AWB Chapter 125 Murder Case 8
Chapter 125 Murder Case 8
Even after Xiao Siyue returned home, she kept thinking about the case.
If the child Chen Lan miscarried wasn't Zhu Chong's, then whose was it?
Suddenly, a person flashed into Xiao Siyue's mind.
Old Man Zhu
Could it be Old Man Zhu's? She remembered that when Old Man Zhu was arrested, he initially refused to admit it, but after glancing at Chen Lan, he immediately agreed.
Xiao Siyue felt that she might have found out the truth.
That evening, Lin Qin came to her small study in the yard and took away all her collection of sketchbooks.
Xiao Siyue felt heartbroken. These were the books she used to pass the time, and now they were gone just like that. Her father was too quick; he only mentioned it in the evening, and the books were gone by nightfall.
Xiao Siyue had no choice but to mourn for her sketchbook in her heart.
The next day, Xiao Qinian held court to hear the case. Xiao Siyue thought that her father had already investigated the case thoroughly.
He quickly pulled his two maids to the entrance of the courthouse to watch.
Inside the courtroom, Xiao Qinian, dressed in a light blue official robe and wearing a black gauze hat, sat upright at the table.
"Bring the suspect in," Xiao Qinian said, slamming his gavel.
Everyone saw several constables bringing Old Man Zhu over, and Xiao Siyue and the others quickly made way for him at the door.
Old Man Zhu has been living in fear and anxiety in prison for the past two days. Although it has only been two days, he looks even thinner and much more haggard.
“Old Man Zhu, out of resentment towards his wife, poisoned her to induce sleep, but accidentally caused her death. Old Man Zhu, do you plead guilty?” Xiao Qinian asked.
"I... confess my sins," Old Man Zhu said weakly, his head bowed.
"Good, it's good that you confessed. Now, I'll ask you again: do you have a gang?" Xiao Qinian nodded in satisfaction.
"My lord, it was all done by me alone. I had no accomplices." This time, Old Man Zhu hurriedly shook his head in denial.
“Alright, although you don’t admit it, I have already investigated and found out.” Xiao Qinian was not surprised by Old Man Zhu’s answer.
"The prisoner, Chen Lan."
Upon hearing this, Old Man Zhu looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
But before he could recover from his confusion, Chen Lan had already been brought up.
Old Man Zhu looked at Chen Lan, seemingly wanting to say something. But Chen Lan gave him a look of utter disgust, rendering him speechless.
“Criminal Chen Lan, you poisoned Old Man Chen to put him to sleep and instigated him to murder Old Woman Zhu. You even knowingly added honey to Old Woman Zhu’s pastries, causing her death. Chen Lan, do you plead guilty?” Xiao Qinian recounted Chen Lan’s crimes.
"Chen Lan confessed."
Xiao Siyue looked at the two of them. As expected, Chen Lan was the one who ultimately won.
"What? You added honey to the pastries? Didn't you say that making your wife have a stroke would solve the problem?" Old Man Zhu asked incredulously.
"Haha, just a stroke? That won't do. I want her dead." Chen Lan said through gritted teeth, her voice icy.
"Hahaha, she's finally dead, but why aren't you dead?" Chen Lan laughed loudly, but then looked at Old Man Zhu with a puzzled expression. Although she was smiling, she made Old Man Zhu feel cold all over.
Xiao Qinian realized something was wrong and hurriedly ordered the yamen runners to stop them, but it was too late.
Chen Lan pounced on Old Man Zhu and plunged the hairpin from her hair into his chest.
"Quickly, save them!" Xiao Qinian was extremely anxious.
"Haha, he's hopeless! My hairpin is coated with deadly poison, haha, he's about to die." Chen Lan seemed very happy, her arms were held by the yamen runners, but her body was still shaking with laughter.
"Hand over the antidote immediately." Upon hearing this, Xiao Qinian felt a heavy weight in his heart. Although he felt it was impossible, he still spoke up.
"There's no antidote. This is a poison I prepared specifically for this purpose, and there's always an antidote," Chen Lan said excitedly.
Xiao Siyue never expected that such a scene would occur.
After the doctor came to examine her, it was indeed beyond saving. She was now only clinging to life, and because the doctor did not know what kind of poison she had been given, he was also helpless.
"Chen Lan, why did you kill Old Man Zhu?" Xiao Qinian had no choice.
"Why? Didn't the adults already find out?" Chen Lan said sarcastically.
Xiao Qinian: "..." He knew the general idea, but he never expected Chen Lan to kill someone in court.
"Haha, because he's a beast." Chen Lan ignored Xiao Qinian's embarrassment and said to herself.
After Chen Lan recounted the whole story, everyone present learned what had happened and immediately looked at her with sympathy.
Chen Lan was originally a maid in a wealthy family. She was very kind and loved cooking, so she worked in the master's kitchen most of the time and was very content.
Unexpectedly, he was drawn into the shady dealings of the master's household, and was ultimately made a scapegoat by the master. He was beaten up and left half-dead in a mass grave.
She was later saved by Old Lady Zhu, and she thought it was her salvation, so she was very grateful to Old Lady Zhu.
After arriving at the Zhu family, Old Lady Zhu asked her to marry Zhu Chong. Although she was very unwilling, she eventually agreed because of Old Lady Zhu's life-saving grace.
However, little did she know that this was just the beginning of her nightmare. After the two got married, Chen Lan had to take on almost all the housework. No matter how hard she tried, she, a weak woman, couldn't finish it all. Even so, Old Lady Zhu would still find fault with her and refuse to give her food.
Two years passed, and she still hadn't conceived. Old Mrs. Zhu became even more dissatisfied and started hitting her. Her husband not only ignored her but also joined in the beatings. As for Old Mr. Zhu, he simply watched coldly.
Later, Old Lady Zhu started looking for all sorts of folk remedies for her, such as women's placentas, animal placentas, and even making her eat unborn children.
If she refused, Old Lady Zhu would force-feed her.
One day, while she was taking a bath, she suddenly discovered that someone was peeping at her. Startled, she quickly got dressed and went outside, only to find Old Man Zhu standing there.
At the time, she thought she had seen wrong, but she knew that Old Man Zhu became more and more unscrupulous and would always stare at her with a lewd look.
She lived in constant fear, constantly subjected to beatings and scoldings from Old Mrs. Zhu and the watchful eyes of Old Mr. Zhu.
Until recently, when Old Man Zhu was away from Old Woman Zhu and Zhu Chong, he raped her. She screamed desperately, but no one could save her.
After this incident, Old Man Zhu would always find opportunities to humiliate her.
She had always thought that Old Lady Zhu was unaware of this matter, but unexpectedly she overheard Old Lady Zhu and Zhu Chong's conversation.
It turned out they had known about Old Man Zhu's actions for a long time, but because Zhu Chong was impotent, Old Woman Zhu wanted Chen Lan to get pregnant with Old Man Zhu's child so that the baby would be Zhu Chong's. At that moment, Chen Lan felt like her world had collapsed.
Why is this happening? Why are they so cruel?
The growing hatred in her heart led Chen Lan to devise a plan for revenge.