Prince Rong’s Manor

Just as she entered the manor, a rapidly moving figure rushed toward Ji Yinshu and embraced her in one motion.

Her entire body instantly fell into Wei Yi’s arms as he held her tightly.

“Shu’er, where did you go?”

His voice choked with emotion.

And—

Ji Yinshu’s gaze happened to meet Jingrong’s line of sight.

His deathly pale face showed no emotion, his brows lowered slightly, and he silently left.

Watching that figure depart in loneliness, Ji Yinshu surprisingly felt a sense of sadness.

Yes, sadness!

It wasn’t until the suffocating sensation at her throat grew heavier that she snapped back to awareness, her face flushing red as she spoke to Wei Yi.

“Wei Yi, let go of me first.”

“No!”

“But my body hurts.”

Hearing this, Wei Yi immediately released her, his nervous expression panicked as he quickly stepped back, his hands hanging at his sides, not daring to touch her body again.

“I’m sorry, Shu’er, did I hurt you?”

“No, Wei Yi, can we go back first?”

“Mm!”

He nodded heavily.

Returning to the East Garden, Ji Yinshu washed up, and a maid brought over some medicinal ointment, saying it was ordered by His Highness and that this medicine was very helpful for reducing swelling and relieving pain.

Ji Yinshu nodded and said nothing more.

Closing the door, she slowly removed her clothing from her shoulders, revealing her smooth back. She bent her arms, very clumsily applying medicine to her own back. When the medicinal properties entered the wounds, the pain made her grit her teeth and furrow her brows.

Enduring the pain, she removed the half-mask from her face.

In the mirror reflected the long scar on her left cheek. The wound had long since healed, but that scar seemed embedded in her skin and flesh.

Yet looking at it, it didn’t seem grotesque!

The innate temperament that Ji Yinshu possessed was like a blooming rose—even though someone had accidentally scratched a mark on the petals with their fingernail.

Somewhat flawed, but it didn’t diminish its beauty in the slightest.

Knock knock knock…

Someone knocked on the door.

Wei Yi called from outside, “Shu’er, are you ready?”

She simply pulled her clothing back onto her shoulders and got up to open the door.

Wei Yi held a bowl of medicine in his hands, thrust it toward her, and quickly said, “Shu’er, this is for you. You’re injured and need to drink medicine quickly. I personally brewed this medicine—no, no, actually the older sisters helped me brew it together. Drink it quickly while it’s hot, so you can get better soon.”

Her heart swelled with emotion, her eyes reddening as she took the medicine.

The next moment, Wei Yi stuffed a piece of candy into her hand.

With a big smile, he said, “Shu’er, don’t worry. When you drink the medicine, eat this candy and you won’t find it bitter. When I was sick and had to take medicine before, Mother told me this, and it really wasn’t bitter at all.”

“Thank you, Wei Yi.”

“No need to thank me, I have to take care of Shu’er.”

His sunny smile radiated the purest vitality and kindness of youth.

That innocent appearance was fully displayed before human nature.

Placing the candied lotus seed in her mouth, she slowly drank the entire bowl of medicine.

By this time, it was already very late—in another hour or two, it would be nearly the mao hour.

Wei Yi absolutely refused to return to his own room, insisting on watching over her. In the end, she could only let him stay.

Probably because she was too tired, after Ji Yinshu went to bed to rest, Wei Yi sat continuously on a chair beside her, those round bulging eyes watching her tightly.

Afraid she would disappear again.

The next day.

When Ji Yinshu awoke, Wei Yi was still asleep with his head on the table.

She dressed, washed up, and without waking him, quietly left the room to sit in the courtyard. From her waist, she pulled out a piece of white cloth.

This was something she had risked half her life to obtain. Fortunately, it hadn’t been lost when she rolled down the mountain valley, or she would truly have cried.

The rectangular piece of white cloth in her hand had a texture that wasn’t coarse cotton, but hemp.

Nothing was embroidered on it!

However—

She rubbed her fingertips across it.

It actually felt somewhat greasy. She brought it to her nose and sniffed.

“Lard smell!” She concluded, then found it somewhat strange, muttering aloud, “If this were a woodcutter’s dropped sweat cloth, it should have a sweat smell. Why does it have a lard odor?”

She sniffed it carefully again.

Frowning, “The scent of face powder!”

This was even stranger. How could a white cloth full of lard smell also have the scent of women’s face powder?

Because she was thinking so deeply, she didn’t notice when Jingrong had come to stand behind her.

It wasn’t until Jingrong spoke: “Risking your life for a piece of white cloth—was this cloth left by your lover?”

“…”

Turning around, she saw Jingrong in a blue brocade robe, his entire person refreshed and clear, showing none of yesterday’s sickly appearance.

She opened her mouth, originally wanting to say something, but swallowed the words back and moved to sit to the side.

Now, she truly was somewhat afraid of him.

“In broad daylight, I won’t eat you.” Jingrong saw through her with one statement.

Her shoulders sagged, showing an extremely helpless appearance.

Lowering her brows, “It’s not that I’m afraid you’ll eat me, it’s just that right now, I’m thinking about the case.”

“Tell me about it!”

Taking the initiative, Jingrong lifted his robe and sat down on the stone chair beside her.

Ji Yinshu’s expression turned serious as she picked up the white cloth in her hand and said, “This cloth was found on Liang Mountain. I can’t guarantee whether it’s related to this case or not, but this white cloth is somewhat strange.”

“How is it strange?”

“Since it was left on the mountain, there’s a strong possibility it belonged to a woodcutter. It should have a sweat smell, but this cloth has a lard odor and also a faint scent of rouge.”

“That’s probably your own rouge scent.”

“It’s not!” Ji Yinshu denied. “This smell is different.”

At this, Jingrong grew curious and brought his nose close to the white cloth, but no matter how he smelled, he couldn’t detect it.

He asked strangely, “Are you part dog? Last time you could smell alcohol on that tiny wood shaving, and now with such an ordinary piece of white cloth, you can actually smell face powder?”

Simply miraculous!

She smiled bitterly and said, “Perhaps in my previous life I was a loyal hound in the police force.”

Police force?

What kind of thing was that?

Jingrong had already heard many strange and unusual terms from her mouth and couldn’t help but be curious.

“Who exactly are you?” This question came somewhat abruptly.

Ji Yinshu glanced at him, “Has Your Highness lost his memory?”

“No!”

“Oh!” She responded dully.

Thus cleverly avoiding Jingrong’s question from earlier.

There was no helping it—Ji Yinshu’s sensitive nose was actually trained by her forensic pathologist father.

As a senior forensic pathologist, having a sensitive nose was also very important. From childhood, her father had grabbed her and developed her toward forensic medicine, constantly making her smell strange and unusual things. Over time, even with her eyes closed she could distinguish between plain water and salt water.

Fortunately, it was also a unique skill!

It had helped her solve quite a few cases!