Chapter 96: Cheng Wan, That Is Her Real Name

Chu Li has gone on a business trip, and to a foreign country at that; I'm afraid he won't be reachable for half a month.

This is what the servants said after Qin Xingwan returned to Beicheng Villa.

It was also what Assistant Wu had privately instructed the servants to say, so as to keep Qin Xingwan from worrying.

Qin Xingwan gave a bitter smile; Assistant Wu was a discreet person, and this was his way of secretly telling her about Chu Li's whereabouts.

Half a month.

If he is on a business trip for half a month, Ping'an will have to wait another half a month.

She had been impulsive.

Qin Xingwan had no appetite for dinner; she took her medicine and went to sleep.

In her dream, Chu Li chased after her like a ghost, asking if she liked Wen Lvzhong.

After being chased for a while, Qin Xingwan woke up.

She glanced at her phone; it was 3:30 AM, and she thought that since Chu Li had gone to F Guo, it should be daytime there due to the time difference.

But there were no messages on her phone.

He was still angry.

Qin Xingwan clutched her phone, not feeling the slightest bit sleepy.

She thought that when Chu Li returned, he would have to deal with jet lag, and if he were to extract bone marrow fluid, his body might not be able to handle it.

She also thought about how Madam Chu was unwilling to let Chu Li save Wen Ping'an, and wondered what kind of methods she might use next.

Her heart was a tangled mess.

She drifted in and out of sleep for a while, but ended up sleeping until eight o'clock.

She had finished breakfast and was about to head out when two police officers arrived at the house.

"Ms. Qin Xingwan, we now suspect you are involved in a fire case from three years ago; please come with us."

Qin Xingwan's mind was buzzing.

What was meant to come had finally come.

The Police Station.

The interrogation room.

Qin Xingwan's complexion was deathly pale under the lights; the police officer in front of her looked stern and tapped on the table, pulling Qin Xingwan's attention back.

He asked: "Should we call you Qin Xingwan, or Cheng Wan?"

Qin Xingwan's fingers trembled, curling into her palms; with her movements, the handcuffs on her wrists made a crisp sound.

She closed her eyes and, with great difficulty, uttered those two words.

"Cheng Wan."

Cheng Wan was her real name.

And Qin Xingwan had died in the great fire three years ago.

The police officer looked at the two files in his hands, one for Qin Xingwan and one for Cheng Wan.

In the photos, the two looked very much alike.

Yet their identities were worlds apart.

"Qin Xingwan died in the flower shop fire three years ago; now, family members are accusing you of premeditated murder in order to usurp the deceased's identity. Do you admit it or not?"

Cheng Wan shook her head. "I do not."

After the fire three years ago, the police had investigated; the fire was caused by old wiring and was an accident.

It was not murder.

The only thing she had done was to take on the identity of Qin Xingwan.

Afterward, no matter how the police questioned her, Cheng Wan only shook her head.

She stopped speaking.

The police could not interrogate anything out of her and could only go back to investigate further.

Cheng Wan was detained, and during this time, Qin Yun Shu came to see her once.

"Cheng Wan." As soon as they met, Qin Yun Shu called out those two words. "You, someone who came out of an orphanage, burned my sister to death just to usurp her identity. This grudge, I will certainly avenge her."

In just a few words, she labeled Cheng Wan a murderer.

She even packaged herself as a sister with deep affection.

Cheng Wan laughed softly, with infinite irony. "Qin Yun Shu, are you even worthy of calling her sister?"

Qin Yun Shu's expression stiffened for a moment, then she returned to her elegant and composed demeanor. "I may not be worthy, but she is still my sister. But you? From beginning to end, you have only been a rat in the gutter; even if you put on the skin of the second young lady of the Qin Family, you are still a rat."

"This time, I want to see how you will turn things around."

Cheng Wan looked at Qin Yun Shu, her expression very calm.

In fact, for three years, she had been mentally prepared for today's events.

It was just that she still had regrets in her heart.

She hadn't fulfilled her original promise.

She hadn't made the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Perfume famous throughout the world.

And she hadn't saved Ping'an.

Cheng Wan didn't speak, and all of Qin Yun Shu's threats were like hitting cotton—all frustration.

But it didn't matter; after all, she wasn't the only one who wanted Cheng Wan to pay the price.

Everyone was lining up, and none of them wanted Cheng Wan to have an easy time.

Madam Chu burst in, pointing at Cheng Wan and cursing hatefully: "You are the one who killed my most beloved daughter, you murderer."

She wore a look of heartbreak, as if she weren't the one who had left her daughter in the countryside for twenty years without a single inquiry.

"Stop pretending. If you truly loved Qin Xingwan, how could you not even recognize your own daughter?" Cheng Wan sneered sarcastically.

Lady Qin's sobbing quieted, and she equivocated, "That is because you two look so much alike."

Cheng Wan acted as if she had heard a joke, "Are she and I really so similar that even her own mother cannot tell us apart?"

Lady Qin could not answer; truth be told, she had already forgotten what her second daughter looked like.

Perhaps, she looked like Cheng Wan.

Or perhaps, there were some differences.

The third person to arrive was Wen Lvzhong.

His expression was complex; he wanted to ask something, but because of his own amnesia, he did not know how to ask.

In the end, he could only rely on the words Cheng Wan had told him before and asked her, "You said she was at the orphanage..."

"It wasn't her; it was me." Cheng Wan did not want to continue deceiving this pitiful man.

"The one who grew up in the orphanage was me, but the one who loved you and gave birth to Ping'an for you was her; she is the real Qin Xingwan."

Wen Lvzhong was utterly dejected; he did not have a single shred of memory regarding the past in his mind.

"She was the gentlest person I have ever met in my life. Her greatest wish in this life was to create the world's best perfume and make the name 'Qin Xingwan' resound throughout the entire world."

Cheng Wan was immersed in her memories, a gentle smile on her lips.

"She was very gifted in perfumery. Master liked her very much and taught her everything he knew, almost treating her as his successor."

"Later, she met you and was attracted by your gentleness. She was even willing to give birth to Ping'an for you after discovering she was pregnant by accident."

Wen Lvzhong's hands trembled slightly, "Then why did I leave?"

Cheng Wan shook her head, "I don't know."

She had asked Qin Xingwan, but Qin Xingwan refused to say; during that period, she was just depressed all day long.

"Did the accident happen later?" Wen Lvzhong asked.

Cheng Wan fell silent, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"A fire suddenly broke out that night. Master was seriously ill at the time and was in a deep sleep after taking medicine; I couldn't carry Master."

"She suddenly appeared, and we worked together to drag Master to the front hall. When we reached the doorway, the flower stand suddenly collapsed. She pushed me, and she and Master were pinned underneath by the flower stand."

"Master was burned to death, and she was severely burned. The only thing she was concerned about before she died was Ping'an."

Before Cheng Wan's eyes, that great fire still seemed to be there.

The flames rolled, swallowing all life.

Qin Xingwan could have escaped at that time, but she gave the chance to live to Cheng Wan.

"Do you know the reason she saved you? This is very important for your defense against the charge of intentional homicide," Wen Lvzhong said.

He was a lawyer and knew what would be most advantageous for his client.

Cheng Wan looked up at the lamp overhead, her voice filled with pain.

"Because at that time, she had been diagnosed with leukemia."