Grandpa Yang Lai ordered Butler Pang: "Go quickly and call the doctor to treat Young Master Yang's injuries." Butler Pang agreed and was about to run out.

Yang Qiuchi waved his hand to stop him and said, "Uncle, my injury is fine, don't be able to see the doctor."

Yang Qiuchi was originally just curious about Guo's hanging, but after encountering a ghost in the attic last night, Yang Qiuchi had a premonition, an ominous premonition - some people didn't want to know something, and did not hesitate to use methods to try to scare him away, so there is something wrong with Guo's death.

Now, for Yang Qiuchi, this coffin opening and autopsy is no longer simply to test whether Shan'er is the son of Old Master Yang. Yang Qiuchi needs to verify his premonition from the coffin opening and autopsy.

Yang Qiuchi said to Old Master Yang, "Uncle, let's do what we said last night right away."

Old Master Yang apologized for falling and falling into a coma in the attic, and seeing that Yang Qiuchi didn't care, he was concerned about what he said last night, and was a little grateful, saying, "Since that's the case, let's go to open the coffin and examine the autopsy after breakfast."

Yang Qingshui, the eldest son of Mr. Yang, asked: "Dad, open the coffin and examine the autopsy? Whose corpse is tested?"

"Your Aunt Guo's."

"Ah?" Yang Qingshui exclaimed, "She, isn't she hanged? She has been dead for two years, so what else can I test?"

Of course, Old Master Yang cannot say that the autopsy was to test whether Shan'er, the third concubine's son, was his or her. Although he wanted to open a coffin and examine the autopsy, no one dared to say anything, but he could not stop others from talking behind his back, so he had to think of an excuse, but he could not find a suitable excuse at this time.

Yang Qiuchi interrupted: "Cousin, my uncle and I talked about the haunted loft last night. We guessed that it might be related to the burial of the deceased Aunt Guo. We decided to open the coffin and see if there is any problem."

Yang Qingshui said: "What else can there be a problem? Aunt Zhang said that it is unlucky for Aunt Guo to hang himself, and he must be plagued by evil ghosts. That's why he invited the mage to do a ritual. He chose such a piece of burial land. Can't he suppress the evil ghosts on her body like this?"

Yang Qiuchi looked at the beam in the living room and said meaningfully: "Does your cousin think it's a pity?"

"Even if you don't feel relieved, cousin. Do you know how to read the Feng Shui of the Ghost House?"

"No, but I used to be an apprentice who was offended for a while. So I will check the dead and see how this dead person died." After saying this, Yang Qiuchi stared at Yang Qingshui, making him furious.

Butler Pang said to Mr. Yang: "Master, this coffin opening and autopsy is a big deal. Should you ask the mage to check the day first and then decide?"

Old Master Yang knew that Yang Qiuchi would go to Huguang to take office after the New Year, and time could not be delayed. Besides, he was eager to know whether this child Shan'er was his own son. When he thought that he might have been cuckolded and raised the evil seeds for others in vain, Old Master Yang was irritated and waved his hand: "No need! There are no taboos. After breakfast, open the coffin and examine the autopsy immediately!"

Seeing that Old Master Yang got angry, no one dared to speak anymore.

After a hurry to have breakfast, I called several offenders and helpers from the village. All the young and old members of the Yang family went out to go to the grave of the third concubine Guo's to open the coffin and examine the autopsy.

Guo’s tomb is in a depression near the creek at the foot of the village. When Yang Qiuchi and his friends entered the village, one of the land buns that they saw at the entrance of the village was Guo’s.

Guo is a concubine from Old Master Yang. According to the rules, the concubine cannot be buried in the ancestral grave after her death. What's more, Guo is still hanged after being foolish, which will not only lose face of the Yang family, but also be unlucky.

After the Guo family was hanged, they asked the monk to do a ritual and read Feng Shui. The monk said that the Guo family's five elements belong to fire, and they were also hanged by the flower slut and were caught in evil fire. Therefore, they had to choose a low-lying and humid yin area to bury it in order to suppress it.

When he arrived at Guo's cemetery, Yang Qiuchi stepped on the grass beside the grave and felt wet. He felt slightly happy. The grave was so wet that the corpse buried below might have formed corpse wax, so many valuable traces of land could be found.

Old Master Yang, Song Tongzhi and others were afraid of the filthy evil spirits, so they stood dozens of steps away waiting. Yang Qiuchi was in charge of digging a grave and raising a coffin.

Feng Xiaoxue wanted to be with her husband, but she was afraid to see the dead body. Yang Qiuchi thoughtfully asked her and Yang's mother to wait there.

Song Yuner is just the opposite. She would not miss such a chance to show off and follow Yang Qiuchi to watch the fun.

The offense was like digging a grave and starting to dig down. The more you dig down, the more water you accumulate. By the time you dig the top cover of the coffin, the pit was already full of water.

The offenders frowned, and Yang Qiuchi looked happy. If there was so much water accumulation in winter and enough rain in summer, it would probably be more humid. The wetter the environment, the more likely it would be to produce corpse wax.

What should I do if the pit is full of water? The ominous and the helpers looked at Yang Qiuchi in embarrassment. Yang Qiuchi ordered to dig down from both sides of the coffin, then use a rope to cover both ends of the coffin from below, and then pull it up.

It took about an hour to finally get the coffin from the pond-like grave, and then the offenders shouted and carried it to the two pieces of wood next to it.

The water in the coffin flowed outward along the tiny gap of the coffin. Yang Qiuchi ordered Yu Zuo to open the coffin lid. The coffin had already started to decay, and the coffin lid was opened without much effort.

The coffin was covered with turbid mud and water, and it was impossible to see what was in the water. A corner of a wet red bedding was exposed.

Yang Qiuchi asked Yu Zuo to find a way to dry the water in the coffin. An Yu Zuo took an axe and squeezed into the gap between the baffin next to the coffin and the baffin behind. He pried hard, and the two baffins cracked a large gap, and the water in the coffin flowed out from the crack. Soon, it dried up.

The bones in the coffin were covered with big red bedding, wet and muddy.

Yang Qiuchi wore a pair of cotton gloves. Although it was very thick and affected the operation, there was no way. He didn't have rubber gloves and didn't want his hands to stick to the decayed tissue fluid of the corpse. It seems that in the future, the test of corrupt corpses is inevitable. After returning, he has to design a new special glove.

Yang Qiuchi used an iron rod to pick the red quilt covered with an iron rod to reveal the bones below. As Yang Qiuchi estimated and hoped, Guo's bones did not rot. Instead, they formed gray-white corpse wax. And they were all-body corpse wax.

Corpse wax is formed by the corpse being in water for a long time or buried in moist soil where there is insufficient air, and the fatty acids of the subcutaneous fat tissue decomposition are saponified and hydrogenated. The reason why it is called corpse wax is because the surface of the corpse is greasy and can be crushed with hands. It is similar to the feeling of touching a melted candle or soaking soft soap.

The environment where corpse wax forms can inhibit the breeding of corrupt bacteria and prevent the corruption of corpses. It can retain subtle traces such as surface damage, cord grooves and even "goose bumps", and can also inhibit corruption of digestive tract, thereby allowing the contents of the stomach to be better preserved, which has high forensic value.

Corpse wax is generally local. All-body corpse wax like Guo is relatively rare. Although the corpse formed by corpse wax is not corrupt, it is completely different from ordinary corpses because the corpse has been soaked in water for two years. It can even be said that it is beyond recognition and cannot distinguish its original appearance at all. If Guo had grown up like this before his lifetime, even if there were no women in this world, I am afraid that Old Master Yang would not marry her.

Whether Guo committed suicide by hanging himself can be seen from the traces on his neck.

Yang Qiuchi lowered his head and carefully checked the traces on Guo's neck. Although he had been dead for two years, the traces on his neck were still clearly visible because the body had wax.

When Yang Qiuchi saw it, he exclaimed, took out a sweat towel from his arms, and carefully sucked the water from the neck of the corpse.

After careful identification, Yang Qiuchi found that there were two types of cable grooves on the neck of Guo's corpse:

The first type is located at the lower edge of the thyroid cartilage, which starts from the left earlobe, goes through the left side around the neck, the right side of the neck, the neck, and the neck, and returns to the left earlobe to form a rope knot. There is a subcutaneous bleeding in the edge of the cord groove. You can feel the thyroid cartilage fracture in the cord groove by touching it with your hands.

Strangely, the cable groove has a one-finger-wide breakpoint on the right neck and has a bruised subcutaneous bleeding area.

Another type of cable groove is located on the upper edge of the thyroid cartilage, which covers the arc-pressing neck and surrounds the neck on both sides, and lifts the hollow at the outer occipital nodules without interruption.

The two cable grooves meet on the right side of the neck, the latter being above the former.

This means that Guo’s neck has been strangled twice!

The first type of cable groove is horizontally circular and closed. The depths of the cable grooves are roughly equal in front and back, and there is no phenomenon of hanging the cable grooves disappearing in the lifting space. Judging from the introduction of Mr. Yang and others, Guo committed suicide by hanging himself at the time, that is, he was hanging on the air with a standing position, but the characteristics reflected in this cable groove are inconsistent with this.

For hanging beams, most of the cable ditches are obliquely from the arc to the lifting space, while this cable ditch is horizontal; the cable ditch is the deepest cable ditch in the arc, and gradually becomes shallower to the lifting space, while this cable ditch is roughly equal in front and behind; the cable ditch will disappear at the lifting space, and it will be in the shape of a horseshoe, because the rope lifting air will form the phenomenon of "eight characters not intersecting", while this cable ditch is closed and circular, without the phenomenon of lifting space.

It is obvious that this cable ditch was not formed by hanging, but strangling!

The second cable groove is more in line with the typical hanging characteristics.

The pattern characteristics of the two cable grooves are also different. The first one is a leather-like cable groove, which is thin and narrow. There are knitted patterns on the surface of the cable groove. It is estimated that it should be caused by ropes such as hemp ropes. The second cable groove is wide and shallow. Without such patterns, it is likely to be soft cables such as cloth, silk, etc.

From the different characteristics of the two cable grooves, it can be seen that Guo was strangled by two kinds of ropes. The first is a semi-hard rope such as hemp rope, and the traces are strangled; the second is a soft hanging rope such as cloth belt, and the traces are strangled.

Judging from the overlapping of the two traces on the right side of the neck, the second type is superimposed on the first type, which means that it is first squeezing and then squinting.

This trace is obviously a homicide. This conclusion can be drawn from the following aspects:

From a logical analysis, because the thyroid cartilage fracture and the deep cord groove at the strangle trough are used very hard and lasts for a long time.

When the rope that strangled the neck tightly presses the neck, due to blood circulation disorders, cerebral ischemia or blood congestion, loss of consciousness can occur within one minute, and death can be caused in five minutes. Judging from the strangulation, it takes at least ten minutes to form. Therefore, if Guo committed suicide, this strangulation was enough to make her die, and she could not complete the subsequent hanging behavior.

Judging from forensic evidence, there is subcutaneous bleeding at the edge of the first corrugated groove, and there is no subcutaneous bleeding in the second corrugated groove. It shows that the strangulation mark is a prenatal injury, while the strangulation mark is a post-mortem injury. (Although the latest theory believes that the fluid static pressure formed by the blood accumulation of the deceased will sometimes cause subcutaneous bleeding and blisters at the edge of the corrugated groove. Therefore, this alone is not enough to judge the prenatal injury or post-mortem injury, but it still has important reference value.)

According to common sense, if it is suicide, you will generally subconsciously choose softer ropes, such as cloth straps, instead of choosing hard ropes such as hemp ropes or even iron wires, especially women. If there are only semi-hard ropes such as hemp ropes, or even hard ropes such as iron wires, you will often use handkerchiefs and veils to ease the pain. This mark reflects that the ropes are semi-hard ropes such as hemp ropes, which are inconsistent with common sense.

In addition, since she chose soft ropes such as cloth straps and other soft ropes, if the marks were strangled, she would also use cloth strangles to strangle her neck instead of using hemp ropes. It is not reasonable to say in common sense.

From a negative perspective, the strand marks reflect that the strand marks are single knots placed on the left earlobe, and then grab both ends of the rope and pull them to both sides, strangling the person to death. The position of the strand is under the left earlobe, and the direction of the force of both hands should be the front and back of the body. This action is inconsistent with common sense and is difficult to complete.

From this, it is very likely that Guo was strangled to death first and then hanged himself in disguise!

Yang Qiuchi rolled up the sleeves of Guo's arm and raised them to observe. He did not find any scratches to resist the wound. However, not resisting the wound does not mean that there was no resistance. If Guo was strangled to death in a soft environment such as bedding or water, there would be no scratches or other resistance injuries.

When Guo's right hand was examined, he found that there were epidermal abrasions and subcutaneous bleeding on the inside of his index finger on his right hand.

Yang Qiuchi felt a little strange, and immediately remembered that the cable groove on Guo's neck had a one-finger-wide breakpoint on the right neck and a blue and purple subcutaneous bleeding area. Combining these two points, it can be seen that when the murderer tied Guo's land, Guo tried to insert his right index finger into the rope sleeve and pull the rope, leaving this resistance injury on his right index finger.

This resistance injury has fully demonstrated that Guo was strangled to death and killed him.

So, who strangled Guo to death? Yang Qiuchi stood beside the coffin and pondered. The hemp rope that strangled Guo to death must have been brought to the ground by the murderer. After the crime was committed, it would not be left on the scene, otherwise it would have aroused suspicion. The tape might still be there, and maybe something could be found from it.

Song Yuner kept watching Yang Qiuchi busy and didn't dare to interrupt casually. Seeing him standing there in a daze after finishing his work, she asked, "Brother, how are you? Why have you been busy for so long?"

"You go and call them over, I have something to say." Yang Qiuchi said with a serious expression.

Song Yuner guessed from Yang Qiuchi's expression that there was something wrong with the case, so she nodded excitedly, turned around and ran over, and after saying a few words to Mr. Yang and the others, all the local people came over.

Old Master Yang asked Yang Qiuchi in confusion: "Nephew, what's wrong? Is there any problem?"

Yang Qiuchi asked first: "Where is the cloth belt that Aunt Guo hung on her?"

The original wife Pan said, "It's burned, and it's burned together with all the clothing and supplies of this slutty fox. What's left to do with this kind of goblin that harms people!"

Old Master Yang asked, "Nephew, what are you asking about this cloth belt?"

Yang Qiuchi looked around everyone and said, "It is for investigation of cases."

"Investigate the case?" Old Master Yang felt something was wrong and asked hurriedly, "What case is investigating?"

"The case of Aunt Guo being strangled to death was not because she committed suicide by hanging herself, but because she was strangled to death!"

Everyone was shocked. Old Master Yang asked in surprise: "What did you say? She was killed by someone?"

"Yes, Aunt Guo was strangled to death first and then hanged herself in disguise. It was not suicide."

Song Yuner's father, Song Tongzhi, knew what this meant, and asked: "Nephew, you, are you not mistaken?"

The eldest young master Yang Qingshui looked very excited and asked, "Cousin, was Aunt Guo really killed? Who is the murderer?"

The original wife Pan and the second concubine Zhang were afraid that they would not dare to come up. They heard from afar that Guo did not commit suicide, but was killed by someone, and they all started to talk in surprise.

Old Master Yang asked Yang Qiuchi: "Nephew, how do you know that your Aunt Guo was killed?"

Yang Qiuchi pointed to two different scars on the neck of the corpse, analyzed the discovery just now, and showed the resistance on Zhang's index finger.

The "Xiweng Lu" records the details of hanging and strangling, and the ancients had a deeper understanding of these two very common methods of murder or suicide. Therefore, after listening to Yang Qiuchi's analysis and observing it personally, Old Master Yang, Song Tongzhi and others recognized Yang Qiuchi's judgment.

They were a little surprised that Guo's body did not rot. Butler Pang also asked if the body was infected and whether he wanted to ask the mage to exorcise evil spirits. Yang Qiuchi explained to them in as common words as possible, and everyone understood.
Chapter completed!