The Delicate Lady Coroner

"There is a case." Wu Xiang was straight to the point, his expression stern.

Bo Ruoyou knew that there was another case when he saw Wu Xiang entering the mansion, but he glanced at the sky and said suspiciously: "When did the case happen? How early?"

"Two days ago, someone went to the city to report that their child had gone missing. At that time, I asked Hou Yang to take someone out of the city to help find it, but it was nowhere to be found. The servant entered the city and went to the government office just after daybreak, saying that the child had found it. NS."

Bo Ruoyou sighed, "The child is killed"

Wu Xiang nodded, "Yes, I haven't been out of the city to see it yet, but this time around, I will come to you first."

Snow flakes flew, the morning wind blew people's faces, cutting people like a knife, Bo Ruoyou nodded quickly, "You wait."

After she finished speaking, she ran into the front yard and was just as Cheng Yunzhi got up. He was wearing a thick fur-collared cloak. Seeing Bo Ruoyou hurriedly and Wu Xiang standing at the gate of the courtyard, she knew it was not good. "Is there a case?"

"There is no kid outside the city, I'll go see it."

Aunt Liang had prepared breakfast, Bo Ruoyou asked Liang Shu to load a plate of bean cake and went back to the room to change clothes. Because of the snow, she also wore a thick cloak with a white moon and blue pattern on her body, and put on the cage again. Followed Wu Xiang and left home.

Standing under the eaves, Cheng Yunzhi's eyes were filled with worry.

While walking on the road, Bo Ruoyou was eating bean cake while listening to Wu Xiang outside the carriage, "The owner of this family is Wen, not from the capital. He came from Luozhou for the Buddha's birthday of Xiangguo Temple. They came on the third day of October. After arriving at the foot of Xiangguo Temple, I first attended the Buddha's Birthday Ceremony on the fifth day of October. I wanted to go back to Luozhou, but because the 17th of this month is the birthday of Amitabha Buddha, they stayed for one more month and usually live in Xiangguo. In the inn at the foot of the temple mountain."

"Two days ago, that is, on the twelfth day, their servants entered the city and reported that their young master had been lost. Hou Yang took three people out of the city to help find people, but they searched the small town under the mountain of Xiangguo Temple. I searched the front mountain of Xiangguo Temple again, and never found the young master of the Wen family. At that time, it was suspected that Young Master Wen was abducted by a kidnapper, and the couple was very sad."

"Usually in such cases, the disappearance is recorded first. If it is really abducted by a kidnapper, the government can do very little. When he returned that day, Hou Yang took someone to paint a portrait, and then checked the city gate and inside the city. Once again, I didn’t find anyone, so I suspected that I was heading south to Luozhou. The Yamen told the Wen family about this. The Wen family immediately sent someone to Luozhou, planning to find a good life on the road, but it didn’t work, so I went back to Luozhou. Find the reporter from the Luozhou government."

Bo Ruoyou frowned, "Master Wen and his wife haven't left?"

"Mrs. Wen fell ill because she didn't see the child, and it was not suitable to go on the road, so the Wen family sent a servant back first."

Bo Ruoyou asked again: "How old is the child?"

"Just six years old." Wu Xiang sighed.

Bo Ruoyou's heart tightened and she subconsciously closed her cloak together. She suddenly remembered, "I was also in Xiangguo Temple on the twelfth day. Recently, Xiangguo Temple is indeed preparing for the Buddha's birthday ceremony on the seventeenth day. The pilgrims in the temple are like clouds. , Can anyone say how the child was lost"

Wu Xiang didn't know this, "Why are you in Xiangguo Temple?"

Bo Ruoyou said: "I did the memorial service for my father and mother. From the seventh day to yesterday, I only returned to Beijing yesterday afternoon. I have been doing fast at Xiangguo Temple for the past seven days."

Wu Xiang appeared in a daze, and said: "Said that the child was lost outside the mountain gate. Xiangguo Temple has set up a porridge shed under the mountain gate to provide good porridge. This year, there has been no natural disasters around the capital. The people inside and outside the capital are asking for good intentions, so the small town under the mountain gate is quite lively these few days. The child was lost near the porridge shed. The time of loss was on the evening of the 11th. At that time, the literary family was anxious. I went to the Xiangguo Temple and asked about it in the middle of the night in the town. There is really no way to report to the official the next morning."

Bo Ruoyou only returned from Xiangguo Temple yesterday. Naturally knowing that the temples were filled with tourists in the past few days, Wu Xiang said again: "Yesterday the child was found in the back mountain of Xiangguo Temple."

Wu Xiang's eyes darkened, "I don't know how he would go to the back mountain. The front mountain and the back mountain are far away. I also blame Hou Yang that day when they found the town and Qianshan. The sky went dark, thinking that the child would not run away alone. The mountain did not find it."

"How did you discover it?"

"It was discovered by a young novice monk from Xiangguo Temple when they were practicing in Houshan yesterday afternoon. There were a few wild cats in the temple, and the wild cats ran into the woods following the smell. They felt that something was wrong with them, and they found the child's body."

Wu Xiang's voice gradually became heavier. It was a six-year-old boy who died. It was also a group of half-old children who found the boy's body. One can imagine how frightened they were at that time.

"The temple knew that someone had lost a child, so he invited Master Wen into the temple last night. Master Wen recognized his own child at a glance. He was distraught at that time. It was too late, so they sent someone into the city at dawn today. Report to the government."

After listening to Bo Ruoyou clarified the cause and effect, thinking that a six-year-old child was murdered, and could not figure out who was going to kill the child. However, she did not see the corpse and it was not necessarily an accident, so she settled down. Imagine.

The night’s first snow made the wilderness outside the city covered with plain white. They went all the way to Nanshan, walking halfway, the snow foam was getting dense, the cold wind rushed into the carriage, Bo Ruoyou's hands and feet were a little cold, and he raised his eyes and looked at Luohe. There was ice on the river, and the two sides of the river were plain white, and on the farther peaks of the Tingshan Mountains, there were also silver-clad white heads.

Xiangguo Temple was built a hundred years ago and has royal support. It is now the first Buddhist temple in the Great Zhou Dynasty. At the beginning of the year, Lin Zhao went south to send the Buddhist scriptures of Famen Temple to Xiangguo Temple for collection. He left the capital and walked along the official road. After ten miles of road, turn to the southeast avenue, and then walk ten miles to reach Nanshan. Nanshan is not far from Tingshan, but it is a gentle and beautiful single peak. Xiangguo Temple is based on the mountain like Famen Temple. Built, but more magnificent and solemn than Famen Temple.

Because there are many people who worship the Buddha here, and it is quite inconvenient to live in the capital every day, a small town has gradually formed at the foot of the mountain. During the New Year holidays, or near the Buddha's Christmas, there are full of tourists, bustling and lively.

Bo Ruoyou is a citizen of the capital, and she had business affairs in the previous two visits to Xiangguo Temple. Therefore, before today, she had never been to that market town. Today, the carriage did not stop at the gate, and they went straight to the inn to find the old man and his wife.

The so-called market town is nothing more than a main street running through Erli. The inn and shops are facing the street, and there are some dwellings in the depths of the alley. At this time, it is just around noon, because the snow is getting denser and denser, and it is difficult to see pedestrians on the street. From the half-hidden door, I saw the fullness of guests.

Mr. Wen and his wife lived in the inn called "Sanskrit" on the street. Most of the people in the town were worshipping Buddha. Therefore, the shops all took the name of catering to the Buddhists and were quite Zen. Wu Xiang got off the horse before the shop. Bo Ruoyou also got out of the carriage, and she felt weird as soon as she walked up the steps in front of the door.

Although the doors of other stores are closed, at least the voice inside can be heard, but inside the door here is quiet.

Wu Xiang called the door, and soon someone opened the door from inside. Bo Ruoyou saw a blue shirt man at a glance. The man glanced at Wu Xiang's yamen public service and shouted back: "Brother Yacha, your officer. Lord is here!"

Speaking of opening the door, he respectfully invited Wu Xiang and his party to enter, and Hou Yang greeted him from the inside.

Wu Xiang went to pick up Bo Ruoyou, and Hou Yang took the first step. He saluted Bo Ruoyou, and pointed to the sad-faced middle-aged man in silk robe behind him and said: "This is the shopkeeper, Master Wen and Madam is in the guest room, and Young Master Wen's body is in the backyard."

Shopkeeper He came to salute respectfully, but the sorrow on his face remained undiminished. Wu Xiang asked him to invite Master Wen and his wife. He looked at Hou Yang suspiciously, and Hou Yang said softly, "Master Wen and his wife took the body of Master Wen last night. I came back. This morning, all the guests in the store moved to another house. At the moment, the inn is left with Master Wen's family."

Wu Xiang sighed, not surprised, raised his chin and signaled to the backyard, "Let’s see the corpse first, and lead the way—"

Hou Yang led the two through the lobby, exiting the side back door, and then a section of the corridor, and up the corridor to the backyard. There is a gardened atrium between the backyard and the front hall. At this moment, it is covered with snow, Qiongzhi Jade Mason, walking through the corridor, Hou Yang pointed to the house not far away and said, "The corpse is parked here. There are not many other shops here. There are many shops selling incense and candles. There is a mourning hall in the house."

Talking and walking to the door, Hou Yang pushed the door open. The room was empty. The only furnishings seen from the gray marks on the ground were also removed. Two square tables were put together to form a long table, and one face was purple. The scarred corpse of the boy was lying on it quietly, a bowl of bright yellow lamp oil was placed under the boy's feet, and a wick in it was lit with fireflies.

Bo Ruoyou entered the door, and his eyes fell on the boy’s corpse. The boy’s clothes were stained with torn marks, his shoes were missing, one of his white socks was missing, and his bare hand and There was a black scar on one foot and a trauma with coagulated blood scab. Judging from the already dense scars on the body, it has been dead for many days.

Putting down the cage, Bo Ruoyou rubbed his stiff hands and opened the cage to prepare for an autopsy, but at this moment, a cry of grief came over, and the woman whimpered and asked.

"The people from the government finally came. I said that I would go to Houshan to find Jin'er, but why not? It's all of you, you all killed Jin'er—"

The voices were getting closer and closer, Bo Ruoyou and Wu Xiang stepped forward, and soon saw shopkeeper He approaching with four or five people.

A man and a woman who walked in front of them both stood by for a year. The two of them were dressed in Chinese clothes, but their faces were very haggard. Naturally, they were Master Wen and Mrs. Wen. Mrs. Wen was holding the kerchief in one hand, and crying eyes were full of blood, relying on the text. The master helped to walk the road steadily. Seeing Hou Yang, the deeper the blame in her eyes, "It's you, I remember you. You took people with you that day. You thought that the back mountain was too far away, so you didn't want to look for it, so you went back to the capital. , If you go, Jin'er may be alive. My hard-working Jin'er—"

"You are the tolerance of the yamen, and you are not merciful when you search for people's wealth based on your identity. You want you to help save lives, but you push back and forth. You...you are simply accomplices..."

Madam Wen burst into tears on her eyelashes, and she coughed. Master Wen stroked her back while apologizing to Hou Yang. Hou Yang's face was red when he was scolded. Not emboldened enough to refute.

At this time, Bo Ruoyou took two steps from the inside, "Husband please be sorry, the office staff is limited, and he can only look for the most promising direction. Sometimes the judgment is wrong, and there will be omissions, but... the little son died. The time was before the twelfth, even if the government officials went to the back mountain that day, they would not be able to save the little son—"

Madame Wen was very sad and angry, and immediately stared at Bo Ruoyou gloomily, "Who are you? How do you know when my son died?"