Before, Yu Yue was the only woman in the office, so she was lonely.
But now that Lu Qingqing has arrived, Yu Yue seems to have found an ally. Whenever she has free time, she drags Lu Qingqing over for a chat.
As it is now, the two are once again leaning over the small table, gossiping.
“Sister Yueyue, your little stud muffin is here at work…” The familiar scent, the common yet ever-fresh formula.
“So he’s here, what’s all the fuss about?”
“Do I look handsome again today?”
“Handsome, extremely handsome! So handsome you shouldn’t go outside.”
“Really?”
“Yes, definitely don’t go out. If you do, not a bird flies, not a soul stirs.”
The constant bickering between Yu Yue and Li Yang has become a daily spectacle for Lu Qingqing. Amidst the playful banter, Hu Jia also appeared. Seeing this, Lu Qingqing immediately retreated to her own desk.
Keep a distance unless absolutely necessary!
“Sister-in-law…”
Lu Qingqing shot him a glare.
Li Yang stuck out his tongue. “Qingqing, here are the case files you requested. The closing statement for this case is up to you.”
Lu Qingqing nodded. This was the first major case she had handled since coming to the city. Hu Jia’s intention was for her to present the report at the municipal police station, thus making a name for herself.
This was a great opportunity, and Lu Qingqing couldn’t help but look up to Hu Jia a little more.
As she was carefully examining the files, hurried footsteps echoed from the wooden stairs. Lu Qingqing frowned. Who was being so careless?
A man rushed up, an anxious look on his face, clutching a cloth bundle.
It was Gong Tishi, and he was supposed to be back for the funeral. Seeing Hu Jia sitting in the office, Gong Tishi’s eyes were red and filled with grief. “Captain Hu, I’ve been wronged…”
“Shopkeeper Gong, what is it?” Hu Jia quickly stood up.
Gong Tishi’s hands trembled as he opened the bundle. Inside was a woman’s outer garment, and wrapped within it, a pair of embroidered shoes.
“What’s wrong? Whose are they?” The moment they saw the items, everyone’s faces grew somber, as the clothes and shoes were covered in bloodstains.
“My wife’s. I suspect she was murdered,” Gong Tishi said.
“Little Hongmei?” Yu Yue frowned.
“Let me see.” Hu Jia took the bundle and unfolded the garment. The collar and chest of the clothing were almost entirely soaked in blood, with many bloodstains on the hem and cuffs. Picking up the embroidered shoes, there were also speckles of blood on the shoe uppers.
However, overall, neither the clothes nor the shoes appeared to be torn.
“What on earth happened?” Li Yang, who often accompanied Yu Yue to buy melon seeds, had a decent impression of the shop owner’s wife.
“I just find it strange that a perfectly healthy person could just vanish. Besides, in the more than a year since we got married, I’ve never heard her mention having a heart condition,” Gong Tishi said.
“Are you saying your wife died of a heart condition?” Lu Qingqing asked.
“My mother-in-law said she died of a heart condition, but I don’t believe it,” Gong Tishi replied.
Lu Qingqing recalled the conversation between the coffin shop owner and Gong Tishi the previous day. At that time, Gong Tishi had displayed an expression of complete disbelief about his wife’s death. It seemed he must have discovered something unusual on his trip back for the funeral.
“Besides the clothes, was there anything else strange?” Lu Qingqing asked.
“I don’t know. I heard you can exhume bodies for examination. I want you to open the coffin.”
It was clear that Hu Jia and Lu Qingqing’s exhumation and autopsy at Qixinggang had spread throughout the entire district, and it was likely for this reason that Gong Tishi had sought out the Special Operations Team.
“Shopkeeper Gong, as the deceased’s husband, if you have doubts about the cause of death, you can apply for an exhumation for examination,” Li Yang said simply. This matter could be handled through normal reporting procedures.
“Yes, you need to go to the police station. We don’t handle cases independently here,” Yu Yue added at the opportune moment.
“I went, but they didn’t believe me, and my mother-in-law’s family all say my wife died from spitting blood and refuse to open the coffin. They say if I dare to touch the coffin, she will kill herself in front of the memorial tablet,” Gong Tishi said.
Indeed, if the deceased’s parents insisted on a natural death, the police wouldn't go out of their way to investigate.
As they were talking, two men in police uniforms rushed in. Their faces changed dramatically upon seeing Gong Tishi. “You actually came?”
With that, they bowed repeatedly to Hu Jia, apologizing profusely, “Captain Hu, we are truly sorry about this. We apologize for him disturbing you.”
Then, the two men attempted to escort Gong Tishi away.
Just as Lu Qingqing was about to stop them, Hu Jia spoke up. “Which precinct are you from?” Instead of directly intervening, he asked about their origin.
“Captain Hu, we are from the Nantuo Police Station,” one of them replied.
“Hmph. Officers from a local precinct come to my Municipal Bureau’s Special Operations Team and try to take someone away? Is my Special Operations Team’s reputation no longer respected, or am I, Hu, too soft-hearted?” Hu Jia snorted. The case was clearly suspicious. Gong Tishi had just mentioned that these police officers didn’t want to get involved.
“Captain Hu, you speak as if we aren’t following procedures,” the man continued, smiling apologetically.
Indeed, Gong Tishi had reported the case locally, and the local authorities had accepted it. Without the Municipal Bureau’s approval, the Special Operations Team couldn’t easily interfere with others’ work.
“Wenwu!” Hu Jia called out.
“Captain Hu,” Luo Wenwu stepped forward.
“Take him to the Tongyuanmen Branch Bureau, file the report directly, and then transfer the case here,” Hu Jia ordered.
“This… Captain Hu, this doesn’t quite align with regulations. After all, the incident happened in our jurisdiction…” the Nantuo police officers looked troubled.
“You don’t believe his story? Besides, he’s from Tongyuanmen, so reporting here is not unreasonable,” Hu Jia directly refuted their objection.
“That’s because he has no evidence, it’s all speculation, and we have so much other work,” the other person’s voice trailed off.
“The evidence is right in front of you, what else do you need the police for?” Lu Qingqing couldn’t stand it any longer. The deceased’s clothing had obvious bloodstains. Whether she died from normal spitting of blood or was murdered, this was not normal.
“The Yang family members said this was bloodstains from spitting blood. Are their family members lying?” The Nantuo officer wasn’t as polite to Lu Qingqing as he was to Hu Jia.
A reputation preceded him; after all, that man was too fierce.
“Look, the front of this garment is almost completely soaked with fresh blood. If she truly died from spitting blood, then Yang Xiaohong must have been very ill. However, in the more than a year that Gong Tishi was married to his wife, he never noticed any heart condition. This is one point of suspicion.”
“If someone truly died from spitting blood, they would have shown some reaction before spitting blood.” As she spoke, Lu Qingqing stood up and demonstrated. “If she fell ill while standing, and vomited blood, she would instinctively arch her back, and the blood would land in front of her, not on her chest. Even if her clothes got stained with blood, it wouldn’t be this much.”
After speaking, Lu Qingqing switched to a sitting posture. “Similarly, if she was sitting and spitting blood, she would either turn to the side or bend over, and the bloodstains would still not soak the front of her chest.”
Finally, Lu Qingqing adopted a lying-down posture. “If she was lying down, she would still have rolled over. Even if she vomited blood, it would have stained a large area of her sleeves and shoulders.”
“What if she was spitting blood while unconscious?” one of them countered.
“That’s even simpler. Because she was lying flat, the blood would flow from the corner of her mouth down her cheek to her neck. The area that would be heavily stained with blood should be the back of her neck, not her chest.”
“Therefore, based on the current situation, her carotid artery should have been severed. In a vertical state, the blood would flow down her neck, soaking the front of her chest.”
Lu Qingqing’s analysis stunned everyone, and Gong Tishi was even more grief-stricken.
Only Hu Jia looked at Lu Qingqing with shining eyes.