"I just suddenly thought of a brilliant plan!" Chen Yun grinned slyly, "It’s like we were feeling drowsy, and the heavens just handed us a pillow!"
"What kind of ridiculous taphor is that? Are you showing off your wit and intellect? Get to the point!"
Being t with disdain from Lin Chan, Chen Yun let out a dismissive snort before getting serious. "How about we use this unidentified corpse to throw a grand funeral for Zhilan? We’ll tell everyone outright that He Zhilan was tragically murdered. Then, we clean up this unidentified female corpse. Even if anyone cos to verify, they won’t be able to say for certain it’s not He Zhilan. This way, while it might be a bit unlucky to hold a funeral for soone alive, given the current circumstances, it’s a much safer option for Zhilan. After the funeral, none of us should contact Zhilan in the village. Eventually, even those who were initially suspicious of us will give up after keeping an eye on us for long enough."
"That’s simply flawless!" Lin Chan exclaid with excitent. "As long as we convince everyone that Zhilan is already dead, then Zhilan will be safe, and we won’t have any lingering worries."
"Exactly! Who am I? A genius!" Chen Yun chuckled gleefully. "This matter must stay between just us! Also, He Teng’s father is getting on in age and can’t handle much shock, so we need to give him a heads-up in advance and make sure they don’t slip up or tell anyone. When the ti cos, we’ll hold the morial service in the capital and invite those who are suspicious to co take a good look. After they’ve all confird that the deceased is ’He Zhilan,’ we’ll cremate the body and take the ashes to He Teng’s hotown. It’s unfortunate for the unidentified female corpse to be used in this way, but later, we’ll have He Teng organize a proper funeral for her in his hotown and set up a grave for her. That’s about as respectful as we can be."
"It’s a great plan." Lin Chan nodded repeatedly, clearly impressed. He genuinely thought the idea was excellent.
However, the unidentified woman’s unknown origins continued to nag at Lin Chan. "You have to admit, isn’t it strange how soone can end up looking so much alike for no reason? Do you think this unidentified corpse might sohow be connected to the Gu Family? What if... just hypothetically... she turns out to be Gu Hengyuan’s illegitimate daughter?"
"Are you still rattled by what happened with Lan Li?" Chen Yun chuckled. "The Gu Family has always been strict about family discipline. Gu Hengyuan treats his wife with incredible affection and respect. It’s exactly because of the close relationship between the two families, the deep bond between the elders, and the solid marriage of Commander Gu and Mrs. Gu that the Gu Family and the Lan Family have maintained their strong ties all these years. Haven’t you noticed? Our Zhilan doesn’t look much like Commander Gu or Mrs. Gu either."
"That’s true. My grandmother ntioned before that Zhilan supposedly resembles her own grandmother, who was Lan Li’s grandmother as well. But Lady Lan passed away early, so not many people rember what she looked like in her youth." Lin Chan paused, then asked thoughtfully, "Are you suggesting that the unidentified woman looks more like soone from the Lan Family?"
"Everyone knows how many kids the Lan Family had. In this generation, there isn’t anyone of this woman’s age among them. Do you rember the Zhang Family, where Lan Li’s grandmother ca from? The Zhang Family only had two daughters. Supposedly, Lady Lan had a twin sister, right? But even though they were twins, their personalities were very different, and they didn’t get along well. Lady Lan married out, while her twin sister brought in a husband to live with their family. I heard that after marrying Master Lan, Lady Lan broke off contact with her family. Still, it’s said that twins often share fates. Both sisters died young, and the Zhang Family fell on hard tis. The younger generation has supposedly moved to so small city in the south by now..."
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