Tang Si's enigmatic voice drifted over and interrupted Ji Yunshu's thoughts. "You just went into the well to fish out a body and you smell terrible. Doesn't a big man like you know to go wash yourself? Why are you still here? You may be alright with it, but no one wants to smell your stench."
How inconsiderate! Tang Si's blatant dislike of people had not changed one bit. Lang Po's face turned dark and the corners of his mouth twitched.
Was it me who shouted and volunteered to go down the well? Did I want to go down again and again to fish out the corpse? Did I ask to be stinky? I'm suffering too! The burly fellow was thus harassed and mocked by the little girl for a while, unable to retort.
Jing Rong, as his master, had to interrupt; he gave Tang Si a cold stare. "Miss Tang, could it be that you didn't kneel long enough last night?"
Tang Si felt her hackles rise. She jutted out her chin and raised her brows. "What do you mean? This lady is not afraid of you. I compromised last night only in consideration for Ah-Ji!"
Ji Yunshu was speechless! Look, you really didn't have to consider my pride.
"Ziran," Jing Rong gave Shi Ziran a command, "dump this wild girl to Mo Ruo. He should look after his person carefully."
"Yes!" Shi Ziran answered. He wasn't like Lang Po, who would treat men roughly, and women gently. In his eyes, men and women were equal. If he had to hit, kill, or poison, he would do so. He would never be soft-hearted. When he received his command, he went forth and grabbed onto Tang Si's arm, pulling her forward. "Get going."
"Let go!"
Shi Ziran glanced at her coldly and remained unmoved as he continued to drag her away against her will.
No matter what, Tang Si had learned martial arts before. She turned around and launched a fierce kick towards Shi Ziran. Coincidentally, Shi Ziran's martial arts was also excellent, so he managed to dodge easily.
"Do you think that a little lady like me is easy to bully?"
"Little lady?" Shi Ziran scanned her from head to toe. He openly mocked, "You, a little lady? Unless all the women in the world died, would you barely be considered human. Otherwise, even if you broke through the heavens, you still wouldn't be considered a lady."
Ji Yunshu shook her head and sigh. Truly amazing! As expected, like master like subordinate.
The imperial bodyguards at the scene all laughed.
Tang Si had met a formidable opponent. Flames of anger erupted from her eyes. She shouted, "All of you, shut up! If you keep laughing, I will use this whip to teach you a lesson."
Shi Ziran chuckled, "Miss Tang, master and imperial bodyguard Lang are protective of the fairer sex. But I won't. If you continue to be noisy and disrupt Teacher Ji from solving the case, I will bury you alive."
"You dare?!"
"Try me."
Try your sister!
This kid's martial arts is pretty good. Tang Si knew she could not gain the upper hand. She glared and stamped her foot with all her strength, sweeping her arms around at the same time.
"Clang!" The wine bottle that was fished from the well shattered on the floor into bits.
With that, Tang Si could only leave dejectedly. Shi Ziran quickly followed behind before she could cause another mishap.
It finally quieted down. Ji Yunshu placed the skull aside and went to pick up the broken shards of the wine bottle as it could be crucial evidence. As she bent down, Jing Rong grabbed her hand.
"Let me." He took out a handkerchief to pick up the pieces one by one and placed them on the table. Ji Yunshu had sharp eyes and noticed something on one of the shards.
"Wait a moment," she shouted!
She picked up the shard and carefully removed something from its inner surface. It was a tiny dark green bead! Some mud and moss could be seen on it. After cleaning its surface, Ji Yunshu said, "This bead...I feel like I've seen it before."
Jing Rong frowned. "You've seen it before?"
Her eyes darkened as she tried to recall. Suddenly, she brightened when she finally remembered. "Correct. It was last night when I and Lin Shu competed in painting. This bead is from his bracelet."
"Lin Shu's?"
"Yes, it was exactly the same as this bead."
Jing Rong also recalled. Yesterday, outside the Confucian Hall, when Lin Shu's chest was bared, there seemed to be a bracelet on his wrist. However, he was a little skeptical. "This Eastern Chestnut bead, although rare, isn't unique. Could it be a coincidence?"
"Impossible!" she vetoed. "Eastern Chestnut bracelets, in particular, have 22 beads and are sturdy and tightly bound. Last night, when I saw the bracelet on Lin Shu's wrist, it was loose and the beads could freely move about. That means that one or two beads were obviously missing. I didn't think much about it before but with that one glance, I am 80-90% sure that it's his."
Jing Rong spoke again, "Is it possible… when Lin Shu secretly drank behind the mountain, the bracelet broke and a bead fell into the bottle. Since he did not want Master Yu to know, he threw the wine bottle into the well? Or maybe the wine bottle originally belonged to Guo He and when he left, he ran into Lin Shu. They got into an argument and fought, meanwhile, a bead fell into the wine bottle. In order to destroy all traces of Guo He's existence, Lin Shu threw the body along with the wine bottle into the well?"
After he finished, Ji Yunshu was momentarily stunned before breaking into laughter.
Hmm? Where's the punchline?
"Why are you laughing? Is this prince wrong?" He was perplexed as he stared at that woman. He couldn't help but admit she was beautiful when she laughed.
Ji Yunshu shook her head. "I didn't say you were wrong. On the contrary, it was very reasonable."
"It seems you are testing this prince's intelligence."
"Yes and no."
Jing Rong's lips curved upwards. "Autopsy and detective skills aren't this prince's forte. As for everything else, even you aren't aware of the depths of my skills."
Indeed, he wasn't bragging! In martial arts, he was far from an amateur! In terms of schemes and power struggles, he's a wolf in disguise, relenting many times only for the sake of brotherhood. In his ability to make a wife swoon, no words are needed. Ji Yunshu gazed at the proud prince in front of her, a smile appearing on her lips.
Back to business. "Alright, let's first get back to the wine bottle. If this bead belongs to Lin Shu, then it can only be said that he previously came across this wine bottle. For this, there are many possibilities. If this wine bottle is his and he tossed the bottle in the well after secretly drinking, then that is the first possibility you mentioned. Therefore, the murderer is not him. But if the wine bottle was Guo He's, then that means the day that Guo He left, Lin Shu met him and came across this bottle and they fought. That is your second possibility, the murderer is Lin Shu. However, there is a third possibility. The wine bottle belongs to neither of them, the Eastern Chestnut bead fell into the well because Lin Shu was careless and it was carried along by the water and slipped into the wine bottle."
As the saying went, old ginger will always be spicier! [1]
[1] A saying that means wisdom comes with age, or those more experienced will always trump those with less. The literal meaning is also true though... try it for yourself.