Case Files Chapter 119: Still Waters and Bitter Cold (12)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

There was a group of people standing around an empty field behind the villa. In the middle, a young and thin but muscular man was tied to a pillar.

“Oh, how lively. Are you guys playing with a live target?” Wen JinHan’s expression was eager, and he seemed to want to take a shot.

“How could we have disturbed the Duke? I was too inconsiderate, but it was this idiot who messed with the dish. Since you’re here, you can decide what to do with him,” the translator expressed Lijiang’s words.

The Duke glanced at the man on the pillar. “This is your business, I’m not interested.”

The tied-up man suddenly spoke in fluent but accented English. “It wasn’t me! Lijiang, you’re framing me in a scheme to overthrow my brother from power!”

Lijiang laughed. “Mingcheng, how can you quibble at a time like this? You were clearly the only person who entered the kitchen without authorization. Don’t bring up your brother, even your brother can’t save you now that you’ve disrupted the Duke’s banquet.”

The two of them argued loudly. Meanwhile, the Duke was standing to the side and seemed to be admiring the scenery, completely disregarding them. Wen JinHan observed them for a moment before a bold idea struck him.

He smiled slightly; he had already suppressed himself for so long, and this was a perfect opportunity to vent.

“Dear, I’ve always wanted to try playing with guns, can you let me shoot a few rounds? If I hit him, I’ll even be avenging you~” Wen JinHan said coyly.

The Duke was impassive for a moment, but his eyebrows seemed to tremble slightly.

When the others heard the translation, they looked at Wen JinHan in shock.

The Duke hesitated, but he still said to Lijiang, “Let him play.”

Lijiang was taken aback, but he smiled craftily and reloaded the gun before handing it to Wen JinHan.

Wen JinHan gleefully took the gun and felt it. Ah, it really was a treasure, and it would be perfect if he could just turn and shoot that damned Duke, but it was a pity that that wouldn’t be possible.

Everyone watched, expecting to see the Duke’s conceited pet fire randomly and wondering if he could coincidentally hit the target. The expression of the main tied to the pillar was one of anger and disbelief.

As everyone was amusedly watching Wen JinHan fumble with the gun, his expression suddenly became cold and his fingers agilely disengaged the gun’s safety. He stood straight and lifted his arms steadily, suddenly firing off three bullets. His movements were as smooth as water, graceful and skilled. The people watching were practically about to clap and cheer.

Just as everyone was shocked, Wen JinHan suddenly frowned and hung his head in disappointment. “Ah, I missed.”

Everyone’s face twitched slightly: Is he schizophrenic or is he an actor bowing…

As for the person on the pillar, he was already completely frozen, and he was fearfully looking out of the corner of his eye at his hair that the bullet had grazed. Was this really a miss?! All three bullets had flown practically millimeters away from his head.

Only the Duke was still impassive, and he slowly walked over and pulled Wen JinHan into his arms.

Wen JinHan unhappily pushed him away.

Suddenly, a group of muscular men with furious expressions strode in. The bodyguards in the yard drew their guns, but they seemed to be a little hesitant.

Out of the group who had barged in, a tall man stopped out. When he saw the man tied to the pillar, he said through gritted teeth, “Lijiang! What’s the meaning of this?!”

Lijiang’s expression changed, but he quickly smirked. “Hmph! Your little brother somehow got his hands on someone’s organs and dared to sneak it into the Duke’s meal! This type of evil act was clearly to deliberately sow discord so the Duke would be unhappy with us and ruin our livelihood!”

Although what he said didn’t make much sense, one part was right: if the Duke cut off his transactions with them, then his business would collapse, and so would everyone else’s. With this, the other people in the yard started clamoring as well.

The person on the pillar came back to his senses and shouted, “Brother, they wronged me! They’re trying to frame me! Lijiang, you’re scared that my brother’s influence is too wide, and you’re scared that he’ll threaten your position. You’re just trying to pick a fight to overthrow my brother!”

Lijiang laughed. “Nonsense, what would I be scared of?! Jiangmin, after your little brother dared to do something like that, I had to teach him a lesson. Yet you brought people to barge into my private property, are you trying to start a rebellion?!”

Jiangmin smiled mirthlessly. “Stop sounding so high and mighty! You say my little brother messed with the food, but where is the evidence?! You tried to lynch him without any proof, and as his brother, I’m seeking justice for him! As a boss, you’re so distrustful of your own people, and you even dare to frame them!”

Wen JinHan lost interest in watching them, and he couldn’t help but poke the Duke’s arm. “Hey, they completely forgot about your existence as the victim. At any rate, you’re a nobleman, aren’t you going to say anything about being ignored like this?”

The Duke said slowly, “What was that phrase again, ‘wanting to see the world plunged into chaos’? That must be describing you.”

“Oh, your Mandarin isn’t bad, you even have all four tones.” Wen JinHan was genuinely surprised. “What else can you say? I want to hear.”

The Duke looked down to see Wen JinHan’s expectant face, and he silently pulled him into his arms.

Dammit, what’s wrong with you?!

The tension in the yard was palpable, and Jiangmin was determined to get his brother back, yet Lijiang wasn’t giving up. Wen JinHan was observing eagerly, itching to snatch a weapon and fire the first shot of this battle.

The Duke paid no attention to the situation and instead began analyzing the person in his arms. No matter how he looked at him, Wen JinHan wasn’t like the quiet, well-behaved, and sensible people that Ou Chen usually kept. Had Ou Chen gone blind, or was Wen JinHan too good at acting? If he was acting, then it was quite impressive that he had kept up the front for two years without slipping up. But then why wasn’t he acting anymore? Exactly which one was his true face? The Duke, who had never wasted time deliberating over things, was carefully scrutinizing someone’s mind for the first time; he felt that he must have eaten something unclean and been possessed…

“How annoying, if they’re going to fight then they should just fight instead of wasting time like this. Just now, I didn’t get enough practice with that live target.” Wen JinHan’s voice was neither loud or soft, and it was just enough so that the people in the yard heard him. Sure enough, Jiangmin understood English, and he became even more angry. “Lijiang! You’re too deceiving!”

Before he could finish, there was a sudden gunshot, and everyone froze for a few seconds. Then, chaos ensued as more gunshots sounded, and many people sprinted for cover.

Wen JinHan was dragged into a nearby forest by the Duke, and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you’re leaving just like this? You’re not staying to watch?”

“You wanted to watch?”

“No, I already saw what I wanted to see. The end was already planned out by you, so there’s no fun in watching that.” Wen JinHan put on a serious expression and squinted slightly, making him look like a calculating fox.

The corner of the Duke’s mouth tugged upwards, as it rarely did. “You seem to know something?”

“It’s hard not to know with such exaggerated acting.” Wen JinHan leaned against a tree and crossed his arms. “All of this was clearly orchestrated by you, who directed such a botched scene.”

“Botched?” The Duke’s tone was a little cold.

“Yeah, you can definitely win a Golden Raspberry Award. That idiot Lijiang has always used ridiculous methods. I’m afraid you didn’t see that coming before, or else you would’ve directly had people raid this place instead of spending so much effort to put on this show.” Wen JinHan blinked innocently.

The Duke felt a little nauseous again, and his expression was a little dark.

Wen JinHan didn’t notice and continued. “No one here would dare to provoke you, so I reckon whoever messed with your food had your permission to do so. Of course, you didn’t think that they would use such a stupid method to carry it out. Moreover, Lijiang caught a suspect so quickly without reporting it to you or investigating closely, and he even tied him up publicly so everyone would know. Based on what that person said, Lijiang probably accused him just to stir up trouble with his brother. He chose to do this while you were here, and he wasn’t scared of irritating you, so it’s obvious that you were behind all of this.”

The Duke slowly turned the ring on his finger as he said casually, “And what would my goal be, then?”

Wen JinHan smiled coldly as he listened to the gunshots not too far away. “In order to get rid of Lijiang, whom you don’t like, and support a new person to power.”

The Duke’s expression froze, and he suddenly moved closer to Wen JinHan, enveloping him in his shadow. Wen JinHan shuddered slightly from his overwhelming presence.

“Based on what you say, I should be supporting Lijiang and overthrowing his opposition. Why would I want to get rid of Lijiang?”

“Because… Because Lijiang is very dumb and he looks vulgar. You refuse to eat even if your tableware looks bad, so you wouldn’t choose someone like him to be partners with… Have you wanted to get rid of him for a long time?” Wen JinHan looked at him innocently.

“…”

The Duke placed his hand on a tree trunk, and for the first time in his life, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.