On the second day, Jingrong brought people early in the morning once again to the Ministry of Justice.

However—

He was still intercepted by Jing Yi, or more accurately, Jing Yi’s people had never left at all, and they had been standing guard the entire night.

The Minister of Justice was also in a difficult position, but after all, Jing Yi had arrived first. A single phrase of “haven’t finished investigating yet” left no room for argument.

“Prince Rong, why don’t you wait a bit longer? This official will go inside to announce your presence.”

Jingrong nodded, simply bringing his people to wait directly outside the mortuary.

The Minister of Justice turned and went inside to announce.

Inside the mortuary.

Jing Yi sat in a pear wood chair, a languid posture.

Meanwhile, Wen Shisan wore gloves, examining one by one the newly deceased corpse and seven skeletal remains.

“Prince Yi, Prince Rong is outside,” the Minister of Justice said.

“Let him continue waiting.”

“But…”

“But what? This prince hasn’t finished investigating yet.”

Speechless!

The Minister of Justice broke into a heavy sweat. The contest between the two princes had dragged him into a sea of fire.

Alas—

He could only go out to reply.

“Prince Yi hasn’t finished examining yet. Prince Rong, perhaps you should…”

Before he finished speaking, Jingrong interrupted.

“No need to say more. This prince will wait here, waiting for Prince Yi to come out.”

He wasn’t anxious, nor would he leave. He merely summoned Lang Bo and whispered a few instructions in his ear.

Lang Bo nodded and hurried off to handle the matter.

What were the two plotting?

Ji Yunshu tugged at his sleeve and asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Jingrong’s lips curved, “Naturally, to force him out.”

Being mysterious!

Time passed bit by bit!

From yesterday until now, Wen Shisan had long since finished examining the skeletal remains and corpse.

He removed his gloves and reported to Jing Yi beside him, “Your Highness, I’ve finished examining everything. Regarding the detailed circumstances of the skeletal remains, after returning, Wen will explain everything thoroughly.”

Jing Yi rose, glanced outside, and said, “Shisan, you should still take another good look at these skeletal remains. Take your time, there’s no rush.”

“But everything that needed examining, Wen has already examined.”

“Continue looking!”

Wen Shisan understood his meaning.

As long as they didn’t go out, Jingrong and his people couldn’t come in.

But—

He asked, “Could it be the prince doesn’t trust Wen?”

“What do you mean by this?”

“If the prince truly trusted Wen, you wouldn’t worry about that Mr. Ji coming in to investigate the case.”

Jing Yi smiled, “Shisan, this prince naturally has great confidence in you. It’s just… this time this prince wants to give Prince Rong a show of force, let him know that fighting with this prince is tantamount to an egg striking a stone.”

Extremely sinister!

Though Wen Shisan was proud, even having his own dignity and ideas, right now, he was under Jing Yi’s command and could only obey him.

Continue examining.

Just at this moment, white smoke suddenly emerged in the mortuary, rolling larger and larger…

Outside, flames even began to ignite.

Someone inside shouted loudly, “Your Highness, there’s a fire!”

“There’s a fire! Your Highness, quickly get out!”

“How could this happen?”

Jing Yi covered his nose, his brow tightly locked, choked into violent coughing, pulled out by his own guards.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Waves of coughing sounds came forth.

After everyone came out, they discovered something was amiss.

Jing Yi came to his senses, saw Jingrong standing outside, looked back, and only then discovered that the white smoke inside the room was gradually disappearing.

Where was there a fire? Clearly someone had used a scheme.

They’d been tricked!

He clenched his fists, his face full of fury.

At the same time—

Ji Yunshu looked into the mortuary. Inside, on the table were placed seven completely assembled skeletal remains.

Then she glanced at Wen Shisan.

Who would have thought that after several years apart, his ability to assemble skeletal remains had grown considerably!

Jingrong stepped forward, saying, “I thought there was a fire inside—turns out it was a misunderstanding. I was just about to bring people in to put out the fire and rescue people.”

“Jingrong, you did this deliberately.”

Gritting his teeth!

Jingrong smiled, “So what if I did it deliberately? Since you and your people have already come out, then it’s my turn to bring people in to examine the bodies.”

“You…” Jing Yi’s face flushed with anger, “Well played.”

What a miscalculation!

Just as Jingrong was about to bring people inside—

“Wait.” Jing Yi stopped him, “I still have things inside that I need to take out before leaving.”

He gestured for two guards beside him to go in.

The guards had followed by his side for many years and immediately understood his meaning.

After entering, they appeared to be gathering things, but in reality—

The people inside actually yanked forcefully at the cloth beneath those seven skeletal remains. The bones fell “clatter clatter” to the ground. This still wasn’t enough—those two people deliberately splashed ink that had been set aside onto the skeletal remains, and kicked them a few times for good measure.

Creating complete chaos.

The two guards came out, quickly saying, “Your Highness, your subordinates didn’t do it intentionally. The white smoke inside hasn’t dissipated yet—we couldn’t see the path clearly.”

Jing Yi feigned an angry expression, “How did you two handle this? With the skeletal remains in this state, how can they be examined?”

“Please forgive us, Your Highness.”

Jing Yi said to Jingrong, “Truly sorry. My subordinates are blind. After returning, I will certainly discipline them properly. However…” He looked toward Ji Yunshu, “I believe with Mr. Ji present, there should be a solution.”

Then he snorted and left with great satisfaction.

Wen Shisan followed closely behind. But when he walked beside Ji Yunshu, he stopped and said softly, “Skeletal remains covered in ink—I wonder how you’ll handle this?”

He gave an odd, mocking laugh.

Then left.

Jingrong went inside and looked at the chaotic skeletal remains, somewhat troubled.

He turned back to look at Ji Yunshu, “Is there a solution?”

Ji Yunshu thought for a moment and ordered people, “Go find some dried mugwort.”

Lang Bo didn’t ask questions and hurried to handle it.

In no time at all, he went to various pharmacies and found a lot of dried mugwort.

Then, following instructions, they found a large cloth, laid the skeletal remains stained with ink flat and neat upon it, then tied the four corners to four frames. Beneath the large cloth, they placed the mugwort.

“Light it.”

The mugwort burned, rolling out thick smoke.

Everyone was puzzled!

Jingrong asked her, “What effect does this have?”

Ji Yunshu explained, “Dried mugwort is made from ash from burning pine wood, which can disinfect. So when white smoke fumigates the skeletal remains, it can remove the ink that was just splashed on the bones without damaging them.”

“I see.”

White smoke rolled forth, fumigating those chaotic skeletal remains!

The smell it emitted was not pungent at all.

“It smells so good.” Someone said.

Indeed, very fragrant!

Soon, the mugwort burned out. Ji Yunshu ordered people to find gauze and instructed them to gently wipe away the ink on the skeletal remains.

Because they had been fumigated by mugwort, with a light wipe of the gauze, the ink could be cleaned off.

Generally, if excavated skeletal remains from archaeology have damage or are stained by contaminants, the method of fumigating bones with mugwort is often used to clean things from the surface of the skeletal remains.

The skeletal remains were moved back inside the room, ready to be reassembled.

Fortunately, these skeletal remains weren’t shattered beyond reason. Based on the measurements and the joints where each bone fit together, after one hour, the seven skeletal remains were separated out.

She first examined the corpse.

Atractylodes had been sprinkled beside the body.

It should… have been sprinkled by Wen Shisan.