The moment Mu Xueshi finished speaking, the Third Prince fell completely silent.
No matter what Mu Xueshi said afterward, the prince did not utter another word.
Seeing the furrow in his brows, Mu Xueshi stopped joking around and began thinking seriously as well.
If the Third Prince wanted to reinvestigate the case, it meant he might not truly believe Mu Xueshi was the murderer.
Otherwise he would never treat him this way.
After all, the prince had once said he deeply hated the person who killed Grand Tutor Mu.
Thinking of how he had promised to clear the original Mu Xueshi’s name, Mu Xueshi suddenly felt a sense of responsibility.
It could not remain empty words.
He had to actually do something.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried desperately to recall the detective cartoons he had watched before.
Unfortunately, he could only remember the characters’ faces. The actual investigative methods were completely gone from his memory.
In the end, he could only rely on ordinary reasoning.
“So… when did Grand Tutor Mu—uh… my father—die?”
“The eighth day of the third lunar month.”
“And what day is it now?”
“The eighth day of the fourth lunar month.”
“A whole month already…”
Mu Xueshi rested his arms on the edge of the table and buried his face in them, looking troubled.
The Third Prince watched him with a faint smile, idly turning a teacup in his hand, curious what that little head might come up with.
“Did anyone examine my father’s body? Was he really burned to death?”
“Most of the flesh had been burned away. Only bones remained. There were no signs of blunt force trauma or poison.”
“Nothing left nearby?” Mu Xueshi persisted.
The Third Prince shook his head.
“No weapons, no hidden devices, no blood. The evidence suggests he died from burning—not that he was killed beforehand and burned afterward to conceal the crime.”
“Then maybe…” Mu Xueshi began slowly.
“Maybe he got drunk, bumped into a table or chair, knocked over an oil lamp, and the fire spread to his clothes. Maybe he fell too hard to get up in time and the flames—”
He paused awkwardly.
“But… surely my father wasn’t that clumsy… That’d be way too coincidental…”
Embarrassed, he glanced nervously at the Third Prince, worried the prince might laugh at him.
Instead, the Third Prince murmured thoughtfully,
“The servants did say the Grand Tutor had been drinking earlier that night and returned with a slight drunkenness.”
Mu Xueshi slapped his thigh excitedly.
“See? I knew it! He must’ve gotten drunk, knocked over the lamp, and accidentally burned himself to death!”
He looked extremely pleased with his own deduction.
The Third Prince stared at his foolish expression and, without mercy, dragged him toward the northern center of the hall.
Then he pressed Mu Xueshi’s head downward.
“Look.”
Mu Xueshi stared at the ground for a long time.
Finally he lay flat on the floor to inspect it more closely, his backside sticking high in the air.
The Third Prince’s throat tightened at the sight. He forced himself to focus on the ground instead of the provocative posture.
“What do you see?” he asked coldly, even giving Mu Xueshi’s raised backside a light kick to make him stand.
The brief contact made him realize how soft it felt.
If he squeezed it…
The thought flickered through his mind.
Yet his face remained completely expressionless.
Mu Xueshi stood up slowly, wiped his dirty hands on his pale robe—leaving dark smudges everywhere—and looked at the prince nervously.
“Well… I did notice something. Not sure if it’s useful…”
The Third Prince lifted his chin for him to continue.
Mu Xueshi grinned awkwardly and rubbed his hands.
“I just think this spot smells really nice.”
“Maybe someone sprays air freshener in here a lot.”
Futile Devices Scans 
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