False evidence

Chapter 71 First Encounter with White Robes
The more I listened, the more something seemed off. Just as I was about to interrupt Chen Zudao, Bai Jing suddenly waved to me from behind him.

My throat was also terribly sore, and I understood what she meant, so I simply whispered to Chen Zudao:
"My throat hurts so much, I don't want to talk. Stop stammering and stop asking me anything. Talk to Bai Jing."

Bai Jing immediately chimed in, "Ancestor, tell us first, how did you and Lü Xin meet back then?"

Chen Zudao laughed heartily: "It's a bit embarrassing to say it out loud. But, girl, you're not an outsider. My younger brother... Sanqi... well, I won't waste any more words. Bai girl, go and get some wine."

"You bastard! You still dare to drink?!" I roared, but startled myself first.

Putting aside Chen Zudao's previous unusual behavior, his personality should be quite likable.

But for some reason, from the moment I faced him directly, I felt an inexplicable aversion to him.

You can have a prejudice against someone without any reason.

But Chen Zudao is over a hundred years old, so even if I'm annoyed by him, I wouldn't go so far as to directly curse at him.

If my grandpa saw this, he'd smash me to death with the door bar.

Chen Zudao's reaction was even stranger. Not only was he not angry, but he smiled and looked at me with an inexplicable, strange expression.
"If you don't want to drink, then don't. It's just... it's just a habit."

He smiled and shook his head, but didn't forget the point, and said straightforwardly:
"Back when I first met you... no, it was the first time I met my younger brother. I was just going to a rich man's house to 'beg for alms' back then."

Considering his identity, I coldly asked, "Is this theft, or blatant robbery?"

Chen Zudao rubbed his bald spot and chuckled:
"I don't care about that. I don't do this often. It's just that during the day I see that family bullying a beggar, and I don't like them, so I wait until night to go over there. I don't care how many silver dollars I get. When I leave, I just set their house on fire. I'm not afraid of being discovered by the guards. Let them set fire to the house if they want. They can't beat me anyway."

His bluntness actually made me lose my temper. "If they're rich and heartless, you could have just taught that family a lesson. Did you really have to burn down their house?"

Chen Zudao clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously:

"Burning down the house was a must, that would be satisfying. But I didn't intend to hurt anyone. I had planned it all out before I went. I brought two cans of kerosene, lit them on fire at the same time in the front and back yards, and then shouted a couple of times. That way, no one would get burned, and they wouldn't have time to put out the fire. But I never expected that as soon as I climbed over the back wall, I would be ambushed by a master!"

Chen Zudao said that at midnight that night, he had just climbed over the back wall with kerosene when he saw a person emerge from the shadows of the small building.

It was a dark and windy night, but the person was very conspicuous in the darkness.

Because, apart from his black cloth shoes, the man was wearing a moon-white trousers and jacket.

Seeing someone approaching, even the most audacious Chen Zudao was slightly taken aback.

When the person got closer and he saw what the other person looked like, he was stunned.

This man was in his early twenties. Although he was not tall, he had a remarkable bearing. Moreover, upon closer inspection, his features were even more beautiful than those of an average woman.

(At this point, Chen Zudao rubbed his hands together, deliberately explaining: "When I said he was short, I meant compared to me. Actually, he's taller than most men.")
The man in white walked up to Chen Zudao, calmly glanced at him, and then whispered a single word: "Get lost!"

Chen Zudao recovered his senses and, hearing the other party's rudeness, became angry. Without saying a word, he simply put down the two earthenware jars filled with kerosene, stretched out his hands, easily grabbed the other party's shoulders, and lifted him off the ground like a chick.

The man in white changed his expression and then did something that Chen Zudao never expected.

He puffed out his cheeks and actually spat at Chen Zudao. Judging from his appearance and attire, Chen Zudao assumed he was just a young master from the same family. Who would have thought he would suddenly do something like that?

A wad of phlegm was spat right onto Chen Zudao's left eye, which immediately stunned him.

He was stunned, but the man in white had a backup plan. He spat a wad of phlegm into Chen Zudao's eyes, then, while suspended in mid-air, kicked Chen Zudao in the lower abdomen.

(Chen Zudao said with a wry smile: "Unlike Zhao Tiezhong, who is all-powerful and has almost no weaknesses. When I got kicked like that, the pain went numb right away.")
Chen Zudao was kicked in a vital spot and immediately let go in pain.

The moment the man in white landed on one leg, he immediately swept his leg out again, kicking a ceramic jar filled with kerosene.

He used a clever trick this time; the jar didn't break when he kicked it, but it did break when it hit Chen Zudao's leg.

The man in white put one hand into his jacket pocket, his eyes suddenly darting around, and smiled as he said to Chen Zudao:
"Still fighting?"

Chen Zudao winced in pain, but being a former thief, he sensed something was amiss from the tone of the conversation and whispered back:
"Are you a guard?"

In the early days, bodyguards were people who served as bodyguards for wealthy families, and Zhao Boqing was a leading figure in this profession.

Chen Zudao wasn't stupid. As soon as the pottery jar broke and he saw the white-clad man's actions, he immediately guessed what the other party's next move was.

The earthenware pot shattered, and he was doused with kerosene. If the other person simply took out a tinderbox, lit it, and threw it at him, Chen Zudao would be burned to a crisp, if not killed!
When the man in white was talking to him, he did indeed take something shiny out of his pocket.

(Chen Zudao later learned that it was a foreigner's gadget called a lighter, a kind of tinderbox used by foreigners.)
Seeing the white-clad man's actions and hearing his voice, Chen Zudao knew he was completely doomed.

Fortunately, he remembered that the other party was a bodyguard hired by the wealthy family. The bodyguard was a member of the martial arts world, and the other party did not shout or start a fire, but spoke in a low voice. This was because they were both from the martial arts world and were showing mercy to the night thief.

Seeing that the man in white remained silent, only smiling at him, Chen Zudao dared not say anything more.

"I admit defeat because I'm not as skilled as you. What do you want?"

"Hehe, what do you think I'm going to do to you?" The man in white smiled and glanced at Chen Zudao. "Wait here, I'll go find you some clothes."

The man in white went into the small building and soon came out carrying a bundle.

He tossed the bundle to Chen Zudao and beckoned:
"I'm a little hungry. The owner of the breakfast stall on the next street should be up by now. Their plain noodles are pretty good. You, change your clothes and come with me."

……

The man in white was none other than Lü Xin.

Chen Zudao's narrative ability is far inferior to Bai Jing's, but when he recounts these events, it's like reciting a diary—fast and very clear.

His story was actually more interesting than Bai Jing's.

He explained in no more than five minutes how he first met Lü Xin.

However, though the speaker meant no harm, I couldn't help but think of the biggest flaw in this whole situation...

(End of this chapter)