After speaking, Ji Yunshu added another sentence.

“However, there may also be other possibilities beyond these three.”

Indeed, multiple possibilities!

Without concrete evidence, no one dared definitively determine who the murderer was.

Jingrong remained silent, simply listening as she continued.

She pondered for a moment, suspicious in her heart. “If the murderer really is Lin Shu, if we go ask him, he’ll naturally refuse to admit it. So why don’t we make a hypothesis? Let’s assume this bottle truly belonged to Guo He, and after the murderer killed Guo He, he actually only needed to throw the body into the well. But why would he also throw the wine bottle in together? Isn’t that superfluous?”

Perhaps the murderer was bored out of his mind!

However, the point she was suspicious about wasn’t without reason.

Having killed someone, the murderer only needed to throw the corpse into the well. Yet under those circumstances, he still concerned himself with that wine bottle—truly he had quite a lot of “leisurely elegant” time!

Jingrong’s expression became serious, his mind sharp.

He followed Ji Yunshu’s previous speculation and continued, “If this hypothesis is really true, then we might as well make an even bolder assumption. Could it be that at the time, the wine bottle was stained with blood? Because the murderer had killed someone and was extremely nervous, when throwing the corpse into the well, he simply didn’t think about anything else and had no mind to deal with the blood-stained wine bottle. So that’s why he threw it in together with the corpse?”

Wow!

“His Highness’s hypothesis makes great sense!”

Ji Yunshu rarely praised him so.

Much appreciated!

Jingrong curved his lips in a faint smile, yet it was difficult to conceal the secret delight in his heart.

After a moment—

Ji Yunshu said, “Then now we need to verify our hypothesis and see if it holds.”

“How do we verify it?”

“Strong vinegar and white liquor.”

Oh!

Jingrong remembered—back then, Ji Yunshu had used this very method to verify that the dulled small knife Ayu used to kill Old Master Jiang had blood traces on it.

Truly, one learns until old age and lives until old age!

Very quickly, Jingrong had someone bring these two items.

Ji Yunshu mixed the strong vinegar into the white liquor. After shaking it a few times, she dipped her handkerchief in the mixed liquid and carefully began wiping the fragments.

She wiped piece after piece!

Unhurried!

After wiping each one once, she arranged the fragments neatly and placed them on the table. After a short while, three or four of the fragments gradually revealed a dark red color, bit by bit.

That color, printed on the silvery wine bottle, appeared especially striking.

Jingrong immediately understood. “This is blood!”

“Correct, it’s blood. Strong vinegar and white liquor can restore blood traces that have been washed clean with water or wiped away.”

“It seems our hypothesis is established.”

“Not entirely yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“We still need to see whose blood this is.”

Having spoken!

She picked up a piece of paper that had been stained red on the skeleton earlier and wrapped one of the wine bottle fragments stained with blood traces in it. She gently rubbed it a few times with her hand, then unfolded the paper.

Sure enough!

Half of the blood traces originally stained on the fragment had merged together with the red color on the paper’s surface.

The other half still remained on the fragment.

At that moment, Ji Yunshu’s palm tightened, her eyes couldn’t help but contract, and in her heart, she roughly had a conclusion.

Jingrong said, “It seems the hypothesis is established. The blood on the wine bottle is Guo He’s.”

Uh!

Ji Yunshu nodded. “Yes, this blood is indeed Guo He’s.”

While speaking, the paper in her palm was twisted slightly into wrinkles by her.

Seeing her like this, Jingrong was puzzled. His brow furrowed high. “Since we’ve already reached a conclusion, why are you reacting this way? Could this blood…”

He didn’t complete his sentence.

Ji Yunshu’s expression was grave. After remaining silent for a while, she returned to normal. Her lips moved slightly, and only then did she slightly raise the fragment in her hand, saying, “On the wine bottle, there isn’t just Guo He’s blood alone—there’s also another person’s.”

Uh!

She continued, “Because only blood of the same type can merge and stain together during the rubbing process. But the other half of the dark red color on this fragment didn’t merge with the color on the paper. This can only mean that the blood on the wine bottle, besides Guo He’s, also belongs to another person. And that person is very likely the murderer.”

“Lin Shu?”

She shook her head lightly. “I don’t know. If the blood on it really also includes Lin Shu’s, then adding this Eastern Chestnut bead, presumably this case can be closed. But now, I need his blood.”

“That’s not difficult at all!” Jingrong immediately ordered the guards, “Go obtain Lin Shu’s blood. The faster, the better.”

“Yes!”

The guard acknowledged and was about to leave—

Ji Yunshu quickly reminded him, “This time, don’t take a bowl of blood—just a little bit will do.”

“Understood, Master Ji. We won’t harm him.”

And so they went.

Thinking back, when Jingrong’s guards went to the prison to obtain Ji Yuanzhi’s blood, they had taken an entire bowl, nearly shocking Ji Yunshu to death.

If she didn’t remind them this time, who knows if those guards would bring over another bowl of blood.

She didn’t need that excess blood for beauty treatments—in the end, wouldn’t it just be poured out?

At this moment, Lin Shu was completely unaware that “danger” was gradually approaching him bit by bit.

Because he had whip wounds on his body and had been bitten by a snake, from last night until now he had stayed in his own room the entire time. He hadn’t gone to the back mountain, nor had he gone to view the skeletal remains. Instead, he secretly called his fellow student Fu Yuansheng and had him describe everything in detail.

Fu Yuansheng was a careless person who, while narrating, also made gestures.

“You have no idea—those skeletal remains were just laid out on the ground. When we first went there, we got quite a fright. That fatty Lu spent the entire night lying by the well, and when he got up this morning, he got another huge fright. If he hadn’t called out, no one would have noticed. But don’t you think it’s strange? The teacher is extremely tolerant of those people and trusts them very much. Clearly, he notified the authorities and could have just let the yamen officials bring the coroner to examine the corpse. Yet he insisted on entrusting it to that person surnamed Ji, even having the skeletal remains assembled together, doing all sorts of messy things, saying the dead person is Guo He, that before death he came to blows with someone, resulting in five wounds on his body. It’s simply baffling. The things she says and does are simply not what ordinary people can understand. Yet the teacher just trusts her, telling us to follow her instructions before officials arrive. Hasn’t everything been turned upside down?”

He spoke with righteous indignation!

But while he was speaking, Lin Shu’s complexion grew increasingly pale.

In his eyes, a trace of panic was even reflected.

The hands inside his clothing were also trembling severely!

Fu Yuansheng noticed the change in his expression. His brow furrowed, and he touched him with his hand. “Lin Shu, are you alright?”

“Ah?”

He seemed startled. His originally unfocused and scattered gaze suddenly dilated sharply. He swallowed and shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

He was clearly lying!