The more accurate her analysis was, the clearer the answer became within Jing Rong’s heart! He kneaded the pendant as his eyes were shrouded by something which conveyed dangerousness. Looking at Ji Yunshu, he spoke. “I’ll take care of whatever that is behind this case.”
“So Your Highness… knows who it is?”
‘Woman’s intuition!’
Jing Rong’s brows wrinkled before he regained his impenetrable countenance and said, “Teacher Ji, do not tell anyone about what happened just now. I have my own plans.”
“Okay,” She nodded. Jing Rong didn’t confirm or deny anything, which meant he was still unsure about who the mastermind was.
“All right, I should escort you back now.”
“No need, it’s right around the corner. Those assassins shouldn’t be coming after us anymore, so Your Highness had best make your way back to the Grand Canal Manor. Should something happen to you, I wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences.”
Hearing her words, Jing Rong had an outpour of flirtatiousness. He drew closer to Ji Yunshu before asking in a low voice, “Are you worried about me?”
“……” Ji Yunshu fell silent.
“Am I right?” His tone was exceedingly gentle. His body was also drawing closer and closer to Ji Yunshu.
The scent of a man assaulted her nose, causing Ji Yunshu’s nose to warm up. She immediately retreated back a couple of steps and lowered her head even more.
“I still need to investigate the yin yang corpse’s case tomorrow, so I’ll be heading back first,” said Ji Yunshu and she hurried away without letting Jing Rong catch up to her.
Looking at her escaping figure, Jing Rong’s teasing smirk turned into worry. If those burnt corpses and these two assassination attempts really had something to do with the ‘Lin Capital Case’, then who was stopping him from returning to the capital? Who was preventing him from… bringing Ji Yunshu back to the capital?
‘Could it really be him?’
……………………….
Even when she had returned home, Ji Yunshu was still in a daze.
‘We are in this together, be it in life or in death!’ Those words echoed incessantly within her mind.
She sat down and spaced out for a long time. Luan’er, however, got a huge shock when she saw her. Ji Yunshu’s clothes were stained with blood and there were some residues of white powder on it as well.
“Young Miss, what’s wrong? Are you injured? Did the wounds on your back re-open? Please don’t scare me and let me have a look.” said Luan’er as she approached to check on her wounds.
Ji Yunshu looked at her with some coldness before speaking, “I’m fine. This blood is from the bodies in the yamen.”
“Really?” Luan’er wiped away her tears.
“What would I trick you for? Hurry up and get some water for me to wash up.”
Luan’er nodded before hurrying out to get water, which was regularly interrupted by unrestrained sniffles.
That night, Ji Yunshu didn’t get a wink of sleep. Tossing and turning in bed, she sighed. The attempted assassination, as well as Jing Rong’s words, stirred her emotions so much that she could not calm down.
This persisted until daybreak when she got up from bed with bags under her eyes. After packing up some things and eating a few snacks, she hurriedly headed to the yamen. Upon her arrival, she spoke to the magistrate, “Lord Liu, I’m going to re-examine the body. But in the meantime, I’ll need you to investigate someone for me.”
The magistrate asked. “Who?”
“Madame Jiang’s younger brother. The more details, the better.”
“Okay, I’ll send someone to investigate.”