In the court!

An uproar arose!

The bailiffs looked at each other in groups of twos and threes, then all turned their gazes to that conscienceless Liangda.

They wished they could beat that beast to death with the boards in their hands.

Liangda remained very calm, as if listening to someone else’s story, unrelated to himself—even listening with some lingering interest.

Zuo Yao leaned forward. “And then? What about the cat?”

Ji Yunshu took two steps, standing over Liangda, and continued gracefully, “Then he casually threw the cup in his hand onto the ground, got up to catch the cat that was cowering in the corner. The cat, smelling the aged tangerine scent on his hands, scrambled wildly around the room. Inadvertently, he knocked over the screen in the room, his hand grasping the corner piece of the screen, leaving three scratch marks. After strangling the cat to death, he quietly left, framing everything on Qiao Zihua, who was still unconscious in the room at the time.”

The case seemed clear now.

Since the circumstances had been explained, evidence should be produced.

Zuo Yao looked at Liangda. “Is what Master Ji said correct?”

He tilted his head and lightly said, “A songstress—why should she seduce men? Shouldn’t she be killed? I truly regret that I should have carried her to the kitchen, then chopped her meat off piece by piece with a knife and taken it to Pork Butcher Rong at the market entrance.”

He smiled excitedly.

Extremely perverted!

Making one’s hair stand on end.

He raised his head again and grinned at Ji Yunshu. “Do you have evidence?”

Of course there was!

Ji Yunshu’s expression darkened, her gaze falling on his long right sleeve. “The evidence is on that false hand in your sleeve.”

False hand? What was that about?

Zuo Yao gave a look to the bailiffs beside him, so two bailiffs stepped forward and rolled up Liangda’s sleeve, revealing that false hand forged from steel.

Five thin, long steel rods gleamed with a silvery-white, cold light, as if ready to pierce into someone’s heart at any moment.

Liangda didn’t resist. He even actively raised that hand a few inches, looking at it with some appreciation for a while, then extended his tongue and licked the thin, long steel rods.

A faint bloody smell rushed into his throat, immediately making him somewhat excited.

Jingrong, sitting to the side, couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

This person was truly fucking disgusting.

He gripped the teacup at hand, really wanting to throw it, but couldn’t bear to disrupt the tense atmosphere currently created in the court.

Thinking about it, he let it go.

Seeing Liangda like that, Zuo Yao couldn’t help but swallow, his throat uncomfortable. He could only turn his gaze to Ji Yunshu.

“Master Ji, how does that false hand become evidence?”

Ji Yunshu slowly took out that corner piece from her sleeve, showing the three scratch marks on it to everyone, while saying, “These scratch marks weren’t made by human fingernails, nor by cat claws, but by Liangda’s false hand. The young ladies of Zhichun Tower frequently need aged tangerine to dispel odors, and the person responsible for aged tangerine at Zhichun Tower is him. Before he chased the cat up to the third floor, he should have been busy with aged tangerine in the kitchen, so the thin steel rods would retain the scent of aged tangerine. When he knocked into the screen, the steel rods scraped the corner piece, leaving three scratch marks. That’s why there’s the scent of aged tangerine on it.”

A bailiff took the corner piece for Zuo Yao to smell.

It really was there!

Ji Yunshu continued, “This is only the first piece of evidence. The second is Ye’er’s skeleton. I used the method of pebbles plus soy sauce to make Ye’er’s wrist bones and cheekbone positions reveal several thin, long traces of compression. Those traces do indeed look like they were made by human hands, but whose hands are thin, long, and skeletal? However, Liangda’s false hand is exactly like this.”

Sudden enlightenment!

This case had finally cleared away the clouds to reveal the truth.

Liangda didn’t deny it. He continued admiring his false hand, continued licking those thin, sharp steel rods.

A face full of perversion!

However, Zuo Yao still had questions. “Miss Ye’er—he didn’t rape her?”

“No! Because there were actually four people who entered that room. The person who raped Ye’er—well… perhaps it was mutually consensual between both parties. In any case, the person who had relations with Miss Ye’er had already jumped out the window after Qiao Zihua fainted and before Liangda entered the room.”

“So that’s how it was. But wasn’t Miss Ye’er poisoned with oleander toxin? According to what you’re saying, what Liangda forced into her should have been rat poison.”

Better not to mention it—mentioning it made one angry.

Ji Yunshu, with an accusatory tone, said to him coldly, “If your official coroner had examined the cup by the bedside at the time, he wouldn’t have written on the case file that it was oleander poison.”

The implication was that the coroner had accepted private silver from the Qiao family and hadn’t examined carefully at all, just carelessly closed the case.

Zuo Yao’s face showed embarrassment. He guiltily glanced at Jingrong, then immediately withdrew his gaze.

He questioned Liangda on the ground, “Now the evidence is conclusive. What else do you have to say?”

Liangda shrugged his shoulders, using the steel rods of his right hand to sweep the hair scattered on his face behind his ears. Half his face was normal, half terrifying.

He had no struggle or will to survive. Instead, he let out a breath. “I originally went to kill that cat. As a result, I also killed Ye’er. I have nothing to argue. Arrest me, throw me in prison, best to chop off my head. Anyway, I’ve wanted to die for many years. Now my wish is fulfilled—I can finally die. For me, it’s a kind of liberation.”

Come on, kill me!

Zuo Yao ordered people to lift him from the ground, then endured the pain and forcefully struck the gavel. “The criminal Liangda has already confessed. First imprison him in the jail. After this matter is reported to the Ministry of Justice, he will be dealt with according to law.”

Inside the court, Liangda’s bursts of loud laughter echoed.

Eerie and chilling.

Before he was taken away, he suddenly said to Ji Yunshu, “You can explain everything so clearly. Those who don’t know might think you were in the room at the time.”

“I truly wish I had been in the room at the time.”

That way, she could have seen clearly—who was the person who escaped through the room’s window?

Who was the person who had illicit relations with Miss Ye’er?

After the person was taken away, Zuo Yao walked down from the high seat and bowed to Jingrong and Master Ji.

“Many thanks to Your Highness and Master Ji. This case can finally be closed.”

Ji Yunshu, however, was gloomy and unhappy!

“Master Ji, the case is solved. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

How could she be happy!

She pondered, “Before Miss Ye’er died, she anxiously wanted to tell Qiao Zihua something, then have him report to the authorities. But before she could finish speaking, Qiao Zihua was knocked unconscious. What exactly was it? What did Miss Ye’er want to tell Qiao Zihua? If it wasn’t a matter of life and death, how would it involve needing to report to the authorities? Since she needed to report to the authorities, why didn’t she go herself?”

This case seemed closed, but it seemed to still involve some unspeakable secret.

Like a cloud of mist, gathering ever larger.