Bone Painting Coroner

Jing Rong listened quietly to Ji Yunshu’s words. However, he was also very anxious to know what happened next, and continued asking, “Then, after he killed them? How does that link to his clean clothes?”

“Of course there’s a link!” Ji Yunshu insisted. “When he killed Granny Lin by accident, he was both scared and upset, but was even more worried that he would be investigated. Thus, he could only drag the corpse back into the room and manufacture the illusion that she slipped and fell, as well as the appearance of a ghost causing mischief. As he dragged the dead body, the heels of Granny Lin’s shoes were torn by the friction. He also held the corpse upright, causing the pork lard on his body to transfer to Granny Lin, all along her torso from under her right arms to her thighs. Similarly, Cai Da’s clothes were stained by blood.

“That’s why he changed his clothes after he set up the fake scene of death and secretly went out again. He only returned after daybreak, bringing back the pigs that he had killed before the hour of the rat (11pm-1am). Thus, his clothes then were very clean, without a single trace of pork lard. To ascertain that, we just have to ask the butchers if he had gone out during the hour of the rat, and the truth will be revealed. Of course, this does not rule out the possibility that he has already colluded with the other butchers to hide the truth, but there should be no doubt that he is the murderer.”

Jing Rong thought to himself, just what is inside this woman’s head?! With her intelligence, if she were a man, even the shrewdest man on earth would not be able to surpass her.

That aside, he still found something strange, and asked, “Then why did he come back secretly during the hour of the rat?”

“This… I’m not too sure either.”

“Could it have something to do with the hauntings in the estate?”

Eh? Jing Rong’s words suddenly enlightened her. Ji Yunshu paced lightly, that pair of clear and astute eyes gleamed with an enigmatic light. After a long while, she started muttering to herself, “The people of the estate say that Cai Da always returns after daybreak every time he goes out to butcher pigs. In that case, why would Granny Lin know that he would return during the hour of the rat? Did they already plan to meet? But since they were mother and son, why would they have to meet at that time, and in secrecy?

“Thus, Granny Lin should have deliberately gone to wait for him in the backyard of the kitchens. That would mean that Cai Da would frequently appear in the kitchens in the hour of the rat, and Granny Lin was there as planned. But he was clearly outside butchering pigs, so why would he sneak back in? What were they doing in secret? And why would they start arguing this time, so badly that Cai Da would kill her by accident?”

The mystery that had clearly been unravelled just moments before, instantly enshrouded her mind again.

After Jing Rong heard her troubled muttering and simply summoned two guards that had been listening to the case at the doors. “The two of you, go invite Marquis Kang and bring Cai Da here. This prince wants to pry his mouth open and properly interrogate him, so that the reason behind all this can be clarified.”

The two guards had been listening in and so already knew the gist of the case. They also couldn’t wait to know the truth and hurriedly answered, “Yes”, before they flew out of the courtyard, one to find the Marquis, and the other to fetch Cai Da.

Ji Yunshu knelt down and covered Granny Lin’s body with the white shroud, then went out of the room. When she felt the cold wind, she suddenly thought about the ancestral hall and called out into the air, “Zijin”.

The next moment, Shi Zijin floated down from the rooftops and stood beside her, ready for her orders.

“Wait outside the room for the Marquis to arrive.”

She nodded.

Ji Yunshu turned to Jing Rong. “I want to go to the ancestral hall.” Her unspoken request was, accompany me there?

Jing Rong agreed and walked with her. Just as before, the one with the lantern walked in front, the other right behind.

Soon after, they arrived outside the strange ancestral hall. After Granny Lin died, a more daring manservant was tasked with guarding the hall at night. He was crouched in the little courtyard of the ancestral hall with his back against a large red pillar, staring at the ground preoccupied with his own thoughts.

When he heard someone enter, a shiver ran down his whole body and he jerked his head up with a startled expression. When he saw clearly who had arrived, he gave a sigh of relief and stood up to greet them. “Your Highness, Teacher Ji. Why have you come so late at night?” The glee in his voice was difficult to conceal. Finally, someone is here to accompany me!

However, Jing Rong just gave him a cold glance and ignored him.

JI Yunshu was much more courteous and nodded politely to the manservant. “This one is here to take a look with His Highness.”

“Take a look? Look…” at what?

“The estate is being haunted, so I’m here to catch a ghost.”

“Ah!” However daring that manservant was, her words instantly made the hair on the back of his head stand on end. He felt as if there was someone behind him, but when he turned to look, there was only the cold and terrifying ancestral hall.

In the hall, white smoke from the candles and incense drifted and tumbled in the air, seemingly sketching out the figure of a person. The servant thought that he had seen a ghost, and shivered all over, clutching his arms close to himself as he hurried back to where he was sitting. Once his back was to the pillar, he felt a little more secure.

Ji Yunshu and Jing Rong went into the ancestral hall. The thick smell of incense blanketed the large ancestral hall. Dozens of ancestral tablets were lined up in stepped rows on the altar, with a line of candles in front of them and the incense burners around it crammed full of incense sticks. A gust of wind blew in, making the candlelight flicker and extinguishing one of them.

Ji Yunshu looked at the empty shelf that sat at the very top of the altar.

Beside her, Jing Rong lifted the lantern and followed her gaze. “The child’s shoes disappeared into thin air while Granny Lin stood guard. Who knows, her death really could be linked to the hauntings.”

“Perhaps.” As she spoke, Ji Yunshu took the lantern from him and leaned towards the ancestral tablets. She raised the lantern up high to illuminate the empty shelf, but however she looked, she couldn’t see anything out of place.

Suddenly…

“Hahahaha!” A child’s peal of laughter rang out from the door at the side of the ancestral altar, ringing in the hall. It was followed by a strong gust of wind.

Ji Yunshu’s hand froze in place, keeping the lantern raised mid-air. She looked back and met Jing Rong’s gaze, neither of them speaking.

When the manservant outside heard the laughter, he immediately turned pale with fright and rushed into the ancestral hall, trembling as he cowered behind Jing Rong in horror. “Your Highness, Teacher Ji. It… it’s the young master. Young Master has come back!”

Jing Rong glared at him. “Ghosts do not exist.”

The manservant continued to look around fearfully. “But that sounds exactly like the young master. Young Master is back…”

The child’s laughter continued resounding in the ancestral hall, fading away and moving further, peal after peal...