After leaving the palace, Jingrong returned to his manor and rushed to the East Garden without stopping.

Before even entering, he saw Wei Yi leaning on Ji Yunshu’s shoulder, the two chatting and laughing together.

Lang Bo at the side looked at his prince’s expression and secretly sighed.

Poor Prince!

Watching the woman he loved chatting and laughing with someone else, yet still having to endure the jealousy and displeasure in his heart.

After thinking for a moment, Lang Bo asked quietly, “Your Highness, shall we go in?”

“Let’s wait a bit.”

His voice carried a stinging sensation.

Lang Bo could only step aside, quietly accompanying his prince as they stood outside for half an incense stick’s worth of time.

Only when that boy Wei Yi finally moved away from Ji Yunshu’s shoulder and entered the room with the lantern in his hand,

Did Jingrong finally step inside.

Ji Yunshu saw him enter, her gaze falling on his damp shoulders.

“What are you looking at?” Jingrong had already walked up to her.

“Has Your Highness been standing outside for quite a while?”

“How do you know?”

Ji Yunshu reached out toward his shoulder, her slender finger lifting to pluck off a thin plum blossom petal.

As she said, “It hasn’t rained, but that plum tree outside is full of dew. When the wind blows, petals fly everywhere. Your Highness’s shoulders are damp and have petals on them. It looks like you must have been standing there for a while.”

“Nothing can be hidden from you.”

Ji Yunshu smiled.

She turned and entered the room, with Jingrong following.

Inside, Wei Yi was lying at the desk, holding Ji Yunshu’s ink brush and painting on the lantern with great concentration.

Imitating how Ji Yunshu had painted plum blossoms on the lantern before, he drew mechanically, except the plum branches he painted looked like chopsticks.

When he looked up and saw Jingrong following Ji Yunshu inside, he immediately pouted.

He called out unhappily, “I don’t like you!”

Dark lines instantly appeared on Jingrong’s forehead.

“You brat, when did I ever offend you?” Jingrong questioned him.

Wei Yi huffed, “I just don’t like you. Last time you yelled at those young ladies, and then Shu’er got hurt too.”

“I…” He was actually speechless.

Was this a mistake? He was the one who got injured trying to save Ji Yunshu, okay?

After thinking for a moment, Jingrong suddenly smiled cunningly, “Wei Yi, do you want to eat candied hawthorn?”

Candied hawthorn!

Hearing those three words, Wei Yi immediately became excited and shouted, “Yes!”

So Jingrong called out “Lang Bo.”

A moment later, Lang Bo entered.

He instructed, “Take Young Master Wei to eat candied hawthorn.”

“Huh?”

“Are you deaf?”

Lang Bo’s face turned pale. He shook his head and led the delighted Wei Yi out to eat candied hawthorn.

“That brat was bought off by this prince with a single stick of candied hawthorn.” Jingrong looked very pleased with himself.

Ji Yunshu at the side twitched her lips!

But she didn’t forget to warn, “Eating too much sugar will rot his teeth. Aren’t you afraid that when Wei Yi gets a toothache, he’ll come settle accounts with you?”

“Not afraid. This prince will hire the best physician for him.”

Speechless!

Seeing her helpless expression, Jingrong secretly smiled, then straightened his expression and took two steps closer to Ji Yunshu.

This forced Ji Yunshu’s heart to fill with an ominous premonition, and she hurriedly stepped back two paces.

“Why so nervous?” Jingrong asked.

“I’m not.”

“Don’t be nervous. This prince only wants to ask you about Gan Chouliang’s matter.”

Getting to the point!

Ji Yunshu had almost thought he was going to… act like a scoundrel again!

Breathing a sigh of relief, she said, “What needed to be said, didn’t I already explain clearly in the letter?”

“You did explain clearly, but how did you determine that Gan Chouliang wasn’t the murderer, just based on him being a eunuch?”

Ji Yunshu walked over to the desk beside her, picked up the lantern Wei Yi had left behind, took up an ink brush, and slowly began to correct the places where Wei Yi had drawn, while saying.

“Someone who was castrated early cannot possibly rape the victims. And another point—a deranged serial killer would definitely have some extreme behaviors, and those behaviors would certainly follow a pattern. Since he admitted that all the missing women had their skin peeled and hands severed in the same way, this behavior naturally forms a pattern. If it’s a pattern, then there’s no reason he couldn’t remember clearly whether he peeled the skin first or severed the hands first. These two points are enough to prove that he was lying. He’s definitely not the murderer. At most, he’s just a transporter, helping to move and dispose of the bodies.”

“Then, why would he lie? Knowing full well that admitting to the crimes means certain death.”

“Perhaps… he’s covering for someone.”

Her tone gradually became heavier.

She continued: “I had wanted to make a trip to Changxiang Restaurant to find that Meixiang’er. Perhaps she knows something, or perhaps we could find clues to the real murderer. But the restaurant has been sealed off, no one knows where she lives. Capital Magistrate has already sent people to investigate. I believe there will be news soon.”

“Actually, there’s another method.” Jingrong said.

Ji Yunshu gave him a curious glance and asked, “What method?”

“If your analysis is all correct, then the real murderer couldn’t possibly let Miss Ruan go. He might even strike again.”

“From Your Highness’s tone, it seems you’ve already made arrangements.”

“This prince has already ordered people to continue secretly protecting Miss Ruan, hoping the real murderer will show himself.” Jingrong said.

“Your Highness is very clever.” She rarely praised him.

Not bad, this man was clever for once.

Jingrong was quite pleased with her words.

Actually, Ji Yunshu had thought of this early on and had already asked Capital Magistrate to send people to continue secretly protecting Miss Ruan, to prevent the real murderer from harming her.

She continued painting on the lantern, modifying Wei Yi’s “chopstick” until it became a lifelike plum blossom branch.

Jingrong frowned and walked to her side, asking again, “You had someone say that if this prince could stop Prince Yi, there was no need to deliver the letter to me, but if I couldn’t stop him, I should take the letter and enter the palace together with Prince Yi for an audience with His Majesty. What were you thinking?”

“Your Highness probably already understands my thinking, doesn’t he?”

“I want you to tell me personally.”

So pressing!

Ji Yunshu pondered for a moment, her gaze calm, her lips parting slightly.

She said, “This time, Prince Yi was able to capture Gan Chouliang before Capital Magistrate could arrest him, which shows all this was no coincidence. And Prince Yi taking that indictment to the palace for an audience with His Majesty had only one purpose—to prevent Your Highness from investigating the Linjing Case. Such a calculating person, by nature, would certainly want to put Your Highness in a position of certain death. I was thinking at the time that if Your Highness could successfully stop Prince Yi, it would mean that in Prince Yi’s heart, there still existed a shred of conscience. But if you couldn’t, then there was no need to treat him with the courtesy due to a gentleman. Your Highness could take the information I gave you, enter the palace for an audience, and before His Majesty, completely overturn Prince Yi’s position—it would serve as a lesson to him.”

This woman, was she really just a painter?

Just a coroner?

Even Jingrong himself wouldn’t believe it!

She should be a man, donning armor and entering battle, galloping across the battlefield!

Serving as a military strategist with extraordinary schemes!