Bone Painting Coroner

Translator: Rozenbach, Editor: Aruthea

In the meantime, Wen Shisan, like to Ji Yunshu, was in the midst of drawing the portraits of the seven skeletal remains.

The next morning, the portraits that were drawn up by the two were delivered to the Ministry of Justice around the same time. The Minister of Justice looked at the two paintings in his hands. One had been delivered from Prince Rong’s manor and the other, from Prince Yi’s manor.

However, the person depicted in the two portraits were identical, as though they had been illustrated by the same painter. In the end, he did not put in too much thought and handed one of the two to his subordinate, "Get the painters to make more copies and distribute them out. We have to know the identities of the seven corpses."

In no time at all, the copied portraits had been distributed all over the capital.

Soon after, a piece of information soon arrived at Prince Yi’s manor. "Your Highness, Prince Rong is planning to go to the derelict temple in the city’s outskirts."

Jing Yi looked at the dark cloudy sky and said, "The water accumulated in that temple has yet to recede and they are heading there now, despite the upcoming storm?"

Just then, Wen Shisan spoke up, "Prince Yi, we have to get to that derelict temple before they do." He was determined to win.

Jing Yi had his doubts, "We won’t be able to find anything even if we did go, since the water flooding the temple has yet to recede."

"Not necessarily."

Jing Yi carefully thought about Wen Shisan’s words and his eyes lit up, "Alright, since this prince wants to win, then I’ll fight for every opportunity that is presented to me." And so, he bade someone to get the carriage ready and set off towards the derelict temple at the city’s outskirts.

Meanwhile, Ji Yunshu and Jing Rong, were currently heading their way towards the wilderness with the capital magistrate in tow. However, the heavens were unfavorable and a downpour soon started. The raindrops pounded on the carriage’s black top, causing a deafening sound akin to numerous large bells going off.

The capital governor had just pulled aside the carriage’s curtains and poked his head out when his face was completely wet with rainwater; he hastily retreated back inside and wiped his face with his sleeves. His expression looked as though he had just eaten sh*t.

Ji Yunshu secretly laughed.

The capital governor grumbled, "This deluge is really extreme, it is almost as though a hole has opened up in the sky."

"Back then, the Goddess Nuwa smelted stones to patch up the sky, so why would there still be a hole in the sky?" Ji Yunshu quipped in reply.

The capital governor met eyes with Jing Rong as they both fell silent.

The atmosphere in the carriage had also gotten colder.

Jing Rong commented, "That joke of yours is not amusing."

Ji Yunshu replied, "It was a cold joke, after all."

"Why is it a cold joke?"

"It means a joke that

"Why is it cold?" [1]

Ji Yunshu, "It’s… as cold as the surrounding weather right now."

How incongruous! Jing Rong fell into deep thought as he decided to ponder over her words.

The capital governor witnessed the duo’s exchange as though it was a shuanghuang theatrical double-act. This prince and Teacher Ji are really interesting.

The carriage soon arrived at the city’s outskirts.The roads’ quality was not as good as before, the ground was muddied from the heavy rainfall which in turn caused the carriage to skid and rock violently. Everyone had to endure the nausea induced by the violent motions of the carriage before they finally arrived at the Zhang Family Village, where the derelict temple was located.

The village itself was not large; although it was technically on the outskirts of the capital, it was rather remote and with a complicated terrain.

When they arrived at the temple’s rickety entrance, they noticed that there was another carriage outside. From its markings, they could tell that this was a carriage from Prince Yi’s manor!

They were beaten to the punch again.

Everyone got off the carriage and entered the temple after opening their umbrellas.

The originally decrepit temple was in a greater state of disrepair now that the wooden beams had collapsed.

The large buddha statue had toppled over, its head smashed to pieces while the body had split in two, with the fallen beams still resting on the broken halves. The dried-up well that was by the side of the statue was filled by the flooding water, till the point of overflowing. It’s impossible for them to investigate the well’s contents.

This run-down temple could be described as totally impoverished. Aside from the large buddha statue, a rickety bench and straw that was strewn all over the place, there was nothing at all. This place was simply poorer than a ghost!

As the group trudged through the rainwater, they soon met up with Jing Yi and Wen Shisan. It seems like they had just arrived as well.

Jing Yi had a smug look on his face as he greeted Jing Rong, "What a coincidence."

Coincidence your head! Jing Rong, "What quick movements you have."

"Being quick is better than being slow-going."

Jing Rong smiled, "This isn’t the Ministry of Justice, there’s no need to establish who came first, since we’re both tasked to conduct the investigation, so why are we wasting time arguing here?"

Jing Yi’s expression turned sour at Jing Rong’s remark and responded, "You’re right. Although we’re at odds, we are both hoping that this case will be solved as soon as possible to assuage Imperial Father’s worries."

Urgh! What a shameless person! Ji Yunshu’s gaze had been trained on Wen Shisan since they entered this place.

Of course, he was doing the same as well.

At a first glance, it seems that this win-or-lose match was a showdown between Jing Yi and Jing Rong; however, this was undoubtedly a match of professionalism between Ji Yunshu and Wen Shisan as well.

Wen Shisan politely bowed towards Jing Rong before addressing Ji Yunshu, "I heard that Teacher Ji had smoked the bones with Chinese mugwort to remove the ink without causing any damage, what a wonderful method! If we have the time, do let me learn a thing or two from you."

He’s probably thinking to himself. I get to learn something again, how wonderful.

Ji Yunshu mildly responded to his comment, "Yours truly is clearly lacking when compared to Wen-gongzi’s abilities." Her words seemed to suggest an additional layer of meaning, one that those who were not in the loop would not understand.

Smiling as though everything was well, Wen Shisan pretended not to understand Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu did not wish to waste any more time. Looking at Jing Rong, she began to search about the temple after he nodded in assent. Her shoes had already been soaked through from stepping through the water earlier.

Wen Shisan did not remain idle either. The duo began to look for evidence in the temple without interfering with one another.

Ji Yunshu walked to the flooded well, pondered for a bit before looking towards the soaked pile of straw that was in a corner of the temple. Hm? She walked over and squatted down for a closer look. There seemed to be a few stalks of straw that had been partially burnt. If she had remembered correctly, there was a black patch on Gao Meng’s clothes from soot. Next, she picked up the burnt stalks in her hands, transferring the charred portions onto her fingertips and sniffed. However, due to the rainwater drenching it, there was no detectable smell.

Her gaze flashed to the side and spotted a piece of cloth that was in the straw; just as she was about to reach out and retrieve it, it was snatched away by Wen Shisan.

Looking at the cloth in his hands, he flashed a grin at Ji Yunshu, "This cloth is made from burlap. Judging from the traces, it should have been torn off by some object and based on the cloth’s colour and pliability, this may have been left behind a few days ago. I dare say that this could be fabric that belonged to the culprit’s clothing."

Ji Yunshu looked at him. She really wanted to tear that expression off his face.

Wen Shisan leant forward and spoke at a lowered volume, "This method of recognizing fabric. I have to thank you for teaching me."

[1] Note: A "cold" joke is a lame joke in chinese…and it's modern slang so JR won't understand lol.