Yun Li subconsciously shook her head. Since the two brothers had chosen this path, they had to take it seriously so as not to let their elder sister down.
Yun Xi felt like crying but had no tears. Looking at Yun Li's smiling face, he could only grit his teeth and nod. Summoning up his courage, he said, "Sister, we'll go in with you."
Wasn't it just a corpse? He had seen quite a few!
Naturally, Liu Rumei was pleased with this. She nodded with a gentle smile. "That's good."
Zhang Yan and his companion also had smiles in their eyes. These two boys were quite meticulous, and they seemed to be good candidates.
The five of them immediately walked into the backyard.
The corpse was lying in the yard. Two constables, their eyes full of gloom, said to them, "This man's name is Zhao Jingyu. He was a scholar, but his family was extremely poor. He often set up a stall in the east of the city to write family letters for others to barely make a living. According to the neighbors, the victim Li Yin admired his talent very much. They were in love with each other. Zhao Jingyu once went to the Li family to propose marriage, but Mrs. Li was dissatisfied with his family background and forcibly separated them. She betrothed Li Yin to the Qi family in the south of the city. Unfortunately, we were still too late. By the time we got to Zhao Jingyu's home, he was already dead."
Surely someone had got the news and silenced Zhao Jingyu in advance! How vicious!
A cold glint flashed in Liu Rumei's eyes. She lifted the white cloth covering the dead body. A face full of unwillingness and resentment appeared in front of everyone.
He died with his eyes open. Zhao Jingyu clearly harbored extreme hatred towards the murderer!
Yun Xi was almost startled, but he quickly regained his composure.
Xiao Heyuan took off the dead man's clothes. Looking at the wound on his chest and carefully examining other parts of the body, he quickly made a judgment in his mind. "The fatal wound is here. He had a fight with the murderer before he died, so there are quite a few bruises on his body. They are all fresh injuries. He died not long ago. It should be this morning!"
Liu Rumei nodded in agreement. "Then there's no doubt that the murderer silenced him!"
Zhang Yan frowned and said, "Li Yin got married yesterday, but she was in love with Zhao Jingyu, so she ran away from the wedding. The murderer took advantage of their feelings and lured Li Yin out of the city, raped and killed her. Fearing that the matter would be exposed, the murderer returned to the city the next day and killed Zhao Jingyu to cover up the evidence!"
However, with this, the clues were broken again.
Hearing this, Liu Rumei shook her head. "This is obviously not the murderer's first crime. I think the murderer raped and killed Li Yin. Before he could clean up the crime scene, the people from the Qi family rushed over, and that's how they brought Li Yin's body back."
Otherwise, the murderer would surely have buried Li Yin's body underground forever!
Zhang Yan immediately understood. "It was my oversight!"
The murderer was not a first - time offender. The previous corpse had died a day ago. During this period, they had not received any reports, which showed that the murderer had covered his tracks very cleanly.
It must be that when the people from the Qi family arrived, the murderer didn't have time to bury the body and had to leave in a hurry, which led to his exposure.
Xiao Heyuan couldn't help sighing. "It's really a pity."
Yun Li and Yun Xi had nothing to contribute to the conversation, so they quietly stood aside, eating pastries and watching the three of them examine the corpse.
On their two delicate faces, there was an air of extreme concentration, which seemed a bit eerie.
When Xue Zhan and Mo Litian came back, they happened to see the constables bringing back the corpses from the grove outside the city.
Xue Zhan's face turned pale instantly. He immediately threw the packed food in his hand to Mo Litian beside him. "I suddenly remembered that there's still something I haven't dealt with. I'll be back soon!"
Mo Litian looked at him speechlessly, but knowing his taboo, he didn't say much. He carried the two food boxes and went to the backyard.
At that time, Liu Rumei was shocked when she saw the three corpses carried back by the constables.
The expressions of Xiao Heyuan and Zhang Yan also turned cold instantly. Under the imperial capital, how could someone so blatantly harm innocent women! It was simply unforgivable!
There was also a bit of frost in Mo Litian's eyes. "We must bring this murderer to justice!"
The three of them all nodded seriously. In just two days, this person had murdered three lives! If they didn't bring the murderer to justice soon, once this matter got out of hand, it might cause panic among the people.
Mo Litian saw that Liu Rumei was squatting in front of the corpses again. Looking at the sky outside the window, it was already the end of Shenshi (around 3 - 5 pm). Thinking that she hadn't eaten all day, his heart couldn't help but ache.
He quickly called out, "Miss Liu, have your meal first. It's not too late to continue the investigation later!"
Maybe if they calmed down, they could find other clues!
Liu Rumei's stomach was already empty. She nodded without hesitation. The five of them didn't choose a place. They just opened the boxes in front of the five corpses. Smelling the tempting aroma of the food, they discussed the murderer's modus operandi.
Yun Xi was no longer afraid at this time. He listened with great interest, while Yun Li would occasionally ask a few questions.
Three adults, two children, and five corpses made the gloomy backyard look extremely strange.
The gentle smile on Mo Litian's face also stiffened a bit. He wasn't as afraid of corpses as Xue Zhan, but it was still a bit hard for him to have a meal and discuss things beside the corpses.
At this moment, he was extremely grateful that Xue Zhan had taken him away earlier! Otherwise, he might not be able to eat for a whole day!
After dinner, the three of them also finished examining the three corpses that were brought back last, each taking on a different task.
One corpse had died about seven days ago. Some parts of the body had already started to rot. The death was similar to Li Yin's. The neck bone had been broken, and there were also multiple fractures and whip wounds on the body. It was obvious that the victim had suffered humiliation before death!
The other one had died four days ago. The fatal injury was that the head had been hit by a hard object, and the victim had bled to death. There were also signs of humiliation on the body!
Four people in a row had all been raped and killed by the murderer. Such a modus operandi was appalling!
It also made Liu Rumei and the others burn with anger!
After getting the results from the three of them, Xue Zhan quickly focused his attention on the people who had entered and left the city gate and Zhao Jingyu's home in the past two days.
Although the scope was wide, he had no other choice. Xue Zhan quickly sent people to find out the identities of the other three corpses in order to find new clues.
Liu Rumei knew that she couldn't be of much help. Seeing that it was getting late, she took Yun Xi and his brother back home.
Xue Zhan wanted to solve this case as soon as possible, so for once, he didn't pester Liu Rumei. In his words, all the girls in the capital were under his protection. To touch the women under his nose was simply asking for death!
When Liu Rumei heard this theory, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She sincerely hoped that he could find the murderer soon!