"Baby corpse?" Bo Ruoyou was also surprised when he heard that.
Wu Xiang nodded, "Yes, it's a child. It seems that it was born a few days ago. It was found outside the city. Someone came to report to the police. The body has been recovered, but... this season, the body rots badly , it's almost hard to see anything."
As Wu Xiang hesitated, "Are you taboo?"
Bo Ruoyou shook her head, "Later, I'll change clothes and we'll go."
Wu Xiang nodded, and waited at the screen wall after entering the door. Soon, Bo Ruoyou changed into a neat dress and came out with Zhou Liang. After getting into the carriage, Wu Xiang rode behind the carriage and said: " The government rarely receives such cases, and there were abandoned babies in the early years, but now they are rare, and I don’t know how they died this time.”
Bo Ruoyou hadn't seen the body yet, so it's hard to judge. The group went straight to Yizhuang, and when they got outside Yizhuang, they saw that Hu Changqing had just arrived at the gate of Yizhuang, and Wu Xiang came with Bo Ruoyou. His expression immediately became a little dark.
Wu Xiang said, "Changqing is here."
Hu Changqing nodded, and Wu Xiang said, "It's just right, you and Xiaobo can take a look together."
Hu Changqing didn't say anything, and entered Yizhuang with his suitcase on his shoulders. Bo Ruoyou took Uncle Liang, and followed him in one step later.
The body of Feng Wodan in Yizhuang has been taken back to the mansion, and the previously unclaimed corpse and the corpse of the man in the coffin to be brought back to the hometown are gone. Now, only the corpse of a baby girl is placed on a plank bed in the middle .
As soon as she entered the back hall, Bo Ruoyou's eyebrows were slightly frowned. She had worked as a maid for several years, and she had almost never examined the corpses of children under ten years old, and the corpses of babies were even rarer, so looking at them now, she felt rather cruel.
Hu Changqing stood beside the board, with hesitation on his face.
Now it is the season of mid-spring, every day is warmer than the day before, and the body of the baby in front of me is only about ten inches long, and the body is wrapped in a purple brocade, without any decorations on the body, the whole body is extremely decayed Heavy, although the surface of the corpse has been roughly cleaned, maggots are still wriggling on the densely packed corpse, and its head and face are eaten and rotted by corpse insects.
Hu Changqing frowned and said, "How did it rot like this? Where did you find it?"
Wu Xiang said: "It was found by a river pool outside the city."
Hu Changqing frowned again, "No wonder." As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief and tied it on his face, found a pair of deerskin gloves to put on, and then moved two points closer to the corpse. In addition to the corpse insects, there was still a lot of mud. He stretched out his hands, as if feeling unable to do so, he found bamboo tweezers and other objects from the box and fiddled with the corpse.
After a while, he turned around and said: "It looks like the baby was stillborn, the umbilical cord is still on the body, and the armpits and other places are still wrinkled. It should be that some family gave birth to a child, but died, and was thrown outside. "
Wu Xiang was puzzled, "Are you sure? If that's the case, it's easy to deal with. Just visit and check. Maybe you can tell how long you've been dead?"
Hu Changqing pondered for a moment and said: "The rot is so serious that you can't even see the spots on the corpse. At least it has been dead for more than five days." Hu Changqing pawed at the corpse for a while, only to see that the corpse was covered with water and green. It was also covered with the entire corpse, and he turned his head a little unbearably, "It is undoubtedly a stillbirth. The chest of the corpse is flat, and the chest and abdomen are quite fat and thin. This is usually the case with stillbirths. If it is a live fetus, the chest must be thicker The belly is swollen."
Wu Xiang listened carefully, but when he turned his head, he saw Bo Ruoyou thoughtful, so he asked, "How does Xiao Bo feel?"
Bo Ruoyou came back to her senses, and said hesitantly: "Although the rot is serious, newborn babies have more water in their bodies, even if they are not found in places like river beaches, they will rot faster than ordinary people. As for Hu The phenomenon of stillbirth that Wu Zuo said is indeed correct, but it is not a certainty, to distinguish whether it is a stillbirth or a live birth, you need to use some other methods."
Hu Changqing smiled coldly when he heard the words, "You mean, this is a live fetus? Was it killed by someone later?"
Bo Ruoyou said: "You will only know after you have tested it."
Hu Changqing raised his brows high, and took two steps back, "That's fine, then you come to test, I want to see what you can find out."
Bo Ruoyou didn't want to compete with him at first, but seeing that his autopsy was so sloppy, she wouldn't follow him, so she rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward, put on a mask and hand guards, and then began to open the wooden box to examine The dead body of the baby.
As Hu Changqing said, the umbilical cord is indeed outside, and the skin that is rarely intact on the body is still wrinkled, but apart from the mud, there is no amniotic fluid, blood, meconium and scale on the baby's body. The son had just been born, so it was impossible for her body to be so clean.
She asked Wu Xiang to help fetch some water, and when the water came, she carefully wiped off the mud on it, and when the body surface was completely exposed, it was more terrifying than when it was stained, but so, it was still The upper scar looks clearer.
"There are birth marks and yellow spots on the corpse. If it was a live birth, it should have been within two days. If it was a stillbirth, it's hard to tell." Bo Ruoyou said after checking.
Wu Xiang called a yamen servant to come in to record, and Hu Changqing on the side showed disapproval, "This does not prove that it is not a stillbirth."
Bo Ruoyou listened but was unmoved, "During delivery, the place where the fetus is exposed first will not be oppressed, which will cause congestion, and because the skin of the newborn fetus is delicate, it is very easy to learn to swell, especially It is easy to form on the top of the head. This kind of birth mark will start to shrink a few hours after birth, and it will disappear within a day or two. The birth mark on this baby is not heavy, but I am not sure whether the birth mark was light at first or disappeared later .”
Regardless of whether it was a stillbirth or a live birth, the baby in front of me was enough to prove that it was abandoned within two days of its birth, but it was hard to tell if it was dead or alive when it was abandoned. Wu Xiang was confused and only asked: " What about the cause of death?"
Hu Changqing snorted, "You can tell by the color of the fetus's head and face. Most stillborn babies are suffocated in the abdomen. The baby's head and face are particularly bruised and purple. Most of them died because of the belt around the neck."
The decay is too heavy, the most detailed traces have been covered up by corruption, and it is a newborn, the physical signs are not obvious, Bo Ruoyou thought for a while, "Wu Butou, you need to know whether it is stillborn or alive. , I want to try to dissect it."
Wu Xiang raised her eyebrows high, "This...can still be autopsyed?"
The baby who was just born was only such a small lump, and now it is still seriously corrupted. Even if it is autopsyed, what useful things can be obtained
Bo Ruoyou nodded, "Because I found that the baby's bones are quite sound, and it doesn't seem to have signs of fetal weakness, and I have seen a method before, which can prove whether a newborn baby is stillborn or alive."
Wu Xiang listened curiously, "What is the solution?"
Bo Ruoyou said: "The identification of a stillborn or a live fetus mainly depends on whether the fetus has breathed after birth, and human lungs, if they have not breathed, are heavier than water, and they will sink if they are put into water. If it is passed, it will be lighter than water. And if the fetus is alive after autopsy, the time of death can also be inferred from the degree of corruption of its internal organs.”
Wu Xiang immediately said: "Then you do it."
Hu Changqing stood aside, frowning and said nothing, only looked at Bo Ruoyou with a pair of eyes.
Bo Ruoyou chose the post-mortem knife, because it was an autopsy on a baby, and the knife needed to be small and sharp. After choosing the knife, she found a few pieces of thin wire from the box, and then she settled down and started the autopsy.
If the baby's viscera is too rotten, this method cannot be used. You can cut open the body surface. Although there is putrefaction in the baby's internal organs, there is no rotten foam in the internal organs, so it can still be inspected. go down.
Wu Xiang and Hu Changqing stood aside, only to see that she was more detailed than any other autopsy in the past, especially when she opened the incision from the neck down to the chest and abdomen, and then ligated the baby's thin trachea and esophagus below the larynx. Then the trachea and esophagus were cut off above the ligation, and then the baby's heart and lungs were taken out together.
Wu Xiang could still watch at first, seeing her take out a mass of blood and flesh from the baby's body, even he couldn't help the acid regurgitation in his stomach, Hu Changqing's expression changed slightly when he saw this, and the yamen in charge of recording No, I had already dropped the pen and paper and ran out.
Bo Ruoyou didn't care about their reactions, but concentrated on doing her own thing. After putting the mass of flesh and blood into the water, Bo Ruoyou's eyes became serious and she became nervous. Then, she saw the mass of organs sank into the water.
She frowned slightly, and Hu Changqing covered his mouth and nose and stepped forward to take a look. He also saw this scene, and he smiled, "According to what you said, it is now proved to be a stillbirth. I said, this is a stillbirth."
Bo Ruoyou didn't care about him, she fished out the heart and lungs, cut off the heart, and then put only the baby's lungs and trachea into the water, this time, the baby's lungs were floating on the water, her eyes lit up slightly , and then took it out and put it in, Wu Xiang was watching with chills down his spine, and it was difficult to distinguish it carefully. After two sticks of incense had passed, he saw Bo Ruoyou stand up straight with sweat profusely .
"It's a live fetus." Bo Ruoyou took a breath, "Although her umbilical cord is exposed, it can be the same if the baby is not ligated after birth. After coming down, she breathed, and her internal organs and bones were all normal, and no pathological changes were seen, so she did not die from illness."
Wu Xiang was dumbfounded, and couldn't help asking: "How did you die?"
Bo Ruoyou looked at the baby whose human form was hard to discern in front of her, and her eyes darkened, "The cause of death is not obvious, I speculate that she was most likely smothered to death, with a towel, or other soft pillows. Pressing on her face, it is easy to smother her to death, and she won't even struggle."
For a newborn baby, the umbilical cord has not been ligated, the hands and feet cannot move, and the eyes may not even be opened. It is easier to suffocate such a baby than to suffocate a cat or a dog.
Bo Ruoyou said again: "If an adult is smothered to death, her face will be bruised and purple, her lips and teeth will be bleeding and bruised, her mouth and nose will be crooked, but she is too young, and she looks like this again now. It is really difficult to conclude, there is no trauma such as strangulation marks and pinch marks, and only based on the darker color of corruption on the head and face, we can only tentatively deduce that the cause of death was suffocation."
After saying this, Bo Ruoyou leaned down again, and said after a while: "There is only white mucus in her esophagus and stomach, and no breast milk. Either she has never been fed, or she has been fed very little. Her intestines are close to the stomach. There is swelling in the place after inhaling air, but the rest of the small intestine is still entangled. According to my inference, she should not have lived for two hours after she was born. And there is no amniotic fluid, scales, etc. on her body, just after giving birth They should have been scrubbed briefly and then smothered to death."
"Her internal organs are still alive, and her rigors have been alleviated, but they have not completely disappeared. Although there are many green corpses, considering that she was thrown on the river beach and was a newborn child, I speculate that the death is at least But two days, that is to say, she was born the day before yesterday, and within two hours she was suffocated to death, and then the body was discarded."
Wu Xiang sighed, "There were several locust plagues around Gyeonggi last year, and the crops were very bad. This is a female doll. Maybe some family can't support the child anymore."
Hearing this, Bo Ruoyou saw the wrapping cloth under the baby's corpse, "Is this found with the corpse?"
Wu Xiang nodded, "Yes, the one who wrapped the baby and found her was a long-term worker nearby. He thought he picked up something good, but he didn't think it was a baby girl."
Bo Ruoyou picked up the wrapping cloth to look at it, but because of the mud and corpse water, the texture was a little unclear. When she saw it, she straightened the corpse first, then turned around and went to the backyard, and wrapped the wrapping cloth up after getting water. After the cloth was washed clean, Bo Ruoyou called Wu Xiang, "This cloth is made of lake silk with embroidered patterns on it, it doesn't look like something from an ordinary farmhouse."
The child didn't have any ornaments on his body, and the wrapping cloth was ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it was different from what Wu Xiang thought.
Wu Xiang took it and inspected it carefully, Bo Ruoyou cleaned her hands and said, "I'm pregnant for ten months, you can't hide it from others, and the baby was smothered to death not long after it was born, and the family members don't dare to take the baby away." The dead body stays for a long time, so Wu Butou can check around the place where the dead body was found, especially for those who have pregnant women at home. Those who are going to give birth these days should check more often. The child was born at full term. Based on this alone, he wants to hide the labor Time cannot hide."
Wu Xiang was undecided, "I understand, there are indeed some rich and noble people's villages around, I just take someone to visit them."
Bo Ruoyou responded, she came here before noon, and after the autopsy, it was already sunset. Wu Xiang saw that she was tired, and thought that she had just recovered from a serious injury, so she asked her to go home early to rest. At first, Hu Changqing thought Competing with Bo Ruoyou for right and wrong, but at this moment, the flag has died down, but looking at Bo Ruoyou's eyes, there is still a bit of disdain.
Bo Ruoyou didn't know what he was disdaining, so she ignored him and left the Yizhuang, but Bo Ruoyou found two people guarding him in the distance. The place is remote, and the outside is quite quiet. The setting sun shone on the deserted long road, and the two people looked even more abrupt. Bo Ruoyou looked at the two for a moment, and suddenly felt a little familiar.
Seeing her looking over, the two of them wanted to leave immediately, so she couldn't help but take two steps forward, "You two stay here—"
The two people looked at each other and stopped for a moment, they were both young men in their twenties, but at this moment they looked embarrassed, Bo Ruoyou walked forward quickly, "Are you the servants of the Hou's mansion?"
Both of them are tall and powerful, very capable, with knives on their waists. Although Bo Ruoyou doesn't go in and out of the Marquis Mansion much, she has some impressions of the people she met.
She asked directly, and the two of them had nowhere to hide, so they nodded in agreement.
Bo Ruoyou's heart skipped a beat, "Master Hou ordered you to come?"
The two continued to nod, and one of them said: "You were injured last time, Lord Hou was worried, so he ordered us to guard you."
Counting it, Bo Ruoyou hadn't seen Huo Weilou for several days, which made her feel a little empty, and she couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty is busy?"
The person before said: "Master Hou has left Beijing. On the afternoon when the girl left, Master Hou took people out of the city. The household department is now raising food and grass for the north. There is a disturbance in the Weicang in Qinshui County, Gyeonggi. Grandpa took people with him."
The man spoke in detail, and Bo Ruoyou was a little embarrassed to hear it, and the man said again: "Master Hou said, it is best for the subordinates not to disturb the girl, but if the girl sees, if the girl asks something, answer the truth That's it, Mr. Fu also left the capital with Lord Hou this time, if the girl has any orders, you can give them to the little people."
Bo Ruoyou's cheeks were slightly red, "I haven't gone out these few days, where are you?"
The man continued: "The ones are guarding outside the girl's house. If the girl doesn't go out, nothing will happen. If she wants to go out, the villains must follow."
"Will you keep watch at night?"
"Yes, girl."
Bo Ruoyou saw that although the two of them were respectful to her, they came here following Huo Weilou's orders, so she swallowed her words to persuade them to leave, "I won't go anywhere these days, I just go to the yamen It’s just Yizhuang, forget it during the day, you don’t have to guard it at night.”
The faces of these two people did not change, "Master Hou ordered, the villains dare not disobey."
Bo Ruoyou knew that it would be useless to persuade him, so he thanked him again, and then got into the carriage. Hu Changqing had been standing at the gate of Yizhuang and looked at him, probably seeing what was going on. When he passed Bo Ruoyou's carriage, , actually sneered.
Even Zhou Liang couldn't stand this situation, and sighed: "Seeing that he is not young, why does he always target Miss?"
Bo Ruoyou waved her hand, "Leave him alone, let's go home."
The carriage moved slowly, halfway through, Bo Ruoyou lifted the curtain to look, and sure enough, she saw the two guards of the Marquis Mansion following at a distance, Bo Ruoyou lowered the curtain, knowing what Huo Weilou was worried about, and felt too After working hard with all the teachers, she felt warm in her heart for a while, and as she expected, Huo Weilou was really busy.
Outside the Cheng residence, Bo Ruoyou got out of the carriage and stopped when she saw the two guards in the distance. Her heart moved and she waved her hand. The two guards immediately came to her. It's not a problem, how about entering the house and guarding it?"
The expressions of the two of them changed slightly, they didn't dare to say anything, Bo Ruoyou had no choice but to go back to the mansion first.
As soon as he returned to the mansion, Bo Ruoyou went to find Cheng Yunzhi, told Cheng Yunzhi about today's baby body examination, and said that he used the method of submersion, Cheng Yunzhi listened happily, "You remember what I taught you."
Bo Ruoyou said again: "It's just that the cause of death hasn't been determined yet, so let's assume it was smothered to death."
Seeing that her face was tired, Cheng Yunzhi asked her to rest first, and Bo Ruoyou went back to her house to change her clothes, and when it was time for dinner, she said, "Let's see if you have free time, I want to take you there Visit old people."
Bo Ruoyou was slightly surprised, "Old man? Who is it?"
Cheng Yunzhi said gently: "You will know when the time comes, and you are also your father's old friend."
Bo Ruoyou tilted her head and thought for a while, "I'll go to the yamen tomorrow and see if there's anything wrong with the yamen. If the case goes well, I'm afraid I won't be needed in the future, so I can go with my adoptive father in the future .”
Cheng Yunzhi responded with a smile, and ordered Zhou Liang to prepare for the ceremony in the evening.
Bo Ruoyou didn't investigate much about it. On the second morning, she continued to go to the yamen to answer questions as usual. If there was no case, it was fine. Now that there was another case, she had to be more diligent. Going to Wuxiang to take people out of the city.
Wu Xiang said: "Yesterday, I checked a few households, but none of the wealthy households around had a pregnant woman. I suspect there are fakes among them, and I want to go and have a look again today."
Bo Ruoyou pondered for a moment and said: "If there is a pregnant woman in the family, even if it is not extended to the outside world, there will be changes in the food, housing and transportation in the house. If you can't find out, I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort to investigate carefully."
Wu Xiangying raised his eyes to look at the sky, saw that the weather was clear today, and said, "Xiao Bo, do you want to go with me? That place is on the bank of the Luo River outside the city, and there are a lot of people going out of the city to enjoy the spring, so you can go out with you. It’s not that you are asked to handle the case.”
Bo Ruoyou is fine in Japan today, so when he heard this, he readily agreed, and when he got out of the city gate in a horse-drawn carriage, he saw a continuous stream of horse-drawn carriages on the official road out of the city, and many young men and women from rich and noble families were walking together. Outing and hunting.
Since she returned to Beijing, she has not been out of the capital. Today, the spring breeze is blowing on her face, and the spring sun is warm. The Luo River rises from the Weiyang Lake in the city, and after leaving the city, it meets the Chishui River going north, and then there is the Luo River. The Weiyang Lake in the city is a magnificent scene. The Peach and Plum Blossom Forest is worth a visit. If the weather is fine, both sides of the Luohe River will be full of tourists.
Although Bo Ruoyou was in a good mood, she didn't really come to play. She first ordered Wu Xiang to take her to the place where the baby's body was found, and found that it was a bay in the lower reaches of the Luo River. There are strange rocks, and the entire bank of the Luohe River, there are very few people coming and going there, and no one goes to enjoy the scenery. However, on the bank not far away, there are several private houses.
Here is not only facing the Luohe River, but also a continuous low hill in the distance, which can be described as a place close to mountains and rivers. Rich and noble people in the city build houses and villas here. The extremely delicious melons and fruits, and the fertile fields thousands of miles away are mostly owned by the dignitaries in the capital. The long-term worker who Wu Xiang said found the baby's body was a farmer.
Leaving the place where the corpse was found, Bo Ruoyou and his party went to the private house. Wu Xiang sent people to inquire about almost everyone, and got a clue that was not a clue. People live there all the time, even during the coldest Chinese New Year season, and the rest of the villages are mostly people who come after the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming."
The pregnant woman is ten months pregnant and has a heavy body, so it is not easy to move frequently. During the Chinese New Year, most wealthy and noble families reunite in Beijing, and very few people come to live in other villages outside the city.
Wu Xiang immediately made a decision, "Which one is it? Lead the way!"
The Yacha pointed to the northeast direction, "It's over there, I heard that the Patriarch's surname is Bo—"
When Bo Ruoyou heard it in the carriage behind, she frowned slightly.