Lu Qing found Zhu Yu’s meddling quite amusing.

"Let’s go. If there’s nothing pressing that needs our attention here, any remaining matters can wait until we’re on the carriage on the way back," he gestured to the talisman runes beside them, signaling for them to pack up and leave, then said to Zhu Yu, "Otherwise, if that County Magistrate hears there are experts here and comes looking for you, we’ll be put in an awkward position."

Zhu Yu agreed wholeheartedly.

They had their own pressing matters to attend to, all of which were very important, and they truly had no time or energy for anything else.

So they quickly got onto the carriage, and the apprentice from Yunyin Pavilion skillfully drove them back.

Initially, He Min dared not speak, clearly seeing that Zhu Yu and Lu Qing were eager to leave the corpse room, so he kept glancing at their faces but didn’t dare to ask.

"Your daughter’s set of clothes made by Red Jade Fragrance...was she wearing it directly without a middle layer?" Zhu Yu noticed He Min’s gaze and asked a question first.

He Min hadn’t expected Zhu Yu to suddenly ask about this matter, was taken aback, and then nodded, "It seems so.

When we first went to buy that Red Jade Fragrance, Manager Gu from the Headdress and Shoes Workshop said that the clothes came with an inner lining, so there was no need for a middle layer. If a middle layer was worn, the magical effects might not be there anymore.

My daughter was so convinced by it that she probably followed those instructions to the letter.

But as her father...it’s not easy to ask her about such things...

When the incident happened, I also had to ask the neighbor’s wife to help change my daughter’s clothes, replacing them with clean undergarments..."

He spoke while looking at Zhu Yu, wanting to ask but not daring to.

"Your daughter’s death was indeed neither an accident nor due to illness; it was caused by something that drained her blood," Zhu Yu knew what he wanted to ask and directly told him, and then quickly asked, "Now, are you willing to tell me where you hid your daughter’s outfit?"

"At my home, inside a cellar. I can guide you there right now and hand it over to you!" Upon hearing this, He Min’s eyes filled with tears, and if he weren’t too injured to move, he would have wanted to kneel before Zhu Yu and the others in gratitude, "The great kindness of you benefactors is something He Min can never repay in this lifetime, but I will certainly serve you as a servant in my next life to repay this great kindness!

I am just a common man, besides recognizing a few characters, there’s not much else I can do. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Even if I have to give my life, as long as I can avenge my daughter and make those who harmed her pay, I’m willing to do anything!"

"You should lie down and rest well," Lu Qing smiled slightly at He Min, "A teacher who can read and write is someone useful, so don’t think of yourself as useless.

First, tell us where the clothes are. We will settle your daughter’s score later."

He Min repeatedly expressed his gratitude, tears in his eyes, and lay back down.

Following the route he provided, after leaving the corpse room, they circled around to the He Family’s small courtyard, where the talisman went to the cellar and retrieved the hidden clothes.

The clothes were hidden deeply by He Min, stuffed inside an empty wine jar. The talisman thought to pull them out, but Zhu Yu stopped him.

"It’s not wise to act rashly," she shook her head at the talisman, remembering those spiders and rat nests in the secret passage of the Little Mountain Building that still gave her the creeps.

This Red Jade Fragrance is definitely not ordinary fabric; there’s surely something hidden in it. Blindly using one’s hands to touch it now might not be safe.

Even though the clothing was taken off by the neighbor’s wife and hidden in a jar by He Min, their safety doesn’t guarantee anything. Zhu Yu didn’t want the talisman to take that risk.

The carriage swayed on its return to the Capital, going nowhere else but directly to the back entrance of Yunyin Pavilion, after which the talisman and rune escorted He Min back to his convalescent courtyard.

Lu Qing held the jar and returned with Zhu Yu to their own little courtyard. Zhu Yu directed him to place the jar in the middle of the courtyard, in a spot flooded with sunlight, then cheerfully ran off to fetch a long stick used by the rune talisman for martial practice a few days ago.

"You should get some liquor and a torch. Once I smash the jar and use the stick to spread the clothes out in the sun, if any bugs or the like emerge, douse them with alcohol and burn them!"

Zhu Yu instructed Lu Qing, and worried that he might not take it seriously, she grabbed his arm again to remind him, "Do not forget, we don’t have Yan Daoxin with us now. If you’re bitten by any poisonous insects, I won’t have any solution."

Lu Qing sighed softly and nodded, "Alright, don’t worry, I will be cautious."

Afterward, in accordance with Zhu Yu’s suggestion, he prepared strong liquor and a torch, and also took the stick from Zhu Yu: "Let me do it; I’m stronger than you."

Zhu Yu knew that Lu Qing’s injuries from the stick were long healed, so this was nothing to him, and she nodded in agreement.

Lu Qing held one end of the long stick, and from a distance from the jar, he exerted a motion with his wrist, causing the stick to tremble slightly, transmitting force from the end to the tip.

At the moment the stick touched the jar, it made a crisp cracking noise and split in half, revealing the bright red dress inside.

Lu Qing used one end of the long stick to push aside the jar’s broken pieces and then maneuvered the dress to spread it out on the ground, ensuring that the cloth could be exposed to the abundant sunlight that moment.

Neither of them spoke; Zhu Yu instinctively held her breath, her eyes locked onto the dress in the sunlight.

Although she couldn’t be certain of what was inside the dress, considering that the item was likely hidden in the fabric lining, she speculated it might be like the creatures she encountered in the secret passage, possibly afraid of light.

The red dress lined white side out, spread on the ground, looked like a blooming white flower with red edges under the sunlight, without any movement.

Zhu Yu remained cautious, tightly focused, murmuring inwardly.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, just as Zhu Yu was beginning to doubt her speculation, the dress, lying silently under the sun, suddenly moved.

The first time it happened, Zhu Yu thought she imagined it because she had been staring too long.

Until she saw again that indeed something seemed to be wriggling beneath the dress; she then confirmed it was real—the dress was moving.

It seemed her speculation was correct, that something did reside within the dress and feared the light.