Ji Yunshu’s eyes suddenly tightened. She immediately unfolded the handkerchief and asked: “You recognize it?”

She immediately sensed there was something to this.

Cai’er didn’t dare be too certain either. Her round eyes stared at the white handkerchief, her brows furrowed.

“Think carefully—have you seen it somewhere before?”

“It looks somewhat familiar, but this pattern isn’t very clear. It seems like…”

“No rush, take your time.” Cai’er directly took the handkerchief into her hands. The blood-colored pattern on the white handkerchief showed only a rough outline—the actual details weren’t very clear. If an ordinary person looked at it, they definitely wouldn’t know what it was. This was why Ji Yunshu had studied it in her room all afternoon without results, never knowing whether this thing was a flower or some characters clustered together.

Now that she finally saw Cai’er seemed to have some impression of this thing, her spirits and hopes immediately rose.

After a short while—

Cai’er finally remembered. Her eyes lit up as she said: “I know what this is!”

“What?”

“The pattern on here is the pattern on my young lady’s sachet.”

Eh!

Why was this connected to Zhu Yao?

“Are you certain?” “There’s no mistake.” Cai’er pointed to a small pattern on the edge of the circular shape, saying, “My young lady embroidered a circular pattern on the sachet. Originally there were supposed to be three auspicious clouds on the pattern, but when my young lady was embroidering the third one, she said it was too many and wanted to remove the third cloud that was only half-embroidered. But then she felt it looked good embroidered on there, so she didn’t remove it. Miss Ji, look—this is that third cloud that was only half-embroidered. I remember the position and the general shape. It’s right here—there’s no mistake. And here too…” She pointed to another spot on the pattern, continuing, “Here is an orchid lotus flower. My young lady loves orchid lotus flowers very much, and this pattern was all designed by my young lady herself—unique in the world.”

She spoke with absolute certainty.

Moreover, she spoke with conviction, explaining the general details of everything on it.

Clearly this wasn’t nonsense.

The knot in Ji Yunshu’s heart was untied, only—why would this thing be on the artificial mountain? She pressed: “Then where is that sachet?”

“Two years ago, that sachet was accidentally lost.”

“Lost?”

“Yes. At that time I accompanied my young lady boating on the lake. As a result, both my young lady and I accidentally fell into the water. When we were rescued, that sachet was already gone. My young lady was quite upset about it at the time.”

“So you’re saying it was picked up by someone?”

Cai’er thought for a moment and said: “It should be. At the time, the person who rescued our young lady from the water was the Heir Apparent. It’s possible… the Heir Apparent accidentally picked it up.”

Eh!

Li Shiyan?

In this case, what she originally thought could clear Li Shiyan of suspicion—now instead, it might further prove Li Shiyan had been at the artificial mountain. This information not only couldn’t save his life, but might actually cost him his life.

Cai’er saw her expression change dramatically and wondered if she had said something wrong.

“Miss Ji, did I say something wrong? Also, how do you have this pattern?”

“You didn’t say anything wrong. This pattern… never mind. By the way, are you certain the person who rescued Miss Zhu at that time was the Heir Apparent?”

“Of course. Many people by the lake saw it at the time.”

“So you’re not actually certain?” When she asked this, Cai’er immediately became confused. She quickly searched her memory of when her young lady fell into the water two years ago, saying as she thought: “At that time… I was rescued first by the boatman. After I came up, I saw the Heir Apparent carry my young lady up from the water. He was soaking wet all over, so clearly it was indeed the Heir Apparent who saved her. Only at that time my young lady hadn’t woken up yet, and the Heir Apparent left with his two friends.”

Ji Yunshu seized upon the key point!

She pressed: “Two friends?”

“Yes.”

“Can you recognize who those two friends beside the Heir Apparent were at that time?”

Cai’er thought again: “It seems like…”

Ji Yunshu directly finished her sentence: “Was one of them called Zhao Quanzhi?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Young Master Zhao did seem to be there. He and the Heir Apparent have a very good relationship. In the capital, everyone knows their relationship is good—they often come and go together. Young Master Zhao was indeed there at the time.”

“Did he go into the water to rescue anyone? Or rather… did he have any contact with Miss Zhu?”

“I didn’t really notice, but when he left, I saw the clothes on his body weren’t wet—just his hair was wet.” This was what Cai’er said.

Ji Yunshu now roughly understood!

And suddenly realized.

“It seems there’s quite a story in all this!” Ji Yunshu said lightly.

Cai’er was utterly confused, her mind jumbled by all the questions. She asked with a bewildered expression: “Miss Ji, what is all this about? Why are you asking these things? Is something the matter?”

She couldn’t help feeling somewhat nervous.

Ji Yunshu refolded the handkerchief and tucked it back into her sleeve, smiling slightly. “It’s nothing. I was just asking casually. But don’t tell your young lady about what just happened, and don’t mention it to others either.”

Although she didn’t know what had happened, Cai’er still obediently nodded: “Don’t worry, I won’t speak of the matters you’ve entrusted to me.”

“Good. Then take good care of your young lady. I’m going back to my room.”

Cai’er curtsied.

Not long after Ji Yunshu returned to her room, Luo Yang quietly slipped in, knocked on her door, and told her everything he had gone to investigate, down to the last detail.

“You’re simply divine! You guessed absolutely correctly. That Zhao Quanzhi really does have a dog bite wound on his arm, though it looks like he applied medicine and it’s healed somewhat.”

“Just as I thought!”

“Just as you thought what?” Luo Yang poured some water into his mouth, leaned his body against the table, and moved close to Ji Yunshu’s face asking, “What exactly are you trying to do? Why did you have me go check whether Zhao Quanzhi’s body had any dog bite wounds?”

Ji Yunshu looked at him: “Want to know?”

“Yes!”

“I can’t tell you right now, because I still need to confirm two things.”

“Two things?” Luo Yang was completely puzzled. His dark eyes rolled once as he asked, “Do you need me to help you again?”

Pff—

Like a little imp.

A strange smile spread across Ji Yunshu’s lips as she said: “That’s right. I do indeed need your help.”

“Looks like this young master is very important to you!”

“Yes. At present, you are indeed very important to me.” Because if she didn’t have Luo Yang’s help, it would be absolutely impossible for her alone to secretly handle certain matters in the manor.

Hearing her words, Luo Yang didn’t know how happy he felt inside. He licked his lips, curved them into an evil, smug smile, narrowed his eyes to stare at Ji Yunshu’s beautiful eyes, and asked word by word: “Ji Yunshu, are you… in love with me?”

Ji Yunshu’s expression was very calm. She glanced at him.

Too lazy to explain!

Luo Yang swallowed. Although he had asked that question quite seriously just now, faced with Ji Yunshu’s neither denial nor acknowledgment, it instead made him feel he had absolutely no hope at all, because from those eyes of Ji Yunshu’s he could see—she had no love for him whatsoever.

To ease the current awkwardness, he laughed loudly, moved his body away from the table, sat back in his original spot, took a drink of water, and said: “Alright, I was just teasing you.”

Ji Yunshu smiled without speaking.

After a moment, Luo Yang asked: “By the way, what are those two things you mentioned?”

She said: “I need you to cooperate with me in acting out a play…”

…

She told Luo Yang about the two matters, asking him to help.

Luo Yang agreed very readily: “Don’t worry, leave it to me. Your business is my business.”

“Thank you so much, Luo Yang. Right now, you’re the only person who can help me.”

“Why say such sentimental things? In any case, as long as I, Luo Yang, am still alive, whatever you want me to help with, I’ll help you.” He spoke very seriously, each word a promise.

And aside from gratitude, Ji Yunshu truly didn’t know what else she should say.

Luo Yang laughed heartily again and asked: “By the way, don’t you want to ask how I found out Zhao Quanzhi had a wound on his body?”

“I’m all ears.”

“Hahaha…”

“What do you mean by ‘hahaha’?”

When Luo Yang thought of Zhao Quanzhi’s completely naked appearance, he found it hilarious.

Then he told Ji Yunshu the whole sequence of events.

The result had him laughing himself into convulsions!

Hearing this, Ji Yunshu’s expression froze. She knew Luo Yang might employ some small schemes, but she hadn’t expected it would be by such methods. It seemed Zhao Quanzhi was now thoroughly done for!