In Li Shiyan’s view, Ji Yunshu seemed to have gone completely mad. This series of bizarre behaviors left him racking his brain but unable to understand.

Moreover, Ji Yunshu’s stubborn insistence on helping the heir apparent and trusting the heir apparent was even more incomprehensible to him.

Such conduct, in his view, was madness.

It was pure obsession!

Otherwise, why would someone perfectly fine take such great risks to help a person they didn’t know at all?

Add to that, hearing Ji Yunshu say she was going to examine a corpse—that was examining a corpse!

That was what coroners did!

Only men could do it. Where was there a young lady who went to examine corpses?

Unheard of!

Ji Yunshu’s arm hurt from his grip, as if he wanted to twist and break her bones. The pain spread from both ends of her arm to between her brows. She couldn’t help but furrow them slightly. Gazing at the anxious and confused Luo Yang before her, her scarlet lips parted lightly as she said, “Luo Yang, I know you think I’m meddling in other people’s business, and you even think I’ve gone mad! But the heir apparent didn’t kill anyone, so I must use every method possible to help him.”

“You trust him that much?”

“Yes! I trust him.”

“How can there be someone as stubborn as you in this world?” Luo Yang’s expression suddenly darkened, also carrying a trace of numbness.

Her temperament was just like this.

No one could be more stubborn than her!

She twisted her arm and said, “If you don’t want to help me, then don’t stop me either!”

Luo Yang followed the force of her shoulders twisting to break free and released her. The lanterns hanging in the surrounding corners made his complexion appear even more unsightly. He stared at Ji Yunshu’s unfathomably deep eyes, his heart pounding.

He was a cunning person. After weighing things in his heart, he finally gritted his teeth, “I must really have owed you something in my past life. Fine! If you want to cause trouble, I’ll risk it all. Anyway, I’ve already helped you get this far. If I give up halfway, it would be too much of a loss.”

He was a shrewd businessman indeed!

Afterward, Luo Yang followed beside her to the place where Wang Huai’s corpse was kept. All along the way, he kept lowering his voice to ask, “Are you really going to examine the corpse? That’s examining a corpse—examining a corpse! Do you even know how?”

Ji Yunshu’s gaze fell lightly on the path ahead, “I learned some before.”

“Don’t they say this kind of thing is untouchable for women?”

“Will touching it cause death?”

“Well, no.”

“Since it won’t cause death, why can’t I touch it? Moreover, examining corpses is a perfectly legitimate matter. Being able to right wrongs for the deceased and find the murderer is a good thing. But in your mouths, it instead becomes taboo. If things are this rigid, how many more wronged spirits will there be in the world?” Ji Yunshu said seriously.

Listening to this left Luo Yang stunned and dazed.

Thinking it over carefully, that reasoning was indeed correct!

The place where Wang Huai’s corpse was kept was in a somewhat remote small courtyard. There was no one guarding outside. After all, who would be willing to guard a dead person?

Especially such a bloody dead person!

They pushed the door and entered. Inside the room was pitch black. The faint light emitted by the lantern penetrated inside bit by bit. They saw a coffin lying inside with a huge black cloth covering it.

Ji Yunshu walked to the coffin’s side and said to Luo Yang, “Help me open the coffin lid.”

The two of them worked together and pushed it open!

Because it was used for temporarily placing the corpse, the coffin wasn’t made of high-grade materials. The coffin lid wasn’t completely closed either—it opened with a light push!

Instantly, a nauseating, foul smell rushed into their noses, making people want to vomit.

Luo Yang covered his nose. His brow furrowed as he stepped back and said, “This corpse really stinks.”

He didn’t dare look inside.

Ji Yunshu, however, was accustomed to that smell. She lifted the lantern in her hand and shone it into the coffin. Inside was a corpse that had been gnawed by dogs until it was mangled, with only a pile of rotten flesh and bones remaining. Tendons and flesh were still attached to the skeleton, and congealed blood was stuck on it in chunks. That face, gnawed beyond recognition, was even more hideous and terrifying—completely unable to show what it looked like in life. Beside it was also a bloody heart. This appearance was truly shocking.

Although realgar and soap pods had been sprinkled around the coffin, they still couldn’t mask the strong smell emanating from the corpse.

She handed the lantern to Luo Yang, “Hold this.”

Luo Yang took it and asked, “What are you going to do now?”

Ji Yunshu took out gloves she had prepared long ago, swiftly put them on, and directly reached her hand into the coffin. Because the light wasn’t sufficient, she glanced at the bewildered Luo Yang, “Bring the light closer.”

Luo Yang swallowed, then lifted the lantern in his hand higher, moving it close to the coffin. He accidentally glanced at the corpse inside. Immediately his hand trembled. He quickly averted his eyes and didn’t dare look. In his heart, it was as if something was stirring—stirring until he almost wanted to vomit. Yet he bit his lip hard and endured it.

Ji Yunshu examined the corpse one by one, starting with the wounds on the head.

The corpse’s hair was all stuck together, covered in bloodstains. She slowly pulled apart that hair. Although the corpse’s head had also been gnawed by dogs, one could still see traces of impact on the back of the head. Judging from the blood and the ruptured condition on it, this spot was indeed the fatal wound!

She pressed her thumb on that wound, gradually applying force downward bit by bit. After a moment, she had a clear idea in her heart. Only then did she move her hand away from the back of the corpse’s head and continue examining downward.

The joints at various places on the corpse’s bones all had varying degrees of displacement. Presumably, there had been a struggle with someone before death, but it wasn’t intense.

On several ribs in the chest were traces of being lightly scraped by a knife. This should have been when the murderer used a knife to remove Wang Huai’s heart and scraped against them. From the scrape marks—shallow at both ends and deep in the middle—one could see the small knife the murderer held was a bamboo-leaf knife.

Afterward, she also discovered many fine fragments on that skin and flesh that had been gnawed to tatters.

They were tiny black granules!

If one didn’t look carefully, it would be impossible to detect them at all.

Like soil stuck on from the ground!

Or like black wood shavings!

She brought that substance to the tip of her nose and smelled it. Besides the smell of corpse decay, there was also a strange odor.

Like alcohol?

Or like the smell of chives?

Between these two smells, even more nauseating than that rotten, putrid smell.

Luo Yang secretly glanced at her and saw her gloved hand stained with bloodstains pinching something, placing it at the tip of her nose to smell. At that moment, he instantly couldn’t hold it anymore. He dry-heaved twice and asked tremblingly, “Can we… leave now?”

Ji Yunshu’s attention was entirely focused on those fine fragments on her fingertips. She couldn’t spare any attention for his words. Then she found a piece of cloth, picked those tiny black granules onto the cloth, wrapped them up, and tucked them into her clothes.

After careful examination, she didn’t discover any other abnormalities.

Luo Yang saw her remove the gloves and finally breathed a sigh of relief, “What exactly are you made of? Even I, a grown man, find it disgusting to look at, yet you still…”

Ji Yunshu said calmly, “I’ve seen things even more disgusting than this!”

“Other people’s young ladies are all about music, chess, calligraphy, painting, embroidery, and playing instruments. Your hobbies are completely inhuman.”

“Each to their own!”

Luo Yang remained speechless.

The two of them closed the coffin lid and went out.

By now, dawn was approaching.

Luo Yang stood outside the door breathing in large gulps of fresh air while asking her, “What do you plan to do now?”

“Only after examining these things we found can I draw conclusions.” She glanced at the gradually whitening sky. “You go back first, lest the Wen brothers become suspicious.”

Luo Yang was a bit puzzled, “If you really want to help the heir apparent, you might as well help openly. You could tell that person surnamed Wen. They would definitely stand on your side. At that time, they would certainly assist you in helping the heir apparent too. That would be better than the two of us sneaking around and taking such great risks, wouldn’t it?”

She naturally knew this!

But once her case investigation became known publicly, her identity would also be exposed. This was Qujiang, not Da Lin. Add to that, she didn’t want Su Ziluo to discover her. The only method was to investigate secretly.

Moreover, she had neither real authority nor evidence. If she kept insisting the heir apparent was innocent, who would believe her?

So the most important thing right now was to quickly gather evidence, then find a way to present this evidence publicly to prove the heir apparent’s innocence.

She instructed, “In any case, this matter cannot let others know. You must keep it confidential for me.”

“If you need to keep it confidential, then… if you find evidence, how will you tell others?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I have my own methods.”

Luo Yang let out a heavy sigh, “Fine. Whatever you say goes. Anyway, if you need help, just tell me.”

Who told him he had no way to deal with this woman!