“My lord, what do you mean by that?”
Lin Qingge did not answer Li Xiaolian’s question directly. Instead, she craned her neck and shouted, “Someone, bring in the second witness.”
Immediately after, an old woman with white hair was helped in.
“This old woman, Qin, greets my lord.”
“Please, do not stand on ceremony, elder.”
As Lin Qingge spoke, she gestured for the old woman to move aside.
She had originally wanted to offer a supporting hand, but after meeting the displeased, even hostile gaze of the young woman beside the old woman, she sheepishly withdrew her hand.
However, the sudden appearance of the old woman caused both Wen Bo and Madam Xing to change their expressions in unison.
“You old hag, how did you end up here?”
It was Madam Xing who spoke, her face filled with disgust.
But the old woman, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, said with a tearful voice, “My lord, since my son left home nineteen years ago, he has never once returned.
It wasn’t until a year ago that someone came to our village inquiring about my son. I vaguely sensed something was amiss, so I asked Zhuzi from the same village to travel to Jingzhou.
Who would have thought that not long after, news would come that Zhuzi was ambushed and killed by bandits on the road.
This time, I could no longer sit idly by.
But what could I do even if I couldn’t sit still? Let alone travel to Jingzhou, I had trouble even leaving my home.
Fortunately, I had her.”
As she spoke, the old woman cast a grateful glance at the young woman beside her.
“She accompanied me tirelessly to the capital and found a high-ranking official there.
That official, I believe his name was Feng something, he was very handsome and had no airs of officialdom, though his liver fire was a bit strong, with more bloodshot veins in his eyes than mine.
Not only did this official accept my case, but he also assigned a specialist to handle it.”
“Elder, are you referring to Lin Yan, the clerk from the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen?”
“Yes, it’s this young man. After understanding the situation, he brought me directly to Jingzhou without a word.
Clerk Lin originally intended to arrange for me to stay at an inn, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Yesterday, I impatiently went to the door of the Li residence, only to be turned away.”
Hearing the old woman’s words, Yan Tinghao couldn’t help but click his tongue.
“I say, old woman, your son hasn’t returned home for nineteen years, and you only now remember to go to the capital to file a complaint, looking for your son?”
Ignoring Yan Tinghao’s blustering, Lin Qingge calmly asked, “Elder, please tell everyone your son’s name.”
“Answering my lord, this old woman’s son’s name is Li Derui, Li for plum, De for virtue, and Rui for auspiciousness.”
As the old woman spoke, everyone present was stunned.
“This is impossible!
The master’s parents died long ago!”
Madam Xing shrieked, her composure lost as she gaped.
Because Li Derui was none other than the real name of Steward Li.
So, was this white-haired old woman before them actually the mother of Steward Li?!
But if this old woman was Steward Li’s mother, why did she come to the capital to file a complaint, looking for her son?
Could it be that this old woman was insane?
Or, was everything she said fabricated from thin air?
Seeing the varied expressions on their faces, Lin Qingge took a step forward and explained, “Because this case is quite peculiar, I went to the Jingzhou County Yamen last night and retrieved the case files of Li Bei and his wife falling off the cliff nineteen years ago for careful perusal.
I discovered two interesting points.
The first is that the case files of Li Bei and his wife falling off the cliff nineteen years ago had fewer dust particles than other case files from the same period.
Clearly, they had been disturbed recently, perhaps within the last year.
The second point is that although the deceased’s face was disfigured, their birthmark remained.
According to the elder Qin, her son Li Derui had a large birthmark on the inside of his thigh, which coincidentally was also recorded in the case files as an irregularly shaped birthmark the size of a palm on the inner thigh of the deceased.”
“Wait!
My lord, are you saying that Li Derui, not Li Bei, died more than a decade ago?
But if Li Derui died, then what about Steward Li?”
Yan Tinghao scratched his head, completely bewildered.
“This story goes back a long, long time.
According to the investigations of your student, it was not the first time Li Derui and Li Bei came to Jingzhou nineteen years ago.
Before that, they had already spent more than half a year in Jingzhou~”
Hua Jinrong, who had slipped away to escape, had somehow reappeared. However, due to Leng Ningyue’s oppressive aura, he did not enter the house. Instead, he stood by the window, fanning himself and spoke with an air of self-importance.
“Initially, they worked as companions and did manual labor, but the wages they earned were barely enough for food, drink, and lodging.
So, the two with restless minds decided to find another way.
Fortunately, Li Bei was not an ordinary villager and was quite handsome.
Of course, compared to your student, he wouldn’t even qualify to carry your student’s shoes~”
“Get to the point!”
“Yes, my lord~”
Hua Jinrong’s eyebrows rose, his alluring gaze halfway to completion before being shattered by a sharp look from his own wife.
Despite this, Hua Jinrong still smiled, continuing on his own accord:
“In my student’s opinion, Li Derui and Li Bei were quite resourceful.
They pooled their remaining silver, rented a courtyard that, while remote, looked quite respectable.
Then, they changed their attire.
From two common laborers, they transformed into a fallen scion of a wealthy family and his attendant.
The impoverished noble is always a popular character in storybooks.
And just as they had planned, after some deliberate coincidental encounters and pursuits, they finally managed to marry the daughter of a prominent family in Jingzhou.
However, it would be more accurate to say they married into the family, rather than wooed her~”
“But Advisor Hua, what does marrying into the family have to do with Li Derui, or Steward Li’s death?”
“Tsk, it has a great deal to do with it~
Because Li Bei already had an engagement before leaving home, to avoid being found by acquaintances and exposed, they discussed it and decided that Li Bei would use Li Derui’s name.
In other words, Steward Li is not the real Li Derui, but Li Bei impersonating him~”
Upon hearing Hua Jinrong’s words, Madam Xing, one of the parties involved, was the first to be unable to accept it.
“No, you must be lying to me!
The master told me his parents died!
I know!
You must have set your sights on our Li family’s fortune!
That’s why you found this dying old woman and conspired together to set a trap, all for the purpose of plundering our Li family’s wealth!”
“The one whose parents were truly deceased was Li Bei.
Li Bei’s parents were bitten to death by fierce beasts while collecting herbs for a village elder.
Out of guilt, the elder betrothed his own daughter to Li Bei.
As for Li Derui, although he had no father, he had a mother who relied on him.”
After Lin Qingge finished speaking, Yan Tinghao still looked bewildered:
“My lord, if the one who died was indeed Li Derui, then how did the fake Steward Li manage to avoid exposure for so many years?”
“If, in the name of Li Derui, he wrote a letter to Li Derui’s mother, Qin, saying that he had married the daughter of a wealthy family.
And to avoid being looked down upon by the bride’s family, he wouldn’t be able to return to visit his mother for the time being, urging his mother to take care of herself alone~
In this way, Qin, being a village woman, would neither be suspicious nor dare to rashly travel to Jingzhou.
Tsk tsk, it’s as if he had nothing to fear~”
Communication in that era was already extremely backward, so with one party deliberately concealing the truth, not seeing each other for over a decade wasn’t entirely unbelievable.
With this in mind, Lin Qingge looked at Li Xiaolian, whose face had turned ashen, and revealed a cruel truth:
“The Steward Li you killed was not your sworn enemy, but your biological father, Li Bei.”