The Naked Corpse Case in Yunshui Lane, Part Two

Watching Sun Shaozong use his own saber to prod that thing, turning it over and examining it for a good while, then flip the corpse over and stare fiercely at its pale, bare buttocks, Horse-Face Constable felt an increasingly vague ache in his own rear passage.

Just as he was lamenting his rotten luck at ending up with such a heavy-taste superior, someone behind him suddenly said in a muffled voice, "Second Master, after all that turning and flipping, have you found anything or not?"

Horse-Face Constable jumped, hurriedly turning to look. It was Jia Lian, who had grown tired of waiting and finally worked up the nerve to come closer—besides three Servant Boys and five burly servants, there was now also a delicate-featured young man at his side.

Horse-Face Constable hastily called the yamen runners forward to pay their respects. The crime scene instantly became a chaotic mess, while Sun Shaozong alone remained as steady as a mountain, lifting the corpse's legs again to inspect them from above and below.

How could Jia Lian possibly be patient enough to deal with such "lowly rabble"?

Without even giving them a sidelong glance, he stepped two paces closer and patted Sun Shaozong's shoulder, saying half in complaint and half in jest, "Second Master, what treasures have you managed to dig up? Look at how meticulous you are. Anyone who didn't know better would think Cao Sikong's Tomb Raider Captain had arrived!"

Only then did Sun Shaozong straighten up, casually tossing his saber to Horse-Face Constable.

Horse-Face Constable hurriedly caught it. Seeing obvious smears of dark yellow filth on the scabbard, he immediately tried to jab it into the snow and scrub it clean. But Sun Shaozong said, "Leave it for now. It counts as evidence, at any rate."

Evidence?

Horse-Face Constable quickly lifted the saber again, inspecting it from every angle, but no matter how he looked, he could not see how that filth resembled evidence.

Seeing a faint smile appear on Sun Shaozong's face, Jia Lian hurriedly asked, "Second Master, have you found some lead?"

Sun Shaozong grinned and launched into his explanation. "We can basically determine that this man died of poisoning, and that he was killed by his paramour—who should be a young woman living alone. She is not registered as a prostitute, yet she is a woman of romance whose beauty is widely renowned."

Seeing how confidently he spoke, the surrounding crowd could not help feeling half convinced and half doubtful.

Others found it awkward to press him, but how could Jia Lian hold back?

He hurriedly urged, "How do you know his killer was a young woman of romance? And how do you know she wasn't registered as a prostitute?"

Pointing at Horse-Face Constable, Sun Shaozong said, "The substance on that scabbard is generally caused by a venereal disease. I examined that fellow's thing carefully just now, and it was perfectly intact, without any sores. So this substance must have rubbed off on him from someone else."

After a pause, he continued, "Other than when doing that sort of thing, it is not easy to get this substance on oneself. Therefore, I conclude that the poison took effect while he was making love with the woman, or immediately afterward. Only then would such filth have remained on the corpse without being cleaned away in time."

The crowd suddenly understood, only to see him turn back and point at the male corpse. "This man's hair is dry and split, the skin behind his ears is rough and dark, and his feet are covered in calluses. Clearly, he often traveled about outdoors."

"Yet his teeth are quite clean, and the flesh on his hands is soft and tender, as though he rarely did manual labor. Taken together, we can basically judge that he was either a traveling merchant with modest means or a manager for some trading house."

"A man like him, with a bit of spare money in his pocket, should have had no interest in those aging secret prostitutes. More likely, he would seek out a young and beautiful woman."

By this point, the crowd was deeply impressed.

Especially the yamen runners led by Horse-Face Constable. Alongside their admiration was a hidden sense of shame—they had wasted an entire morning, yet had learned less than Sun Shaozong had in a few moments!

Still, Jia Lian refused to let the matter rest. "Then how do you know his killer had to be a young secret prostitute, rather than a courtesan from a pleasure house?"

"Could it be that Second Master Lian has never been to a pleasure house?"

Sun Shaozong smiled. "This corpse was clearly dumped last night. Pleasure houses are filled with music and revelry every night, crowded with people and buzzing with gossip. Trying to carry out such a large sack in the middle of the night would be difficult for an ordinary courtesan, wouldn't it?"

Jia Lian immediately wanted to argue that quite a few famous courtesans from pleasure houses lived in homes of their own.

But he was no fool. He instantly realized that, given the wealth of a traveling merchant, sleeping with a famous courtesan would likely require spending his entire fortune—and even then, he might not get his wish. Besides, what reason would those famous courtesans have to kill some insignificant merchant?

Watching a headless case be sorted into a coherent thread by Sun Shaozong in the blink of an eye, Horse-Face Constable's spirits rose as well.

Holding the saber smeared with "evidence" horizontally before him, he said excitedly, "My lord, there are no more than fifteen or sixteen young secret prostitutes in this area. I'll take the brothers door to door and search every one of them. We'll surely seize that vicious woman and bring her to justice!"

As he spoke, he was about to call the yamen runners to split up and act.

But Sun Shaozong said, "Don't rush. I still have several more clues to mention."

"There are more clues?!"

Horse-Face Constable's eyes widened in astonishment. That deduction alone had already been stunning—who would have thought that Prefect Sun had uncovered other clues as well!

Jia Lian was greatly interested too, and hurried Sun Shaozong to continue.

Sun Shaozong said, "First, it should have been an accident that the corpse was dumped here. I paid special attention when I came over: Ten Thousand Willow Pond is not far from here. No matter how one looks at it, the body should have been thrown into the pond."

"Thus, I infer that the murderer intended to transport the corpse to Ten Thousand Willow Pond to dispose of it, but was somehow startled along the way and threw it here instead. So there is no need to investigate in the direction of Ten Thousand Willow Pond."

"Also, there are clear scratch marks beneath this man's arms, on his shoulders, and around his ankles. This shows that two people joined forces to lift him after his death. He was no more than one meter... ahem, less than five chi tall—one meter sixty-six—and quite thin. By ordinary reasoning, let alone one man and one woman, even two grown women working together could easily carry him."

"Yet there are obvious drag marks on this corpse's buttocks. Therefore, barring surprises, the woman had only one accomplice, and that person was either an underage child or a feeble old man."

Hearing that he had even deduced the characteristics of the murderer's accomplice, everyone stared in stunned disbelief.

But Sun Shaozong was not finished. Pointing at the corpse again, he said, "Furthermore, one of the murderer and accomplice had injured the ring finger of their left hand and normally could not exert much strength with it. That is why, among some of these scratch marks, the imprint of the ring finger is extremely faint—and in some places, it cannot be seen at all."

"Ah!"

The moment Sun Shaozong finished speaking, the delicate-featured youth beside Jia Lian leapt more than three feet into the air and shouted excitedly, "I know, I know! Phoenix Sister did it—it was definitely Phoenix Sister who killed him!"