Bone Painting Coroner

Quietness was restored to the pavilion. The aroma of the tea seemed to have changed noticeably, from a distinctive, pleasant smell to something full of bitterness.

Jing Rong returned to his seat, raised his hand, and knocked on the surface of the table with his finger joints.

Is he hinting her to take a seat?

‘No, I think it’s better if I keep standing.’

“This humble one is fine standing.”

“I’m not telling you to sit down,” Jing Rong seemed like he wanted to swallow Ji Yunshu whole. He knocked at the table again and said, “What I wanted to say, is that the tea’s lukewarm, and I’m asking you to pour me another cup.”

‘Hey, you aren’t handicapped are you? Shouldn’t you at least be able to do that by yourself?’

“I have an injury on my hand, and it pains me when I try to raise my arm. Teacher, you wouldn’t have so quickly forgotten about that, would you?” asked Jing Rong, who seemed to guess what she was thinking about.

“…”

‘Yes… I really did forget about it. Well, it’s not my fault that he removed his bandages, and it seems like he’s already fully recovered.’

Jing Rong was quite unhappy at the expression of surprise on Ji Yunshu’s face.

‘He seemed so patient and kind with Wei Yi, so why does he treat me with such a glacial attitude.’ Jing Rong thought as he grew more irritated.

“I am thirsty, so could you hurry up, Teacher?”

Despite wanting to roll her eyes in contempt at Jing Rong, Ji Yunshu obeyed him. As she went forth to pick up the tea kettle and was about to pour some tea into an empty cup, Jing Rong raised his palm to interrupt her.

“You know what, I don’t feel like drinking tea after all,” said Jing Rong.

“Then, prince, what do you desire?” asked Ji Yunshu.

“My shoulders are a little sore. Teacher, you seem to have an intricate knowledge of human anatomy. As such, could you apply some of your knowledge and find the best spot for a comfortable massage?”

‘Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.’

Ji Yunshu placed the kettle and the cup back onto the table, and answered, “Prince, my hands serve the dead, and I’ve never used them on the living, you may want to reconsider.”

Jing Rong felt a chill run down his spine and frowned in discontentment.

‘Ha! What will you say to that!’ thought Ji Yunshu with some satisfaction at her brilliant retort.

What he said next surprised her.

“I have reconsidered. Please apply some strength when massaging. I have quite the sore shoulder today,” said Jing Rong.

‘You little… Ugh, I give up.’

Ji Yunshu circled around Jing Rong and raised her arm, in doing so, she inadvertently stretched the part of her back through which her fresh wounds ran. She bit her lips and held in a scream.

As she extended her pale fingers and rested them on Jing Rong’s shoulders, ready to start the massage, Jing Rong suddenly grabbed one of her hands and pulled her over so that she faced him. Jing Rong stood up and held her hand with one hand, while he deposited his other hand on her thin waist.

“Ugh!” Ji Yunshu screamed in pain as she was dragged over.

This violent movement caused the scab on her back to reopen and bleed. She could feel the blood seeping into her clothes and staining them.

Jing Rong did not expect such a violent reaction on from her. He halted his movements for a split second and let go of Ji Yunshu, who instinctively reached for her back. Her lips looked pale as ever as she reached for her back with one hand.

Jing Rong eyes were burning; he frowned with severity and asked, “What happened to your back?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Let me see,” said Jing Rong, who seemed very worried.

“There’s no need for that,” answered Ji Yunshu as she stepped back and simultaneously wiped away the cold sweat which pearled on her forehead. She lowered her head and said, “This humble one is here to report on the case of the five burnt corpses.”

“There’s no need to report on that, Lang Po has already informed me on the matter. Let me see your back,” insisted Jing Rong, who had a worried and distressed expression on his face. He reached out for her hand before an answer could be provided.

Ji Yunshu took another step back and was now almost out of the pavilion.

“If not about the burnt corpses, then allow me to say a few words about the case of Lin Capital then,” proposed Ji Yunshu.

Upon hearing “Lin Capital”, Jing Rong paused for a little.

But…

“That’s not urgent right now. Let me see your back first,” said Jing Rong.

‘Why is this prince so persistent?’

Ji Yunshu raised her eyes and met Jing Rong’s concern with a determined look, “Prince, it’s really no big deal. I simply grazed my back the other day.”

“Grazed?” Jing Rong refused to believe it, “How could you be in such pain when I barely touched your back then?”

“It’s a minor wound, really. On top of it…” Ji Yunshu took a deep breath, “I wouldn’t want to dirty your eyes with the sight of my body. Someone from my stature ought to…”

‘There are such things as barriers between men and women. I beg for your respect of them, O prince.’

Jing Rong was about to say something when Lang Po suddenly ran over.

“There’s something wrong, Prince,” said Lang Po with a stern look as he arrived.

“What’s that?” asked Jing Rong.

Lang Po lowered his head and answered, “Prince, Gentleman Wei has fallen off a tree and…”

These words made Ji Yunshu momentarily forget the throbbing pain in her back and she then asked in a distressed tone, “How did you let him get on top of a tree? Did he hurt himself anywhere?”

Jing Rong was unpleased.

Lang Po shook his head in a bit of a panic, “The gentleman is alright, it’s just that after he fell, we discovered that there was a corpse buried under the tree.”

A corpse?

When Ji Yunshu heard the word ‘corpse’, she will always become more alert without fail.

“Please bring me there quickly.”

Lang Po looked at Jing Rong and awaited his orders.

Jing Rong glanced at Ji Yunshu’s back. He was still worried, but nevertheless agreed, “Let’s go have a look.”

The trio moved towards the side yard.

From the distance, Ji Yunshu could see Wei Yi hiding behind a guard, visibly terrified by something under a big tree nearby and holding something in his hands.

At the base of the tree, the earth was dug up and a corpse was unearthed. Several guards were postured around the corpse and blocked access to it.

Wei Yi trotted to meet Ji Yunshu as the latter approached the scene. He was visibly frightened.

“Big Brother, there’s a corpse there. Just now… when I fell from the tree, I landed on it,” said Wei Yi as he pointed toward the corpse.

Ji Yunshu did not mind his remark. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket, wrapped it around her hand and knelt down in front of the corpse to examine it.

After examining with great concentration for a while, Ji Yunshu said, with some severity, “This corpse has been there for around two years.”

Jing Rong, who was standing behind her, continued to listen to her explanation.

“From the looks of it, the size of the skull is large, and its base is coarse.. There are multiple irregularities on the base bone and there’s an overall heaviness to its composition,” said Ji Yunshu as she continued to examine the skull, “The inclination of the frontal bone is rather steep, and the glabella’s and superciliary arch’s outgrowth is noticeable. The eye orbits are rather deep, and the superior rims of the eye sockets are thick. The protrusion of mastoid process from the temporal bone is long and its radius is large as well. The cheekbones are protuberant and the zygomatic arch is quite sizeable.”

“The deceased individual is a man,” concluded Ji Yunshu.

The string of technical terms made it very difficult for everyone who was present to follow her.

“But… why is there the presence of a milk bone1? A man shouldn’t have this!” said Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu then shifted her look to the pelvis, and was surprised by what she saw. “The pelvis bone is smooth, thin, light and rounded. It’s shallow but the cavity is large, just like a bucket. The pubic bone is positioned rather lowly and it’s broad and short, with a significant curvature and elasticity. The acetabulum is rather small in size.”

“A woman?”

The two conflicting conclusions confused Jing Rong and the others greatly, since it was already difficult for them to understand the jargon that she was using.

“What do you know?” asked Jing Rong.

Ji Yunshu remained in a deep reflection and only opened her mouth after gaining enough confidence about her deduction.

“This is a yin yang corpse,” concluded Ji Yunshu.

“A yin yang corpse?”

1.Milk bone doesn’t exist in real life. This milk bone(乳骨) is a Chinese myth similar to the biblical myth about men having a pair of ribs less than women due to Eve being made out of Adam’s ribs. This is a work of fiction and the author might not be someone in the health/biology domain. For real fact, the pelvis is the main difference between a male or female skeleton. There are a total of 12 main differences with a few minor differences being the overall bone density, shape, size, etc. For more information: http://www.majordifferences.com/2014/03/difference-between-male-and-female.html#.WbtmmtPyjVo

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