The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

CH 23

Hanged corpses and strangled corpses were not identical, as intersecting strangulation marks would appear on the back of the necks of the latter. In addition to that, anyone getting strangled was certain to put up a violent fight prior to their death; even if there were no scratch marks from fingernails on the neck, there had to be other bumps and bruises from the struggle on the body. This fact had long been detailed in the Northern Song’s Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified.

For a coroner at average level, it still wasn’t difficult to distinguish between suicide and strangulation, doable just by re-reading the Collected Cases until they were familiar with it.

In regards to this outcome, Tang Fan wasn’t surprised at all, because from how he saw it, Lady Zhang had been a kind person that was harmless by nature. People of said nature were always patient, obedient, and observant of worldly Confucian etiquette as normality, abiding by them subconsciously. Before he brought that pretty woman back, Li Man already had two concubines; while he hadn’t seen how Lady Zhang had been towards them, even if she was angry and heartbroken, her running off to hang herself over this was an impossibility.

Were her personality to turn a bit fierce or extreme, that would be a possibility. Or, she would gun straight for the husband, like Lady Sun’s type.

That was why the probability that she had killed herself was not very great.

Since it hadn’t been a suicide, the murderer needed to be found, and those in the Li family were no longer in charge of this matter.

As he lived next door, it was according to both emotion and logic that Tang Fan would be the one going to take a look.

This time, however, he didn’t go alone like how he had in the morn, but rather ordered Old Wang, Verifier Du Jiang, and several bureau bailiffs to proceed forward with him.

Lady Zhang’s corpse had been placed in the middle of the Li’s lobby. The Deputy and Registrar of Wanping were present together, with the County’s own coroner also nearby.

The County served directly under Shuntian Prefecture, so they knew of Tang Fan. Upon seeing him arrive, they both uniformly greeted him with bows.

“You two don’t have to be so polite. What progress have you made?”

“The Li’s have all said that they didn’t see any suspicious people entering their Mistress’s room for that night,” the Deputy replied. “Only those two maids were on night watch, and we’ve already arrested them. Will you question them, Sir?”

“Where are they?”

The Deputy had the two escorted over. Since Ah-Chun and Ah-Xia were frail women, there was no need to bind them, and someone kept watch on them from behind. They simply looked downcast, and worse than they had been in the morning.

The Deputy succinctly stated the details from his own interrogation. Truthfully, it was the same content that Tang Fan had long since known, and there was nothing new to hear.

Li Man observed with a cool eye for a long while, until he finally couldn’t resist stepping forward. “You showing off your governmental authority like this has made my home into a mess, Sir Tang. Are you quite satisfied with this?” he asked, furious. “Since you couldn’t find anything, why not let us complete my wife’s funeral arrangements so that she can enter the earth and be at peace soon?!”

“Cease being rude, civilian!” the Deputy shouted. “Now that this is a homicide case, it’s no longer a familial matter of yours! The authorities will be assuming control over Lady Zhang’s body until the truth is out!”

Li Man sneered. “She died horribly, and I’m grieving immensely, too! How can you just block the funeral?! All of you are mistreating everyone in my Li family! My grandfather had once been a third-rank, and a couple of his old senior friends are still in Court; if I file a complaint because of this, none of you will ever stop suffering responsibility for it!”