Zhao Qing had grown up in the mountains his entire life, so when Ji Yunshu spoke of these matters, he listened in complete confusion.

How could he possibly understand the Emperor’s thoughts?

Fortunately, he had relented. Zhao Huai’s agreement to let Ji Yunshu investigate meant her life was preserved.

So he said: “Everything you’re talking about are matters of the imperial court. What the Emperor thinks has nothing to do with me, and I don’t understand it either. In any case, now that Zhao Huai has agreed to let you investigate, you should investigate properly—consider it for the sake of your own life. What I care about is that you ultimately preserve this life of yours and help me uncover the cause of Jiu’er’s death.”

“I shall do my utmost.”

“Not ‘do your utmost’—you must succeed.”

Like issuing an imperial decree!

Good grief!

Zhao Qing promptly left!

Wei Yi, standing nearby, scratched his head and reached out to tug on Ji Yunshu’s sleeve, leaning closer.

“Shu’er, can we go back now? I don’t like it here.”

“Wait a bit longer. I promise I’ll definitely get you out of here safely.”

“Can we go back?”

“Yes, we definitely can.”

“Mm.”

Wei Yi trusted her completely, shrinking even further behind her, head lowered, saying nothing more.

Afterward, Ji Yunshu had someone take her to the back courtyard!

The perfectly square urn sat in the very center of the back courtyard. Its lid had already been removed and was leaning directly against a ladder by the urn’s side.

The rich aroma of wine within the urn permeated the entire courtyard.

But thinking about the skeleton soaking inside the urn made everyone feel as if the wine’s fragrance was mixed with the stench of decay.

Utterly revolting!

On the damp ground nearby, a white cloth was spread out. Upon it lay the skeleton retrieved from the urn, piled together in disarray, still dripping wet with wine.

Ji Yunshu let out a sigh.

“Wrap up the skeleton and place it on the table inside the house. If left on the ground, bones that have been soaked in wine will rot.”

Upon hearing this, several bandits obediently set to work!

They had no choice—the head chieftain had given orders that whatever Master Ji needed, everyone had to comply.

Those men, clumsy and awkward, rolled up the cloth and haphazardly bundled the bones together, carrying them into the house and placing them on the table.

Ji Yunshu examined the area around the urn for a short while, her brow deeply furrowed, her gaze finally settling on one corner of the urn’s lid.

Something appeared to be stuck to it!

Looking closer, she saw it was a blue, solidified powder-like substance—perhaps it had hardened over time.

She took out her handkerchief and used her fingernail to scrape off that blue substance, holding it to her nose to smell it. Though there was the fragrance of wine, it couldn’t quite mask the faint scent of camphor wood.

What was it?

Without investigating further, she wrapped the substance in her handkerchief and tucked it into her sleeve.

Pulling Wei Yi along, she entered the house.

She had someone find two pairs of gloves and handed one pair to Wei Yi.

Wei Yi was stunned for a moment before accepting them: “Why are you giving me these?”

“I need your help.”

“Help with what?”

Ji Yunshu pointed her chin toward the pile of scattered bones.

Wei Yi’s expression immediately changed, and he took several steps backward.

“I’m scared.”

Without any attempt to hide it!

Ji Yunshu directly pulled him over: “These are all dead things. You don’t need to be afraid. What you should truly fear are living people.”

This was the second time Ji Yunshu had said this to Wei Yi.

Wei Yi nodded with a half-understanding expression!

“I’m going to piece this skeleton together now, so I need you to help me from the side. Understand?”

He nodded!

“Just think of it as assembling bamboo slips—it’s quite fun.”

He nodded!

They got straight to work!

Ji Yunshu rolled up her sleeves, put on the gloves, and began sorting through the pile of bones.

First, she found two scapulae and a sternum.

She fit them together.

Then she found a rib and said to Wei Yi: “Now help me find the remaining twenty-three identical ones.”

Wei Yi stared blankly for a moment, then frowning and wrinkling his nose, reached his hand into the pile of bones.

Flipping left, flipping right, as careful as Daiyu burying flowers, he finally managed to pull one out after much effort and excitedly handed it to Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu took it and fitted it to either side of the sternum.

The two worked together.

Finally, Wei Yi found the remaining ribs, then helped find two femurs, two fibulae, two tibiae, and a small section of coccyx.

After handing everything to Ji Yunshu—

He collapsed onto the ground as if he’d been holding his breath for ages, his face pale, eyes staring straight ahead.

He muttered: “I’m never doing this again!”

So aggrieved!

Then he crawled over to a small stool in the distance, sat down, and watched Ji Yunshu work with pitiful eyes.

Ji Yunshu couldn’t be bothered with him anymore, working away with sweat pouring down her face as she assembled the smaller bone fragments.

It took nearly a full hour before she finally managed to piece together the skeleton’s body.

She wiped away her sweat!

Excluding the skull, over a hundred bones—it nearly killed her.

If this skeleton hadn’t been soaked in wine with all the bones separated, she wouldn’t have been so exhausted.

When others saw the headless skeleton, they immediately felt a chill run down their spines.

“Is that it? Can you figure out who died?”

“Why do you think this corpse has no head?”

“Who on earth would chop off someone’s head and throw it in there? So wicked.”

“If we find out who did it, the head chieftain will definitely kill them.”

……

Ji Yunshu had no time to pay attention to such chatter.

Her almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly as she began examining this suspicious skeleton.

Upon hearing that Ji Yunshu had already pieced together the scattered skeleton, Zhao Huai and Zhao Qing hurried over.

Seeing the completely assembled skeleton on the table, they practically wanted to give Ji Yunshu a thumbs up.

“You’re really not a physician?” Zhao Huai asked.

Ji Yunshu: “……”

“Being able to put together such a big pile of jumbled bones—I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“……”

“Well? What have you discovered?”

Getting straight to the point, full of arrogance!

Ji Yunshu’s expression turned serious as she pointed to the skeleton’s pelvis.

“Based on the pelvis’s external shape—wide and low, the superior aperture presenting an oval form, broad front to back, shallow pelvic cavity presenting a barrel shape, wide circumference of the inferior aperture, short and wide pubic bones, large subpubic angle, obturator foramen nearly triangular, and small acetabulum—all of this is sufficient to prove that this is a female skeleton.”

“Female?”

Shocked.

“I’d believe you if you said it was male, but female? Impossible.” Zhao Huai was absolutely certain.

Ji Yunshu asked: “Why?”

“Every woman I’ve kidnapped and brought into Highland Stronghold was eventually sent back safely. They’re all still alive. There’s absolutely no way any other woman could have come in here.”

“What if one of your subordinates brought her in?”

“Also impossible.” He denied it again: “I know my own men. They would never bring a woman in without permission.”

Ji Yunshu was truly getting a headache.

Zhao Huai’s stubbornness always came so inexplicably.

She sighed: “Everything I’ve said is true. This is a female skeleton. Not only can you tell from the pelvis, even that section of hyoid bone reveals female bone structure.”

With this explanation, Zhao Huai began to waver!