Bone Painting Coroner

The capital governor thought he had misheard. He asked her to repeat, “Teacher Ji, are you saying that you want the Qujiang soldiers to take off their shoes and show them to you?”

That was an unprecedented request!

Ji Yunshu nodded in confirmation.

The capital governor was reluctant; the Qujiang soldiers’ temperaments were all awful. Last time he tried to enter the crime scene, they blocked his way. They were akin to a bunch of fiends. If the relay station had not been located in Great Lin, he would have long been thrown out after being beaten bloody. Therefore, it was impossible to fulfill that request; he had the will, but not the means.

He displayed an awkward expression and said, “Teacher Ji, I’m afraid that your demand is a bit difficult to accomplish. General Yuchi has recently passed away, so the soldiers are still full of wrath. This task is doomed to be a lost cause.”

“Seeing their shoes is of extreme importance.”

“Is it related to case?”

“Hn!” She heavily nodded.

The governor pondered for a little while with a cramped expression. He could not think of any methods.

After Ji Yunshu saw his non-verbal cues, she thought a bit and decided to retract her request. “Forget it. Governor, you have your own duties. Besides, those soldiers are stubborn ones. I also have no other way to deal with them.”

“Teacher, if…”

Ji Yunshu pulled up the hem of her robe and started to climb the stairs without waiting for him to finish speaking. Above, several soldiers, who were guarding the floor, did not obstruct her path because of Su Ziluo’s previous order which clearly stated that she was the one handling this case. Then, she walked to one of the soldiers and asked, “Where is Teacher Su’s room?”

The soldier glanced at her, then pointed at a door. Ji Yunshu followed his directions and when she reached the room, she lightly knocked twice.

“Come in!” A gentle voice echoed.

She pushed open the door and saw Su Ziluo’s back to her. He was sitting in front of the opened window. Her eyes were fixed on him. He gave her a surreal feeling, elusive and difficult to grasp. That kind of man always carried with him a melancholic aura that people could not see through, but which would only stir further their desire to see through him.

Recently, Ji Yunshu was piqued by such curiosity. However, she had to reign it in since there was another presence inside the room.

“Shu’er? Why have you come?” The voice belonged to none other than Li Shiyan.

‘This guy is everywhere!’ His presence there was justified since he knew Su Ziluo. It also meant that he was not ordinary.

She noticed his affectionate welcome and fortunately, she sidestepped in time or she would have ended up being shamelessly hugged by him.

“Why are you hiding from me?” Li Shiyan spoke with grievance.

Ji Yunshu sighed and immediately ignored him. She looked past him and her line of sight met with Su Ziluo’s who had just turned around his wheelchair.

“Teacher Ji, did you come back to investigate the case? Did you forget something?” His voice was pleasant to the ears – gentle and clear.

Ji Yunshu approached them and went straight to the heart of the matter. “Since you said you’re leaving this case in my hands, you should cooperate with me.”

“Oh? How do you want me to cooperate?”

“I need you to look at all the feet of the soldiers in the relay station.”

‘Look at the feet?’ Su Ziluo was shocked, but Li Shiyan was merely curious. The latter cried out, “Shu’er, why do you want to look at those burly men’s feet?”

“Because this is related to the case, I need to investigate it,” she replied bluntly without much explanation.

“Don’t tell me you can determine who killed General Yuchi from their feet?”

“No. I’m only inspecting to find clues and evidence.” From the start, Ji Yunshu was only looking at Su Ziluo, although now she was replying to Li Shiyan. In fact, her words were meant for Su Ziluo.

Li Shiyan failed to understand her logic, so he sat down and drank his tea.

After a while, Su Ziluo finally uttered, “Fine. If this can help finding out the real culprit, then I will do as you said.”

Ji Yunshu clasped her hands in gratitude. “Many thanks, Teacher Su.”

Soon, Su Ziluo sent out an order to gather everyone on the ground floor. There were not many soldiers, no more than a dozen. All of them unwillingly stretched out their feet, and Ji Yunshu meticulously examined them.

Within the crowd, someone whispered, “What are those people from Great Lin doing? For no reason, they want to look at our feet.”

“Why do you care so much about it? It’s Teacher Su’s order, so let’s just do as we’ve been told.”

“I’m curious. What relation does that Ji person have with Teacher Su?”

“You want to know?”

“You know? Quick, tell me!” An impatient voice followed.

The former leaned into the other’s ear and sneered, “I don’t know either~” He got punched in the back by his comrade in response.

They were careful not to be heard, so they hushed their voices to a whisper. However, Su Ziluo’s ears were too sharp and he heard all of their conversations. He gently pushed a button on his armrest and suddenly, two needles imperceptible to the eye shot out, passed through the first rows of soldiers, and pierced at the waists of the two whispering soldiers. Two yelps ensued before their bodies turned rigid and they stood in attention afterward. That small episode went unnoticed by the rest.

Meanwhile, Ji Yunshu was diligently inspecting their feet, looking at each one meticulously. The soldiers’ feet were very big and wore shoes sized 48.

It looked like she might have been overthinking it. However, when she came to the last pair of feet, her sight paused because of the very small size.

She slowly raised her eyes and saw a tall, burly soldier. “Your feet are very small,” she stated.

Her words poked at his weakness. He almost choked on his own saliva as his Adam’s apple rolled up and down, but his eyes remained fixed at the ceiling. “My feet have always been small.”

“Then, tell me, did you go into the general’s bedroom?”

“No!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, without the general’s permission, I can’t enter his room under any circumstance. Everyone knows this.” His reply was smooth without a hint of lies.

This puzzled her.

Behind her, Su Ziluo explained, “He’s telling the truth. Except for me and those invited, like Secretary Ji, no one else can enter General Yuchi’s room. That also includes the pageboy who delivered the wine; he had to wait at the door.”

If it had been spoken by someone else, Ji Yunshu would have remained skeptical, but for some reason, she believed Su Ziluo’s words. It was a very odd feeling which she could not explain. Could it be because he looked similar to Ji Pei, or perhaps, his voice was too similar to Ji Pei’s? She flung those questions to the back of her mind since it was not an appropriate time to think about that.

In the end, she said to the soldier with the tiny feet, “Show me your shoes.”

The soldier obediently took off his shoes and showed them to Ji Yunshu.

In an instant, the whole room was filled with the stench of his feet. Ji Yunshu’s forehead wrinkled and she held her breath while examining the shoes’ soles. The soles of his shoes did not correspond to the one in her drawing. ‘Don’t tell me this has turned into a dead end?’

“Are you done?” the soldier asked.

She nodded. The tiny-feet soldier put his shoes back on and the odor disappeared, which was a blessing for his comrades who were having a hard time despite pinching their noses.

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