“Let us now turn to the evidence given to us on the body,” Magistrate Fu says. “Midwife Shi, please step forward and take us through what the coroner found during his examination.”
I’ve always been intrigued by the stories Meiling told me about autopsies, but what once may have been entertaining cases to be solved take on a very different meaning when the case is about someone I knew and liked. Nevertheless, Midwife Shi has done this many times, and her manner and tone convey the same authority she has in the birthing room. As she speaks, I learn more details than I would ever have wished to hear. And I see more too, when Midwife Shi pulls back the coverlet to reveal Spinster Aunt’s naked body. The women gasp, while the men go utterly silent. This may be the tradition at an inquest, but it’s shocking. The tea I drank churns in my stomach, and I have to close my eyes to gather myself.
“You can see that I removed her clothes and hair ornaments,” Midwife Shi explains. “These items have been wrapped in rice paper and will be preserved by the family. Usually, I would wash the corpse with a mixture of hot water, wine, and vinegar, but the coroner felt it was important to show you the markings of mud and pond water on and in the body. In all cases of drowning, water seeks a home in the belly, which he found through palpitation.”
I consider this, and it seems in accord with things Meiling has told me in the past.
“The question then is, why did she drown?” Magistrate Fu asks.
Midwife Shi hesitates.
“Go on,” the magistrate urges.
Midwife Shi glances at Doctor Wong, who nods his encouragement. It surprises me that she would defer to him, but the only other time I saw Midwife Shi in the presence of a man was during my labor, and that was Doctor Wong too.
“If Miss Yang fell,” she says at last, “then we would expect to find her hands open. If she jumped in—say, in an act of suicide—then her hands would be clenched and her eyes closed. If someone held her under the water—”
A new round of startled gasps interrupts the midwife’s recitation. Heat flushes through my body, and yet I feel cold.
“We looked to see if mud was present under her fingernails or in her mouth or nostrils,” Midwife Shi continues. “This would suggest she was held down to the bottom of the pond. We did not find these things.”
But from where I’m sitting, Spinster Aunt’s hands and mouth seem well coated with mud. I wonder if other people have noticed this discrepancy as well.
“You’re leaving out an important fact, are you not?” Magistrate Fu asks.
Midwife Shi slowly nods. “The body has been positioned so those in attendance will not be disturbed by the indent on the left side of her head, where it is likely she hit her head when she fell.”
Although I want to honor Spinster Aunt by following—and questioning—every detail, the slight burst of energy I got from the tea has ebbed. I feel light-headed and feverish again. Plus, it’s time to feed my baby, so my breasts ache… Spinster Aunt… I’m grateful I didn’t see this damage when I found her.
“In your opinion was Miss Yang a victim of violence?” Magistrate Fu asks.
“In cases like this,” Midwife Shi responds evenly, “the coroner and I always consider the facial expression. We discerned no fear. Miss Yang looked at peace.”
My eyes reluctantly return to Spinster Aunt. Grandmother taught me to look as part of the Four Examinations, but she also said issues of anatomy and death were to be avoided.
“Can you confirm she was a virgin?” Magistrate Fu asks.
I don’t see what this has to do with Spinster Aunt’s death, but Midwife Shi answers anyway. “I performed the proper examination. The gate of childbirth was unharmed.”
To think of Spinster Aunt having protected her childbirth gate her entire life only to be violated by Midwife Shi’s finger in death… I’m not the only one to be upset. Two women seated behind me faint, and servants carry them inside. The magistrate lets none of this deter him.
“To be clear. No knife was inserted there to penetrate the vitals?”
Midwife Shi shakes her head.
“I need a verbal answer,” the magistrate reminds her.
“No knife was inserted. No foreign object or human has ever entered her childbirth gate as far as I can determine.”
“So we can assume she didn’t commit suicide as a matter of saving face or to protect a secret lover,” the magistrate declares.
These ideas are appalling. Why isn’t Master Yang stopping this line of questioning?
“Correct,” Midwife Shi responds. “And it is unlikely she was held underwater by someone.”
Magistrate Fu doesn’t question Midwife Shi about the injury to Spinster Aunt’s head, which, as he said earlier, seems like an important fact. Instead, he dismisses the midwife and calls on me to be the next witness. When I rise, I’m nearly overcome by dizziness. Once everything stops spinning, I slowly walk up the aisle and take a seat. I must look awful, but maybe everyone thinks that’s to be expected as I’m a woman, naturally frail, unaccustomed to being in such a public situation, and further diminished from the ordeals of childbirth.
The magistrate inquires as to the circumstances by which I discovered Spinster Aunt. I keep my answer simple and to the point.
“I walked outside and found her.”
I expect him to question me in detail about the position of her body and what else I might have seen, but he goes in a different direction entirely.
“I’ve been told you were close to Miss Yang,” Magistrate Fu says.
“I was.”
“And you know the ways of the Garden of Fragrant Delights.”
“I’m recently married in, so I’m not all that knowledgeable.”
“But you understand the rules for elite women.”
“I was raised in accordance with the Analects for Women and the Classic of Filial Piety for Girls.”
“Am I to understand that Miss Yang had no knowledge of the outside world?” he asks.
“Spinster Aunt lived her entire life within these walls, never venturing out,” I answer.
“Would she wander the grounds alone late at night?”
“No.”
“But apparently she did.” He pauses to consider this incongruity. “Let me ask this in a slightly different way. Would she fall on a path she’d walked on since childhood even if it was at night?”
“Spinster Aunt grew up near ponds—whether in this courtyard or elsewhere in the compound, especially in the Garden of Fragrant Delights itself. But any bound-footed woman can fall.”
“The pond is shallow. A man would have simply stood up and walked away, but she was a woman. Perhaps she panicked.”
I remember Spinster Aunt’s calm when my labor was going badly. “She was not the type of person to panic. But if she hit her head, maybe she lost consciousness.”
The magistrate pulls on the twin tails of his beard. “And maybe she wished to die,” he says, seemingly wanting to cover all possible explanations. “It is hard, after all, for a woman not to fulfill the womanly duties that are required of her.”
“If you’re suggesting suicide because she was a spinster, then you are mistaken.” The sharp tone of my voice provokes grumbling from the men. I glance at my husband. His face is lowered, humiliated by my boldness. I should refrain from saying more, but I can’t stop myself. “Spinster Aunt visited me on the night she died. We made a plan to meet again the next morning. And there was something she wanted to tell me after I finished doing the month—”
“So again, you think this was an accident?”
“I’m only a woman. It’s not my place to form a conclusion,” I say, hoping to make amends to my husband and his family for having left my room, polluted myself by finding Spinster Aunt, and embarrassed the clan by responding with screams and calling the attention of others.
Magistrate Fu dismisses me. When I stand, I feel blood gush into my padding. I freeze. This shouldn’t be happening so long after Yuelan’s birth. Aware of everyone’s eyes on me, I try to keep my pace steady as I walk along the aisle toward my seat. I pass it and continue on, hoping I can get to my room before blood can spot my gown. Behind me, I hear Magistrate Fu. “As there are no other witnesses to call, I will proceed to my decision.” I force myself to keep walking. I reach the colonnade and use the balustrade to steady myself. “I believe Yang Fengshi slipped, hit her head, and spent her last moments unconscious and breathing water,” the magistrate says. “Therefore, I am labeling this an accidental death. If circumstances should change and new evidence is revealed, the family is welcome to order a re-inquest.”
* * *