Zhong Li let Qiu Ping go and had just walked out of the backyard hung with white silk when Lin Jin, who had been waiting outside, led her out of the Jia Manor and straight into a carriage parked in a nearby alley.
Lu Wuxie was lying back leisurely on a gold-threaded satin blanket, pretending to be asleep. He lazily opened his eyes upon hearing the movement.
"Young Master," Zhong Li said, bowing to him as she sat near the doorway.
Lu Wuxie glanced at the hem of her clothes, noticing her feet, which seemed poised to flee the carriage at any moment. He couldn't help but frown. Was she a vixen? Did she really need to avoid him so much?
"Come here," he said, raising his hand as if summoning a kitten.
Zhong Li didn't move. She simply said, "Young Master, this carriage is quite spacious. You should be able to hear me if I speak."
Indeed, he was being guarded against by this woman.
Lu Wuxie raised his eyebrows slightly and stared at her for a long while. Seeing that she maintained an indifferent expression, he finally seemed to compromise. He casually opened a small, hollowed-out cabinet beside him, took out a small box, and placed it on the table, saying,
"I just wanted you to come and bandage my wound. Is that so difficult?"
Zhong Li followed his gaze and focused on his injured hand. The藕色 (lotus-root colored) satin formal wear he had worn in the Jia Manor was already off, replaced by a loose, dark outer robe. The wide cuffs concealed the wound, making it impossible to see the condition of his flesh.
"Do you think I'm trying to tease you?" Lu Wuxie noticed the doubt in her eyes, smiled sarcastically, and rolled up his sleeve.
As Zhong Li gazed at his exposed arm, her usually calm face showed a hint of surprise and… strangeness.
What was this? A gauze mummy?
Lu Wuxie's face felt awkward. He forced himself to say, "If I knew how, why would I be asking you?"
Zhong Li's gaze shifted up, and she glanced at the man opposite her, saying, "Did you bandage it yourself? I'm just curious. With so many people around you, why did it have to be you who handled your own wound?"
"You wouldn't understand!" Lu Wuxie replied casually.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li stopped asking questions. She casually picked up the box, selected the Jin Chuang Yao (golden wound medicine) and Zhi Xue San (blood-stopping powder) from it, and began her work.
"Li'er," Lu Wuxie said slowly, looking down at the woman who was leaning over to treat his wound.
"The people around me can indeed help with bandaging wounds, but... perhaps you don't know that my mother is a worrier. If she hears about me getting injured, I'll have to endure a scolding when I get back. That's why I've troubled you, Li'er."
Hearing his explanation, Zhong Li suddenly remembered that Lu Wuxie was the only legitimate son of the Prince of Xian's household, and likely the treasure of the entire estate. His explanation seemed reasonable.
"It's no trouble," Zhong Li said, continuing to untangle the thick gauze wrapped around Lu Wuxie's arm. "Treating wounds is a small matter for me. It's just... my hands have touched dead bodies. I don't know if you find that unlucky, Young Master."
Lu Wuxie had already begun to show a smile as the delicate woman gently treated his wound. But when he heard Zhong Li's words, all expression froze on his face as if struck by frost.
This woman wouldn't let anyone take advantage of her, not even a little.
Zhong Li continued her work, her head lowered. As the last layer of gauze was removed, and she was about to sprinkle the Jin Chuang Yao on the man's blood-crusted forearm, her finger movement paused.
When Lu Wuxie's arm was cut earlier, she hadn't observed it carefully. Now, up close, she saw that next to the wound inflicted by the fragments of the Great Da Shizhi Buddha statue, there was an old scar.
Judging by its shape, it was exactly like the scar on Jia Kun's corpse.
The Judge's Brush again? How could that be?
"Li'er, what's wrong?" Lu Wuxie noticed Zhong Li's anomaly and asked.
Zhong Li quickly came back to her senses, concealing the probing in her eyes, and continued her work.
"How is it? Don't you think this birthmark of mine is very special?" Lu Wuxie glanced at the woman opposite him and asked with a smile.
Birthmark? Zhong Li's delicate eyebrows knitted. She looked closely. The area of the mark was smooth and flat, the skin delicate. It was indeed a birthmark.
It seemed she was being overly cautious.
"Young Master, bear with it. It might hurt a little at first." She didn't answer Lu Wuxie's question but instead drew a small knife from her sleeve, burned it over the oil lamp, and then warned him.
The carriage rumbled along the streets of Anding County. Occasionally, the man's intermittent muffled gasps of suppressed pain could be heard from within.
When a gust of warm wind blew open the carriage curtain, gently entwining their black hair before quickly separating them, Zhong Li finally finished her work and began to pack up the medicine box.
"What kind of knife is that you're holding? It's so sharp?" Lu Wuxie wiped the sweat from his forehead, his attention entirely on the weapon in Zhong Li's hand. The knife was only palm-sized, with a short blade and a long handle, but it was exceptionally sharp.
Zhong Li wiped the blade clean with an embroidered handkerchief and glanced indifferently at Lu Wuxie, saying, "To the Young Master, this is my dissection knife, of course it's sharp. But don't worry, it's been disinfected, so it won't cause a wound infection."
Lu Wuxie's mouth twitched a few times.
This knife, which had touched a dead body, was being used so openly?
After an unknown amount of time, as the carriage had almost left the street belonging to the Jia Manor, he asked, "What have you found out?"
Zhong Li didn't answer directly. Instead, she asked a question back, "May I ask the Young Master something?"
Lu Wuxie adjusted his robe, waiting for the other person's question.
"The Young Master breaking that Great Da Shizhi Buddha statue wasn't just to give me a chance to investigate in the backyard, was it?" Zhong Li continued.
Lu Wuxie raised his eyes and met her clear gaze.
Immediately after, he burst into laughter and said, "What if I told you, it was a coincidence..."
"I investigated Xie Xiaoyun's courtyard and found that the golden nanmu coffin and the valuables in Xie Xiaoyun's room had been replaced. In just a few days, the Jia Manor became an empty shell. The reason the Prince broke the Great Da Shizhi Buddha statue was because he discovered something amiss with it, wasn't it?"
Zhong Li interrupted Lu Wuxie and voiced her guess.
Lu Wuxie was stunned. He quickly reacted, picked up the cup on the table, took a sip, and then said, "Yes, I did it on purpose. It's not easy to obtain a Great Da Shizhi Buddha statue from Ling Mountain Temple, especially since, coincidentally, the Prince of Xian's mansion also has one. The craftsmanship of the Great Da Shizhi, from raw stone to carving, is not that of Ling Mountain Temple.
Although I am naturally unrestrained, when it comes to identifying treasures in this world, there is no one else in the Southern Yue Kingdom who can compare, so I decided to go all the way..."
"Then, does the Young Master also believe that everyone in the Jia Manor, from the steward to the new master, is problematic?" Zhong Li asked casually, looking at Lu Wuxie, who was talking boastfully and showing no sign of embarrassment.
"Also?" Lu Wuxie seized on the key point in Zhong Li's words and retorted, "Or perhaps Li'er has discovered something?"
Li'er again?
Hearing the man's intimate address, Zhong Li felt a sense of resistance. If he called her that in the Jia Manor to cover his tracks, then this time...
Her gaze swept over his seemingly casual expression, which actually held a hint of playful wildness. She gritted her teeth and said, "Does the Young Master remember Qiao Fu?"
"Mm," Lu Wuxie hummed lightly, his voice lazy and a little magnetic.
"I don't think he's a butcher," Zhong Li stated her judgment.
"Tell me about it." Finally, Lu Wuxie straightened his semi-reclined posture.
"When butchers kill cattle and sheep, they mostly use cleavers and boning knives. Depending on the size of the knife and how it's used, butchers usually develop thick calluses on their tiger's mouths, palms, and the pads of their index fingers. The other hand might develop thinner calluses on the back of the index and middle fingers near the first knuckle."
Lu Wuxie listened to Zhong Li's explanation and slowly nodded. This was the method most butchers used for cutting meat, especially according to Steward Wang. Qiao Fu had many years of experience selling meat, so these calluses should have been present.
"So?" he asked.
"And Qiao Fu, on the surface, was burly and fierce-looking, seeming quite fitting for a butcher. If you look closely, you'll notice that the calluses on his hands are concentrated entirely on his palms and the pads of his four fingers. The thinner calluses on the other hand are mainly on his tiger's mouth."
"What does that prove?" Lu Wuxie continued to ask.
This time, Zhong Li didn't answer. Instead, she focused her gaze on a sword decorating the interior of the carriage.
Lu Wuxie followed her gaze and understood instantly. He then chuckled and retorted, "One hand is explained, but what about the other? Only calluses on the tiger's mouth."
Hearing this, Zhong Li raised her hands into the air and made a gesture of drawing a bow and shooting an arrow.
"So, this Qiao Fu is a fake?" Lu Wuxie narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Yes, not only is he fake, but if I'm not mistaken, he should be a martial artist in disguise," Zhong Li stated her firm conclusion.
"Oh, I see." Lu Wuxie heard her judgment of Qiao Fu's identity and replied nonchalantly, but his face showed little surprise.
Zhong Li scanned his handsome face. She wasn't surprised by his unconcerned reaction. Instead, she recounted everything that had happened in the manor, including the matter with Qiu Ping, to the man opposite her.
"Do you mean that Jia Kun killing Xie Xiaoyun is related to the death of Jia Kun's mother?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li shook her head. Without evidence, she couldn't be sure. "To the Young Master, what I mean is that I want to go and see Jia Kun's mother's body. Is that possible?"