When the Third Prince mounted again, his expression was grave. Mu Xueshi looked at him and asked, “What’s wrong? What was over there?”
The Third Prince said nothing and urged the horse back along the road they had come.
Mu Xueshi was curious by nature, and the Third Prince’s silence only made him want to know more. Afraid the prince would lose patience, he first wrapped his arms around him, pressed his face against his chest, and asked tentatively, “Tell me. What happened?”
The Third Prince sighed. “Ning Yue was already dead two weeks ago. Just now I saw his corpse again beside the lake.”
“What? He’s been dead that long and still wasn’t buried?” Mu Xueshi swallowed, goosebumps rising all over him.
“No. I examined the corpse. That man died within the past two days, and I checked his face. It really is Ning Yue.”
“Maybe it’s a disguise.”
“No. It isn’t.”
“Then the earlier corpse wasn’t Ning Yue.”
“That corpse was Ning Yue too, and it is still stored at the body repository behind the courtyard. It could not have been moved.”
“That’s strange. Then bring this body back and compare the two. Wouldn’t that show which one is real and which is fake?”
The Third Prince had already planned to do exactly that. After returning, he immediately ordered Sun Ye to bring Ning Yue’s corpse back to Qinyi Courtyard.
Mu Xueshi frowned and thought for a moment before asking, “Do people here have some way of making corpses look young again? Uh… that sounds kind of perverse…”
The Third Prince did not mock the idea, but neither did he answer.
Both men had their own thoughts on the ride back. Looking toward the place where he and the Third Prince had rested earlier, Mu Xueshi could not help murmuring, “Twin Tree…”
Suddenly Mu Xueshi straightened, his bright eyes lighting with excitement.
“I know. They must be twins.”
The Third Prince’s heart paused, and he looked toward Mu Xueshi.
“I’ve thought it over. There’s only one explanation for something this strange: twins.”
“Ning Yue lost both parents as a child and studied martial arts under Daoist Jingxian. Later he came alone to the Grand Tutor’s manor. In more than ten years, no one has ever seen any relative of his.”
Mu Xueshi had been feeling rather pleased with his cleverness, but after hearing that, he pouted and lowered his head again.
The Third Prince, however, began seriously considering Mu Xueshi’s suggestion. Everyone in the manor was now a possible suspect, so no one’s testimony could be trusted casually. The possibility Mu Xueshi had raised had not occurred to him. It was unlikely, but could not be ruled out.
According to the servants’ gossip, only two people had obvious motives for killing the Grand Tutor: Mu Xueshi and Wu Cai. Mu Xueshi had argued with Grand Tutor Mu because they disagreed, while Wu Cai, known for his romantic entanglements, would gain his freedom if the Grand Tutor died.
Wu Cai was also the only person who claimed to have seen Mu Xueshi in the Grand Tutor’s room. Why had Wu Cai happened to be there at precisely that time? Whether his account was true still required investigation.
Mu Xueshi, meanwhile, had been watching Madam Mu for the past two days. Ever since he saw her behaving suspiciously by the gate that night, he had felt there was something strange about her. Although she was supposedly his mother in this world, Mu Xueshi felt no particular closeness toward her.
Seen this way, everyone in the manor had become a suspect, while both available leads had already broken off: Mu Xueshi had lost his memory, and Ning Yue was dead.
The Third Prince’s brows drew tighter. At first, he had never truly intended to clear Mu Xueshi’s name. He had only planned to shift the blame onto him while investigating the real killer in secret. Now even the emperor had begun paying attention to Mu Xueshi and the case, which meant the Third Prince had no choice but to find conclusive evidence proving his innocence. If the emperor truly handed down a sentence, even the Third Prince could not defy an imperial decree.
When they returned to Qinyi Courtyard, Mu Xueshi immediately felt as though he had come home. More importantly, he could finally go find Imperial Physician Li. The pain below had troubled him for long enough; he needed the physician to treat it before night fully fell, otherwise he would not even be able to sit while waiting for the Yinglan flower.
The Third Prince sat in his bedchamber reviewing memorials recently submitted by court officials. Most concerned Lubei’s proposed marriage alliance. The thought of King Hao Lin’s wickedly handsome face filled him with dislike, so he closed the memorial and went outside. Realizing that Mu Xueshi had disappeared since their return, he became suspicious and summoned Eunuch Tai’an.
“Reporting to Your Highness, Young Master Xue said he was feeling unwell and went to seek treatment from Imperial Physician Li.”
“Unwell?” The Third Prince frowned slightly.
Eunuch Tai’an bowed. “Yes. I asked Young Master Xue what was wrong, but he would not say. He also looked very anxious when he left.”
The Third Prince narrowed his eyes. A flash of understanding crossed his mind, and he immediately realized what Mu Xueshi meant by “unwell.” With a cold little laugh, he headed toward Imperial Physician Li’s dispensary.
“Why won’t you examine me? Even if you don’t know how to treat it, shouldn’t you at least look before deciding?”
“This… Young Master Xue, I really cannot…”
Looking at Imperial Physician Li’s troubled face, Mu Xueshi was close to losing his mind. How could anyone be this rigid? In a feudal society like this, if something went wrong with a private part of the body, were people simply supposed to wait to die? Besides, they were both men. There was no question of improper contact between man and woman, so what exactly was Physician Li avoiding?
Mu Xueshi argued with him for about one hour, but Physician Li still refused to examine him. Mu Xueshi’s face turned red with frustration. Night was almost fully upon them, and if this continued, he would have to endure the problem for another entire night.
“Are you going to look or not?” Mu Xueshi demanded. He grabbed a sword hanging on the nearby wall and pointed it at Imperial Physician Li. His arm trembled slightly as he tried to frighten the physician into treating him.
Although Imperial Physician Li had gone pale, he still said through unsteady breathing, “Young Master Xue may as well take my life!”
Mu Xueshi finally gave up. He threw the sword down in frustration and said helplessly, “Fine, you win. Ai…”
Imperial Physician Li was already bloodless with fear. His complexion improved slightly when he heard that, only for Mu Xueshi to say firmly in the very next moment, “Then I’ll undress myself. If I take it off, you can at least look, right? Afterward you can prescribe me some medicine. Surely that’s acceptable?”