Gu Ci carefully reviewed the autopsy report handed over by the coroner.
He discovered that while the three female corpses seemingly shared many common points, upon closer inspection, they appeared entirely unrelated.
For instance, they were all female, but their ages differed. Although they had all been killed by blunt force trauma to the head, judging by the states presented by their corpses, some had struggled violently before death, while others suggested a crime committed by someone they knew.
“My Lord!”
Gu Ci, who was deep in thought, was startled by the sudden cry.
This place really could frighten someone if one wasn’t careful.
Gu Ci suddenly felt a bad premonition. He turned his head and locked eyes directly with Jun Yichen, who was watching him; in each other’s eyes, they saw the exact same answer.
The next moment, Wu Chuan said anxiously, “My Lord, the yamen runners report that another murder has occurred outside the city!”
As expected, he knew that this kind of homicide case wouldn’t stop until the killer was caught.
By the time the group rushed to the scene, the yamen runners had already secured the area.
Because it was a remote location on the outskirts, there were basically no onlookers around.
Gu Ci didn’t plan on crowding forward to examine the corpse; instead, he accompanied Jun Yichen and stood off to one side.
Although he was already accustomed to such scenes, seeing them still felt uncomfortable.
Before long, Wu Chuan and Wang Peng synthesized the information obtained from the runners and presented it.
The person who reported the crime was a villager from the nearby Liu Family Village. Just like the previous instances, the victim had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head with a blunt instrument.
And she was also female.
Other identifying information could only be checked after returning to the city.
Gu Ci raised his head to look at the sky, then glanced at Jun Yichen beside him.
He noticed that the Seventh Prince rarely spoke. Whether it was his imagination or not, he always felt Jun Yichen was acting a bit strange today.
Clearly only a year older than him, the fellow acted as aged and mature as his own father all day long.
“Is Ah Ci tired?”
“Huh? No, just feeling hungry.” Gu Ci felt the awkward embarrassment of someone caught peeking. He touched the tip of his nose and stiffly changed the subject, “Uhm, what kind of person do you think could have done this?” The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them if they knew what kind of person did it, they wouldn’t be driving themselves crazy out here in the midday sun.
Jun Yichen smiled, gently patted the top of his head, and said earnestly, “Ah Ci might as well have someone thoroughly investigate the connections between them.” This texture is still as good as ever.
This was estimated to be the most satisfying thing for him so far today.
Gu Ci didn’t react much to this gesture, simply taking it as one of Jun Yichen’s habits when interacting with people.
He carefully pondered Jun Yichen’s words, then dawned with a sudden realization: “That’s right! As long as we find the connection between them and follow the vine to unearth the melon, there’s bound to be a clue…” Before he could finish speaking, he was already walking toward Wu Chuan and Wang Peng.
Jun Yichen smiled helplessly and shook his head.
Mowu, who had witnessed the entire process from the side, wore a look of utter astonishment. He could now be certain that his master’s feelings toward Marquis Gu’s Heir were truly extraordinary; although his master always wore a smiling expression for everyone, he found that only when staying with Gu Ci did his master smile truly from the bottom of his heart.
After Gu Ci arranged all remaining matters, the group prepared to return to the city.
“It looks like everyone is tired; let’s head back to the inn to rest first,” Gu Ci turned and announced to the rest.
Upon reaching the inn, Gu Ci requested several guest rooms. Because the case had not yet made substantive progress, as a precaution, Jun Yichen proposed that the two of them share a room.
Hearing this arrangement, Gu Ci nodded in agreement.
Considering that Jun Yichen’s status was special after all, and he didn’t want to room with Mowu, he ultimately ended up sharing a room with Gu Ci.
Once the rooms were allocated, everyone returned to their respective quarters to rest and tidy up.
After washing up, Gu Ci approached the bed and smiled as he said, “Your Highness, you take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.” With that, he grabbed a spare set of bedding the innkeeper had just delivered and briskly laid it out on the floor.
Jun Yichen watched his actions, his gaze freezing slightly as he asked with seemingly casual nonchalance, “Why don’t, um… Ah Ci sleep together with me?”
After saying this, Jun Yichen felt it was somewhat inappropriate, so he added, “I’ve never stayed away from home before, and I can’t fall asleep alone. Can Ah Ci accompany me?” Saying this, he didn’t forget to shuffle inward the meaning was crystal clear.
Gu Ci froze slightly. He hadn’t expected someone with such severe mysophobia as Jun Yichen to actually invite someone else onto his bed.
It seemed he truly wasn’t used to sleeping alone in an unfamiliar environment.
Gu Ci wasn’t one to fuss over trivialities either; hearing this, he nimbly cleared away the bedding he had just laid out, lifted his face to reveal neat white teeth, and grinned, “Alright, as long as Your Highness doesn’t mind me!” Once he had tidied up, he very naturally burrowed under the covers and lay down right beside Jun Yichen.
Back when he used to follow his grandfather to the northern frontier of Beiliang, he frequently squeezed into the same quilt with the soldiers; they were all men, so there was nothing inconvenient about it.
Perhaps because someone was sleeping right beside him, even though he should have felt exhausted after rushing about all day, he didn’t feel a shred of sleepiness at the moment. Deciding to make use of the time, Gu Ci rolled over to face Jun Yichen directly and started chatting about the progress of the case.
“Your Highness, I had Wu Chuan and the others check today, and I found out these victims really do have connections to one another!”
Jun Yichen was staring in a trance at the back of the youth’s head when suddenly Gu Ci’s delicate brows and eyes appeared right before him in close proximity.
Recovering his wits, he stared fixedly at Gu Ci and asked, “What?”
Gu Ci thought he was asking about the connections, so he rattled on fluently about the results of today’s investigation by Wu Chuan and his team.
“These victims all made their living in places of pleasure and leisure, and they were all courtesans from different brothels. They enjoyed considerable renown within their respective establishments, their appearances were exceptionally beautiful, and the people they interacted with on a daily basis were all sorts of characters…”
Jun Yichen suddenly opened his mouth to interrupt: “If I didn’t see wrongly today, the faces of some of those corpses had already decomposed to varying degrees. How did Ah Ci figure out that they were all very beautiful?”
Gu Ci froze slightly, raising his eyes to instantly meet this sight: Jun Yichen was supporting his chin with one hand, and that handsome, chisel-like sculpted face radiated a unique charm. Especially that pair of deep, mesmerizing peach-blossom eyes under the illumination of the night glow, they sparkled with starlight, shining brightly like the most dazzling stars in the night sky, making one unable to help from falling for them.
A sudden, fierce jolt struck Gu Ci’s heart. He hastily lifted the hand resting under the covers and fiercely pinched his own thigh, cursing inwardly in his heart: “He really is a pervert! It seems it’s been way too long since I visited a brothel, to the point that even a pure-blooded straight man like Jun Yichen actually looks good to me…” He must be losing his mind.
Gu Ci’s face flushed slightly red, and his voice involuntarily carried a trace of awkward embarrassment: “Uhm, how would I know? It’s… it’s what Wu Chuan and the others said today…” Before he could finish speaking, he had already rolled over, turning his back to Jun Yichen, and executed a thoroughly convincing fake yawn as he mumbled, “I’m so exhausted today; Your Highness should rest early too.”
Jun Yichen silently watched the back of Gu Ci’s head, the smiles gone from his eyes, leaving them as dark and dead as an extinguished lamp.