Su Ziluo gripped the wheelchair’s handles tightly, and a wave of bitterness suddenly surged through his heart, burning like flames in his chest.

A dull ache…

“Shu’er?”

His voice trembled, his brow furrowed tightly, and his eyes grew increasingly moist.

All the memories of the past came flooding into his mind at this moment—beautiful ones, painful ones, sorrowful ones… flashing by scene after scene.

It turned out that no matter how much time passed, no matter what he experienced, he had always remembered… always remembered that person buried deepest in his heart.

The person he wanted to love but couldn’t love!

“Is it really you, Shu’er?”

At this moment, he actually truly hoped that woman was Ji Yunshu!

But—

Thinking again, this was impossible!

Ji Yunshu couldn’t possibly be here!

If it really was her, why would she hide from him?

He began to speculate constantly, his feelings a jumbled mix, stirring up wild thoughts.

Or perhaps—

She was here to find “him”?

Thinking this, Su Ziluo’s palms gripped even tighter!

At this moment, Qi’er walked over. Seeing his gaze fixed on the distance, she asked, “Young Master, what are you looking at?”

When he came back to his senses, the figure of that woman from earlier had already disappeared.

“Young Master?”

Su Ziluo let out a gentle breath and asked, “Qi’er, do you believe in fate?”

Hmm?

Qi’er didn’t understand why her young master would suddenly ask this, but she still thought carefully before answering, “Qi’er doesn’t believe in fate. If I believed in fate, wouldn’t I be controlled by the will of heaven at every turn? What would be the point of living then?”

That was what she said.

A bitter smile slowly spread across Su Ziluo’s lips.

Qi’er looked at him and asked, “Why would Young Master ask Qi’er such a question?”

He let out a breath. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Qi’er didn’t continue asking and pushed him back to his room.

Su Ziluo gazed at the lanterns hanging on both sides, his eyes growing increasingly heavy.

…

At this moment, Ji Yunshu had arrived at Wen Che’s courtyard. Inside it was very quiet—it didn’t seem like anything had happened.

Did this mean Jingrong hadn’t come here?

But Jingrong had said he had urgent matters to attend to, and the Wen brothers just happened to be at Ning’an Estate. The only explanation was that Jingrong’s purpose in coming here was to assassinate the Wen brothers. However, the East Courtyard was currently very quiet. If there had been an assassination attempt, it shouldn’t be like this.

In the end, she had overthought things!

At this moment, Zhu Yao had already caught up and grabbed her, asking, “Miss Ji, what’s wrong?”

She looked in shock at the person who had suddenly appeared before her. “Miss Zhu, why are you here?”

“I should be asking you that question.”

“Hmm?”

Cai’er at the side explained, “Miss just saw you, Miss Ji, hurrying out of the courtyard. Worried something had happened to you, she quickly chased after you.”

Oh!

Ji Yunshu concealed her feelings and emotions and said, “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”

Zhu Yao looked at the East Courtyard and asked, “Just now I heard a servant at the estate say you were looking for General Wen. What are you doing here?”

“As you know, I came to Ning’an Estate together with General Wen. I happened to have something I wanted to tell him, but when I got here, I thought about it and decided against it.”

“I see. I was so frightened just now—I thought something had happened.”

“Thank you for your concern, Miss Zhu.”

“Since nothing’s wrong, let’s go back.” Zhu Yao didn’t suspect anything. She knew Ji Yunshu was a good person and had helped her twice, so naturally, she trusted Ji Yunshu.

On the way back, Zhu Yao noticed Ji Yunshu’s bandaged hand and asked nervously, “Miss Ji, what happened to your hand?”

“I accidentally cut it.”

“Is it serious?”

“It’s fine.”

“That’s good.”

Ji Yunshu looked at Zhu Yao, who was worried about her. This woman had no guile—simple and kind—she was indeed a young lady worth befriending.

However—

She saw that Zhu Yao seemed troubled.

“Miss Zhu, what’s wrong?”

Ji Yunshu hadn’t left her room all day today, so presumably she didn’t yet know what had happened at the estate.

Zhu Yao sighed worriedly and looked at the servants patrolling everywhere throughout the estate, saying, “Miss Ji, haven’t you noticed that something is amiss today?”

“Of course I know. General Wen already sent someone to tell me that a murder occurred at the estate.”

“Yes, a murder occurred, so even the Court of Judicial Review has been alerted.”

“Are they searching for the murderer?”

“Yes.”

“But if the murderer has already escaped, they would have gone down the mountain long ago. Why would they linger here?” Ji Yunshu said.

Zhu Yao said, “Because there’s only one way down the mountain—that suspension bridge. But…”

“But what?”

Zhu Yao sighed again, her expression worried. “Miss Ji doesn’t know, but right now all the evidence points to one person, and that person has conveniently disappeared. So they suspect… he’s the murderer. The people guarding the suspension bridge say that person never left the estate, so he must still be inside and hasn’t left. That’s why the people from the Court of Judicial Review and the estate servants are searching everywhere.”

This…

Ji Yunshu was somewhat confused.

“If that’s the case, why are you so worried, Miss Zhu?”

Zhu Yao lowered her eyes, which couldn’t help but moisten. She didn’t know how to explain properly.

Cai’er at the side said, “Miss Ji, you didn’t go to the great hall today, so you don’t know. Right now, the person everyone suspects as the murderer is Li Shiyan, the heir apparent of Marquis Kangding. Not long ago, Miss became engaged to the heir apparent. Miss came to Ning’an Estate this time together with the heir apparent as well.”

What?

Li Shiyan?

Ji Yunshu’s steps halted abruptly, and a trace of disbelief flashed through her eyes.

She knew Li Shiyan was an idle young master who accomplished nothing and handled matters carelessly and frivolously. But to say he killed someone… how could this be? Could it be that after not seeing him for many years, his temperament had completely changed?

“You’re saying the killer is Li Shiyan, the heir apparent of Marquis Kangding?”

Facing her doubt, Zhu Yao quickly said, “This must be a mistake. Shiyan definitely wouldn’t kill anyone. I know what kind of person he is. I’m certain he has no murderous intent. I fell into water twice, and both times he saved me. How could such a person kill anyone? It’s definitely not him. Those so-called pieces of evidence are completely ridiculous.”

Ji Yunshu tried her best to conceal the fact that she knew Li Shiyan. She asked, “Can you tell me what exactly this murder case is about?”

Although Shu Tian had told her about it, he had only said that a murder had occurred at the estate and hadn’t mentioned details. Moreover, Jingrong had still been in the room at the time, so she hadn’t asked much. Basically all her thoughts had been on Jingrong—how could she have thought about this case?

Now hearing this, she hadn’t expected it would actually involve Li Shiyan?

Zhu Yao’s eyes were red. She knew Ji Yunshu was different from others and hoped Ji Yunshu could analyze the situation for her, so she told her everything, not leaving out a single detail.

As she spoke, the group had already returned to the courtyard, and Ji Yunshu invited her into her room to talk.

All of this indeed pointed to Li Shiyan. There was witness testimony and physical evidence.

The witness happened to be Luoyang.

Ji Yunshu also knew Luoyang wouldn’t lie, so what he saw that night must be true!

Killing someone because of being humiliated by Wang Huai at the banquet—this was motive!

Li Shiyan had blood on his hands and body when Luoyang ran into him, plus there was that lion’s head jade pendant—this was all evidence!

Added to the fact that he had now disappeared, this indicated fleeing in guilt!

Connecting all these matters together, the possibility of Li Shiyan being the murderer was very high—he might even be the murderer.

Zhu Yao wiped her tears and grasped Ji Yunshu’s hand, saying, “Miss Ji, I know you must also think Shiyan is the murderer, but I don’t believe he would kill anyone.”

Ji Yunshu pondered thoughtfully. After a long while, questions arose in her mind.

She slowly spoke, “It was already the hour of the Rat that night. Wang Huai should have already been asleep! If the heir apparent truly wanted to kill someone, he should have gone to Wang Huai’s courtyard to find him. If he killed him in the room and then carried the body out, there should be traces or bloodstains in the room—it couldn’t possibly just be a bloody heart afterward. But if he first drugged Wang Huai unconscious, then brought him behind the rock formation to kill him, and finally hung the heart back in the room, the process would be extremely complicated and completely unnecessary! So neither of these scenarios is possible. Then the only possibility is that Wang Huai left his courtyard on his own that night. But why would he go out in the dead of night? Where was he going? And how did he encounter the heir apparent? All of this is too strange. And that jade pendant—how could it so coincidentally fall right in that pool of blood?”