"Frozen to death?!" Qin Wan frowned. In the old case six years ago, the third person who died was buried in the snow and froze to death. This death method corresponds to the icy hell of the Moon Worship Sect , specifically to punish cold-hearted and cold-hearted people who did not recognize their relatives. The deceased six years ago starved his old father to death, so what about this time? !
Qin Wan glanced at the spring around him, "It's late spring and early summer, where did that person freeze to death?"
It might be easy to freeze a person to death during the heavy snow season in mid-winter, but in today's weather, not to mention no snow, even rain, it is so good that no one will freeze to death.
"In the ice cellar in the west of Zuixian Tower..."
icehouse? ! Qin Wan's heart sank, "I'll go with you now!"
Qin Wan ordered, Fu Ling immediately brought the cloak, Bai Ying brought the things to be autopsied, and followed Qin Wan out of the Marquis Mansion, heading west of the city.
The speed of the carriage was quite fast, and Zhan Yang's royal horse was outside the carriage.
Qin Wan hurriedly opened the curtain and asked, "Have you confirmed the identity of the deceased?"
Zhan Yang hurriedly said, "It's confirmed, it's the guard of the ice cellar, named Hu Dequan, over forty years old, he can be regarded as a clerk in Zuixianlou, but he is missing a leg, so he can't work as a waiter. He was sent to guard the ice cellar. It is now late April, and it is not time to use ice in Zuixianlou, so Hu Dequan is usually alone at the ice cellar. Today, a buddy from Zuixianlou came over and ordered to drink ice at the beginning of next month. I opened the ice cellar to get ice, but when I came, I found that the courtyard door was wide open, but no one was there, and the door leading to the ice cellar was also open. The clerk thought that Hood was doing something underground, so he went underground. As a result, the ice cellar The doors inside are all open..."
"Hood Quan is just a keeper of the ice cellar. Without an order, he cannot open the ice cellar. The guy thought that Hood Quan was going to steal ice, so he entered the ice cellar. As soon as he entered, he saw that Hood Quan was dead in the innermost corner of the ice cellar. He was already frozen. , The guy was terrified, so he came out, first went to Zuixian Tower to call for someone, and then reported to the official."
Qin Wan frowned when he heard this, and didn't say anything for a while. The carriage headed towards the west of the city. After a while, before arriving at a relatively remote folk square in the west of the city, the carriage entered an alley. The rather dilapidated-looking house stopped before, and there were many servants at the gate of the house, and they all saluted when they saw Qin Wan coming.
Qin Wan and Zhan Yang walked in. As soon as they entered, Qin Wan glanced at the yard. The yard was overgrown with weeds and was very barren. Looking at the main house, he saw that the ridge of the main house was covered with moss, and the forehead of the door was covered with moss. Dust and cobwebs, there are quite a lot of guards guarding the main entrance, and inside the main entrance, Zheng Baishi is sitting at the head of the main hall, and on the lower left of him is a middle-aged man with a gorgeous dress and a slightly fat figure. One saw Qin Wan coming, and quickly got up to greet him.
"The Princess is here—"
Zheng Baishi bowed his hands, and the middle-aged man followed.
Zheng Baishi said casually, "My lord, this is Chen Wanfu, the treasurer of Zuixianlou."
Not only was Chen Wanfu fat, but his face was as big and round as a sea bowl, only his eyes gleamed, he looked at Qin Wan very quickly, knelt down to salute, Qin Wan waved his hand, "Where is the man? "
"Princess, please, we haven't moved, we are still in the ice cellar." Zheng Baishi walked towards the east wing, took two steps, and looked at Qin Wan's clothes, "It's very cold in the ice cellar, the princess's I'm afraid the clothes are a little thin..."
Qin Wan said gratefully, "It doesn't matter, as long as the adults lead the way."
Only then did Zheng Baishi nod his head, and led Qin Wan and the others into the wing room. The entrance to the ice cellar below is in the wing room. There are three wing rooms, two of which have been dug out, except for the stairs going down. There is also a device that can be used to lift up and down. Zheng Baishi led Qin Wan all the way down. Although the yard was barren, the wing room and the ice cellar were very orderly. Just halfway there, Qin Wan already felt the sound coming from the ground. The coolness, thinking of the dead inside, makes the coolness even more chilling.
"Is this ice cellar owned by Zuixianlou?"
Qin Wan asked this question, and Chen Wanfu, who was following behind, immediately said, "The Princess Qi is the property of Zuixianlou. It was originally just a small ice cellar, but it was built by a restaurant in the west of the city. Five years ago, that The restaurant is no longer in operation, and if we want to sell this place, our owner bought it, and then expanded it, and it became our special ice cellar."
Since Chen Wanfu is the shopkeeper of Zuixianlou, he can wink and talk. He walked inside and said, "The original ice cellar of Zuixianlou is in the backyard of Zuixianlou, but the ice cellar is still there. Not as big as this, because of this, before summer, those ices will not be enough, since buying from here, the summer business of Zuixianlou has improved a lot."
"The Hu Dequan who died came three years ago. He looked strong at first, and he was in charge of buying, but one day he got drunk and got into a fight with someone outside and lost a leg, so he couldn't do the shopping. , At that time, I wanted to drive him away directly, but he looked like that, if I really drove him out, I was afraid that I would not survive. At that time, I was soft-hearted, so I asked him to come over to guard the icehouse. He has been here for more than a year, and there was nothing wrong with him earlier. But this time..."
While talking, several people had already walked to the entrance of the ice cellar, where two servants were guarding the entrance. Because it was too cold, the two shrugged their shoulders tremblingly. Followed Qin Wan and walked in.
The door of the ice cellar is a thick iron door, and both sides of the iron door are painted with lead paint for heat insulation. However, even so, the ice closest to the door has begun to melt, and the ice water soaks the ground at the door, and the inside Walking, the ice cubes that are as high as a person are still neat and tidy. There are three icehouses in this ice cellar, each of which is as big as the yard of Shofuin. Seeing this scene, it was quite spectacular, and Hu Dequan died in the corner against the wall.
As soon as Qin Wan reached the third ice cellar, he saw Hu Dequan.
Hood was curled up on the ground, his exposed wrists and backs were pale, and when he walked in, his face was also pale, with a thin layer of frost on his eyebrows and eyelashes.
Qin Wan quickened his pace, walked up to him, and looked around sharply.
The ice cubes are neatly stacked on both sides, and Hood is all curled up in the aisle in the middle. To ordinary people, this picture is really weird, and the most weird thing is that Hood seems to have a faint smile on the whole. .
Zheng Baishi stepped forward and said, "Princess, this is what we saw when we came. He was just sleeping on the ground, with the outside door half-closed. Our people searched around here, but we didn't find anyone else coming. I asked the surrounding people, and they said that the door of this courtyard is often half open, and no one knows whether there are people living in it... "
Qin Wan didn't say much, "I'll take a look first and then talk."
Qin Wan knelt down, briefly inspected Hu Dequan's body, and then ordered, "It's not convenient here, and people have to send it out for examination. From the looks of it, it's true that he died of freezing, but the door is open. He's fine. I might freeze myself to death here."
Zheng Baishi immediately ordered people to send Hu Dequan out, and as soon as Hu Dequan was carried away, Qin Wan saw a trace under Hu De's body at a glance. The ice cellar was paved with bluestone slabs, and the place under Hu De's body was currently covered , but there was an imprint. Qin Wan squatted down and found that the imprint was a trace of dirt.
"Master Zheng, take a look, do you think this is a person's footprints?"
When Zheng Baishi heard it, he quickly went closer to check it, "It really looks like the front half of a person's foot."
Said Zheng Baishi straightened up, "Is it Hu Dequan's footprint?"
Qin Wan shook his head, and drew the size of the footprints with his hand, "Probably not, this footprint is big, Hu Dequan's footprint should be smaller..."
Qin Wan turned to look at Chen Wanfu who stood at the end, "Master Chen, is there anyone else coming to this ice cellar?"
Cheng Wanfu shook his head quickly, "No, no one has come to this ice cellar since it stored ice last winter. I have a key for the ordinary warehouse, and Hu Dequan has the key. The key is for him to see and prevent Currency If the ice has melted, or there is water under the rain, someone will come to remove the ice at the beginning of next month."
Qin Wan looked at Zheng Baishi, and Zheng Baishi immediately said, "I'll have someone rubbing this footprint."
Qin Wan nodded, then turned her head to look around again, after looking around, but found no other traces, Qin Wan walked a few steps outside along the narrow path, and then she saw the door at the entrance. That puddle is wet.
"Just now I saw that Hu Dequan's clothes were worn out and soiled. I guessed that the murderer was dragged in by Hu Dequan from the outside. His shoes were stained with mud and he stepped on water when he entered the door, so all the way Did they all leave footprints, but he dragged him in front of Hu Dequan, and the front footprints were completely wiped off by Hood. At the end, the footprints were not complete. stop..."
Zheng Baishi was also wondering why he found the footprints at the end of the road. Qin Wan's explanation was very reasonable. Then she exhaled, the door of the ice cellar below was nothing more than that, the further she went in, the colder it became, she was wearing spring clothes, even though she only went in for a stick of incense, she still felt completely chilled all over her body.
Hu Dequan had already been placed in the wing on the other side. When Qin Wan walked to the wing, he saw that Hu Dequan was still curled up, and he was only wearing a spring silk shirt.
Zheng Baishi came over and said, "He is very good, it is definitely impossible to go to the ice cellar to freeze himself to death, we found a few dishes in his inner room, and there is a half pot of wine, can the princess go and have a look first? "
Qin Wan shook her head, "I'll do an autopsy first, and I'll go see it later."
After Qin Wan finished speaking, he took off the cloak, put on the gloves again, and lit the incense to start the autopsy.
Because he was frozen to death, Hood's body was not decomposed to a high degree, and there was not even much corpse odor, and the spots on his body were also red. Chen Wanfu had never seen an autopsy, and he was not from the yamen, so he was first inspected by Zheng Baishi. Please go to the main hall, Chen Wanfu was thinking about Qin Wan's appearance while walking to the main hall, and was very surprised that Princess Yongci was really as rumored.
Among the wing rooms, only Zheng Baishi and Zhan Yang stayed.
Qin Wan said while doing the autopsy, "The deceased Hu Dequan was five and a half feet tall, with white lips and purple lips. His body showed signs of being frozen to death. According to the calculation of the death time in winter, the deceased should have died in the middle of the night the day before yesterday, that is, before dawn yesterday morning. , Fifteen hours have passed since this moment. There is no obvious trauma on the body surface of the corpse, there are bruises on both hands, and contusions on the legs, which are suspected to be left when the murderer dragged it."
Before dawn yesterday morning! Zheng Baishi and Zhan Yang exchanged glances!
After Qin Wan finished speaking, he paused for a while, "The deceased seemed to have been ill for a long time. People who were in poor health and thinly dressed would enter the fainting stage after staying in the ice cellar for an hour or two. Little by little, especially when the temperature of the internal organs becomes like cold water in winter, the heart pulse will stop beating. If it is in the severe cold weather of winter, it only takes one or two hours from start to death, and in the ice cellar, a total of He will die in two or three hours, so it is inferred that the deceased should have been taken into the ice cellar around midnight the night before. He was curled up together, which means that he could feel the cold before he died. I guess, The murderer may have brought him in after he was stunned with drugs and other substances."
After Qin Wan finished speaking, Zheng Baishi looked at Hu Dequan's face and said, "He was obviously frozen to death, why is there a smile on his face?"
Although Hu Dequan is dead, his face has not been corrupted yet, so the smile is particularly obvious and weird, Qin Wan said, "Before people are frozen to death, most of them will have hallucinations, and some people will feel that they are very hot, so Sometimes in the winter wilderness, I saw someone frozen to death, but that person took off his clothes. Although Hu Dequan was frozen to death, he couldn't feel any pain in front of him, but fell into a hallucination. At this time, most people I think about the good things for myself, so most people who freeze to death will have a smile on their faces.”
Zheng Baishi was speechless, "Even if it snows heavily in the capital, there will be no snow disasters. I have never seen a case of being frozen to death."
After Qin Wan finished speaking, he continued the autopsy, "When the temperature is extremely low, the blood on the deceased's body will spread very slowly, so the color of the corpse spots is also very light. No fatal or dizzying trauma was found. Drugged, Mr. Zheng, I want an autopsy..."
Zheng Baishi hurriedly said, "Of course I listen to the princess."
Qin Wan said to have an autopsy, Zheng Baishi and Zhan Yang watched, and saw the blood coming out of Hu Dequan's body one by one. Although he had been dead for a day and a night, Hu Dequan's body was very fresh. After the autopsy, she saw that she scraped out a speck of black powder with a knife, "This is the powder of Datura flower leaves, which is common, and it is the main ingredient of Mixiang. Mr. Zheng, I suggest to search Hood's body. The old oil lamp."
Zheng Baishi only felt the bloody smell pricking his stomach with acid regurgitation, and he immediately responded to the order.
Qin Wan cleaned up the corpse in the wing room, cleaned his hands and washed it, and then went to the main hall.
In the main hall, Chen Wanfu saw Qin Wan coming, and stood up quickly, while Zheng Baishi came out from the Nuan Pavilion beside him and said, "Princess, come and take a look, the wick in the oil lamp has been burned out."
Qin Wan hurriedly went to Nuan Pavilion, and sure enough, he saw that the wick of the lamp had been burned out. Even so, there was still black powder inside, "It's the oil lamp that's causing the trouble! The powder is the leaves of Datura."
Zheng Baishi frowned, "This is his own oil lamp, how come there are these things in it!"
Qin Wan frowned, and turned her eyes, but saw some side dishes and a pot of wine on the table in the Nuan Pavilion. Qin Wan frowned and walked over. The few side dishes were home-cooked dishes, and even the wine was not good wine. There were two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, both of which had been used. Qin Wan frowned and said, "It seems that he came to visit him again that night."
Qin Wan turned around and asked Chen Wanfu, "Master Chen, does Hu Dequan have any acquaintances?"
Chen Wanfu shook his head, "I don't know about this, but he doesn't have a good reputation in our restaurant. He likes to drink, and because of this, he missed things a few times, and he always borrowed money from the buddy. No, so everyone doesn’t like him.”
The Ice Hell is to punish the six people who don't recognize them, Qin Wan hurriedly asked, "Does he have a family?"
Chen Wanfu shook his head again, but he quickly said, "I don't know if he has one. He has been single for the past three years, and he seems to have no family, but I heard from the guy before that he seems to have a daughter..."
Zheng Baishi raised his eyebrows, "Then where is his daughter now?"
Chen Wanfu sighed, "It is said that five years ago he owed gambling debts and couldn't pay them back, and then his daughter was sold to a brothel by him..."