Luring the snake out of its hole?

Walking into a trap?

The smile on Zhou Wen’s face grew taut.

What had gone wrong in all of this? How had he become the one walking into a trap?

Not only did he have doubts in his heart, but everyone else did as well. However, they were eager to hear how this renowned Master Ji had lured the snake out of its hole.

Marquis Kang, who had been restless and shocked, could no longer sit still. With a sweep of his sleeve, he rose abruptly and walked to Ji Yunshu’s side, asking, “Master Ji, what exactly is going on? And how did you know the items were hidden on the beam in that room?”

“That’s thanks to the crow shaman,” Ji Yunshu said. Her gaze swept across the confused faces of everyone present before she explained, “I believe some of you know that crows are birds that love shiny things. Whenever they see something bright, they instinctively peck at it with their beaks. I noticed that the crow’s beak had a layer of bright gold-colored lacquer on it. That type of lacquer is called ban lacquer. To the eye, it’s indistinguishable from real gold—it’s something that unscrupulous merchants specifically apply to the surface of steel and porcelain to pass off fakes as genuine. Before ban lacquer dries, once it gets on something, it takes at least a month to fade away. The ban lacquer on that crow’s beak already showed signs of peeling, so one can imagine that it had pecked at something coated with ban lacquer a month ago.

“It just so happened that this morning, when I saw the fake in the Marquis’s hands, I discovered that the lacquer on it was ban lacquer. A certain spot on the base of that object had been pecked by something sharp, causing a layer of lacquer to fall off. That’s why I concluded that the crow must have been to the place where the fake was hidden, and had pecked at it before the ban lacquer on the fake had dried, which is why that layer of lacquer remained on its beak.

“I also asked people in the residence, and it turned out that crow comes almost every night. This made me even more certain that it must visit the place where the fake is hidden every night to peck at those shiny things. After the Marquis’s treasures were switched with fakes, the real treasures should also be hidden in the place where the fakes were previously stored. So as long as we followed the crow, we would definitely be able to find those treasures.”

Oh!

Sudden realization dawned.

The confusion in everyone’s hearts was also resolved. They had really thought the crow was some ghost-catching shaman! In truth, it was all because Master Ji was clever. It seemed they had learned another lesson today.

However—

Zhou Wen laughed coldly. His unfathomable eyes lifted as he asked in a deep voice, “Then… how did you know that I was the one who stole the items?”

“I don’t know,” Ji Yunshu stated directly. She met Zhou Wen’s deep, cold, hard gaze and said, “I could only use the ban lacquer on the crow’s beak to find where the treasures were hidden, but I didn’t know who the mastermind behind the scheming was. As I said, I only lured the snake out of its hole—you’re the one who walked into the trap.”

Hm?

Everyone pricked up their ears, wanting to continue listening.

Ji Yunshu said, “Actually, I’ve been pondering something all along—something that’s clearly right before my eyes, yet I couldn’t quite figure out.”

It seemed like she was muttering to herself.

After thinking for a moment, she analyzed her thoughts aloud. “Why didn’t the people guarding the entrance see the bloody handprint that appeared on the plaque? Why couldn’t anyone see the figure behind the children’s laughter echoing through the residence? The trees tangled together, the collapsed rockery, the people in the residence pretending to be ill… these things were clearly being carried out in a premeditated manner.”

“Pretending to be ill? Were those dozen or so people pretending to be ill?” Upon hearing this, Marquis Kang was greatly shocked. He immediately turned his gaze to Muruo, seeking confirmation. “Young Master Mu, are they… are they truly not ill?”

Muruo had wanted to be a silent bystander, but with everyone’s eyes on him, he had no choice but to say a few words. “Mu has practiced medicine for many years. The world bestows upon me the title of divine physician. The illnesses I’ve diagnosed are countless—deep pulses and chaotic symptoms, not a single false case. Although those dozen or so people in the Marquis’s residence had pain throughout their bodies and were covered in cold sweat, their pulses were normal, their five internal organs were at peace, wind had not entered their minds, and evil had not entered their bodies. There’s only one possibility—they were pretending to be ill, and their pretense was completely unconvincing and poorly executed.”

Good grief!

After this entire speech, he had praised himself to the heavens.

Marquis Kang’s face stiffened and even turned somewhat pale.

He couldn’t understand why they would pretend to be ill.

What exactly had happened in his residence?

He heard Ji Yunshu continue, “Everything that happened in the residence led me to only one conclusion—there are traitors inside the Marquis’s residence, and not just one. Including those dozen or so people pretending to be ill, there should be even more. For example, the two people guarding the main gate, the people patrolling the residence at night, and of course, the residence soldiers outside. They worked from inside and outside, creating disturbances in the residence for a common purpose. If I’m not mistaken, their common purpose… was to obtain the Marquis’s treasures. So they first used ghosts as an excuse to stir up panic in the residence. After secretly switching those treasures, they could legitimately blame the whole affair on ghosts.

“To be able to incite so many people in the residence, the person behind this should be no simple character, and their position should be considerable. What I could think of were those people who have followed by the Marquis’s side for many years—namely, those residence soldiers. But… I had no evidence. Therefore, I deliberately said in front of everyone that I would catch ghosts tonight. My purpose was to say it for that ghost to hear. If that ghost knew I was going to find the treasures, they would definitely take action tonight.”

Having said this, she looked at Jingrong. “So I had the Prince command people to secretly watch those residence soldiers tonight. As long as they made a move, we could catch them in the act.”

Meeting Ji Yunshu’s gaze, Jingrong curved his lips in a light smile, then continued her words. “Sure enough, Master Ji’s guesses were all correct. This Prince’s subordinates came to report that several residence soldiers had secretly entered the residence carrying something. This Prince, together with Divine Physician Mu, went to catch ghosts. We didn’t expect that what those residence soldiers were carrying was oil—they probably wanted to set several fires in the Marquis’s residence, then take advantage of the chaos to transport out the hidden treasures.” He looked at Zhou Wen and said, “You just didn’t expect that this Prince was one step faster and captured those several residence soldiers who were about to commit arson. When you waited and waited but the Marquis’s residence didn’t catch fire, and knowing that the crow had already found where the treasures were hidden, you worried that those dozen or so people would betray you. So to protect yourself, you simply shot a fire arrow through the window to silence those dozen or so people who had pretended to be ill and helped you switch the treasures, thereby covering up your crime as the mastermind behind everything.”

His words struck like metal hitting stone.

As the saying goes: When the birds are gone, the bow is put away; when the rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked!

It has always been the truth.

Zhou Wen didn’t refute it either. At this moment, he was unusually calm.

The people in the hall pointed and whispered among themselves.

Suddenly—

Tang Si stepped forward, throwing out a question. “Then… how do you explain the ghost? Other matters had people providing cover, but what about the ghost? Someone clearly knocked on my door, and when I opened it, there was nothing there. And that ghost’s voice—how do you explain that?”

Yes!

How to explain it?