At the scene, besides Chen Han, Zhong Wu, and Jiang Tao, as well as a host of soldiers, there were also members of the Criminal Police Team and some female soldiers who had been specifically called to help communicate with the deceived girls.
At this moment, the looks directed at Chen Han were peculiar, especially from the female soldiers; perhaps due to the camaraderie of gender, their gazes held a flavor of shared enmity towards him.
Chen Han was genuinely troubled now. It wasn’t that he minded being misunderstood; he just feared that the Criminal Police Team, out of sympathy for Chen Lijuan, might handle the case with leniency, allowing her to escape.
But for him to defend himself...
To those aware of the real situation, Chen Lijuan’s words were riddled with flaws, but to these unsuspecting people... her acting was indeed remarkable, vividly portraying a woman tragically betrayed and framed by a faithless man.
He did wish to present solid proof to refute her claims, but after so many years and with his hometown being so far from the Capital, where could he possibly find evidence now?
But if he were to reveal the truth, with Chen Lijuan’s prior speech, those present might suspect him of cleverly fabricating his details.
Chen Lijuan’s confidence probably stemmed from knowing this.
After all his cleverness, was he to be fooled by this woman again?
"Miss Chen, you said Chen Han accidentally killed his own mother. Can you tell us when that happened?" Suddenly, Jiang Tao, adjusting his glasses, flipped through the documents in his hand and asked.
"Fourteen years ago." Chen Lijuan felt there was no need to fabricate this detail.
"Heh..." Jiang Tao suddenly let out a light chuckle, and Chen Lijuan felt a bad premonition as he displayed the documents to everyone, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Chen Han’s service record. Fourteen years ago, he was serving in the military in J Province, but from ’72 to ’74, for three consecutive years, he didn’t take any family leave because he was on the battlefield in Vietnam, only returning for leave after the end of the Vietnam War in ’75. So, how could he have flown from the Vietnam battlefield to Xinxiang County to accidentally kill his own mother?"
As the guard responsible for handling paperwork for Shen Chi, Jiang Tao had access to the service records of all soldiers under Shen Chi’s command.
Hearing this, the crowd’s gaze towards Chen Lijuan suddenly shifted.
"Perhaps I remembered it wrong." Chen Lijuan’s expression remained unchanged, but she was already panicking inside.
Could that even be misremembered?
Jiang Tao chuckled again. Although he didn’t speak out loud, everyone seemed to hear the unspoken thoughts in his mind.
However, he didn’t dwell on this point, instead kindly reminding, "Even if you, Miss Chen, remembered it wrong, let me remind you of something. When Chen Han came down from the battlefield, he had been severely injured by close-range artillery, was vomiting, unconscious at times, couldn’t even stand, and couldn’t hear people’s voices. When he returned to his hometown, his fellow soldiers had to carry him back. In this condition, how could he have accidentally killed his own mother?"
Just as Chen Lijuan was about to speak, Jiang Tao interrupted, "Don’t say it was after that. Ever since that return when he found out his parents were gone, Chen Han never took family leave to go back, except occasionally to visit his two sisters who were married far away, to give them money and ask them to burn more paper money for his parents during Qingming."
"Until ’84 when he was transferred to Shanghai, he specifically took leave during Qingming to visit his parents’ graves."
Chen Lijuan’s face was now devoid of color, but Jiang Tao wasn’t ready to let her off, "When Chen Han’s father died, you embezzled all of the Chen Family’s wealth and planned to flee, but Aunt Chen discovered it, and you accidentally killed her in the ensuing struggle."
"You’re lying!" Chen Lijuan cried, "Why would I take the family’s money and run away just because my father-in-law died? Chen Han was still actively serving in the military at that time. Why wouldn’t I want to live a good life together? Why would I want to leave?"
"You and Chen Han must be in cahoots, his records must have been altered. No wonder he didn’t stop me from revealing the truth just now, he was waiting for this..."
"Because you found out in the hospital that you were infertile," Chen Han said sternly, "You were afraid that I would divorce you upon returning, leaving you with nothing, worried that the vast Chen Family wealth would go to another woman."
At this moment, Chen Lijuan’s expression was truly ugly. She choked up and said, "Even if you want to frame me, you shouldn’t concoct such humiliating reasons."
"If you’re still unconvinced, I can arrange for you to go to the hospital for another examination," before Chen Lijuan could say anything, Chen Han followed up and blocked her words, "If you don’t trust the military hospital’s doctors, we can have the Criminal Police Team take you to any hospital you choose, and I’ll cover all the expenses."