Chapter 160 Not enough rooms, just make do

When Li Jin returned to the coroner's courtyard, the sun was already almost setting.

The setting sun, blood red, fell on the already closed window.

Inside the room, a lamp was lit, and Jin Shu made do by lying on a small, rickety table, carefully writing a protective manual.

After investigating all four victims, she had a fairly clear idea of ​​what exactly happened that night.

Li Jin stood by the door frame, dressed in black, glancing at her profile. After a long while, he finally spoke: "So, is there anything unusual about it?"

“Yes.” Jin Shu didn’t even look up. “Prince Jing, who travels all over the world for sightseeing, couldn’t adapt to the climate and environment in Shengzhou, which he often visits.”

These words made Li Jin's eyes twitch.

He looked at her stubborn face, flicked his fan and chuckled: "If you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. It's rare, but it does happen occasionally."

Jin Shu listened to his fabrication on the spot without exposing him, put down her pen, and took a deep breath.

“It is indeed somewhat different.” She changed the subject as he wished, and lifted the burlap sack covering the female corpse in front of her.

"Some details are different from my initial assumptions."

She said, "These people were deliberately hung on the big trees in that round square after they started to stiffen after death. In other words, they were left to rest for a while after death before being transported to the hillside and hung on the trees."

"Park?" Li Jin paused, took two steps forward, and looked at the corpse in front of him.

This was unexpected.

“I don’t understand this either,” Jin Shu said. “Ordinary people, after committing such a big crime, would usually react by fleeing the scene as quickly as possible. Even if they were to move the body, they would do so within the first possible moment.”

"But the four corpses in front of us seem to have been left there for more than two or three hours, and were only transported to the square halfway up the mountain when rigor mortis was just beginning to appear, and then hung up."

Jin Shu pointed to the woman's neck. At the edge of the rope mark, there was no redness or congestion as one would expect, nor was there a "V" mark formed by the compression of flesh. This corroborated the theory that the marks were from strangulation after death.

"The two characters written on this woman's body, both on her chest and back, are the character '有' (meaning 'have'). Unlike the male victim, the character is written much more neatly than the former."

Meeting Li Jin's probing gaze, Jin Shu pointed to the female victim's hair and said, "I found something on her head that shouldn't be there."

As she spoke, she handed two pieces of hair that had already been cut off to Li Jin from a small dish next to her.

“There’s a lot of red paint on her hair, and the strands are stuck together.” Jin Shu frowned. “It looks like the murderer poured a lot of red paint on her head, or like she was lying on a surface of paint that hadn’t dried.”

She paused, glancing at Li Jin beside her: "In that case, the scene of the crime must be exceptionally spectacular."

She put down the small plate in her hand and said finally, "What's most puzzling is the writing on the victim's body."

“The four victims, whether it’s the ‘deserved to die’ written on their chests or the ‘well deserved to die’ written on their backs, are all too clean.”

These words made Li Jin hesitate for a moment: "Clean?"

“Yes, clean.” Jin Shu picked up the pen she had used to write the protective book, dipped it in the ink, and wrote a beautiful “sin” on the white paper. Then she put down the pen and picked up the sheet of paper.

The black ink, not completely dry, dripped slowly down to the ground, leaving several long streaks below the character for "crime".

"Even this raw Xuan paper, which absorbs water much faster than human skin, still has these marks. How could red paint, which is difficult to dry and extremely hard to absorb, not leave a single trace of spreading?"

She put down the Xuan paper in her hand and looked at Li Jin: "The murderer wrote those crooked and distorted words so carefully on the victim's body. What was his real intention? It is indeed worth investigating."

Jin Shu was right; she looked at the female victim in front of her.

She was around 35 years old, and her face was extremely well-maintained. Even though she had been dead for almost two days, her skin still showed a delicate and smooth texture.

Even though she has lost a lot of blood and her skin is pale, it is still possible to infer that she must have lived a life of luxury in a wealthy family.

“Zhou Zheng has already found out the victim’s identity.” Li Jin smiled slightly. “Just as you guessed, he was a businessman, and quite famous in Shengzhou.”

As Li Jin spoke, he took two steps forward, wanting to see clearly what Jin Shu meant by the absence of any trace of red paint spreading.

Just as he bent down with difficulty, a sharp pain shot through his waist.

His face paled, but he remained frozen in mid-air. He turned his head seriously and looked at Jin Shu, who was inexplicably tapping and patting his back. His eyebrows were raised high: "Mr. Jin, what do you mean by this?"

Jin Shu glanced at him and made up a story: "Oh, there are flies."

She spoke casually, but her hands never stopped moving.

Li Jin endured the pain, raised his hand to push her arm away, and glared at her with disdain: "Be careful that movement isn't mistaken for an assassination attempt by the guards."

To everyone's surprise, Jin Shu smirked, "The prince's bodyguards have poor eyesight?"

Li Jin's lips trembled slightly in pain, unable to find a rebuttal.

Seeing his gaze gradually turn cold, Jin Shu stopped, looked away, and scratched the corner of her mouth: "It flew away."

Li Jin gave a cold snort, turned his head, and focused his gaze back on the red paint marks in front of him.

Just then, the young yamen runner who had been gathering information for Jin Shu hurriedly returned to call Jin Shu for a meal. Before he even entered, he was frightened away by Li Jin's concerned gaze.

He beckoned Jin Shu out and stood at the door, lowering his voice: "I've asked about what the master asked me to inquire about."

"Last night was peaceful, except for the mice in the kitchen that kept me up for half the night." He chuckled and looked at Jin Shu. "Lord Yun has invited you two for dinner. You should hurry up and get ready to go."

Seeing Jin Shu nod, the young yamen runner left happily, as if he had been saved from a desperate situation.

Behind her, Li Jin raised an eyebrow, arms crossed: "What did you send him to find out?"

Jin Shu turned around and said, "I didn't get any answers." Then she glanced at Li Jin and said, "It's time to eat. Your Highness may not be hungry, but I am."

Seeing her turn and leave, seemingly no longer intending to pursue the matter further, Li Jin breathed a sigh of relief.

But he clearly underestimated this woman.

Just after midnight, he was reading in his room when Jin Shu walked in carrying her quilt and slammed it onto the couch.

His expression stunned him.

"...What does this mean?"

Jin Shu looked at him and grinned: "Lord Yun was not well prepared and there are not enough rooms. I'll trouble Your Highness to make do with me."

With a snap, Li Jin closed the book in her hand and pretended to be angry, saying, "Jin Shu! You've gone too far!"

Jin Shu let out a long breath, her face flushed red, and she was filled with anger: "Enough nonsense! Your Highness, today you either kill me or obediently take off your clothes! I'll either leave here lying down or I'm not leaving!"

Li Jin, who was sitting inside, was stunned.

Zhou Zheng, who was guarding the gate, was dumbfounded.

Bai Yu, who was on the roof, slipped and almost fell.