Su Yun had committed suicide!

This was something no one had anticipated.

The jailer took out a blood-soaked handkerchief and passed it toward Ji Yunshu…

On that smooth silk handkerchief, several crooked lines of blood-written characters made the one red and one blue embroidered gardenia flowers stand out particularly strikingly!

Ji Yunshu stiffened slightly, then pinched the handkerchief between her fingertips to examine it!

The calligraphy that should have been elegant, when written in blood, appeared exceptionally bold and forceful.

Three clear lines were written on it: I willingly offer my life in exchange for Lin Duan’s safety! To Master Ji.

Her hands suddenly trembled!

The embroidered threads of those two gardenia flowers rubbed against the patterns on her fingertips like countless tiny blades, cutting her with a dull, hidden pain!

She should have solved the case faster—faster, even faster!

The regret in her heart, like layers of an onion being peeled away, reddened her eyes.

She looked at the old steward and rebuked him with great pain, “Do you know that what you’ve caused is not one death, but two?”

The old steward hung his head, finally showing a trace of regret and guilt.

“I… I didn’t want to do this,” he shook his head.

“But in the end, you killed someone and harmed someone.”

“I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to…”

The next moment, he suddenly raised his head, completely abandoning his previous indifferent composure, and shouted excitedly at Ji Yunshu.

“I killed my own daughter—do you think I’m happy about it? If she hadn’t done such a thing, I wouldn’t have killed her.”

“Stop talking.”

Two voices rang out one after the other. The silent Old Master Zhou excitedly stepped forward, his shocked and panicked gaze staring fiercely at the old steward, his face flushed red as he pointed at him.

“You once promised me that even if you died, you would never speak of this matter.”

Shouldn’t Miss Zhou be Old Master Zhou’s daughter?

When did she become the old steward’s daughter?

This shocked everyone present, including Ji Yunshu.

What an astounding secret!

Jingrong, who had been silently observing in the shadows, curved his lips and raised his bright eyes slightly.

One hand lightly patted his raised knee, full of interest.

Hurry, hurry, hurry—this prince can hardly wait to know the ins and outs of this case.

Due to Old Master Zhou’s vocal interruption, the old steward indeed swallowed back his words. However, his body trembled faintly, tears streaming from his deeply sunken eyes, and sounds of remorseful crying emerged from his mouth.

The county magistrate scratched his forehead with a bewildered expression.

In the end, he picked up that gavel block again.

Bang!

Ji Yunshu secretly rolled her eyes at him. This man must have rocks in his head—what’s he banging that thing for at a time like this!

Then she heard the county magistrate raise his voice and ask, “Explain clearly, explain clearly! What kind of thing? What exactly happened? Tell this official every single detail. In this courtroom, concealment is not permitted, or else this official will have you beaten with the rod.”

Beat your sister!

At this moment, Lady Zhou hunched her shoulders, sighed, and stepped forward. “Let me tell it.”

Her voice was too heavy, heavy to the point of quietness.

Old Master Zhou stepped forward to grab her, saying fearfully, “Madam, don’t speak of it.”

“At this point, what is there that can’t be told to others?” Her eyes seemed to have seen through everything.

Her gaze moved from the county magistrate’s face, down to the old steward trembling and sobbing on the ground, and then once more to Old Master Zhou’s face.

Her eyes filled with memories. “Twenty years ago, after I married the master, I was never able to bear children for the Zhou family. No matter how I nursed my health, it was all in vain. Later, after many medical consultations, we learned that it wasn’t that I couldn’t conceive, but that the master’s body… wasn’t capable. During that time, the master was constantly worried, getting completely drunk every day, so I… I…”

At this point, Lady Zhou choked up and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

She raised her head and continued, “I was confused at the time, which is why I did such a thing with Ah Jing. I just wanted to conceive a child to fulfill the master’s wish. When the master found out, he didn’t blame me but covered up this matter. We thought this would be the end of it, that we would never mention it again.”

Her gaze fell on the old steward.

“But a few years ago, Ah Jing’s daughter came to the residence to see him. Because she accidentally dirtied Ning’er’s clothes, Ning’er locked her up, and she was tortured to death. The scar on Ah Jing’s face was also caused when Ning’er cut him while he was trying to save his daughter. Ah Jing lost his own daughter, but when it came down to it, Ning’er was also his daughter, so he didn’t report this matter to the authorities or speak of it to anyone. Only I, the master, and he knew about it.”

At this moment, Lady Zhou was crying uncontrollably!

Old Master Zhou’s entire face was twisted into a knot as he reached out to embrace his wife, feeling extremely distressed.

Ji Yunshu generally understood the gist of it.

Old Master Zhou was impotent! Lady Zhou had borrowed another man’s seed to conceive!

The old steward had two biological daughters—one daughter killed the other, and he killed the remaining one!

How truly complicated!

No wonder when they learned the old steward was the real culprit, Lady Zhou wasn’t agitated and Old Master Zhou wasn’t angry.

The case was now clear and understood.

But everyone’s mood grew increasingly heavy.

Even Jingrong, who had initially been watching with an attitude of enjoying the spectacle, slowly darkened his face, feeling somewhat stifled.

The county magistrate licked his dry lips. According to procedure, he had to ask once more, “Old steward, because your daughter was killed by Miss Zhou, when she scolded and beat you that night, you conceived the intent to murder and killed her—is that correct?”

After a long pause, the old steward curled up his body, burying that scarred face very deep, so deep that one could no longer see those gentle eyes full of remorse!

Only one word could be heard: “Yes.”

The county magistrate nodded with satisfaction and glanced at the court advisor. The advisor then picked up a sheet of paper with the crime statement just written on it, walked to the old steward, and placed it on the ground. He directly pressed the old steward’s thumb into the red clay seal and then onto the crime statement.

Miss Zhou’s murder case was finally concluded.

But no one seemed able to feel excited about it.

Especially Ji Yunshu.

The old steward was escorted back to the prison cell. Old Master Zhou and Lady Zhou both wept with their heads together, their hearts dead as ashes, and then they too departed!

In the courtroom of the magistrate’s office, Ji Yunshu still stood there, staring blankly at the plaque on the high hall.

“Mirror Hung on High!”

She couldn’t help but sigh.

In her hand, she still clutched that handkerchief embroidered with gardenia flowers.

She truly hated herself—hated why she hadn’t solved the case faster. If it hadn’t been for Ji Lingzhi’s disruption, perhaps she could have saved Su Yun before she conceived the thought of suicide!

She hated herself even more for leaving that oil lamp with her.

Seeing her standing there in a daze for so long, the county magistrate waved his hand. “Dismissed, dismissed, everyone is dismissed.”

The bailiffs on both sides received the order and withdrew.

As for Jingrong, at some unknown point, he had already left the courtroom and was nowhere to be seen.