“I’m not, you’re talking nonsense.”

Suyun hastily denied it, her hands clenched tightly.

Ji Yunshu gripped the handkerchief in her palm, her expression resolute. “Miss Suyun, you should know that sangji flowers are unique to the Western Regions. Only women from the Western Regions would embroider two sangji flowers on a handkerchief—one representing themselves, one representing the person they admire.”

“You’re mistaken. I’m not from the Western Regions. I just embroidered randomly. It’s not at all what you’re saying.”

“Oh? Then why did you go to Miss Zhou’s room last night searching for this handkerchief?”

“…” Suyun was already stunned into silence!

“You can’t answer, so I’ll answer for you.” Ji Yunshu smiled unhurriedly with a slight curl of her lips. “Because you are from the Western Regions. From childhood, you knew the critical nature of mi poison, and you believed the coroner would absolutely never detect this poison. So after poisoning Miss Zhou to death, you secretly returned to her room. You were worried about being discovered by Qiao Xin, so you dragged her onto the bed. During this process, the handkerchief in your sleeve caught on Miss Zhou’s fingernail and was left behind, but you were completely unaware. After telling your lover about this matter, you hurriedly left the Zhou residence. Not until last night did you return to Miss Zhou’s room specifically to find this handkerchief.”

Speaking to this point, Ji Yunshu held up the handkerchief. One of the two sangji flowers on it had pulled loose a thread.

“What you never imagined was that because the handkerchief caught on Miss Zhou’s fingernail, it caused her fingernail to break. On her fingernail was still caught the red thread from your embroidered sangji flower. I ask you—would a wealthy young miss who would change even a blanket she’d used only once allow her broken fingernail to have embroidery thread caught on it without dealing with it?”

“The only explanation is just one—that at the time, Miss Zhou was already dead. And you’ve always claimed you weren’t at the residence due to illness, and didn’t return during the days after Miss Zhou’s death. So did the embroidery thread on her fingernail grow legs and wrap itself around there on its own from your handkerchief?”

“If this evidence still isn’t enough to make you confess, do we need to open the coffin again and let you see clearly whether the thread from your sangji flower is wrapped around Miss Zhou’s fingernail?”

“No need. I confess.”

Suyun’s ghost-like tone was light and powerless.

Ji Yunshu probably hadn’t expected Suyun to confess so quickly, causing her hand clutching the handkerchief to twitch slightly!

The woman whose expression had originally been fierce now had eyes that had lost all their edge, as well as their earlier terror.

Instead, it was as if a huge boulder had fallen to the ground—she felt relieved!

“Yes, I killed the young miss. It was me.”

She raised her weary brows, her pale lips forming a smile. She looked at Ji Yunshu, then toward Master Zhou and Madam Zhou, and spoke.

“Master, Madam, I killed the young miss. Send me to the magistrate. I’m willing to pay with my life.”

Madam Zhou’s eyes widened, filled with bloodshot veins. Amid her grief was endless fury. She stepped forward and delivered a slap with extreme ferocity.

Suyun’s entire body fell to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She didn’t struggle, lying powerlessly on the ground, gladly accepting all of this.

“Why did you kill my daughter? What exactly did our Zhou family owe you? My daughter shouldn’t have died, she shouldn’t have died! Why did you kill her?” Madam Zhou roared wildly.

However, Suyun on the ground only smiled more brilliantly.

She said, “Everything Master Ji said was completely correct. Why did I kill the young miss? Because she killed my child.”

“You’re lying. My daughter couldn’t possibly have treated you this way.”

“At this point, I have no need to lie.” As she spoke, she pointed at the box in Ji Yunshu’s hand. “The young miss would use the silver needles from that box to pierce me every time. It was very painful, truly very painful. I endured it so many times, but it was precisely because I kept enduring that the young miss killed my child, my child.”

She withdrew her smile, her eyes filled with extreme hatred and fury.

Everyone was so shocked they could barely breathe, as if they were watching a theatrical performance!

Madam Zhou’s eyes wavered. She refused to believe it no matter what.

Master Zhou also spoke up. “Suyun, my daughter is already dead. Must you still speak such nonsense?”

A prominent family’s shameful matters would naturally never be acknowledged even unto death!

At this moment, Qiao Xin, who had been trembling all along, suddenly knelt down, weeping. “Master, Madam, what Master Ji and Suyun have said is all true. Whenever the young miss was displeased, she would take it out on us. The young miss was also worried others would see injuries on our bodies, so she would use silver needles to pierce us. We didn’t dare speak out and could only endure.”

“Qiao Xin, have you gone mad too? Actually helping this murderer! My daughter has been sensible since childhood. She couldn’t have done such things.”

“Madam, every word this servant speaks is the truth!”

“Nonsense! I don’t believe it.”

Ji Yunshu sighed. She truly couldn’t bear to watch anymore, her brows furrowing into a knot. “Master Zhou, Madam Zhou, your daughter was indeed well-behaved and lovely, but undeniably, she had a serious condition. Once this illness flares up, it only causes unbearable mental itch, restlessness, and she could even harm or kill people!”

“Illness? If my daughter had an illness, how could we not know?” Madam Zhou said again.

“This symptom isn’t a physical disease but a mental one. As long as she’s the slightest bit displeased, that uncomfortable feeling would be magnified. What she might do, even she herself couldn’t control. But most of the time, she was no different from ordinary people. Since Miss Zhou was a clever person, it’s not surprising she concealed it well.”

Obsessive-compulsive behavioral disorder—it really was difficult to explain!

More or less, she didn’t want to say more!

Madam Zhou’s face was still full of fury as she glared fiercely at Suyun. “But even so, my daughter shouldn’t have died! You killed someone, so you must pay with your life.” Turning to the servants, she ordered, “Take her to the magistrate for me. I want her to pay with her life for my daughter.”

The servants first froze, then were about to step forward, but were stopped by Ji Yunshu.

“Wait. I still have questions to ask Miss Suyun.”

Having spoken, she crouched down, her mouth close to Suyun’s ear, asking, “At this point, are you still unwilling to reveal your lover?”

“…”

Suyun’s complexion showed shock!

“You’re about to die, yet he’s still hiding in the crowd without coming forward. You’ve truly loved the wrong person.” As she spoke, Ji Yunshu’s gaze quickly swept across the crowd.

Suyun’s originally calm gaze suddenly became tense.

In the next moment, Ji Yunshu somehow produced a dagger from who knows where, shouting loudly.

“Why don’t I help you find him!”

The dagger in Ji Yunshu’s hand rose high, stabbing viciously toward Suyun’s heart.

Just at a distance of less than a finger’s width, a figure suddenly darted out from the crowd, knocking the dagger from Ji Yunshu’s hand to the ground. That person then thrust out a palm strike toward Ji Yunshu’s chest.

Just as the palm wind approached, in an instant, Ji Yunshu’s waist was suddenly embraced forcefully by someone, her body dragging backward…