Chapter 23 The Truth Revealed

Seeing the chairman indeed devoid of all imposing manner, just as Master Shui had said, Huai Yi finally felt relieved. He grinned, wiping the blood from his sword as he sarcastically addressed the chairman, "No trouble at all, not one bit. This young master is just doing the world a favor by getting rid of scum like you!"

The chairman shook his head with a wry smile. "You weren't saying that yesterday. If only I had granted your request and accepted you into the Night Watch."

Upon hearing this, Huai Yi immediately became agitated. He waved his sword at the chairman, trembling with anger. "You villain! You're slandering me! Don't drag innocent people down with you on your deathbed! I warn you, Huai Yi will never rest until you're dead!"

Wang Qi, who had been serious-faced, suddenly laughed, feigning confusion as he looked at Huai Yi. "Why are you so worked up?"

"Huh? Am I worked up? Don't talk nonsense, I'm not worked up at all," Huai Yi loudly defended himself, as if that would clear him of suspicion.

Worried that the chairman would reveal more of his dirty secrets, Huai Yi couldn't help but step forward, intending to silence him. But the chairman seemed to have anticipated his move and held out a hand, stopping him. "Wait, I'm a dying man. Can't you let me say a few words?"

"No!" Huai Yi blurted out.

The chairman waved his hand. "Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you."

Huai Yi: "Oh, then go ahead and speak."

In the next second, Fatty Yao Shunyu looked at Huai Yi with suspicion, wondering how much information this kid had leaked behind their backs. He probably even told them his favorite instant noodle flavor.

Feeling scrutinized by Fatty and the others, Huai Yi became embarrassed. He hesitated, thinking that stabbing the chairman to death now wouldn't be difficult, but silencing him in such an obvious way seemed too blatant.

"Did you do too many bad things and want to repent before you die?" Jiang Cheng slowly walked towards the chairman, casually picking up a long, not-so-sharp wooden stick. He wouldn't give the chairman too much time. Jiang Cheng had seen too many stories where dawdling led to a reversal.

The chairman wasn't flustered. In fact, he was remarkably calm. He smiled at Jiang Cheng and said, "Whether something is evil or not is not for you to define. It depends on how the books the children read in the decades to come interpret it."

"But you won't see that day," Jiang Cheng said, quickening his pace as he gripped the wooden stick.

"I have more to say, but not to you." The chairman's gaze bypassed Jiang Cheng and landed on Master Shui. "Old man, you pride yourself on loyalty, but have you really lived up to it? The person who saved you, will you avenge him?"

Master Shui's face instantly darkened. "Enough nonsense, it's none of your business!"

The chairman didn't argue with Master Shui's reprimand, but turned his head to look at Wu Yingying, who was closely following Jiang Cheng, on guard. After a moment, the chairman suddenly smiled. "Alright, then I'll say something that concerns me. Yingying, do you remember me?"

The moment the word "Yingying" left his mouth, Wu Yingying froze in her tracks. She looked at the corpse with disbelief.

Under Wu Yingying's astonished gaze, a figure far more illusory than before emerged from the corpse. Still wearing that gentle smile, the chairman appeared before everyone. At this moment, the chairman not only looked harmless, but even somewhat gentle, with a scholarly air about him.

The next second, the chairman reached up to his face and tore it off. What followed stunned everyone present. A layer of skin was peeled away, revealing another face beneath… a face that was identical to Jiang Cheng's!

No, this person *was* Jiang Cheng! The aura he exuded at this moment perfectly matched. Fatty and the others were completely dumbfounded, their brains shutting down.

But the newly emerged Jiang Cheng paid no attention to any of this. His eyes only had room for Wu Yingying. In the next second, under everyone's shocked gaze, "Jiang Cheng" bowed slightly to Wu Yingying and said softly, "Miss Wu, scholar Lu Jianli greets you!"

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck from the sky. Wu Yingying covered her mouth, large tears streaming down her face. She could almost immediately determine that the person before her was the lover she had strolled with on the covered bridge, the one she had promised to stay with for life, Lu Jianli!

Because this scene was familiar, it was the scene when she first saw Lu Jianli being taken in to recuperate in the house!

And this scene was only known to the two of them, there would definitely be no third person!

So… so the Lu Jianli in front of her was fake! The vows he had made to her were also fake!

She could endure the pain of longing for all these years, but she couldn't bear being deceived, the despicable lies, the absurdity of it all. She had actually… she had actually mistaken her lover and been fooled by this man pretending to be Lu Jianli for so long!

How could he be Lu Jianli!

He just happened to have a face exactly like her lover's, but the fake was still fake!

What's even more ridiculous is that she actually helped this person to kill the real lover Lu Jianli. Wu Yingying felt like the sky was falling. She could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. No matter what her lover was, she had to protect him. She slowly clenched her fists. Although the sharpness of her fists was not as powerful as Wu and Master Shui, it was more than enough to kill the imposter in front of her with one strike!

"Yingying, don't worry about me, leave now!" The Jiang Cheng-faced chairman shouted loudly at Wu Yingying, his eyes reflecting only this woman's figure.

But Lu Jianli was here, how could she leave? This was all a deception! This hateful guy was actually toying with her feelings! He deserved to die!

Wu and Master Shui also noticed something was wrong, but they couldn't help at the moment. After all, Wu Yingying was too close to Jiang Cheng. As long as there was any disturbance, Wu Yingying would strike, and Jiang Cheng's life would be over.

Huai Yi regretted it to the core, "Damn it! Why waste time talking to him? I should have just stabbed him to death with one sword!"

But it was too late to say anything now. Wu Yingying had slowly raised her hand. This punch would directly pierce Jiang Cheng's body and crush his heart, but even so, it wouldn't be enough to calm her anger.

Wu clenched the handle of his knife. He was ready. The moment Wu Yingying punched, he would throw the knife, hoping to directly chop off Wu Yingying's arm. But even so, he wasn't sure he could save Jiang Cheng, but… but Jiang Cheng had a special physique, so he could only hope that it would save his life.

The current atmosphere was depressingly hopeless. The process of waiting for death to arrive was far more terrifying than death itself. Just as Wu Yingying was about to strike, Jiang Cheng, who was standing in front of her, suddenly turned around. Then, under everyone's incredulous gaze, he opened his arms and hugged Wu Yingying tightly.

"I'm sorry…" Jiang Cheng's tears sprinkled on Wu Yingying's face, not only not hot, but also a little cool. His body trembled constantly, as if suppressing extremely painful emotions, "It's my fault for letting you fall into the illusion, it's all my fault for coming back too late."