Chapter 11: January Flowers Bloom February Red

Chapter 11: January Flowers Bloom February Red

The Zhang family obviously had some experience with things like this. As a soldier pried open the corpses throat with a bayonet, Qi Tiezui came forward to observe. He saw that there really was a dense cluster of needles in the throat, and all the tips were pointing directly into the throat. If anything tried to come out of the corpses throat, it would get stuck on these needles.

He adjusted his glasses, asked one of the soldiers to bring pliers, pulled out the outermost needle, and put it under the gas lamp to examine it carefully.

The needle was made of red iron, and although there were rust spots on it, the tip was still very sharp. The part of the needle that wasnt rusty was blue and should be highly toxic.

There wasnt a high degree of decay on the tail end of the needle. Qi Tiezui pondered over it for a moment and then bowed his head to get a closer look at the corpses neck. Sure enough, there were many tiny needle marks, which showed that the needles had been stabbed into the corpse from the outside by someone later. The stab marks looked very rough, as if they hadnt been done during the burial process, but by a grave robber desecrating the corpse.

It was possible that the first grave robbers who made this whistle coffin were the ones who had done it. If so, it showed that they had found something inside the body at that time, but had no way to deal with it, so they had to trap it with needles.

This could also explain why there was nothing in the corpse's mouth even though it was such a large coffin. Whatever was inside the corpse's mouth had probably been taken at that time.

A soldier brought an iron grate from the kitchen, placed it over the corpses head, and then repeatedly hit the corpse's chest, throat, and abdomen with the butt of his gun. They all stared at the corpses throat, but nothing came out, nor were there any fluctuations in its chest or abdomen.

"Open it." Zhang Qishan glanced at Lieutenant Zhang, who nodded, jumped up, placed both feet on either side of the coffin, pulled out a short dagger, and started cutting the ancient corpses back open. The corpse looked like it had dried up, but Lieutenant could feel that there was still some moisture in it when he dug further in with his dagger.

Lieutenant was very careful as he sliced the corpse open from shoulder to waist, and found that it was filled with asphalt-like things. There was only a little moisture, just like porridge that had partially dried. Zhang Qishans brows furrowed when he found that all the bodys organs were full of hollowed out holes. Although the body appeared normal on the surface, it was as riddled with holes as the bodies of the Japanese agents they had seen on the train. It looked just like a piece of wood that had been eaten by termites.

The thing that really made him break out in a sweat was the engraved rhododendron. Thimbles were common, but rhododendrons had an unusual position in Changshas Mystic Nine.

"January flowers bloom February red, February red blooms orphans. Rhododendrons are also called February red. This is something from Er Ye's family (1). How could it be in an ancient corpse? Qi Tiezui felt something in his chest tighten.

Er Yuehong was ranked second among the nine families. This ballad showed how fierce his family was in their early years when it came to killing people and destroying their homes. In recent generations, however, they had kept a low profile for a long time, so there wasnt any news about them. But it was because of this reputation that people in the industry were reluctant to offend them. If their thimble appeared in this coffin, then it meant that they were the first ones to seal the coffin with molten iron.

There were nine gates in nine directions in Changsha. The geographical positions were clearly divided and hadnt changed for decades. If they touched the coffin on Er Ye's turf, a small matter could turn into a big one.

"Fo Ye, Er Ye's family is well versed in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Considering this coffin is from the Southern Dynasty and this thimble appeared in it, the iron needles in the corpse may be one of Er Ye's familys ancestral crafts. I think Er Ye would know a little bit about this."

The flowers that represented Er Yuehong's family were originally red daffodils, but were later changed to rhododendrons because they were too unusual and ostentatious. For hundreds of years, Er Yuehong's family had their inner courtyard planted with red daffodils, while the outer courtyard had rhododendron trees. They were very beautiful when they blossomed. Based on this custom, it was clear to see that the family's character was very sophisticated. The whistle coffin was a lost art, but Er Yuehong's family were real old-school grave robbers who had many ancestral crafts that were unknown to outsiders.

Zhang Qishan frowned. This whole situation was full of doubts and becoming more and more mysterious. He thought for a moment and then asked Qi Tiezui: "Where is Er Ye today? Do you know?"

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TN Notes:

(1) Er Yuehong translates to February Red so its a play on Er Yes name.