Chapter 75 part1
This chapter is a bit shorter than the last, I’ll try to finish translating the rest soon. ^^

The yamen runners were all natives from Suzhou, so there was no shortage of excellent swimmers among them. Unfortunately, Pingjiang’s river was really wide. Yin Wanwan has been submerged for a while, and no one knew where has she been swept, so rescuing her from the water was certainly a difficult task.

Liu Pinrang ordered people to continue the salvage. If it truly was like Ran Yan said and this person was Yin Wanwan, regardless of living or dying, she was a crucial point for the case.

“How did you conclude that she is Yin Wanwan?” Liu Pinrang expressed his doubts: “Although Miss Wei has previously said that Yin Wanwan was sullied by someone that year, just now on the boat she nevertheless admitted that it was Zhang Fei the one responsible for disgracing her, so there is the possibility of Miss Wei lying.”

“Partly because of Miss Wei’s confession, and partly because of another point.” Ran Yan recalled the two female bodies that were pieced together at the Yamen, “The two assembled bodies, they have never been pregnant nor have gone through labor.”

“You are saying you can figure out if the corpse has ever been pregnant by their bones?” Liu Pinrang asked surprised.

Ran Yan nodded, “If the person who was violated, drowned and killed that year is indeed Yin Wanwan, she should have a childbirth scar on her pubic bone. According to Miss Wei’s confession, she should have been at least three months pregnant at the time of her death, but no childbirth scar was seen on those two corpses.

When Ran Yan was looking into those two corpses, she had a few suspicious: the first was that Yin Wanwan’s remains weren’t among those skeletons; the second was Miss Wei’s lie. The first suspicion could also have two kinds of situations, it may be that the one to die was not Yin Wanwan, or that the sunken remains found in that year were not her.

Every connection Ran Yan made has a questionable point, leading her to this bold statement.

“If things are like this, and the person who was assaulted was Fourth Miss Yin, then she killed Third Miss Yin and took her place, impersonating her?” Liu Pinrang was also aware of the Yin Fu’s strict rules, Yin Wanwan’s days must have been hard. She lived together with her twin sister for many years, so imitating the other’s look and demeanor would not be difficult.

“That’s not it!” Wei Xia, who has been apprehended, screamed from the top of her voice.

Liu Pinrang looked at her keenly, coldly saying: “Then tell us the truth.”

“It’s Yin Wenshu! Third Miss Yin was thrown into Pingjiang’s river by Yin Wenshu.”

The information Wei Xia revealed shocked everyone, “I had secretly heard that he wanted to drown Miss by chentang, so I encouraged Miss to look for Fourth Master Qin, then use a coma-inducing incense to make Third Miss pass out and apply make-up on her. Yin Wenshu dreaded that the fact of Miss losing her virginity and getting pregnant would be spread, ruining the Yin clan’s reputation. Then, taking advantage of a moonless night, he threw her into the Pingjiang’s river.”

T/N: chentang: A type of ancient punishment – mostly used on adulterers – where a basket with a stone inside is tied to the ‘criminal’ and then he/she is thrown into a river/lake.