National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 875 - 813: Stone-grilled Meat

"Comrade, thank you, thank you," Lei Xin had rushed back from the dump, shaking hands vigorously with the good Samaritan, Wang Kejiang.

He had received the news and had escaped from Garbage Mountain, running and jumping to the police station here, just in time to meet Wang Kejiang, who had just finished giving his statement.

Wang Kejiang was fashionably dressed, even wearing a colorful graffiti jacket, and shook hands with Lei Xin very reservedly: "No need to thank me, I was just walking my dog... uh... it really kind of stinks..."

Wang Kejiang, feeling nauseous and nearly unable to bear it, let go of Lei Xin’s hand immediately and stepped back two paces, his face contorted as he looked at Lei Xin, then at his own right hand, feeling an urge to chop it off.

"Ah... sorry, sorry, I’ve stayed too long on Garbage Mountain and forgot," Lei Xin apologized, scratching his head, then felt a bit of regret too.

Wang Kejiang waved his hand and smelled the stench wafting through the air, despair washing over him: "If I go home like this, would my dog even let me in?"

"I’m really sorry. Eh, Lei Da, this would be biting the hand that feeds you," the station chief said cheerfully, trying to smooth things over, and then he helped Wang Kejiang wipe his hands.

Soon, a household registration officer hurried over and handed a freshly made dog license to Wang Kejiang.

"En, from now on, Ada is officially registered," the chief expressed his gratitude once more.

Wang Kejiang’s spirits lifted too; this was something he had just tentatively requested. It wasn’t easy to get a dog license in Qinghe City, of course, most people couldn’t be bothered, but now that he had the opportunity, he’d gotten a certificate with a photo for his own dog, Ada.

"I’ll take a photo later, make a tag, and hang it on the dog’s neck," Wang Kejiang, forgetting the foul smell from his hand, firmly grasped the chief’s hands.

"You can also hang the original license. If you need to replace any documents, just come and tell us," the chief was sincerely grateful to Wang Kejiang, because without this stylish young man, he himself would have been up Garbage Mountain in no more than two days.

Lei Xin’s criminal police team had all been sticking it out there, the first batch of young fellows had already been marinated in the scent; it was about time they were switched out for a break. The next wave to be mobilized would be the local police officers from the scene of the incident.

Lei Xin smilingly escorted the people out the door and, after waiting for Jiang Yuan to confirm, hurriedly phoned the detectives on Garbage Mountain.

"Come back, the murder weapon has been found," Lei Xin said, his nasal passages completely clogged, stinking.

The voice on the other end of the phone, the deputy captain, was choked up: "Found it? Really found it? Where did you find it?"

"Under a tree in the residential area. It was found by a resident walking a dog," Lei Xin paused, then said solemnly, "Come back."

"Okay! Okay!" the deputy captain replied repeatedly, then hesitated before saying, "Have you confirmed with Captain Jiang? I’m leading the team back now. If you think about mobilizing us for garbage collection again, I really can’t handle it."

"It’s been confirmed, it’s been confirmed..." Lei Xin finished and took a deep sigh, repeating, "Come back, let’s eat something good; I’ll treat."

"What good food, more like something stinky would be fitting!" the deputy captain laughed loudly.

Evening.

A group of detectives sat in the yard of a barbecue restaurant, looking skeptically at the cow manure stone slab barbecue in the center of the yard.

This thing is edible?

Why doesn’t this thing stink?

Why eat this thing?

As detectives, one question after another sprang to mind.

The owner of the barbecue restaurant, Chen Daqian, and his workers were even more baffled; they only did cow manure stone slab barbecue a few times a year, usually in private events—it was a unique feature of the restaurant.

The combustion temperature of cow manure is relatively low, allowing for even heating. To highlight this feature, and for better heat retention and distinction, they’d added a stone slab to the mix. Of course, similar methods exist in places like Mongolia, where the resulting meat is exceptionally tender.

Unmentionable as it may be, meat roasted with cow manure has a hint of fresh grass scent—the cow has four stomachs; its digestive system is bacterially based, so cow manure is essentially plant fiber that has gone through four stages of fermentation, containing about 10% crude protein, 1% crude fat, and less than 30% crude fiber.

Therefore, burning cow manure doesn’t stink but has a distinctive smell. Certain Indian snacks can only be made with cow manure, and there’s a reason for that. It’s not just a joke, but if one thinks 1.5 billion people share a uniform misconception, one must be quite outstanding oneself.

But today, the barbecue yard truly stank worse than any actual excrement!

Chen Daqian had been doing this for many years; whenever people teased him as the "manure barbecue artist," he just laughed it off. In recent years, people had started calling him the "manure barbecue sage," and Chen Daqian just smiled faintly.

However, having grilled "shit" for so many years, it was not until today that Chen Daqian understood what real stink was.

"Boss Jiang, perhaps... perhaps we could eat something different today?" Chen Daqian approached Jiang Fuzhen, his expression very awkward.

The one treating and signing off on the bill today was Lei Xin, but the person responsible for finding the place was Jiang Fuzhen, and the barbecue restaurant they rented also belonged to Jiang Fuzhen. Chen Daqian didn’t want to offend the police officers, nor did he dare to offend the landlord—in the end, he still felt that the landlord was easier to talk to.

Jiang Fuzhen asked, "Why change it?"

"It’s too stinky, I’m afraid they’ll really think we’re grilling crap," Chen Daqian stated frankly, "All the neighbors around are posting it on their social media circles. If we keep this up, people will really believe our cow dung barbecue stinks terribly..."

"Are there people who come to eat your cow dung barbecue thinking it won’t stink?" Liu Jinghui was just chatting with Jiang Fuzhen, when he turned around with a logic bomb.

Chen Daqian was taken aback by the question; he had never considered it from that angle.

During his days as the "grilling crap sage," and even earlier when he was known as the "grilling crap artisan," he always explained to his customers that cow dung didn’t actually smell...

But could it be that the people who really came for a full experience to eat cow dung barbecue were actually after the stink?

In Chen Daqian’s mind, countless images flashed by, eventually merging into one:

"Boss, this cow dung barbecue of yours doesn’t stink at all!"

Chen Daqian slapped his thigh in vexation, "Right, how did I not think of that?"

"Figured it out?" Liu Jinghui had his wisdom pearl in hand, as if seeing through Chen Daqian’s heart.

"I understand now," Chen Daqian bowed slightly, "I’ll have someone go buy some snail rice noodle seasoning right now."

Liu Jinghui, with his wisdom pearl in hand, "Eh?"

A familiar stench of snail rice noodles rose from the courtyard, and the people around felt relieved:

"Right, this is the correct kind of stink."

"It’s really stinky."

"The stink is making me a bit hungry..."

The officers in the courtyard also showed expressions of relief, as now the stink wasn’t just limited to them. Using their stench-perfumed bodies, eating this stink-filled meal was fitting, appropriate, and just right.

"Hard work," Jiang Yuan raised his glass to Lei Xin for a toast, and sincerely said, "It’s my lack of skill that has made everyone suffer..."

"Captain Jiang, if you say that, I’ll feel embarrassed. You gave us the opportunity to work hard. Without your strategic planning, no matter how hard we wanted to work, even climbing Garbage Mountain would be useless," Lei Xin quickly clinked glasses with Jiang Yuan and added, "Honestly, as long as it helps solve the case, if you told me to climb Garbage Mountain every day... let’s say half a month out of a month, I really wouldn’t have a problem with it."

Lei Xin glanced to his side.

"The rest of the half month, I’ll take over," said the deputy team leader with a chuckle, joining in on the sentiment.

"I can take a week," the instructor said today, not very committed.

"I’m about to retire," the deputy instructor laughed as he added his piece, then raising his glass for another toast with Jiang Yuan, he laughed and said, "I’ve seen many brilliant detectives, but I’ve never seen one as extraordinary as Captain Jiang. To tell the truth, I haven’t seen a single one. This case is already cracked, it’s just a matter of finding evidence, a little hiccup; What’s there to say about climbing Garbage Mountain? The first time I helped a forensic doctor shovel decomposed bodies was far stinkier than Garbage Mountain, Captain Jiang can do it, so there’s nothing I can’t do."

"Long live understanding!" Jiang Yuan toasted and drank a whole glass of beer in one breath.

Liu Jinghui also joined in drinking a glass, saying, "To be fair, this case was really tough to crack. There were almost no traces at the scene, and the murder weapon was special. The killer was lucky. To carry out the entire chain of actions was not easy."

"As long as it’s solved," Huang Qiangmin laughed heartily and winked at Lei Xin, saying, "This counts as a current case for you, so there are no extra points in the rankings."

In Shan Nan Province’s police operational rankings, for the criminal police detachment level, solving all current cases was worth 100 points. Not solving one case amounted to 0 points; failing to crack two meant negative 100 points, which was punitive. Therefore, since the Xushuang Mingyuan case was solved, the Qianjin District Criminal Police Team wouldn’t get additional points, but both Ningtai County Bureau and Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment would score points.

Lei Xin waved his hand dismissively, "That ranking has long been yours, what’s there to look at."

With the subject changed, everyone’s spirits were lifted a bit.

Lei Xin then announced that those who climbed over Garbage Mountain would get two days off, and everyone cheered even more. In these times, for a criminal police officer to have a full weekend off was considered quite fortunate.

Jiang Yuan drank when it was time to drink and ate meat when it was time to eat. Once he was full, he sought out Lei Xin, "Deputy Team Leader Lei, could you assign two who aren’t on leave to run a few places with my people later?"

"Eh? Is it about the case?" Lei Xin, having had some drinks, was a little slow on the uptake.

Jiang Yuan nodded, "In a previous homicide case, wasn’t there a victim with a head bludgeoned by a blunt object, with bamboo fragments left behind? I have an idea."