The abandoned daughter of the Lu family turns around and marries a celibate tycoon.

Chapter 226 Illegitimate Child

Even Bichen's tears were still on her face, not yet completely dry.

She sat upright in the defendant's dock, her hands clasped on her knees, her fingertips trembling slightly—just enough for every pair of eyes in the gallery to see clearly. Her back was slightly hunched, like an old chrysanthemum bent over by wind and rain, exuding an unspeakable grievance and desolation.

Attorney Liu stood beside her, calmly adjusting his glasses. Behind the lenses, his shrewd eyes slowly swept across the judge's bench, then over the audience, finally settling steadily on the camera lens. He knew better than anyone: the real judge was never in the courtroom, but on the other side of the screen.

"Your Honor, my client has something to say." Attorney Liu's voice was as steady as a mountain, carrying an unquestionable certainty. "Furthermore, we request that a new witness be called—Ms. Lian Bichen's sister-in-law, Su Lanzhi."

The courtroom erupted in chaos. Whispers flooded the room, and the judge had to bang his gavel several times to quell the commotion.

The moment Su Lanzhi walked into the courtroom, all eyes were on her. Her expression was complex—a look torn between fear and desperation, like someone pushed to the edge of a cliff who had finally decided to leap.

Lian Bichen raised her head and glanced at Su Lanzhi.

That glance held something only the two of them understood. It wasn't gratitude, nor a request, but a silent, cold command. Su Lanzhi's eyelashes trembled violently, then she lowered her eyes and strode quickly toward the witness stand, her steps hurried as if she were fleeing something.

Attorney Liu began her questioning.

"Ms. Su Lanzhi, please tell the court what you saw three years ago?"

Su Lanzhi took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently. Her voice trembled, as if each word was being squeezed out from her throat: "I...I saw Lu Xiran ask Aunt Yun, who has been taking care of my mother-in-law, to drug her."

The courtroom fell silent instantly.

The silence wasn't a peaceful stillness, but the deathly quiet before a storm—the air seemed to have been sucked out, making it hard to breathe. Then, the gallery erupted in chaos, whispers turning into a cacophony of voices, and it took several strikes of the judge's gavel to regain control.

"Detailed explanation." Attorney Liu's gaze was sharp as a knife, but his tone was as calm as if he were asking about the weather today.

Su Lanzhi began to speak. Her voice was broken and intermittent, sometimes high and sometimes low, like someone tormented by painful memories trying to piece together fragments—

"Three and a half years ago... Although my mother-in-law was old, her mind was still very clear, clearer than any of us. But one day, I accidentally saw Lu Xiran enter her room..." Her eyes gradually reddened, and her voice choked up, "She brought her a cup of something to drink, and after drinking it, my mother-in-law became drowsy and couldn't even speak properly. At the time, I thought it was just a tonic... I... I didn't think much of it..."

She paused, then wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand.

"And then?" Attorney Liu pressed, his voice carrying just the right amount of lead.

"Later... my mother-in-law started to change." Su Lanzhi's tears finally fell, one by one, rolling onto the wooden railing of the witness stand. "She was always in a coma, and she was less and less awake. Then... she made that will—giving most of the jewelry to Lu Xiran and all the shares of Gu's Group to Gu Yanshen."

Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a long-suppressed grief and indignation: "Everyone thinks it's unreasonable! But no one dares to say anything... I... I'm afraid. I have no status in the Gu family, I dare not speak out. But today... today I saw Lian Bicheng being slandered and framed by them, my conscience won't let me go..."

She covered her face and began to sob, her shoulders heaving.

Attorney Liu turned to the judge, his voice firm and resolute: "Your Honor, my client, Ms. Lian Bicheng, was repeatedly targeted precisely because she uncovered Lu Xiran's conspiracy. She witnessed Lu Xiran drugging her mother-in-law, which is why Lu Xiran and Gu Yanshen wanted to eliminate her—first they used various means to ostracize her, and now they're using a thirty-year-old case to frame her!"

Lian Bichen raised her head at the opportune moment, looking at the camera with tears streaming down her face. Her lips trembled violently, as if she wanted to say something, or as if she was too grief-stricken to speak. That hesitant, poignant expression was more heart-wrenching than any vehement accusation.

In the end, she simply uttered a single sentence in an extremely desolate voice:

"I didn't hurt anyone... they're the ones hurting me..."

Then, she slowly stood up.

The movement was slow, so slow that every eye followed her. Her finger trembled as she pointed towards the camera—she knew that Lu Xiran was watching on the other side of the screen. Her voice was hoarse, yet every word pierced the air of the courtroom like nails:

"It was Lu Xiran! I saw her force-feed my mother-in-law drugs! My mother-in-law originally wanted to leave everything to us, but Lu Xiran tricked her into writing that will! I discovered her secret, so she hates me and wants to destroy me!"

After he finished speaking, the entire courtroom fell silent for a moment.

Then, the comments section went crazy.

"Oh my god! So that's how it is!"

"Lu Xiran is too vicious! Forcing someone to drink drugs? This is murder!"

"No wonder Lian Bichen was targeted; she knows the truth!"

"So Gu Yanshen's current wealth is all thanks to Lu Xiran drugging him?"

"It doesn't make sense, does it? Why should Chairman Bai leave the shares to an illegitimate son?"

"What? An illegitimate child?"

Another bombshell has exploded on the internet.

Liu Lin released a statement at the opportune moment. She tearfully recounted how she had been soft-hearted and merciful back then, agreeing to let Gu Yanshen return to the Gu family, never expecting to raise such an ungrateful child.

"As elders, if we retreat even once, we'll be forced to retreat again and again." Liu Lin's voice choked up several times in the video. "Being forced to hand over our meager shares wasn't enough; we're also subjected to all sorts of slander and now they're even falsely accusing us... They're leaving us no way out; they're trying to kill us!"

The comments section completely spiraled out of control.

"This woman is terrifying."

"My God, a mere illegitimate child, yet he dares to barge into our home, leaving everyone in the legal wife—including his father—with no way out?"

"It wasn't enough that he seized the Gu family's property; he also wants to frame Second Aunt? I really want to see just how ruthless he is!"

"Support Lian Bichen! Clear her name!"

"Investigate Lu Xiran! This vicious woman cannot be let off the hook!"

"Gu Yanshen, get out of the Gu family!"