351 Deliberately Making Things Difficult
Seeing that Qiao Muchen and Zhao Yue, the younger ones, didn't move, County Magistrate Wang felt like vomiting but couldn't bring himself to leave. Hence, he forced himself to stand by and watch.
Zhao Zhitong was very focused. She held a thin blade in her hand and skillfully cut open the deceased's abdon…
Upon seeing the thin blade, County Magistrate Wang was very curious. He was just about to ask so questions when he saw Zhao Zhitong take out the internal organs…
Even though he had seen other coroners examine corpses before, he had never witnessed a scene where the internal organs were taken out. Unable to bear it any longer, he covered his mouth and exited the room.
Hearing the movent behind her, Zhao Zhitong glanced back at them, then bowed her head and continued her work as if nothing unusual had occurred.
"The deceased hadn't eaten anything before death, the abdon suffered an impact, and they experienced abuse while alive…" Zhao Zhitong calmly stated the facts observed from the corpse.
Qiao Muchen and Zhao Yue, standing nearby, were quite composed. Zhao Yue, who couldn't bear it at first, was now completely accustod to such sights.
A little under an hour later, Zhao Zhitong had basically finished examining the corpse and was beginning to suture it.
At this ti, County Magistrate Wang walked back in. He glanced at the corpse, which Zhao Zhitong had restored to its original appearance, and felt sowhat ashad. To think I'm so much older than Qiao Muchen and the others, yet I'm not as composed as these young people. It's truly shaful, he thought.
Then he asked with a smile, "Is the examination... finished?"
Qiao Muchen nodded. "It's done. The records are all here."
Saying this, he handed the record book to the County Magistrate and added, "The deceased suffered abuse before death. Have there been any reports of sexual predators in Suzhou City recently?"
County Magistrate Wang took the record book and frowned in thought. "'Sexual predators?' We haven't received any reports about sexual predators recently."
Qiao Muchen nodded, his expression grave. The victim was only eleven or twelve years old and endured such inhuman torture. The murderer is utterly wicked!
At this mont, the young attendants who had left earlier ran back in. Seeing the corpse under Zhao Zhitong's hands, now seemingly intact, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Hey, wasn't it... wasn't it just dissected?"
Zhao Zhitong nodded. "Yes. After the examination was complete, I sewed it back up. I try to restore the body as much as possible so the deceased can have a more dignified burial."
"It... it can be sewn back up?"
The n were all astonished.
They had seen Butcher Zhang or other coroners examine corpses before. Those coroners rarely cut open bodies. Even when they had to, the corpses looked ghastly afterwards.
None were as ticulous as Zhao Zhitong, who restored the body so well that, without close inspection, one would never know it had been dissected.
Zhao Zhitong smiled. "Of course, it can be sewn up. Even incisions made on a living person can be sewn up."
Just then, one of them suddenly recalled sothing. "Oh, I know about this! A few days ago, I was drinking with a brother, and he told ."
"He said that there is a Divine Doctor in all corners of the country, whose dical skills are miraculous, capable of things like scraping bone to heal injuries and cutting open the abdon to remove objects. This friend of mine suffered from a chronic abdominal ailnt; when it flared up, the pain was unbearable, and nothing could cure it."
"Finally, he t this Divine Healer Zhao, who said he had sothing bad in his abdon, called an... appendix, or sothing like that, which had gone bad. Then that Divine Doctor cut open his abdon, removed the bad part, and sewed him up. After that, he never had stomach pains again!"
The others listened in amazent. "Is it really that miraculous?"
"It truly is."
"If only we had the chance to et that Divine Doctor."
...
Hearing their conversation, Zhao Zhitong simply smiled without saying anything. After dressing the corpse, she went to the side to wash her hands with soap and then walked out with everyone.
So far, there were too few clues in this case; even the deceased's identity was still unknown.
Therefore, there were no further tasks to be done. Qiao Muchen had already dispatched n with a portrait of the deceased to investigate their background and connections.
There was nothing more for Zhao Zhitong to do there. Besides, she was worried about Zhao Ya's registration for the embroidery competition. Since it was organized by the Fei Clan, she feared they might try to cause trouble.
Thus, she bid farewell to everyone.
After this autopsy, no one in the yan dared to look down on Zhao Zhitong anymore.
Long after Zhao Zhitong had left, they were still discussing her. They marveled at how this seemingly small and delicate young girl possessed such capability and showed no fear of corpses. Alongside their admiration, there was also a certain awe, even fear, of Zhao Zhitong.
Mainly, her calmness while cutting open the corpse with a knife had been deeply unsettling.
While the yan clerks were discussing this, they suddenly rembered they had also summoned Butcher Zhang. So, they sent word for him to return ho.
Butcher Zhang, who had been called over and kept waiting for so long for nothing, was completely dumbfounded.
One of the yan clerks said with a smile, "You can go back now. We have a very capable young lady here. From now on, we won't need you for autopsies."
Then, he enthusiastically recounted how Zhao Zhitong had dissected the corpse and then ticulously restored it.
Butcher Zhang listened, intrigued by this novel information. Although he felt a bit like he'd been made a fool of, being summoned for nothing, this was the governnt office. He could only nod and bow respectfully as he departed.
And Zhao Zhitong's worries were not unfounded. When Zhao Ya and Wei Zijian went to register, they indeed encountered trouble.
Because so many people were signing up, they had to queue for almost an hour. When it was finally their turn, they were stopped.
"Although we said anyone can register, that doesn't an just any random person can walk in."
A sweet-looking girl, yet with an arrogant air and a condescending way of looking down her nose at people, blocked Zhao Ya's path.
Pointing at Zhao Ya's nose, she declared, "You're not from Suzhou, so you cannot participate in our embroidery competition."
Zhao Ya looked at the girl. "But your registration announcent didn't say that outsiders cannot participate, did it?"
The girl, about the sa age as Zhao Ya, was Fei Yi, a concubine-born young miss of the Fei Clan.
A few days prior, she had heard about so family matters and learned of a young girl from out of town with exceptionally fine embroidery skills.
Her father had even said that this young girl was extraordinarily talented, perhaps even more so than Fei Yi herself.
As the most talented embroiderer of her generation in the Fei Clan, having won the embroidery competition championship for two consecutive years, Fei Yi was naturally proud.
When she heard that soone else might possess greater talent, she began to feel a sense of unease. She simply had to see for herself just how great this person's talent really was!
So, for this embroidery competition, she had instructed her servants to keep an eye out. If a girl from out of town nad Zhao Ya ca to register, they were to inform her imdiately.
And thus, this scene of her deliberately making things difficult for Zhao Ya unfolded.
Fei Yi looked at Zhao Ya with disdain in her eyes. This girl looks delicate enough, but she gives off such an ordinary, unremarkable impression. And her clothes! She's clearly from so poor, remote village. Could soone like this truly have more talent than ?
Fei Yi raised her head proudly. "If you want to participate, fine. But you'll have to show us your skills first. If soone with no real talent joins, wouldn't that just lower the standard of our competition?"
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