She calmed herself down and let out a long sigh.
The next day, at the break of dawn, Constable Zhang arrived with news regarding the case. On the first floor of the inn, Jing Rong and Lang Po sat down for breakfast on one table, while Ji Yunshu and Wei Yi occupied another. There was an empty table between them, and it would seem to any first-time observer that they could not even tolerate each other’s presence. Constable Zhang stopped right next to Jing Rong and started his “report”, or rather, the truth behind the case.
Ji Yunshu, who had already eaten breakfast in his room, was busy bringing a mouthful of dishes into Wei Yi’s bowl. She listened to his narration, and quickly caught onto the essentials. The victim’s surname was Yang, and he was also a perfume merchant. He was involved with the merchants from Min’nan, and already had quite a few clashes with them, which fuelled their mutual enmity. He owed them a large sum of money, but did not want to repay his debts, and even threatened the merchants with extortion to stop them from selling their products in the north, thus rendering the situation insolvable. Yesterday, they met each other at the inn, and were about to talk over a few things, but a dispute broke out, and in the midst of a blind rage, the culprit strangled the victim to death with her own silk shawl. Then, before running away, she camouflaged it as a suicide with the help of her husband. When Little Zhao entered the room, they were indeed hidden behind the bed, and that was when the fragments of powdered perfume fell onto the ground, along with the hair from when they strangled the victim.
Constable Zhang retold the tale in all of its vividity. As for Wei Yi, he was so busy with his food, it seemed like he had forgotten all about what happened the day before.
Ji Yunshu hurried to bring another chopstick load of dishes to his bowl, and could not see that Constable Zhang had shifted his attention to her instead. He said in a polite tone, “Thank you for your help, Miss Ji. Were it not for you, the case would not have been solved this quickly.”
Ji Yunshu rose her head and smiled back courteously. “Constable Zhang, I hope that for the next case, you’ll have a coroner investigate the evidence first before rushing to conclusions. Otherwise, you’ll wrong one case after another.”
“Yes, yes, miss, you are right. I don’t pay attention to small things normally, I use my muscles too much, and I am too impulsive. From now on, I’ll make an effort to change this, I promise.”
‘How docile, is this really the impetuous runner from yesterday?’ Ji Yunshu nodded and sank back into silence.
Constable Zhang turned towards Jing Rong and saluted him with a hand gesture. “Your High…Young Master, I won’t keep you here any longer then, I still have some things to take care of at the yamen, so it’s time for me to leave.”
Jing Rong saluted them with a hand gesture, and the group left the inn.
‘It must not have been easy for him to find the time to come here.’
Wei Yi had finished his meal at this point. He put both of his hands to his belly and breathed in with his eyes on Ji Yunshu. “Shu’er, I’m full, can we leave this place, I don’t like the feeling of it.”
Before Ji Yunshu could answer him, Jing Rong did. “I don’t like this it either.” He stood up and said coldly to Lang Po. “Get the preparations done for the road.”
“Yes, your Highness,” answered Lang Po.
Jing Rong turned around, flinging his sleeves as he did not, and headed for the exit.
Wei Yi suddenly spoke, “Shu’er, big brother is really a bully.”
‘I’m angry? I am?’ When Jing Rong caught onto what Wei Yi said, he clenched his fists and felt the urge to jump onto the latter and punching away at his head. However, he stopped himself and walked out of the inn.
This, of course, did not escape Ji Yunshu’s eyes. She left out an inward sigh, although she herself was not quite sure of the reason for it. She shook her clear and stood up. “Wei Yi, we should hurry as well.”
“Yes.” Wei Yi picked up the two portraits and followed Ji Yunshu like a child.
However, before they could walk out of the inn, someone bumped into Ji Yunshu’s back.
“Oh, it’s you!” Li Shiyan pretended to be surprised, and looked as if he had known the two for a long time. He flapped his folding fan around.
Ji Yunshu squinted her eyes and scrutinized him. He looked rather handsome, but he was waving a fan in the winter. ‘Is he… sick?’
“Who are you?”
Li Shiyan made a salutation gesture with his hands. “The name of this humble one is Li Shiyan. I’ve seen you resolve the case yesterday. What an amazing performance. On top of that…”
“I know you.” Wei Yi pointed at him.
Li Shiyan smiled and did not deny it. He met Wei Yi’s look with a nod and said, “Yes, it’s me. I’m surprised that you still remember me.”
‘Of course, he remembers you. He thought that you were going to kill him! And you kicked him out before he finished eating. How could he forget you?”
“I remember, you asked me…”
Before he could continue on, Li Shiyan interrupted him with a swing of his fan. He turned his head and grinned at Ji Yunshu. “I’ve heard from Brother Wei that you are heading towards the capital? What a coincidence! We are also going to the capital. How about we go there together. Also, I was quite impressed with the way you handled that case, miss, and I would say that I myself am an expert on the topic. If we could become companions for the trip, it may be useful for the exchange of ideas.”
“You are wrong, Mr. Li. It was a simple coincidence, and I happened to have solved that case by pure chance.”
Li Shiyan looked at Ji Yunshu’s veil, which undulated as she spoke, and felt a tingling sensation on his fingertips: he was itching to see what hid beneath it, but stopped himself from doing so. He smiled even broader and said, “You are being too modest, miss. I have a true appreciation for talented people like you. If possible, I’d like to have a hearty meal with you under the moon to talk about all of this.”
He looked like a drunken poet when he proposed so. Ji Yunshu looked at him, semi-amused. ‘This person’s clothing. He’s sure no ordinary person. He has two embroidered perfume pouches on his belt, these must have been offered by two women. His hair and his clothes look similar to the ones in Great Lin, but the silver ornament on his hairpin, that beast-like shape, and his shoes, its upward tip and the thin sole. No, he is not from Great Lin.
‘Also, he has some blatantly obvious motives, yet the affectation of politeness and a refinement. Pfft, I’ve had enough of it. I can kick you up to the stars, and make you reach the Milky Way, you know?’
But Ji Yunshu was a decent person. She bowed her head down and smile. “Thank you for your compliment, mister, but we have quite a distance on the road to cover, so we’ll leave you here. See you again.”
“Wai-…”
Ji Yunshu dragged Wei Yi out of the building before Li Shiyan could say anything to retain them. At the entrance to the inn, the horse cart had been made ready for departure, and it started moving right after the two mounted into it. Had Jing Rong known about Li Shiyan’s harassment, he would stop at nothing short of getting off his horse and whipping over his corpse.