Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 271 - 270: Poison

"What do you mean by that?" Lu Qing asked.

He didn’t understand the autopsy process, and had just watched the coroner busy himself for quite a while, taking everything very seriously. He assumed that this was a serious and thorough procedure, but from Zhu Yu’s reaction, it was clear that wasn’t the case.

Never mind a small-time coroner from Shuo Country, even if the Capital Governor were standing here, Lu Qing would choose to trust Zhu Yu’s judgment without hesitation.

"I can’t estimate how long this person has been dead, but definitely not within an hour, nor even today." Zhu Yu sneered, reaching out to feel Jia Jun’s neck, "If he had died only around an hour ago, his skin would merely be slightly cool to touch, possibly not even noticeable.

This corpse is ice-cold now, meaning he must have been dead for at least twelve hours." Zhu Yu rolled her eyes.

"If he died yesterday or even earlier, why hasn’t the corpse hardened?" Lu Qing was puzzled. Although not proficient in autopsies, he knew a bit about post-mortem reactions and was even more surprised after hearing Zhu Yu’s explanation.

"I just tried to pry open Jia Jun’s jaw, but his jaws were stiffly locked, while his limbs remained flexible. This indicates that after Jia Jun’s death, during the initial stage of rigor mortis, someone moved him and disrupted the stiffening process, almost as if he hadn’t started to harden." Zhu Yu reached out again to touch Jia Jun’s cold skin and his damp inner garment. "His skin was somewhat moist, making the inner garment damp.

Then, there’s the wound on the front of his neck; see the shredded skin and the edges that slightly curl inward, this isn’t the appearance of a fresh wound inflicted within an hour.

In my opinion, the body was clearly stored in a cold store or ice cellar, used to delay the stiffening and decomposition, then brought out and hanged on that rope."

Lu Qing furrowed his brows, pressing his lips tightly without speaking.

Zhu Yu lifted Jia Jun’s chin and closely examined the scratches and wounds on his jaw, noticing that the wounds were continuous from below the chin up to the top of the collarbone, easily imagining the blood at that time.

She then removed the hastily put on inner garment by the coroner, forcefully pushed and turned Jia Jun’s body to check his back, and as expected, saw some dark red blood stains. Pressing with her finger, the dark red stain lightened slightly, and once she released her finger, it gradually returned to its previous color.

"This..." Lu Qing was stupefied upon seeing this, "Blood usually clots after death. If this person has been dead for over a day, why would pressing those burgundy scars cause the blood’s color to fade?"

"Precisely because of the presence of these blood stains and the slight change observed upon pressing them, it further verifies my earlier hypothesis," Zhu Yu released her hold, allowing Jia Jun’s corpse to lie back down supine on the ground. "Had he been strangled an hour earlier and then staged to look like a hanging suicide, being suspended high on the beam would not have resulted in such blood stains on his back!

Yet such marks on his back clearly indicate that the corpse had been supine on the ground for a long time after death, pressing the back into the ground.

Moreover, the surrounding temperature was likely kept low with ice blocks or similar means, causing the blood stains to appear relatively late and to remain as they are."

Lu Qing was enlightened, looking up at the beam where the rope still hung, clearly visible opposite the study door, with a weapon rack of long knives and spears insufficient to conceal a body suspended from the beam beneath it.

Thoughtfully gazing at the rope, he suddenly asked Zhu Yu, "So, was Jia Jun truly strangled?"

"Poisoned," Zhu Yu replied with great certainty, "Though what poison was used, I’m still unsure, but it’s certain that it cannot be identified merely by a silver needle test.

The poison seems to cause a strong burning sensation in the throat, leading Jia Jun to claw at his throat in agony, causing severe lacerations.

The coroner suggested Jia Jun clawed instinctively when strangled or hanged, which indeed can happen, whether strangled or self-hung.

However, when a rope is about the neck, wherever you claw, the part pressed by the rope remains untouched.

If Jia Jun had truly been clawing at his neck struggling while being strangled, there should be a gap in the middle of the scars."

Zhu Yu pointed to the front of Jia Jun’s neck, "But look, it’s all connected, indicating no obstruction during the clawing."

Lu Qing’s face broke into a smile, though his cold eyes made the smile devoid of warmth, giving off a chill instead, "You are right, it seems we’ve certainly seen some trickery here."

Zhu Yu buttoned up Jia Jun’s inner garment, pointing at his boots, "Not just any trickery, but foolish trickery.

The deceased likely went barefoot or wore different shoes before dying, with stiffening ankles that could easily be remedied with any pair of shoes, yet was forced to wear boots!

Feet jammed into the boots, incapable of maneuvering, just stuck there.

Fortunately, we arrived swiftly; otherwise, before everyone got here, the boots would have fallen off."

"It’s not really foolish, more like cunning at best," Lu Qing’s gaze swept over Jia Jun’s boots, "For official matters or meeting important people, even a court official doesn’t need to wear boots in his own home."

Zhu Yu’s realization grew clearer upon hearing this, prompting her to scoff, "That coroner, with a heart and mind rotten to the core, seems to have been promised quite a lot.

Earlier, he fussed over everything useful and useless, even with the strangulation marks plainly visible on the neck, people frozen to the bone, yet still acting busy to fool outsiders, giving the impression of meticulous examination.

Nonetheless, he’s fortunate I noticed the inconsistencies, he might avoid severe punishment, maybe even have a slim chance of survival. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Otherwise, if this matter went unscrutinized and got covered up until everything settled, then the coroner’s little life would end pretty quickly, he’d no doubt be silenced."

"Don’t worry, death is too easy for him." Lu Qing pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket to give to Zhu Yu to clean her hands, "Let’s go see for ourselves, Chief Historian Zuo should be here soon.

We need to go outside and watch them perform this play."