Hearing this, Widow Liu wasn't willing to let it go. She quickly retorted, "When her son came back, he was perfectly fine. He could walk and jump. All the neighbors saw it! But my Xiaoxin was injured! After that, I locked Xiaoxin in the room to reflect on himself. I haven't even gone to settle the score with her, yet she comes to pick a fight! Does she really think we, a widow and an orphan, are easy to bully?"
Mrs. Xu was full of anger. "Xiaohu has always been honest and kind. It must be your ill - bred son who sneaked into my house and killed Xiaohu. Your son has done a lot of stealing by climbing over the wall! Last time, he climbed over the wall into my house and stole the pastries I bought for Xiaohu! This time, he must have climbed over the wall and killed Xiaohu! I want him to pay with his life!"
Not to be outdone, Widow Liu said, "Which eye of yours saw that? My Xiaoxin has always been law - abiding. How could he do such a thing? You've learned to accuse the innocent first! Do you really think I'm easy to bully?"
In the capital city, everyone knew that Miss Liu was the apple of the eye of the Prince of Guoa. If she were to believe the one - sided words of these villains, how could Xiaoxin have a chance to live?
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Liu Rumei almost immediately understood why Xiao Heyuan had been in a bad mood just now.
Yun Xi couldn't help covering her ears. It was said that one woman was equivalent to a hundred ducks. Now it seemed that it was really true!
Yun Li also frowned. Neither side seemed to be lying. What on earth was going on?
Liu Rumei also said to Xiao Heyuan, "Have you seen the body?"
Xiao Heyuan nodded repeatedly. "Of course I've seen it. He drowned. But these two firmly claim that after the deceased got out of the lake and returned home, he was still lively and kicking! I've also sent people to Mrs. Xu's house to check. There are no traces at all. But Xiaohu was indeed not drowned in the ordinary sense!"
However, the result of his examination was drowning, which puzzled him greatly.
Seeing this, Liu Rumei frowned slightly. "I'll go and take a look."
After saying that, she said to the people in the courtyard, "Please wait a moment. I will surely give you all an explanation!"
Facing Liu Rumei, Mrs. Xu and Widow Liu didn't dare to make a scene. "Miss Liu, you must seek justice for Xiaohu!"
"This is what I should say! Miss Liu won't help you slander me!"
"Slut!"
"..."
Seeing this scene, Liu Rumei almost fled in a hurry. The two little followers behind her followed closely.
Sixi stood in the courtyard, timidly looking at these people. Finally, she couldn't help swallowing and then followed Liu Rumei into the morgue.
She didn't want to be the innocent victim!
Seeing this, Xiao Heyuan quickly followed suit.
It was only a pity for the yamen runners in the courtyard. They had to continue to endure the torture.
Liu Rumei lifted the white cloth covering the body. A pale - faced child appeared in everyone's sight.
He was about the same age as Yun Xi and Yun Li, but now he was lying in the morgue.
Yun Xi glanced at him and then looked away. She looked at Liu Rumei with a puzzled face. "Liu Liu, is this the person who drowned?"
Yun Li pretended to be serious and touched the child's white - soaked arm. "It really looks like he's been in the water for a long time! And there are signs of spasm."
Sixi, standing beside them, looked at the Yun Li brothers with full respect in her eyes!
Xiao Heyuan clicked his tongue in admiration. "Not bad. Miss Liu has taught them well."
A hint of a smile flashed in Liu Rumei's eyes. She reached out and touched the heads of the two children. Looking at the child's body, she almost immediately had the answer. "This body did drown."
Coroner Xiao frowned. "But the people around did see that after this child finished swimming and returned home, he was still lively and kicking. It was only in the evening that... Could it be that someone sneaked into Mrs. Xu's house and drowned the child?"
Liu Rumei shook her head and pointed at the body. "This phenomenon is called dry drowning!"
"Dry drowning?"
What was this?
Sixi looked puzzled and said, "Can you drown without being in the water? What's the logic?"
No one had ever heard of this before!
Xiao Heyuan was also confused. "Miss Liu, what exactly is dry drowning?"
Yun Xi and Yun Li were also full of surprise. It was the first time they had heard this name!
Even Ye Zhe, hidden in the dark, was puzzled. Even though he had seen a lot of deaths, he had never heard of such a way of dying!
The smile in Liu Rumei's eyes didn't fade. She said softly, "This situation rarely occurs. It mostly happens to children. It's normal that you haven't heard of it. Dry drowning refers to the situation where the human body is stimulated by cold water or inhales liquid that irritates the tracheal mucosa, which causes a reflexive spasm of the glottis, and then induces acute asphyxia and cardiac arrest, ultimately leading to death."
After hearing this, Xiao Heyuan understood a bit, but Yun Xi and the others were still confused. What was tracheal mucosa? What was that thing? Was there such a thing in the human body?
Seeing this, Liu Rumei couldn't help shaking her head and smiling. "To put it simply, it's a stress reaction of the body after being stimulated, which causes oneself to hold one's breath and leads to laryngeal spasm, closing the glottis so that air cannot enter the lungs. That is, one suffocates oneself."
Hearing this, Sixi and the other three understood a bit. There was full surprise in Yun Xi's eyes. "There's actually such a way of dying! This person is really unlucky!"
Yun Li also nodded in agreement. "This is rare, but he happened to encounter it! He's really extremely unlucky!"
Ye Zhe nodded secretly. Miss Liu was really knowledgeable!
"When dry drowning occurs, there may be obvious symptoms such as dry lips, facial swelling, difficulty breathing, drowsiness, and extreme lethargy. Then, there will be sudden coma, asphyxia, and even drowning." Liu Rumei pointed at Xiaohu's swollen face and continued, "This should be facial swelling first, and then asphyxia. So when Coroner Xiao examined the body, the result was drowning!"
However, this child named Xiaohu did drown.
"Of course, there are also some special situations. When a person who is about to drown is rescued ashore and the amount of water inhaled into the lungs is not much, on the surface, their consciousness, breathing, etc. seem normal. But within a few hours or three days later, they may experience severe respiratory distress, which may endanger their lives. This is called'secondary drowning'!"