Ji Yunshu returned to her courtyard and removed the several pearl hairpins from her head, wiping away all the powder from her face.

Luan’er stood to the side watching and asked, “Miss, have the people from the Wei residence left?”

“I don’t know.” She faced the bronze mirror and removed the pair of glass earrings.

“Then is Miss changing clothes to go out now?”

“No.” Ji Yunshu replied.

“Then this is…?”

“Sleep.”

Drowsiness overcame her completely. Her eyelids were already fighting each other. After removing all those trinkets from her body, she walked to the inner room, flopped down and burrowed into the bedding, turned over and went to sleep.

Not even thunder could wake her now!

Luan’er was startled for a moment, standing dazed for a while. Coming to her senses, she quickly moved the brazier to the bedside and tossed two more pieces of charcoal inside, afraid her young miss would catch cold.

And Ji Yunshu slept straight through until evening.

Opening her eyes, the sky outside had already darkened. Getting up from the bed, she took a clean set of men’s clothing to change into, and once again arranged her jet-black beautiful hair into a topknot secured with a hairpin crown.

Luan’er came in from outside, her arms full of a large pile of brocade boxes, covered in sweat.

“Miss, you’re awake.”

“What are all these?” Ji Yunshu asked.

“The master sent them over. He said they were gifts from the Wei residence, and he left some for you, Miss.”

Ji Yunshu couldn’t help but smile. How generous indeed!

Luan’er put those things away one by one, then turned around and, as if she had obtained some great secret, spoke to Ji Yunshu with a mysterious expression.

“Miss, guess what I just heard?”

“Don’t want to guess. Just tell me directly.” Ji Yunshu opened those brocade boxes with great interest. They contained either porcelain or medicinal materials.

Luan’er said, “Miss, I just came from the front courtyard and heard Baoyu and the others saying that the young master of the Wei family doesn’t want to marry the young lady. He even said something about the young lady throwing him into a pond to feed the fish, and said a whole bunch of strange things. He insisted on pulling Madam Wei back home.”

“Oh? Really?”

Ji Yunshu played dumb and continued opening the brocade boxes.

Luan’er also continued, “Baoyu and the others also said that at the time, both Master Wei and Madam Wei’s faces turned green, and it seems they even slapped Young Master Wei once to stop him from continuing.”

In other words, this marriage wasn’t about whether Wei Yi wanted to marry or not, but rather that the Wei residence had decided on this daughter-in-law.

After all, continuing the family line was still very important.

“I think that Young Master Wei doesn’t deserve you at all, Miss. After all, he… he’s still a fool.” Her voice grew softer and softer as she punched her fist into the air.

That indignant little appearance looked truly comical and amusing to Ji Yunshu.

It even carried a bit of cuteness.

“I don’t even care, so why do you care?” Ji Yunshu gave Luan’er a sidelong glance.

“This servant feels sorry for Miss. Why should the master have you marry the Wei family’s fool, while the eldest miss gets to be…” She didn’t say the three words “Crown Princess.”

“Enough, stop being so talkative.”

Ji Yunshu had no intention of marrying anyway.

Just now, she had actually found a certain medicinal material in one of the brocade boxes.

Tiankuizi.

If this were in modern times, it would be worth tens of millions.

Ji Yunshu had only seen it once before by chance.

“I didn’t expect to find this.” She was delighted, taking out the tiankuizi and examining it against the candlelight.

The outer ring was light orange, the interior red-orange. Mm, top quality goods.

“Miss, what is this?” Luan’er came closer.

“This is called tiankuizi. After crushing it and adding white liquor and brown sugar, applying it to a place injured by a blade can remove scars.”

“So miraculous.” Luan’er exclaimed.

Ji Yunshu placed the tiankuizi back in the box, covered it, and handed it to Luan’er. “Soak the tiankuizi in water overnight. The effect will be even better. Tomorrow I need to make a trip to the Zhou residence.”

“Why is Miss going to the Zhou residence?”

“The Zhou family’s steward was injured on the face. This tiankuizi is perfect to send to him.”

Hearing this, Luan’er became anxious. “Such good medicinal material, and Miss plans to give it away just like that?”

Ji Yunshu glared at her. “What? Do you really want to get slashed? Or do you hope I get slashed? And then we use this medicine on ourselves?”

“No, this servant doesn’t mean that. It’s just that this medicinal material has such miraculous effects, this servant just feels it’s a pity.”

“Little girl, don’t feel sorry about it.” She extended her finger and lightly flicked Luan’er’s forehead, then said, “I’m going out for a bit now. I might return a bit late.”

Only then did Luan’er realize her young miss had already changed into men’s clothing. She scratched her head. “Is there something at the yamen again?”

“Mm.” Ji Yunshu responded quietly.

After gathering her things and picking up a lantern, she quietly left the Ji residence and headed toward Yi Zhuang.

Jinjiang’s Yi Zhuang was located within the city, but in a remote area of the western district. From the Ji residence, it took Ji Yunshu about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to walk there.

On winter evenings at the hour of You, darkness fell extremely quickly.

Like a ruined temple, Yi Zhuang in the cold and piercing night wind exuded an eerie and sinister atmosphere. The swaying broken doors and windows emitted bursts of creaking sounds that made one’s hair stand on end. Combined with the rustling sounds of surrounding leaves, it became even more frightening.

A red lantern hung outside Yi Zhuang’s entrance, illuminating the large door to appear especially aged and dilapidated.

Fortunately, this wasn’t Ji Yunshu’s first time coming to Yi Zhuang this late, and luckily, she just happened to not be afraid.

This courage was forged in the archaeological shed!

Pushing the door open, she entered the courtyard. Ji Yunshu hung the lantern in her hand on a low corner to the side and dusted off her robe.

Fu Bo, who kept watch over Yi Zhuang, was just coming out from inside carrying a large bundle of lit incense sticks. His waist was hunched, wearing coarse hemp clothing full of patches and a yellowed cloth cap.

Seeing Ji Yunshu arrive at this time, he wasn’t surprised.

“Master Ji, that young master inside has been waiting for you for quite a while.”

Serves him right!

Who told him to arrive early? It was clearly only just the hour of You now.

She nodded and walked to Fu Bo’s side, taking the few incense sticks from his hand. She bowed all around, then inserted the incense into the cracks of a coffin nearby.

“Fu Bo, you should still rest early.”

“No rush. There are still several old friends who haven’t eaten yet.”

The so-called old friends were nothing more than some unclaimed corpses. Placed in Yi Zhuang, Fu Bo never neglected to offer three sticks of incense morning, noon, and night.

“Then I won’t disturb you.” Ji Yunshu lowered her head and went inside the room.

As soon as she entered, she saw Jingrong standing before those memorial tablets, his gaze fixed intently on those tablets, his expression grave, with an indescribable air about him.

Because he was so focused, he didn’t notice even when Ji Yunshu walked to his side.

“Could it be that Your Highness recognizes one of the people on these tablets?”

The voice interrupted Jingrong’s train of thought. He frowned and turned his eyes sideways toward Ji Yunshu.

“Did something happen on the road?”

Hm?

Ji Yunshu shook her head.

“Is there a problem with your leg?”

Ji Yunshu looked at her own legs. Aside from being stained with a bit of mud, there was nothing else unusual.

So she still shook her head.

“You came late.” Jingrong decisively reached his conclusion.

Bastard!

Big bastard!