Miss Forensics – Chapter 9

Volume One: First Scroll

Autopsy

“The deceased Ding Xue, first autopsy, now beginning”

At Jiangcheng City Funeral Home.

It was already past midnight, with two groups of people still arguing endlessly in the hall. As soon as Song Yuhang stepped in, she heard a woman’s shrill voice shouting expletives, mixed with the sounds of shoes scraping against the floor and clothes being torn.

Her heart tightened, worried that Lin Yan might have gotten into a conflict with the family members over the autopsy. She quickly rushed inside.

To her surprise, Lin Yan was standing unharmed against the wall, even covering her ears with her hands.

Fang Xin and Duan Cheng were trying to mediate as the two groups of women finally stopped their physical altercation.

One of the older women said: “I am the child’s nainai [奶奶 | nǎi nai | paternal grandmother], the child should stay with me, don’t you agree, miss?!”

Fang Xin: “…Ah?”

“What nonsense are you talking! My daughter’s body isn’t even cold yet, who knows how she died, perhaps your family is responsible! Yaya [雅雅 | yǎ ya] is my own granddaughter, she must stay with me!”

“How dare you accuse us! Since she married into our family, when did we ever let her go hungry or poorly dressed? When she said she didn’t want to live with the elderly, we immediately moved out. When she said she didn’t want a second child, we didn’t force her! Have some conscience when you speak! Who knows if your daughter’s improper behavior attracted some thug that led to her demise, don’t blame it on us!”

Despite her age, the elderly woman’s fighting spirit was not weak at all, pointing and cursing at the other party.

Moreover, with various relatives behind her, they all rushed forward in a war of words, creating quite a scene. Someone’s hair was pulled, and the physical conflict escalated further.

Even Duan Cheng’s face bore two scratch marks, forcing him to retreat from the battlefield.

At the center of this storm, a man sat alone on a long bench, his eyes red-rimmed, head bowed in silence.

In his arms, he held a three or four-year-old girl, who watched everything unfolding around her with innocent, bewildered eyes.

Lin Yan’s lips curled into a mocking smile as she watched this farce, showing no intention of intervening.

“Ah, after all this commotion, son-in-law, say something, how did my daughter die…” The middle-aged woman finally broke free from the circle of people, her eyes red and tears streaming down her face, appearing utterly grief-stricken.

“I raised my daughter for over twenty years, she can’t just die without explanation like this, your family must give me answers!”

“Answers? What answers? We didn’t kill her, right, Officer?”

Fang Xin responded with noncommittal sounds, afraid that one wrong word might earn her a slap across the face.

“I don’t care! Give me back my daughter! The Ding family has only this one daughter, our lineage ends here! Old Ding, I’ve failed your spirit in heaven! Daughter, daughter, what an unjust death!”

The woman began wailing loudly again, lunging forward to grab at the dazed man sitting in the chair.

When the man’s mother saw her son being attacked, she became even more agitated. People were grabbing legs and pulling hair, with expletives flying everywhere.

“Stop dragging our family into this! Your whole family brings bad luck! My qingjia gong [親家公 | qìng jiā gōng | father-in-law of one’s child] died early, I never wanted this marriage in the first place! Who told my son to be so blind as to like her! Married for years and couldn’t even produce a son, useless hen! Better off dead and gone!”

“F*ck your mother…” Another round of unbearable vulgarities mixed with physical fighting broke out.

Lin Yan couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.

Song Yuhang shook her head, preparing to step in and break up the fight.

The man suddenly stood up from his chair, clenching his fists and shouted: “EVERYONE SHUT UP!!!”

There was a moment of silence, but once recovered, the deceased’s family members wailed even more wretchedly, lunging at him with increased fury: “How dare you yell at me?! You still dare to yell! Pay for my daughter’s life! Pay with your life!”

In the struggle, the little girl fell from the long bench onto the ground. No one paid attention to her as she opened her mouth, watching bewildered as her nainai pushed her waipo [外婆 | wài pó | maternal grandmother], and her waipo slapped her father.

Unable to contain herself any longer, she burst into tears.

“Baba [爸爸 | bà ba | father], Baba, I want Mama, I want to go home…” She stumbled to her feet, trying to hug her father’s leg.

Someone pushed the man, causing him to stumble, and just as he was about to step on the little girl’s hand, Song Yuhang quickly scooped her up.

“If you keep fighting, you’ll all come to the police station! Everyone will get administrative detention [治安拘留 | zhì ān jū liú | short-term detention], no exceptions!”

The deceased’s mother wanted to say more, but after glancing at the two stripes on her uniform epaulette and considering the sobbing child in her arms, she finally held back.

Only then did she begin to weep silently.

What followed was according to procedure.

The deceased’s family members went in one by one to see the deceased one last time. When the deceased’s mother came out, she nearly collapsed, supported by several police officers who helped her out.

Considering the elderly relatives’ physical condition, after a brief assessment of the situation, Song Yuhang had them sent home, keeping only the deceased’s husband at the station to record his statement.

“According to Article 131 of the Criminal Procedure Law, we have decided to conduct a judicial autopsy on your wife’s remains. Please sign here.”

A “Notice of Autopsy” was slowly pushed across the table.

Lin Yan sat opposite him, straightening her back as she looked at this short, rather taciturn man.

“You want to know the truth, don’t you? You don’t want your wife’s death to remain unexplained, right? Sign quickly, the sooner we perform the autopsy, the closer we’ll be to the truth.”

As time passes, certain characteristics on the corpse gradually disappear, which was why she was eager to perform the autopsy.

Since no one could console the man’s crying child, she had followed her father to the police station. Song Yuhang had just managed to lull her to sleep and was coming from the adjacent duty room when she heard these words, throwing a disapproving glance.

Lin Yan opened her mouth, silently: Was what I said wrong?

Song Yuhang: You could have been more tactful.

Duan Cheng nudged Zheng Chengrui: “Hey, what are they saying?”

The IT guy looked up from his computer: “Who? Who’s talking?”

Duan Cheng: “…”

No one had spoken; it was all communicated through glances.

Song Yuhang cleared her throat lightly: “It’s like this, we will record audio and video throughout the autopsy process, and according to regulations, you may be present…”

What?

Lin Yan shot over a sharp glare; she wasn’t in the habit of letting uninvolved people observe her autopsy procedures.

Only then did the man move his lips, his voice hoarse, his face showing complete defeat: “No… no…”

After barely uttering these two words, his eyes reddened again: “Officer, I leave it to you.”

He pulled the paper over, removed the pen cap, and wrote his name stroke by stroke while wiping away tears.

Lin Yan stretched and stood up, taking the paper as she went to change clothes for the autopsy.

The forensic autopsy room was well-lit, with the ventilation fan already running.

Lin Yan wore white protective gear, fully armed from head to toe, and with an expressionless face, took the scalpel from the tray.

Duan Cheng, who rarely had the chance to work at the autopsy table, was eager to try. He picked up a scalpel: “Let me assist you, I can handle minor tasks like cutting skin and bones.”

“What are you doing?” Just as he was about to make an incision, Lin Yan grabbed his hand, her tone slightly cold.

“No one interferes at my autopsy table. Go handle the recording equipment over there.”

“Oh…” Duan Cheng reluctantly put down the scalpel and walked aside to pick up the camera.

“Lin…”

He was about to speak but saw her holding the scalpel vertically against her chest, head slightly bowed in silent tribute.

“Deceased Ding Xue, May 17, 2008, 00:45 hours, first autopsy, now beginning.”

It was the first time he saw an expression resembling reverence on Forensic Examiner Lin’s face.

Unlike surgical operations, the autopsy table was more bloody and involved broader incisions.

She made a straight incision from top to bottom across the chest and abdomen. Lin Yan’s hand was steady. After wiping away the seeping blood with gauze, without even looking, she picked up curved tissue scissors from the tray and began separating muscle tissue, cutting parallel along the ribs with clean, precise movements.

Several assisting forensic examiners watched her with growing solemnity in their eyes.

“Bone rongeur [咬骨鉗 | yǎo gǔ qián | surgical bone-cutting forceps].”

With both hands occupied, she called for the instrument.

A forensic examiner quickly handed it to her.

When cutting through the deceased’s ribs, she needed to apply some force, rising slightly on her toes, and there were several crisp “crack” sounds.

She placed the blood-covered instruments on the sterile cloth.

“Here, help me remove the bones.”

The ribs were removed from the thoracic cavity one by one and placed on the scale for weighing.

The camera flash kept going off as Duan Cheng took photos, while Lin Yan called out measurements that the recording officer wrote on the whiteboard.

In the opened thoracic cavity, both lungs were visibly enlarged. Lin Yan’s fingertips gently pressed down, feeling an indentation, and she carefully separated the tissue using straight tissue scissors.

The swollen lungs were finally removed, weighing approximately twice that of normal lungs.

Even with the air conditioning running low in the airtight environment, the protective gear weighing several jin [斤 | jīn | approximately 0.5 kg] caused her to break out in sweat. The intense corpse odor became even more pungent the moment all organs were removed.

The combined stench of half-month fermented rotten eggs, decaying meat, stinky tofu, and sewage couldn’t match this nauseating smell.

It wasn’t just nauseating; it stung the eyes.

When the irritating odor hit his eyes, causing a sharp pain, he couldn’t help but rub them with the clean part above his shoulders, making them red.

Having to get especially close to the corpse for photos, the visual and sensory assault caused Duan Cheng to retch.

Without looking up, Lin Yan used a dirty scalpel to slice lung tissue samples: “Go outside to vomit, don’t contaminate the environment.”

When the lung tissue was cut, a large amount of bloody foam-like fluid flowed out. Duan Cheng couldn’t hold it anymore, dropped the camera, and ran out retching.

Lin Yan announced the autopsy finding with a composed expression: “Pulmonary edema [水性肺氣腫 | shuǐ xìng fèi qì zhǒng | fluid accumulation in the lungs].”

She watched as the recording officer wrote it on the whiteboard, then when her gaze returned to the deceased’s face, her brows slightly furrowed.

Pulmonary edema was a vital reaction, meaning the death occurred from drowning while alive, not from being disposed of in water after death.

Could it really be suicide with a plastic bag as that police officer suggested?

She shook her head slightly, dismissing the thought.

Meanwhile, Song Yuhang was halfway through recording the statement.

The man’s name was Sun Xiangming [孫向明 | sūn xiàng míng], thirty-two years old, an employee at a local bank, married to the deceased Ding Xue for seven years, with one daughter.

The deceased was thirty years old, an ordinary teacher at Jiangcheng First Middle School. Sun Xiangming found a photo on his phone and pushed it toward her with tears in his eyes.

“This… is my wife.” The woman in the photo had ordinary features, wearing a simple plaid sweater, appearing to be a gentle and intellectual woman.

“In almost ten years of marriage, we rarely argued, and I never heard her raise her voice at anyone. She had no grudges with relatives or friends. I can’t understand… who would harm her…”

Song Yuhang avoided this topic: “Tell me about the day your wife went missing.”

Sun Xiangming thought for a moment, recalling the circumstances of that day.

“Nothing unusual. She made breakfast in the morning. After I ate, I took Yaya to kindergarten, and she was preparing to go to work.”

“Who usually takes the child to school?”

“I do, it’s always been me. She was busy with the graduating class of high school seniors.”

Song Yuhang gestured for the attending officer to note this down.

“Do you remember what you had for breakfast?”

Sun Xiangming furrowed his brows and thought for a moment: “I think it was millet porridge, baozi [包子 | bāo zi | stuffed buns], mantou [饅頭 | mán tou | plain steamed buns], things like that…”

“When did you notice she was missing?”

“Evening, in the evening.” When speaking of his wife’s disappearance, he became noticeably agitated.

Song Yuhang’s gaze, though appearing gentle and calm, firmly locked onto him, not missing the slightest facial expression or subtle movement.

“Tell me the specific details.”

“After dinner in the evening, I was washing dishes when she said she needed to go out.”

Song Yuhang interrupted: “Around what time?”

“I don’t remember exactly, probably around eight or nine.”

“Why go out so late?”

“She said something happened at school, some students got into a fight, and she had to go handle it.”

“And she never came back?”

“Right.” Sun Xiangming licked his lips, clearly choking up at this point, and lowered his head slightly. A criminal investigator passed him some tissues.

“I waited until after ten, and when she hadn’t returned, I called her.”

“Did she answer?”

“No.”

Song Yuhang raised her eyebrows slightly.

“But after hanging up, she sent me a text message saying not to worry and to put Yaya to bed first.”

“The text message, let us see it.”

Sun Xiangming quickly took out his phone and showed them the message history.

“Xiangming, I might be back later than expected. Go to sleep first, don’t wait up for me.”

A common everyday message that might have been this teacher’s final words.

“I’m sorry, but according to regulations, we’ll need to temporarily confiscate your phone for detailed examination.”

The man gave a bitter smile, the successive blows making him look completely haggard: “I understand, I’m now a suspect too, right?”

Song Yuhang didn’t answer. It was indeed true – the police wouldn’t overlook anyone who might have had the opportunity to commit the crime, and close relatives were often primary suspects.

“Then, you didn’t call again to check?” Another investigator spoke up.

The man’s face filled with pain at this point: “No… it’s… it’s my fault… if I had called her again or gone out to look for her, maybe… maybe this wouldn’t have…”

“What were you doing at that time?”

Sun Xiangming clutched his hair, his face showing shame and regret: “I… I was tired from working all day… had to look after our daughter… and my supervisor assigned urgent work… I was doing overtime at home…”

The investigator stopped him from hurting himself: “What’s done is done. Please accept our condolences. We will definitely catch the perpetrator.”

Sun Xiangming took a moment before continuing: “It wasn’t until the school called the next morning, saying she hadn’t come to work, that I realized something might have happened. I immediately reported it to the police…”

Afterward, she was listed as a missing person, DNA samples were collected from close relatives, until three days later when the body was discovered in Lotus Pond Park.

“She’s gone… how are the child and I supposed to live…” The man covered his face, barely managing to hold back his sobs in front of the police.

Song Yuhang handed him a tissue: “Our condolences.”

“Thank you.” The man took it and wiped his tears: “Please, you must catch the killer, give my wife justice.”

Song Yuhang nodded slightly, taking out an evidence bag from her pocket: “Look at this, is it your wife’s?”

It was the ring she had retrieved from the mud.

The man’s eyes instantly lit up upon seeing it: “Yes… it’s my wife’s… this is our wedding ring… she never took it off…”

He instinctively reached for it, but Song Yuhang pulled it back: “Sorry, we can’t return it yet. When the case is closed, all your wife’s personal effects will be returned to their rightful owner.”

She deliberately emphasized “personal effects,” but the man showed no particular emotional response, nodding with vacant eyes, fully cooperating with the police questioning.

She had seen too many people who had lost loved ones overnight; Sun Xiangming’s behavior was quite normal.

At least it appeared so for now.

As dawn was breaking, the criminal investigators who had spent the night reviewing surveillance footage could no longer stay awake and dozed off at their desks.

Snoring filled the office.

Song Yuhang opened a cup of instant noodles, sitting at her desk facing the whiteboard, which displayed the clues she had just organized.

With the deceased Ding Xue at the center, several arrows radiated outward.

Crime of passion, robbery-murder, revenge killing?

Crime of passion – so far, Sun Xiangming’s behavior appeared normal, but he couldn’t be ruled out as a suspect. Further investigation needed.

Robbery-murder – currently the highest possibility. Such perpetrators often try to sell stolen goods at second-hand markets or used goods markets. Further investigation required.

Revenge killing – most premeditated revenge killers use cruel methods, but Ding Xue was an exception. There were no signs of external force or sexual assault.

This point remained questionable, requiring further investigation into the deceased’s relationships.

Right, the autopsy – perhaps Lin Yan’s side would have new leads.

Song Yuhang quickly finished her instant noodles, planning to check on the technical investigation team.

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LP: Re-translated on February 26, 2025

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