magistrates in the government office. Prefect Dou, don't forget that I am just a guest."

Prefect Dou was helpless. He saw the sharp knife in Xiao Ji's hand and asked in fear, "Does Lord Xiao intend to interrogate this butcher?"

"No need, Prefect Dou, please go ahead." He was only here to see Ma Long.

He led Ma Long out of the house and pointed to Fuchun Residence, saying, "I suspect the body is still in the other party's residence. Please have Constable Ma bring one hundred constables over."

Ma Long asked in surprise, "Does Your Excellency intend to continue searching within Fuchun Residence?"

"Okay, let's search again carefully."

"But we've searched countless times, we've even dug up the ground."

"Then let's dig again."

Ma Long hesitated and said, "Then we must first obtain the young prince's consent."

Upon hearing that Xiao Ji wanted to search the mansion, the young prince agreed without hesitation and even joined him in the search.

Xiao Ji then asked him, "Does your residence have secret rooms, tunnels, or ice cellars?"

"There is a secret room, but nothing unusual about it. The ice cellar has also been checked, and there is no underground passage in the mansion."

It's normal for a family like the young prince's to have some secrets, so they usually build secret rooms.

If the body couldn't be found outside, Xiao Ji actually suspected that it was hidden in a secret room or similar place, but the young prince had no reason to lie.

Shen Lan also asked a question: "Has there been any new construction or repair work started in the past six months?"

"If a new pond is dug in early spring and lotus flowers are planted in it, does that count?"

Xiao Ji immediately nodded: "Let's go take a look first."

The pond has been drained.

In fact, every inch of the Fuchun Residence that could be dug up was dug up, and even the sludge in the pond was turned over.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Ji finally understood why Ma Long firmly believed there were no corpses in Fuchun Residence.

The accompanying steward suddenly said, "In the summer, the Princess Consort felt hot and moved to the waterside pavilion for a month. Before that, the waterside pavilion had been renovated and repaired."

They then went to the waterside pavilion.

The waterside pavilion was made of wood, so it was well-ventilated and there wasn't much place to hide anything.

The lake where the pavilion is located is very large, but the water is crystal clear, and guards search the lake in small boats.

This place must have been searched many times before.

Were the five deceased residents far apart?

"It's not far. The servants all live in the servants' quarters on the west side of the manor. Would you like to go and take a look, sir?"

Given the concentration of residences, if a murder had occurred, it's impossible that no one would have heard the commotion; it's highly unlikely to have been the crime scene.

Shen Lan thought so too; the murderer would most likely choose a remote place to commit the crime.

There are quite a few people living in Kefuchun, so where would be considered remote?

"Let's go and take another look at these places: the artificial hill, the stables, the storeroom, and the ice cellar."

As expected, the more suspicious a place was, the more thoroughly it was searched, and even the stones of the artificial hill were broken open.

When they arrived at the stables, Shen Lan's attention was drawn to the dozen or so tall and magnificent horses.

Each one was as tall and mighty as the desolate red dates, clearly a prized horse from the Western Regions.

Fuchun Residence is just a separate residence for the young prince. Besides the Prince Zheng's Mansion, he also has his own Prince's Mansion.

Wait, the Prince's Mansion?

Shen Lan asked in confusion, "Is anyone usually living in the Prince's mansion?"

"Of course, there are several concubines and young masters in the manor."

The same thought arose in their minds at the same time: Could it be that the murderer really hid the body parts in the Prince's mansion?

The young prince's face was very grim. He gritted his teeth and ordered, "Send word to search the entire Prince's residence, inside and out, and strengthen the guards. Don't give the murderer any opportunity."

Seeing this, Shen Lan pondered and said, "Actually, it's not very likely. It would be very difficult for the murderer to bring the body into Fuchun Residence from elsewhere after killing the victim, and there would be bloodstains along the way, making it hard to cover up."

Xiao Ji also found it difficult, "This humble official would like to go and take another look at the Prince's courtyard."

The young prince had changed his residence, since he didn't want to live in a place where people had died.

Therefore, the courtyard where he is currently living is not actually the main courtyard of the mansion.

Just as they suspected, when Xiao Ji came in yesterday, he saw him standing in the pool. In fact, he had also gone down to look for the body.

Shen Lan looked around the place.

The bloodstains had been cleaned up, and from Xiao Ji's description, she knew that the bleeding was heavy.

"Where will they cut this time?" she muttered to herself.

After listening, Xiao Ji thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "What if this time they'll be left with a complete corpse?"

Shen Lan asked the young prince, "Did you fall asleep this time? How long did you sleep?"

The young prince pointed to the recliner in the study and said, "I fell asleep while reading and lay there for about half an hour. When I woke up, I saw a lot of red blood on the floor."

"Was the blood dried up at that time?"

"No, it's very fresh."

"In other words, you woke up right after the murderer left."

The timing is too perfect. Could he possibly become invisible?