Zhu Yao?

Why would she suddenly appear here?

And looking so pale!

Moreover, at this time she should be resting in her room.

Everyone’s eyes all fell upon her, very confused!

Especially Zhao Quanzhi—those seemingly calm eyes were filled with shock, and also carried a trace of emotions difficult to fathom. His hand inside his collar involuntarily tightened.

It’s just that such an expression was too subtle for anyone to perceive!

Minister Zhu’s eyes widened seeing his daughter. Seeing her face full of weakness, worry arose in his heart. He stood and walked over, saying: “Yao’er, why did you come? Your health is poor—go back to your room to rest first. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Father, I came to help Shiyan.”

“What help can you offer as a young lady? If you want the heir to be fine, hurry back.”

“Father…”

The Marquis instructed Cai’er beside them: “Why haven’t you taken Miss back yet!”

Cai’er appeared troubled.

She lowered her head.

Zhu Yao’s face was resolute. Breathing slightly heavily, she said: “Father, don’t worry about me. I came… because I have important matters.”

“What important matters could you have?”

Zhu Yao no longer explained further. She had Cai’er support her as she approached Zhao Quanzhi. She raised her weak eyes to look at the man before her whose gaze was subtle, saying: “Didn’t you say there were no blood stains on the sachet? If I prove there is blood on it, will you admit it?”

When Zhao Quanzhi saw her, his originally sharp gaze and the violent aura throughout his body suddenly restrained themselves somewhat. There was a hint of sorrow and tenderness as he opened his mouth: “Miss Zhu…”

“I can prove there is blood on this!”

“…” Zhao Quanzhi’s heart tightened.

Then Zhu Yao looked at a servant in the hall and instructed: “Go fetch some strong vinegar and white wine.”

The servant froze.

Strong vinegar and white wine?

“Hurry!”

The servant glanced at Minister Li with an inquiring meaning. Although Minister Li was also very confused, he still nodded slightly, and only then did the servant respond and go fetch them.

Everyone didn’t understand her intention. They were all discussing in low voices.

“Strong vinegar and white wine? What does she need those for?”

“I don’t know. Could Miss Zhu be confused? What is she doing here?”

“A young lady getting involved—is this proper?”

These words all reached Minister Zhu’s ears. He pulled Zhu Yao over and scolded in a low voice: “What exactly are you trying to do? If you continue like this, don’t blame Father for having someone carry you down!”

The Marquis of Kangding walked down anxiously, as if seeing a ray of hope. He stepped forward to ask: “Yao’er, have you found some evidence that can prove Shiyan is innocent?”

Zhu Yao nodded and said: “Marquis, Shiyan did not kill anyone! I came to prove it, and also want to show you all that there really is blood on that sachet.”

“You truly have a way?”

“Once the strong vinegar and white wine arrive, I can prove it.” She said with determination.

The Marquis was half-believing, but this wasn’t something to joke about—it should always be taken seriously.

So hope ignited in his heart.

Luo Yang on the side, with the appearance of a little fanboy, moved to Zhu Yao’s side and said: “Miss Zhu, I didn’t expect that despite your gentle and refined appearance, you’d have such great ability. This humble one admires you.”

Zhu Yao glanced at him: “Speaking of ability, you’re more impressive. If not for you, we wouldn’t have lured the real culprit to take the bait.”

“That’s natural. This young master… I am a clever and quick-witted person. This is certainly just a small matter.” He was immensely proud.

Very arrogant!

If not for Ji Yunshu directing from behind the scenes, he would merely be an audience member watching the excitement in the crowd.

The Wen brothers stared at Luo Yang’s smug face, their expressions grave.

Shu Tian said quietly to Wen Che: “Young Master, should we pull Luo Yang back?”

“No need!”

“But…”

“He’s an important figure now. Did you hear? That blood pattern on the handkerchief was found by him. Even Chief Justice Huang was willing to cooperate with him in the performance. Do you think you can pull him back?” Wen Che said.

Shu Tian pondered: “What exactly is this Luo Yang up to? I’ve never seen him this clever before!”

“I’m afraid… there’s an expert guiding him.”

“An expert?”

Wen Che didn’t continue responding.

The servant also hurriedly brought those two items and asked: “The items are here. What should I do?”

Zhu Yao instructed: “Pour them both on that sachet!”

The servant asked no more questions and followed instructions.

He poured both the strong vinegar and white wine onto the sachet.

Everyone stared eagerly, not knowing what this meant.

After a short time passed, they saw the sachet gradually reveal a dark red color.

“What happened? Why has it turned red?” Everyone cried out in astonishment.

When Zhao Quanzhi saw this, his face became rigid.

His heart was trembling.

Clearly showing guilt!

The Marquis of Kangding urgently turned his head to ask Zhu Yao: “Yao’er, this?”

Zhu Yao said: “The red color on the sachet is blood stains!”

Eh!

These words… seemed to be disbelieved by everyone!

Zhao Quanzhi said: “Based solely on this, you claim these are blood stains? Isn’t that too ridiculous?”

Zhu Yao: “Then by all means have the coroners examine it to see if they’re blood stains.”

“Even if they are blood stains, so what? What can it prove?”

“If you want to prove whether it’s Wang Huai’s blood, that’s also very simple. Take white paper soaked in white wine and camphor juice, dab it with Wang Huai’s blood, then wipe it on this sachet. If the blood on the sachet can merge into the blood on the white paper, it can prove the blood on the sachet is Wang Huai’s!”

“Utterly baseless.”

An old coroner who had been in the hall suddenly stepped forward and said: “This old man went to Da Lin several years ago. I heard they had a very famous female coroner there who used exactly this method to solve a case. And this method has been written into the autopsy records—it won’t be wrong.”

The famous female coroner he spoke of was naturally Ji Yunshu!

After Su Ziluo heard this, his expression flickered slightly, his eyes gradually darkening somewhat, but it passed in a flash…

He knew better than anyone that Zhu Yao was merely a messenger—the person truly teaching her from behind… was Ji Yunshu!

But he didn’t expose any of this.

He continued his silence!

Zhao Quanzhi’s face went from rigid to ashen, his steps retreating slightly backward.

For a moment, he was actually speechless.

Everyone was shocked. They all knew Minister Zhu’s daughter was a refined young lady who only knew music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Where would she have learned about such examination matters?

The old coroner asked: “Miss, I didn’t expect you to know these things.”

“I merely saw it by chance.” After Zhu Yao finished speaking, she looked at Zhao Quanzhi and said: “Also regarding Wang Huai’s corpse—his skull was severely cracked. Based on the degree of fracturing, he was clearly struck twice. The first time was not the fatal wound; the real fatal wound was the second strike! This shows that after the heir left, someone took advantage of this and struck Wang Huai’s wound once more, causing his death. Now that sachet… has blood stains on it, and it’s Wang Huai’s blood. This also proves you went to the scene! You killed Wang Huai.”

Minister Zhu was the first to react: “Yao’er, you examined the corpse?”

She didn’t respond.

Chief Justice Huang questioned Zhao Quanzhi: “Now the facts are before your eyes. What else do you have to say?”

However, Zhao Quanzhi still struggled desperately. He said: “So what if there’s blood on the sachet? So what if it’s stained with Wang Huai’s blood? Does that make me the culprit? No one saw me kill anyone—it’s just a sachet! Just say I picked it up. Seeing blood on it, I cleaned it off. Then hearing that evidence possibly related to the murder involved this sachet, I was momentarily afraid of bringing trouble upon myself, so I planned to bury it. Is that not allowed?”

Hearing these words, Luo Yang became furious and pointed at him: “You’re truly shameless! Even now you’re still making excuses! This sachet is so worn, and it clearly looks like one used by a woman. Would you, a wealthy young master, pick up this sachet and take the trouble to wash the blood off it? Who would believe that?”

Zhao Quanzhi subconsciously glanced at Zhu Yao.

Even though this sachet was old, he still cherished it.

Zhu Yao met his gaze, her hands tightening, then she averted her eyes…

That sachet was hers!

It had clearly been lost two years ago. She didn’t know why it would be in Zhao Quanzhi’s hands.

And he’d kept it for two years!

Faced with Luo Yang’s words, Zhao Quanzhi couldn’t refute. Or more accurately, he didn’t know how to explain.

At this moment, an elite soldier from the Court of Judicial Review hurried in from outside, rushing to Chief Justice Huang saying: “Sir, we’ve investigated!”

Then he spoke a few words in his ear…