Chapter Twelve: Depression

  It seems that this little girl has been spoiled by the old master of the mountain goat beard county. Yang Qiuchun was pulled into the room by Song Yuner, and the old servant also followed in. This situation may have happened many times before, and County Magistrate Song had no choice but to vent his anger on the people below him. He scolded Lei Bo, pointing at him with a tilted head, his small eyes blinking rapidly as he spoke in a stutter: "I, I didn't say that Miss can't come to this kind of place, did I? Are your heads filled with straw? How could you forget what I said?! Hmm?" Lei Bo and the others stood still, not even daring to breathe.

  "I, this one daughter, if she were to bring disaster or illness upon herself in such an unlucky place, how would I deal with you all?" Magistrate Song said angrily, "This little scamp doesn't know the height of heaven or the thickness of earth, sooner or later he'll be driven out of the yamen!"

  Yang Qiuchi and others entered the house, passed through the hall, and arrived at the inner room. Song Yun'er took a look at the scene in the house, exclaimed, and involuntarily stretched out her hand to grab Yang Qiuchi's arm with force, causing Yang Qiuchi to grimace in pain.

  Inside the room, against the wall, was a large wooden bed with intricate carvings. The canopy above it had been torn down on one side and lay scattered over the body of a dead woman on the bed. She was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling with her eyes wide open, her hair disheveled, and her two arms crossed over her head, bound together by a crimson rope. Her mouth was tightly closed, with a trickle of blood at the corner of her lips, and a dark purple mark encircled her slender neck. Below her narrow, delicate shoulders, one of her breasts, round and white as jade, was exposed outside the canopy. The canopy covered half of her body, and a snow-white, plump thigh hung down from the edge of the bed.

  On the ground were scattered a few pieces of clothing: a pale red cheongsam, a light green long pants, and a white undershirt.

  In the middle of the room, there is a round table with an overturned teapot on it. Some damp tea leaves are scattered on the table, and a puddle of tea water is on the floor. Next to the round table, several broken tea cups are on the ground. Two out of three stools next to them have fallen over.

  On the other side of the round table, not far away, a corpse was lying on its back, with eyes closed and a black mark on its neck. The hair was disheveled, but the clothes were intact, except for the front chest which was torn apart.

  Yang Qiuchi finally managed to free his arm from Song Yuner's grasp, glaring at her: "You're scared, so why did you beg me to bring you here?"

  "Who's afraid?" Song Yun'er raised her pale face, and stretched out her hand to grab Yang Qiuchuan again. Yang Qiuchuan quickly dodged. Although Song Yun'er knew martial arts and wanted to learn the fearless and daring spirit of a man, she was still a girl after all. Suddenly seeing such a bloody scene, she was frightened, her face turned pale, and her whole body trembled slightly.

  The old servant asked the young master Yin about the situation, and Master Yin introduced it with a sob. This Master Yin was named Yin De, and the elderly couple at the door were his parents. The corpse lying on the ground in complete clothing was his wife Bai Suimei, and the corpse on the bed was Bai Suimei's younger sister Bai Xiaomei. The father of the Bai sisters was the Ningguo Prefecture's thousand households, a sixth-grade military officer in the Ming dynasty, with a higher rank than the county magistrate.

  The old coroner walked to the bedside with his cane, lifted the curtain covering the corpse, revealing Bai Xiaomei's delicate body as white as a flower. From head to toe, he observed and then said: "Record! The corpse is lying on its back, both hands tied above the head..." Feeling that Yang Qiuchi behind him was not moving, he turned around, glared at him, and heavily grunted: "What are you doing? Why aren't you filling out the death certificate? Do I need to do it myself?"

  Yang Qiuchi suddenly realized that Lao Wuma was talking to himself and hastily asked, "Shig? What Shig? Where?"

  The coroner's form is a form filled out by the coroner when examining the body in ancient times, which indicates the basic situation of the deceased, the scene investigation, the surface inspection of the corpse, and the cause of death. It is similar to the modern on-site investigation record and autopsy report. These two documents Yang Qiuchi certainly knows, but now it's in the Ming Dynasty, and many rules are different from modern times, and for a while, his head hasn't turned around yet.

  The old man's face turned gloomy and he scolded: "You little beast, what did you come here for without bringing anything?"

  "Hey! You old codger, how dare you scold people at random?"

  Yang Qiuchi didn't understand that in ancient times, the status of an apprentice was even lower than that of a servant at home. Being scolded a couple of times was nothing, and it was normal for the master to use physical punishment on his apprentices. Yang Qiuchi's body, which had been revived through resurrection, was this old man's apprentice. It was only natural for the master to scold his disciple, but he didn't expect Yang Qiuchi to dare talk back. The old man was taken aback, and then roared: "You actually dare to speak to me like that? You're really rebellious! Rebellious!" His whole body shook with rage, and he almost fell onto the bed.

  Tomorrow is the most important day for etiquette, but this apprentice actually scolded his master in public. Song Yun'er and Yin De were also shocked. Song Yun'er poked Yang Qiuchuan's lower back: "How can you talk to your master like that?"

  "You also heard it, he scolded me first!" Yang Qiuchi's face was full of innocence.

  Before Song Yuner could speak, the old man had already raised his cane and scolded Yang Qiuchuan, beating him on the head and face.

  Yang Qiuchi may not know martial arts, but he was still capable of dodging the old man's cane. He retreated while shouting: "Hey! Why are you hitting people?"

  "Old man... old man, today I'm going to beat you to death, you beast!" The old man's white beard was disheveled as he shook and stumbled while chasing Yang Qiuchuan with his cane. Yang Qiuchuan dodged around the table, shouting wildly, but didn't dare fight back against the old man.

  The old man chased after Yang Qiuchuan for two rounds but still couldn't hit him, and was already panting heavily, leaning on his cane and coughing violently. Song Yuner and Yin De came forward to persuade him, the old man raised his wrinkled and emaciated hand, shaking with rage as he pointed at Yang Qiuchuan: "You little beast! Good! From now on, you're not my apprentice! Get out! Scram!"

  "Go ahead and go! What's the big deal!" Yang Qiucheng turned around and walked towards the door, only to be met with several people coming in. With a surge of anger, Yang Qiucheng didn't even bother to look closely and reached out to push aside the person blocking the doorway so he could leave. But his outstretched hand suddenly froze in mid-air as it was grabbed by a palm that had appeared out of nowhere. Immediately, Lei Zhen's voice rang out: "The county magistrate has arrived, no one is allowed to be unreasonable!"

  Yang Qiuchi fixed his eyes and took a look, and the one who came in was indeed the stuttering County Magistrate Hu Zhang, accompanied by Lei Zhen, with Yin Lao Ye and Lao Tai Tai following behind him, as well as several attendants. They heard the commotion inside and came to investigate.

  Song Zhixian looked around and asked in a gloomy tone: "What's all the commotion about?"

  Yin De stepped forward: "Reporting to the master, it's nothing serious. This young apprentice forgot to bring his corpse token, and Master is just teaching him a lesson."

  Song Zhi County went to see Lao Wu Zuo, who had already been so angry with Yang Qiuchi that his whole body was trembling, and he couldn't stop coughing, let alone speak.

  Yin De turned his head to take a look at the two corpses on the bed and on the ground, then turned back with tears in his eyes: "Master, my sister's corpse has been lying there for a long time, the real murderer is still at large, you are not feeling well, shall we let this young apprentice examine the corpse so that we can solve the case as soon as possible?"