Chapter 22: Proposing Punishment

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Proposing Punishment

"The evidence is conclusive. It’s not up to you to deny it," Su Wan retorted.

Zheng Zhizhi looked up innocently, sniffled, her eyes red as if she had been wrongly accused and was struggling to hold it together. She glanced at Lu Zhengchuan, but it was like trying to charm a blind man.

Lu Zhengchuan’s expression was stern. He just watched with a frown, showing no particular reaction at all.

"Comrade Su Wan, you say I swapped your letters. What evidence do you have?"

Su Wan was speechless. "Aren’t these letters you wrote the evidence?"

"But how can you prove I wrote these letters? I suspect someone is trying to frame me." Zheng Zhizhi wiped her eyes, the tip of her nose turning red.

"Can’t you just verify the handwriting?" Zhao Qing, who was enjoying the show from the sidelines, couldn’t help but interject.

’I want to see what happens next, stop wasting time with this pointless back-and-forth.’

"Zheng Zhizhi, I want you to copy this newspaper article for me right now." Lu Zhengchuan pulled a fountain pen and a notebook from his pocket and held them out directly in front of Zheng Zhizhi.

Zheng Zhizhi was hurt by his action. This time, there was some genuine feeling in her tears.

"Brother Lu, you don’t believe me?" Zheng Zhizhi tried to stall.

Lu Zhengchuan didn’t speak. He raised his hand and called a young soldier over, who, upon receiving the order, handed the pen and paper to Zheng Zhizhi.

His deliberate effort to distance himself from Zheng Zhizhi made her eyes grow even redder.

Su Wan stood to the side, her scrutinizing gaze shifting between the two, unable to be sure if Lu Zhengchuan was deliberately putting on a show for her benefit.

"I’ll write," Zheng Zhizhi said tearfully.

"Brother..." Zhang Yun tried to speak up for Zheng Zhizhi but was silenced by a glare from Lu Zhengchuan.

She immediately flinched and shrank back.

When she turned her head, she met Su Wan’s distrustful gaze. She bit her lip and huffed angrily.

Su Wan, "?"

She couldn’t be bothered with this fool and focused her attention on Zheng Zhizhi.

Following the text in the newspaper, Zheng Zhizhi copied a very short article of a little over a hundred characters.

Lu Zhengchuan reached out to take the paper and felt a figure draw near. He turned his head and was met with the sight of a sweetly scented head of hair. Her black locks brushed against his tanned arm, sending a tingle through his entire body.

He instantly averted his gaze, feeling awkward, but the fragrance lingered.

Su Wan had already finished examining Zheng Zhizhi’s handwriting. She then pulled the letter she had just mailed from her pocket.

The handwriting on both was identical, right down to some minor quirks, but it was completely different from the writing in the swapped letters.

Lu Zhengchuan noticed it too. He lowered his head and exchanged a look with Su Wan.

Su Wan said, "The different handwriting doesn’t prove anything. It’s very likely she had someone else write it, or perhaps she herself knows how to write in two different styles."

Seeing that she showed no sign of guilt or panic, Lu Zhengchuan chose to believe her and turned to look at Zheng Zhizhi.

"Zheng Zhizhi, we’re from the same village. I don’t want to believe you would do something so malicious. But if you really did it, admit your mistake now, and I can keep this from escalating. If you don’t confess, I’m sure there’s evidence back in the village. The choice is yours." Lu Zhengchuan remained rational from start to finish.

His interrogating tone made Zheng Zhizhi nearly dig her nails into her palms.

She shot Su Wan a glance and stubbornly denied it through gritted teeth. "Brother Lu, I really didn’t swap the letters. At most, Xiao Yun and I just took out the letter Su Wan sent you."

"That’s right, Cousin! I’m the one who took the letter. Zhi Zhi just replaced it with a blank piece of paper," Zhang Yun blurted out, hearing her cue.

Hearing this, Su Wan knew that Zheng Zhizhi was a deep and calculating person.

’It’s a good thing I didn’t confront Zheng Zhizhi back in the village.’

’No wonder such a terrible tragedy happened to my family in the prophetic dream. The only difference is that in the dream, Zheng Zhizhi didn’t know I was already pregnant.’

’She still doesn’t know now, either.’

Su Wan had taken her own pulse to check. She had been planning to tell her family recently, but she never expected the prophetic dream to happen first.

"You, shut up. Helping an outsider bully your sister-in-law. I haven’t even dealt with you yet, and here you are, eagerly helping an outsider," Lu Zhengchuan reprimanded in a low voice.

His repeated use of the word "outsider" made Zheng Zhizhi’s face flush, and a seed of resentment toward Lu Zhengchuan began to grow.

Back in the village, Lu Zhengchuan had long refused to marry her, even after her father had personally approached him about it.

"Brother Lu, don’t scold Xiao Yun. We were just worried that Su Wan wouldn’t be content to build a life with you, so we wanted to test her. We never actually meant to affect your relationship."

"Of course, I also don’t understand why Comrade Su Wan insists on saying I swapped the letters."

Su Wan narrowed her eyes. "As long as you admit to swapping my letter, that’s enough."

Zheng Zhizhi froze for a second before quickly realizing. She forced a smile. "Comrade Su Wan, what do you mean by that?"

Su Wan ignored her and looked directly at Lu Zhengchuan. "She has admitted to the fact of swapping a military family member’s letter. According to military regulations, how should this be handled?"

"According to regulations, the punishment is a demerit and a public reprimand circulated throughout the entire military region. She must also apologize to the victim, and her work brigade will be notified. If she fails to reform after written education and reoffends, she can be sentenced."

Lu Zhengchuan cooperated with her, reciting the punishment.

Zheng Zhizhi was absolutely stunned.

When she came to her senses, she abruptly pointed at Zhang Yun. "You can’t punish me! I wasn’t the only one. Zhang Yun did it too!"

"Zhang Yun, hurry up and beg your cousin! If we get a public reprimand throughout the entire military region and they notify the brigade, our reputations will be ruined!"

Zheng Zhizhi had assumed that as long as she didn’t admit to writing the contents of the letters, she would be fine.

She had been so sure that Su Wan wouldn’t be able to find any evidence.

In truth, the reason she had so eagerly followed them to the military base was that Su Wan’s move to join the army was too sudden. She was afraid that if Su Wan got pregnant with Lu Zhengchuan’s child at the base, she would lose her chance completely. That’s why she had chased after them, hoping to win Lu Zhengchuan over.

Zhang Yun was initially angry that her friend Zheng Zhizhi was dragging her down with her, but she was quickly terrified by her words.

"Cousin, I was wrong! Please don’t be angry. Zhi Zhi and I will never do it again," Zhang Yun pleaded, grabbing the hem of Lu Zhengchuan’s clothes.

"That’s right, Brother Lu! We know we were wrong. You wouldn’t ruin us over something so small, would you?"

Zheng Zhizhi started crying too.

When Zhao Qing heard that, she was even angrier than Su Wan.

"Something so small?" She didn’t like the girl’s tone. "Do you have any idea how many people have been laughing at Wanwan since she arrived at the base because of what you did?"

"If she wasn’t so capable and kind-hearted, who knows how much trouble she would have caused with Battalion Commander Lu by now."

"Besides, you swapped a military family member’s letter! What if there was something important in it? Could you afford to be responsible for that kind of delay?" Zhao Qing’s brows tightened as she laid into Zheng Zhizhi.

Although Su Wan didn’t know why she was being so protective, she was moved.

She was already mentally figuring out how to thank Zhao Qing.

Zheng Zhizhi sniffled and said pitifully, "Ma’am, it’s not like we delayed anything important, right? As for those forged letters, I didn’t do it. Maybe it was someone else from the village who doesn’t get along with Su Wan?"

Even at a time like this, Zheng Zhizhi was still trying to smear Su Wan by implying she was unpopular in the village.