"Nothing. I'm just feeling a little wistful."
Lin Guodong set the thought aside and said no more.
"About what?" Su Xin asked.
"The prosecutors in Greenwood City."
Lin Guodong raised an eyebrow, sounding almost rueful.
"The prosecutors and judges in Greenwood City... they're in for a treat!"
A treat?
What kind of treat could prosecutors and judges be in for?
Su Xin didn't understand. Confusion filled her face, but she didn't press him.
Lin Guodong had no intention of explaining, either. Once the trial began, she would understand what he meant.
His appetite returned, and before digging in, he left her with one last remark.
"Anyway..."
"Just wait until the trial starts in two days!"
That same day.
November 8, eight in the evening.
The Greenwood City Intermediate People's Procuratorate had closed for the day. The entire building lay dark and silent.
But light still shone from one window.
Inside the office.
"Whew."
Prosecutor Hu Guang let out a breath. Seated at his desk, he rubbed his aching brow.
The desk lamp cast a warm yellow glow, laying the exhaustion on his face bare.
A voice came from beside him.
"Let's call it a day. Your health matters more."
Hu Guang opened his eyes to find a cup of hot tea being pushed in front of him.
He looked up. His colleague Wang Wei and his apprentice Zhang Qing stood behind him, their faces just as tired.
Hu Guang said nothing. He picked up the cup and took a small sip.
Gulp.
The hot tea ran down his throat, its warmth driving the chill from his body.
Hu Guang felt himself relax. He exhaled deeply, then looked up at the two men.
"We submitted the Chain of Evidence. Has the court said anything?"
Wang Wei pulled out a chair and dropped into it.
Then he replied calmly:
"No. The prosecution's evidence corroborates the police evidence, and we submitted it during the evidence-submission period. There shouldn't be any problems."
Hu Guang nodded.
He was the prosecutor handling the Wang Qiang Case. With the trial approaching, he naturally wanted to check everything once more.
Then,
Hu Guang looked up at Zhang Qing, who had remained silent, and asked with a frown:
"What about the victim's family?"
"Don't tell me they'll disappear when the trial starts."
Some people were baffling. They might skip a Trial Hearing just to sleep in, especially in remote areas where awareness of the law was thin.
Zhang Qing said:
"We notified Chen Wei days ago."
Chen Wei was an unscrupulous lawyer, but that only spoke to his character and methods.
It didn't mean he was incompetent!
Getting Li Youcai and Liu Cui to appear in court on time was well within Chen Wei's abilities. But...
"Chen Wei has been collecting witness statements in Li Family Village."
Zhang Qing hesitated, then finally frowned and spoke.
"Those statements of his..."
Before he could finish, Hu Guang cut him off.
"What? Were they obtained illegally?"
Hu Guang took a cigarette from the pack on his desk, lit it, and drew on it.
He felt the nicotine fill his chest, then breathed out slowly. Looking at the young prosecutor before him, he asked flatly:
"Or did Chen Wei fabricate evidence?"
At that,
Zhang Qing found himself at a loss for words. After a long pause, he shook his head.
"No."
Chen Wei had taken statements in Li Family Village, near the scene of the crime. Was there a problem with that?
Legally speaking, no.
But statements came from people's mouths, and what people said depended not on reality, but on what they wanted to say!
What would the villagers of Li Family Village say when an outsider had killed Li Erniu?
They would turn black into white and white into black, of course!
Especially when the people giving statements were the dozens who had taken part in the disturbance at the scene.
In court, their statements carried considerable weight!
But would those people say Li Erniu had deserved to die, or that they themselves had broken the law? Of course not. Out of self-preservation, they would side with Li Youcai without even thinking.
Those statements might stray from the truth.
But they could still be presented in court as evidence!
"What about the defendant's lawyer?"
Hu Guang suddenly asked.
"I remember... the defendant has a defense lawyer called Xu De. Has he done anything?"
The two men paused.
After thinking back, they shook their heads.
"No."
"We haven't heard anything from the court. He didn't submit a single piece of evidence during the evidence-submission period," Wang Wei replied.
Not a single piece of evidence.
Which meant...
"He plans to fight this case on argument alone."
Hu Guang froze, then frowned.
"What's his track record?"
Going into court with nothing but arguments he would have to make on the spot... that was far too overconfident!
Even veteran lawyers wouldn't dare do that. Those who could win that way were top lawyers at the very least.
No... even a top lawyer wouldn't take that risk!
"He doesn't have one."
Zhang Qing shook his head. "He's a young lawyer who finished his internship only a few months ago."
A young lawyer fresh out of his internship, with no evidence, planning to rely on arguments he made on the spot...
On the other side was a tightly reasoned case painstakingly assembled by the police and prosecution. Chen Wei had even gathered statements from Li Family Village!
This...
"Enough. We're the prosecution, not the defense."
Hu Guang stubbed out his cigarette and took a deep breath. The weariness left his eyes, replaced by a sharp, steady gaze.
"We've completed every required step. Now we just... wait for the trial the day after tomorrow!"
And he was not the only one worried about the Li Family Village Case.
November 9.
Greenwood City Intermediate People's Court.
"The defense still hasn't submitted any evidence... This is bad. The prosecution has submitted plenty ahead of the trial."
"This..."
"Old Zhang, this case is particularly serious, and public opinion is running high. The court has decided on a public trial. If the defense gets overwhelmed during the hearing..."
In the office of the First Criminal Trial Court,
Judge Liu Jianguo held a newspaper. He stared at the flood of commentary covering its pages, his expression grave.
After a long while, he turned toward the man beside him.
A middle-aged man in a judge's robe sat there. He had a square face, weathered skin, and ordinary features, yet he carried an air of authority without showing a trace of anger.
Liu Jianguo said heavily:
"The trial starts tomorrow. Barring anything unexpected, a lot of people will be following this case."
Under the law,
Members of the public and reporters could attend an open trial and watch from the gallery.
If they saw the defense being beaten back... the crowd might erupt in outrage!
A father who had searched for his daughter for ten years, sentenced to a severe punishment because he killed the man who had bought her while trying to rescue her...
The thought alone gave Liu Jianguo goosebumps.
And yet...
"We'll conduct the trial as usual."
Judge Zhang Bingxin spoke without expression. He held the newspaper, his calm eyes betraying no emotion.
Hearing this,
Liu Jianguo opened his mouth, then stopped.
Zhang Bingxin was the judge handling the Wang Qiang Case—in other words, the Presiding Judge. His attitude could determine the direction of the entire case!
Liu Jianguo knew what kind of man he was.
Neutral, fair, and transparent!
Zhang Bingxin almost never exercised judicial discretion. He looked only at the evidence and the truth.
That meant the outcome would hinge on the abilities of the lawyers and representatives on each side. And Wang Qiang's defense lawyer in this case... hadn't even submitted any substantive evidence.
"Get things in order."
Zhang Bingxin finished reading the newspaper, set it down without expression, and rose.
"Prepare for tomorrow's trial!"
Liu Jianguo watched him leave.
After a moment of silence, he sighed deeply.
"Ah."
He was only a judge at the court, not a police officer or prosecutor. He wasn't even presiding over the trial. All he could do now...
Was prepare for court!
At that thought, Liu Jianguo swept his worries aside. His expression turned solemn, and he returned to work.
That day,
The afternoon seemed to crawl by, each hour feeling unbearably long!
[Yang Teng Law Firm.]
Chen Wei, the victim's legal representative, looked over the stack of documents he had compiled. A sinister smile flickered in his eyes.
[Intermediate People's Procuratorate.]
Prosecutors Hu Guang and Wang Wei repeatedly checked everything they would need, their expressions grim.
[Jinmao Law Firm.]
Xu De finished writing the last document and smiled at the words on the page.
Whether he made it through would depend on tomorrow—on whether he could stand alone against them all and outargue every opponent in court!
Even
Across the city,
Discussion of the Li Family Village Case grew ever more heated throughout Greenwood City!
Women at the market, workers in construction-site canteens, office employees, factory workers—they argued the case until they were spitting, their excitement driving away some of November's chill.
Even the reporters were getting their pens and paper ready.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting for tomorrow's first trial!!!
And amid that tension and all the preparations on every side, time slipped quietly onward. In the blink of an eye...
November 10.
The first trial of the Li Family Village Case began!
Before you continue