Ji Yinshu pinched the button between her fingertips and extended it toward Li Zhao.

The moment he saw the button, a trace of doubt flashed through Li Zhao’s eyes, though it was tinged with deep panic.

“How… how would I know?” When he answered, he suddenly covered the belt at his waist with his hand.

Unfortunately for him, Ji Yinshu saw this clearly.

She said, “How could you not know? The outfit you wore yesterday and the one you’re wearing today are the same—both made from Qingzhou brocade. Only clothes made from Qingzhou brocade have this type of button sewn on them.”

“So… so what? That doesn’t mean I killed my brother-in-law. Don’t spout nonsense and wrongly accuse an innocent person.”

“What a coincidence—this button fell out from that pile of skeletal remains. Combined with the fact that the skeleton’s ankle had been injured just before death, this means Master Jiang must have gotten into an altercation with someone before he died. During the struggle, the button from the murderer’s clothing was torn off.”

Li Zhao grew more panicked as he listened, but he didn’t forget to deny it vehemently. “Even if that button belongs to the murderer, it… it has nothing to do with me!”

His eyes didn’t dare meet Ji Yinshu’s gaze.

Still desperately denying it like this—Ji Yinshu was in no hurry. Her thin lips merely curved slightly.

“Li Zhao, don’t tell me you don’t even recognize the buttons on your own clothes?”

Eh?

Where was this going?

The County Magistrate also looked puzzled. He straightened up slightly from his pear-wood chair and asked, “It’s just a button. What’s so strange about it? How can you determine it belongs to Li Zhao?”

This question wasn’t just something the County Magistrate wanted to know—the advisors and yamen runners present were also eager to find out.

Seizing upon the County Magistrate’s question, Li Zhao immediately retorted, “Qingzhou brocade is everywhere, and this type of button is commonplace. What right do you have to say it’s mine?”

“Why are you in such a rush? Can you calm down and let me finish speaking?” Ji Yinshu’s expression grew solemn. She walked toward Li Zhao’s left side while saying, “As far as I know, ordinary buttons have four small holes in the center for threading. The buttons on Qingzhou brocade garments also have four holes. However, this one is different.”

She held up the button again, explaining in detail, “Everyone can take a look. The button in my hand doesn’t have four threading holes—it has three. Three-holed buttons sewn onto Qingzhou brocade garments are generally custom-made. Everyone might wonder why someone would make a three-holed button instead of using the perfectly good four-holed ones. The reason is… this is a gambler’s superstition!”

Hmm?

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads in confusion.

How did a perfectly good button suddenly get connected to this three-holed button?

While everyone was puzzled, Li Zhao showed no surprise or confusion whatsoever. Instead, he looked as if he’d been skinned alive—his entire body went ice cold!

Ji Yinshu’s gaze swept across everyone’s expressions before returning to the button in her hand.

“I believe some people here have certainly gambled at gambling dens. You know what luck means, you know what losing money means, but you certainly don’t know what ‘total win’ means!”

“I know!” A yamen runner raised his hand, as if answering a quiz question, and said, “Total win means winning everything! The house wins alone.”

“Wrong.”

The yamen runner’s face twitched. He scratched his cheek—was he wrong? But he wasn’t wrong, was he? That’s what it meant at the gambling den.

The yamen runner hesitantly asked in a trembling voice, “Then Master Ji, what does it represent?”

Ji Yinshu smiled faintly, but the smile was unsettling. “The so-called ‘total win’—ordinary gamblers call it ‘winning all.’ But for a pathological gambler, it represents the meaning of ‘wealth flowing from three directions.’ Li Zhao, am I right?”

Her gaze fell on Li Zhao once more!

Li Zhao kept his head lowered, still not daring to look at her. He licked his lips. “I…”

He couldn’t squeeze out a single sentence.

“You won’t speak? Fine, I’ll speak for you. Since childhood, you’ve grown up wearing clothes made from Qingzhou brocade. This habit, you haven’t changed even now. What you love even more are the buttons on the clothes. Generally, this type of button is sewn on a person’s collar, but you’re different—you have them sewn on the belt at your waist. This is sufficient proof that you love this type of button so much that while others use four-holed buttons, you have to stand out and custom-order three-holed ones.”

“Of course, the reason you love this type of three-holed button also has a cause. It’s because you love gambling. A pathological gambler not only believes in luck but is also extremely superstitious about feng shui. They firmly believe that buttons hung at the waist should have three holes for best results—fortune comes from all eight directions, wealth flows from three sides.”

Every word was a pearl, resounding powerfully!

Li Zhao’s entire body was now trembling. Timid as a mouse—truly living up to his reputation!

Ji Yinshu continued to strike while the iron was hot, pointing at the belt he was covering with his hand. “If you still won’t admit this button is yours, then remove your hand and let everyone take a good look to see whether what I’m saying is right or wrong.”

At this moment, how could he dare remove his hand? He wished he could untie his belt and swallow it whole.

Seeing that he hadn’t moved his hand away after a long while, the County Magistrate grew anxious and signaled to the yamen runners with a glance.

Two yamen runners understood immediately. They stepped forward and roughly pulled Li Zhao’s hands to either side.

“You… let go of me!” Li Zhao shouted.

However, the button on his belt was now exposed for all to see.

Indeed, it was a three-holed button.

Exactly the same as the one Ji Yinshu held in her hand!

The County Magistrate’s eyes widened. Furious, he raised the gavel.

Crack—

The sound echoed throughout the entire courtroom.

“Li Zhao, the evidence is now irrefutable. You lied from the start, and now there’s the button as proof. Will you still not admit you killed Master Jiang? Don’t force this official to use torture.”

Ji Yinshu gave him a withering look!

What are you doing—trying to extract a false confession through torture?

Li Zhao was held by two yamen runners. His face was now pale, and though he was extremely panicked, his brain suddenly became sharp.

He retorted to Ji Yinshu, “Based on just one button, you conclude I’m the murderer? This is completely your own fabrication, your one-sided story. I didn’t—I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t!”

To Ji Yinshu, he was merely making his final death throes.

Her expression became stern. A pair of cold, imposing eyes looked at him as she interrogated, “You’re still arguing sophistry? Fine, then I’ll tell you everything that happened that night in full. You owed a mountain of gambling debts, and creditors came chasing after you. You were terrified and didn’t know what to do. But you didn’t dare ask your sister for money. So for those few days, you hid from the creditors who came to the door while drinking yourself into a stupor…”

“No, it’s not like that…”

“Until one evening, you saw Master Jiang. Although you knew Master Jiang had no status in the Jiang household, he was still nominally the head of the family. So you wanted to ask him for help, to borrow money from him.”