Chapter 23: Gathering of All Parties, the Trial Begins! |
November 10th.
Qingwu Province, Greenwood City, Intermediate People''s Court.
Afternoon.
"Oh no, we''re late. If we don''t get in there right now, the trial will be over before we even start!"
Outside the main entrance of the Greenwood City Intermediate People''s Court.
Before the taxi had even come to a complete stop, the door was thrown open with frantic haste.
A split second later, a slender female reporter in flat shoes hopped out. Clutching a microphone, she took one brief look at the towering steps leading to the main hall before anxiously rushing up them.
Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap...
The sound of her hurrying footsteps echoed in the air, mingling with the noisy bustle.
Gritting her teeth, the female reporter, Zhang Xia, sprinted up the stairs, panting heavily but still finding the breath to scold the person lagging behind her.
Behind her, a slightly胖 man wearing a press badge puffed and wheezed as he struggled to keep up, lugging a tripod and a heavy camera.
Feeling utterly wronged, Zhang Wang wailed as he chased after her.
"Sis, how is it my fault that the company car broke down and we had to take a cab?!"
"And it was just my first time forgetting the camera! How was I supposed to know the spare I grabbed when I went back was broken..."
Hearing this, Zhang Xia felt her chest heave with infuriated exasperation.
They were biological siblings who had joined the same media company right out of college and had coincidentally been paired together as a team.
Six months since graduation and they hadn''t scooped a single piece of worthwhile news. The chief editor had been glaring at them with increasingly dangerous looks over the past two days. When the Lijia Village case finally broke, she was determined to seize the headline...
She had originally planned to arrive at the courthouse by noon to secure good seats, but Zhang Wang''s endless delays had dragged them out until now!
"You still have the nerve to complain!" Zhang Xia snapped, her pace not slowing in the slightest.
Zhang Wang wanted to say something, but his ears suddenly twitched. He instinctively stopped in his tracks and looked back.
As his eyes focused on what was approaching from behind, his pupils shrank slightly, and he blurted out, "It''s a prison van! The prison van is here!"
Hearing this, Zhang Xia skidded to a halt and turned to look.
Sure enough.
A white prisoner transport van slowly pulled through the main gates of the courthouse. It was the designated vehicle used by judicial police to escort inmates!
The two reporters watched in silence until the vehicle turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
"They must be bringing in Wang Qiang. The timing is right," Zhang Wang whispered.
The arrival of the defendant meant the trial was about to begin!
Zhang Xia said nothing more. She whipped around and sprinted toward the main hall, breathing heavily, a few strands of hair plastered to her sweaty forehead.
Stepping off the final stair, she entered the lobby.
Looking up, she saw a massive red-and-gold national emblem suspended high above the hall, radiating an invisible aura of solemnity and order.
Zhang Xia subconsciously suppressed her frantic energy. She lowered her head, scanned the various corridors, identified the right one, and quickly hurried down it without a second thought.
The Lijia Village case was being heard in Courtroom One.
She took the elevator up and navigated a series of stark, quiet hallways.
Finally.
Zhang Xia came to a halt before the closed double doors of the courtroom. Standing just outside, she could vaguely hear a low hum of voices seeping from within.
She took a deep breath, placed her hand on the handle, and gently pushed.
Click.
The door yielded, opening a narrow crack.
Peeking through the gap, she had a clear view of the very front of the courtroom. Elevated high above the rest was the judicial bench, featuring three tall-backed chairs. A gavel rested on the desk, and the national emblem hung majestically on the wall behind it, projecting sheer authority.
Pushing a bit harder, the gap widened.
In the center, slightly below and entirely overlooked by the bench, was the defendant''s dock, enclosed by a railing. To the left was a row of seats for the public prosecution, and to the right, a row for the defense counsel.
With the trial yet to commence, these specific seats remained empty.
Behind this central area lay the massive, tiered public gallery. At a rough glance, it held at least four hundred seats.
And right now, every single one of those four hundred seats was occupied. Over four hundred pairs of eyes looked down upon the trial floor.
A low commotion buzzed in her ears as people whispered amongst themselves.
''We made it. It hasn''t started yet!''
Zhang Xia let out a long sigh of relief. Looking up again, she spotted a figure in the front row waving at her.
"Over here, over here."
Zhang Wang stayed back near the door to set up his camera equipment at the very rear of the gallery, while Zhang Xia hurried over to the front.
The female reporter who had waved pointed to an empty seat and whispered, "Hurry up. Do you have any idea how much grief I caught trying to save a seat for you? And a front-row seat at that!"
"You''re always so scatterbrained. Good thing you called me. Without me here, where would you have sat?"
Hearing this, Zhang Xia flushed.
"Thanks, Sister Liu. Dinner is on me later."
Still blushing, she quickly sat down, pulled her messenger bag into her lap, retrieved her notepad and pen, and immediately looked up at the courtroom floor.
Aside from the completely packed public gallery, the actual trial area was utterly deserted, making it look starkly desolate.
Noticing this, Sister Liu leaned over and whispered into Zhang Xia''s ear, "Twenty minutes until it starts. The key players haven''t arrived yet."
Sister Liu paused, then sighed in amazement.
"The public outcry for this case is massive. I can''t believe Courtroom One isn''t even big enough. This place holds at least five hundred people!"
"They''ve even assigned the judges from the First Division of the Criminal Court!"
Courtroom One was the largest in the Greenwood City Intermediate People''s Court, yet even here, people were left without seats.
But the judges of the First Division of the Criminal Court... Zhang Xia wasn''t familiar with them.
"Sister Liu, what''s so special about the First Division judges?"
Zhang Xia asked softly, her eyes drifting toward the bench, where three nameplates read ''Liu Jianguo'', ''Zhang Bingxin'', and ''Sun Dong''.
Behind the three nameplates sat three empty chairs.
"You just graduated, so it makes sense you wouldn''t know."
Sister Liu explained, "The judges of the First Division of the Criminal Court here in Greenwood City are the most professional, impartial, and exceptionally capable judicial team in the entire municipality."
"They exclusively handle major, critical, and severe criminal cases!"
"Among them, Zhang Bingxin is the most renowned. He''s the presiding judge of the First Division, holds a high-ranking deputy-director level position at the Intermediate Court, and is famous for being utterly uncompromising and looking only at the evidence!"
Sister Liu paused again, letting out a heavy sigh.
"The man is notoriously stubborn. If the evidence in this Lijia Village case points against the defendant... it''s highly likely he''ll just go by the book!"
Which meant... he might ignore public opinion entirely and completely forsake his own judicial discretion?!
Suddenly.
Staring at the nameplate in the center that read ''Zhang Bingxin'', Zhang Xia couldn''t help but feel a surge of awe and dread.
A man with that kind of unyielding character...
He was probably going to throw fuel on the fire of this already explosive case!
Just as that thought crossed Zhang Xia''s mind, an abrupt sound echoed through the lower level of the courtroom, instantly silencing the crowd.
Creak.
The side door to the trial floor opened.
Several middle-aged men stood in the doorway. They wore black suits and white shirts, matched with bright red ties, each sporting a crimson insignia pinned to their chest.
The man leading the group swept his gaze across the room with zero emotional fluctuation. The moment he stepped forward, a commanding aura emanated from him.
He led his team to calmly take their places at the prosecution bench. Ignoring the hundreds of people behind them, they simply began organizing their documents.
"That''s the team leader of the First Handling Group of the Second Prosecutorial Department, Hu Guang."
Sister Liu stared intently at Prosecutor Hu Guang as she whispered, her tone grave.
"This guy is practically a case-processing machine. Just like Zhang Bingxin, he never lets an ounce of personal emotion interfere!"
"With these two paired up, this Lijia Village case... is definitely going to explode."
Two strictly by-the-book individuals colliding over a case steeped in human tragedy and moral complexity. The mere thought of it was enough to make one''s scalp tingle!
Shortly after Hu Guang''s team sat down, a few more people entered.
"See them? Sitting next to the prosecution, at the civil plaintiff''s bench, are the victim''s parents, Li Youcai and Liu Cui."
"The guy in the suit sitting at the ''victim''s proxy'' seat is their legal representative, lawyer Chen Wei. That piece of work is a notorious shyster here in Greenwood City. As long as you pay him, he''ll do anything!"
Sister Liu narrated.
Following her gaze, Zhang Xia saw two elderly people with vicious expressions, muttering under their breath.
Next to them was a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who looked like a well-dressed beast. He was also sorting through documents, but a faint smirk hung on his lips, and a trace of sheer ruthlessness gleamed in his eyes.
Not long after...
"The defendant and the defense counsel are here!"
Sister Liu blurted out suddenly.
Zhang Xia looked up to see two unsmiling judicial police officers at the side door, solemnly marching a figure toward the defendant''s dock in the center.
Between the two officers walked a skeletal, hunched man wearing a yellow vest, his eyes cloudy and lifeless.
This was none other than Wang Qiang!
Upon taking his seat, he instinctively glanced to his side.
Beside him, a cleanly dressed young man in a professional suit was slowly making his way to the defense counsel''s bench.
Despite his youth, the young man''s gaze was completely tranquil, devoid of any nervousness. He simply sat down and began sorting his paperwork.
Looking at him.
Whispers instantly erupted across the gallery.
Sister Liu frowned and clicked her tongue.
"The defense lawyer is named Xu De, from Jinmao. He hasn''t handled a single criminal case in his career yet. He''s a total rookie."
"A rookie lawyer?!"
Zhang Xia was stunned. Her pen froze in her hand as she stared at the defense bench in disbelief.
Xu De was the only one at the defense bench, making it look incredibly empty and isolated.
She then looked across at the prosecution.
Prosecutors Hu Guang, Wang Wei, and Zhang Qing...
The victim''s proxy, the infamous shyster Chen Wei...
Acting as both witnesses and civil plaintiffs, Li Youcai and Liu Cui...
This disparity...
Wasn''t it a bit too extreme?!
The gap in resources and presence was glaringly obvious. Most of the audience seemed thoroughly surprised, whispering furiously as their eyes darted back and forth between the two sides.
Zhang Xia''s mind was churning, at a loss for words.
Until...
"All rise!"
The court clerk abruptly shouted.
The moment the words fell!
Clack!
Several figures draped in long robes slowly emerged from a corridor.
Their faces were calm and solemn, their gazes sharp and steady, utterly devoid of warmth. The instant they appeared, an invisible pressure enveloped the room, silencing the four-hundred-strong gallery.
These were the three judges presiding over the case!
Leading the way with measured steps was Judge Zhang Bingxin. He walked straight to the focal point of the entire room—the elevated judicial bench, taking the seat of the presiding judge!
After the three took their seats and the clerk read out a few procedures.
Sitting in the center, Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin slowly raised his head. His eyes swept across the room, taking in everyone present at every bench, and then...
His right hand grasped the gavel, lifting it high.
The next second.
Bang!
The gavel struck. A sharp, crisp crack rang out, followed by a booming voice that echoed throughout Courtroom One.
"This court is now in session for the case concerning the murder of Li Erniu, a resident of Lijia Village, Yangcheng County, Greenwood City, Qingwu Province!"
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