Chapter 41: Wu Wei Performs the Autopsy

Embroider Maiden stopped two steps in front of Wu Wei, but Wu Wei dashed forward and pulled her into a big hug.

Embroider Maiden was Wu Wei’s only friend in this era, and today had been far too perilous for her. Wu Wei desperately needed that embrace to soothe her rattled nerves.

Embroider Maiden let out a muffled grunt from the impact. With a note of concern in her voice, she said, “Weiwei, let me take a look at you.”

“What for? Hug me first. It feels like we haven’t seen each other in ages.”

Ages? It had only been half a day…

Embroider Maiden blinked, looking puzzled, but she relaxed into the hug and let Wu Wei hold her.

Standing off in the distance, Dongfang Rui caught sight of the exchange and looked away. She directed the bailiffs to head into the charity mortuary, light some candles, erect a platform, and carry the body out of its coffin.

Wu Wei let out a long breath and released Embroider Maiden. But Embroider Maiden grabbed her arm and studied her face for a long moment. “What’s wrong with you? Your color is terrible.”

A warmth bloomed in Wu Wei’s heart. In a soft voice, she replied, “It’s nothing. I’m just a little… horse-sick.”

“Horse-sick? What’s that?”

“It’s from riding too much today. It jostled all my insides around. Once I wrap up this job and get some real rest, I’ll be good as new.”

“What else do you have to busy yourself with? Are you hungry? I can cook something for you.”

Wu Wei patted her belly. “They feed you when you’re working for the yamen—stuffed to the gills. You stay put at home and don’t come out. I’ll head back as soon as I’m done.”

“But what do you still have to do?”

“Dongfang Rui wants me to examine the body in the charity mortuary…” Midway through her words, Wu Wei trailed off. She didn’t miss the flicker of shock in Embroider Maiden’s eyes.

“Embroider Maiden… you’re not going to look down on me for it, are you?” Wu Wei couldn’t help recalling how frightened Embroider Maiden had been of the charity mortuary before.

Embroider Maiden shook her head. “What you’re doing upholds justice. I… I’m just a little scared, but that doesn’t mean I’m scared of you!”

Something stirred in Wu Wei’s heart. She glanced toward the charity mortuary, now aglow with lantern light, bade Embroider Maiden a temporary farewell, and made her way there.

Embroider Maiden lingered in the courtyard, her eyes tracking Wu Wei’s retreating figure as she walked alone down the dim mountain path, then stepped one by one into the brightly lit charity mortuary.

The moment Wu Wei crossed the threshold, every gaze in the place locked onto her. She’d been fairly relaxed up to that point, but now tension coiled through her.

Wu Wei tugged the corners of her mouth into a smile and nodded to the group. The mortuary had been prepared: the body rested on a wooden platform at the center of the open ground, draped in white cloth. Bailiffs stood in orderly rows to either side. A scribe sat a short distance from the platform, while a gray-haired elder had a large wooden chest at his side. Dongfang Rui herself stood nearest to the platform.

“Let’s get started. This is Qinglu County’s coroner—he’ll assist you.”

The old man pulled open the chest, which let out a clatter as it revealed a full kit of coroner’s tools. Wu Wei washed her hands meticulously in the nearby basin, then approached the elder. “Sir, do you have any gloves?”

Qinglu County’s coroner shot a glance at Dongfang Rui and said awkwardly, “We only have vinegar cloth. Forgive this old man’s ignorance—I have no idea what you mean by ‘gloves.'”

Wu Wei glanced at Dongfang Rui as well. The latter asked, “What do you need?”

Wu Wei held up her hand and gestured. “Something that slips over the hand, with separate sheaths for each finger. Gloves.”

“Those are hand garments…”

“Hand garments it is, then. Got any?”

The elder shook his head. “Rare things, those.”

Dongfang Rui said, “If we don’t have them now, do without. I’ll have some sent over later.”

“Good.” Wu Wei accepted a vinegar-fumed mask and secured it over her face, though she couldn’t help grumbling inwardly: They don’t have the slightest notion of basic safety.

Qinglu County’s coroner offered Dongfang Rui a sheet of vinegar cloth, donned his own mask, and Dongfang Rui covered her mouth and nose with hers before signaling Wu Wei to proceed.

Wu Wei bowed deeply to the remains before gripping the edge of the white cloth and yanking it away.

There on the wooden platform lay a headless male corpse clad in ordinary coarse homespun.

Wu Wei frowned in puzzlement. Hadn’t the coroner already examined it? Why hadn’t they even stripped the clothes…

“Scissors.” Wu Wei extended her hand.

With Dongfang Rui watching, the elder didn’t dare refuse. Though he bristled inwardly, he passed the scissors to her.

In short order, Wu Wei stripped the deceased bare. Gasps rose from the bailiffs; some went pale in the face. A body left untouched for days didn’t make for a pretty sight.

At the same time, they marveled at how calmly Wu Wei—a woman—faced a naked man’s body. Thankfully, Dongfang Rui remained utterly composed; otherwise, who knew what rumors would fly about Wu Wei. Perhaps that was why the entire Liang Dynasty lacked any female coroners.

Dongfang Rui tore her eyes from the corpse and fixed them on Wu Wei, extremely pleased by her demeanor. Wu Wei betrayed no ripple of emotion as she set to inspecting the body.

Wu Wei palpated the corpse’s limbs and scrutinized the neck’s cross-section. “No blood at the scene, correct?”

“Right.”

“Which coffin held this body?”

A bailiff pointed it out. Wu Wei leaned over the coffin’s edge and peered inside. Only a scant bit of blood—perhaps ten milliliters.

Comprehension lit in her eyes. Returning to the platform, she announced, “Cause of death: exposure to cold. Head sawn off after death and body dumped. Time of death exceeds three days—around five, I’d say.”

Her conclusion clashed entirely with that of Qinglu County’s coroner, who had ruled that the victim had been beaten into unconsciousness, beheaded, and discarded.

At this pronouncement, the local coroner demanded, “What evidence do you have?”

Wu Wei lifted one of the corpse’s hands. “Rigor mortis has mostly dissipated, giving way to secondary relaxation. That process typically spans thirty-six to fifty-two hours— a conservative estimate accounting for the current season. The deceased has been dead at least three days. Now look here…”

She indicated the back of the hand. “The skin shows a goosebump texture from contraction of the arrector pili muscles. The skin is pale overall, yet there are dark red patches of livor mortis, caused by blood pooling under hypothermic conditions. They would have started purple-red before shifting to this darker hue upon slow thawing.”

One of the bailiffs who had handled the body early on let out a startled cry. “That’s right! At first, the marks on him were purple-red!”

Qinglu County’s coroner fell silent, his mask mercifully hiding the flush creeping over his weathered face.

Wu Wei pressed on. “The deceased has multiple fractures. Was the body in this position when you found it?”

“Just like this. Coroner Zheng said the limbs were broken before death in a beating.”

Wu Wei sighed to herself, then pressed down on one fracture site and addressed Dongfang Rui directly. “If these breaks happened before death, there should be telltale signs in the surrounding tissue—swelling, bruising. Yet despite all these fractures, there’s no such damage. Freezing victims curl up; to make the body look more ‘natural,’ the killer may have forcibly straightened it, snapping the bones in the process.”

Dongfang Rui nodded. On the surface, she seemed as unflappable as ever, but inwardly, she passed beyond mere approval into outright astonishment. She hadn’t expected Wu Wei to possess not only the courage to confront a corpse head-on, but also such seasoned expertise and technique. No further instruction required—this one could slot right into the Bright Mirror Division!

Wu Wei circled around to the neck and pointed at the cross-section. “Judging by the wound’s striations, the head was sawn off bit by bit with a saw or some blunt tool. But the skin has contracted neatly without everting—proving it happened after death.”

“Then… then how do you explain the lack of blood at the scene?” the local coroner barked, as if eager to pin the crime on restless spirits.

“Blood is a non-Newtonian fluid… Never mind. The trickle that seeped out while thawing in the coffin is entirely expected. No blood at the site just means it wasn’t the primary crime scene—only a dump spot.”

“What about the victim’s footprints in the snow?”

Wu Wei shrugged. “That’s Lord Dongfang’s purview, not the coroner’s.”

With that, she cupped her hands toward Dongfang Rui. “My lord, I see no need for a full dissection. Being plied with drink or drugs, knocked out, and abandoned in the snow merely set the stage for death by freezing. The priority should be locating the head to identify the victim. The evidence at hand already proves this was no work of ghosts or gods.”

Dongfang Rui nodded and asked unobtrusively, “Can you determine if the deceased was plied with drink, drugged, or knocked out and dumped in the snow?”

Wu Wei’s heart sank with a thud. In the modern world, she could have easily identified such details through testing, but from her interactions with Dongfang Rui, Wu Wei had gotten a good sense of this lord’s temperament. Thus, she immediately declared with firm conviction, “I cannot!”

Dongfang Rui let out a light chuckle, her expression noncommittal, before turning to the recording clerk. “Have you noted everything down?”

“Yes.”

“Make two copies of the coroner’s handbook. Send one to the Qinglu County Yamen for archiving. Zhang Wei…”

“This subordinate is present.”

“You take the other copy. Once you return to the Bright Mirror Division, file it in the archives there, and deliver the remaining one to my study.”

“Yes!”

“Bailiffs, attend!”

“Yes!” The two rows of bailiffs responded in perfect unison.

“Conduct a thorough investigation of all butchers, hunters, and woodcutters within Qinglu County. Search every blacksmith shop and inquire whether anyone has recently purchased saws or similar blunt instruments. Trace any buyers of such tools back a full year. Post reward notices: the Bright Mirror Division will pay twenty taels of silver to the first informant! Additionally, visit every pharmacy and tavern, house by house. Within the past ten days—and especially the last five—bring anyone who bought strong liquor or Mongolian sweat drug to the yamen. Interrogate them one by one!”

“Yes!”