23: Frozen to death, weird smile

“Uh… what do you mean?” Xie Weilou asked.

Lin Qinghuang said, “First, why is there a bruise on his forehead?”

Xie Weilou looked at the corpse. “The weather is cold now, and the pond is frozen. If someone suddenly falls in, is it not normal for their face to hit the ice and get injured?”

Lin Qinghuang nodded to herself, then asked, “Why are his clothes disheveled? From the corpse, his current attire is not a sleeping gown.”

Xie Weilou said, “Perhaps he felt too hot, so he started pulling off his clothes.”

“Then the question is, in such cold weather, why would he feel hot?” Lin Qinghuang asked the crucial question.

Xie Weilou casually said, “I heard that when a person is freezing to death, they will feel their whole body getting hot, so they will subconsciously pull off their clothes, and their face will even have a smile, as if it’s death’s final tenderness to the deceased!”

“No!” Zhao Hu shook his head, refuting, “If a person is freezing, they’d wish to add clothes, how could they possibly pull them off?”

Xie Weilou shrugged, “Who knows? Maybe he was disoriented and hallucinating.”

Lin Qinghuang said, “Actually, what Xie Weilou said is not wrong. Every year when winter arrives, many people freeze to death. According to some records from various prefectures, most people who freeze to death will strip off their clothes and have a strange smile on their faces.”

“This phenomenon is extremely peculiar and currently has no definitive explanation, but many frozen corpses show these two signs, which can be considered a characteristic for judging victims of freezing.”

“This…” Zhao Hu’s expression froze. It seemed he had read too few ancient texts. It was indeed peculiar that people who froze to death would show such signs.

Lin Qinghuang looked at Xie Weilou. “So you think this person froze to death?”

Xie Weilou said with a lazy expression, “Whether he froze to death or drowned, that’s for later. The most critical question right now, shouldn’t it be to investigate the factors that led him to do all this?”

He stared at Zhang Zai’s corpse on the ground and said, “A normal living person wouldn’t just be bored, leave a warm room, deliberately go out to brave the cold wind, and then get so disoriented that they fall into a pond, right? Or was he already not right when he went out into the cold wind?”

This case is definitely not simple; perhaps it needs to be combined with another case.

After all, the deceased are father-in-law and son-in-law, and they are inherently connected. So, could there be any connection between the causes of their deaths?

“…” Lin Qinghuang’s lips curved slightly upwards, and she gave Xie Weilou a deep look. This guy indeed had something special.

He had shown some extraordinary insight in the previous Wansha House case, and it was the same this time, seeing the most crucial issue!

A death case is either murder, suicide, or accidental death; there must be a core fatal factor.

Lin Qinghuang waved her hand and said, “Take the body to Tianquan Division.”

After speaking, she walked towards the attic.

What Xie Weilou had thought of, she had also thought of.

Two cases happening simultaneously must not be a coincidence. She needed to investigate the other case as well; perhaps there would be some special discoveries then.

“…” Xie Weilou looked at Lin Qinghuang’s back and smiled indifferently.

The appearance of these two cases should not be a coincidence; perhaps someone is leading Lin Qinghuang by the nose, deliberately guiding her to investigate something.

It’s not good for others to always make the moves. Xie Weilou felt he also needed to act. Conspiracies and schemes? Who doesn’t know how to do that!

Inside the attic.

Lin Qinghuang carefully inspected the area.

“Hmm?” She found something. She was bending down, staring at a spot on the floor to the left. Most of the attic was quite tidy, except for a dusty area near the left bookshelf.

Lin Qinghuang immediately stepped forward and examined the bookshelf. There were many scrolls on the shelf, each with a string. She tried them one after another.

Rumble!

When she pulled one of the strings, a faint sound came from behind the bookshelf, and the bookshelf automatically moved to the side.

A secret compartment appeared before Lin Qinghuang.

Lin Qinghuang did not immediately examine the secret compartment but instead focused on the ground. The presence of this dust was crucial because it had three footprints and a tiny mark the size of a fingernail.

Xie Weilou glanced at it. “Other places were cleaned, but only here, a pile of dust was deliberately left. This shouldn’t be Zhang Zai’s carelessness, but intentional.”

The dust on the ground was blocked by the bookshelf. If the bookshelf were moved, and someone wanted to access the secret compartment in front, they would definitely leave footprints underneath. Assuming someone came at night, it would be difficult to see this dust.

And Zhang Zai knew about the dust he deliberately left. If an outsider approached this area, he would surely know quickly.

“That should be it. It’s probably for defense.”

Lin Qinghuang had previously examined the shoes on Zhang Zai’s feet. Two of the footprints belonged to Zhang Zai, but the last one was unknown.

She took a pen from her sleeve, drew the single footprint, and then put the paper back into her sleeve.

Then she looked at the secret compartment, which was covered with fine dust.

However, in the center, there was a part with no dust, indicating that there had originally been something here, but it was now gone.

“Before his death, Zhang Zai didn’t let people near here, probably because he was afraid of people discovering what was inside the secret compartment. Unfortunately, the item has already been taken.” Lin Qinghuang murmured to herself.

Now that the item inside was gone and Zhang Zai was dead, it was possible it was a case of murder for gain.

She stepped back, and the bookshelf automatically returned to its original position. With this design, the dust on the ground would be even harder for people to discover.

“Heh! This wine pot is exquisite. Do you think Zhang Zai ate something special before he died, which caused problems with his body? Or was he drunk?” Xie Weilou picked up a wine pot from the table.

Lin Qinghuang walked over and took the wine pot from Xie Weilou’s hand. There was still some wine inside. She took out a silver needle and tested it.

Xie Weilou said with a smile, “A silver needle can test for many poisons, but some poisons, like the previous Heavenly Beauty… it can’t detect.”

Lin Qinghuang put away the silver needle and mused, “This is Tianqi City’s osmanthus wine. It doesn’t seem to have any major problems.”

Putting down the wine pot, she observed the surroundings again. The tables and chairs in the room were neatly arranged, with no signs of disarray. There were no traces of a struggle inside.

Xie Weilou, on the other hand, was staring at the tablecloth on the table, sniffing it gently. The tablecloth had a special scent, definitely not the smell of wine.

After examining for a while with no major discoveries, Lin Qinghuang said, “It seems we need to go to Xu Pan’s place. I hope there will be special discoveries.”

There weren’t many traces here, making it difficult to investigate much. The next step would be to perform an autopsy on Zhang Zai, but before that, they needed to go to Xu Pan’s place first.

— — — —

Xu Pan’s Residence.

In a grand hall, a male corpse with a ferocious expression lay on the ground. The Tianquan Division personnel stood guard around him.

Currently, their expressions were strange, because Xu Pan’s death appearance was almost identical to Zhang Zai’s: both had ferocious expressions and bruises. Moreover, according to the Xu family, Xu Pan’s body was also retrieved from the pond.

The difference was that Xu Pan’s face did not have a strange smile, and his clothes were not overly disheveled. Zhang Zai had a bruise on his forehead, while Xu Pan had a bruise on the back of his head.

As for Xu Pan’s time of death, it was the Hour of the Rat (11 PM to 1 AM).

Lin Qinghuang looked at Zhang Yun and calmly said, “You were not present when your father died. Were you present when your husband died?”

“Madam was present.” A middle-aged man in a black robe nearby quickly spoke up.

Lin Qinghuang frowned and asked, “Who are you?”

The middle-aged man bowed and said, “This humble one is Steward Ma of the Zhang residence, Ma Shan.”

Lin Qinghuang calmly said, “Since you are so certain that Madam Zhang was present, then you must have been present as well. Please tell us about the circumstances of this case.”

Steward Ma replied, “The master was killed by a water ghost.”

“A water ghost?” Lin Qinghuang stared at Steward Ma.

It was normal for demonic creatures to commit crimes, but this case, she knew with just one glance, was not the work of a demonic creature. Sometimes, humans were more vicious than demons.

Steward Ma explained, “Last night, the master’s screams rang out, and then we saw a water ghost dragging him into the pond. Many guards and maids in the mansion witnessed this. Some guards went forward to stop it and were severely injured.”

“That’s right, we all saw it. The master was killed by a water ghost.” Some of the Xu family guards and maids present said with lingering fear.

Last night, they had indeed seen the water ghost. The water ghost’s appearance was too ugly and terrifying. It dragged the master and leaped into the pond. This scene, they would never forget.

“Xie Weilou, if you were to investigate this case, where do you think you would start?” Lin Qinghuang looked at Xie Weilou.