"I don't care what you are up to. Hide your tail and don't let me catch it again. Next time, I will peel your skin."
Yu Shu's expressionless warning is chilling. Ji Xingxuan's eyelids tremble. She turns around without saying a word, opens the paper umbrella in her hand and steps into the rain. Under the cold gaze of Yu Shu, she suddenly stops in the rain and turns around. Through the curtain of rain, she takes a deep look at Yu Shu.
.....
Yu Shu returns to the girl's dormitory in the heavy rain. She is wet all over. Fortunately, there are clean clothes in the room. She takes off her clothes quickly while sneezing and puts on her inner clothes. She unties her wet hair and wrings it a few times. She sits on the bed wrapped in a quilt. Her cold hands and feet slowly warm up. Her mind keeps replaying the complicated look in Ji Xingxuan's eyes in the rain — it is neither timid nor resentful. There is an inexplicable sense of incongruity that puzzles her.
Although Xue Rui has not confirmed it, she has made it clear that the person who passed the note to Cao Youling and framed Jing Chen for seducing the female student to death was Ji Xingxuan. Under such circumstances, when she sees Jing Chen and Ji Xingxuan sharing an umbrella in the rain, she almost subconsciously believes that Ji Xingxuan is deliberately approaching Jing Chen.
However, she wasn't sure what Ji Xingxuan would do next, so when she warned Ji Xingxuan, it wasn't because she was hot-headed, but because she wanted to force Ji Xingxuan to give herself away. However, her performance was too calm, and she didn't look like an accomplice or murderer at all.
"Di di di da da …"
The sound of rain outside the window gradually subsides. Yu Shu puts on her clothes and coils her half-dry hair behind her head. She walks out of the room with doubts in her heart. She lingers in the corridor for a while and walks into the yard when the rain stops completely.
As soon as she stepped out of the female dormitory, she heard someone calling her name. She turned around and saw Xue Rui walking towards her from the side of the mountain wall. He was holding an oil-paper umbrella in his hand, and there were no guards following behind him.
"Did you get wet in the rain?" Xue Rui frowned. He noticed that Yu Shu had changed her clothes and her hair was damp. "If you don't have an umbrella, why don't you find a place to hide?"
Yu Shu said helplessly, "It suddenly rained on my way back. It was such a big battle, so I just ran back."
As she spoke, she unintentionally lowered her head and saw that Xue Rui's boots were wet and his clothes were stained with mud. Judging from the color, she knew that he had walked in the heavy rain. He didn't come out because the rain was getting lighter, so he asked in bewilderment, "It was raining so heavily just now. Where did you go? My shoes are so wet. "
Hearing her subconscious question, Xue Rui secretly felt helpless. Where else could he go? It was raining heavily and he remembered that she did not have an umbrella, so he went to look for her. He had gone to several places in the library. Finally, he found the female dormitory, but he didn't expect that she would run back in the rain.
"I accidentally stepped in a puddle …" Xue Rui didn't want to admit that he foolishly looked for her everywhere. So he diverted her attention, "Have you seen Academician Fang?"
Yu Shu nodded, still staring at his wet shoes, thinking that it must be uncomfortable for him to soak his feet like this, so she said, "I have. Are you still in the library? Let's go back to Wangji Tower for lunch. I will tell you on the way."
"I'm fine. Let's go back and talk."
In fact, Xue Rui didn't need to stay in Taishi Library from morning to night. There were many officials under him. None of them did nothing. According to the progress of the case, he only needed to wait for the news to be passed to the people to ask questions. He came every day just to spend more time with her.
Of course, these words couldn't be said directly to Yu Shu. Otherwise, according to his understanding of her, she would definitely not be moved. What he got in return was definitely not being moved, but rolling his eyes.
***
On the way, there were only two of them in the carriage. Yu Shu unscrupulously told Xue Rui about the process of her waiting for Fang Zijing. In the end, she repeated Situ Qinglan's original words to explain Fang Zijing's painstaking explanation. Then she pretended to sigh with emotion, "If it weren't for Academician Fang's attention, I'm afraid that I, an arrogant junior, wouldn't be able to meet a teacher in Taishi Library."
Xue Rui smiled slightly and said, "If it weren't for your cleverness, I'm afraid you wouldn't even be able to meet Academician Fang."
These words weren't false. Xue Rui had only heard of Fang Zijing, yet he'd never met him. But since Fang Zijing was able to stand on equal footing with Han Wenguang who was well-liked in the world in the Imperial Historian Library, he was surely an old fox.
Reprimanding Yu Shu in public was not so much to help Yu Shu get rid of those rumors, but it was a kind of test. If Yu Shu's reaction was not as he expected, he would not only not accept this student, but also add fuel to the fire, making her situation more difficult.
"Sure enough, brother is a sensible person." More than once, Yu Shu felt that it was easy and effortless to talk to Xue Rui. For some things, she didn't need to explain, and he could understand.
"Now that I've met Fang Zijing, I still want to find another academician who is proficient in astrology. I'm not in a hurry for other things." Yu Shu wanted to study the Chaotic Sky Divination Record, and it was inevitable that she would be tired reading alone. Jing Chen, who had originally promised to teach her, stood her up. Fortunately, Taishi Library was a good place. The 18 academicians all had their own strengths, and pleasing one or two of them was enough for her to benefit a lot.
"It's good that you have a plan."
After talking about this matter, the carriage arrived at Wangji Restaurant. As usual, the two entered from the backyard and went back to their respective rooms to tidy up.
Yu Shu asked the maid to comb her hair again, and went downstairs to find Xue Rui. As soon as she entered the room, she saw him sitting at the table, holding a few pieces of paper in his hand and looking at them with a serious expression.
Yu Shu sensed something and closed the door behind her. She walked over and asked, "Did you find out?"
There were more than 30 students under Jing Chen's tutelage, who had interacted with the dead Cao Youling, and who were proficient in physiognomy.
Xue Rui put down the paper, pressed his fist on it, and said a name in a deep voice. As Yu Shu had expected, "Only her."
"That's her."
After confirming this, Xue Rui went along with the flow and analyzed. "According to our earlier guesses, the culprit was targeting Jing Chen and framing him, so it wouldn't be excessive for Ji Xingxuan to be a suspect. After all, the case of Ji Huaishan committing suicide to escape punishment was caused by Jing Chen, and resentment arose in her heart because of this, so she wanted to seize the opportunity to take revenge. But … "
He changed the topic with suspicion in his eyes, "Obviously, she didn't kill the murderer herself. If she is the mastermind, she must have hired the murderer. With only a note, it's impossible to frame Jing Chen as the murderer. At most, he will be suspected. In addition, Jing Chen is a Daozi. If the murderer can't be caught in the end, Jing Chen will not be used as a substitute. In this way, she killed Cao Youling just to smear a basin of dirty water on Jing Chen. Don't you think it's too much to make a fuss? "
Ji Xingxuan was not a crazy murderer. On the contrary, she was very smart and rational. Was it necessary to take the risk of hiring a murderer to ruin Jing Chen's reputation?
Yu Shu thought about it and sat down opposite him. She said slowly, "I saw Ji Xingxuan and Jing Chen walking together in the book garden this morning."
Xue Rui raised his eyelids in surprise and stared fixedly at her expression. His first reaction was that he was worried that she would be sad. Others didn't know, but he'd watched helplessly as she once went through fire and water for that man.
Thinking of that scene, Yu Shu couldn't help but frown. She didn't notice Xue Rui's strange eyes and said hesitantly, "I also feel strange. On the one hand, she plotted against Jing Chen, and on the other hand, she approached Jing Chen. What is she planning?"
Xue Rui's eyes flashed. He raised his hand and rubbed his chin. Suddenly, he stood up and walked a few steps in the room. He vaguely thought of some connection. When he was about to grasp the key point, he heard Yu Shu suddenly hit the table. He turned around and saw her shocked face, "Could it be that the group of people who framed Jing Chen have hooked up with Ji Xingxuan?"
Xue Rui was suddenly enlightened, and his eyes flickered as he looked at her, then he lowered his voice and spoke on her behalf. "So perhaps Ji Xingxuan isn't the mastermind, and she's only an accomplice."
Yu Shu nodded excitedly and stood up. After Jing Chen's identity was revealed, the days were peaceful. She almost forgot that the group of people who put silver needles in Jing Chen's acupoints were secretly watching them.
In this way, it made sense. Cao Youling wasn't killed by Ji Xingxuan, so she, who was ruthless enough, didn't have the apprehension that a murderer should have. The most important thing was that Cao Youling was dead. No one could prove that Ji Xingxuan was the one who handed the note to her. She could sit back and watch from the sidelines!
"Damn it." Yu Shu realized this and couldn't help but feel annoyed. "I don't have any concrete evidence. Just based on the results of my divination, I can't identify her at all. Otherwise, you could have captured her and tortured her."
The Da 'an Dynasty was good at doing things. But when it came to judging and arresting people, it was important to have real evidence. Even when Jing Chen was monitored by Xue Rui, there was that "note" as evidence.
Compared to Yu Shu's annoyance, Xue Rui was in a dilemma at this time. Not for anything else, but because there might be a bigger implication behind this murder case.
Last year, the Emperor had asked Prince Ning to investigate the assassination of Daozi. But after a few months, there was no progress. Now he found some clues. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Don't worry," Xue Rui calmly said to Yu Shu, "This is just a guess. If we act rashly, we will only alert the enemy. Didn't you say that Ji Xingxuan has the intention to get close to Jing Chen? If there is someone behind her, there will be more actions. Let's wait and see for her to reveal herself."
Yu Shu wanted to say something but stopped. It was better to wait and see. But Xia Jiangmin's dream indicated that someone would be killed soon. Her intuition told her that the woman in pink who was pushed down the stairs had something to do with this murder case. Maybe it was done by this group of cruel people.
She really wanted to tell Xue Rui about her worries so that he could think of a countermeasure together with her. However, she had no way to explain where she learned about the Judgement of Fortune and Misfortune, as well as Life and Death. This was an extraordinary ability that could only be obtained after one had reached the pinnacle of the Yi Study. She could not betray Xia Jiangmin, and she could not force herself to lie and say that it was the result of her divination.
Xue Rui saw her uneasy expression and misunderstood that she was worried about Jing Chen's safety. He envied Jing Chen that she was worried about, but he still comforted her, "You don't have to worry about Jing Chen. He is now under the Emperor's rule and has the royal family's protection. No matter what happens, there will be someone to take care of it."
Yu Shu reluctantly twitched the corner of her mouth. She didn't explain that what she was most worried about was not the safety of Jing Chen, but the next girl who was going to die.
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