Case solved

"Brother Jiang, may I go in with you?"

Zhao Yi spoke after a moment's thought.

Since he couldn't ask outright, he would have to find a way to coax some useful information out of Sixth Miss Jiang's thoughts.

"Of course."

Jiang Li nodded.

He led Zhao Yi inside.

"Greetings, Mother."

"Both my younger sisters are here too?"

Seeing Jiang Yourning and her sister, Jiang Li nodded to them, his voice cool.

"Greetings, Madam. Greetings, young ladies."

Zhao Yi also cupped his hands in greeting.

"Weren't you discussing the case? What brings you to my courtyard?"

Lin Xiangyin gave the two a slight nod.

A young maid immediately served tea.

"Mother, I sent people to make inquiries throughout our estate. A maid in your courtyard also lost something yesterday, so Brother Zhao and I came to see whether we could find any threads of a spider's web or tracks of a horse here."

Jiang Li spoke slowly.

Lin Xiangyin nodded in understanding.

"Go ahead and investigate. Be thorough. Ideally, search the entire estate.

Make sure the servants keep their mouths shut. If anyone else has lost their... thing, they mustn't announce it."

The matter had already set the entire city buzzing, but if word got out that some young lady had lost her bellyband, her reputation would truly be ruined beyond repair.

"Rest assured, Mother. I understand."

Go ahead, investigate. Search all you like-it'll still be an unsolved case, and in the end, you'll be given a scapegoat to take back.

After all, no one would ever imagine that the culprit was a parrot, would they?

I heard the Zheng family spent years training that parrot. If only I could bring it home to play with for a couple of days.

"..."

Jiang Wanrong and Zhao Yi froze again.

A parrot?

What sort of parrot could be so monkey-clever that it could steal so many girls' bellybands?

Still, with a sudden new direction to investigate, Zhao Yi's eyes immediately lit up.

Zhao Yi spoke up right in front of everyone present.

"Brother Jiang, I've just thought of a brilliant idea. Perhaps it can help us catch the culprit."

"Let's hear it!"

Jiang Li immediately looked at Zhao Yi attentively.

"Invite them into the urn!"

Zhao Yi chuckled, then added, "My father has taken so many concubines into his chambers. It won't matter if one of them loses a bellyband."

You're so filial it's killing me.

But wasn't Zhao Yi very respectful of his old man before he discovered that his sweetheart had become his father's concubine? Did something happen that I don't know about?

Luring the culprit into a trap is a good idea, but that parrot was trained specifically to target the empress dowager, so it only likes bellybands with the same plum-blossom fragrance as hers. Picking some random concubine won't do a damn thing.

Reminded of his collapsed marriage prospects, Zhao Yi first wore a constipated expression as her words stabbed him in the heart, but then delight surfaced on his face.

Sixth Miss Jiang's information might be shocking beyond belief, but it was incredibly useful.

"In that case, Brother Jiang, continue investigating at home. I won't disturb you any longer. I'll head home first to make arrangements!"

Zhao Yi had made up his mind.

If Sixth Miss Jiang proved right again today, he would revere her like a deity from now on.

"Of course."

That night.

Jiang Yourning slept sweetly.

Jiang Wanrong tossed and turned.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yi and Jiang Li waited patiently for half the night at the spot they had prepared.

In the end, the two successfully caught a bird in their urn.

"Wonderful, Brother Jiang! We've caught the culprit!"

Looking at the parrot in the cage, Zhao Yi was beside himself with excitement.

"Brother Zhao, you seem rather certain the culprit wasn't human?"

Jiang Li immediately noticed something odd about Zhao Yi's words.

"I merely put together the clues we've gathered over the past two days. Now that I see this bird picking up a bellyband and preparing to flee, I feel that everything that didn't make sense finally does."

Zhao Yi offered his answer with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

He was certain.

If he told the truth, Jiang Li would kill him.

Over the past few days, he had also realized that Jiang Li, who appeared reserved but secretly had a wild streak, doted obsessively on his sisters.

If Jiang Li learned that he could hear Sixth Miss Jiang's thoughts while her own brother couldn't, wouldn't he be consumed with envy, jealousy, and hatred?

"True. Let's take it to the secret chamber in the separate residence. Once we've thoroughly questioned it, we'll report to our superiors."

Jiang Li nodded slightly.

After yesterday's fiasco.

When Jiang Yourning didn't get out of bed today, Chun Tao no longer dared call out recklessly to wake her.

The physician had said that her young lady needed plenty of rest.

When Jiang Wanrong learned that Jiang Li and Zhao Yi had solved the bellyband case in a single night, her feelings were complicated.

"Sister, did you know that they solved the case that was giving Third Brother a headache yesterday this morning?"

"That quickly? Third Brother is amazing!"

Jiang Yourning put on a display of earthquake-shaken pupils on the spot.

Even they managed to stumble onto a dead mouse like blind cats? Why has the plot changed again?

*Still, I suppose they can only investigate this far before closing the case.

After all, Zheng Wangba isn't in the capital. No one can get any evidence against him.*

Listening to her sister's thoughts, Jiang Wanrong felt an indescribable strangeness.

She believed what her sister had said. This case was far too bizarre.

By ordinary reasoning, Third Brother and that young master Zhao should never have been able to solve it.

Yet they had caught the culprit who had left everyone utterly clueless in just a single night.

Unless...

One of them could hear her sister's thoughts, just as she could.

If that person was Third Brother, it wouldn't matter.

But if it was that young master Zhao...

Jiang Wanrong's eyes flickered.

It seemed she would have to find a chance to sound him out. If necessary, she would have to kill him.

That afternoon.

Lin Xiangyin took Jiang Yourning and her sister into the carriage.

There was nothing particularly special about the outing.

She mainly wanted to pay a visit to the Duke's Estate today and offer her sympathies.

Especially after hearing that morning that the duchess's bellyband had also gone missing.

Before long, the family arrived at the gates of the Duke's Estate.

Lin Xiangyin's senior maid immediately went up to knock.

After a servant opened the gate, Lin Xiangyin smiled gently. "I heard that my dear old sister has fallen ill, so I've brought my two daughters to visit her today. Sorry for the trouble, but please announce us."

Seeing that it was the Jiang Family's carriage, one of the servants immediately ran inside.

The duchess, whose heart still ached over all the things she had smashed two days earlier, was currently snipping branches in a frenzy.

When she heard the report that Lin Xiangyin had brought her two daughters to visit, her face nearly turned purple.

"That bitch! She must have come to laugh at me!"

"Then, Madam... should we invite them inside?"

The matron beside the duchess spoke cautiously.

The duchess's face was livid, and she ground her teeth.

"Of course! Help me wash and change. I absolutely refuse to let her outshine me!"