Pulling Wei Yi out of the morgue, Ji Yinshu borrowed an umbrella and left the yamen.

Opening the umbrella, Ji Yinshu stuffed it into Wei Yi’s hands.

“You’re tall, you hold it.”

“Okay.”

He was more than happy to comply. Holding the umbrella over both their heads, he stepped into the snow.

“Wei Yi, let me ask you—what do you like? Reading? Writing?” Ji Yinshu asked as they walked.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. “I don’t like either.”

“Then do you like that pile of white bones from earlier?”

“White bones?” Wei Yi’s face darkened, and he quickly waved his hands. “No, no, no, I don’t like that either.”

Because of his hand waving, the umbrella above their heads tilted askew. Ji Yinshu immediately grasped his hand, her eyes stern. “Stop waving.” Her gaze naturally fell to her own shoulder. “Look, snow has fallen on my shoulder.”

But Wei Yi’s attention didn’t seem to be on the snow on Ji Yinshu’s shoulder, but rather on the hands tightly gripping his own.

Ten fingers, pale and slender, delicate and long, clasped around his large palm, warm and soft.

For a moment, Wei Yi’s mind went fuzzy, staring blankly in a daze.

Becoming aware of this, Ji Yinshu immediately withdrew her hands into her sleeves and turned aside. “You strange boy, what kind of odd habit is it to stare at someone’s hands?”

“Brother, your hands look a lot like Sister’s hands!”

“How so?”

Wei Yi broke into a smile and said, “Last time when Sister threatened me with a knife, I saw she had a small black dot on the back of her hand, just like the one on the back of Brother’s hand.”

Hmm?

Ji Yinshu raised her hand to look. On the back of her hand, near the gap close to her thumb, there was indeed a small black dot.

Very small—so small that even Ji Yinshu herself hadn’t noticed it in the past five years.

This boy truly had an eye for minute details!

Withdrawing her hand back into her sleeve, she continued forward while saying, “Alright, I’ll take you back to the Wei residence first.”

“Ah?” Wei Yi seemed reluctant. “Brother, can you take me to find Sister? I have something for her.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t show Brother. I want to give it to Sister myself.”

This piqued Ji Yinshu’s interest. She stopped walking and said with a hint of threat in her tone, “If you don’t tell me, I won’t take you to find her, not now or ever.”

Wei Yi became anxious and quickly said, “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you.”

After speaking, he reached toward his waist and pulled out a small pouch, spreading it open in his palm.

“It’s this. I want to give it to Sister.”

Ji Yinshu took the small pouch from his hand and opened it to look. Inside was an orange-red jade pendant, very translucent.

Somewhat puzzled, she asked, “Where did this jade pendant come from? Why… do you want to give it to your sister?”

“This jade was given to me by Father. He said it could keep me safe. I want to give it to Sister.”

“But your sister may not like it!”

“Mother said girls all like precious things. This jade is very important to me, so Sister will definitely like it.”

Silly boy, such a precious item, and you’re willing to give it away!

Your sister has frightened you so many times—why do you insist on offering your warm face to her cold backside?

Stuffing the jade pendant back, she said, “Keep the jade pendant safe. Your father gave it to you—you can’t give it away to others. Understand?”

He didn’t understand!

“It doesn’t matter, Brother. Please take me to find Sister. I’m afraid if I go by myself, Sister won’t see me.”

He looked so aggrieved!

Ji Yinshu’s expression paused slightly, not knowing what to say.

Wei Yi seemed to have a silver tongue as he continued, “Brother, please agree. I really want to give this jade pendant to Sister. I like Sister. I want to give the jade pendant to her. Brother, take me to find Sister, please?”

Now he was being unreasonable!

This silly boy was truly giving her a headache!

Left with no choice, Ji Yinshu took the jade pendant again. “Your sister hasn’t been feeling well lately, so you can’t go see her. I’ll accept this jade pendant on her behalf and make sure to give it to your sister.”

“This…”

“What, are you worried I’ll pocket this jade pendant?”

“No, no, not at all.” He shook his head vigorously. “Okay, then Brother can give the jade pendant to Sister.”

“Good boy.” Ji Yinshu smiled slightly and placed the jade pendant in her sleeve.

Without further delay, the two continued forward. Ji Yinshu escorted Wei Yi to the entrance of the Wei residence.

Wei Yi seemed reluctant to part. His eyes darted around, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “Brother, why don’t you come in with me? I have lots of delicious food in my room.”

She took the umbrella from Wei Yi’s hands and waved her hand, signaling him to hurry inside.

“No need, I still have things to do.”

Without lingering, she had already turned and left the entrance of the Wei residence.

Along the way from the Wei family to the Ji family, there was quite a distance. Passing through the bustling marketplace and then circling around the main road, it finally became much quieter.

However, along the way, Ji Yinshu’s steps grew slower and slower until finally, she stopped.

“Come out. No need to follow me anymore.”

From behind her, where nothing seemed amiss, someone suddenly emerged.

The person appeared to be in his fifties or sixties, wearing coarse hemp cloth clothing, his temples graying. He bent at the waist and looked extremely nervous and frightened!

“You’ve followed me all the way from the yamen to here. What exactly do you want?” Ji Yinshu asked.

The person walked forward a few steps, looked around vigilantly, then raised his eyes and finally spoke. “Master Ji, I’ve been following you because there’s actually something I want to tell you.”

“Old sir, please speak honestly. There’s no one else here.”

“It’s about… about that yin-yang corpse.”

What?

Ji Yinshu’s expression tensed as she pressed him. “What do you know?”

The old man’s body trembled, and he lowered his head even more. “I know… I know whose body it is.”

“Whose?”

“It’s… Master Jiang’s. That Guangqu Courtyard is Master Jiang’s residence.” His voice shook.

Ji Yinshu’s heart filled with even more doubt. “How would you know? Those bones have been there for two years, and the portrait hasn’t even been completed yet.”

The man quickly explained, “Because I know that the yin-yang person is Master Jiang.”

“Then, old sir, who exactly are you?”

“I’m a servant from the Jiang household. Master Jiang had a yin-yang body—very few people knew about this.” Speaking to this point, the old man’s body trembled.

Something’s not right—not right at all!

Ji Yinshu frowned. “Since you know those bones belong to Master Jiang, why didn’t you go to the yamen to tell Magistrate Liu? Instead, you followed me all the way from the yamen entrance to here to tell me about this?”

“This…” He hesitated.

“If you have something difficult to say that’s inconvenient to mention at the yamen, then tell me directly.”

The old man met Ji Yinshu’s gaze, his body trembling. After quite a while, he finally spoke.

“Because I know who the killer is, but I don’t dare go to the yamen to say so. If Madam Jiang finds out, I fear… I fear it will bring a fatal disaster upon me.”

These words truly shocked Ji Yinshu.

“Who is the killer?” she asked.