173: Chapter 111: Rivals in Love et_2 173: Chapter 111: Rivals in Love et_2 Ran Yan watched Xiao Song investigate the scene with an air of nonchalance, never expecting him to notice even the tiniest needle-point sized wound on the nun’s index finger.
When he ntioned Huan Kong again, Ran Yan suddenly thought of sothing that happened a month ago, “Huan Kong once sought my help with an autopsy, but I refused.”
“Oh?” Xiao Song turned to the governnt soldiers behind him and said, “Please invite the young master Huan Kong to Yuncong Temple at the foot of the mountain.”
The governnt soldier took the order and left, while Wan Lu, carrying a toolbox, hastily jogged out from Yingi Temple.
To facilitate the autopsy for Ran Yan, Xiao Song had ordered the corpse to be transported early to a secluded, decrepit ditation room in Yuncong Temple.
In order not to attract attention, Xiao Song led them through a side entrance of the temple.
It was right before the monks’ dinner, and the main path was busy with monks, so they had to take a detour through a smaller path.
Xiao Song took long strides, and Ran Yan struggled to keep up, her head bowed the entire ti.
It was her first ti entering Yuncong Temple, so she didn’t notice when they passed the Scripture Pavilion, until Sang Chen, clad in a pale blue robe, ca towards them.
Xiao Song stopped walking, and only then did Ran Yan realize he was less than five steps away.
Both n had proposed to the Ran family, and one would expect so hostility, yet their interaction seed different.
After a long standoff, Sang Chen’s gaze lacked focus, while Xiao Song retained his usual indifferent deanor.
“It has been a long ti, is Sui Yuan well?” Xiao Song greeted with a bow.
Sang Chen’s brow furrowed slightly as he responded indifferently, “Thank you for your concern, I am well.”
After speaking, he turned his gaze to Ran Yan, his face reddening slightly, his eyes dodging, and his voice sowhat fleeting, “It’s almost evening, how cos the lady to the temple?”
The temple would no longer welco visitors after the evening bell, and it was evident that Ran Yan was not there to offer incense.
Realizing that her presence most likely had sothing to do with Xiao Song, Sang Chen’s already displeased look turned even more hostile towards Xiao Song.
“There’s so business to attend to,” said Ran Yan.
Seeing the toolbox in Wan Lu’s hands, Sang Chen did not inquire further, rely saying, “Please be careful, wife.”
This was the most normal Ran Yan had ever seen Sang Chen; he usually appeared lively and foolish, but at that mont he seed no different from an ordinary person, yet devoid of vitality, pale, and with a fleeting deanor.
Xiao Song watched his dispirited figure depart, then turned back and said, “Let’s go.”
“You deliberately led past the Scripture Pavilion,” Ran Yan stated coolly.
Xiao Song neither confird nor denied, “He is different from the others.
If it were an ordinary person seeing you and in this situation, they would certainly think there was sothing ambiguous between us.
But didn’t you notice that all of his words were perfunctory, as if neither you nor I existed?”
Thinking back, it seed that was indeed the case.
“What does that indicate?” Ran Yan had always been puzzled by Sang Chen’s way of thinking.
“He is preoccupied,” replied Xiao Song with succinct clarity.
For anyone else, eting a rival in love would warrant at least a flash of jealousy, but it was brushed off so lightly by him.
Aside from thinking “as expected,” Xiao Song also felt a sense of energy with nowhere to go.
Ran Yan was used to such responses and didn’t find them strange anymore, but she felt a growing distance from Xiao Song, whose every action and word could be a calculation.
For soone in the official ranks, this might not necessarily be a flaw, yet Ran Yan admired the straightforward and upright character of his father, Xiao Yu, more.
“You must think I’m very petty,” Xiao Song said with a faint smile.
Ran Yan did not respond because his actions were indeed petty.
Seeing Ran Yan’s silent agreent, he wasn’t upset; instead, his smile only widened, shining like the sun, intimidating to behold.
Upon reaching the ditation room where the corpse was stored, Liu Pinrang had already arrived with Judge Yu Bohao waiting in the courtyard.
Ran Yan greeted Liu Pinrang and exchanged brief pleasantries, which he acknowledged by inviting several people into the room.
The room had adequate lighting though lamps were already lit inside.
Ran Yan examined the light and said, “There is still so ti before dark, and the light is best now.
Let’s not delay the autopsy.”
Liu Pinrang intended the sa, and, hearing Ran Yan suggest this, he imdiately nodded in agreent.
Inside the ditation room, three wooden boards each held a corpse covered with plain cloth.
Although the bodies had been preserved with ice, severe decay was inevitable, filling the room with a foul stench.
Ran Yan quickly stepped outside to instruct the others, “There is no need to hold your breath intentionally, just be careful not to close your mouth suddenly, lest the foul air rush in.”
Ran Yan anointed her nose with sesa oil, kept a piece of ginger in her mouth, put on a mask at the door, and lit Atractylodes soap among other things.
She then had the others prepare the sa way before they all re-entered the room together.
“Order the Governnt Official to prepare lots of clean water.” Ran Yan ntally cursed Liu Pinrang a few tis, wondering why he hadn’t allowed her to examine the body when it was fresh and instead waited until it was in such a state before seeking her help.
It was all because of feudal thinking.
“Which is the most recent corpse?” Ran Yan inquired.
Yu Bohao pointed to one right in front of him, “This one here, found six days ago, similar to the first corpse.
The deceased has blunt trauma on the back, likely from a stick or the like, and the clothing is stained with…
um, filth.”
Yu Bohao also tried to be professional, with no reservations about gender when stating the facts, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to say certain words to a young lady.
Ran Yan nodded, signaled Wan Lu and Ge Lan to leave.
Although she wanted to test their courage, she decided it best to proceed gradually.
The corpses at this stage were the most horrifying and disgusting, and the gases from decay were harmful.
She didn’t want them to suffer psychological scars.
Wan Lu and Ge Lan were reluctant to go, but when Liu Pinrang turned and said, “The two of you, please step outside,” they could not persist despite their bravery.
They bowed slightly and left the room.
With the two won gone, Ran Yan lifted the cloth, and the people in the room, caught off guard, saw corpses that had decayed badly, turned black all over, with blatantly twisted facial features, and bodies that swollen to a monstrous size due to decay gases, maggots breeding in the lower half of the bodies and around the mouth and nose.
(To be continued.
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