Prince Rong’s Manor

Jingrong and Ji Yunshu had just returned from Xianghe Inn. Before they even entered the main gate, Lu Jiang came forward to report, “Your Highness, the Judicial Commissioner has arrived.”

“How long has he been here?”

“He’s been waiting here since an hour ago.”

He nodded and entered with Ji Yunshu.

In the main hall, the Judicial Commissioner, who had been drinking tea, saw them arrive and quickly came forward. “Your Highness, Master Ji, you’ve finally returned.”

The two sat down. A servant brought two cups of hot tea.

To warm their bodies.

Jingrong took his tea and drank a sip. Disregarding the Judicial Commissioner’s presence, he instead looked at Ji Yunshu. “What do you think?”

Her eyes deepened. Cradling the cup of hot tea in her hands, she said, “I believe the killer knew that head merchant.”

“Oh? Why do you say that? Those merchants just said their head merchant didn’t know anyone in the capital.”

“But the results of my autopsy cannot be wrong. The fatal wound to the deceased was in the heart. Judging from the wound, the murder weapon was a short blade—more precisely, a dagger. Generally, daggers are seven inches long, but the dagger that caused the fatal wound to the killer was only four inches—extremely short. Such daggers are quite rare. Moreover, the deceased was stabbed to death from behind by the killer using that extremely short dagger while completely unaware.”

Jingrong didn’t understand. He waited quietly for her to continue.

She organized her thoughts before saying, “Because if a person is fighting with a short blade, the areas they usually stab are the opponent’s stomach or waist—after all, that would be easier. To stab into someone’s heart, unless one holds the short blade in reverse grip. The deceased had only that one wound on the heart, and the wound penetrated straight inward. If the killer had stabbed forward with the dagger in reverse grip, the wound should have penetrated downward from above. That’s why I dare assert that the killer stabbed the victim to death from behind. Moreover, think about it—under what circumstances would a person turn their back to someone they don’t know? Unless that person is someone you trust or know. Only then would someone be killed while completely off guard.”

With this explanation, it became clear!

Though the Judicial Commissioner was like a transparent person, he didn’t forget to nod repeatedly in approval, then interjected, “What about the other seven skeletons? Did they die the same way?”

“No. They were killed with premeditation.”

“What do you mean?”

“Those seven skeletons—based on their time of death, the first skeleton to die was killed by having an extremely sharp iron rod thrust directly through the frontal bone to the back of the skull. The second was killed by having the cervical vertebrae pierced through. The third was the sternum, the fourth was the lumbar vertebrae, the fifth was both wrist bones, the sixth was the kneecap, and the seventh was the shin bones of both legs. All were pierced through by a sharp iron rod and died from excessive blood loss. The killer’s murder method is very strange—seven lives, from frontal bone to shin bone, from top to bottom. What’s even stranger is that those people all died from excessive blood loss, their blood slowly drained dry. Clearly the killer didn’t take their lives immediately.”

Simply twisted!

His words sent chills through people’s hearts.

Jingrong analyzed, “According to what you’re saying, the killer must have had a grudge against those people, which is why such cruel methods were used. However, I’ve never seen such a strange murder method before. There’s another point—if the killer truly killed by piercing through bones from top to bottom, why was the merchant who died a few days ago killed by having his heart pierced through?”

The Judicial Commissioner quickly said, “Could it be that the killer changed their murder method? After all, eating the same dish for seven years would get tiresome.”

“That’s not possible.” Ji Yunshu directly rejected this. “The killer used the same method to kill for several consecutive years, which shows that method has become his habit and won’t change. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless the person who killed the seven skeletons and the person who killed Gao Meng are not the same person.”

Uh!

At these words, Jingrong’s brow furrowed slightly.

He said, “So this very likely consists of two separate murder cases. But…” He pondered. “If they truly are two unrelated cases, then why do both killers know there’s a dried well beneath the great Buddha? And how did they move the great Buddha without being discovered? Also, why would Gao Meng go to that ruined temple in the dead of night?”

Question after question arose.

Ji Yunshu shook her head, her expression grave.

Then Jingrong turned to the Judicial Commissioner and asked, “Are you certain the deceased died in that ruined temple?”

“Why does Your Highness ask this?”

“I’m merely speculating—could the person have died elsewhere and simply been carried there and thrown into the dried well?”

“This…”

It really was hard to judge.

The Judicial Commissioner thought about it and shook his head. “I’m really not clear. In any case, when discovered, the person was already dead in the well. The ruined temple was flooded with water, so there was no way to investigate the surroundings.”

Helpless!

And since Ji Yunshu hadn’t yet been to the scene, she also couldn’t directly determine the deceased’s place of death.

She said, “Currently, the information I’ve obtained from the corpse and those seven skeletons is only this much. Tonight, I’ll work through the night to roughly sketch out portraits of those skeletons, but they can probably only be rough models. If they can be identified, that would be best. If not, I’ll just have to continue refining them, but that way, the time required might be rather long.”

Jingrong said, “For now, this is all we can do.”

Ji Yunshu: “After the water recedes tomorrow, I want to go look at the ruined temple.”

But the Judicial Commissioner looked outside with worry and said, “I think there will be another heavy rain tomorrow. That water won’t recede for four or five days.”

“But the longer the delay, the more likely any evidence that might exist in the ruined temple will be gone.”

“But Master must also think of safety.”

Ji Yunshu said nothing. She looked at Jingrong, her eyes questioning.

Go tomorrow?

Or not go?

Jingrong thought about it and said, “Master Ji is correct. If we go to the scene even one day later, the clues about the killer will probably be washed away by the rain. Then if we want to investigate the case, it will likely become even more difficult. Tomorrow, even if there’s violent wind and torrential rain, we must go.”

Since he’d said that, what else could be done?

The Judicial Commissioner could only comply.

Then Jingrong instructed Lang Bo, “Take people to investigate all the major ironworks and weapons shops in the capital. See if anyone has forged a sharp iron rod or a dagger that’s only four inches long. If so, immediately investigate and inquire clearly—exactly who was it forged for? Record everything in detail. Don’t miss anything.”

“This subordinate will handle it immediately.”

Lang Bo received his orders.

That night, Ji Yunshu worked through the night. Based on the death times of those seven skeletons, she sketched out rough portraits of each one.

Jingrong didn’t disturb her. He only instructed a young maid to bring in hot tea several times.

And throughout the entire night, he stood guard outside, standing beneath the eaves, watching the fine drizzle gleaming with points of light like stars around the fire-red lanterns, constantly flickering, like a miniature galaxy.

Perhaps silent companionship was all he could offer.