Bone Painting Coroner

The Rong Estate.

As soon as she entered the estate, a shadow rushed towards Ji Yunshu and covered her. In an instant, her whole body sank into Wei Yi’s embrace as he firmly secured her inside his arms.

“Shu’er, where did you go?” sobbed Wei Yi.

Instead of looking at Wei Yi, she looked back at Jing Rong and met his eyes. However, she couldn’t see any emotion on his pale face. She could only see his eyebrows lowering before he silently departed. When she saw his lonely back, she was suddenly overcome by sadness. That’s right! She felt sad; sad to the point she felt her throat choked by the emotion. She snapped out of it, flushed by the sudden upheaval of emotion. She left it behind to focus on Wei Yi. “Wei Yi, let me go first.”

“I don’t want to!”

“But my body hurts.”

Upon hearing that, Wei Yi released her with haste. His expression was nervous, bordering a panic-stricken state. He retreated back and let his arms hung on his sides. He didn’t dare to touch Ji Yunshu again. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you a lot?”

“No. Let’s go back inside first, alright?”

“Hn!” nodded Wei Yi.

Ji Yunshu refreshed herself after returning to the East Courtyard. A maidservant handed her some ointment per Jing Rong’s instructions. The ointment was very effective in reducing inflammation. Ji Yunshu nodded at the maidservant without saying a word.

After closing her door, she slowly took off her clothes, revealing a smooth back covered in injuries. She tried to bend her arms in a different way, but her actions were very clumsy as she tried to smear the ointment on her back. Still, she was able to spread ointment on her wounds. When it touched her wounds, she frowned and clenched her teeth from the pain. While enduring the residual pain, she took off the half-mask covering her face.

Reflected inside the mirror was the long scar covering the left side of her face. The wound has already healed, leaving only a scar that seemed like it was embedded into her flesh. At least the scar didn’t give a sinister feeling! Ji Yunshu’s innate temperament was similar to a blooming rose that could prick anyone’s fingers if they are not careful when touching her. Therefore, that injury didn’t detract from her beauty at all.

Knock-knock-knock!

Someone knocked on her door.

Wei Yi shouted from outside. “Shu’er, are you alright?”

She covered back her shoulders and got up to open the door.

Wei Yi was holding a bowl of medicine and gave it to Ji Yunshu while expressing himself nervously. “Shu’er, this is for you. You are injured, so you should drink this medicine quickly. I boiled it myself. No, no… The truth is that it was the big sisters who helped me boil this. Quickly drink it while it’s hot and get well soon.”

Her eyes reddened from being moved by Wei Yi. She took the medicine. Then, Wei Yi gave her a candy and beamed a big smile at her. “Shu’er, don’t be afraid. When you drink medicine, eat this candy and it won’t be bitter anymore. In the past, when I was sick and had to drink medicine, Mother would also give me candy and told me it won’t be bitter after eating it. And she was right!”

“Thank you, Wei Yi.”

“No need to thank me because I want to take care of you.” His smile was like the sunshine, brimming with youthful innocence and kindness which vividly revealed his temperament. She took the sugar-coated lotus seed, and put in her mouth before slowly drinking her bowl of medicine.

At present, it was very late. Four hours have passed since they left the cave and it should be around maoshi1. Because Wei Yi stubbornly refused to return back to his room and wanted to guard her, she had no other choice but to let him be in the end. Due to the exhaustion, Ji Yunshu fell asleep as soon as she laid on her bed, leaving Wei Yi to sit on the side. Wei Yi remained there, closely staring at her with his round eyes as if he feared that she would disappear the next moment.

The next morning.

When Ji Yunshu woke up, she saw Wei Yi asleep with his body sprawled on the table. She got dressed in male clothing, refreshing herself as well and left quietly without rousing him from his sleep. Then, she sat inside the courtyard and took out the white cloth from her waistband. She almost threw away half of her life just to grab it. Fortunately, she didn’t lose it when she tumbled down the steep slope. Otherwise, she would be crying right now.

The white fabric in her hand was shaped in a rectangle and the material used didn’t feel coarse. It was similar to hemp. There was no embroidery on it, but when she rubbed it, she felt that it was greasy. She approached the cloth to her nose and sniff it.

“It smells like lard!” This was the conclusion she came to after examining it. It made her quite baffled. She muttered in shock. “If this cloth was something used by the woodcutter to wipe his sweat, it should smell sour from the sweat. So, why does it smell like lard?”

She sniffed it once again and frowned. “There’s a faint smell of makeup!”

The discovery got even weirder. ‘How is it possible for this cloth to have the faint fragrance of women’s makeup and also lard at the same time?” Entranced by those confusing clues, she didn’t notice Jing Rong standing behind her until his voice was heard.

“For this piece of white cloth, you were willing to throw your life away. It is also for this that you left behind your ‘boyfriend’?”

“……” She turned around and saw Jing Rong dressed in blue brocade. His whole body was refreshed and his mood happy. He didn’t appear the least bit injured and very unlike the pitiful state he was in yesterday. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but in the end, she swallowed back her words, staying still where she was. She was a bit fearful of him right now.

“It’s broad daylight, I’m not going to eat you.” Jing Rong teased her.

Her shoulders slumped, appearing defeated by his words. She lowered her brows. “I am not afraid that you will… take advantage of me. I am thinking about the case right now.”

“Tell me what you found!” Jing Rong lifted the hem of his cloth and sat on the stone chair next to her.

Ji Yunshu’s expression was serious as she spoke while showing him the white cloth. “This cloth was found in Liang mountain. I’m not certain if this is a clue related to the missing girls case. However, this cloth is strange.”

“What do you mean by strange?”

“Since it was in the mountain, it should belong to a woodcutter. If it was the case, it should have been covered in the smell of sweat. However, it smelled of lard instead. In addition to that, there is a faint scent of rouge on it.”

“It might be the smell of rouge from your body.”

“No!” Ji Yunshu overruled his conjecture. “The smell isn’t the same.” Jing Rong became curious and also sniffed the white cloth, but no matter how much he smelled it, he couldn’t even tell any difference in the smell at all. He inquired, “Are you a dog? Last time, you were able to smell wine from that tiny sawdust. And now, you can surprisingly detect the smell of rouge on this white cloth.”

‘This is too mysterious!’

Ji Yunshu smiled sourly at him. “Maybe I was a loyal police dog in my past life.”

‘Police? What is that thing?’ Ever since he met her, Jing Rong had heard her use too many odd words to the extent that he became even more curious about her. “Who in the world are you?” His question abruptly came out of nowhere.

Ji Yunshu stared at him. “Does your Highness have amnesia?”

“I do not!”

“Oh…” She successfully evaded Jing Rong’s question. She couldn’t explain that her sharp sense of smell had been rigorously trained by her forensic investigator dad.

For him, a veteran forensic investigator, a well-developed sense of smell was very important. Since she was a child, she was trained in order to follow in his footsteps. Frequently, he would make her smell many strange things and after a long time, she was even able to differentiate fresh water from sea water with her eyes closed. Fortunately, this became her special skill which helped her solve many cases.

1. Maoshi = 5-7am

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