Chapter 222: I said this, do you believe me?

After Qilin left, he was about to round up everyone in the manor for questioning when he saw a monk walking over here.

"You're back?"

"Mm."

Qilin was unusually quiet and didn't retort.

The monk just smiled: "What trouble have you run into? Let me, the great master, help you resolve it?"

"Where did you go tonight?" Qilin asked.

"Just inside the manor."

"And you didn't even react when my senior sister was kidnapped?!" Qilin instantly turned into a retorting king.

Monk: "My eyes aren't everywhere in this place all day long."

Qilin pursed his lips and turned to leave.

"Don't go, Qilin benefactor, are you a bit heated?" The monk circled to stand in front of Qilin, leaned in and smirked: "When your brain heats up, your thinking dulls; calm down and use your specialty to magnify the details, and everything will be easily solved."

Qilin furrowed his brows and blinked.

"Use my specialty to magnify the details?"

!!

He got it!

"I'm going to the great prison!"

Qilin vanished in an instant.

By the time he returned, he was full of confidence and pushed open Mu Yuanzhi's door.

"How come you're back again? You figured it out so quickly? Who's the mole?" Gu Rongjin asked.

Mu Yuanzhi also looked expectantly at Qilin.

"I, my senior sister, and General Qi all wanted to go together." Qilin sold a little secret, glancing at Gu Rongjin.

Gu Rongjin curiously asked: "All three of you wanted to go together? How come I'm not on the same page as you?"

"Because you're heated, your brain's on fire." Qilin applied what he'd learned, teasing Gu Rongjin.

Gu Rongjin snorted, "Hurry up and say who it is, I'll definitely not go easy on you!"

"That's what you said—don't go back on it later."

Qilin's words gave Gu Rongjin a bad premonition.

"The mole is A Zi!"

Qilin's words struck Gu Rongjin like a blow to the head, leaving him somewhat dazed.

"Impossible!" He almost blurted out in defense of A Zi: "She and I have grown up together since childhood; I know exactly what kind of person she is. Even if she likes me more, she could never make this kind of principled mistake. You must be mistaken—you all are."

"Senior sister, wasn't what I just said right? He's heated, his mind isn't clear." Qilin said to Mu Yuanzhi.

Gu Rongjin's face darkened considerably, "Qilin..."

"You haven't even heard me out yet, don't rush." Qilin pulled over a chair and sat down, continuing: "I just went to the great prison, saw Xiao Yichen, and smelled a fragrance on him."

Gu Rongjin was a bit impatient, urging: "What fragrance? Say it all at once."

He was anxious inside, and his tone wasn't good either.

Mu Yuanzhi was also waiting for Qilin's words, and she was eager to slap Gu Rongjin's face.

In principle she understood Gu Rongjin's reluctance to believe someone as close as a sister could be the mole, but emotionally she completely didn't want to understand.

"A kind of incense that only Miss A Zi habitually uses." Qilin looked at Gu Rongjin and said: "It's minty purple sandalwood fragrance—refreshing, invigorating, and pleasant-smelling; only she burns this incense here."

Gu Rongjin pondered for a moment, then said: "Even so, that only proves Xiao Yichen has been to A Zi's room."

"But I asked General Qi, and General Qi said that when he questioned her, A Zi said she had never seen Xiao Yichen."

Gu Rongjin: "She's injured, so it's reasonable she was asleep."

"Really? A Frost Descent cultivator, after assassins barge in, still doesn't notice—is that reasonable?" Qilin countered Gu Rongjin.

Seeing Gu Rongjin silent, knowing he couldn't refute, Qilin was about to continue when Gu Rongjin stood up: "I'll go ask her myself."

After saying that, Gu Rongjin turned to Mu Yuanzhi and said: "Little Yuanzhi, rest assured, I will definitely give you an explanation."

"I believe you." Mu Yuanzhi nodded at him.

After Gu Rongjin left, Qilin then asked Mu Yuanzhi: "Senior sister, aren't you coming along?"

"If I go, I might end up being used instead." Mu Yuanzhi said.

Qilin nodded: "All right, we'll just wait and see."

At that moment, Gu Rongjin took a deep breath before knocking on A Zi's door.

"Who's there?"

"Me."

The door soon opened; A Zi stepped aside to let Gu Rongjin in, lifted her gaze to stare at his face, and asked: "Young Master, are you also here to ask about Xiao Yichen?"

Gu Rongjin nodded: "A Zi, I want to hear what you have to say."

"What do you think, Young Master?" A Zi didn't answer, but turned the question back to Gu Rongjin.

Gu Rongjin shook his head, pursed his lips, and said: "A Zi, when did you start always answering my questions with a question? I just want to hear you speak—I'm listening to what you say."

"When did you, Young Master, start always coming to ask me these kinds of questions?"

"A Zi, you don't dare to say it?!" Gu Rongjin's voice suddenly rose: "This matter concerning Little Yuanzhi is more important than my own life."

A Zi's eyes flickered due to Gu Rongjin's sudden change in attitude, as if she had a thousand words to say.

Regardless, Gu Rongjin's expression remained unmoving; he waited for her explanation.

"I haven't seen Xiao Yichen, nor have I betrayed you—I've said this, do you believe me?" A Zi asked.

"Why does he have the incense you like to burn on him?" Gu Rongjin raised his chin, gesturing for her to look at the incense burner ahead.

There was still incense burning, the scent of mint and wisteria.

A Zi also glanced at the incense burner, then looked at Gu Rongjin: "Didn't you say you wanted to listen to me? I spoke, yet you still don't believe me?"

"I'm asking you a question, why do you always beat around the bush?" Gu Rongjin gave A Zi no chance to evade.

A Zi lowered her gaze: "You no longer believe me now."

"Answer me." Gu Rongjin still said the same.

A Zi composed herself, lifted her gaze: "I don't know; perhaps he had entered my room…"

"You wouldn't not know?" Gu Rongjin asked A Zi in the Qilin's words.

"I was asleep, so I didn't know."

Gu Rongjin stopped questioning A Zi and instead paced around the room.

A Zi nervously watched Gu Rongjin; with each step he took, each place he looked, she feared he would notice something, feared she had missed something while tidying up.

"Young Master, what are you looking for?" A Zi asked, pretending not to know.

Gu Rongjin did not answer; he carefully examined every corner of the room, not hoping to find any evidence, hoping everything was just a coincidence, that they were overthinking.

By then, he would properly apologize to A Zi.

Suddenly, Gu Rongjin stopped his steps, intently staring at a certain spot on the window.

A Zi's heart rose to her throat, her breathing unconsciously grew heavier.

"What is this?" Gu Rongjin carefully but firmly pulled out a tiny iron piece with his fingernail, then asked A Zi.

A Zi swallowed: "I... I don't know..."