The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#319 - Coroner

“Our family and friends are all still doing well for the time being,” Lu Jing replied.

“Then what are you doing at my house?” Lan'er looked a little disappointed.

“I've come to find Coroner Cheng to inquire about something.”

Lan'er blinked her eyes when she heard this, “But my grandfather is too old and his ears aren't good, I'm afraid he won't be able to hear what you're saying very clearly.”

“Is that so? But I think he's listening quite intently behind the door right now.”

As soon as Lu Jing finished speaking, a voice came from inside the house, clearing his throat twice and saying, “Lan'er, let them in.”

“Grandpa…”

“It's okay, they are my friends.”

When Lan'er heard this, she opened the door behind her. Yan Yun followed Lu Jing into the house and saw many Buddha statues inside, and even Daoist Three Purities.

“There's no way around it, our line of work has too much yin energy, we always have to worship something to protect us, just to feel at ease.”

The speaker was a thin, hunched old man, sitting cross-legged on a chair, eating a plate of mung bean cake. Seeing the two people enter the house, he put down the half-eaten piece of mung bean cake in his hand, looked up and said, “When did Hero Lu return to Wujiang City? I haven't heard anyone mention it?”

“I came back to investigate a case,” Lu Jing took off the hood on his head, “It's not very convenient to show myself before the case is cleared up.”

Coroner Cheng was old and cunning, and knew at once that the matter was not convenient for outsiders to hear, so he winked at his granddaughter, asking her to close the door.

Then he said to Lan'er, who had a curious look on her face, “Close the door to the inner room as well, and… you go in too.”

Lan'er was a little unhappy, but in the end, she did as her grandfather said, so only the three of Lu Jing were left in the house.

Lu Jing first took out a tael of silver from his pocket and placed it in front of Coroner Cheng. Coroner Cheng didn't decline, and put it in his arms, while saying, “Thank you, Hero Lu, for the reward. What case do you want to ask the old man about? The old man will definitely tell you everything he knows, and without holding anything back.”

“The owner of the Su family cloth shop, Su Zhe, died in a ruined temple in the suburbs more than three months ago. You were the one who examined the body at the time, right?”

“That's right,” Coroner Cheng nodded, “I have a deep impression of this case. At that time, the widow of the Su family made quite a scene, insisting that it was the work of the Tianma Escort Agency, and demanding that the Prefect uphold justice.”

“For this reason, the Prefect also went to find Old Master Zhao, and then Old Master Zhao gathered all the escorts of the Tianma Escort Agency in the city and asked them about the secret bid in front of the Prefect, but everyone swore to the heavens that they had never heard of it.”

“Then Old Master Zhao also brought the account books of the Escort Agency, and there were no traces of tampering on them, and the 10,000 taels of silver could not be found in the accounts.”

“However, to be cautious, the Prefect also asked some peddlers and common people near the Escort Agency, and they also said that they had not seen Su Zhe enter or leave the Escort Agency recently. After that, the Prefect set up a banquet in Gonglou to apologize to Old Master Zhao, and completely ruled out the suspicion of the Tianma Escort Agency.”

Yan Yun was originally dissatisfied with the Wujiang City government for letting Coroner Cheng, an old and dim-sighted coroner, examine the body, so that he could tamper with the case, but after hearing what Coroner Cheng said, she couldn't find any fault with the Prefect.

Lu Jing then asked, “What do you think of this case, Coroner Cheng?”

“The fatal wound was on the back of the head, struck by a blunt object. Judging from the force, it should indeed be a martial artist who did it.” Coroner Cheng hesitated here, and then added, “There is an escort in the Tianma Escort Agency named Geng Nantian, who has outstanding strength and is best at using a pair of copper hammers.”

“Do you think he did it?”

“I don't know,” Coroner Cheng shook his head, “Su Zhe died around the time between midnight and the early hours of the morning, and according to the constable in charge of the case, Geng Nantian happened to be drinking in a painted boat on the Jinming River during that time.”

“There were three escorts from the Tianma Escort Agency with him, and in addition, several courtesans on the painted boat could also testify that Geng Nantian did not leave until dawn, and he was already drunk before midnight, unable to even stand steadily, so it was impossible for him to be the murderer.”

“Geng Nantian didn't leave the boat, but what if someone borrowed his copper hammer in the middle of the night?” Yan Yun suddenly said.

Coroner Cheng was stunned, “What do you mean?”

“You said earlier that he was already drunk before midnight, right? Then is it possible that someone secretly took his copper hammer at this time?”

“This… it does seem to make sense.” Coroner Cheng stroked his beard and said.

“Coroner Cheng, do you know which painted boat Geng Nantian was drinking on?” Lu Jing asked, “And who were the people drinking with him?”

“I didn't ask much about this. Hero Lu, you know that I'm not one to meddle in other people's business, but if Hero Lu wants to find out, I can help you ask the constable who investigated the case.” Coroner Cheng said.

“Then I'll have to trouble you.”

“You two please sit for a moment, and I'll go to the yamen for a while.”

Coroner Cheng said as he stood up from the chair and grabbed the crutch beside him.

“Do you need any money to grease palms?” Lu Jing asked.

“No need, no need, Hero Lu has already given enough before. I'll give half a string of coins to Constable Wei.” Coroner Cheng said with a smile.

After saying that, he shouted into the inner room, “Lan'er, you entertain the guests at home first, Grandpa will be back soon.”

However, the girl named Lan'er seemed to be a little unhappy that her grandfather had just driven her into the room, and kept her head down without saying a word.

It wasn't until Coroner Cheng had been gone for almost half an hour that she came out of the inner room again and said to Lu Jing and Yan Yun, “What kind of tea do you want to drink?”

“Anything is fine, we'll drink whatever tea you have at home.” Lu Jing said.

Lan'er's eyes rolled, “Then my family has corpse tea, do you want to drink it?”

“Wet tea?” Yan Yun misheard a word and asked, “Is it fresh tea leaves?”

But unexpectedly, the little girl sneered twice, “You two have been hiding your heads and showing your tails all along, conspiring with my grandfather in a sneaky way, and you still dare to report to the authorities to arrest me? Aren't you afraid that I'll expose you.”

“Hiding your head and showing your tail doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad person.”

Lu Jing had nothing to do, so he started arguing with the little girl. The two of them exchanged words, scaring each other for a long time, but unfortunately, they didn't achieve anything.

Lan'er was probably much bolder than other children because her grandfather was a coroner. Seeing that it was difficult to determine the winner, Lu Jing took the initiative to call a stop.

However, after waiting another half an hour, Coroner Cheng had not yet returned, and Lu Jing and Yan Yun couldn't help but frown.