Chapter 380

Chapter 380: Case Nailed Shut

The time was the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, eighteen years ago.

The clinic note listed the reason for the visit: poor appetite and repeated vomiting over three days.

The diagnosis read: “joy pulse”-more than one month pregnant.

That date-eighteen years ago on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month-fell just before Chen Ruo Lan’s wedding.

This file proved that Chen Ruo Lan was already pregnant before she married.

Physician Ding Xiao also produced another record: the treatment file from when Chen Tie Sheng blocked a sword strike back then.

This record was decisive.

Inside it lay a prescription for treating external injuries.

The pharmacy that filled the medicine was Huichun Hall.

Huichun Hall had kept its dispensing log, and Physician Ding Xiao had secured a copy.

This last piece of evidence nailed down the fact that Chen Tie Sheng had faked his death.

After all, the medicine was picked up after the time he was officially declared dead.

And everyone knows the dead don’t need medicine.

With these proofs, the credibility of the two witnesses-especially Chen Wei-shot up several levels.

For example, it became believable that Chen Tie Sheng staged his “death” to squeeze gratitude and force Elder Alliance Leader Jiang to agree to the marriage between Chen Ruo Lan and Jiang Yu Chuan; after the couple had a child, he planned to remove the father but keep the baby, hoping to control the Martial Alliance through the infant heir.

Another example:

Back then, Chen Ruo Lan deliberately set up a misunderstanding to make Xiao Qing Xuan leave the Martial Alliance in anger.

Chen Wei had not yet been in trouble at that time. When he heard the news, he rushed out on instinct. He didn’t stop Second Madam Xiao from going down the mountain, but he did foil an assassination aimed at her.

Jiang Yu Chuan was stunned and asked: “What did you say-an assassination?”

Chen Wei nodded and said: “Chen Ruo Lan is deep and calculating. I heard she lured you, Second Master, over on purpose, and Second Madam left the mountain because of the misunderstanding. I guessed she wouldn’t stop at that, so I chased after her as fast as I could.”

He continued: “Sure enough, I found an ambush.”

He explained: “Those men hid along the road down the mountain and planned to attack Second Madam. I worried she might upset her pregnancy if I startled her, so I didn’t approach. Instead, I made a small commotion to draw her onto another path. By the time the ambushers realized something was wrong, Second Madam was already far away. They discovered me after, and to avoid alerting their real target, they stopped chasing her.”

Xiao Qing Xuan said in sudden understanding: “So it was you.”

When she went down the mountain that day, she had heard a distant sound like a wolf’s howl.

Since Mount Ming is indeed a mountain, with many forests around it, wolves appearing wasn’t unusual.

She had even gone wolf-hunting with the bodyguards before.

But that day she was alone and heavily pregnant. Though her martial arts were decent, she didn’t dare fight a whole pack, so she chose a detour.

Later she did find it odd, because wolves are very crafty and rarely show up in busy places in broad daylight. And the road she took was the main avenue leaving Mount Ming, where people passed often. She had never heard of wolf packs wandering so near the road. But so much happened afterwards, and soon she had one of her souls stolen; there was no way to look into it again.

The trial against Chen Ruo Lan went unusually smoothly.

Witnesses and physical evidence were all present.

Physician Ding Xiao even revealed that Chen Xin Yue was not born within the marriage.

In other words, when Chen Ruo Lan’s marriage fell apart back then, her husband indeed bore some blame, but she herself was no innocent.

Physician Ding Xiao even knew that Chen Xin Yue’s biological father was Ji Guang Dai.

Today’s trial shocked the whole martial world and shattered the rosy filter many people held for the Chen mother and daughter.

Once the truth of Chen Tie Sheng’s “death” came out, Chen Ruo Lan could no longer pose as the orphan left by the Jiang clan’s lifesaving benefactor.

Adding in all the secret things she had done against the Martial Alliance, the Jiang clan brothers tacitly agreed to expel her from the Martial Alliance.

No one even needed to worry about where she would go after leaving, because she had murdered Physician Ding and his wife back then; that crime alone could keep her in prison for life-and even a death sentence wouldn’t be too much.

This whole farce began with a plot against Yu Zhi Yi and ended with the total disgrace of the Chen mother and daughter-and it dragged in You Bing Yue as well.

Whether others were satisfied, Yu Zhi Yi didn’t know; she herself was.

Nuan’er was satisfied too.

Even as a ghost, her bad habits hadn’t changed.

She had always fawned on the high and stepped on the low. Deep down, people like that don’t truly admire status; they’re just afraid of power and forced to flatter it. If the day came when she held power and could trample people who once ranked above her, she would stomp them without mercy.

So when she saw Chen Xin Yue’s backing collapse and not a single person in the Jiang clan beg for the mother and daughter, the bitter anger in her chest melted away-and she even felt glad.

Then her form loosened.

When she realized it, the Ghost Gate had already opened.

She blurted out: “Wh-what’s going on?”

Nuan’er was baffled. She didn’t want to give up the chance to reincarnate, but she hadn’t planned to go this soon-she still had enemies!

Yu Zhi Yi watched her with a calm smile and said: “Your obsession has dissolved, and you didn’t do anything truly evil as a ghost. Naturally, you can go reincarnate.”

Of course, it wasn’t that Nuan’er didn’t want to do evil-it was that she hadn’t had time. Yu Zhi Yi had kept an eye on her; if letting her hurt or even kill someone had been the price, [I would have thrown away my cultivation base to stop it.]

Tang Ming Xuan gave the order to tie up the Chen mother and daughter and You Bing Yue. Since both had schemed against Yu Zhi Yi, they could not be allowed to walk free. He would escort them back to the Capital City and hand them over for Your Majesty’s judgment.

Hearing Tang Ming Xuan’s order, Du Zi Heng’s expression shifted. He looked at Yu Zhi Yi with pleading eyes and asked: “Yi’er, could you forgive Bing Yue this once? She didn’t mean it.”

Before Yu Zhi Yi could answer, Jiang Liu Yi cut in coldly and said: “If you like forgiving people who hurt you, that’s your business-don’t try moral blackmail on my sister.”

He added: “Besides, you don’t have much morality to begin with.”

Yu Zhi Yi couldn’t help laughing. [When did my own brother get this sharp-tongued?]

She looked at the sorrow on Du Zi Heng’s face, put away her smile, and said without expression: “My brother is right. If you want to play saint, that’s your choice-don’t force your views on me.”

She said: “I won’t forgive her, and I won’t release her.”

Du Zi Heng asked in frustration: “Do you have to be so aggressive, Yi’er?”

Yu Zhi Yi let out a breathy laugh and said: “Aggressive? I just want to punish an evildoer who tried to harm me-does that count as aggressive? By your logic, what do you call the many times You Bing Yue plotted to hurt me?”

She finished: “Does she not even count as a person?”