Chapter 25: Damned Rabbit

“Your meaning is, Little Shan died from poison?”

Within the Han family that had remained silent all along, suddenly someone asked.

Ran Yan glanced at that person, about in his thirties, slightly plump, from his outward appearance he looked very much like Assistant Magistrate Han, only his temperament was different, his gaze was a lot harder.

“That’s right.” Ran Yan said.

Actually she could perform this autopsy in even more detail, without overlooking even a single pore, but Ran Yan was invited to perform the autopsy by Sang Chen in order for him to write a plaint, thus she saw no need to meddle in affairs that did not concern her.

Even though Ran Yan undertook the job of a forensic doctor, but she truly was not some embodiment of justice, emissary of the light, liking this job of a forensic doctor, did not mean that she always needed to investigate to the roots to reveal the truth. Weighing the pros and cons, she still knew how to do that.

Seeing that person still had the intention to inquire, Ran Yan decisively turned towards Assistant Magistrate Han and said, “Assistant Magistrate Han, I responded to Mr Sang’s invitation, came here to perform the autopsy, so that when he writes the plaint for your esteemed son it would be even more convincing and trustworthy, regarding other matters, please forgive my impotence.”

Assistant Magistrate Han always had a gentle temperament, hearing Ran Yan’s clear statement, he could not force her further, lightly sighed and said, “Thank you for your trouble, regarding the other matters, I will naturally ask Mr Feng to take over.”

The examination was already finished, whatever issues remain, is other people’s family business, Ran Yan looked at Sang Chen and saw that he was still curled into a ball and trembling, in her heart she felt a burst of depression[1], immediately took off her gloves and threw it into the tool box, efficiently wore her veil, with one hand she hauled Sang Chen up, with another hand she lifted the tool box, rushed to the Han family saying, “Since that is the case, then Mr Sang and I will take our leave here.”

Luckily Sang Chen was not so weak he could not walk, he still knew to follow Ran Yan’s tugging to walk towards the outside, because the Han family was not in a good frame of mind, they were disinclined to mock him.

The sunlight was warm outside, dispersing much of the negative, cold energy, Sang Chen’s pale complexion also gradually looked better, barely regaining some of his soul, Ran Yan saw this and threw the tool box in her hands at him.

Sang Chen absent-mindedly held the box and followed behind Ran Yan, it was not until after walking out of the main entrance of the mortuary before Ran Yan took off her facemask and spat out a piece of ginger, she looked askance at Sang Chen, saying slowly, “Really should let the young ladies from the village see your appearance today, after they’ve seen it all, don’t know if they will still be infatuated with you.”

Sang Chen’s face turned red, he coughed dryly a few times, changed the subject saying, “Miss was keeping a piece of ginger in your mouth? What is it for?”

This subject change was well done! The corners of Ran Yan’s lips lifted, “Ginger has positive energy, it can prevent ghosts from possessing your body, coming to this type of place, naturally I need to keep one piece in my mouth.”

“Wh- what?” Sang Chen asked with a shaking voice, his lovely pitiful gaze seemed as if it wanted to look through Ran Yan’s black muslin veil.

Ran Yan ignored him and directly turned towards the alley where the carriage stopped at, walked a few steps, then realised that Sang Chen did not follow her, only heard a “thud” sound, Ran Yan stopped her steps, turned her head to look, but saw that Sang Chen actually was lying stiffly on the ground while still holding the box.

Ran Yan’s mouth dropped open, she only spoke without thinking, this made someone faint in fright? In any case he was a seven foot tall man, he actually had a rabbit’s courage.

Ginger pieces could repel filth and cleanse poison, directly confronting a corpse, holding a piece of ginger in the mouth, was able to prevent the poisonous gas emitted by the corpse from invading the human body, that is all. Sang Chen did not need to lean close to the corpse to observe, thus had no need to suck on a ginger piece.

“I see that Mr Sang’s situation is not too good.” Sixth Master Han came out of the mortuary and saw Sang Chen who had fainted on the ground.

When Ran Yan six years old she was practiced at dissecting small lab rats, after she saw real corpses in university, she only lost her appetite for two or three meals, the students around her who had the least ability to bear it, also only threw up for a few days, afterwards even if they were looking at a corpse while eating their lunch, they would still be able to eat heartily.

On the other hand, normal people often shouted in alarm, trembled, lost control of their minds, fainted, etc when they saw a corpse, many eyewitnesses in (criminal) cases had these types of reactions, Ran Yan herself had seen it many times, but really when she turned and saw Sang Chen so frightened even though he had not personally seen the corpse, and only listened to a few sentences, just with this he could not withstand anymore?

“Mr Sang is a scholar, I’m afraid he has never seen this type of scene before.” Sixth Master Han could not wait for Ran Yan’s reply, spoke to excuse Sang Chen.

Ran Yan saw that he came out alone, thus said, “Sixth Master Han has something he wishes to say, please speak.”

Sixth Master Han had been part of the bureaucracy for a long time, every sentence he had said was revised in his head seven to eight times, and then expressed in a roundabout fashion, abruptly meeting Ran Yan’s blunt manner that cut to the chase, he was stumped for a moment. Shortly after he said, “Since you’ve been so straightforward, I will not beat around the bush. Just now I saw that Miss your analysis was thorough and down to the smallest detail, remarkable to the extreme, I especially came out, only wishing to consult you in private, does Miss have any clues regarding the murderer that killed my nephew?”

Remarkable? Ran Yan sighed deeply, just now she paid attention to the individual expressions of the Han family, tsk tsk[2], that is what you would call remarkable[3], subtly hidden expressions but yet every one different, it seemed that the internal body of the Han family was filled with intrigue[4], Ran Yan was not planning to join in.

“My apologies, everything that I’ve managed to find out, I’ve already reported frankly, there is nothing more left.” Ran Yan was entrusted with this task from Sang Chen, naturally she had to undertake the matter honestly, after all it was business transection. Sang Chen only needed to write a plaint, he did not need to investigate the case, this data is enough for him to use. If she wanted to be clear of this affair, after exiting the mortuary she could not say a word more.

“Miss does not need to apologise, our Han family should give our thanks instead.” Under Sixth Master Han’s steady outward expression, his thoughts were abnormally deep, he knew that Ran Yan was unwilling to be involved in this matter, thus did not pursue it further, only glanced at Sang Chen, his face not a trace of abnormal expression, and merely asked, “Does Miss need any help?”

“No need, many thanks!” Ran Yan rejected without any hesitation.

Sixth Master Han nodded, “Please go ahead then Miss.”

Not until she saw Sixth Master Han turn and walk away, did Ran Yan quickly walk to Sang Chen, reached out and took his pulse, took out a silver needle from the box, and swiftly pierced the Neiguan point[5].

Once the needle pierced through, Sang Chen faintly stirred awake, he was sluggish for a good while before recovering to normal.

Ran Yan kept the silver needle, coldly said, “Let’s go.”

Sang Chen got up with an ashamed expression, followed behind Ran Yan and walked towards the carriage.

Sitting in the carriage, Ran Yan’s face remained cold, adding to it her originally unfriendly personality, directly caused the temperature in the small carriage to drop a few degrees, Sang Chen who was seated in a corner, could only feel the whooshing of the chill wind, did not dare to even breathe out strongly.

Weather in the summer changed easily, just now it was still beautiful and sunny, the blazing sun shining high in the sky, but in the next moment some dark clouds drifted from who knew where, slowly covered the sky, the air also gradually became damp, the sky pressed lower and lower, yet the rain did not fall.

Ran Yan asked Wan Lu to wait for her at the entrance to the east city at noon, calculating the time she was already half an hour late, if they did not hurry a little, she was afraid that Wan Lu would worry. Ran Yan had always been a punctual person, when she left the house today she already calculated her time properly, even if she was held up by two to four hours, she would still be able to return to the east city by noon, if it were not for Sang Chen fainting again and again…

Thinking of this, Ran Yan shot a glance through her veil that was as sharp as a knife at Sang Chen.

As if he felt her deathly gaze and knew that he was in the wrong, Sang Chen could not help withdrawing his neck.

Ran Yan ignored him, reached out to knock on the carriage wall, and asked the driver, “How long would it take to reach the east city if we take the shortest route?”

Sang Chen spent money to hire the carriage, the driver was a warm hearted old man, hearing Ran Yan’s question, he answered, “Majority of the alleys in the city can only allow litters to pass through, so we need to go around around three to four streets when taking the big roads, to reach the east city takes at least an hour. However, if you are in a rush, this old fool can stop the carriage nearby, Miss can cut across the streets on foot and reach within fifteen minutes.

“Please stop the carriage.” Ran Yan was unwilling to waste time in the carriage, although the small alleys in Suzhou seemed complicated, it actually adhered to a regular pattern, she believed in her sense of direction, she would not easily get lost.

The driver stopped the carriage by the roadside, Sang Chen also followed Ran Yan down the carriage, “Miss walking alone in the streets, I feel worried, why don’t I accompany you and walk together.”

“But I feel that, you walking in the streets is even more unsafe.” Ran Yan said without inflection[6].

The meaning outside her words were: His performance today, was even more girlish than a girl, bringing a person like him along, if they really met with danger, she was afraid he would still be a burden.

Ran Yan had always been frank and straightforward in her speech, this occasional roundabout mocking, the person in question actually never understood, conversely happily said, “I was also very apprehensive about sitting alone in the carriage, luckily I can accompany Miss.”

Ran Yan rolled her eyes, she understood now, Sang Chen was not just a fool, he also lived in his own fictional world, his occasional normalness, was just when there was overlap between his fictional world and the real world, to put it simply, it was an extremely rare illusion.

This type of person, Ran Yan decided to ignore as much as possible.

After taking their leave from the driver, the two followed the little bluestone alleys and walked east. The weather was gloomy, the rain almost falling but not quite yet, resembling Ran Yan’s current mood, luckily, her patience had always been good, that’s why she did not reach out to throttle that damned rabbit beside her that was one moment hesitant to speak, another moment blushing and coughing.

“Miss.” Sang Chen finally could not bear it.

Ran Yan knew that she could not ignore him this time, one word escaped from the edge of her lips coldly, “Speak.”

Sang Chen craned his neck to look if there was anyone around, before saying in a low voice, “If I cut a piece of ginger to suck on when I get home, will it work?”

Ran Yan stopped walking, glared at Sang Chen for a long while, until all the hair on his body stood on end, before she said, “It will work, suck on it for one month without speaking.”

She paused for a while before saying, “You better hug garlic when you sleep, it can ward off evil spirits.”

“Many thanks for Miss’ teachings.” Sang Chen seriously clasped his hands together, colour also came back to his face, it seemed like he really took it for real.

After walking through 6-7 alleyways, estimating the time, they should be reaching the east city soon, at this moment, the gloomy sky suddenly turned white, in that instant a layer of white colour rose up in her vision, closely following that was the roar of thunder.

The torrential rain, pours down whenever it wants to, without a single sign before that.

Ran Yan hesitated for a while, saw that there was a house not far ahead, with eaves jutting out at the main entrance, thus hid under them with Sang Chen.

[1] 气闷: feel suffocated, feel oppressed, in low spirits, worried, unhappy

[2]啧啧 (zeze): to click one’s tongue

[3]精彩: the word also carried the connotation of entertaining in addition to brilliant/wonderful/remarkable

[4] 勾心斗角: to fight and scheme against each other/infighting

[5] 关内穴: acupuncture point located in the wrist, it is said to calm the body/mind, manage internal energy (Qi) and relieve pain. Now commonly used to treat angina, myocarditis, arrhythmias, gastritis, hysteria etc.

[6] 不咸不淡: literally means not salty and not bland. So I inferred that she said it without inflection. Could be wrong though.