Chapter Summaries

After the Intermediate People's Court rejected Fang Rufeng's appeal, Su Bai publicized the case and submitted a new retrial petition, which Shadu High Court accepted and transferred to the Intermediate People's Court. The retrial began behind closed doors, with Xie Tingting and her lawyer confident the conviction would stand as Su Bai prepared to challenge it.

• The Intermediate People's Court rejected Fang Rufeng's appeal, so Su Bai told Li Xuezhen to contact the media and draw public attention to the case.
• Li Xuezhen published the case on White Jun Law Firm's short-video account, and media coverage sparked online discussion about Fang Rufeng's conviction for criminal preparation.
• Su Bai submitted a new retrial petition arguing that no objective facts or evidence proved Fang Rufeng had prepared to commit a crime.
• Shadu High Court found issues with the first-instance judgment, accepted the retrial request, and transferred the case to Shadu Intermediate People's Court.
• Xie Tingting learned the retrial had been accepted and discussed her planned divorce with her lawyer Xu Xia and her lover, while Lin Fengru remained convinced the original conviction was sound.
• The Intermediate People's Court approved Xie Tingting's request for a closed hearing, and Xu Xia assured her that the retrial would not cause problems.

At Fang Rufeng’s retrial, Su Bai argued that his client’s angry words and online searches did not amount to objective preparation for murder, while the Prosecution and Xie Tingting’s lawyer maintained that they showed criminal intent and preparation. Presiding Judge Lin Fengru ended the chapter by asking why Fang Rufeng had made those searches if he had not been preparing to kill.

• Su Bai argued that Fang Rufeng had made no preparations or created conditions for murder and asked the court to overturn the first-instance judgment.
• Wu Chunmei cited Fang Rufeng’s online searches and threat to Xie Tingting as evidence of criminal intent and preparation, and urged the court to uphold the conviction.
• Su Bai rebutted that the searches showed only subjective thoughts, not objective acts of preparation.
• Xu Xia argued that Fang Rufeng had entered the realm of action and that Xie Tingting’s police report had stopped his preparations.
• Su Bai challenged Xu Xia to explain what concrete acts Fang Rufeng had taken, and she remained silent.
• Lin Fengru asked Su Bai and Fang Rufeng to give a reasonable explanation for the searches.

During Fang Rufeng’s retrial, presiding judge Lin Fengru found that he had objectively prepared to kill Xie Tingting, despite the evidence showing only that he had searched online and felt homicidal anger. Su Bai challenged the determination as unsupported by evidence, and the chapter ended with Lin Fengru frowning after his objection.

• Lin Fengru questioned Fang Rufeng about his searches concerning infidelity and the death penalty, and Fang Rufeng admitted he had thought about killing Xie Tingting and her lover while angry.
• Lin Fengru pressed Fang Rufeng about whether he stopped thinking about murder before or after Xie Tingting called the police, and Su Bai interrupted, arguing that Fang Rufeng could not know when she had called.
• Lin Fengru determined that Fang Rufeng had objectively carried out preparatory acts for a crime, citing their relationship rift, his threat, and his online searches.
• Su Bai objected that the evidence showed only subjective intent, not any objective preparatory action, and asked Lin Fengru to revoke the determination.
• Lin Fengru rejected Su Bai’s position, reasoning that Xie Tingting’s timely police report had stopped Fang Rufeng before he could prepare further.
• Su Bai objected again, demanding evidence rather than speculation, and argued that the determination violated the criminal standard requiring reliable and sufficient evidence.

Su Bai challenged the collegial panel’s decision to uphold Fang Rufeng’s conviction, then arranged for Fang Rufeng to dismiss him as counsel so the trial had to be suspended. Su Bai left court planning to take the trial’s details to the Supreme People's Procuratorate and seek an explanation.

• Lin Fengru adjourned the trial, and Xie Tingting and Xu Xia expected Fang Rufeng to be convicted and to help Xie Tingting win the divorce suit.
• During deliberations, Lin Fengru and the other female judge favored upholding the original determination, while the male judge objected that the evidence did not justify conviction.
• Lin Fengru announced that the collegial panel would uphold the original determination and barred Su Bai from making further objections in court.
• Su Bai said he would submit the trial details to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, then asked Fang Rufeng to dismiss him as counsel.
• Fang Rufeng dismissed Su Bai, and Su Bai argued that the trial had to be suspended because Fang Rufeng no longer had retained counsel.
• After the proceedings were suspended, Su Bai told Li Xuezhen they would go to the Supreme People's Procuratorate for answers.

Su Bai challenged the presiding judge’s basis for convicting Fang Rufeng and sought guidance from the Supreme People's Procuratorate, while public debate over the case intensified. The Supreme People's Procuratorate ruled that the evidence did not establish objective preparatory acts, leaving Fang Rufeng’s acquittal as the expected result when the trial resumed.

• Su Bai told Li Xuezhen to file a complaint and submit the case to the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Supreme People's Court for guidance.
• Su Bai sent case materials to Southern Capital Media, whose coverage sparked heated online debate about evidence, judicial discretion, and Fang Rufeng’s guilt.
• Xie Tingting spoke with Xu Xia about the postponed criminal and divorce cases, while a man urged her to formalize their relationship.
• Lin Fengru agreed to follow up on the case after a female judge pushed to resume Fang Rufeng’s trial sooner.
• After reviewing the case and discussing it internally, the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued guidance that Fang Rufeng’s words and actions did not establish objective preparatory acts.
• Su Bai read the guidance and expected it to lead to Fang Rufeng’s acquittal when the trial resumed.

After the Supreme People's Procuratorate guided the court to reconsider Fang Rufeng's case, the court acquitted him and rejected Xie Tingting's request for an apology. As Xie Tingting and Xu Xia left the courtroom, law enforcement officers stopped them and asked them to cooperate with an investigation.

• Xu Xia asked Prosecutor Wu Chunmei whether new evidence could support a conviction, but Wu Chunmei said the guidance pointed to an acquittal and ended the call.
• Lin Fengru reconsidered the case with the Collegial Panel, and a male judge rebuked the female judge for letting personal views influence the deliberations.
• Su Bai attended the resumed hearing, where Lin Fengru rejected her earlier finding that Fang Rufeng had committed preparatory criminal acts.
• Xu Xia requested compensation and an apology for Xie Tingting, but Su Bai objected and Lin Fengru denied the request.
• Lin Fengru declared Fang Rufeng not guilty, and Xu Xia warned Xie Tingting that the divorce might proceed but asset division could be difficult.
• Law enforcement officers stopped Xie Tingting and Xu Xia outside the courtroom and told them a case had been opened following a report.

After Fang Rufeng was acquitted, authorities took Xie Tingting and her lawyer Xu Xia away to investigate their use of fabricated evidence. Su Bai advised Fang Rufeng on divorce and asset claims, while Presiding Judge Lin Fengru and two other panel members were summoned for a supervisory review of the trial.

• Law enforcement officers escorted Xie Tingting and Xu Xia from court after Xu Xia realized the case-filing evidence had been fabricated.
• Fang Rufeng thanked Su Bai for securing his acquittal and protecting his family’s assets, and Su Bai prepared divorce filings and requested an investigation into possible asset transfers.
• Su Bai told Li Xuezhen that the trial panel’s conduct would be assessed through a subsequent review.
• Wang Xue published Su Bai’s update that Xie Tingting was under investigation, prompting heated online discussion.
• Lin Fengru received instructions from President Yang to attend a supervisory review with the other two members of the Collegial Panel.

After Lin Fengru was reassigned and Fang Rufeng’s divorce was finalized in his favor, Li Xuezhen reported her success to Su Bai. Su Bai reviewed the Northern Capital branch’s difficult administrative case, which left him frowning.

• The Shadu Intermediate People's Court reassigned Lin Fengru and transferred the other female judge to a neighborhood judicial office after its supervisory review.
• Li Xuezhen secured Fang Rufeng a divorce judgment that left Xie Tingting with no assets and ordered her to repay nearly one hundred thousand yuan in transferred marital property.
• Li Xuezhen told Su Bai she had won Fang Rufeng’s case, and Su Bai estimated that Xie Tingting and Xu Xia could face prison terms.
• Su Bai found that the case had raised his system progress to seventy percent, then spent half a month without finding a suitable new case while assigning ordinary criminal cases to Xu Xiang.
• Su Bai visited the Northern Capital branch, where Duan Liang asked him to take on administrative cases to help the branch grow.
• Duan Liang presented Su Bai with a tricky case involving a government department, and Su Bai frowned as he reviewed it.

Su Bai agreed to take Xiao Pingjun’s administrative case after a supermarket’s expired snacks allegedly poisoned several young children and three departments passed responsibility between them. After the reconsideration authorities rejected Xiao Pingjun’s renewed application, Su Bai prepared to appeal and add the reconsideration body as a defendant.

• Su Bai agreed to handle Xiao Pingjun’s case against the food supervision, industry and commerce, and health departments over their alleged failure to investigate food poisoning linked to expired snacks.
• Xiao Pingjun told Su Bai that eight or nine children had been affected, that some families would provide evidence, and that the departments had passed him back and forth; his first lawsuit had lost at trial.
• Su Bai advised Xiao Pingjun to submit a new application for administrative reconsideration that clearly described the children’s food poisoning and the requested investigations and penalties.
• The reconsideration body rejected Xiao Pingjun’s application, claiming that officials had summoned the supermarket’s person in charge and therefore had not failed to act.
• Su Bai told Li Xuezhen to prepare an appeal and add the body that conducted the reconsideration as another defendant.

Su Bai appealed on behalf of Xiao Pingjun and other families, suing Dafa Supermarket and four administrative departments over expired food that caused children to suffer food poisoning. The public hearing began in Jinshi Intermediate Court, where Su Bai argued that the supermarket and departments had broken the law, while the defendants appeared confident the court would not rule against them.

• Su Bai assembled purchase receipts, hospital records, and other evidence, then filed an appeal that Jinshi Intermediate Court accepted.
• Presiding judge Peng Guangliang asked whether the parties could settle, but Su Bai said the victims' demands had to be met, and the departments refused to settle.
• Wang Hai received the summons and called Elder Brother Zhang, then decided to let the case proceed because he believed Xiao Pingjun could not win against so many defendants.
• Su Bai applied for a public hearing, which the court approved; before the hearing, Li Xuezhen asked how they would enforce a favorable judgment, and Su Bai reassured her that they had options.
• At the hearing, Su Bai argued that Dafa Supermarket sold expired food that poisoned children and that the relevant departments had failed to investigate or penalize it.
• The departmental representatives smiled when Su Bai asked the court to hold responsible personnel accountable, confident that the court would not rule against the four administrative agencies.

Su Bai challenged Dafa Supermarket and four administrative departments over expired food that poisoned children, securing a court ruling that the supermarket must publicly apologize to Xiao Pingjun. As Su Bai questioned the departments’ alleged inaction, one produced evidence of a regulatory interview that appeared fabricated to him.

• Li Shulin accepted compensation for Dafa Supermarket but opposed a public apology, while Su Bai argued that the apology was owed because the supermarket had called Xiao Pingjun’s truthful account a rumor.
• Peng Guangliang ruled that Dafa Supermarket must publicly apologize for damaging Xiao Pingjun’s reputation, and Li Shulin told Wang Hai they could evade the order’s effects.
• A lawyer for the industrial and commercial administration department claimed it had responded to Xiao Pingjun’s complaint and interviewed Dafa Supermarket’s manager.
• Su Bai argued that an interview without investigation or penalties did not fulfill the department’s legal duties and demanded evidence that the interview had taken place.
• The department’s lawyer presented evidence in court, and Su Bai suspected it had been fabricated.

Su Bai challenged Market Administration’s meeting record as fabricated because its stated time conflicted with Xiao Pingjun’s protest, and the court excluded it pending verification. Su Bai then argued that the defendants had failed to perform their duties, leaving Judge Peng Guangliang struggling over whether he could rule against all four defendant entities.

• Su Bai confirmed with Xiao Pingjun that he had protested outside Dafa Supermarket on the morning of the fifteenth, when Wang Hai and the supermarket manager were there handling the complaint.
• Su Bai challenged Market Administration’s meeting record, and Wang Hai admitted only that he did not remember attending a meeting.
• Peng Guangliang excluded the disputed evidence because its authenticity could not be established during the trial and continued the hearing.
• Yu Yan argued that Market Administration had acted by notifying Dafa Supermarket to make corrections, but Su Bai maintained that the defendants had not fulfilled their legal duties because they imposed no penalties.
• Su Bai asked the court to rule on the defendants’ alleged inaction, while Peng Guangliang hesitated over whether he could find all four defendant entities at fault.

Su Bai argued that the defendant departments had failed to act, while the judges struggled over the political consequences of ruling against the Reconsideration Department. When court resumed, the presiding judge excluded that department from review, prompting the other defendants to object and leaving the final judgment uncertain.

• Peng Guangliang adjourned the trial after saying the Collegial Panel disagreed about the ruling, and Su Bai wondered whether the court was reluctant to decide the case.
• During deliberations, Peng Guangliang, Wang Xiang, and Shen Jun weighed the consequences of ruling against the administrative departments and considered excluding the Reconsideration Department.
• After the hearing resumed, Su Bai laid out his claims that the food inspection, Health, and reconsideration authorities had failed to fulfill their duties, including their response to food poisoning among children.
• Peng Guangliang ruled that the Reconsideration Department would not be reviewed because it had no direct connection to the case, while the other departments remained subject to judgment.
• A defense lawyer objected to excluding the Reconsideration Department, and the other defendants also protested, leaving the eventual judgment uncertain.

Presiding Judge Peng Guangliang rejected the defendants’ objections and, relying on Supreme People’s Court guidance, excluded the reconsideration authority from review in this trial. He then announced a judgment holding Dafa Supermarket and several government departments responsible, while Su Bai planned to report the officials over their conduct.

• Peng Guangliang ruled that the reconsideration authority could not be sued jointly with the administrative departments and rejected Yu Yan’s objection to excluding it during trial.
• Su Bai delivered a court statement accusing Dafa Supermarket of causing food poisoning and the Industry and Commerce, Food Inspection, and Health departments of failing to act.
• Peng Guangliang announced that Dafa Supermarket had sold expired food that caused food poisoning and ordered it to compensate the plaintiffs and apologize to Xiao Pingjun.
• The court found that Industry and Commerce, Food Inspection, and Health had seriously failed to perform their duties and ordered them to resolve the incident and apologize.
• After court adjourned, Su Bai planned to report the officials for fabricating evidence, concealing facts, and neglecting the children’s food-poisoning cases.

After the administrative departments ignored the court’s judgment in Xiao Pingjun’s case, Su Bai submitted a supervisory review request, prompting an investigation into whether officials had concealed a mass food-poisoning incident. Officials from the departments were summoned for questioning, and Zhang He wondered whether the Dafa Supermarket case had brought him under scrutiny.

• Su Bai told Li Xuezhen that they would wait for the court’s compliance deadline to expire before reporting the departments, and explained that the reconsideration authority could be sued separately.
• Su Bai asked the Law Enforcement Bureau about enforcing the judgment, then told Xiao Pingjun to urge the departments to comply and keep evidence of his visits.
• Wang Hai complained to Zhang He about Xiao Pingjun’s campaign against Dafa Supermarket, and Zhang He promised to suppress complaints for now while warning Wang to fix the supermarket’s problems.
• Fifteen working days after the judgment, Xiao Pingjun told Su Bai that the departments had taken no action, so Su Bai and Li Xuezhen accompanied him to submit a supervisory review request.
• The supervisory review authorities examined the evidence and ordered officials from the industry and commerce, food supervision, and public health departments to come in for questioning.
• Zhang He received a summons from the Supervisory Department and suspected it was connected to Dafa Supermarket.

After Su Bai’s supervisory review request led to officials being investigated and Dafa Supermarket’s Wang Hai being arrested, Xiao Pingjun thanked Su Bai and reported that the head of the reconsideration office had also been removed. As White Jun Law Firm’s administrative practice grew and its system progress reached 75 percent, Xiao Haibo called Su Bai about a case involving a conviction with no evidence.

• The Supervisory Review Department announced investigations into officials accused of covering up the mass food poisoning incident, and Wang Hai learned that Dafa Supermarket would face rectification.
• Wang Hai sought advice from Li Shulin about gifts he had given officials, then was taken away by law enforcement officers.
• Xiao Pingjun thanked Su Bai and said responsible officials had been arrested, Dafa Supermarket had been ordered to suspend operations, and the head of the reconsideration office had been removed.
• Li Xuezhen asked about the officials’ likely punishment, and Su Bai said they might face prison; Duan Liang reported rising administrative case inquiries and clients at the Northern Capital branch.
• Su Bai saw White Jun Law Firm’s system progress reach 75 percent, then received a call from Xiao Haibo about a case involving a conviction without evidence.

Su Bai agreed to represent Xia Mingyuan, a teacher sentenced to three years and six months based on students’ statements despite a lack of objective evidence. After Xie Hui described possible connections between the accusers’ families and local authorities, she warned Su Bai that the judicial environment in their small county was poor.

• Xiao Haibo told Su Bai that his former classmate Xia Mingyuan had been convicted of molesting and harassing three female students, and Su Bai found serious problems with the judgment’s reliance on statements alone.
• Su Bai agreed to take Xia Mingyuan’s case and arranged to meet his family the next day.
• Xiao Pingjun told Su Bai that investigators had found more than two million in Wang Hai’s case, and Su Bai assigned Li Xuezhen to review materials for a new case.
• Xie Hui met Su Bai and said the three accusers had been disciplined by Xia Mingyuan, while two had family connections to the Law Enforcement Department and the Procuratorate.
• Su Bai reassured Xie Hui and considered reporting possible official misconduct, but Xie Hui warned him that the judicial environment in her small county was poor.

Su Bai met with Xia Mingyuan, investigated the case, and appealed his conviction, arguing that evidence was lacking and officials had conflicts of interest. At the second-instance hearing, presiding judge Jiang Feng deferred discussion of those conflicts and focused the trial on whether Xia Mingyuan was guilty.

• Xie Hui authorized Su Bai to appeal Xia Mingyuan’s conviction, and Su Bai planned to seek review by the Linhai City Intermediate Court and supervisory authorities.
• Su Bai and Li Xuezhen reviewed the case materials, then Su Bai met Xia Mingyuan in detention and heard that his admitted contact with students had been limited to touching their shoulders while disciplining them.
• Su Bai and Li Xuezhen visited Beichuan County No. 1 Senior High School, submitted an appeal with new evidence, and the Linhai City Intermediate Court opened second-instance proceedings.
• A woman urged her brother and another girl’s parent to ensure Xia Mingyuan’s conviction stood after learning that he had appealed.
• Jiang Feng opened the closed second-instance hearing, where Su Bai argued that evidence was lacking and conflicts of interest had undermined the first-instance proceedings.
• Jiang Feng postponed examination of the alleged conflicts of interest and directed the trial to focus on Xia Mingyuan’s guilt and whether the first-instance judgment should be overturned.

Su Bai challenged the evidence against Xia Mingyuan at the appeal hearing, arguing that the accusations rested only on the three students’ statements. The hearing ended with presiding judge Jiang Feng questioning Xia Mingyuan in a way that appeared to make him prove his innocence.

• Su Bai argued that the first-instance verdict relied on the victims’ statements and that no objective evidence established Xia Mingyuan had harassed or molested them.
• The prosecutor summarized the conflicting accounts, while Wang Qin argued that the three students’ similar statements were credible and that Xia Mingyuan could have exploited their rule-breaking as an excuse.
• Su Bai pressed Wang Qin to identify objective evidence beyond the students’ statements, and she admitted there was none.
• Jiang Feng asked Wu Yan to describe the alleged misconduct, and Su Bai questioned why she had waited until after expulsion to report Xia Mingyuan.
• Jiang Feng asked Xia Mingyuan whether he might have touched the students and challenged him to prove that he had not acted deliberately, prompting Su Bai to suspect the judge was steering toward a guilty verdict.

At Xia Mingyuan’s appeal hearing, Su Bai challenged the presiding judge’s leading questions and submitted evidence disputing the victims’ accounts. Presiding Judge Jiang Feng rejected the evidence and ruled that Xia Mingyuan had molested and harassed the students, prompting Su Bai to demand an explanation for the ruling’s legal basis.

• Su Bai objected that Jiang Feng’s questions were leading and improperly required Xia Mingyuan to prove his innocence, but Jiang Feng insisted Xia Mingyuan answer or bear the consequences.
• Xia Mingyuan denied deliberately harassing the students, said he had no evidence to prove his innocence, and claimed the three students were slandering him.
• Su Bai submitted a school questionnaire alleging that Wu Yan, He Juan, and Li Bing had poor reputations, bullied others, and had spread claims about Xia Mingyuan’s investigation; Wang Qin challenged the evidence and defended the victims.
• Jiang Feng ruled that Su Bai’s unauthenticated evidence would not be admitted and concluded that Xia Mingyuan’s repeated physical contact and inability to disprove molestation established his guilt.
• Su Bai slammed the table and demanded that Jiang Feng identify the objective facts, direct evidence, and legal provisions supporting the ruling.