OBS Chapter 324 Coroner's Examination
Chapter 324 Coroner's Examination
Some people disagreed, saying, "This shop sells braised pig's trotters, not poisonous mushrooms. The ingredient is raw pig's trotters. They just put in a lot of seasoning. How could it possibly kill someone?"
"Yes, I often come to this shop to buy braised pig's trotters. They sell out very early every evening. They never sell leftovers. They sell fresh every day. It's impossible for anyone to die from eating such fresh braised pig's trotters. It's just too ridiculous."
"Sigh, they've already brought this person over, they can't possibly lie."
"Who knows? Once the officials arrive and the coroner examines the body, the truth will come out."
The woman, who was kneeling on the ground and crying her heart out, vaguely heard the words "government" and "coroner." Her expression changed slightly, but only for a moment, before she immediately returned to normal.
She covered her face and wept, crying, "Father, why am I so unlucky? You left us so young, leaving us orphans and widows. How are we supposed to live? You were just eating a braised pig's trotter, and you were gone. Open your eyes in heaven and see these heartless people who deserved to die, but they dare not admit it. There is no justice in this world, sob sob sob..."
Seeing the woman crying so sadly and looking extremely pitiful, the crowd began to criticize Lin Qingchuan and his group again.
The fourth brother abandoned his breakfast stall and ran over, immediately standing next to his eldest brother.
He said, "Bullshit, that's utter slander. The braised pig's trotters made by my older brother and his family are the cleanest and tastiest food. They won't kill anyone, and they won't even give you an upset stomach."
They stepped forward together, scaring away those who were holding Liu Cai'er and the two female workers, and pulled them over to protect them behind them.
Aunt Xiangqin led Xiao Jiu and Xiao Yu out and saw that someone was slandering their pig's trotter shop, saying that their pig's trotters had killed people. She immediately objected.
So she put her hands on her hips and started cursing at the woman on the ground.
"You shameless little wife! Your husband is dead, and now you're trying to extort money from us. When did you buy these braised pig's trotters from our shop? Why didn't you bring the leftovers? Let's get a doctor to test them for poisoning!"
The woman was in tears, and she cried, “How was I supposed to know he would die from eating braised pig’s trotters? How could I possibly have known in advance that I could leave some for the coroner to examine? It’s because he died from eating braised pig’s trotters that I’ve come here to demand an explanation.”
Kind people, please help this poor widow! Are we, powerless and helpless, destined to never receive justice?
Just as everyone was about to speak up for the woman, Lin Xiaotang returned with the soldiers and a coroner.
The officers and soldiers were well-trained and immediately separated the onlookers, preventing them from crowding together so tightly.
Lin Qingchuan and Shui Sheng breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the soldiers and coroner arrive.
The officers and soldiers and the coroner finally arrived; otherwise, they would have been wrongfully executed.
When the woman kneeling on the ground saw the soldiers arrive, she closed her eyes and thought to herself that what was bound to happen would happen sooner or later, and she would deal with whatever came her way.
Lin Xiaotang pointed to the body covered with a white cloth on the ground and said, "Uncle Bai, please help me take a look. They said this man died because he ate the braised pig's trotters from our shop. The braised pig's trotters from our shop are very clean and will not cause any problems. We have been supplying them to the restaurant since last year and there have been no problems so far."
The coroner nodded, squatted down, and reached out to lift the white sheet, but the woman suddenly started crying and screaming like a madwoman.
"He's already dead, yet you still doubt me and won't let him go. Do you have no humanity left?"
The coroner was startled by the woman's sudden outburst. He explained, "Madam, please don't be agitated. We coroners perform autopsies to find out the true cause of death and to give justice to the deceased and their relatives. We want to ensure that no innocent person is wronged and no guilty person is let off the hook."
The woman cried and stopped the coroner, her voice trembling with emotion. "My husband died such a terrible death, and you still want to touch his body? I won't allow it! I absolutely won't allow you to disrespect his corpse! Waaah..."
She turned her head, sobbing, and glared fiercely at Lin Qingchuan and the others. "You heartless, unscrupulous merchants! To make money, you used some unknown substance. My husband died after eating your braised pig's trotters! You killed him! And you even sent a coroner to disturb my husband's body! What are you up to? Are you determined to drive me to my death too? Heaven, why don't you have eyes..."
The woman was eloquent, but she kept changing the subject and refused to let the coroner examine the body.
Lin Xiaotang walked to her father's side and stood side by side with him and Uncle Shuisheng.
She knew best whether the braised pig's trotters in their shop could kill people, because both the ingredients and seasonings were fresh and clean. Their shop never sold leftover braised pig's trotters from the previous day. They had been selling them for over a year since last year, and they had never seen a customer get sick from eating them.
It's unlikely that someone secretly poisoned the shop, because the whole family lived there. During the day, the shop was guarded by the aunt and two female workers, and customers came and went. The thief had no chance to do anything in the shop, let alone in the backyard. Aunt Xiangqin and Xiaoyu often played in the yard, and Xiao Jiu spent the afternoon reading and writing under the tree in the backyard. The thief couldn't possibly have gotten to the backyard.
Moreover, even if the thief had secretly poisoned the food, it was impossible for only one guest to die.
The only possibility is that the woman is lying; otherwise, why would she be so resistant to having a coroner examine the body?
Lin Xiaotang said, "You said your husband died from eating our braised pig's trotters. Do you have any leftover braised pig's trotters? We can have a doctor test them to see if our braised pig's trotters are poisonous."
The woman's eyes darted away for a moment, then she immediately hardened her stance.
"What do you mean by this? In front of so many people, do you think I would wrongly accuse your braised pig's trotters shop? What do you know, you little girl? If your braised pig's trotters kill someone, do you not want to take responsibility, so you send a little girl like you to do it?"
Lin Xiaotang felt that this woman, who seemed pitiful and helpless because of her husband's death, was actually just being unreasonable.
She said somewhat angrily, "What you're saying makes no sense. Your husband is dead, and you're just saying that our braised pig's trotters killed him. You should at least give us a chance to speak, right?"
We run a business and sell to countless customers every day, and we've never had any problems with their food. Since you suddenly came to our door, we definitely want to find out if there's a problem with our braised pig's trotters. The coroner can find out by examining them.
You claim there's a problem with our braised pig's trotters, but you can't provide any evidence of them. You have no physical evidence and won't allow a coroner to perform an autopsy. Are you trying to frame us because you're guilty?
The woman immediately retorted, "You're talking nonsense! How could I possibly frame you? My husband is dead. Would I deliberately cause a death just to frame you?"
That's not necessarily true, but it's not impossible that she deliberately framed their braised pig's trotters to extort money from them after her husband died.
Lin Xiaotang said sarcastically, "Without any evidence, we don't even know if you bought our braised pig's trotters or not. We're not the only ones selling braised pig's trotters in this county."
Since you can neither provide the remaining problematic braised pig's trotters, nor allow a coroner to perform an autopsy, and you can't prove you bought braised pig's trotters from our shop, we dare not admit to this crime, and we cannot and will not take the blame for it.”
"you……"
The woman was so angry at Lin Xiaotang's words that her chest heaved and her face turned bright red.
She was crying her heart out, but now she's forgotten all about crying.
The two women were arguing, and the onlookers, with their keen eyes, began to have some doubts about the woman's behavior.
Some people commented, "Although this little girl is young, what she said makes sense. Since this woman claims she died from eating someone else's braised pig's trotters, shouldn't the remaining braised pig's trotters be presented as evidence? At the very least, the bones she gnawed on could be brought over for a doctor to examine. Without evidence and refusing to let a coroner perform an autopsy, she's just trying to pin the blame on the pig's trotter shop. No one would admit to such a crime!"
"Well, who can argue with that? Looking at it this way, it's really hard to say how this person died."
"I think it's highly likely that he died on his own, and the deceased's wife deliberately tried to make a profit from the death."
“I think we should let the coroner examine the body. It’s too hasty to come to their door without any witnesses or evidence, and then falsely accuse them of a pig trotter shop. Not only will it disrupt their business, but it will also ruin their reputation.”
"Hey, let's not talk about smashing the signboard anymore. The deceased's relatives just wrecked the shop so badly it's an eyesore."
"This is outrageous! The government will judge right and wrong; how dare they vent their anger on their own?"
"..."
"..."
The relatives were furious when they heard what everyone was saying.
"Their braised pig's trotters killed people, and we're not even allowed to vent our anger? We only smashed up the shop, we didn't make them pay with their lives, which shows we've been kind enough."
"The pig trotter shop has to give us an explanation for this."
At this moment, Lord Yang arrived late with a guard. He exuded a powerful aura, his face was cold, and he looked very serious.
"what on earth is it?"
The coroner immediately bowed to Lord Yang and said, "Sir, we arrived as soon as we received the report. This woman said her husband died from eating pig's trotters from a braised pig's trotter shop, but she has neither evidence nor witnesses, and she won't let us examine the body. We can't draw a conclusion based on her word alone."
Lord Yang frowned and followed the coroner's gaze to the corpse covered with a white sheet on the ground.
He said coldly, "Bring the corpse and all those people back to the county government office for trial!"
Lin Xiaotang remembered that after the New Year, she and her father had seen Lord Yang from afar. Lord Yang was Gu Minghuai's uncle and a good official who was honest and upright.
She immediately stepped forward, bowed to Lord Yang, and said, "This humble woman greets Lord Yang. My lord, our shop was doing just fine, but when that group of people came, they smashed our shop and even falsely accused us of killing people with our braised pig's trotters."
We've been running this business for a long time, selling countless braised pig's trotters every day, and no customer has ever come back saying there's anything wrong with our braised pig's trotters. So, there must be some misunderstanding here.
Furthermore, we can guarantee that our braised pig's trotters will not kill anyone, so we urge you, sir, to allow the officers and soldiers to assess the losses suffered by our pig's trotter shop.
If we go to the county government and clarify the matter, and it can be proven that the deceased's cause of death was not related to our pig's trotter shop, then we'll have to make them compensate our pig's trotter shop for its losses.
Lord Yang nodded and said, "That's right, that's the logic. If it's found that the cause of death wasn't at your pig's trotter shop, and they smashed up your shop without any explanation, then you'll definitely have to compensate your shop for the losses. This needs to be settled clearly so you don't have to make another trip later."
However, let's make this clear first: if it's found that the deceased's death was indeed caused by your pig's trotter restaurant, resulting in health problems, then not only will you have to compensate the deceased's family, but I will also punish you according to the law.
Lin Xiaotang nodded in agreement, "This is certainly the best solution. Please handle this matter impartially, sir."
"We urge Your Excellency to handle this matter impartially." Lin Qingchuan, Shui Sheng, Wu Yu, and the others bowed to Lord Yang and echoed Lin Xiaotang's words.
Lord Yang immediately dispatched several soldiers into the shop to take inventory.
A few moments later, several officers and soldiers came out together. They saluted Lord Yang and said, "Reporting to you, sir, the shop's losses amount to approximately 175 taels of silver."
Lord Yang nodded, pondered for a moment, and then said to the woman and her relatives, "You are the ones who smashed those things in the shop, do you admit it?"
When the relatives heard that the soldiers had tallied the losses at 175 taels of silver, they were all stunned.
Since they were all ordinary people and had never seen so much silver before, they were shocked to find that they had just smashed away more than 170 taels of silver.
Although they felt somewhat guilty, they believed that since their brother had died from eating braised pig's trotters from a pig's trotter shop, the shop must be involved.
It's just something that cost a little over 170 taels of silver.
If the coroner finds out that the brother died from eating braised pig's trotters, the pig's trotter shop and its staff will be in a hurry to pay for their deaths. How could they have the nerve to ask them for these losses?
So they immediately and unequivocally admitted, "Yes, we did smash those things in the shop, we admit it, but our brother died because of that pig's trotter shop. We beg you, sir, to handle this matter fairly and give us justice."
Lord Yang said, "Since you both have your own version of events, I will certainly handle this matter impartially, carefully examine this case, find out the truth, and give everyone justice."
He turned to the officers and soldiers and said, "Take them all back!"
So the officers and soldiers led everyone and a corpse back to the county government office. Some of the onlookers dispersed, while others, who were more interested in watching the spectacle, followed them to the entrance of the county government office to observe the case.
Lord Yang recalled that the coroner had just told him that the woman refused to allow the coroner to examine the body, and he found this very suspicious.
"Who is standing here? What is your name? Are you the deceased's wife?"
“The woman, surnamed Pan, was the deceased’s wife.”
Why are you obstructing the coroner's autopsy?