Upon arriving at Jing'an Temple, Su Yan and Xie Yu were able to finally see Jing Ning, who had been hidden away.

Her face was haggard, and she had lost a lot of weight, looking like a walking corpse. When she saw Su Yan and Xie Yu appear in front of her, she was obviously very surprised.

"Why are you here?"

Upon seeing Jing Ning's appearance, Xie Yu couldn't help but tear up and kept asking about her recent situation.

Jing Ning was initially very kind, but she quickly couldn't withstand Xie Yu's complaints. "Xie Yu, you're very good. Stop asking me questions."

Su Yan, who was standing nearby, couldn't bear to watch any longer and stepped forward to push Xie Yu away. "Dean Xie, stop crying. Business is important..."

After saying that, Su Yan looked at Jing Ning, and suddenly hesitated, not knowing how to start. After all, making a girl recall what happened was tantamount to a second torture.

Seeing Su Yan's hesitant expression, Jing Ning smiled faintly and silently waved away the servants who were attending to her.

When only three people remained in the courtyard, Jing Ning suddenly spoke.

"I knew someone would find this place someday, but I never expected it to be you..."

Su Yan met Jing Ning's gaze. "Does the princess know why we've come?"

“I know, Ulemu is dead, how could I possibly remain unscathed?”

"Princess, can you tell me what exactly happened back then?"

Just as she finished speaking, Xie Yu suddenly nudged Su Yan with his elbow, seemingly not intending to let her continue asking questions. Su Yan, however, was not one to back down and immediately retorted, glaring at Xie Yu angrily.

Jing Ning took in their subtle actions and said in a deep voice, "It's just a shell. I've already figured it out. Xie Yu, you don't need to worry about me."

After saying that, Jingning's thoughts drifted away, and she recounted the events of that day to the two of them.

Actually, Jingning didn't need to encounter Wulemu that day, but the bridge to the temple collapsed, so they had to take a longer route.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Ulemu, who was drunk, and despite Jingning's objections, took her to the post station.

She had already fainted, and when she woke up, she saw Ulemu lying next to her. She panicked and fell off the bed to put on her clothes.

At this moment, Ulemu also woke up and went to hug her. Jingning hurriedly picked up the silver hairpin on the ground and stabbed it at Ulemu.

Just then, the post station official and the Rouran envoy burst in and witnessed this scene. Jingning then dropped her hairpin and fled the scene in a panic.

Unexpectedly, news of Ulemu's death arrived not long after, less than half an hour later.

"Princess, was Ulemu still alive before you left the post station?" Su Yan pressed.

Jing Ning nodded. "I swear, my hairpin only pierced him. How could that little bit of force kill someone? Besides..."

Jing Ning hesitated, then slowly rolled up her sleeves. Her fair arms were like beautiful jade, and there was a red mole the size of a mung bean on the crook of her arm.

Having performed autopsies since childhood, Su Yan was very familiar with the red mole on Jing Ning's arm.

That's a woman's mark of innocence—the mark of virginity.

Jingning was taken away by Wulemu, but he did nothing to her, which made Su Yan curious.

"I thought I had lost my innocence, but the old nanny in the palace has already examined me, and I am still a virgin."

After listening, Su Yan seemed to be deep in thought, remaining silent as she pondered.

Upon hearing this, Xie Yu, who was standing nearby, was so angry that he burst into curses, "It must be a trap set by the Rouran. They're crying 'stop thief!' They killed their own prince, but they're trying to frame the princess. Their intentions are despicable..."

“There must be a motive for killing someone. Why did the Rouran want to kill Ulemu?” Su Yan asked Xie Yu in return.

Su Yan's words immediately silenced Xie Yu.

"Born into royalty, one is bound to fight for power and profit. As far as I know, Ulemu was deeply loved by the people of Rouran and his achievements overshadowed the king. Ulemu's death may have been ordered by the Rouran king."

"Professor Xie, the King of Rouran is, after all, the ruler of a country. Even if he had murderous intentions towards his own brother, he would never do so on the land of Daliang. I think this speculation is unlikely, especially since there is no evidence yet."

“When the princess left, Ulemu was still alive, but you also said that there was only one fatal wound on the body. Could it be that the same wound could be stabbed twice?”

Xie Yu's words were like a thunderbolt, and Su Yan's long-standing doubts seemed to find a clue.

"Princess, could you tell me approximately how deep the wound from the silver hairpin piercing Ulemu's chest was?"

Jing Ning thought for a moment, then compared the length to Su Yan's, which was about half the length of a fingernail. "My silver hairpin is not sharp. Although I stabbed it with all my might, I did not hurt Wu Lemu's vitals."

"I see……"

After saying that, Su Yan turned and left without looking back.

Before she could finish her question, Su Yan suddenly turned to leave, which surprised Xie Yu. "Su Yan, aren't you going to ask anymore?"

Su Yan didn't turn around, but waved to the person behind her, "Academician Xie, I have important matters to attend to. I'll leave the rest to you..."

"Are you just going to ignore the case?"

"Who said that? I'm going to perform an autopsy, that's more important than investigating the case. The rest is up to you."

After saying that, Su Yan's figure disappeared around the corner.

They came and went in a hurry.

Only Xie Yu and Jing Ning remained, bewildered in the wind, staring at each other in confusion.

As soon as Su Yan left, the atmosphere between Xie Yu and Jing Ning became inexplicably strange.

Xie Yu's eyes darted around nervously, avoiding eye contact with Jing Ning. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Your Highness, please excuse me. Su Yan is just an oddball. Sometimes he doesn't follow the usual methods when solving cases."

Upon hearing this, Jing Ning looked at the spot where Su Yan had left with a smile on her face, her eyes full of admiration.

"No! I think Su Yan is quite special. This is the first time I've met someone like him."

Hearing the princess's heartfelt praise of Su Yan, especially the strange glint in her eyes, Xie Yu suddenly felt uneasy.

I finally got rid of one love rival, but surely another one isn't coming along!

After leaving Jing'an Temple, Su Yan headed towards the ice storage where Wulemu's remains were kept.

Xie Yu's words finally reminded her.

If Jingning stabbed Wulemu for the first time, then the murderer must have left traces of a second attack on top of the first one.

Therefore, Su Yan only needs to find traces of a second person on the corpse to prove that Wulemu did not die at the hands of the princess.

When she arrived at the icehouse, she was stopped at the door by the Imperial Guards.

“Brother guard, I really am from the Surveillance Bureau. Look, this is my badge.”

Seeing that Su Yan did not leave, the guards drew their swords and said, "The Crown Prince has ordered that no unauthorized personnel are allowed to approach the cold storage."

The body hadn't been examined yet, and Su Yan refused to leave, pleading with the guards to make an exception.

Unfortunately, the Imperial Guards were even more stubborn than the stone lions at the gate.

She wanted to go to the Crown Prince to give him orders, but she was afraid she wouldn't even be able to get into the East Palace.

Just when she was at her wit's end, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind her.

"Su Yan, what are you doing here?"