Chapter 868: The Breakthrough
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi was truly angry this time around. Her jet black eyes looked like two obsidian stones that had been washed by clear water. Albeit black, they sparkled brightly. When paired with her fair complexion and jet black brows, they looked out of this world.
The jet black color reflected colorful shadows, and at that moment, they looked like fireworks that had exploded in the night sky. They looked bright, colorful, and so beautiful that they managed to attract everyone’s attention.
Most likely, the only person in the entire courtroom who was not attracted to her was Gu Yanran… She only felt prickling from the pain where Gu Nianzhi had smacked her in the face with the documents. She felt embarrassed as well. She had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life!
Tilting her head, the documents went past her face and fell onto the ground. Gu Yanran said in a state of panic, “It wasn’t mid autumn four years ago; it was mid autumn three years ago!”
Gu Nianzhi could not help but show a pang of distaste as she looked at Gu Yanran coldly. Right at that moment, Gu Nianzhi looked like the icy and merciless He Zhichu as well.
Gu Yanran sneaked a peek around the court. When she realized that everyone in court was looking at her with distaste, she panicked and pulled on Jin Wanyi’s sleeves. “Wanyi? Help me… I… I remembered incorrectly…”
Jin Wanyi groaned in secret. However, all she could do was brace herself and mumble, “My client remembered incorrectly…”
“Lawyer Jin, you do know that this is not the way to fight a lawsuit, don’t you?” Gu Nianzhi did not even bother to look at Jin Wanyi and only looked at Gu Yanran while she talked. “You cannot merely say that you remembered incorrectly whenever I manage to catch details of you committing a crime. I confirmed time and again just now, and you insisted that it was mid autumn four years ago, and even said that it would still be four years ago even if I asked a hundred more times. Now that I have pointed out that Ye Xuan was still a minor four years ago, you want to change your testimony to three years ago? Do you think the court is your home, and you are able to say whatever you wish?”
Of course, Jin Wanyi knew all that. However, Gu Yanran was her client. Therefore, she had to give it her all to help her. Therefore, even if it wasn’t logical, she had to think of ways to make up for it…
Gu Nianzhi turned around to face the judge. “Your Honor, we already have many pieces of evidence now to prove that Gu Yanran lied about Ye Xuan. Why did she try so hard to tarnish Ye Xuan’s reputation and stop him from testifying in court? I now have enough reasons to believe that this would be due to Ye Xuan knowing too much of the truth, and that was exactly why she did not want him around! From this point of view, I request that Your Honor stop the defendant from continuing to make a fuss over my witness as a person. Ye Xuan is a legitimate witness. His statement should be taken as seriously as other witnesses’ as evidence.”
By now, almost everyone had already taken sides. Ye Xuan was a stumbling block for Gu Yanran. Therefore, she definitely would want to get rid of him.
The judge nodded and banged his gavel. “Agree to the suggestion of the plaintiff. The defendant will be unable to comment further about Ye Xuan as a person henceforth. We will be treating Ye Xuan’s statement as equally as the other witnesses’.”
Ye Xuan’s restriction in court due to the “personal protection order” was finally cleared.
It had already been three hours since they had begun the hearing in the morning. Gu Nianzhi had just breathed a sigh of relief when Ye Xuan began talking. “I know why Gu Yanran did not want me to testify in court. Other than the fact that she does not wish to split the inheritance equally, she attempted to take Gu Nianzhi’s life before this. When Gu Nianzhi was in Germany and met with danger, Gu Yanran already knew who the mastermind was. However, she did not provide assistance to save Gu Nianzhi. On top of that, she asked me to place a Trojan virus on Gu Nianzhi’s mobile phone, so that she would not be able to seek help from anyone in the Hua Xia Empire.”
Everyone in court fell silent. They looked at each other in shock and did not know how to react to this piece of information. This seemingly normal inheritance lawsuit had finally proceeded to turn into what many inheritance cases eventually did—a murder case.
The judge’s expression suddenly changed. He said sternly, “Ye Xuan, what you have just said is extremely important. You cannot spout nonsense just like that. May I know if you have evidence to back you up?”
Nodding, Ye Xuan said, “Even though I do not have much evidence on hand regarding the inheritance, I do have more than enough evidence to prove what happened when Gu Nianzhi was the victim of attempted murder in Germany.”
Due to having to trace Gu Nianzhi’s mobile phone’s signal and divert it, his tracking programs were running in real time. Therefore, he had to record a lot of texts that were exchanged between Gu Yanran and himself during the process. He did not give it too much thought at that time, so he did not delete them. Now they could finally be of use.
Gu Yanran looked up abruptly and saw Ye Xuan on the stand, looking as cold as ever. She shook her head furiously and screamed repeatedly, “Lies! Lies! You are a liar! I did not want harm to befall her! I did not!”
Right at that moment, Huo Shaoheng’s voice could be heard from the Bluetooth earpiece in the judge’s ear. “Director Zhan, please hold everyone in the courtroom. I will be sending my men to take Ye Xuan away.”
Due to the fact that Gu Nianzhi’s attempted murder in Germany involved the death of two Special Forces personnel, it had been classified as a highly confidential case. Huo Shaoheng, who was watching the hearing from the headquarters of the Special Forces, sensed that there was a breakthrough in the case in Germany. Now, he finally had enough reason to intervene.
Also, after divulging this, the people behind Gu Yanran would never let Ye Xuan go. For his safety, Huo Shaoheng would have to bring him in immediately.
The judge nodded slightly and whispered, “Okay.”
Very soon, he heard the call hang up. The judge turned to look at Jin Wanyi and asked calmly, “Defendant’s lawyer, do you have any more questions for Ye Xuan?”
Jin Wanyi smiled bitterly again. How could she continue? She had prepared an entire series of questions to embarrass Ye Xuan in public. However, she would be slapping herself with those questions now.
Jin Wanyi looked at Gu Nianzhi with mixed emotions. This little girl wasn’t even 20 years old, but she was so professional in court. She was able to think quickly on her feet and was also able to get her point across in a quick, straightforward, and powerful way. She had managed to push all their accusations aside and also managed to stop all the possibilities of Gu Yanran trying to accuse Ye Xuan of being a bad guy in their previous relationship.
All the questions that she had painstakingly prepared for the past month had now gone to waste…
Jin Wanyi took a deep breath and turned to the judge. “No, there is nothing else we want to ask Ye Xuan as of now.”
The judge made a note in his documents and looked at Gu Nianzhi again. “Plaintiff, do you have any more questions for the defendant?”
Gu Nianzhi did not know what had come over her. When she heard Ye Xuan confess that Gu Yanran was involved in her attempted murder in Germany, she did not feel overly shocked. It seemed like she had expected Gu Yanran to have been involved. Therefore, she did not exhibit any signs of shock and was able to focus fully on the inheritance case.
Nodding, she said, “Thank you, Your Honor. I still have some questions for the defendant.”
Gu Yanran felt emotionally and physically drained. She was extremely pale and sat behind the defendant’s stand feeling extremely nervous. She asked Jin Wanyi softly, “Why did it take so long today? Can we postpone the hearing? I am getting tired…”
Jin Wanyi was even more tired than Gu Yanran. On top of being physically tired, she felt emotionally drained as well. However, she explained patiently to Gu Yanran, “The judge will decide on the progress of the case and decide if we should postpone it. He will judge if there is enough evidence and witnesses. Since Gu Nianzhi still has some questions for you, the judge will not postpone the hearing now.”
The reason for postponing the previous two hearings was due to the cases being in bottlenecks. They had to wait for new leads or new witnesses to come forward before there could be any more progress.
Gu Yanran massaged her temples, and her face was flushed. She lowered her voice and said, “I am not feeling well…”
Jin Wanyi took a look at her. “Pretending to be unwell in court will never work, because the judge would get a doctor here to diagnose you.” The court would never go along with a single person just because he or she said that they were not feeling well.
Gu Yanran was extremely disappointed in Jin Wanyi when she realized that she wasn’t able to get out of the hearing no matter what. She cracked her neck and said without looking at Jin Wanyi, “Lawyer Jin, think of your professional position in the Hua Xia Empire if you were to lose this case. Although I do not have much capability, making you lose your job and become unable to get another one in this industry wouldn’t be that tough.”
Jin Wanyi was so angered by Gu Yanran that she snickered. She moved closer to Gu Yanran and whispered, “Gu Yanran, are you trying to threaten me?”
“What do you think?” Gu Yanran glared at her sideways, like she already had nothing to lose since she knew she was going to die anyway.
Jin Wanyi thought about the whole series of events that Gu Yanran had “gone through.” For example, that clip that was leaked on the internet when Gu Yanran was seducing a married man into having an affair with her—the whole world had seen Gu Yanran’s naked body just like that. Next, she had said that Ye Xuan was the one who forced himself on her, but it was exposed that she was the one who had seduced a minor. Finally, all the lies that she had told were exposed, but she did not seem to feel a thing and even managed to find excuses within a blink of an eye.
Each and every single one of those things, if they ever happened to another woman, would render that woman unable to keep living. However, it seemed like Gu Yanran did not mind about all that in the slightest. This was a woman who did not care about what others would think of her. Jin Wanyi mentally reminded herself to be more wary of this woman.
Seeing that both of them were whispering to each other, Gu Nianzhi asked with her brows furrowed, “Lawyer Jin, I want to ask your client some questions. Can she answer them?”
Jin Wanyi looked at her and asked, “Can I say no?”
“No, you can’t.”
“Then why are you even asking?” Jin Wanyi took a step to the side. Gu Yanran sat up straight and braced herself, waiting for Gu Nianzhi’s weird questions for her that were full of traps.
Gu Nianzhi looked at the materials that she had prepared and rapped her knuckles on the defendant’s stand. “Defendant Gu Yanran, I will give you another chance. The inheritance list that you submitted to the court—is it a complete list?”