The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

 Ran Yan pulled open the plain cloth, and saw Official Yang’s corpse, and could not help sighing. The day before yesterday, one could still distinguish some measure of his outstanding appearance. Today, he had already swelled up to the extreme, his face changed beyond recognition. 

Summer was blistering hot, especially Jiangnan"s humid climate. Being able to preserve the corpse to this extent, they had already spent a huge effort. 

 Ran Yan took out the Chinese honey locust and cangzhu and lit them. She sprinkled the strong vinegar on the corpse, but did not immediately start dissecting and waited quietly for a moment. 

 Yu Bohao looked at Ran Yan’s concentrated expression with amazement. It was as if was not a frightening corpse before her, but some attractive object. How many Misses on this world would be attracted by a corpse? Yu Bohao’s gaze turned towards Official Yang’s corpse, his stomach churned violently, almost throwing up. From this pile of rotting flesh, one could not even imagine that this was previously a dignified and valiant man. 

 Ran Yan heard the sound of Yu Bohao almost throwing up. She lifted her head and said, “Official Yu is sure that you want to continue observing?” 

 Yu Bohao frowned, how would he be willing to be looked down on by a little Miss, immediately solemnly said, “Of course.” He turned around and asked, “Why has it not started yet?” 

 “Has it not already started?” Ran Yan straightened her gloves, and started to examine the corpse’s neck, “Different wounds would appear on the corpse at different times, perhaps a wound that had previously not been revealed would appear as the corpse changes, for example this contusion.” 

 Yu Bohao and Liu Pinrang endured the discomfort in their stomachs and looked towards the place Ran Yan was pointing. Indeed, there was a faint contusion, if they did not carefully observe, they would have mistaken it for livor mortis. 

 Ran Yan took out a small dissection scalpel. This knife had a short blade and a long handle, the handle was more than long enough for an adult to grip, whereas the blade was only two inches, it was thin and sharp, and was many times better than the one she had found others to make for her. In her heart she could not help admiring Liu Pinrang’s pair of small but bright eyes. That day she did not notice that he was paying special attention, but he was actually able to order people to make a set of dissection scalpels. 

 Ran Yan got rid of her distracting thoughts, and cut open the skin on the neck in one stroke, revealing the tissue underneath the skin. The phenomenon of bleeding did not appear in tissue underneath the skin after being cut open. 

 Generally if the deceased was strangled to death, even if it did not leave behind a contusion, the flesh beneath the skin would honestly react, and would cause the phenomenon of bleeding. 

 Ran Yan held the scalpel and step by step dissected deeply from the superficial muscle groups into the deep muscle groups. 

 The exposed flesh made the churning of Yu Bohao’s stomach reach his throat, but he stubbornly held it in and did not allow himself to throw up. At the same time, in order to alleviate it, he shifted all his attention to Ran Yan. That pretty face before him, carried an expression of solemnness. Her eyes were deep and dark, reflecting the light from the oil lamps in the surroundings, they appeared to flicker faintly. In that instant, he seemed to have seen a brief flash of excitement in those eyes. 

 The scalpel had already almost arrived at the hyoid bone[1], still there was no sign of bleeding from the

muscles or the tissues in between. 

 Ran Yan paused slightly, could it be that the contusion on that neck just now was acutually livor mortis? At the moment of doubt, she believed in her own judgement even more. Her surgical knife continued cutting downwards along the site of the contusion, it was not until she stripped off the deeply seated hyoid bone in the neck, that a faint clue appeared. 

 “Bring the light closer.” Ran Yan said.

 Yu Bohao quickly carried the oil lamp near him closer. The oil lamps here were the typical copper frame floor lamps of the Tang Dynasty, in the shape of a tree, every frame had 10-20 lamp dishes, it was extremely bright. 

Probably a fancier version of the floor lamps used in this scene

 “There is a small amount of bleeding in bundle of muscles of the hyoid bone, but there is no sign of the hyoid bone fracturing. Judging from this, the degree of strength the murderer used was not the extent of strangling him to death.” Ran Yan’s heart stirred a little, a contusion on the lateral aspect of the neck, did not necessary indicate that the murderer strangled Official Yang from the front, it was also possible that they grabbed his cervical vertebrae from the back, just like, the way she died in her previous life… 

 Thinking of this, Ran Yan’s scalpel quickly flew to strip off the remaining muscle, exposing the ghastly white of the cervical bones. But the situation made Ran Yan a little confused, the cervical bones remained intact, moreover even the surrounding muscles had no sign of injury. 

 The current situation could only prove that the deceased had been grabbed by the neck by someone before he died, and it was just being held only, and was not the cause of death. 

 Ran Yan was silent, recalling that the previous autopsy she discovered that Official Yang’s lower body had been attacked, the murderer had kicked a man’s vital part from the front with quick and precise strength, causing Official Yang to lose his ability to resist momentarily, and could not even call for help. Afterwards, the murderer grabbed his neck, and with one strike to some part of his body, the victim met a violent death. There was not a trace of hesitation, because Official Yang’s body did not have any signs of struggle, therefore this process should have occurred within 30 seconds. 

 30 seconds, within a moment killing a strong and vigorous big man, it can be seen that the murderer is a professional killer, at the very least he would be a hardened criminal[2]. 

 “It was not the cause of death, then why did he grab the deceased neck?” Ran Yan talked to herself, preoccupied. 

 Following that, she reached out to touch the corpse’s head. She changed the scalpel in her hands to a larger size, with agile skill she shaved off the hair on the top of the head. 

 Without the obstruction of hair, that most fragile area of a human’s body was revealed before her. A distinct blood clot the size of a mung bean could clearly be seen. Ran Yan was delighted, and used the tip of the knife to dig out the coagulated blood clot. She cut open a small slice of skin attached to the cranium, and finally discovered signs of metal. 

 “Provincial Governor please have a look, this is the cause of death.” Ran Yan used the scalpel to part the surrounding tissue blocking it, and revealed the faintly exposed metal in front of the two men. 

 Liu Pinrang resisted his discomfort with great difficulty, he lowered his eyes for a glance, before rapidly looking away, “Explain in detail.” 

 “According to the wounds on the deceased body, he was kicked in his lower body, in

in an instant he lost his ability to move. At that time he was in extreme pain, the body’s unconscious response would be to curl up, lowering his head, he was probably grabbed by the back of his neck, and forced to lift his head, and a silver needle pierced through his Baihui acupoint[3]. This whole series of actions, took about the time of 5 breaths.” Ran Yan paused for a while before continuing, “Official Yang did not die immediately, he lived for a least one hour, because the drop of blood that leaked out on his head had already clotted, whereas a dead person’s blood does not have the ability to clot. The person using the needle is very strong, and his speed is extremely fast, this silver needle pierced deeply into the brain, if we wanted to get it out, I’m afraid we need to open up the skull.” 

 “Open.. open the skull?” Yu Bohao said with a trembling voice. The gaze looking at Ran Yan was a little fearful. In order to divert his attention, he had been constantly observing her. Looking at corpses made people feel nauseous, but looking at Ran Yan’s cold gaze, made people feel cold from the soles of their feet. Now she said that they would need to open up the skull, he really wanted to know, what other more frightening things could this young little Miss still do. 

 “No need.” Liu Pinrang’s mind was occupied by other things, and was less fearful. To him, it was fine as long as they could determine that Official Yang was killed by others. As for the remaining matters, he would secretly investigate. 

 As long as he found out which person Official Yang belonged to, then the murderer would also be clear. Liu Pinrang acknowledged that he did not have the ability to punish this murderer, but guessing the mind of his superiors and clarifying the undercurrents, it was good if he knew what kind of att.i.tude he should use to avoid these hidden battles, to play safe and protect himself[4] at the crucial moment. 

 Ran Yan looked at Liu Pinrang, and did not continue to speak. She understood that she did not have much right to speak, thus returned each of the muscles she cut open back their original place. She took out a silver needle from the case before flipping the knife handle over and pressed it down on the skin that had been cut open. Using a pair of forceps to hold the needle, she proficiently sewed up the wound. Finally, Ran Yan removed her gloves and wiped away the remaining bloodstains around it. 

 Within a short period of time, the horrible and unsightly dissected area was restored to its original state, only dense st.i.tches were left. 

 Yu Bohao and Liu Pinrang looked at her astonished. Only now did they realise that throughout the whole dissection process, the scenes of flowing rivers of blood and mutilation of the flesh that they had imagined did not appear. Instead, her seemingly casual cuts were neat and orderly, the flesh was clearly exposed in the areas she dissected, and there was little sight of blood. 

 A dead person’s blood has already stopped flowing, as long as they avoided the major arteries, blood that spilled out would be less than one would imagine. This was something that a qualified forensic doctor must do, furthermore Ran Yan happened to be an expert in this. 

 Ran Yan draped the plain cloth over (the body), got up and said, “The needle that pierced into the head, according to my a.n.a.lysis, is an ordinary silver needle used in acupuncture. The murderer should be well versed in medical knowledge, he controlled his strength extremely well…” 

 Speaking of this point, a pair of gloomy eyes flashed

eyes flashed past in her mind. She paused for a moment and said, “I can only provide this much, I hope it is helpful.” 

 “You’ve worked hard. I still have urgent matters, and will leave first.” Liu Pinrang had abandoned a whole room of influential officials from the Ran and Yin family, and needed to quickly rush over. 

 “Please go ahead, Provincial Governor Liu.” Ran Yan said. He (LPR) turned to Yu Bohao and said, “You take care of Seventeenth Miss in my stead.” 

 Liu Pinrang left hurriedly. Ran Yan tidied her clothes, and followed Yu Bohao out of the building. 

 “Seventeenth Miss had took on the profession of a coroner before?” Yu Bohao understood in his heart that questioning a n.o.ble lady from an aristocratic family like this was a disrespectful act, but he really could not help himself. 

 Ran Yan’s heart went cold, she knew that her performance had aroused the suspicions of this prison warden, however she did not feel like finding an excuse, thus said, “No, I just have some medical knowledge.” 

 “Then your dissection skills…” It was so practiced, its flying fast speed, precise cuts, in less than 15 minutes she had dissected the corpse and restored it back to normal. If it were not from ample experience, how could she achieve these things? 

 Ran Yan looked quietly at him, after muttering to herself for a long while, she indifferently said 5 words, “It should be natural talent.” 

 The corner of Yu Bohao’s trembled. He heard of people born with supernatural strength, people born with high intelligence, people born with outstanding memory, but he had really never heard of anyone born knowing how to dissect corpses! But aside from this, he could not find any other explanation, he could only believe it sceptically[5]. 

 “How did you determine that the wound was on the head? Merely based on that small contusion on the neck?” Yu Bohao continued questioning in detail. Regardless of whether it was stemmed from the mentality of solving a case or from his suspicions, he could not help wanting to dig up the roots and inquire to the end[6]. 

 Ran Yan did not have much conflict with his type of att.i.tude. In the past there were many people who still did not believe even though the forensic doctor had determined the verdict and constantly pestered for an explanation of the results. People like Yu Bohao were still considered alright. 

 “This would require imagination. If a person grabbed the deceased’s neck, but it was not for the purpose of killing him, then what would the reason be?” Ran Yan took off the mask, her beautiful appearance was revealed but it did not give one the feeling of taking the breath away. At the moment, her expression did not waver the slightest, if she did not speak, she would resemble a perfect plaster statue. 

“To control his movement.” Yu Bohao said. After thinking about it, he added, “The Yang residence’s maidservant did not hear any movement. Judging by the situation at that time, it might be to make it easier to kill him.” 

 Ran Yan replied, “Controlling his movement is naturally in order to kill him. It is said that Official Yang regularly practices martial arts, if I were the murderer, I would chose to kill him in one move, not giving any opportunities for him to retaliate. In this short time, aside from the steps related to murder, there is absolutely no need to force him to lift his head.”

 According to the wounds on the corpse, determining the posture of the deceased when they were wounded as well as the course of event, this was a compulsory course for a forensic doctor. Whereas the coroners now did not possess this kind of inner quality. Therefore Yu Bohao could only believe that thisbelieve that this was a kind of natural talent. 

 “Does Provincial Governor Liu still need to question me? If there isn’t anything else, could I go back first?” Ran Yan asked. 

 Yu Bohao said, “Wait for the time being, I believe the results would be out very soon.” 

 Ran Yan nodded. From the beginning since she entered the Yin residence, Ran Meiyu was together with all the Misses. Afterwards, they went to the Magnolia House together. If she really met in private with Fourth Master Yin after that, then she would not have time to commit the crime, the person that left that broken nail behind would be someone else. Liu Pinrang only managed to investigate Ran Meiyu in the evening, clearly he had already investigated the other n.o.ble ladies and suspicious people prior to this. If it were none of them, then who wanted to kill Wan Lu? And who had enmity with Qin Musheng, spending all effort and methods to frame him? 

 Hopefully Wan Lu could quickly provide some useful information! Ran Yan lightly sighed in her heart. 

     **
 

  ***

T/N: So I"ve done further research on the roles Shangzuo and Pansi. 
Shangzuo (the position that Qin Musheng"s father holds) is a position of a subordinate under the provincial governor. They are allowed to perform the duties of the Provincial Governor if the Provincial Governor"s post is vacant or if the post is held by a Prince (ie, they are holding two posts at once — Prince and Provincial Governor - so the Prince does not have time to get too involved in running the province). But usually the Shangzuo does not have a fixed role, and because of it"s high position and high salary yet not needing to do practical work, it is given as preferential treatment to the imperial family or to settle for idle officials, so it"s commonly known as a position where old officials are sent. 

This gives a good explanation of the Tang Government. (They translated Shangzuoas vice magistrates under the Provincial Governor aka Cishi.  but we already have a.s.sistant Magistrate Han — who is an a.s.sistant to the County Magistrate aka Xianling. I don"t want to confuse people by introducing vice magistrates who are not subordinates of the County Magistrates). 

I can"t decide whether Pansi = Canjun (参军 - chief officer of a board - refer to above link for details) or if Pansi refers to those working under the Canjun.. if anyone can shed light on this sentence: 

The sentence seems to say: every board"s Canjun are separately in charge of the various affairs of each state"s military, finances, criminal law, agriculture and household provisions, called "Pansi". Every board"s "Pansi" is governed by each state"s "录事参军事" (they function as a secretary to Generals or something like that?)

You see how far down the rabbit hole I have to go figure out how to properly translate these terms? I spent 2 hours and still haven"t managed to completely figure it out... QAQ let"s just stick with my previous simplification and call them all Officials, okay? 
 

[1] 舌骨: hyoid bone, see picture 

I"m including a second picture to show the muscle groups RY had to cut through to reach the hyoid bone 

[2] 惯犯: recidivist / habitual criminal

[3] See picture below

[4] 明哲保身: a wise man looks after his own hide (idiom), be worldly-wise and play safe; an att.i.tude to shirk principled struggle so as to protect one"s personal interest and keep oneself from incurring troubles

[5] 将信将疑: half believing, half doubting 

[6] 刨根问底: to get to the bottom of something