Chapter 379

Chapter 379: Bring the Evidence

Before Chen Ruo Lan could twist the facts, her plan fell apart.

Chen Wei had shown up today to pin her down for good, and he had made full preparations. He brought both a witness and hard evidence.

He knew how tricky she was-how she could turn lies into truth and steer everyone’s thoughts her way with just a few words. To avoid getting dragged off-course, he didn’t give her a chance to speak at all.

He turned to the young man nearby and said: “Young Doctor Ding, come out.”

The moment Chen Ruo Lan saw him, her expression changed. He looked so much like Doctor Ding-too much like him. If she hadn’t seen Doctor Ding breathe his last with her own eyes, and if she hadn’t cut off his head to make sure he couldn’t pretend to be dead, she might have thought the man before her was Doctor Ding made young again.

Many people knew Doctor Ding. Back then, he was the Martial Alliance’s appointed physician. In the contests held by the Martial Alliance, whenever someone was injured, Doctor Ding was the attending physician. So when they saw the young man’s face, no one doubted he was Doctor Ding’s son.

Young Doctor Ding’s eyes burned with deep hatred as he said: “You venomous woman!”

He had already been older than ten when his father’s tragedy happened, so his memories were very clear. He raised a hand; his rough fingers trembled but still pointed firmly at Chen Ruo Lan’s face as he said: “To force my father to obey you, you captured me and locked me up. To save me, he gave in and agreed to help you trick Elder Alliance Leader Jiang.”

“But Heaven has eyes. It wouldn’t let Elder Alliance Leader Jiang be fooled by your wicked father-daughter pair, so that old thief Chen died of a massive wound infection.”

“At the time you planned to kill my father to silence him, but Second Master Jiang showed up suddenly. You worried the smell of blood would make him suspicious, so my father got to live-for the moment.”

All color drained from Chen Ruo Lan’s face, yet she still struggled as she said: “N-no, that’s not true!”

At some point, the Jiang brothers-Jiang Yu Wei and Jiang Yu Chuan-and their wives, Lin Jing Xuan and Xiao Qing Xuan, had entered the courtyard. Four pairs of eyes watched Chen Ruo Lan coldly, and she felt as if she were sitting on needles.

She pleaded with Jiang Yu Chuan as she said: “Second Brother, believe me, I didn’t do it!”

Xiao Qing Xuan gave a cool smile and said: “It’s Young Doctor Ding who’s accusing you. Why are you looking at my husband? Do you expect him to speak up for you?”

Jiang Yu Chuan quickly waved his hand and said: “Xuan’er, her crimes are unforgivable. How could I help her?”

Chen Ruo Lan swayed on her feet. No matter how many years passed, Jiang Yu Chuan could still hurt her so easily.

Seeing that Jiang Yu Chuan truly wouldn’t help, Young Doctor Ding let out a breath of relief. People often think in strange ways: if someone does evil while claiming to love them, and that evil doesn’t touch them directly, they may feel pity. He had been afraid Jiang Yu Chuan was that type. If Jiang Yu Chuan had helped her, she might really have escaped punishment today.

Afraid of delays, he spoke quickly as he said: “Before he died, my father guessed he might be silenced, so he made two plans. First, he told me the whole truth and planned to send me to a friend. Second, he secretly gathered evidence to hand to Elder Alliance Leader Jiang.”

“Sadly, the night before he could send me away, you came in person with killers. In the rush, my father gave me all the evidence and hid me in our cellar. That’s how I survived.”

He took something from his robe and said: “This is the evidence.”

It was a bloodstained pouch. The pouch was delicate and pretty; at a glance you could tell it belonged to a woman.

Before anyone could ask, Jiang Yu Chuan spoke up as he said: “This is… Chen Ruo Lan’s pouch?”

Xiao Qing Xuan shot him a sharp look and said: “You remember it well, don’t you?”

Jiang Yu Chuan coughed, rubbed his nose, and explained as he said: “It was a birthday gift from Madam Chen when she came of age. She liked orchids, so Madam Chen added a clever design.”

Chen Wei nodded and said: “Right. When our adoptive mother designed this pouch, she stitched the orchid into the shape of the character ‘Lan.’ When Chen Ruo Lan got it, she was delighted and showed it off for a long time.”

“And if I remember right, the first person she showed it to was probably Second Master Jiang.”

Jiang Yu Chuan hurried to tell Xiao Qing Xuan as he said: “I don’t know if I was the first, but when she brought it over, she said it was a gift from her mother. I looked at it only because I was envious. I had no other thoughts!”

Old Madam Jiang passed away early. The Jiang brothers grew up without a mother, so when they saw how other mothers cared for their children, they couldn’t help feeling a little jealous.

Seeing no one doubted who owned the pouch, Young Doctor Ding went on as he said: “Before dying, my father secretly tore off Chen Ruo Lan’s pouch and hid it in his sleeve. This woman has a snake’s heart and was very cautious-she even cut off his head to stop him from playing dead-but afterward she didn’t search his body.”

“She lit a fire to burn away all the evidence.”

“I slipped out before the flames spread. I wanted to carry my father’s body away, but I was too small and not strong enough. The pouch fell out when his body was moved.”

“Later I learned that she didn’t just use this pouch for money-she also hid shady things in it.”

“For example, some notes she didn’t have time to get rid of.”

He poured out what was inside. Along with a few small silver ingots, there were two slips of paper.

One note said: “Lin Ji Zhen is dead.” It was signed with the character “Dai” (?).

The other said: “Once I kill Ding Cheng Zhi with my own hands, no one will ever know.” It was signed “Lan.”

It seemed to be a note Chen Ruo Lan had written to someone but hadn’t had time to send.

Lin Ji Zhen was a well-known merchant in the Martial World twenty years ago. He was famous for a pill called the Feign-Death Pill, and he sold only three each year.

At first glance, the first note looked odd. But if you connect it with Chen Tie Sheng’s fake death and Chen Ruo Lan’s motive to silence anyone who knew, it becomes clear: Chen Ruo Lan and “Dai” killed Lin Ji Zhen to cover their tracks.

The second note directly points to Chen Ruo Lan as the murderer who wiped out Doctor Ding’s family.

With her “kill to silence” confirmed by these notes, everything else Chen Wei and Young Doctor Ding accused her of became even more believable.

Besides the pouch, Young Doctor Ding also took out a patient record from a clinic called Huichun Hall. The name written on it was Chen Ruo Lan.