She was certain she absolutely never said that!

Constable Zhang’s brows seemed ready to shoot into his topknot, his parched mouth twitching slightly.

Could it be he was too hasty?

And the person held by the young constable pitifully revealed a pair of innocent eyes.

Innocent?

No, you’re not innocent at all!

When Ji Yunshu walked over, Constable Zhang’s mouth, as if glued shut, finally opened: “Miss, the deceased had contact with him before death, and the back of his hand has scratch marks. It must be that he fought with the deceased and killed him.”

“Has the Yuzhou county yamen ever produced wrongful convictions?”

Her almond eyes looked toward Constable Zhang.

Actually making one’s heart tremble!

Why suddenly ask such a question?

Constable Zhang didn’t understand: “This…”

“If the county magistrate of Yuzhou is as impulsive and confused as you, wouldn’t every single case throughout Yuzhou be a wrongful conviction?”

“…”

For the first time, Constable Zhang was rendered speechless by a young girl’s retort.

That’s what you get for looking down on women!

That’s what you get for looking down on me!

This was just a verbal lesson. If there truly were wrongful convictions and people were wrongly executed, several of your heads wouldn’t be enough compensation!

Instead, the innkeeper stepped forward and forcefully slapped Xiao Zhao on the head: “Xiao Zhao, if you really killed him, I’ll be the first to slaughter you. You’ve ruined my century-old establishment.”

Hearing this, Xiao Zhao began to cry out in grievance: “Innkeeper, I’ve worked at your establishment for nearly ten years. How can you not believe me?”

“Shut up! If you didn’t have a guilty conscience, why did you run?” The innkeeper ground his teeth.

“I…”

“He indeed didn’t kill anyone!” Ji Yunshu interrupted their words, looking at Xiao Zhao: “He only entered the room to steal something.”

“Steal something?” The innkeeper was slightly surprised.

Xiao Zhao lowered his head, his mouth trembling: “I didn’t…”

“You needn’t make excuses.” Ji Yunshu immediately refuted him: “Although you didn’t kill anyone, there are indeed skin fragments in the deceased’s fingernails. With just one examination, we’ll know if they match the wounds on the back of your hand. This is enough to prove you indeed had contact with the deceased. Because you secretly took the thumb ring from his thumb, the deceased at that time must have scratched your hand. It was also at that moment that the oil on your hands was left on the deceased’s wrists. I imagine that thumb ring should still be on your person? A single search will find it.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the nimble young constable began searching Xiao Zhao’s person. Sure enough, he actually found a jade thumb ring!

Next, the young constable quickly took the thumb ring to compare with the deceased’s thumb, then excitedly said to Constable Zhang: “Constable, that’s right. This thumb ring belongs to the deceased.”

Constable Zhang’s blade handle immediately pressed against Xiao Zhao’s neck, demanding: “Speak quickly—how did you kill the deceased?”

“I’m wronged! I… I truly only stole something. I didn’t kill anyone!”

“You were clearly discovered by the deceased while stealing, so you killed him.”

“No, I truly didn’t!” Xiao Zhao was so frightened his legs trembled, tears welling in his eyes.

Jingrong finally couldn’t watch anymore. He stepped forward with an icy tone: “Constable Zhang? Miss Ji just said he’s not the murderer, so he definitely is not.”

Oh my, stinky brat—seems from investigating cases with me so much, you’ve also understood my methods!

Constable Zhang thought to himself—could he have been impulsive again?

The corner of his eye twitched. Only then did he remove the blade handle from Xiao Zhao’s neck, his eyes full of doubt as he looked at the veiled woman.

Ji Yunshu glanced at Jingrong, turned around, and walked to crouch beside the corpse.

She explained methodically: “Although there are some skin fragments in the deceased’s fingernails, there are also some fabric threads. These fine fabric threads are not coarse cloth but silk. I’ve looked through the entire room—there are no silk items. Moreover, such an expensive object absolutely cannot belong to Xiao Zhao. One of the strangulation marks on the deceased’s neck was not caused by the rope used for hanging but should be silk, because the mark left by fabric is in the form of loose, uneven stripes. Presumably the fabric threads in the deceased’s fingernails were left when the murderer used a piece of silk fabric to strangle him and he struggled desperately with both hands.”

“Furthermore, this strangulation mark angles slightly downward. The deceased is only five chi tall, so the murderer must be less than five chi for the mark to angle downward. But Xiao Zhao is five chi three cun tall.”

“Based on the fabric and height, Xiao Zhao doesn’t match on either count!”

Her bright eyes, clear with wisdom, and within that wisdom, a faint confidence!

Everyone who heard these words fell completely silent!

They stared at her in disbelief.

Where did this woman come from?

Xiao Zhao struggled, twisting his arms, shouting: “Let me go! I told you I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Be still!” The young constable’s temper wasn’t good either.

Ji Yunshu was about to stand up when she noticed something at the corner of the deceased’s mouth. She immediately covered her hand with the handkerchief she’d set aside, pried open the deceased’s mouth while pulling the thing out.

It was a strand of hair!

“The murderer is a woman?” She murmured quietly.

But others still heard it.

Constable Zhang asked: “A woman? How is that possible? The deceased was a man after all. How could he be killed by a woman shorter than himself? And then be hung up?”

“It’s not without reason.”

Ji Yunshu stood up and walked before Xiao Zhao.

She asked him seriously: “Answer me honestly—when you entered to steal, what exactly did you do? What did you see? And what was the deceased’s situation at that time?”

“Uh!”

Thud—

Constable Zhang used his blade handle to jab Xiao Zhao’s stomach again, shouting: “Speak quickly!”

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk.” Xiao Zhao winced in pain. His mind began to recall as he spoke: “At the time I just came in to deliver food. At first I didn’t see him. Who knew he was lying on the ground? I checked his breathing—he was still alive. I thought… thought he had just fainted. At that time I saw the jade thumb ring on his hand and momentarily became greedy, so I took his thumb ring off. Who knew he would suddenly wake up and grab my hand, not letting go? I was very frightened at the time and desperately pushed him, and then he fainted again. I quickly ran out. Really, really, that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t do anything else!”

“You’re certain at that time there was only him in the room?”

“Should… be, yes.”

“That’s wrong. Before you came in, or when you had already entered, in this room including the deceased, there should have been three people.” Ji Yunshu said.

Constable Zhang was astonished: “Three?”

She raised her finger pointing at the table: “On this table are three cups of tea. When Constable Zhang entered, didn’t you notice? Why would one person pour three cups of tea?”

Looking at this, it was indeed true!

This point, apart from Ji Yunshu, almost no one had noticed.