An incomplete set of white bones?

Even though everyone didn’t understand those skeletal structures, they at least knew that the pile of skeletal remains on the ground was indeed incomplete—there wasn’t even a skull.

Among them, a tall man stepped forward and questioned, “Don’t tell me you actually understand these things?”

She doesn’t understand?

Then probably no one would!

Ji Yunshu said, “The human body has 206 bones. What’s currently been retrieved from the well, even including the broken finger and toe bones, is clearly less than 206 pieces.”

“Ridiculous talk!”

Ridiculous?

The ancients were truly foolish!

At this time, Master Yu took small steps forward and said, “If Master Ji understands bones, then what is your opinion?”

An inquiry!

His student immediately said, “This student believes he’s clearly speaking nonsense. Teacher, we should first move these bones over and wait for the authorities to arrive before dealing with them.”

“Didn’t Master Ji just say? If we move them again, it will certainly damage these white bones. Why not listen to what the master has to say before deciding? This matter occurred in the academy—it cannot be taken lightly.”

The famous Master Ji from the capital—although Master Yu, who was far away in Bingjing and deep in the mountains, had never heard of him, his students who served as officials in the capital had mentioned some things in their letters. Although they only briefly mentioned a few sentences, anyone his students would mention in their letters could not be some insignificant person.

He had already made up his mind!

He bowed slightly toward Ji Yunshu. Seeing this, Ji Yunshu immediately cupped her hands in return.

How could this be—this was too much honor for her!

“Master Yu, please speak directly. This junior will certainly do what I can.”

“Master Ji, regarding your affairs in the capital, my students have mentioned them in their letters. I also know that you and Young Master Jing need to rush to the Imperial Prefecture on business. In the forty-plus years of our Mingshan Academy, nothing like this has ever happened. I ask that you stay for two more days to investigate this matter of the skeletal remains in the well.”

“Master Yu’s request—this one will naturally not refuse.”

“Many thanks, Master!”

Let this frail man investigate?

The students of Mingshan Academy were both surprised and astonished—surprised why the letters from the capital would mention this Master Ji, and astonished why Master Yu would trust an outsider so much.

Those people began discussing quietly among themselves!

Ji Yunshu glanced at Jingrong, as if inquiring about his opinion.

Jingrong caught the look she cast toward him. His expression turned cold, his eyes slightly heavy, and he nodded.

Go ahead and investigate!

Thus, Ji Yunshu assumed a serious expression, glanced at the bottomless well behind her, and said, “These skeletal remains are incomplete. The remaining bone fragments should still be in the well and must be retrieved as soon as possible. However…” Her gaze swept around in a circle before continuing, “But to prevent damage to the bone fragments during retrieval, it’s not advisable to directly use buckets to retrieve them. Someone should go down and bring up all the remaining skeletal bone fragments.”

Go down the well to retrieve bones?

Everyone was dumbfounded upon hearing this, their spines tingling with coldness.

“This well hasn’t been used for almost a year, and someone died down there. Who would dare go down?”

“Right! What if there’s something unclean in the well? What would we do?”

No one wanted to take on this burden.

All of them were cowards!

Jingrong signaled to Lang Bo beside him. “You go down.”

“Yes!”

The response was very resounding.

A rough man wasn’t afraid of these things—he rolled up his sleeves and got to work!

Lang Bo had someone find a rough rope to tie around himself and took a fire starter, preparing to go down.

Just as his body crossed over the well opening, Ji Yunshu handed him a piece of cloth.

“Block your nose. The corpse has been soaking in water for a year, plus the bacteria breeding around the well. Below, there’s a high possibility of putrid poison. Just to be safe.”

“Alright.”

Lang Bo took it, tied the cloth over his face to block his nose, then carefully descended.

The people above carefully held the rope, lowering it bit by bit.

Until a shout came from below: “Stop!”

At the dark well bottom, Lang Bo bit the fire starter in his mouth and shone it around. Those mottled stone bricks were all covered with layers of shiny moss. Looking carefully, he could also see tiny little insects crawling on top, huddled together in clusters, making his whole body break out in goosebumps.

And although he had already blocked his nose with cloth, the nauseating stench emanating from the well water still seeped through the cloth’s interwoven fine threads and slowly curled into his nose.

That smell—like meat sauce mixed with fermented chili paste—assaulted his nostrils, making him want to vomit.

Lang Bo swore this was absolutely the most foul smell he’d ever smelled in his life.

He forcibly endured the nauseous feeling churning in his stomach and still reached down to retrieve things from the water…

The sound of splashing water came through.

After quite a while, he shouted up, “Pull me up!”

His voice sounded somewhat strained.

The people above pulled him up and saw him holding many scattered bone fragments bundled in his clothes. Among them were some weeds and tree branches mixed in.

He carefully placed those bone fragments on the ground!

Among them were a skull, one radius, a chest cavity, and several ribs.

Ji Yunshu said, “Not enough. Go retrieve more.”

Sister, do you think this is an all-you-can-eat buffet?

Still need to get my fill!

Lang Bo said nothing more, took a deep breath of fresh air, then continued down into the well!

Before long, he came up again, once more carrying a pile of bone fragments in his arms.

Ji Yunshu’s sharp eyes swept over that pile of bone fragments. “Still missing two facial bones from the skull and the carpal bones from the hand.”

To draw what the deceased looked like before death, facial bones were essential.

As for—

What are facial bones?

What are carpal bones?

Lang Bo didn’t know.

Anyway, he would just go down again to search according to what Ji Yunshu said. As a result, after groping around at the well bottom for a long time, he finally found all the missing bone fragments.

A full 206 bones, large and small, not one missing!

When Lang Bo came up for the last time, he was also holding a wine bottle. He placed it on the ground and said, “Master Ji, I also retrieved a wine bottle. Take a look—could it also belong to the deceased?”

A wine bottle?

Ji Yunshu looked at it curiously. It was just an ordinary bottle.

However, Muruo, who had been silently observing from the side all along, perked up at the mention of anything related to wine. He swayed over leisurely from an inconspicuous corner of the crowd, his gaze fixed on the wine bottle on the ground. Then he crouched down and wrinkled his nose a few times.

He sniffed!

With an intoxicated expression, he nodded. “Mm, superior pine flower wine.”

Holy crap!

Are you part dog or what?

Lang Bo looked astonished and questioned, “Young Master Mu, you can actually smell that?”

“Naturally!”

“But the wine in this bottle has long since evaporated. Maybe it fell into the well along with the deceased.”

Continued questioning.

Muruo stood up, the corners of his mouth carrying a confident smile. He looked around and said, “Haven’t you heard of aged vintage wine? Among aged vintage wines, the most fragrant is pine flower wine. The older this wine gets, the stronger its fragrance becomes. Even if it’s evaporated for several years, as long as the bottle remains, I can smell it. Moreover, I’ve drunk countless fine wines under heaven. My nose isn’t sensitive to foul smells, but when it comes to smelling wine fragrance, even across a hundred li, I can still smell it. If you don’t believe me, you can send this wine bottle to a place that brews wine and have those wine masters take a good look to determine whether what I’m saying is right or wrong.”

Raised eyebrows!

Jingrong secretly curved his lips. That brat really seizes every opportunity to show off.

Muruo felt a huge aura gathering around his entire body, shining brilliantly.

Praise me, praise me!