When the Third Prince mounted the horse again, his expression was grave.
Mu Xueshi glanced at him and asked curiously, “What’s wrong? What did you see over there?”
The Third Prince said nothing. He merely raised the whip and urged the horse back along the road they had come.
Mu Xueshi had always possessed an extremely curious nature. Now that the prince deliberately kept him in suspense, he only wanted to know the answer even more.
Afraid that pressing too directly might irritate him, Mu Xueshi first stretched out his arms and hugged the Third Prince around the waist. Pressing his cheek lightly against the prince’s chest, he asked tentatively,
“Tell me… what exactly happened?”
The Third Prince sighed softly.
“Ning Yue was said to have died two weeks ago. Yet just now, by the lakeshore, I saw his corpse again.”
“Ah!” Mu Xueshi gulped. Goosebumps instantly rose all over his body. “He’s been dead that long and nobody buried him?”
“No,” the Third Prince replied calmly. “I examined the body. The man died within the last two days. I also checked his face—it truly was Ning Yue.”
“Maybe it was someone using disguise.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
“Then the earlier one wasn’t Ning Yue.”
“That one was as well. The earlier corpse is still stored in the morgue behind the back mountain of the manor. It couldn’t have been moved.”
Mu Xueshi frowned deeply.
“That’s strange… Then why not carry this new corpse back? If you put the two together, wouldn’t it be obvious which one is real and which is fake?”
The Third Prince had already considered this. As soon as they returned, he immediately ordered Sun Ye to retrieve Ning Yue’s body and transport it back to the Qinyi courtyard.
Mu Xueshi frowned again and pondered for a moment before asking hesitantly,
“Do you people here have… something like cosmetic restoration for corpses? You know… making them look young again…?”
He scratched his head awkwardly.
“Uh… that sounds a little… perverted…”
The Third Prince neither mocked him nor responded.
Each of them rode in silence, lost in their own thoughts.
As they passed the place where they had rested earlier, Mu Xueshi murmured to himself,
“The Twin-Born Tree…”
Suddenly he straightened up.
His bright eyes sparkled with excitement.
“I’ve got it!”
The Third Prince glanced at him.
“It must be twins.”
The prince paused.
“I thought about it again and again,” Mu Xueshi continued enthusiastically. “For something this strange to happen, there’s only one explanation—identical twins.”
“Ning Yue lost both parents at a young age,” the Third Prince replied calmly. “He followed Daoist Jingxian to practice martial arts. When he later came to the Grand Tutor’s manor, he arrived alone. For more than ten years, no one has ever seen a single relative of his.”
Mu Xueshi had been secretly pleased with his clever deduction.
But after hearing the prince’s words, he immediately pouted and lowered his head in disappointment.
The Third Prince, however, fell into thoughtful silence.
At present, everyone in the manor was a potential suspect, and no one’s words could be trusted easily.
Mu Xueshi’s suggestion had never occurred to him before. Though the possibility was slim, it could not be completely dismissed.
If one listened to the servants’ gossip, only two people possessed a clear motive for murder.
One was Mu Xueshi.
The other was Wu Cai.
Mu Xueshi had previously quarreled with the Grand Tutor over differing opinions. The conflict between them had grown serious.
As for Wu Cai—he was notorious for his licentious lifestyle. If the Grand Tutor died, he would gain his freedom.
Moreover, Wu Cai was the only person who had claimed to see Mu Xueshi inside the Grand Tutor’s chamber that night.
Why had Wu Cai happened to be there at that exact moment?
And were his words even true?
All of that required further investigation.
Meanwhile, Mu Xueshi had been quietly observing the Grand Tutor’s wife over the past two days.
Ever since the night he saw her sneaking suspiciously outside the doorway, he had found her highly suspect.
Although she was technically his “mother” in this world, Mu Xueshi felt not the slightest warmth toward her.
If things were viewed this way, every single person in the manor became a suspect.
And the two main leads had already been severed.
Mu Xueshi had lost his memory.
Ning Yue was dead.
Thinking of this, the Third Prince’s brows knit even tighter.
At first, he had never truly intended to clear Mu Xueshi’s name. His plan had simply been to place the blame on him publicly while secretly investigating the real culprit.
But now even the Emperor had begun paying attention to both the man and the case.
The Third Prince had no choice but to find solid proof to absolve Mu Xueshi.
Otherwise, if the Emperor issued a judgment, even the Third Prince could not defy imperial authority.
When they returned to the Third Prince’s Qinyi courtyard, Mu Xueshi immediately felt as if he had come home.
More importantly—
He could finally go find Physician Li.
The pain in his lower body had troubled him for quite some time. He had to get it treated before night fully fell.
Otherwise, when the Yinglan Flower bloomed later that evening, he might not even be able to sit.
Meanwhile, the Third Prince remained inside his chambers reviewing memorials submitted by various officials.
Most of them mentioned the same matter: the proposal of marriage from the Empire of Lubei.
At the mere thought of Hao Lin’s sinister and enchanting face, the Third Prince felt a surge of disgust.
Closing the memorial, he stepped outside.
Only then did he realize Mu Xueshi had disappeared ever since they returned.
Curious, he summoned Eunuch Tai’an.
“Reporting to Your Highness,” the eunuch said respectfully, “Young Master Xue said he was feeling unwell and went to seek treatment from Imperial Physician Li.”
“Unwell?” the Third Prince repeated, frowning slightly.
“Yes,” Eunuch Tai’an replied with a bow. “This servant asked what illness troubled him, but Young Master Xue did not explain. He seemed quite anxious when he left.”
The Third Prince lowered his gaze.
A glimmer of understanding flashed through his mind.
He suddenly realized what Mu Xueshi’s so-called “illness” must be.
A cold chuckle escaped him as he turned and walked toward Physician Li’s clinic.
“Why won’t you even take a look? Even if you don’t know how to treat it, you should at least examine it before deciding!”
Mu Xueshi nearly shouted in frustration.
“Th-this… Young Master Xue… it truly cannot be done…” Physician Li stammered helplessly.
Looking at the physician’s troubled face, Mu Xueshi felt as if he might explode.
How could there be such a stubbornly old-fashioned person?
Was it truly the case that in this feudal society, if something happened to a private part of the body, one simply had to wait to die?
Besides, they were both men! There was no issue of impropriety between them.
So why was the physician making such a fuss about it?
For half an hour they argued back and forth.
Yet Physician Li still refused to treat him.
Mu Xueshi’s face turned red with agitation.
Nightfall was approaching quickly. If this continued, he would have to endure this miserable condition the entire night.
“Are you going to look at it or not?!”
In desperation, Mu Xueshi grabbed a precious sword hanging from the wall and pointed it at the physician.
His arm trembled slightly.
He only intended to frighten the man into treating him.
Yet although Physician Li’s face turned pale, he still replied with trembling breath,
“Then Young Master may simply take this old minister’s life.”
Mu Xueshi finally gave up.
With an exasperated sigh, he hurled the sword onto the ground.
“Fine! I surrender to you. Honestly…”
Color slowly returned to the physician’s face.
But in the next instant—
Mu Xueshi suddenly declared with determined resolve:
“Then I’ll just take it off myself! If I show you, you’ll examine it, right? After you look, you can prescribe some medicine—that’s acceptable, isn’t it?”
Futile Devices Scans 
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