Ji Yunshu’s thoughts had just reached a critical point when she heard Tang Si’s sarcastic voice drift over.

“You’re a grown man who just went down to the bottom of the well to retrieve a corpse, reeking all over. Don’t you know to go wash up? Instead, you just stand here—what are you doing? You yourself might be fine with it, but don’t make others smell the stench along with you.”

How inconsiderate.

Tang Si’s contemptuous attitude hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Lang Bo’s face darkened, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Was I clamoring and shouting to go down the well?

Did I want to retrieve corpses trip after trip?

Did I want to smell this bad?

I’m suffering too, okay!

A rough man like him was picked on and mocked by a little girl.

Speechless!

Seeing his subordinate being criticized, Jingrong had to assert his master’s authority, coldly glancing at Tang Si.

“Miss Tang, could it be that last night, you haven’t knelt enough?”

Hearing this, Tang Si immediately bristled, raising her chin and arching her brows. “What are you trying to say? This young lady isn’t afraid of you. It was only because of A’Ji’s face that I compromised yesterday.”

Ji Yunshu was speechless!

Well then, you really don’t need to give me this face.

“Ziran.” Jingrong called out heavily to Shi Ziran, ordering, “Throw this wild girl to Muruo. His own person—he should manage her properly.”

“Yes!”

Shi Ziran responded.

He wasn’t like Lang Bo—fierce with men, weak with women. In his eyes, men and women were all the same. If they needed beating, beat them; if they needed killing, kill them; if they needed poisoning, poison them. He would never be soft-hearted.

Upon receiving the order, he stepped forward and grabbed Tang Si’s small arm.

He lifted her forward.

“Let’s go!”

“Let go.”

Shi Ziran looked at her coldly, unmoved, continuing to forcibly drag her along.

Tang Si had at least practiced martial arts. Her body turned, and her foot kicked fiercely toward Shi Ziran.

Coincidentally, Shi Ziran’s lightness skill was exceptional—he immediately dodged!

“You all think I’m a little girl who’s easy to bully, don’t you?”

“Little girl?” Shi Ziran looked her up and down, openly mocking and ridiculing. “You? Still a little girl? Unless all the women in the world died out, only then could you barely be considered a person. Otherwise, even if the sky broke open, you couldn’t be counted as a young lady.”

Hearing this, Ji Yunshu couldn’t help but shake her head and sigh.

A talent indeed!

Truly, what kind of master, what kind of subordinate.

The guards present all laughed.

Tang Si had met her match. Her eyes blazing with fury, she shouted loudly, “Shut up, all of you! If you laugh again, I’ll teach you all a good lesson with my whip.”

Shi Ziran smiled and said, “Miss Tang, His Highness and Guard Lang know how to show tender affection to the fairer sex—I don’t. If you keep making a fuss and disturb Master Ji’s case investigation, I’ll bury you alive.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Want to try?”

Try your sister!

This fellow’s martial skills were good—Tang Si knew she couldn’t gain the upper hand.

She stared with dry eyes, stomping her feet hard on the ground while her hand swept forcefully to the side.

“Crash!”

The wine bottle retrieved from the well smashed onto the ground, shattering into pieces.

Then, Tang Si slunk away “with her tail between her legs.”

To prevent her from causing more trouble, Shi Ziran quickly followed.

Finally, it was quiet.

Ji Yunshu put down the skull in her hand, crouching to pick up the broken wine bottle pieces that might very well be evidence. Just as she bent down, Jingrong grasped her hand.

“Let me.”

He took out a handkerchief, picking up the fragments one by one and placing them on the table. Ji Yunshu’s eyes were sharp—she saw something on the inside of one of the fragments.

“Wait.”

She called out!

She picked up that fragment, carefully removing something attached to its inner side.

It was a very, very small dark green bead!

On it were still some mud and moss.

After cleaning it off, Ji Yunshu said, “This bead… I seem to have seen it somewhere?”

Jingrong frowned. “Seen it before?”

Her eyes deepened slightly as she recalled carefully. Suddenly, her eyes brightened—the conclusion was confirmed.

“That’s right, I saw it last night when I was sparring with Lin Shu. This bead… is one of the beads from the bracelet on his wrist.”

“Lin Shu’s?”

“Exactly, this very bead—identical.”

Jingrong also recalled that yesterday when Lin Shu was bare-chested outside the hall, he did seem to be wearing a bead bracelet on his wrist.

However—

He was also somewhat skeptical. “This is an Eastern Chestnut bead. Although rare, it’s not owned by just one person. Could it be a coincidence?”

“Impossible!” She firmly denied this theory, saying, “Eastern Chestnut beads are meant to be strung in sets of twenty-two, tight and secure. But last night when I saw the bead string on Lin Shu’s wrist, the beads were loose and movable, clearly showing that one or two beads were missing. But I didn’t think much of it—I only glanced at it. Still, nine times out of ten, it must be his.”

Jingrong continued, “Then could it be… that Lin Shu was secretly drinking wine on the back mountain, the bead bracelet broke, and one bead fell into the wine bottle? Subsequently, to prevent Master Yu from finding out, he threw the wine bottle into the well? Or perhaps this wine bottle originally belonged to Guo He. On the day he left, he ran into Lin Shu on the back mountain. A conflict arose between them, and they came to blows. During the fight, one bead fell into the wine bottle. And to eliminate all traces of Guo He’s existence, Lin Shu threw both the corpse and this wine bottle into the well together?”

Just as he finished speaking, Ji Yunshu was stunned for a moment, then immediately laughed in surprise.

Hmm?

What was this about?

“What are you laughing at? Is this prince wrong?”

He was puzzled, staring at this woman. He had to admit, when she smiled, she really was quite beautiful.

Ji Yunshu shook her head. “I’m not saying you’re wrong. On the contrary, what you just said makes a lot of sense.”

“It seems you’re testing this prince’s intelligence.”

“Sort of, but not really.”

Jingrong curved his lips. “This prince indeed isn’t skilled in examining corpses and investigating cases, but when it comes to other matters, even you can’t fathom my expertise.”

This wasn’t bragging!

In terms of martial arts, he wasn’t an amateur!

In terms of scheming for position, he was a hidden old wolf who only showed mercy repeatedly out of consideration for brotherhood.

As for his wife-pursuing abilities, there was even less need to mention that.

Ji Yunshu looked at this proud prince before her, a smile gracing the corners of her lips.

She straightened her expression. “Alright, let’s get back to this wine bottle matter. If the bead really is Lin Shu’s, then it only proves he once had contact with this wine bottle. Naturally, this opens up many possibilities. If this wine bottle is his and he threw it into the well after secretly drinking wine, then that’s the first possibility you mentioned. In that case, he’s not the murderer. But if this wine bottle belonged to Guo He, then it proves that on the day Guo He left, Lin Shu saw him and touched this bottle. The two came to blows—that’s the second possibility you mentioned, and the murderer would be Lin Shu. However, there’s also a third possibility: this wine bottle belongs to neither of them. The Eastern Chestnut bead simply fell into the well accidentally, following the water current into the wine bottle.”

Ginger gets spicier with age!