“Hmm.” She picked a piece of meat and put it in her mouth. The flavor slowly spread on her tongue. She immediately frowned and hurriedly spat out the meat.
“The taste of this meat… Why it is a bit… unusual?” She muttered.
She used her chopsticks, picked up the meat, and observed it attentively. It didn’t look any different. ‘Can it be that the meat was kept too long? Expired meat?’ Wei Yi, who was about to pick some meat up, was stopped by Ji Yunshu. “Eat the other dishes.”
“But Shu’er, this is meat!”
“I know this is meat.”
“But…” Wei Yi pitifully looked at her. He didn’t want to let go of that piece of meat. His expression revealed yearning and desire for that juicy meat.
Unfortunately for him, Ji Yunshu resolutely didn’t let him eat it. She moved that dish to the side and called the waiter.
The waiter thought she wanted to order more, so he eagerly ran to her and bowed before asking, “Dear guest, do you need anything else?”
Ji Yunshu took her chopsticks and tapped the plate containing the meat. “How long has your restaurant been famous?”
“Ah?”
“Waiter, are your ears not good?”
The waiter smiled awkwardly while waving his hands. “No, not at all. My ears are good. It’s just that I don’t really understand what you mean.”
Ji Yunshu didn’t speak in a roundabout way. She lifted her eyes and looked at the waiter with a sharp and cold expression, making the waiter tremble in fear. “Is this meat dish fresh?”
The waiter glanced at the meat dish. His heart was filled with apprehension. The meaning was quite obvious, so he hurriedly explained, “O-Of course it’s fresh. Guest, our inn has a long-established reputation in the capital. All of the food is made on the same day. Freshness is guaranteed!”
“Then, you try this.”
‘You dare to say our food is not fresh? You are clearly searching for trouble.’ The waiter thought for a moment and still took a bite of the meat. However, as soon as he took a bite, his face twisted, and embarrassment could be seen in his expression. He opened his mouth and mumbled, “Guest, this… This is absolutely an accident. This thing, I’ll exchange it right away for you.”
Ji Yunshu wasn’t fond of bullying people, thus she nodded in agreement. “Alright, be quick.”
“Yes, right away. Please wait for a moment. I’ll come replace it immediately.” The waiter took the plate and was about to run to the kitchen when Ji Yunshu stopped him. “Forget it. There’s no need to replace it.”
“You’re not exchanging it?”
“Hmm!”
Since she couldn’t determine if all of their meat was spoiled, it was better not to eat any. The waiter mulled for a moment, then scratched his head before leaving. He was fortunate to meet such a nice guest. If it was someone else, they would have demanded compensation from the restaurant or they would have deliberately caused trouble. Even worse, they could have damaged the restaurant just like Li Shiyan and Jing Xuan.
During the whole time, Wei Yi was staring at her with big glistening eyes like a puppy. Ji Yunshu glanced at him and asked, “Do you want to eat this meat very much?”
Wei Yi nodded.
“If I don’t let you eat, will you be angry at me?”
He shook his head.
“That’s good then. This table is filled with delicious and mouth-watering food. Eat those instead. Don’t be wasteful.”
Wei Yi nodded once again. Probably due to the other dishes being tasty, Wei Yi didn’t bother with the meat dish and stuffed himself until he was bloated. After eating their fill, Ji Yunshu paid the bill and went downstairs. She was about to leave the restaurant when Wei Yi pulled on her sleeve and pointed at something. He spoke in a low voice, “Shu’er, look. They look so pitiful!”
Following the direction where Wei Yi pointed, she looked at the stage set in the restaurant. On the stage, there was an old man with grizzled hair sitting on a chair holding an erhu. Next to him stood a pretty and delicate girl. Her age shouldn’t be more than 16 years old. She wore light blue clothes and had a very pretty smiling face.
The old man played the erhu while the young girl sang. A moment of leisure and enjoyment! Ji Yunshu fished out some money and gave it to Wei Yi. “Go and give her this. Tell her to sing ‘The Caged Woman’.”
“Alright!” He took the money and went to the stage. He stood in front of the girl with his tall physique towering over her, completely hiding the girl’s slender body.
After he did what Ji Yunshu told him, he returned to her side and said in a small voice, “Shu’er, I asked that big sister and she told me that her name is Mei Xiang’er. Her name is really nice to hear, but it still can’t beat Shu’er’s.”
Since when did Wei Yi learn to be a smooth talker?! The singer held the money in her hand and looked at Ji Yunshu with gratitude in her gaze. Other than gratitude, there was a hint of shyness within her eyes. It was not surprising. Even with her male clothing, Ji Yunshu couldn’t hide her tender and soft looking skin which gave her a charm that not even Jing Xuan could resist, let alone a common young girl.
Ji Yunshu departed from the restaurant with Wei Yi, but behind her, she could still hear Xiang’er singing “The Caged Woman”. They didn’t return to the Rong estate immediately and strolled around the streets instead. The merchandise found in the capital were many times more diverse and elaborate compared to Jingjiang. There were many objects that Ji Yunshu found which, even as an archeologist, she hadn’t seen before.
During the whole time, Wei Yi shouted at everything he liked; thus, Ji Yunshu ended up buying a pile of things that were useful and some that were not. The main point was that as long as Wei Yi liked something, she would buy it for him. In the end, they returned to the estate while holding a large pile of weird objects.
When they entered, she met Jing Rong who she wanted to avoid. Lang Po who was standing near him hurriedly retreated a few steps. He didn’t want Wei Yi to make him hold that pile of strange toys, thus he kept his distance. Jing Rong grabbed onto Ji Yunshu’s sleeve and asked her with quite a serious expression, “The capital governor sent you information concerning the missing girls case, was it useful?”
“Not at all!”
“Then, why do you still have the time to bring that guy out to play?”
Ji Yunshu fiercely glared at him. “Is this place a prison? Do you want to put shackles on me and forbid me from going outside?”
Jing Rong’s grim expression immediately cracked. “You know that that is not what I meant. This case is particularly thorny; I’m just worried that…” He had yet to finish speaking when he was interrupted by Ji Yunshu.
“Since I accepted the case, there’s no thorny matter that can’t be resolved. Shouldn’t you believe in me more?”
“Of course I believe in you!” He hastily replied without hesitation.
His reply made Ji Yunshu feel a bit embarrassed. Suddenly, a man ran into the estate in panic. He was wearing a uniform. It was someone working for the capital governor. The man was still panting, but he still bowed to Jing Rong and said, “Your Highness, the cap… capital go… governor wanted to… to inform you… That we found… a body, but…” The man took a deep breath.
‘A corpse?’ Jing Rong and Ji Yunshu’s expressions immediately sank. “Whose body?”
“It… It’s a woman’s corpse. A naked one… Furthermore…” The man closed his mouth when he spoke to that part. His face twisted into an ugly sight as if he was stopping himself from vomiting.
Jing Rong was someone who hated wishy-washy people the most. He strongly urged the man, “Hurry up and spit it out! Furthermore what?”
The man repressed the urge to spit out the contents of his stomach and continued but lowered his voice a bit, “Furthermore, the corpse’s hands were chopped off and her face… was also peeled off. We couldn’t determine her appearance because of that, and… the sight of it is extremely sickening.”
The corpse’s description was enough to horrify people. Ji Yunshu frowned. ‘The face was peeled off, and the hands were chopped off? What a strange murder.’