Rouge and powder?

Ji Yunshu indicated she had no idea how to choose them!

In modern times, outside of work, she would hole up in the library reading books, going about with a bare face all day, too lazy to even draw her eyebrows. After arriving here, it was only after she had silver that Luan’er procured some for her—she just applied it to her face and never cared what brand it was!

Her lips beneath the veil parted slightly: “I don’t know how to choose rouge and powder, but I do know how to examine the dead.”

Hm?

Constable Zhang looked down on women from the bottom of his heart, let alone Ji Yunshu with her slender build standing before him.

Getting to the point: “Miss, I advise you to stay in your room and not interfere in this matter.”

Ji Yunshu finally understood—this person was a male chauvinist.

She instantly felt that Jingrong was simply too good.

Too lazy to waste more words, she walked to Jingrong’s side and asked quietly: “Can you stop them?”

“Go ahead with confidence.”

“Mm!”

Ji Yunshu stepped through the doorway and headed toward the room where the incident occurred.

Constable Zhang, seeing she was about to enter, wanted to quickly stop her.

The next moment, Jingrong commanded aloud: “Stop him. Don’t let anyone interfere with Miss Ji’s examination of the corpse.”

“Yes!”

Jingrong’s people were all experts. Those several constables immediately wilted.

As for Constable Zhang, his martial skills weren’t bad, but he was still captured by Lang Bo.

“I advise you not to oppose my young master. Moreover, if you want to solve this case, you can’t do without Miss Ji!”

“Just who are you people?”

Lang Bo unhurriedly pulled out a token from his waist and displayed it before him.

Upon seeing the characters on that token clearly, Constable Zhang’s stern face suddenly froze in astonishment. He glanced at Jingrong again and was just about to bow.

Jingrong raised his hand, lips curving: “No need to make a fuss. Just step aside.”

This was a prince!

Of higher rank than even the Yuzhou prefect. Constable Zhang naturally had to obey orders, so he had all his people retreat to the side.

And Jingrong had already followed behind Ji Yunshu!

At this moment, Constable Zhang still had doubts—a woman could investigate a murder case?

So he asked Lang Bo: “You just said that Miss Ji can examine corpses. Is she a coroner?”

This…

Lang Bo couldn’t answer well, because he’d heard Ji Yunshu say before that coroners examined the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—she was just a painter!

Thinking about it, he answered: “No!”

Immediately after, Lang Bo instructed two people to guard the doorway and watch Wei Yi carefully, then followed along himself.

Constable Zhang couldn’t understand—if she wasn’t a coroner, how could she examine corpses?

Shaking his head, he also walked over quickly.

Inside the room where the incident occurred, Ji Yunshu first looked around. Everything was very orderly with no signs of having been disturbed.

Turning, her eyes then looked toward the corpse on the ground.

She crouched down, took a handkerchief from her waist, wrapped it around her index and middle fingers, and turned the deceased’s head to the side, exposing the two strangulation marks on the neck.

One mark was indeed level with the neck, even angling somewhat downward. The other extended upward to the ear area.

The deceased’s feet also weren’t rigidly pointing downward.

She then lifted the deceased’s hands—inside the fingernails were some fine fabric threads and skin fragments.

On the deceased’s thumb was a distinct white band, likely from wearing a thumb ring for many years, but no thumb ring could be found anywhere around.

Could it be robbery and murder?

Ji Yunshu’s thoughts traced this possibility. She also noticed that the deceased’s wrists seemed to have some slippery substance on them.

She rubbed a bit with her fingertip and smelled it at her nose—it was oil!

Standing up, she set the handkerchief aside and asked the innkeeper: “May I ask, when did this person check into the inn?”

The innkeeper didn’t know where this young lady had come from, but still answered honestly.

“Probably around noon.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, alone.”

“The deceased has been dead for about half an hour. Before this, did anyone come in? Or were there any sounds of fighting?”

This stumped the innkeeper—he only cared about counting money!

Turning his head, he pushed a waiter forward, pointing at him: “Ask him.”

The waiter’s face twitched several times. He lowered his head: “Miss, this… the inn is extremely crowded. I didn’t pay much attention. However, this person never left his room after entering. As for anything else, I truly don’t know.”

His words sounded quite sincere!

Jingrong stepped in and walked to her side, asking quietly: “How is it? Have you found anything?”

Her brows knitted together with her nose. She looked at him: “Do you remember, when we came upstairs earlier, the person who bumped into me?”

“I remember!”

“The deceased’s wrists have a layer of oil, and this oil smells of sesame. On that person, I also smelled it.”

Jingrong seemed to understand her meaning. He nodded, turned his body, raised his chin, and said to the innkeeper: “Does your inn use sesame oil?”

“Yes.”

With a wave of his sleeve: “Go, summon all the people working in your inn’s kitchen up here.”

“Ah?”

The innkeeper was dumbfounded. Why suddenly summon the kitchen staff? He turned to look at Constable Zhang, seemingly still waiting for his instruction.

Seeing Constable Zhang nod, only then did he call up everyone from the kitchen.

From top to bottom of the kitchen staff, including those washing dishes and serving food, there were about ten people.

Ji Yunshu immediately recognized the person who had bumped into her. Seeing his panicked eyes darting about evasively, his hands deliberately hidden behind his back.

Naturally there was something fishy.

Walking before him, Ji Yunshu asked: “Half an hour ago, I saw you rushing down from upstairs. At that time, did you enter this place?”

Upon hearing this, that person was so frightened he trembled, shaking his head repeatedly: “I… I never came in!”

“You clearly have a guilty conscience.”

“No, I truly didn’t!”

“The deceased’s wrists have sesame oil, and moreover, inside the fingernails are some skin fragments. Do you dare show your hands and let me see if there are any scratch marks?”

“…”

That person’s hands clenched tightly behind his back. Probably because his courage was small to begin with, being questioned sternly by Ji Yunshu over and over, his entire person panicked. His body trembled, and he took off running, trying to flee through the crowd.

He hadn’t run two steps before he was immediately caught by several constables.

Constable Zhang was impatient and also easily angered. He pulled up the person’s sleeve—sure enough, the back of his hand had scratch marks.

The next moment, he took his blade’s handle and thrust it hard into that person’s stomach.

“Killed someone and want to run? Confess honestly—how did you kill him?”

That person hunched over, face full of pain, begging: “I didn’t kill anyone. I truly didn’t kill anyone. Please let me go.”

“Let you go? If you didn’t kill someone, why did you run?”

“I…”

“Take you back to the yamen and see if your mouth stays hard.” Constable Zhang’s face full of anger, he instructed two constables: “Take him back and interrogate him thoroughly.”

“Wait!”

Ji Yunshu spoke up to stop them in time.

Constable Zhang turned to look at her, eyes filled with doubt: “Miss, he indeed has scratch marks on the back of his hand. The evidence is conclusive.”

At this moment, Ji Yunshu truly had a bit of a headache!

Wasn’t it said that ancient people were all slow-tempered? How were they all so impatient?

She shook her head slightly.

“When did I ever say he was the murderer?”