196: Chapter 125: Ten Female Corpses 196: Chapter 125: Ten Female Corpses Xiao Song and Ran Yan arrived at the mountain to find that the jade orchid garden had already been completely uprooted, with many governnt officials turning pale and vomiting incessantly.
Despite having seen countless corpses, Ran Yan was still shocked by the scene before her.
Partially unearthed decaying bodies emitted waves of foul stench.
From Ran Yan’s estimation, there were at least ten bodies, buried in different years.
So were already completely skeletonized, while others had their rotting flesh entangled by the roots of the jade orchids.
Ran Yan involuntarily took a step forward, but Xiao Song quickly pulled her back, “You have wounds on you; you must not touch this filth.”
Stopping in her tracks, Ran Yan realized that indeed, in this era, there was no proper disinfection equipnt, and even the effectiveness of the gloves and other protective gear was limited.
It was indeed better for her not to make any contact, considering her injuries.
Xiao Song turned to a nearby governnt official, “Go call Liu Qingsong over.”
The official acknowledged and dashed down the mountain quickly.
Ran Yan frowned as she looked at the bodies and the scattered pieces of clothing and other items nearby, “It seems these are the missing wives.
With so many corpses, how co only three gentlen have been found?”
Xiao Song replied, “Those gentlen were discarded in the wilderness.
If not discovered within three days, they probably were completely devoured by wild animals.”
“Looking at the situation, the murderer has been at this for more than a year, only recently being exposed,” Ran Yan had never expected that this place, clustered with nunneries and temples, far from being a sanctuary, was actually a hell on earth.
“I will escort you back,” Xiao Song said, looking towards the base of the mountain.
Following his gaze, Ran Yan saw Wan Lu breathlessly running up the hill, and considering the terrifying situation here, she nodded.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one half of Xiao Song’s body already wet beyond the protection of the umbrella.
This oil-paper umbrella was larger than the standard ones, but due to Xiao Song’s tall stature coupled with Ran Yan, it was clearly not enough, and the opened umbrella was almost entirely shielding Ran Yan.
The two walked down the mountain side by side, with Wan Lu yelling from a distance, “Wife!
How can you just leave without calling for ?”
Seeing her blusterous manner, Ran Yan couldn’t help but smile slightly.
Xiao Song, who had been steadily observing her, saw a quiet smile bloom suddenly on her usually stern face, as quietly radiant as a lotus on the water.
The brief beauty stunned Xiao Song for a long ti until Ran Yan moved beside Wan Lu and bowed slightly under her umbrella, “Thank you, Mr.
Xiao.”
Xiao Song quickly composed himself and discreetly lowered the umbrella to cover most of his face, his voice steady, “Madam, you are too polite.”
Seeing that the two had finished talking but were still standing in the rain, Wan Lu couldn’t help but remind aloud, “Wife, we should head back, or else Mother Xing will start nagging again.”
Ran Yan wanted to express her gratitude, but after thinking it over, other than a simple “thank you,” she could think of nothing exceedingly novel to say.
As it was getting late, and feeling she couldn’t be of much help there anyway, she followed Wan Lu back to Yingi Temple.
Xiao Song raised his umbrella, watching her leave.
Just as Ran Yan was about to enter Yingi Temple, Liu Qingsong, carrying a large dicine chest, appeared halfway up the mountain.
Tilting his head, he followed Xiao Song’s gaze for a while, until he heard Xiao Song’s deep voice, “Have you had enough of looking?”
With a sheepish smile on his gaunt face, Liu Qingsong wiped the sweat mixed with rain from his forehead and said ambiguously, “I was just casually looking, not as passionately and infatuatedly as you, Jiulang.”
Xiao Song was ranked ninth among his clansn and those familiar with him called him Xiao Jiulang, or Jiulang.
After Liu Qingsong finished speaking, he waited a long while and noticed that Xiao Song had not beco angry as usual.
He couldn’t help but stretch his neck to glance several tis at Ran Yan’s fading figure, then casually asked, “Have you been to the Ran Family?
Did you painfully break off the engagent?”
“Yes.” Xiao Song did not deny it; he simply responded indifferently.
Liu Qingsong grew even more astonished, “You rarely take a liking to a wife, and just like that, you give up?
Don’t tell you think you are dood to bring bad luck to your wife, and for her sake, you suffered the pain of letting go, holding a shattered heart, placing Mistress Ran’s small hand into Sang Suiyuan’s palm, and standing alone in the rain licking your wounds in solitude.”
“She is mine,” Xiao Song withdrew his gaze, tossing out the statent lightly, and turned toward the jade orchid garden.
Carrying a heavy dicine chest, Liu Qingsong shakily jogged to catch up, gossiping, “Jiulang, Jiulang, tell , are you planning on a torturous and abusive romance to evoke Mistress Ran’s sympathy; or are you forcibly taking her to slowly train her at ho; or employing both dominance and tenderness to let Mistress Ran fully experience your masculine charm…”
Xiao Song turned around, his tone cold, “Let’s go perform the autopsy.”
As soon as Liu Qingsong turned to face the corpse, he was startled, reluctantly quieting down, covering his nose and mouth with plain cloth, stepping into the mound of bodies.
Seeing that the governnt officials were too exhausted to vomit, he had no choice but to dig out the bodies himself, swiftly assembling all the skeletons.
Despite his slim figure that looked like it might be blown away by a strong wind, he was surprisingly strong and quick in his movents.
Liu Qingsong was also a servant of the Xiao family but had been Xiao Song’s study companion since childhood, being three years older and always passionate about dicine.
After Xiao Song entered the Imperial Academy at the age of fifteen, Liu Qingsong devoted himself entirely to dicine, apprenticing under a master physician and acquiring a whole host of skills.
Although officially master and servant, they were actually as close as brothers.
The only issue was Liu Qingsong’s love for gossip and his tendency to ramble, which had been the case since childhood.
If not for Xiao Song’s patience, it’s doubtful Liu Qingsong would have survived to this day.
The serene features of Ran Yan surfaced in Xiao Song’s mind, and he sighed to himself; both were dical professionals and autopsy experts, so how could there be such a gap between their human natures!
Under the terrified gaze of the crowd, Liu Qingsong laid out the bodies on prepared wooden planks covered in plain cloth.
Once everything was in order, even the usually unflappable Xiao Song couldn’t help but inhale sharply.
Ten bodies!
If the speculation was correct, that they were all wives who had eloped with soone, then a total of twenty people were killed!
“From the oldest bones to the freshest corpse, I estimate at least a six-year interval,” Liu Qingsong said as he untied the cloth from his hands.
The rain brought darkness early, and by this ti the light was dim, making it impossible to examine anything in detail.
Seeing that the rain was getting heavier, Xiao Song imdiately ordered soone to hold an umbrella and continue searching for evidence with the aid of torches.
Liu Qingsong lanted, “Truly malicious!
The freshest corpse I saw had its mouth tied, its body without a single piece of intact skin, mostly decomposed, but one can imagine there were many wounds before, as if beaten to death alive.”
“The murderer is not Jing Yuan.” Xiao Song, while looking at the ten female corpses, asserted this conclusion with certainty.
Liu Qingsong, uninterested in who the murderer was, rely expressed regret, “Pity I didn’t witness Mistress Ran performing the autopsy in person, what a loss!
Jiulang, you must quickly take her as your wife, then I could learn dissection from her.
You’ll need to speak well of then…”
Xiao Song looked at him quizzically, “What beauty do you have to speak of?”(To be continued.
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