And then? Ji Yunshu no longer kept him in suspense and said, “I asked the person in charge at Linglong Embroidery Shop, wanting to know if anything unexpected happened when Hualing first went to the shop. Unexpectedly, the person in charge said there really was something! She said that day, Wang Ye’s wife Wang Liu Shi was also in the shop, saying she wanted to select good fabric for her daughter’s wedding, and Wang Zhe was the one accompanying her. At that time, Hualing accidentally tore Wang Liu Shi’s clothing. Wang Liu Shi flew into a rage and slapped Hualing right there on the spot, then scolded her for a long time, causing quite a commotion throughout the entire shop. Many people can testify to this. That girl Hualing was beaten until she fell to the ground and didn’t dare make a sound, just kept crying pitifully. I heard that later it was Wang Zhe who said a few words of persuasion that finally calmed Wang Liu Shi’s anger, saying forget it! She wouldn’t pursue it further! Wang Zhe personally helped Hualing up. Hualing had that strange illness, but she didn’t reject Wang Zhe. Later, Hualing even persuaded the aunt at the residence to let her be the one to go to the embroidery shop to pick up fabric from then on. And every time she went to Linglong Embroidery Shop, she would ask the embroidery women inside about Wang Zhe. Think about it, Hualing had that strange illness and didn’t like men getting close, yet she was so curious about Wang Zhe. I think… it was probably because Wang Zhe helped her that time, she was grateful, and so she had no feelings of rejection only toward Wang Zhe. Thinking about it more carefully, Hualing’s lover was probably Wang Zhe.”

“Even if that’s true, what does this have to do with the uncle and nephew Wang Ye’s embezzlement?”

“I’m not finished yet.” Ji Yunshu continued, “After I asked about this, I was planning to leave, but I overheard two embroidery women talking. They said that Chen Youfu had previously obtained a piece of translucent spiritual jade. That jade was half blue and half red. Within the borders of Da Lin, there’s almost never been a second piece like it—just that one! What a coincidence that the day I saw Wang Ye at the entrance to the Court of Judicial Review, I noticed he was wearing a round jade pendant at his waist, with colors that were exactly one blue and one red! It might have been a gift from Chen Youfu. After all, it’s not unusual for merchants to give gifts to officials. But later I returned to the Ministry of Justice and sent someone to investigate. I learned that Chen Youfu goes to the brothel across the street almost every five days, but he doesn’t look for girls or order wine. He just locks himself in a room. What’s even more coincidental is that Minister Jiang told me that originally Wang Zhe also has this habit, though he doesn’t go on the same day as Chen Youfu but goes a day earlier. He enters the same room, doesn’t look for girls, doesn’t order wine. Don’t you think this is too much of a coincidence?”

Jingrong seemed to understand something, “You mean Linglong Embroidery Shop is just a front, essentially used by the uncle and nephew Wang Ye to launder dirty money into legitimate money, and the place where they conduct their buying and selling exchanges is that brothel. So you deliberately had Chief Justice Yu leak that you sent people to follow Chen Youfu to Wang Zhe. If he knows you’re investigating Chen Youfu, then perhaps the investigation will soon reach him, so he must immediately notify Chen Youfu. That man who came out of the alley went to the brothel to notify him, which is why Chen Youfu came out so quickly.”

“Exactly!”

Interesting!

“It seems the holes in the court from top to bottom are getting bigger and bigger.” Jingrong sighed, then said with difficulty, “But even if all this is true, neither you nor I have evidence in hand. To accuse the uncle and nephew Wang Ye of lining their pockets, all of this requires evidence.”

Ji Yunshu looked relaxed, “Actually, the evidence has already been given to us.”

“Where?”

“We’ll know once Ziran returns.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Shi Ziran left the Chen family home, and somehow learned that the two of them were drinking tea here.

“Your Highness, Miss Ji.”

Ji Yunshu glanced at him and said, “Speak. Tell us everything about following Chen Youfu, don’t leave out a single detail.”

“Yes.” Shi Ziran said, “That fellow finished breakfast and went to a teahouse to listen to music. He sat there until noon, then casually wandered outside for a bit before going to that brothel across the street. He found a private room, closed the door, and didn’t come out. While someone was bringing wine inside, I took the chance to look in and found him inside working an abacus, with a thick book beside his hand. But the wine-bearer had barely gone in when Chen Youfu came out, looking flustered and looking around everywhere, as if searching for someone. In the end, he went straight home and never came out again.”

Ji Yunshu nodded repeatedly and asked, “Do you remember what the person who went in to deliver wine looked like?”

“Um… very thin and weak, not tall, not good-looking either, shifty-eyed.” He tried hard to recall, then his eyes suddenly brightened as he said, “Right, that person had a mole on his face, extremely disgusting.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Yunshu and Jingrong exchanged glances.

What they said earlier was surely correct.

Ji Yunshu laughed lightly, “It seems we were right. That private room in the brothel is their contact point, and the book Chen Youfu was looking at should be the account ledger. If we can get that account ledger and catch a witness to question, everything will become clear.” She turned to Shi Ziran and said, “You should know what to do now, right?”

“Yes, I’ll go right away.”

With a turn, Shi Ziran disappeared.

Jingrong said, “If we can bring down the uncle and nephew Wang Ye this time, Minister Yu’s position as Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review will probably come back. But what about the Yu residence murder case?”

“I’ve already found the murderer.”

Hm?

“Who?”

“I’ve already sent people to the Ministry of Justice. News should come out soon. If there are no accidents, we can solve the case tonight.”

So mysterious!

…

Before long, an announcement was posted at the Ministry of Justice offices!

It said that Minister Ji would publicly examine the corpse in the main hall of the Ministry of Justice tomorrow, and could find evidence from Hualing’s skeletal remains to determine who the murderer was!

As soon as the news came out, the common people became curious and discussed it extensively.

Ministry of Justice, evening.

Many officials had left work. Only a dozen or so guards remained at the Ministry of Justice.

The two guards outside the autopsy room kept yawning.

One said, “Stay alert.”

The other said, “These past days investigating that murder case at the Yu residence have exhausted me to death. At night I still have to guard that pile of white bones inside. It’s really too much.”

“Alright, stop complaining.”

“Tell me, can Minister Ji really find the true culprit from white bones tomorrow?” the shorter one asked skeptically.

The taller one thought for a while, squinted his eyes, stroked his chin, and made several “tsk tsk tsk” sounds before saying, “I think so. After all, it’s not like we don’t know Minister Ji’s abilities. She can even draw what a person looked like in life from a rotting corpse. What’s a mere set of white bones? I think tomorrow will definitely be lively.”

“True. Minister Ji could even solve the ‘Lin Jing Case’ from fourteen years ago. What’s this small case? If I could learn even a little bit of her skills, I wouldn’t be stuck here with you guarding the autopsy room, having to hold it in even when I need to use the latrine.” The shorter one said with both longing and complaint.