Exposed by a single remark from Ji Yunshu!

Ji Shuhan was a petty man. With his own son dying in prison, how could he let the matter rest?

He had no way to deal with Ji Yunshu, who had been taken to the capital by Jingrong, but Liu Qingping—though the monk could run, the monastery could not—naturally became his target.

Stripping him of his official position wasn’t considered retaliation, at most just a warning. Otherwise, Ji Shuhan killing him would have been entirely possible!

Though Ji Shuhan was cunning and scheming, when faced with Ji Yunshu’s accusations, he had absolutely no intention of shirking responsibility.

Instead, he stubbornly declared as if it were perfectly justified, “He was stripped of his official position because he deserved it. As long as I live, he can forget about ever holding office again.”

How furious!

“So Liu Qian’s appointment was also your arrangement?”

“That was the court’s arrangement!”

Ji Yunshu merely smiled faintly.

She didn’t continue this topic!

Outside, the heavy rain had become a torrential downpour, beating against the roof tiles and stone slabs, producing loud, resonant sounds.

Yet they felt muffled and oppressive!

Ji Yunshu took a deep breath, her expression grave as she looked at him and asked a question she had never asked before.

“Can you tell me who my mother was?”

Hmm?

Her mother was a courtesan who died from difficult childbirth when giving birth to her!

Wasn’t this something everyone knew?

Beyond this, there was no other information. The entire Ji family probably felt ashamed about it, which was why they rarely mentioned it.

Upon hearing this, Ji Shuhan’s chest suddenly thumped heavily. He opened his mouth, struggling for a long time before finally spitting out, “Your mother was just a courtesan. If I hadn’t made that mistake back then, I wouldn’t have fathered an unfilial daughter like you.”

Unfilial daughter?

How ridiculous!

Ji Yunshu still maintained her patience. “Don’t you have anything else? For example, where was my mother from? Where did she stay before entering the brothel?”

“Why are you asking these things? Your mother is already dead. What’s the point of talking about a dead person?”

Ji Shuhan forcefully waved his sleeves several times, his entire face extremely ugly.

Yes, he didn’t want to talk about it!

A courtesan, and a dead one at that.

Probably, there really was nothing more to learn.

Ji Yunshu was too lazy to continue conversing with this man who shared the same blood. She simply left in silence.

Outside, Jingrong stood at the left side of the main door.

She said quietly, “Send him away.”

Jingrong nodded. “You go ahead first. I’ll be right there.”

She agreed and left.

Jingrong entered the room again and saw Ji Shuhan’s extremely ugly expression. In those small eyes, flames of extreme restraint seemed to be gathering.

How comical!

He slowly sat down, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Lord Ji, if you have no other business, please take your leave. This rain is getting heavier and heavier.”

An order to leave!

Ji Shuhan had come to pay his respects, and in terms of propriety, he had done enough. Naturally, there was no reason to stay longer.

However—

Before leaving, he inexplicably said something: “Your Highness, although Yunshu has been expelled from our Ji family genealogy and will never again be a member of the Ji family in this life, and though I am utterly devastated about my son Ji Yuanzhi’s matter, at the end of the day, she is still my daughter. The sins she commits are still disasters upon the Ji family’s lintel. In the future, if Yunshu makes mistakes, I still hope Your Highness can be more tolerant.”

Oh my, what game was this old fox playing?

Jingrong responded, “Lord Ji can rest assured. This prince values her highly and will naturally take care of her in every way.”

“That’s good.” He bowed slightly. “I won’t disturb Your Highness’s rest any longer. Farewell.”

Ji Shuhan then left!

After he departed, Jingrong went to find Ji Yunshu.

She was waiting for him.

As soon as he entered the room, Jingrong said, “That old fellow’s heart is quite concerned about you. Before leaving, he even asked this prince to take good care of you.”

Who cares!

She laughed coldly. “I know better than anyone what kind of person my father is. He’s just a fox who has tucked in his tail.”

“But this old fox has suffered quite badly—not only did his son die, but the daughter who was supposed to become Crown Princess is now without marriage prospects. His failure in his old age is rather pitiful.”

In his tone, there was clearly not the slightest sympathy, but rather a hint of schadenfreude in his laughter.

Ji Yunshu’s eyes darkened as she suddenly said, “Tomorrow morning, the yamen will publicly try Fu Bo’s case.”

The atmosphere instantly froze!

Jingrong’s brow furrowed. “What did Liu Qingping say?”

“This case has both witness testimony and physical evidence. It might be… somewhat thorny.”

“So?”

“I need to go to the yamen.”

Jingrong was surprised. “Now?”

“We only have tonight. I must find evidence to prove that Fu Bo didn’t kill anyone. I don’t know what kind of person the current county magistrate Liu Qian is. If Fu Bo is truly forced into a false confession under torture, this case will probably become truly difficult.” Her thoughts sank slightly.

Jingrong: “So you’re going to the yamen now because you want to…”

“Examine the corpse.”

…

An hour later, Jingrong secretly brought Ji Yunshu to the yamen.

Approaching the hour of midnight, aside from the yamen runners at the main gate, there were only a few yamen runners dozing heavily inside guarding the place. Because Ji Yunshu was familiar with the yamen’s layout, she successfully evaded their line of sight and reached the room where corpses were stored.

Dressed entirely in black night clothes, soaked with rain, she shook her shoulders a few times, removed her bamboo hat and rain cape, and pushed the door open.

A wave of impossible-to-conceal rotting corpse stench immediately rushed out from inside the door, quite pungent.

Jingrong wrinkled his nose—he never liked this smell.

So he stood at the doorway, obediently playing the role of lookout.

Inside the room!

Ji Yunshu lit a small oil lamp. The faint light illuminated the room, not particularly bright, but barely enough to see that the female corpse that had been washed out of the mud by the heavy rain was placed on an examination table, covered with a dirty white cloth. The surroundings were in complete disarray.

Where was this a morgue? It was clearly a mass burial ground!

Ji Yunshu sighed and shook her head. When she had been at the yamen before, she would never have let this place become so terrible. For the corpses stored inside, she would always scatter some atractylodes and gleditsia beans nearby to prevent corpse decay from producing excessive odors due to delayed cases or hot weather.

She placed the lamp in her hand beside the corpse, furrowed her delicate, beautiful brows, and reached out to lift the white cloth.

The female corpse with its festering face was revealed!

Probably because it had been buried underground for several days, parts of the corpse’s flesh had oxidized and rotted. The eye sockets protruded, the corners of the eyes had burst open, the bridge of the nose was twisted, and being washed out of the ground by heavy rain, the entire corpse was slightly swollen. The rotting, burst flesh was also mixed with many fine grains of yellow mud and wood splinters.

In short, the entire corpse was extremely disgusting!

But this wasn’t the most disgusting corpse Ji Yunshu had ever seen.

She put on the gloves she had prepared and began carefully examining the corpse, not overlooking any detail, even…

The female corpse’s lower body!

Outside, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Beams of piercing bright light shone in, striking the corpse, appearing extremely eerie.

After about half an hour, she removed her gloves, re-covered the corpse with the white cloth, extinguished the oil lamp, and left the room.