Ji Yunshu pulled out a pair of gloves from her sleeve for him. “Put these on.”

“Why are you giving this prince these?”

“I said I needed your help.”

“Help?”

Without another word, Ji Yunshu stuffed the gloves into his hand, then took out something else and commanded him, “Open your mouth.”

“Huh?”

“Open your mouth.”

Jingrong looked completely bewildered, but still obediently opened his mouth.

She then tossed the thing in her hand into his mouth.

As soon as the item landed in his mouth, his tongue felt numb and spicy. Before he could chew it, Ji Yunshu supported his chin and lifted it upward, and that inexplicable thing was suddenly swallowed down.

“What did you make this prince eat?” His face turned livid.

“Ginger soaked in sesame oil.”

“That thing again.”

This wasn’t the first time Jingrong had eaten ginger soaked in sesame oil. The first time was at Jinjiang Yi Manor when viewing those charred corpses—Ji Yunshu had done exactly the same thing, tossing a piece of ginger into his mouth. At that time, he had thought it was poison and was nearly scared to death.

Now hearing it was that stuff again, he wasn’t repulsed, but his heart vaguely detected Ji Yunshu’s “ill intentions.” Giving him ginger for no reason so he couldn’t smell the corpse odor—it was like a weasel paying New Year’s respects to a chicken.

Once the taste in his mouth slowly dissipated, he asked, “What exactly do you want this prince to do?”

Ji Yunshu didn’t keep him in suspense, saying, “I need you to help me examine Granny Lin’s corpse again.”

Uh!

Jingrong looked at her incredulously, thinking, Sister, are you toying with me?

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down for a long time before he spoke: “Examining corpses—how could this prince do such work?”

“I’ll be right beside you watching, teaching you step by step. You can rest assured.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?”

She extended her hand, palms wrapped in gauze. “If I could, I would want to do it myself. It’s just that there was an accident, so I must trouble Your Highness to help.”

“This…”

“It’s getting late, hurry up. I’m not asking you to take a knife and cut into the corpse a few times—just examine it again, because I’m worried I might have missed something earlier. If we can’t find traces of the killer at the primary crime scene, then we might be able to find something on Granny Lin’s body or in her room.”

Having said all that, Jingrong could only take on this task.

But—

He also had his principles.

“If it requires undressing for examination, forget it.”

“Naturally we won’t undress for examination—just carefully look in the visible areas.”

“Fine, this prince will do you this favor, but… there will be compensation.” He curved his lips wickedly, raising an eyebrow.

To save time, Ji Yunshu was too lazy to argue with him, so she agreed: “Fine, once you finish this matter, I’ll naturally compensate you.”

Excellent!

Jingrong became motivated. He put on the gloves, crouched down, and prepared to get to work.

Ji Yunshu held the candlestick and crouched opposite him, beginning to guide him one by one like a teacher.

“Part the hair and see if there are any wounds or swollen areas underneath.”

He complied!

He turned and felt around.

“Nothing!”

“Look behind the ears for scratches or anything else.”

He turned and looked left and right.

“Nothing.”

…

So they examined all the way from the head to the neck.

Same as when she had examined before—no differences.

“Hm?” Jingrong suddenly made a sound of surprise.

Ji Yunshu looked at him, moving the candlestick in her hand closer. “What is it?”

She saw him rub Granny Lin’s clothes. “Why are these clothes so oily?”

“Oily?”

“Only the clothes from the abdomen to the thighs have oil on them.”

Ji Yunshu’s eyes tightened slightly—she thought of something and quickly said, “Check if there’s oil on the clothes under the armpits.”

Jingrong turned and looked, saying, “Only under the right armpit is there oil.”

Uh!

“Smell it—what kind of oil?”

He complied.

Jingrong said, “It’s lard.”

Such an important point and she had actually overlooked it.

Jingrong saw her expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ji Yunshu pondered in her mind, her gaze falling on that tray and several broken cups. This time, she reached out herself to examine. She actually found grease stains on the tray as well.

The fog of mystery in her mind seemed to be clearing bit by bit.

She said aloud, “During the chou hour, why would Granny Lin go to the kitchen backyard? At that time, what was she going there to do? Looking for someone? Or was someone waiting for her?”

Jingrong didn’t understand.

Ji Yunshu slowly stood up. “I think I probably know who the killer is.”

Huh?

Jingrong pressed, “Who?”

The two guards outside the door also heard what Ji Yunshu had just said, so they too craned their necks to look inside, ears perked to hear exactly who this so-called “ghost” killer was.

They heard Ji Yunshu say, “The killer is someone who works in the kitchen.”

“A cook?”

“No!”

“An assistant servant or maid in the kitchen?”

“No,” she looked at Jingrong. “Has Your Highness forgotten? Earlier Marquis Kang already inquired around—all those people in the kitchen have evidence proving they weren’t in the kitchen.”

“Then who could it be?”

Ji Yunshu’s expression grew serious as she spoke a name: “Cai Da!”

Jingrong was shocked—not shocked that the killer was Cai Da, but shocked that Cai Da and Granny Lin had a mother-son relationship. He killed his own mother? It didn’t seem right. That boy had wailed heart-wrenchingly when he saw his mother dead, and just because Ji Yunshu merely touched that corpse, Cai Da had gone nearly mad, almost wanting to hack her down. How could such a devoted filial son commit murder?

He didn’t believe it!

But Ji Yunshu explained the reason: “Marquis Kang said that Cai Da is the estate’s butcher, so every night he goes out to buy pigs, then slaughters them and transports the pork back. If that’s the case, his clothes should be very dirty or covered in lard. But I noticed his clothes were very clean—not only his clothes, but his hands were also very clean. A butcher who leaves the estate to slaughter pigs, yet his clothes are completely clean—how does that make sense?”

“Perhaps he returned to his room to change clothes.”

She shook her head. “Impossible.” She continued, “They said Cai Da came directly here as soon as he returned, so there was no time to change clothes. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, I believe he returned from outside during the zi hour, but he returned secretly. Because the gate guards said he left at the hai hour to slaughter pigs and wouldn’t return until dawn, so during the zi hour, he secretly returned. And Granny Lin, for some reason, actually knew he would return, so she went to the backyard to meet him. The two of them had a dispute over something unknown. In the struggle, he accidentally pushed her, causing Granny Lin’s forehead to strike the stone, killing her on the spot.”