Jing Rong put a piece of chicken in her bowl. “Try it!” Help yourself, please.
Ji Yunshu had to put the screen corner-piece aside and picked up her chopsticks to have a few bites. She then thought of something and looked at Jing Rong, “I heard that records were sent over from the relay station yesterday. You have looked through them for the whole day, how is it going? Have you concluded anything?”
Jing Rong answered lightly, “Like you said, maybe.” He is showing off what he has learnt from her.
At this moment, the cat walked in on its stubby legs and pawed ceaselessly at Ji Yunshu’s foot. “Meow~”
Ji Yunshu glanced down at the cat, “Little kitty, are you hungry?”
“Meow~”
She put down the tableware, picked up the cat, and took a piece of dried fish to feed it.
However, the cat leapt up onto the table then hurriedly landed on the ground. The screen corner-piece that was originally placed on the table was also swept to the ground. This little cat is truly wild!
“Meow～”
Ji Yunshu immediately picked up the corner-piece from the ground, then gathered the cat in her arms once again and reprimanded it, “Why are you so naughty?” Unexpectedly, the kitten twisted and turned, straightening its feet in an effort to get away.
“Meow～”
“What’s wrong with you?”
The moment she inadvertently approached the cat with the screen corner-piece in her hand, the cat exerted all its strength to flee in the opposite direction. It then finally jumped to the ground and fled away in an instant, as if it had seen a ghost.
Stunned by what had just transpired, Jing Rong asked in curiosity, “Isn’t that cat very obedient? Why did it act like it had seen an enemy?”
Ji Yunshu pondered a while and then raised the top corner in her hand, “Could it be… because of this?”
Huh?
She explained, “This thing was the top corner-piece taken from the screen in Ye’er’s room. I saw a few scratches on it, and I thought it might be related to the case, so I brought it back.”
“What’s so strange about this thing that made the cat overreact?” He took the corner-piece, frowned slightly, and then put it on his nose and sniffed a few times. “Why does it smell like dried orange peel?”
Eh? Ji Yunshu looked surprised.
“There’s a smell of dried orange peel?”
Jing Rong nodded with certainty, “This prince used to wake up at night when I was a child, and my attending nanny would put some dried orange peel in my sandalwood pillow to help me sleep. Therefore, this prince can recognise the smell even if it is very faint.”
That’s why! “Cats hate the smells of lemons and oranges the most. No wonder it reacted so violently just now.”
“However...” Jing Rong put the top corner on his nose and smelled it again. “The smell of dried orange peel is not from this piece of wood itself, but… from this place where it had been scratched.”
“From the scratches?”
“Exactly!”
She took the top corner and touched the scratches with her finger and brought it to her nose for a sniff. Jing Rong was right!
She said, “This smell should be left behind by whatever that caused these scratches. This corner-piece is made of Nanzhang wood, so any odor will remain in the wood once it is stained. I thought the scratches were left by the cat that died in the room, but cats hate the smell of oranges. They flee at the slightest smell of oranges, so how is it possible that the cat would leave the smell of oranges from its paws? We can infer these scratches were made by someone who was probably related to Ye’er’s death.”
“How do you know that the scratches are related to the case? Maybe Ye’er herself made them.”
“I'm not sure, but I don’t want to miss a single clue.” Such dedication!
Jing Rong glanced at the room inside, “When do you plan to have the remains in the room moved out to be buried?” Jing Rong’s words drew Ji Yunshu’s thoughts away from the screen corner-piece. She replied, “It’s not time yet.”
“Didn’t you finish the autopsy?”
“Not entirely, I’m still waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Do you still remember the few pebbles I picked up in the yard the first day?”
“Yes, I remember.”
She smiled meaningfully, “If the pebbles are soaked in soy sauce for ten days and wrapped in cloth to rub the remains, then the bones will turn black if they were squeezed before death. If Ye’er died from rape, she must have struggled while she was alive, and her hands and body must have been bound and squeezed. In that case, the signs of being tied up cannot be seen from the bones, but the pebbles and soy sauce can help show the traces of pressure. At that time, we may obtain a clue about the murderer.”
All right, Jing Rong had to admit that he had learned something again. “Your brain is full of knowledge.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” She was not humble at all.
At this time, Lang Po came in and reported, “Magistrate Zuo is here.”
It’s getting dark now, what is he doing here?
Jing Rong raised his sharp eyes, “He still has the gall to come.”
Magistrate Zuo had settled the case as soon as he received Qiao’s bribe. Jing Rong hadn’t had the time to denounce him yet, but this guy was kind enough to send himself to Jing Rong’s door.
In the lobby, they found Zuo Yao kneeling on the ground, his arms over his head on the floor. In front of him was a long rod. Offering a rod to beg forgiveness? Interesting!
Although Zuo Yao lowered his head, he listened hard with his ears open! Upon hearing footsteps coming towards him, he lowered down his body so much that he was almost prone on the ground, as if he wished to make a hole in the ground to appear more sincere.
Jing Rong was shocked by this comical scene when he arrived. My goodness, what the heck is this?
“This lowly official pays respect to Prince Rong.” Zuo Yao’s voice resounded, as loud as the eunuch responsible for announcing the beginning of the emperor’s inspection tour.
“Magistrate Zuo, what do you mean by this?”
“This lowly official knows he has committed a grave crime. In a moment of greed, I once accepted bribes from the Qiao family. Now that I think back on it, I greatly regret my actions. Your Highness, please punish me for my mistake.” He said, with tears in his eyes.
“Oh? It turns out that Magistrate Zuo truly did accept bribes.”
“That is… correct.”
Jing Rong sat down in position and sneered, “Then this prince shall ask you, if Qiao Zihua didn’t tell me about the bribe, would you continue hiding this from me?”
“Of course not. This lowly official has long regretted accepting those pieces of silver. In fact, I had planned to tell Your Highness even before your arrival, but Your Highness had been too busy. I didn’t speak out as I was worried about disturbing Your Highness.”
Jing Rong’s face darkened instantly. “Are you complaining that this prince didn’t give you the time to speak?”
Zuo Yao knew that he had said something wrong. He started to shiver, and his chest almost touched the ground. He quickly explained, “This lowly official’s speech was too clumsy and said something foolish, Your Highness, please forgive me.”
Bang! Jing Rong slammed the table with his palm, his expression frigid. “Forgive you? As an official of Yufu County, you accepted bribes for your own personal gain and closed a perplexing case without proper investigation. This is simply absurd! If this official does not remove you from your position and investigate you, how should I explain it to the people?”
“Your Highness, although this lowly official accepted the bribe, I regretted it immediately and really wanted to return the money to the Qiao family. Although the coroner also received the Qiao’s money, the result of the autopsy was not wrong. At that time, the deceased’s cause of death was really due to poison.”