"Do you still want to deny it? Didn't you take off my older brother's clothes before?" Lin Xue said proudly.
Lin Ran might be trying to save Lin Ming, but people who did not know better would definitely think that Lin Ran was a bad, shameless woman. Even though he was her cousin, she had taken off her cousin's clothes and refused to let him off.
"A wise man sees wisdom, and a lecher sees lust. I clearly had no choice but to save my cousin. Yet you made me sound despicable. Since you keep seeing things this way and bringing this up, you must be despicable at heart, right?"
"Nonsense, I'm not as shameless as you." Lin Xue blushed and said angrily, "It's useless for you to have a glib tongue now. It's just a matter of time before you get drowned."
With that, she looked at the clansmen who were indifferent to Lin Ran's words and said, "Don't tell me you believe her? She's not a doctor. How can she save people?"
The clansmen felt that Lin Xue's words made sense. Coupled with the fact that they were sent by the chief, they had no choice but to go forward and say to Lin Ran, "Lin Ran, we don't want to be rough. Why don't you just surrender and come peacefully?"
Lin Ran knew that it was useless to talk to these people, so she did not make things difficult for them and followed them to the ancestral hall.
In the ancestral hall, the patriarch and the elders were already waiting. When they saw their clansmen bring Lin Ran back, their expressions did not look good.
"Lin Ran, kneel!" The patriarch glanced at Lin Ran and shouted.
Lin Ran stood still and looked up at the patriarch. She asked, "May I ask what I have done?"
"How dare you continue denying it?" The patriarch was very angry at Lin Ran's arrogance. He slammed the table beside him, making the teacups on the table jump.
"I'm not denying anything. I really don't know what I have done. Please tell me."
The patriarch hated it when people disobeyed him. Seeing Lin Ran's unconvinced expression, he was furious and ordered, "Men, tie her up and drown her!"
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Lin Ran looked at the patriarch coldly and said, "Even if the government judges a case, they will give the criminal a chance to speak. As the patriarch of the family, you actually listened to one-sided accusations and believed them. Are you above the laws and the county magistrate?"
"You… you…" The patriarch pointed at Lin Ran, speechless with anger.
As the patriarch, no one had ever dared to challenge his authority. However, Lin Ran actually said in front of everyone that he was biased. He would have trouble leading the people in the future if the villagers felt he had accepted one-sided accusations against her.
Once his reputation was ruined, his clansmen would not listen to him in the future.
"Am I wrong? According to your argument, I was wrong to save the boy. Should I have watched my cousin die from illness?"
"What are you talking about?" The patriarch was almost angered to death by Lin Ran. His eyes were wide open, and he was breathing rapidly.
"Isn't that so? If it were you, would you be able to watch your family die? Anyway, I can't do it."
Hearing Lin Ran's words, everyone felt that it made sense. Those who originally thought that Lin Ran had ruined the village's reputation and wanted to drown her turned around and begged the patriarch to forgive her.
Seeing that everyone was pleading for Lin Ran and that even the elders were showing signs of forgiving Lin Ran, Lin Xue panicked.
"This is not true. Don't listen to her. I saw it with my own eyes. She only used wine to wipe my older brother's body. What kind of treatment is that? I think she's just taking advantage of my older brother."
"Think about it. Wine is intended for consumption. How can it be used for treatment? I think Lin Ran was just pretending to save him, but in reality, she's just taking advantage of him."