Chapter 401 - 399: Heaven’s Net Is Wide, Yet None Can Slip Through (Part 1)

Chapter 401: Chapter 399: Heaven’s Net Is Wide, Yet None Can Slip Through (Part 1)

Mr. Yao was slightly taken aback.

Lin Chengzhao admitted that Shi Wenfeng was his subordinate, but said the poisoning was not his order.

To a normal person, it would sound like he was making excuses.

A government official standing next to him immediately said, "Master Lin, do you take us for fools? Are you trying to say someone else approached Shi Wenfeng to bribe him into poisoning? And that person happened to be your subordinate? Such coincidences don’t happen in this world!"

Lin Chengzhao’s face turned deathly pale, and he gritted his teeth, "It really wasn’t me..."

"Indeed, it wasn’t him."

A clear and calm female voice rang out, and everyone present looked at Xu Jing in astonishment, thinking they had just misheard.

Xu Jing paused and said, "The person who instructed Shi Wenfeng to poison indeed wasn’t him."

Mr. Yao frowned slightly, "Miss Xu, if you believed Master Lin wasn’t the mastermind, then why... cough cough cough, why did you tell me earlier that he was highly suspect, prompting me to have him arrested?"

He originally thought that the person least likely to believe Lin Chengzhao’s words was Xu Jing.

Otherwise, why would she go so far as to arrest him first and report later?

Xu Jing smirked and said, "Who said I suggested arresting Master Lin because of Shi Wenfeng’s case?"

Mr. Yao was momentarily stunned.

Lin Chengzhao seemed to have realized something, his body began to tremble slightly, and he looked at Xu Jing with a look of despair and plea.

Yet Xu Jing didn’t even spare him a glance, and coldly said, "Cheng Xiao just told me that when my people went to arrest Master Lin, he had already packed up and was preparing to flee the Capital City with his family. Had my people been a step later, he might have already escaped.

Simply ordering Shi Wenfeng to poison the medicine at our Xinglin Hall wouldn’t necessitate fleeing the Capital City with his entire family in such a panic. Besides, at that time, the authorities hadn’t even found out who the poisoner was.

His attempt to escape wasn’t because of Shi Wenfeng’s poisoning but because of a far more heinous crime. Twenty-four years ago, the epidemic that swept through three prefectures near the Western Capital was orchestrated by him!"

As soon as Xu Jing finished speaking, Lin Chengzhao, who looked like he had fallen into an abyss, suddenly shouted in a frenzied manner, "I didn’t do it! You vile woman, you are slandering me! I will kill you! Kill you!"

However, Xu Jing merely gave him a mocking look, completely ignoring his words, and sneered, "Lin Chengzhao, if you hadn’t realized there’s no chance of redeeming yourself, you wouldn’t give up such a vast enterprise to flee.

Back then, Zhu Shunxi, who helped you commit such a monstrous crime, has confessed everything. He said that at the time, you harbored boundless ambition and weren’t satisfied with your Guangming Hall being just a small, obscure clinic. So you bribed the staff of several rice shops across the three prefectures to poison the rice they sold. Unaware civilians who ate the poisoned rice suffered from food poisoning, but since so many people were afflicted simultaneously, many mistakenly believed it was a dreadful epidemic.

The culprit behind this so-called epidemic was you, and naturally, only you knew how to treat this illness. Because of this, you developed a special medicine for the epidemic, earning unmatched glory and fame. Your Guangming Hall, just as you wished, became one of the largest medical establishments in Great Chu within a few short years.

The staff at the rice shops you bribed were later killed by you using various methods to silence them. However, Zhu Shunxi and Yang Shao weren’t fools; they saw what happened to those staff and feared the same fate awaited them, so they secretly kept some of the correspondence between you and those staff as a safeguard for themselves, in case you ever turned against them.

Over the years, you hid your fear and malice towards them deep in your heart, disguising yourself as a benevolent and even somewhat weak boss, effectively quelling their vigilance. Thus, Yang Shao fell into your trap so easily and was assassinated by a killer you hired, not even having time to use the protective measures he’d kept hidden all these years!"

As Xu Jing spoke, Lin Chengzhao’s complexion worsened, the hair at his temples soaked in sweat, his whole body shaking as if it might fall apart at any moment. Yet, he was unable to utter a single rebuttal, only instinctively and meaninglessly repeating, "No way."

The people in the authorities were already stunned when Xu Jing revealed that the terrible and bizarre epidemic twenty-four years ago was caused by Lin Chengzhao. It took them a while to absorb her shocking words.

My heavens, who could have known that such a small poisoning case would uncover connections to the epidemic that shook Great Chu twenty-four years ago!

Seeing that Lin Chengzhao still had a little self-awareness and didn’t continue with pointless denials, Xu Jing sneered and said, "Zhu Shunxi witnessed Yang Shao being brutally murdered by you and realized that even the letters he secretly kept from those years might not guarantee his life. Hence, he told us everything from back then without holding back, and even handed over the letters he kept hidden.

Today, I have already had Zhu Shunxi and those letters brought here. Soon, I will hand all this over to the Western Capital authorities, Lin Chengzhao. The net of heaven is wide, but no one can escape its mesh. It’s time for you to atone for the sins you committed back then!"

As Xu Jing concluded her firm and decisive words, Lin Chengzhao immediately seemed to lose all his strength, collapsing to the ground, utterly limp like a lifeless heap of mud.

Mr. Yao finally reacted, instinctively clenching his fists tight, and his eyes reddened as he glared at Lin Chengzhao before him, "So it was you behind the epidemic back then!"

At that time, the three prefectures where the epidemic broke out were near the Western Capital. Mr. Yao’s hometown happened to be in one of them, and his eldest brother and sister-in-law were lost in the epidemic.

He had coincidentally avoided the catastrophe by studying in another prefecture at the time.

How could he have imagined that his eldest brother and sister-in-law weren’t taken by the epidemic but were murdered! And the killer was right before him!

Involuntarily, he bit down hard on his teeth, wishing he could immediately tear the perpetrator to pieces, until the pain in his gums brought him back a shred of reason. He took a deep breath, and with a slightly trembling voice said, "I understand. I will now report this to Jiang Zhaoyin and ensure a thorough re-investigation of the truth behind the epidemic twenty-four years ago!"

As he spoke, he seemed to have thought of something, turning to Xu Jing and asking in a hoarse voice, "Miss Xu, when did you find out that he orchestrated the epidemic back then?"