ebookland Chapter 217 Dead Man's Fingernails
Chapter 217 Dead Man's Fingernails
After death, hair and nails continue to grow, and this corpse was no exception. Buried underground for several years, the hair had grown like seaweed, still stained with blood. The bloodstains were located behind the deceased's ears, consistent with the coroner's earlier deduction that the deceased had been murdered and had his throat slit.
The coroner's heart leaped when he saw the fingernails.
It was initially thought the deceased died from blood loss, but it turns out it was a combination of blood loss, suffocation, and being buried alive. The deceased was wrapped in a bamboo mat or bamboo curtain and buried in the ground. She was still breathing when buried and was struggling in the soil. Some of her fingernails were broken, and some had marks from bamboo strips.
"Buried alive? That's an unnatural death." Commander Ma frowned. "An unnatural death, wrapped in a bamboo mat and buried in the wild, and now it's been dug up. This person may have been wrongfully killed. Investigate the missing women in the capital in the past five years, especially illegitimate daughters."
Captain Ma lifted the deceased's hand and noticed something unusual about her fingernails. He asked the coroner and learned they were nail polish applied by a woman. Upon releasing her hand, he noticed one fingernail was different.
"This fingernail is broken, and the break is relatively clean... Sir, this fingernail wasn't scratched off, but rather cut off. It's highly likely that this was done by the murderer."
"Under what circumstances would a murderer cut off the victim's fingernails?"
The coroner said, "The deceased's fingernails may have been contaminated with the murderer's belongings, such as skin flakes. This means the deceased scratched the murderer, and the murderer, feeling guilty or enraged, cut off the deceased's fingernails."
Captain Ma sighed: "Even if the deceased scratched the murderer, three or five years have passed, and it will be impossible to investigate further."
The body and sedan chair were carried back to the Commandant's residence. As soon as they sat down, a thick stack of files was brought over. After verification and searching, three days later, they finally found the person whose details best matched the deceased.
Jiang Yingying, a concubine's daughter from the third branch of the Jiang family, was once favored by the eldest branch and intended to be adopted into their household to replace Jiang Ruoyi as the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family. Shortly after this news spread, Jiang Yingying disappeared without a trace. Subsequently, the matriarch and madam of the eldest branch fell seriously ill, and the eldest branch of the Jiang family was then managed by a concubine, while Jiang Ruoyi firmly held the position of legitimate daughter. If it weren't for the Emperor and Empress's affection for Miss Lu and their desire to prevent the Jiang family from further entanglement with the royal family, Jiang Ruoyi would most likely have become the Crown Princess.
According to the case file, Jiang Yingying disappeared while going out to buy rouge. Her maid managed to escape and returned to the Jiang family with injuries, seeking help. However, when the Jiang family arrived at the scene, Jiang Yingying and the people who had abducted them were gone; only dragging and struggle marks remained.
The Jiang family searched most of the capital city but couldn't find it, so they reported the case to the local government.
The maid was so frightened that she only remembered that the people who stopped them were three burly men. Based on her description, the court painter drew three unshaven men who resembled vagrants, but a search of the entire city yielded no results for these three men or Jiang Yingying. This case remains unsolved to this day. If the skeleton in the sedan chair was Jiang Yingying, then her disappearance is highly suspicious.
The subordinate stepped forward: "The villains failed to rob us, so they killed us to cover their tracks!"
Commander Ma shook his head: "Perhaps Jiang Yingying's disappearance was a hoax. Go and find out where her maid is now."
An hour later, the subordinate returned and said that Jiang Yingying's maid had been married off by the mistress to a steward in the Jiang family. Now she was a mother of a two-year-old child, with maids serving her, and living a very comfortable life.
Captain Ma raised an eyebrow and asked his subordinate, "The young lady went missing, and the maid escaped. Not only did the mistress not blame her, but she also found a good family for the maid. Isn't that strange? Find an excuse to bring the maid to the Captain's mansion."
The maid arrived; she had an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, and skin that, though not fair, was smooth and delicate, showing that she had truly enjoyed a comfortable life these past few years. When Commander Ma inquired about Jiang Yingying's disappearance, the maid stammered out a rough account. When asked to describe the three villains, her description was vastly different from the portrait from years ago.
If asked again, she said it was too long ago and she couldn't remember, saying she didn't want to recall those things anymore.
Commander Ma sneered and threw the portrait in front of the maid.
"You entered the household at the age of eight and grew up with your young mistress. Even if you weren't like sisters, there should have been some bond between mistress and servant. Your mistress has disappeared, and her fate is unknown. As her maid, you claim you can't remember what happened back then and don't want to recall it. I ask you, did your young mistress really get kidnapped?"
The maidservant tried to remain defiant, but Commandant Ma dragged her to the morgue. When she heard that her mistress's remains were inside, the maidservant turned pale.
Under Captain Ma's interrogation, the maid admitted that she and her mistress were not kidnapped on the street. Her mistress had indeed disappeared, but not on the street; she had disappeared at the Jiang family's residence.
The maid remembered clearly that shortly after dinner that day, Miss Ruoyi sent her maid to invite Jiang Yingying. Jiang Yingying didn't want to go, but Miss Ruoyi threatened her with her birth mother's life.
She had her period and was suffering from severe abdominal pain. Since she was already at home, Jiang Yingying didn't let her come with her, but instead told her to stay in her room and rest. She drifted off to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night to find that her mistress hadn't returned yet. She went to look for her in Miss Ruoyi's courtyard, but Miss Ruoyi told her that Jiang Yingying had already gone back.
When the young lady went missing, she went to find the madam, but the madam was out of the house. So she went to her concubine. The concubine told her not to make a fuss, saying that it would damage the reputation of a noble lady who hadn't returned home late at night. She was just a maid and dared not argue, so she kept the news a secret from her concubine.
The next day, her aunt found her and said that Jiang Yingying had eloped with someone. If she really cared about her mistress, she should cooperate with them in staging a play, saying that Jiang Yingying had been kidnapped by villains. To make her believe it, her aunt even produced a letter written by Jiang Yingying.
She did as her aunt instructed, and her aunt treated her well, not only choosing a good husband for her but also providing her with a dowry and sending her off to her wedding. She knelt at the entrance of the morgue, sobbing uncontrollably, saying that she had never imagined that her mistress would be murdered.
According to the maid's testimony, Commandant Ma went to the Jiang family and, with the permission of Physician Jiang, questioned Aunt Jiang and Jiang Ruoyi.
The two initially intended to feign deafness and muteness, but at the crucial moment, evidence arrived from the palace. Faced with witnesses and physical evidence, Jiang Ruoyi confessed to murdering Jiang Yingying and immediately accused her aunt, claiming that the matriarch and mistress of the Jiang family's eldest branch were both killed by her aunt.
Before Jiang Ruoyi could finish speaking, her aunt rushed forward, plunging the Jiang family into chaos.
Inside Ronghua Palace, Lu Zhiyuan smiled with narrowed eyes as she listened to the news that had been sent back.
Lu Yun tossed the walnut in his hand: "Brilliant, Miss's approach is truly brilliant. Instead of killing the shadowy figure, she made him a witness for Jiang Ruoyi's murder of Jiang Yingying, and then let these people tear each other apart in front of Commander Ma. With such a huge scandal involving the Jiang family, there is neither the time nor the person to interfere with Miss's marriage to His Highness the Crown Prince in the short term. Even if someone did, they wouldn't have the face to go to His Highness the Crown Prince or beg the Empress to allow the Jiang family's daughter to enter the palace. Miss has nipped the Jiang family in the bud the idea of another Empress in the bud."
"That's not all!" Liu Ying handed over the washed fruit: "Jiang Ruoyi wanted to harm Miss, but Miss out on her instead. If she hadn't harbored malicious intentions and sent the shadowy figure to assassinate Miss, how could Miss have followed the clues and caught her trying to harm Jiang Yingying? This is what they call trying to harm others but ending up harming yourself, trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead."