351 Deliberately Making Things Difficult

Seeing that Qiao Muchen and Zhao Yue, the younger ones, didn't move, County Magistrate Wang felt like vomiting but couldn't bring himself to leave. Hence, he forced himself to stand by and watch.

Zhao Zhitong was very focused. She held a thin blade in her hand and skillfully cut open the deceased's abdomen…

Upon seeing the thin blade, County Magistrate Wang was very curious. He was just about to ask some questions when he saw Zhao Zhitong take out the internal organs…

Even though he had seen other coroners examine corpses before, he had never witnessed a scene where the internal organs were taken out. Unable to bear it any longer, he covered his mouth and exited the room.

Hearing the movement behind her, Zhao Zhitong glanced back at them, then bowed her head and continued her work as if nothing unusual had occurred.

"The deceased hadn't eaten anything before death, the abdomen suffered an impact, and they experienced abuse while alive…" Zhao Zhitong calmly stated the facts observed from the corpse.

Qiao Muchen and Zhao Yue, standing nearby, were quite composed. Zhao Yue, who couldn't bear it at first, was now completely accustomed to such sights.

A little under an hour later, Zhao Zhitong had basically finished examining the corpse and was beginning to suture it.

At this time, County Magistrate Wang walked back in. He glanced at the corpse, which Zhao Zhitong had restored to its original appearance, and felt somewhat ashamed. To think I'm so much older than Qiao Muchen and the others, yet I'm not as composed as these young people. It's truly shameful, he thought.

Then he asked with a smile, "Is the examination... finished?"

Qiao Muchen nodded. "It's done. The records are all here."

Saying this, he handed the record book to the County Magistrate and added, "The deceased suffered abuse before death. Have there been any reports of sexual predators in Suzhou City recently?"

County Magistrate Wang took the record book and frowned in thought. "'Sexual predators?' We haven't received any reports about sexual predators recently."

Qiao Muchen nodded, his expression grave. The victim was only eleven or twelve years old and endured such inhuman torture. The murderer is utterly wicked!

At this moment, the young attendants who had left earlier ran back in. Seeing the corpse under Zhao Zhitong's hands, now seemingly intact, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Hey, wasn't it... wasn't it just dissected?"

Zhao Zhitong nodded. "Yes. After the examination was complete, I sewed it back up. I try to restore the body as much as possible so the deceased can have a more dignified burial."

"It... it can be sewn back up?"

The men were all astonished.

They had seen Butcher Zhang or other coroners examine corpses before. Those coroners rarely cut open bodies. Even when they had to, the corpses looked ghastly afterwards.

None were as meticulous as Zhao Zhitong, who restored the body so well that, without close inspection, one would never know it had been dissected.

Zhao Zhitong smiled. "Of course, it can be sewn up. Even incisions made on a living person can be sewn up."

Just then, one of them suddenly recalled something. "Oh, I know about this! A few days ago, I was drinking with a brother, and he told me."

"He said that there is a Divine Doctor in all corners of the country, whose medical skills are miraculous, capable of things like scraping bone to heal injuries and cutting open the abdomen to remove objects. This friend of mine suffered from a chronic abdominal ailment; when it flared up, the pain was unbearable, and nothing could cure it."

"Finally, he met this Divine Healer Zhao, who said he had something bad in his abdomen, called an... appendix, or something like that, which had gone bad. Then that Divine Doctor cut open his abdomen, removed the bad part, and sewed him up. After that, he never had stomach pains again!"

The others listened in amazement. "Is it really that miraculous?"

"It truly is."

"If only we had the chance to meet that Divine Doctor."

...

Hearing their conversation, Zhao Zhitong simply smiled without saying anything. After dressing the corpse, she went to the side to wash her hands with soap and then walked out with everyone.

So far, there were too few clues in this case; even the deceased's identity was still unknown.

Therefore, there were no further tasks to be done. Qiao Muchen had already dispatched men with a portrait of the deceased to investigate their background and connections.

There was nothing more for Zhao Zhitong to do there. Besides, she was worried about Zhao Ya's registration for the embroidery competition. Since it was organized by the Fei Clan, she feared they might try to cause trouble.

Thus, she bid farewell to everyone.

After this autopsy, no one in the yamen dared to look down on Zhao Zhitong anymore.

Long after Zhao Zhitong had left, they were still discussing her. They marveled at how this seemingly small and delicate young girl possessed such capability and showed no fear of corpses. Alongside their admiration, there was also a certain awe, even fear, of Zhao Zhitong.

Mainly, her calmness while cutting open the corpse with a knife had been deeply unsettling.

While the yamen clerks were discussing this, they suddenly remembered they had also summoned Butcher Zhang. So, they sent word for him to return home.

Butcher Zhang, who had been called over and kept waiting for so long for nothing, was completely dumbfounded.

One of the yamen clerks said with a smile, "You can go back now. We have a very capable young lady here. From now on, we won't need you for autopsies."

Then, he enthusiastically recounted how Zhao Zhitong had dissected the corpse and then meticulously restored it.

Butcher Zhang listened, intrigued by this novel information. Although he felt a bit like he'd been made a fool of, being summoned for nothing, this was the government office. He could only nod and bow respectfully as he departed.

And Zhao Zhitong's worries were not unfounded. When Zhao Ya and Wei Zijian went to register, they indeed encountered trouble.

Because so many people were signing up, they had to queue for almost an hour. When it was finally their turn, they were stopped.

"Although we said anyone can register, that doesn't mean just any random person can walk in."

A sweet-looking girl, yet with an arrogant air and a condescending way of looking down her nose at people, blocked Zhao Ya's path.

Pointing at Zhao Ya's nose, she declared, "You're not from Suzhou, so you cannot participate in our embroidery competition."

Zhao Ya looked at the girl. "But your registration announcement didn't say that outsiders cannot participate, did it?"

The girl, about the same age as Zhao Ya, was Fei Yi, a concubine-born young miss of the Fei Clan.

A few days prior, she had heard about some family matters and learned of a young girl from out of town with exceptionally fine embroidery skills.

Her father had even said that this young girl was extraordinarily talented, perhaps even more so than Fei Yi herself.

As the most talented embroiderer of her generation in the Fei Clan, having won the embroidery competition championship for two consecutive years, Fei Yi was naturally proud.

When she heard that someone else might possess greater talent, she began to feel a sense of unease. She simply had to see for herself just how great this person's talent really was!

So, for this embroidery competition, she had instructed her servants to keep an eye out. If a girl from out of town named Zhao Ya came to register, they were to inform her immediately.

And thus, this scene of her deliberately making things difficult for Zhao Ya unfolded.

Fei Yi looked at Zhao Ya with disdain in her eyes. This girl looks delicate enough, but she gives off such an ordinary, unremarkable impression. And her clothes! She's clearly from some poor, remote village. Could someone like this truly have more talent than me?

Fei Yi raised her head proudly. "If you want to participate, fine. But you'll have to show us your skills first. If someone with no real talent joins, wouldn't that just lower the standard of our competition?"