“Watch you turn to dust and smoke beneath the earth, I can only bury you in yellow soil.”

This was very similar to the line the ghost bride sang before: “Watch my husband turn to dust and smoke beneath the tree, I can only plant yellow soil before your grave.”

Except one sang of “husband”!

And one sang of “you”!

The final two lines of this new play were sung by that clown character extremely mournfully.

With tears!

At the play’s end, the clown dragged his long water sleeves and slowly left the stage.

This play also concluded at this point!

The music for the play also stopped.

The entire theater house was extremely quiet.

No one spoke, no one made any sound.

This play seemed to have plunged everyone into silence.

Ji Yinshu sat in her original position. She was waiting…

Jingrong sat across from her with a solemn expression. He was also waiting…

Waiting for someone!

Until—

A tall figure slowly emerged from behind the curtain.

That person walked to the front of the stage.

His gaze complex yet calm as he looked at the people before him.

At the very moment he emerged from backstage, everyone’s gazes all fell upon him one after another.

This person was Gao Dali!

He still wore that cleanly washed clown costume, his shoulders drooping, his arms hanging powerlessly at both sides.

Those long water sleeves dragged all the way to the ground.

Stirring up a trace of dust!

The white cuffs also became filthy and dirty.

At the same time, Director Tao and the theater troupe members all gathered around.

All looking at him.

This was a new play prepared just for him all along!

Only he alone had been kept in the dark.

Seeing him approach, Ji Yinshu slowly stood up, meeting his gaze, her expression calm.

Gao Dali showed no surprise at this unexpected play. Instead, he smiled at Ji Yinshu.

Then he took out a handkerchief and began wiping the makeup from his face.

The red and green colors mixed with beads of sweat. As his handkerchief wiped, everything smeared together.

The colors all stained the handkerchief!

His face, as a result, appeared especially fierce and sinister.

Song Zhi turned his eyes away, sighing.

Carrying a meaning of deep regret.

Jingrong remained very calm. He didn’t need to do anything, only needed to sit quietly.

Drinking the coarse tea prepared by the Zhao Family Troupe!

As for Li Cheng, because he hadn’t watched the previous version of “Ghost Bride Buries Her Husband,” he didn’t detect anything unusual about this play.

But seeing the clown’s strange behavior at this moment, along with everyone’s reactions, he couldn’t help feeling puzzled, murmuring softly: “What’s going on?”

Weren’t they supposed to be watching a play?

Why was everyone acting so grave?

Compared to him, Li Wenshu understood clearly.

She was a woman of extremely keen perception.

Starting from the fourth act, she had already felt something was amiss.

Because she had heard the conversation between Ji Yinshu and Song Zhi at that time.

So when Li Cheng finished speaking, her lovely brows lifted slightly as she softly uttered three words: “A play within a play!”

“What’s a play within a play?”

“That is, a scheme within a scheme.”

“A scheme within a scheme?” Li Cheng was confused!

Didn’t understand!

He stared eagerly at his elder sister.

Li Wenshu smiled.

Finding it interesting.

This trip of hers hadn’t been in vain!

In her heart, she was also filled with curiosity about that young master who was about to solve the case.

Who was she?

Who were they?

Li Cheng didn’t receive her answer, so he didn’t continue asking.

To avoid his elder sister finding him long-winded.

He could only place all his attention on that clown character and Ji Yinshu.

Silently watching and listening.

He saw Gao Dali clutch the color-stained handkerchief in his hand, his two coarse eyebrows drawn across his face as he looked at Ji Yinshu and asked her: “How did you know?”

His voice was like it came from the depths of an abyss.

Deep and cold.

Making one’s fingertips involuntarily tingle with numbness.

Facing his question, Ji Yinshu’s expression remained calm.

She only raised her hand and pointed at his wrist.

Hm?

Gao Dali lowered his eyes to look at his own wrist, frowning in incomprehension.

Never mind that he didn’t know—the theater troupe members actually weren’t clear either.

Ji Yinshu took two steps forward, walking to the front of the stage, looking at that pile of yellow earth placed on the stage.

Her back to Gao Dali! She began explaining unhurriedly: “Actually at first, I still had many points of confusion about this case, could even say I had not a single clue. Until I saw the red dots on Miss Xiao Qu’s wrist, that I finally understood.” As she spoke, she turned around and continued, “Miss Xiao Qu told me that whenever she touched leaves of a flower called Purple Night Flower, her wrist would develop those dense little red dots. However, during this period, she hadn’t touched Purple Night Flower leaves at all. And that type of flower only blooms in extremely yin-cold places, for example… graveyards!”

Graveyards!

When she finished saying these two words, one could clearly hear sounds of gasping from the surrounding people.

After all, mentioning such a place indeed sent chills down one’s spine.

Gao Dali didn’t interrupt her words.

Letting her continue.

Ji Yinshu: “But Xiao Qu said that during this period she absolutely hadn’t touched Purple Night Flowers. Yet coincidentally, that day when the yamen was trying Zhang Xiaobai’s case, I accidentally bumped into you. When you steadied me, I discovered your hands also had similar, even identical red dots, perfectly matching Xiao Qu’s symptoms. One could imagine that you were both highly sensitive to Purple Night Flowers. That is to say, you very likely touched the same thing—namely Purple Night Flowers, or something related to Purple Night Flowers. At that time, I formed a hypothesis in my mind. So that very night, I went to Zhao Zhuang’er’s gravesite and discovered this type of flower in the soil of her tomb. My hypothesis was thus confirmed.”

Just as she finished speaking—

Li Cheng asked anxiously: “What hypothesis?”

Ji Yinshu said: “You may not know, but actually the reason your wrists developed red dots wasn’t the Purple Night Flower’s leaves at all, but rather the dew on the leaves. So I thought, the murderer must have been digging up Zhao Zhuang’er’s skeletal remains when the dew from Purple Night Flower leaves beside the grave seeped onto the bones. Therefore, when Miss Xiao Qu went to bury the yellow earth in the final act of ‘Ghost Bride Buries Her Husband,’ she touched the deceased’s skeletal remains, which caused the red dots to appear on her wrist. Besides Miss Xiao Qu touching them, you also touched them. However, from when the white bones were discovered to when they were carried to the yamen during that period, you never touched them. So how would you develop little red dots? The only explanation is that before the white bones were buried in the yellow earth, you had already touched them. That’s why I speculated you were very likely the murderer. But I didn’t dare be certain, much less determine you were the murderer just because you also had these symptoms. So after leaving Miss Xiao Qu’s room, I sprinkled a small amount of phosphorescent powder on you. That night, you followed behind us and went together to Zhao Zhuang’er’s gravesite, but were discovered by us and fled hastily. Because the phosphorescent powder on your body scattered, the ground was covered with glowing dots. Only then was it confirmed that you were undoubtedly the murderer!”

You were undoubtedly the murderer!

The conclusion reached!

Everyone was in an uproar. They hadn’t expected he was the murderer.