Original and most updated translations are from volare. If read elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
Ji Yunshu also pondered, but didn’t find the case Interesting. Instead, her heart felt as if a long thread was coiling around it, endlessly winding around, making her feel stuffy and anxious!
Right at that moment, her attention was attracted to a banyan tree more than two meters away. The tree was thick and needed at least two to three people to surround it.
Her fast steps brought her near to it. Then, her gaze landed at the base of the tree which was covered with long intersecting gashes. Layers of tree bark were gouged out, revealing the yellow tree core. From the looks of it, there were old and newly made gashes. These should have been made over a long period of time by a whip.
As she mulled over this discovery, the suspicions in her mind unravelled, making her suddenly quiver.
She nodded while muttering, “So, it was like this.”
Her mutterings was overheard by Jing Rong who was behind her. He walked toward her and examined the tree from the base to the treetop, but he still couldn’t understand the meaning behind her sentence.
“What is ‘this’? What do you mean by that?”
Ji Yunshu pointed at the long gashes on the tree and explained, “What does your Highness think could have made those marks?”
Jing Rong shut his eyes tightly. “It looks like… these were made by a whip.”
“Exactly! These were made by a whip. This is exactly the same kind of marks made when that woman used the whip to lash out her anger on a tree.”
What Ji Yunshu meant by “that woman” refers to her half-sister Ji Muqing!
Jing Rong didn’t have the time to inquire about who she was referring to, since Ji Yunshu continued explaining while her excitement rose. “It seems like Miss Zhou didn’t only experience obsessions with her OCD. She also had compulsions. Perhaps, her obsessions caused her to be unable to control herself.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand what you just said. Explain it again.”
When people from the ancient times are intelligent, their cleverness was simply like an ignited rocket, but when they were slow-witted, they were complete idiots!
Ji Yunshu replied with a question, “Your Highness, when you were in Miss Zhou’s bedroom, don’t tell me that you didn’t feel that her room was strange?”
“I did find it strange. Usually in a room, how can you see such an arrangement of a red cluster and a blue cluster like that.”
‘What red cluster and blue cluster?! That description is simply…’
Ji Yunshu was depressed. She still patiently explained. “The layout of her room is arranged according to color. At first sight, it appeared orderly and nothing more, but in fact, many problems lay underneath. Not only was her room arranged by color, even her makeup wouldn’t be used a second time. This cannot be described as a habit but a mental illness. If the problem was light, it would be called mysophobia, but if it was severe, it would be called obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD.”
“What’s more, inside the room, I found a whip hung on the wall. When I took it down, that maidservant called Qiaoxin showed a startled expression. Not only that, when I brushed against her wrist, she clearly felt a lot of pain. So, when I put back the whip on the wall, I pretended to stumble and let her support me. When she was distracted, I quickly lifted her sleeve and verified if there were any whip wounds, but there were none. It turns out that Miss Zhou’s whip wasn’t used on people but on this tree.”
“For people with OCD, the action of frequently whipping the tree would be called a compulsion. Light symptoms of compulsions will only affect the person, but heavy symptoms… could possibly lead them to kill people!”
The cold wind whistled. The sound reverberated strangely and deep.
Although Jing Rong couldn’t make sense of those strange sounding terms that Ji Yunshu used, he still understood the general meaning.
But…
“Teacher, you actually lifted that girl’s sleeve? Men and women cannot have close physical contact. Unexpectedly, you don’t understand such simple logic!”
‘Hey! Wake up your Highness! You’re completely straying from the main point!’
“Your Highness, stop joking.”
“This prince is not joking.”
Ji Yunshu put her hand on her forehead and shook her head, before she stated, “I think I’m going to take another look at Miss Zhou’s room. Perhaps, I can still find something. Afterall, there really was a problem with that maidservant’s wrist. Maybe, it was hit by something else.”
She turned around and was about to walk away, but Jing Rong pulled her hand and asked, “Shouldn’t we investigate the identity of the murderer? What are you investigating those things for?”
“If you know the motive of murder, you will discover that everything is related to the victim and her character. By making use of those kinds of information, we will find the murderer. This approach will save effort and will lead to better results.”
“So, this was your original intention.”
“Your Highness, do you want to go back to rest or follow me?” Ji Yunshu asked.
Jing Rong smiled. “Naturally, I’m coming with you.”
In reality, as soon as she asked the question, she already regretted it. She always felt something was amiss!
She threw off Jing Rong’s hand, no longer wasting time, and proceeded toward the Zhou family’s young miss’ courtyard.
Grenn’s Rants Corner
What a twist! So, what is the truth?