After realizing something wasn’t quite right.

Li Cheng leaned toward Jingrong, furrowing his brow as he emphasized: “This seems to be my place, doesn’t it? How come it feels like it’s become yours?”

Jingrong ignored him and instead poured him a cup of water.

“Drink!”

Using the tone of a host.

And Li Cheng actually had no backbone and drank it.

Jingrong saw that case file placed on the table. “You brought it?”

“Of course, just look at who I am.” He raised his eyebrows.

Jingrong reached out to take it. Just as his fingertips touched it, Li Cheng’s palm pressed down on that case file, emphasizing: “This is a case file, it can’t be viewed casually.”

“So you don’t want to investigate the case.”

“Of course I want to investigate, but this is for Young Master Ji to see.”

“She is me, I am her.”

Li Cheng: “…”

These words were said in such a way that for a moment one didn’t know how to respond.

Jingrong: “We’re all in the same boat. You need to solve the case, I need to find someone. If we can’t cooperate, I’ll leave right now. Then for this case, you’ll probably have to find someone more capable.”

A blatant threat!

Li Cheng deliberated, looking at Jingrong’s hawk-like eyes, and slowly loosened his grip.

He wasn’t afraid of Jingrong’s gaze, but rather worried that this man would really terminate their cooperation in a fit of anger and leave with Ji Yunshu. Then wouldn’t this case be left hanging?

So when it was time to admit defeat, one should still admit defeat.

Seeing him loosen his grip, the corner of Jingrong’s mouth secretly curved upward. He took that case file over.

And began looking through it.

His sword-like eyebrows furrowed from time to time.

Li Cheng glanced at him, coughed once, and raised his voice saying: “Since I promised to take you to the Ministry of Revenue to investigate that person called Chahe, naturally I’ll do as I say. So you also can’t go back on your word—you must help me solve this case. This is called give and take.”

Jingrong ignored him.

He continued reading!

“But what are you looking for that person for? Is he very important to you?”

“…”

“You’re from Dalin, but that person is from Gaoding. How did you come to know each other?”

“…”

Li Cheng rattled on and on.

Until—

Jingrong responded with one sentence: “Can you shut up?”

With a gentle and polite tone.

Yet it clearly sent chills through one’s heart.

Li Cheng awkwardly yet politely smiled.

Before long, Jingrong finished reading.

He silently closed the case file in his hands and set it aside.

Silent and wordless.

Li Cheng asked: “Did you see anything?”

Jingrong replied: “The case file is written very well.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“But that’s what I’m saying.”

“What?” Li Cheng didn’t understand his words. “What do you mean ‘what’? I’m not asking whether this case file is written well or not, but asking you, did you notice anything wrong?”

Jingrong looked at him and asked seriously: “Is what I said so difficult to understand?”

“Huh?”

“It’s precisely because this case file is written well that there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Pfft—

Li Cheng felt like he’d been struck by several arrows.

“Young Master Jing, you could just directly say there’s nothing wrong. Why beat around the bush like this?”

“Blame me?” Jingrong’s cold eyes swept across him.

Li Cheng instantly cowered: “That’s not what I meant.”

He couldn’t beat Jingrong, and he couldn’t out-talk Jingrong either.

Besides admitting defeat, what else could he do?

Just then—

Ji Yunshu arrived.

The guard at the door called out: “Master Ji.”

The two men in the hall turned at the sound.

Li Cheng immediately stood up and rushed over. “Master Ji, how did it go?”

Ji Yunshu shook her head: “No results.”

“Oh!”

“Where’s the case file I wanted?”

“Over there!” Li Cheng pointed to the case file on the table.

Ji Yunshu walked over, sat down in the seat Li Cheng had previously occupied, picked up the case file, and began reading.

She completely didn’t greet Jingrong.

Jingrong, however, silently poured her a cup of tea.

She drank while reading.

Until she finished.

Like Jingrong, after closing the case file, she too remained silent and wordless.

Li Cheng asked: “How is it? Did you discover anything?”

Ji Yunshu shook her head.

“Since there’s nothing unusual, does that mean Su Qiao coming to Gaoding had nothing to do with Du Mubai?”

“Not necessarily!” Ji Yunshu said. “Perhaps one could say this case file is written well, so there’s nothing unusual.”

Li Cheng: “…”

Suddenly—

A junior official rushed in hurriedly, saying: “My lord, there’s a discovery.”

Li Cheng: “What is it?”

“A woman says she knew the deceased. She’s right outside now, saying she and the deceased were from the same hometown.”

A discovery.

“Quick, bring her in.”

“Yes.”

Soon, the junior official brought that woman inside.

The woman was quite pretty, just with rather rough skin. She wore coarse cloth and hemp clothing and kept her head lowered.

Timid and hesitant.

After entering, she knelt on the ground. “Greetings to the honorable lords.”

Ji Yunshu quickly bent down to grasp her hand: “No need to kneel.”

“Yes.”

The woman’s voice was very soft as she slowly rose from the ground.

Ji Yunshu: “You say… you knew the deceased? You’re from her hometown?”

“Yes.”

“Explain clearly—who exactly was this person called Su Qiao?”

The woman pressed her lips together. “She was…”

“Is there something difficult to say?”

“To be honest with you, my lord, Su Qiao and I are both from Nanshen. We grew up together from childhood. With no father or mother, we’ve always… grown up in a brothel.”

A brothel?

Ji Yunshu: “Explain in detail.”

The woman: “Three years ago, she suddenly came to Gaoding. From then on, I lost contact with her. Two years ago, I was redeemed by a traveling merchant master and brought to Gaoding. It’s just that my status was lowly, so I became a cleaning maid in the household. Later, I also inquired about Su Qiao, but… there was no news of her. Until these past two days, I only heard… heard that she died. I also heard that you lords were investigating her identity, so I rushed over immediately.”

“Then do you know why she came to Gaoding three years ago?” Ji Yunshu asked.

“She came to Gaoding… for a person called Du Mubai.”

As expected!

“What exactly was her relationship with Du Mubai? Du Mubai already died six years ago—why would she come to Gaoding because of him?”

The woman: “To be honest with you, my lord, Du Mubai and Su Qiao were sweethearts. The two were well-matched and had long pledged themselves to each other for life. Su Qiao often told me that she greatly admired Du Mubai’s scholarship and would definitely marry him in the future. Originally, Su Qiao had long ago earned enough money to redeem herself, but because Du Mubai’s family circumstances were impoverished and he had no money to support coming to Gaoding to take the imperial examinations, Su Qiao gave him all her money. She herself waited day and night for him to pass the exams and return. But before long, news came that Du Mubai had already died. Su Qiao cried for a long time. Helplessly unable to redeem herself, she couldn’t go to Gaoding. It wasn’t until three years ago that she redeemed herself. She immediately came to Gaoding. After that, I knew nothing more.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Cheng was shocked.

Su Qiao really was Du Mubai’s sweetheart?

Then his feelings for Elder Sister… what did they amount to?