Chapter 59
Fan Chun’s nails, palms and feet did not have any traces of soil or sand, nor did her clothes have any suspicious residues. Just as Feng Sanxun said, she had not been drowned in a typical pond.
Ran Yan recalled a particular pond near the Banks’ roses canopy in the Yin residence's back garden however. If her head was pressed into the water over the edge of the water pavilion, then it was entirely possible no earth would have gotten on her. The question was, were there any jasmine or honeysuckle plants nearby?
“Could it be a bath tub?” Xiao Song interrupted Ran Yan’s thoughts.
“That is very possible. Also, the murderer is probably a woman.” Could the female co-conspirator Wan Lu heard with Cui Mei be the murderer?
The corners of Xiao Song’s lips lifted in faint amusement, “That is not a certainty. Many men also like bathing with flower petals…”
Men bathing with flower petals... Ran Yan got goosebumps, then threw Xiao Song a weird look, “You men are quite refined.”
Despite her sarcasm, Xiao Song’s words did actually remind her of something. She immediately went back to examine the neck and shoulders of the corpse. There, she found bruise marks in the shape of the letter eight ("八") [1]. The corpse had already entered the early stages of active decay so she could only determine that the assailant had used their right hand to push down on the back of the deceased’s neck to press her into the water.
Thinking back to the first time she saw Fan Chun’s corpse, a bolt of realization struck Ran Yan. At the time, she had not dared to seriously examine her and had only taken a cursory glance, but she still remembered noticing a bruise on the back of her head, overlapping the wound.
The head wound had been covered by fresh blood then, so she was unable to see the details clearly. The fresh blood was likely a misdirection created by the murderer to sell the scenario of her death being caused by running headfirst into the pillar since that blood obviously did not belong to the deceased, perhaps coming from an animal or another person instead.
After her cursory inspection at the party, Ran Yan's preliminary analysis had been that the murderer did not have sufficient strength and so had to strike a potentially lethal second time to knock Fan Chun unconscious. The greenish blue and swollen complexion of the body before her now, however, was certainly more consistent with death by drowning rather than by blunt force trauma. Feng Sanxun's conclusion that she was drowned therefore stood, but it was odd. No matter how hurried a look she was allowed, Ran Yan would normally not have mistaken the two presentations.
“When you examined the corpse, did you discover anything suspicious?” Ran Yan turned her head to ask Feng Sanxun.
Feng Sanxun stroked his beard and hummed. After thinking carefully for a long time, “N-nothing that I can think of.”
There definitely had to be something. Ran Yan observed the head of the deceased carefully once more. Finally, she discovered some white powder in between some strands of hair, “When you examined her, did she have makeup on?”
“That's right. In order to see her complexion clearly, I used water to wash away the makeup on her face.” Feng Sanxun then asked back, “Isn’t it normal for women to wear makeup?”
“But you determined that she drowned.” Ran Yan could not keep herself from getting a little angry. By the time the deceased lay before a forensic doctor, they had already lost their chance to personally accuse their murderer and so had to entrust everything to that forensic doctor. How could he be so careless? Not just the Tang Dynasty, even in the modern era, not all makeup was waterproof so it was impossible for her to have retained a perfect face of makeup.
Feng Sanxun could not maintain his composure at being rebuked by a little Miss and retorted loudly. “Since it wasn't suicide, of course it was applied by the murderer. What's strange about that?”
Ran Yan stared at him coldly, “Fan Chun was drowned so her complexion definitely wouldn’t be pleasant to look at, yet the perpetrator was able to use makeup to hide all the external signs. Such skill is no mean feat; at least, it's something not just any woman would be able to achieve. The makeup itself must have been up to a certain standard too. Which shops in town sell such high quality makeup powder and rouge? Would the staff know who regularly orders that particular kind of powder? Was it unique or special in any other way? These are all clues!”
Feng Sanxun was stumped and could ultimately only mumble, “Coroners examine for injuries and the cause of death. The whole Tang Dynasty is like this. I was merely following protocol.”
Xiao Song originally harboured the attitude of an entertained spectator, but seeing the cold anger buried in Ran Yan’s eyes, he gradually became serious.
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, Liu Pinrang quickly tried to smooth things over, “Never mind, never mind. Knowing that the murderer is skilled in makeup is already an important breakthrough. Seventeenth Miss, are there any other findings?”
Ran Yan knew that she could be over-serious when it came to autopsies. This was not her original world but the Tang Dynasty. Calming herself down, she said, “No, but I do suspect that more than one person killed Fan Chun.”
“Do tell.”
"There is another injury superimposed over the one on her forehead. I carefully dissected and examined it. The first layer has a bruise shaped like a curved line. The boundary of the bleeding under the skin is not obvious but there is subtle abrasion of the epidermis. There are also no traces of pressure on the surface of the bone, so we can approximate that this injury was caused before death. The weapon used was a blunt, likely wooden implement, but not rough like a stick or branch. For the moment, I still cannot precisely determine what it was.” Ran Yan did not care if they understood the professional terminology, so long as they knew that her final conclusion was based on evidence.
After a brief pause, Ran Yan continued, “For the second injury, there are no signs of mending and the underlying bone was fractured. The wound's edges are neat and the indent in the bone forms a triangular cross-section. This indicates that this wound was caused postmortem via forceful trauma from a dull-edged metal instrument[2].”
Liu Pinrang nodded pensively, “Then how did you conclude that there are two murderers?”
“Based on the order of injuries. The murderer first used the wooden blunt instrument but, because their strength was insufficient, the victim was just temporarily incapacitated. The murderer saw that she had not died and immediately pressed her into a nearby body of water that was filled with petals. Around this time though, the victim started to fight for her life. When a person struggles like this, they will erupt with freakish strength. Again, because this murderer’s strength is not great, she wouldn’t have been able to resist the victim’s struggle on her own. It is therefore very likely that there was another person helping the murderer commit the crime.”
“What I cannot answer, however, are questions like: Where the murderer could store a corpse to prevent rapid postmortem changes due to the summer heat?”
“When everyone was congregated during the tea party, how did they time when to bring the corpse out for display? How did the murderer even know that Fourth Master Qin would isolate himself?” Ran Yan’s questions were all directed towards the Yin residence.
Why had Yin Miao-miao suggested playing hide and seek that day? Was this case really related to her?
Ran Yan vaguely sensed that the truth of the matter was close to being revealed, but first she had to make a confession. Ran Yan heaved a sigh that seemingly expelled all her bodily strength with it, “I hesitate to mention it for fear of personal bias, but I feel like I have lost a portion of my memories. Every night, I will dream of a woman covered by a white cloth sinking into water. From what I've gathered, this seems to be Fourth Miss Yin, Yin Wan-wan… Provincial Governor Liu might want to investigate the cause of her death as well.”
Liu Pinrang was surprised by Ran Yan’s words. His chief suspect was also Yin Miao-miao, but there wasn’t sufficient motive for her to murder.
Yin Miao-miao epitomized a lady of the Yin residence; she was both virtuous and gentle. She had always lived in seclusion so there was very little opportunity for her to meet men privately. She therefore would have only met Fourth Master Qin a few times at most. Moreover, Han Shan’s violent death at Caixiu House seemed possibly related to the main culprit at the Yin residence. Wanting to say that Yin Miao-miao killed her own maidservant was still somewhat logical, but what reason would she have to kill Fouth Master Qin and Han Shan?
As these questions hung in the air, Ran Yan silently finished reconstituting the two corpses, seemingly rewinding time to before she had laid hands on them. Having already provided all the clues she'd uncovered, she thus concluded the autopsies. In the Tang Dynasty, she did not have any qualification or right to investigate this case. Going forward, she could only stay at home and think on what weapons might have been used to injure Fan Chun and quietly wait for the authorities' investigation results.
“In the end, why did the prostitute mutilate herself?” Xiao Song’s magnetic and elegant voice unexpectedly rang beside Ran Yan.
[Ed. Note] What you're about to hear is the author B.S.ing some arbitrary posthoc rationale. In the real world, the depression or whatever other emotional/psychological issues Cui Mei was facing should not be simply "explained away" like this. Don't let this work of fiction lead you believe that you can rationalize someone else's personal hell. If you or someone you know is feeling depressed or suicidal, please seek help. [/Ed. Note]Ran Yan wore her veil before taking off her mask, then replied with slight lament, “People who self-mutilate are usually under the influence of extreme emotions. Regret, blame, detestion, hatred and so on. Cui Mei had inexplicably became pregnant and even contracted Yangmei sores, which are a type of Hua Liu disease. She definitely was a person who cared deeply about how she presented herself so she must have felt herself horrid to look at. If she boxed her mentality in too much, it isn't strange that she mutilated herself.” Done speaking, Ran Yan gave him a bow before turning and also bidding farewell to Liu Pinrang and the others. The autopsy was over and everything that needed to be said had been said so she had no reason to stay.
Only upon exiting the mortuary did she realise that it had begun to lightly drizzle, but, as she was wearing her veil[3], she did not mind and stepped directly into the rain.
Shao Ming had been following behind with a deathly pale and nauseated complexion, but when the rain fell on him, he finally snapped out of his stupor. He quickly informed Ran Yan that he was going to get an umbrella before running ahead to the carriage.
After a moment of sedately walking alone towards the alleyway where the carriage was parked, Ran Yan suddenly felt the light darken. She unconsciously lifted her head to look and was unexpectedly met with a pair of eyes that were bright as stars. His handsome face carried a faint, elegant smile as he held an oil-paper umbrella with mountains and rivers drawn on it over her head.
“Didn’t Miss say that she would discuss the meaning of ‘pathogens’ with this humble one? It just so happens that I am free today.” Xiao Song said with a smile.
“I, however, am not.” Ran Yan replied blandly.
Xiao Song’s sharp brows lifted slightly, “Then let me not keep you, I will just accompany you instead. We can discuss as you are working.”
Ran Yan frowned and stared at him silently. His voice gave the impression he was a steady and taciturn person, but once you truly got to know him, one would discover that he was also an absolute scoundrel. “I am going to embroider, sew clothes and chat with my lady-friends about makeup and handsome young masters.” Ran Yan threw out these words and walked away.
Xiao Song did not chase after her. He simply watched her meet with Shao Ming and disappear into the alleyway where carriages were parked.
After Ran Yan entered the carriage and took off her veil, she could not help looking out of the window. There, she saw Xiao Song leaning his head to one side to hear a guard whisper a report to him. His sharp brows were slightly furrowed. His nose bridge outstandingly straight but his lower jaw had a strong curve. It was as Miss Xing said, there was seriously not a single aspect that was bad.
Just as Ran Yan was about to look away, she saw him look towards the carriage and smile suddenly, like he knew she was looking at him.
Ran Yan's brows knit as she withdrew back to lean on the soft cushion.
When they exited the city, the carriage sped up to get out from under the ever-darkening sky, but they had to slow down upon reaching the outskirts since these roads had become difficult to traverse due to yesterday's rains.
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Editor: alliterativeart
T/N: I'M BAAAAACK T_T My exams are finally over.
The last bit was a little tricky to translate – it’s saying that the carriage sped up once they exited the city because they knew that they would have to slow down later as the roads get progressively worse the further away from the city. (presumably you have to travel slowly in the city, so they had to wait till they exited the city gates before speeding up).
It's been brought to my attention that there will be a drama adaptation of this novel called Miss Truth. Filming just started so it will be some time before it actually airs. Here are our female and male leads:
Zhou Jieqiong aka Kyulkyung from Pristin (a K-pop girl group). It will be her acting debut!
Toby Lee, Taiwanese actor
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[1]瘀痕呈倒八字状: it says that the bruise marks were in the shape of the word eight which looks like this: 八
[2]Yeah the author described it as a “sharp metal blunt instrument”… kind of contradicts itself doesn’t it? The word sharp can also mean the sharp-point of an object, so maybe it meant that the victim was struck with the pointed end of a blunt instrument (like the pointed corner/edge of a rock or sth, but not sharp like the pointed-end of a knife)
[3]Reminder that RY's veil is actually a hat with a veil hanging down from it – I presume it would block the rain to some degree. See picture.
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