[Lu Hua] Beauty Fragrance

At the beginning of the snow, there is only an endless white and dazzling gold intertwined between the sky and the earth, which makes people unable to open their eyes, and even a little dizzy.

Outside a yizhuang in the outskirts, in the white snow, two figures, one red and one blue, walked slowly. The man in the red cloak was stroking his beard all the time, looking quite helpless.

"So, why did I come to this place where there are only dead people in this freezing weather? Shouldn't I be sitting in your small building drinking hot Pu'er and eating delicious pastries?"

"Because you were moved by the sincerity of Mr. Jiang's arrest."

"wrong"

Lu Xiaofeng stopped in his tracks, turned around, pinched his waist, looked at Huamanlou, and said: "The person who was moved by Jiang Tongwu's sincerity is not me, but you, Huamanlou."

Hua Manlou also stopped naturally, turned around and faced Lu Xiaofeng's direction, and said with a smile: "If you don't want to come, who can really force you, Lu Xiaofeng?"

Lu Xiaofeng laughed when he heard that, then shook his head helplessly, continued to move forward, and pushed open the gate of the Yizhuang.

There are two female corpses parked in Yizhuang. Ten female corpses were found in the eight prefectures of the south of the Yangtze River. Three of them were found in Yingtian Mansion. The earliest one was taken away by the family, and the remaining two were only found a few days ago. Stop at this cemetery now.

In the cold weather of the twelfth lunar month, the corpse was well preserved and there was no corruption, so Lu Xiaofeng didn't have to worry about Huamanlou's sensitive nose.

Lu Xiaofeng carefully inspected the two corpses, they were both seventeen or eighteen years old, they were as delicate and beautiful as flowers, but they just withered, Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help sighing.

Lu Xiaofeng: "According to what Jiang Tongwu said, the ten women who were found before were all found in the river, and all died of suffocation, but according to the present situation, they were not drowned."

Hua ManLou: "Oh?"

Lu Xiaofeng: "Drowning people must fight for their lives before they die, and suck water into their stomachs. If they are really drowned in the river, they must have fisted hands, foam in their mouths and noses, mud and sand in the nails of their hands and feet, and dirt in their stomachs. Water, the stomach swells slightly, and the sound of clapping"

While talking, Lu Xiaofeng patted the abdomen of one of the corpses, but there was no special sound.

Lu Xiaofeng: "These two corpses are clean, their postures are also very regular, and there is no water in their stomachs, they are not drowned at all, but there are no bruises found on their bodies. What traces should be left?"

Hua Manlou pulled the sapphire blue cloak on her body, and said with some hesitation: "Perhaps, there are other ways."

Lu Xiaofeng: "What did you think of?"

Huamanlou: "Many years ago, the imperial court used a method of torture to extract confessions when interrogating prisoners, called 'rain pouring plum blossoms'"

Lu Xiaofeng: "The rain pours plum blossoms?"

Hua Manlou: "The torturers fixed the prisoner's limbs on the couch so that they could not move, then soaked the rice paper and pasted it on the face layer by layer. The rice paper was docile and blocked the mouth and nose. will suffocate"

Lu Xiaofeng: "It's true that there will be no traces left, but why do they bother?"

Lu Xiaofeng looked at Huamanlou, Huamanlou had already walked to him, lowered his head as if looking at the corpse in front of him, Lu Xiaofeng wanted to say something, but before he could speak, he saw Huamanlou's fixed Looking at the hair of the dead body.

Of course Huamanlou couldn't see it, but he did look at that place in a somewhat stiff and strange posture.

"what happened?"

Hua Manlou didn't answer Lu Xiaofeng, he stretched out his hand, stroked the girl's hair, then withdrew his hand, and twirled his fingertips.

Huamanlou: "It's gelatin"

Lu Xiaofeng: "Ningzhi? Seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls are just at the age when they love beauty. Isn't it normal to use balm?"

Hua Manlou: "No, it's not balm. This kind of balm has no smell, and it has no beauty-beautifying effect. Girls won't use it."

Lu Xiaofeng: "But, this curd has no smell, how did you smell it?"

Hua Manlou: "It is precisely because this gelatin has no smell that it easily absorbs other smells. I also discovered it because of the strong watery smell it emits."

Lu Xiaofeng pursed his lips, the beard on his mouth looked like two eyebrows frowning together.Hua Manlou has already gone to see if there is such gelatin on another corpse.

Hua Manlou: "It's not on this body, but maybe it was washed off because it was soaked in water for too long, or it wasn't there in the first place."

Lu Xiaofeng: "Perhaps we should go to Jiang Tongwu now to see the other corpses"

Jiang Tongwu hastily rushed to Zhenjiang after receiving a letter, so now Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou are also going to Zhenjiang.

But Lu Xiaofeng refused to ride a horse, he said he wanted to take a boat.

Lu Xiaofeng, who is most afraid of seasickness, seems to have been on a boat recently.

Lu Xiaofeng was lying on the white wooden canopy bed in the cabin, with his hands folded behind his head, staring blankly at the sapphire blue ceiling without saying a word. He and Hua Manlou, one red and one basket of two cloaks, were placed on the bed on the shelf next to it.

Hua Manlou was sitting on a chair beside her, and a pot of good Lu'an Guapian was being boiled on the table.

Huamanlou: "You are angry"

This is not a query, but an affirmative statement.

Hearing this, Lu Xiaofeng turned over and lay on his back, looked at Hua Manlou with his head propped on one hand, and said with a smile, "Why should I be angry?"

Hua Manlou: "You couldn't let go of this matter, so you sat on this cruise ship to Zhenjiang Mansion, but you had some scruples in your heart and told you not to cause this trouble, so you were very conflicted and angry. So you didn't talk the whole way, you didn't even ask for a drink, because that thing on your mind made you cautious"

Lu Xiaofeng smiled and said, "Sometimes I really wish you weren't so smart."

Huamanlou: "Why?"

Lu Xiaofeng: "If you are always so smart, it will make me look stupid. I was clearly spotted by you, but I still want to hide it and not tell you."

Hua Manlou: "You don't need to tell me what you are worried about, I just want to tell you that you should do what you want to do, in fact, you have been doing this for so many years"

Lu Xiaofeng turned over and got off the bed, went to the table and poured himself a cup of tea, and also poured a cup for Hua Manlou.

The scalding tea was steaming hot, Hua Manlou sat across the table, his face was always peaceful and peaceful, Lu Xiaofeng held the teacup with one hand on his waist and the other, smiled, blew on the tea, and drank it down in one gulp.

Boating is naturally much slower than riding a horse, so when Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou arrived in Zhenjiang, it was already dark, but it was not difficult to find Jiang Tongwu.

To find a chief arrester from the capital, he would naturally go to the yamen. Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou went straight to the Zhenjiang government yamen, and they met Jiang Tongwu who was full of dignity.

In Zhenjiang Building, the largest restaurant in Zhenjiang Prefecture, the three of Lu Huajiang are sitting in the private room. On the table are catfish in white sauce, stewed crab meat and lion head, stewed meat in Baihua wine, crystal meat, stewed catfish head, sweet and sour Dried radish, emerald cabbage, crab roe soup dumpling, yam old goose soup.

Lu Xiaofeng felt that the goose soup tonight was really good, so he drank a few more bowls, and also served Huamanlou a bowl, and helped Huamanlou pick up a soup dumpling, and there was a lion in the bowl of Jiang Tongwu head, but did not move a mouthful.

Lu Xiaofeng: "The Old Goose Soup and Crystal Dried Meat in Zhenjiang Tower are truly unique in the south of the Yangtze River. It's rare for Jiang Butou to come to Jiangnan. With the delicious food, Jiang Butou should not think too much. Even if you starve yourself to death, the murderer won't die." will come out by itself"

Jiang Tongwu said coldly: "I never thought that the romantic and suave Lu Xiaofeng would fall in love with food after he stopped loving beauties."

Hearing this, Lu Xiaofeng stretched out his left index finger towards Jiang Tongwu, shook it, and said with a smile: "No, no, I, Lu Xiaofeng, have always loved good wine, beautiful women and even food. When it comes to research on food, I have never Modesty, if you don’t believe me, ask Huamanlou.”

Hua Manlou shook his head with a smile, and said, "You're not very humble about other things."

Jiang Tongwu's tense expression finally relaxed, and the three of them laughed together.

And young, strong men usually have a good appetite, if they are asked to do things on an empty stomach, they usually can't do well, Lu Xiaofeng especially thinks so.

So after drinking and eating, they discussed why they came to Zhenjiang.

Jiang Tongwu smiled wryly and said, "That's why I've been frowning tonight."

Hua Manlou: "Is there something wrong with the female corpse in Zhenjiang Mansion?"

Jiang Tongwu: "It's not that something went wrong, it just disappeared. In fact, the unburied female corpses in other prefectures also disappeared."

Hua Manlou: "Brother Jiang said 'disappeared', do you mean disappearing out of thin air?"

Jiang Tongwu nodded, then suddenly remembered something, and said, "Hua Xia is right."

Lu Xiaofeng stroked his mustache, leaned on the chair, and asked, "How does it disappear out of thin air?"

Jiang Tongwu: "The Zhenjiang Mansion was interrogated by me personally, but the results were the same as those reported by the other mansions. Because the imperial court attached great importance to this case, all the mansions sent special personnel to guard the corpse, and the six gates were also guarded. , Twelve o'clock stay away from people, heavy vigilance, but there is no sign or trace, all after turning around, the body disappeared."

Lu Xiaofeng raised his eyebrows.

Jiang Tongwu: "I checked the morgue in Zhenjiang Mansion carefully. Except for the gate, there is indeed no other entrance, and the vents are only the size of an egg. Even the bone shrinking skill can't pass, let alone such a big corpse."

Lu Xiaofeng: "This is really unbelievable."

Jiang Tongwu: "If you two really need to check the corpse, maybe you can only find the one that has been buried and open the coffin for an autopsy."

Lu Xiaofeng: "Let's go to the Zhenjiang government office first, there will always be other clues where the corpse stayed."

In the morgue of the Zhenjiang government office, there was an empty mortuary board covered with a white cloth. Lu Xiaofeng looked around the layout of the room, while Hua Manlou was carefully touching the white cloth.

After a long time, Hua Manlou withdrew his hand, twirled his fingertips lightly, frowned and sighed.

Lu Xiaofeng: "Is there?"

Huamanlou: "Yes"

Hua Manlou turned to Jiang Tongwu and said, "Brother Jiang, is the body of the first woman who had an accident still there?"

Jiang Tongwu: "The first person to have an accident was the young lady of the Zhang family in Yingtian Mansion. Her family has taken her back for burial, so she should still be there."

Hua Manlou: "I think we need to open the coffin for an autopsy"

Pigeon took a step ahead, and the three of them rushed back to Tianfu wearing stars and moon. When they arrived at the cemetery, the sky was already dark.The people from Six Doors have dug up the tomb and are about to open the coffin.

Lu Xiaofeng: "Jiang Tongwu, you dig someone's daughter's grave, have you discussed it with the Zhang family?"

Jiang Tongwu: "The situation is urgent, so it's too late to notify Zhang's family. Besides, this is also required by the circumstances of the case. Regardless of whether Zhang's family agrees or not, I will dig it out."

Lu Xiaofeng didn't speak, but turned his head to glance at Huamanlou beside him.Hua Manlou was staring in the direction of the coffin, not knowing what he was thinking.

In the gray sky, the white snow, and a red lacquered wooden coffin in the black soil, there is always something ghostly about it.The seventh coffin nail was pulled out, and the coffin lid was finally opened.

"how so!"

It was Jiang Tongwu who asked this startled question.

"It has been more than a month since the body of this young lady was discovered. Even if the weather is severe in winter, this body should not be corrupt at all."

Neither Lu Xiaofeng nor Hua Manlou answered, only Hua Manlou sighed and said softly: "Close it".

Lu Xiaofeng: "Is it because of Ningzhi?"

Hua Manlou nodded, and said: "I often refine Baihuasan. Some flowers and trees are not easy to refine, but if they are soaked in this kind of cream, the aroma will be absorbed, and it will be much easier to refine this cream. In fact, many This is how incense is refined in incense workshops.”

Jiang Tongwu: "What does this have to do with the incorruption of the corpse?"

Hua Manlou: "Brother Jiang doesn't know that this gelatin has another effect, which is to prolong the time of corruption. So, now it seems that these murdered women are just like..."

Hua Manlou didn't finish this sentence, so he couldn't continue, his face was very painful, as if he had thought of something terrible.

Lu Xiaofeng continued: "It's almost like refined flowers, which are soaked in congee, and then thrown into the river at will after the fragrance is exhausted. So these women didn't drown in the water, but were drowned by people. Stuffed in this fat, suffocated to death!"

Jiang Tongwu's complexion changed slightly, and he said in disbelief for a while, "What does Hua Daxia mean, that someone is using these women to make incense?"

Hua Manlou: "This is not a secret method, it's just too contrary to the laws of nature, so almost no incense refiner will do it."

Jiang Tongwu's face became colder and colder, and the hand holding the handle of the knife gradually tightened, saying: "If we can find out where this gelatin comes from, there may be some new clues."

Huamanlou: "Most of the cream is made by incense workshops, and the process is complicated and expensive. The cream on the victim's body is delicate and smooth, with almost no impurities. It’s so big that ordinary small workshops can’t afford it.”

Lu Xiaofeng: "So, let's start with the source of this creamy fat"