The elderly woman had already been dressed in traditional Chinese funeral attire. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips shriveled and cherry-colored, and her body was stiff.
Mu Mian lifted her eyelid. The old woman had suffered from severe cataracts during her lifetime, and her eyes were cloudy, so Mu Mian couldn't observe the condition of her eyeballs.
Mu Mian pressed her skin, and soon redness and swelling appeared. This suggested that she might have died from severe carbon monoxide poisoning.
The old woman's body had multiple bedsores, and her skin was ulcerated in several places, emitting a foul odor.
Mu Mian pried open the deceased's mouth and found a coin inside. Mu Mian asked in confusion, "Why did you put a coin in her mouth?"
It's our custom. It's called 'han kou qian' (literally "mouth coin"), which means putting a coin in the mouth.
"Remove it!"
"You'll have to help us put it back later."
Mu Mian then examined the deceased's mouth and found a thick, oily substance inside.
Mu Mian asked angrily, "What did you feed her?"
"It's cooked muzi oil. It's our custom that when an elderly person is about to pass away, they must be fed this. This way, they can leave smoothly." Ye Jianzhong explained.
Mu Mian said, "So this is 'sending off the dying oil'?" Typically, elderly people near death have difficulty breathing and rely on mouth breathing, so they gasp heavily. This oil, when swallowed, could block the airway and accelerate their death.
"..."
"How did you determine that she was about to pass away?"
Ye Jianmin, the fifth brother, said, "I was the one who sent my mother off. At that time, only my daughter and I were there. My mother's throat kept making gurgling sounds. I heard that's what happens before the elderly pass away, so I quickly fed her this oil. Soon after, she passed away."
Ye Jianzhong angrily retorted, "It must be because of something you did. How could Mother pass away without waiting for us to return? She hadn't even seen her great-grandchild yet! If it weren't for your tricks, Mother would have held on until we got back!"
This was what angered Ye Jianzhong the most. His fifth brother had deprived him of the chance to see their mother off, and he would surely be ridiculed by the villagers.
"What's so great about a great-grandchild? Will the great-grandchild come to her bedside to take care of her?" Ye Jianmin's wife said sarcastically. "It's better to have a granddaughter. At least a granddaughter would visit her grandmother every day and talk to her."
Ye Jianzhong instantly exploded, "This is a matter of the Ye family. What right does a woman from another family have to speak? Ye Jianmin, your wife really needs to be disciplined."
Ye Jianmin's wife wasn't afraid of him and retorted directly, "Yes, I'm an outsider. But when you forced me to take care of your mother, I wasn't an outsider anymore? You Ye family members are all useless, always fighting within the family. With so many of you, you couldn't even take care of an elderly mother. I'm ashamed for you!"
"Stop arguing," Ye Yu, Ye Jianmin's daughter, suddenly shouted. "You argued when Grandma was alive, and you're still arguing after she's gone! Can't you be quiet for a while and let Grandma leave peacefully? Grandma didn't want to hear you talk!"
Ye Yu, who was in sixth grade, was very sensible, but her eyes were swollen from crying. She had been raised by her grandmother and had a deep bond with her.
Ye Meiying patted her head and scolded, "Adults are talking. What right does a child like you have to interrupt? Ye Jianmin, look at how you're raising your daughter. She has no manners!"
"My daughter visits her grandmother every day. She's more filial than you, the daughter. You have no manners. Grandma used to love you the most, but after she became paralyzed, did you ever take care of her for a single day? You're not even as good as my daughter, the granddaughter!"
"I'm a daughter. It's not my responsibility to care for the elderly. That's the sons' job."
Seeing that they didn't stop but instead argued even more fiercely, Ye Yu covered her face and ran out.
Wang noticed several clear fingerprints on the brazier. They found a box of charcoal in the room, and there were also fingerprints on the box.
Mu Mian took out a body bag. The old woman's children, hearing the sound of the zipper, stopped arguing and asked, "Miss, what are you doing?"
"We need to take the deceased's body back for an autopsy," Mu Mian said.
"No way!"
The eldest brother, Ye Jianzhong, said, "An autopsy? Are you that incompetent, coroner? Can't you prove that our mother died from carbon monoxide poisoning based on these signs? Why do you need an autopsy?"
"We're withdrawing the report. Police officers, you can go back now."
The group suddenly became united, pulling on the body bag in Mu Mian's hands.
Mu Mian asked in confusion, "Don't you want to know how your mother died?"
No one answered. In fact, they didn't really care how their mother died. When they found out about her death, their first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief, followed by sadness. The eldest brother had reported the case because he had a grudge against the fifth brother and wanted to frame him.
On the matter of not autopsying the body, the seven siblings reached an unprecedented consensus. After some discussion, the eldest brother, Ye Jianzhong, took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and offered it to Fang Rui. "Police officer, can this matter just be dropped?"
Fang Rui didn't take the cigarette. "I'm sorry, but since a report has been filed, we must investigate."
"You can't just report that we made a mistake? Look, police officer, let's have a meal in the city. Can we just drop this matter? You can't autopsy our mother's body. If her body isn't intact, it will affect our family's feng shui."
Fang Rui said, "You're so superstitious. Don't you worry that your mother's ghost will haunt you after her death?"
"Who says we're not filial? We didn't visit her because..."
Fang Rui interrupted their excuses, "We must take the body back."
At this, the old woman's children all stood in front of her bed.
The husband of Ye Meilin, the second sister, was a court clerk. He stepped forward and said, "Police officers, you need the family's consent to perform an autopsy. We don't agree now. If you forcibly take the body, we will file a complaint. I know your superiors..."
As the stalemate continued, Wang said to Fang Rui, "Boss, let's go outside for a moment."
Fang Rui and the others went outside. After ensuring that those inside couldn't hear them, Wang whispered, "Based on the size of the fingerprints, they might belong to a child." As he spoke, Wang looked toward the roadside, where Ye Yu was crouching and crying.
Zhang whispered, "Are you saying Ye Yu lit the brazier? But she had a good relationship with her grandmother. Why would she do that?"
No one wanted to think ill of a primary school student. But they couldn't figure out why she would do such a thing.
"Maybe she thought her grandmother was suffering and wanted to help her find relief," Chen Xue speculated. Chen Xue's grandmother had passed away after suffering a stroke, and she had often said she wanted to die while lying in bed. Seeing an elderly person suffer so much on the bed, sometimes one might want to help them find relief.
Mu Mian disagreed, "No, she might have wanted to warm her grandmother."
Chen Xue said, "But it's summer. Who needs a fire?"
"Maybe her grandmother had a cold? Elderly people perceive temperature differently from young people. Even in summer, they might feel cold," Mu Mian explained.
Everyone agreed with Mu Mian's speculation. Zhang asked, "So what do we do with this case? Do we still investigate?"
Fang Rui said, "Let's not let those people inside know about this for now."
The others nodded, "Understood."
Those inside were not easy to deal with. If they found out about this, they might drive Ye Yu to despair. If this was just an accident, Ye Yu was still a child. This incident shouldn't tarnish her life.
Fang Rui and Mu Mian walked up to Ye Yu.
Feeling the sunlight blocked, Ye Yu looked up. Seeing the police in front of her, she shrank in fear, then mustered her courage and said, "Officer, I killed my grandmother. I didn't mean to. Are you here to arrest me?"
