After the order to block the mountain gate was issued, even Princess Shouyang, who held the most prestigious status publicly, did not object, so others wisely remained quiet.
Upon hearing of Tian Shu’s death, Madam Zhao was genuinely shocked and sincerely recited a few Buddhist prayers.
“That girl might have been somewhat spoiled, but she truly had no ill intentions…”
She didn’t deserve to die.
Whether it was a fall or something else remained unknown.
Amitabha Buddha.
All the pilgrims returned to their respective quarters, leaving only the abbot to accompany Xie Yu and others while they waited.
Approximately two hours later, as dawn broke, the sound of galloping horses echoed faintly from the mountain path below. As the sound grew closer, it caused the ground to tremble slightly and stirred up a layer of dust.
Before long, a group of riders arrived amidst the morning glow. It was Fang Bao, another military inspector from Kaifeng Prefecture, leading a troop.
He was broad-shouldered and wide-waisted; even among soldiers, he would be considered a promising warrior.
“Listen up! Guard both the front and back gates of the temple. No one is allowed to enter or leave at will!” Fang Bao began assigning tasks before even entering Foguang Temple.
“Yes, sir!”
Eight fully armored riders immediately split into two groups; one guarded the front gate, and the other guarded the back.
This time, the mountain gate was truly sealed off.
Fang Bao led his men straight into the temple, dismounted in front of everyone, and casually tossed the reins behind him. “Zhi Zhi, what exactly happened?”
Earlier, he had been sound asleep when suddenly someone came pounding on his door, saying that something had happened at Foguang Temple involving Xie Yu. Because Xie Yu wanted to avoid any conflict of interest, he specially invited Fang Bao to handle the matter.
Normally, since Xie Yu had recused himself, the case details should not have been explained by him.
However, since the incident, the abbot of Foguang Temple had done nothing but recite prayers. He looked as if he wished he could find a crack in the ground to hide in and block out all noise, appearing pitiful and utterly useless.
Ma Bing deliberately teased the abbot. “Abbot, here comes Inspector Fang. Look, both of your names start with ‘Fang.’ Perhaps you were even related eight hundred years ago.”
Abbot: “…”
Who reasons like that!
With half-closed eyes, the abbot bitterly replied, “Donor, please do not mock me. I am merely a man beyond worldly concerns; it is inappropriate for me to involve myself in secular matters.”
Yuanpei interjected beside him, “Indeed, indeed. If that’s the case, then Abbot, why not follow the example of immortals and practice fasting, completely cutting off eating, drinking, and excretion? Only then can you truly sever all worldly ties.”
Abbot: “…”
Everyone saw the old abbot’s lips tremble along with his beard. The next moment, tears streamed down his face.
“Waaah…”
The monks cried out, “Abbot! Waaah!”
Ma Bing: “…”
Yuanpei: “…”
Meanwhile, Xie Yu, who had been explaining the situation to Fang Bao, heard the commotion and turned around. He didn’t know what to say.
“Come over here!” he snapped.
They knew these monks were timid and wanted nothing to do with trouble, yet they still insisted on teasing them.
Now look what happened—making the poor old man cry?
He was so old—should they comfort him or not?
The two culprits sheepishly shuffled over, mumbling softly, “This is just too… whatever.”
Xie Yu hissed in a low voice, “Still talking!”
He was so tired!
They glanced at him while fidgeting with their fingers, then quickly averted their eyes again. “I’m sorry.”
Next time, they would do it again.
The response was too practiced and completely insincere, making Xie Yu want to sigh.
He could guess what they were thinking.
They probably thought that normally, if the abbot was cowardly and inclined toward seclusion, it would be fine. But at a time when lives were at stake and manpower was scarce, the abbot, as the chief monk of the temple, showed absolutely no sense of responsibility, shifting all responsibilities onto the authorities, which was infuriating.
Seeing this, even though the atmosphere was inappropriate, Fang Bao almost burst into laughter.
After briefly exchanging information between the two groups, it was already broad daylight.
When sending someone to invite Fang Bao, Xie Yu had already instructed him to bring ropes and several constables skilled in climbing from the bureau.
Now everyone came to the cliff where Tian Shu’s body lay. Peering halfway out, they indeed saw a body vaguely visible under the morning sunlight.
The location where the body lay was extremely complex. The nearby cliff face was vertical, with almost no protrusions to use for support. If they wanted to retrieve the body, they could only rely on ropes.
“It’s impressive that they managed to find her,” Fang Bao sighed, then ordered one of the constables skilled in climbing to tie several ropes around his waist while others held the ropes from above.
This constable had been specially recruited from the civilian ranks upon Ma Bing’s suggestion to Xie Yu. Who would have thought he would come in handy so soon.
Five constables had been recruited together into Kaifeng Prefecture, two of whom were hunters skilled in forest navigation and tracking footprints, and two were fishermen adept at swimming and diving.
The last one was this very brother before them, whose family had made a living collecting wild honey for generations. He could climb and leap between tree branches and mountain peaks as easily as walking on flat ground—almost like a monkey.
Because of this unique skill, everyone gave him the nickname: Xiao Hou (Little Monkey).
Xiao Hou tested the ropes and, finding them secure, turned his back to the cliff, facing downward, and began descending along the rock face.
Everyone above instinctively held their breath, slowly releasing the ropes as he moved.
One constable looked down along the rope and immediately felt dizzy and nauseous, his legs giving way as he slumped backward onto the ground.
No one had time to laugh at him. To be honest, facing such a bottomless abyss, almost everyone felt their hairs stand on end.
Among the group of men present, the physically demanding task of pulling ropes didn’t fall to Ma Bing, so she dragged the constable to a safe location.
The constable felt deeply ashamed for collapsing in front of the two military inspectors.
Ma Bing comforted him, “It’s not your fault. Some people are naturally afraid of water, others fear heights—it’s something they were born with, nothing can be done about it.”
It’s already difficult enough for you to come up here despite your fear of heights.
After a while, a voice came from below the cliff, “I’m done!”
Then another rope was lowered, with a wooden stick tied to its end.
The branch below was extremely thick, and since Xiao Hou had no foothold, he couldn’t saw it through. He could only retrieve the body alone.
The body had been pierced by the branch. If they pulled only one side, it would tear the corpse and damage evidence. Therefore, they needed to tie both ends simultaneously with a straight wooden stick and slowly pull the branch out from below to preserve the body as intact as possible.
Xiao Hou’s family lived in the mountains on the outskirts of Kaifeng. Occasionally, passersby would accidentally fall off the cliff, and his family would occasionally engage in rescue and body retrieval work, so they were very familiar with this process.
He skillfully secured the body, shouted again, and watched as the body was successfully pulled up before climbing up himself.
As soon as Xiao Hou reached the top, everyone praised him enthusiastically, making him feel rather embarrassed.
“Oh, by the way, sir,” Xiao Hou handed over a piece of torn cloth, “I found this in a crevice while climbing up.”
“Good boy!” Fang Bao praised.
This piece of cloth matched the fabric of Tian Shu’s clothing, likely torn off when she fell.
“Come, let me take a look first.”
Zhang, the coroner, pushed through the crowd and squatted down for inspection.
The body had hung all night, completely drained of blood, its skin displaying an eerie pale bluish-white.
There was a huge hole in the abdomen, with blood and torn flesh revealing white bones and shattered internal organs. Several constables glanced at it briefly and immediately felt their stomachs churn, nearly vomiting.
Everyone increasingly appreciated Xiao Hou’s bravery.
Zhang first briefly examined the exposed skin and wounds on the corpse.
“People who fall off cliffs usually instinctively grab at things, but the deceased’s fingernails and palm skin were intact. She might have already been dead when thrown down, or the killer acted suddenly, giving her no time to react.”
He then looked at the clothing, “There are multiple tears in the clothes. Sir, bring me that cloth strip for comparison.”
After checking, Zhang shook his head. “Not enough.”
Not enough?
Everyone leaned in closer. Indeed, Tian Shu’s clothes were extensively torn, but the found cloth piece only matched one of the tears.
Xie Yu, Ma Bing, and Yuanpei all stepped aside, although they couldn’t directly participate, they instinctively pondered upon hearing this.
Not enough…
Could the torn cloth caught by the cliff and branches have been blown away by the wind?
But apart from the small crevice where Xiao Hou found the cloth, there seemed to be no other places capable of snagging fabric.
If all the other pieces were blown away by wind, that would be too coincidental.
That meant the deceased might have already been disheveled before falling.
So where were the other torn pieces of cloth?
Sighing, Zhang said, “We need to bring her down for a thorough autopsy.”
Since the woman had been murdered and her clothes were disarrayed, the coroners first considered checking for signs of sexual assault.
However, her hands, especially her fingernails, were intact without any traces of the killer’s flesh or blood commonly found when victims resist, not even broken nails… Was she threatened?
There were multiple abrasions on the head, face, and limbs, but due to poor lighting and narrow terrain, it was impossible to accurately determine the origin of the injuries at the moment.
Fang Bao raised his hand, and the constables unfolded the simple stretcher they had brought, placed the body on it, covered it with white cloth, and carried it away.
“Have the deceased’s family been notified?” Fang Bao asked while walking down.
Xie Yu shook his head. “Not yet.”
He had only brought Yuanpei and another guard this time. Earlier, with insufficient manpower, Yuanpei went to guard the mountain gate with the monks, the other went to notify Fang Bao from Kaifeng Prefecture, and Xie Yu himself needed to stay to maintain order—he simply couldn’t get away.
Fang Bao was surprised, “Didn’t I hear that the Tian father and son also came?”
However, he wasn’t as well-informed as Xie Yu and still thought Tian Bin was at Foguang Temple, hence his question.
Xie Yu explained, “Tian Song left several days ago due to some matters, but upon returning home, he fell ill. Tian Bin also returned home yesterday to care for his ailing father. The only remaining Tian family member here is now on the stretcher…”
Is that so?!
Fang Bao slapped his forehead and called someone over, “Go to the Tian family and inform them.”
After all, the person was already dead. Since the identity was confirmed, the family should be notified immediately.
After helping bring up the body and reporting all known clues, Xie Yu and others returned to their quarters and completely left the matter alone.
Meanwhile, Coroner Zhang immediately began the autopsy. Without a physician present, determining whether certain injuries occurred before or after death required significant effort, thus taking considerable time.
“Besides two large abrasions on the waist, there are no other obvious injuries on the body. These should have resulted from friction during the fall.
I have also examined the lower body; there are no signs that the deceased was sexually assaulted either before or after death, suggesting this wasn’t a crime of passion…
There’s no noticeable swelling or bruising on the skin, indicating no physical beating before death… Wait! Bring me a candle!”
Zhang first wiped the deceased’s cheeks clean, then used a candle to carefully examine the revealed skin, discovering faint, small, nearly circular bruises beneath the surface abrasions!
“This location…”
He stepped back, extending his hand toward the deceased’s face, “Ah!”
Suddenly, Zhang thought of something and hurriedly set down the candle to pry open the deceased’s mouth.
Unfortunately, since the death occurred less than a full day ago, the body was still stiff, making it impossible to open the mouth.
“Come on, you two! Bring the pliers! Force her mouth open!” He called two constables inside.
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