Chapter 606 Searching for Clues

Ji Yuntang thought for a moment, then took out two masks from her space.

One was a silver openwork mask, the other a golden openwork mask. The two masks were clearly a matching couple's set, both exquisitely crafted.

Ji Yuntang said mischievously, "You need to cover up that face of yours. What if some girl sees you when we go out? I'd be jealous."

She was just teasing, because there was no way they'd be hanging around crowded spots on this trip.

They would definitely avoid the crowds and make sure no one recognized them.

Ji Yuntang was just about to hand the silver mask to Luo Junhe for him to put on himself when she saw him bend down on his own.

He leaned his face toward her, his alluring eyes staring straight at Ji Yuntang, and his thin lips parted.

"A Tang, put it on for me."

Ji Yuntang's hand trembled, and her heart started racing.

God, a Luo Junhe like this was practically asking for trouble, and she couldn't say no to him.

Ji Yuntang's gaze fell on his full, rosy lips, and without thinking, she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.

Luo Junhe was stunned for a second, as if he hadn't expected her to be so bold.

When he snapped out of it, he reached out with his large palm and gently cupped the back of Ji Yuntang's head, pulling her deeper into the kiss.

They only pulled apart when they heard footsteps approaching.

Chen Hu was a blunt guy. When he came over and saw the two acting weird, he didn't read too much into it.

He spoke up, saying, "Your Highnesses, the carriage is ready at the back gate."

Ji Yuntang nodded, then put on the golden openwork mask and took Luo Junhe's hand, heading to the back gate of Prince Ye's mansion.

Chen Hu drove the carriage. Once Luo Junhe gave him the address, he sped the carriage toward the city outskirts.

They didn't stop until they saw a small courtyard named "Jun Ting."

"Your Highnesses, we've arrived at the villa."

Ji Yuntang jumped down from the carriage, and when she saw the name of the villa, she thought it was quite elegant.

This place was at least ten li from the capital, nestled among mountains and water on all sides. This was the only courtyard here, which made it stand out.

After leaving the city, the farther they went, the fewer people they saw, which showed just how remote this place was.

Ji Yuntang suddenly realized why those people had hidden the smuggled salt here.

She took a careful look at the villa. Since no one had lived here for a long time, the outer walls had fallen into disrepair, and in some spots, the plaster was peeling.

Moss had grown in the cracks of the stone steps at the entrance. A few old trees swayed in the wind, with weeds growing wild beneath them—a desolate, empty scene.

While Ji Yuntang looked around, Luo Junhe had already walked to the wooden door.

When his gaze fell on the lock, his pupils narrowed involuntarily.

He recognized it almost immediately—this wasn't the lock for his villa.

Although he hadn't visited this villa much, he knew for a fact that all properties under Prince Ye's residence used the same locks.

They used mortise locks, but this door had a padlock, and it looked at least two or three years old.

Padlocks were common, so at first glance, nothing seemed off. But Luo Junhe sensed something was off.

The lock on the villa had been replaced. That meant someone had set their sights on this place as early as three years ago.

They'd brought in over a thousand jin of smuggled salt—there was no way they'd climbed over the walls.

The only explanation was that when they'd targeted the villa, someone had already broken the mortise lock.

Ji Yuntang walked over and, seeing his face, asked knowingly, "Something wrong with the lock?"

Luo Junhe said, "Mm, someone replaced the mortise lock on this villa's door."

He then asked Ji Yuntang, "A Tang, can you get this padlock off without damaging it?"

Since the lock had been replaced, the key he'd brought was useless.

Although Luo Junhe could use his internal energy to blast the padlock off, doing so would ruin the lock's original structure. Then it would be much harder to use the lock to track down clues later.

Ji Yuntang knew what he was thinking. She looked at the padlock and saw it wasn't complicated.

"Let me give it a shot."

She pulled a thin piece of wire from her space, slipped it into the keyhole from the bottom, and gave it a few gentle twists.

With a click, the lock popped open.

Luo Junhe picked it up and handed it to Chen Hu to store away, then took Ji Yuntang's hand and led her into the villa.

This was a two-courtyard layout, front and back. A quick glance showed the outer doors were weathered and damaged by wind and rain. The ground was covered in dead yellow leaves that crunched underfoot.

Luo Junhe pushed open a door, and dust came raining down. He quickly raised his sleeve to protect Ji Yuntang.

Inside the room, small white particles were scattered across the floor.

Ancient salt wasn't as refined as modern salt. Most of it was coarse salt, with grains much larger than modern salt.

So even after three years, the salt grains on the ground hadn't completely broken down.

Ji Yuntang put on gloves, pulled out a disposable sealed bag, and scooped up some salt grains from the floor.

Then she kept looking for other clues.

Luo Junhe, meanwhile, opened the furniture and checked each piece one by one.

After checking everything, he found nothing special in the room besides the salt grains.

Both the wardrobe and the bookshelf were completely empty.

Just then, Luo Junhe caught something suspicious out of the corner of his eye.

He walked over quickly and saw a faint five-finger handprint on the desk not far away.

The print was tiny, and he couldn't tell at a glance if it was a man's or a woman's.

Luo Junhe called Ji Yuntang over. "A Tang, come take a look at this quickly."

Ji Yuntang heard him calling her, stopped what she was doing, and hurried over.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered a handprint on the desk.

If this had been anywhere else, it would have been covered in dust and barely visible after three years.

But since it was on the desk and in a relatively inconspicuous spot, it had been preserved fairly well.

Ji Yuntang quickly took out an ink pad, pressed it against the sealed area, and lifted the fingerprint.

After doing that, she searched the room again and, unsurprisingly, found a matching fingerprint on the windowsill, along with two shoe prints.

Ji Yuntang lifted each one using the ink pad.

There was no forensic examiner here, but fortunately, she had read a book on criminal investigation before. Ji Yuntang brought the prints into her private space, scanned and printed them out using computer imaging technology.

The suspect's fingerprints and palm prints were now perfectly clear.

But even so, Ji Yuntang was still completely baffled.

------------