Chapter 64: Commencing the Slaughter! |
"We are willing to compensate..."
Inside the room, two men in well-tailored suits were speaking in front of a notary when they were abruptly cut off.
"Bang!"
The door to the room was suddenly kicked wide open.
Zhang Wei paused, frowned, and turned to look toward the entrance.
Xu De and Sun Zhigang strode into the room.
Sun Zhigang’s face was dark with fury as he swept his eyes over the surroundings.
There were four people in the room: two defense lawyers, a woman in uniform, and a gloomy fourteen-year-old boy, Yang Huan, who sat on the sofa with his head buried in his hands.
"Who the fuck let you in?!" Sun Zhigang roared at the two lawyers.
These people were entirely manipulating Yang Huan, trying to coax him into signing the letter of forgiveness!
"You must be Mr. Sun."
Zhang Wei didn''t show any agitation. Instead, he smiled faintly, stood up, and said, "Hello, I am Zhang Wei, a lawyer from Zhenghe Law Firm and the defense counsel for the accused, Liu Jingqi."
"You might have misunderstood. We didn''t come here to see him privately..."
As he spoke, Zhang Wei pointed to the silent woman in uniform beside him.
"This is a staff member from the Civil Affairs Bureau, serving as Yang Huan''s state guardian. Our conversation is being conducted properly under the witness of a notary."
At those words, Sun Zhigang looked at the civil servant acting as the state guardian.
The woman shook her head with a troubled expression, but she didn''t deny it.
The law explicitly stated that if a minor''s parents died and there was no guardian, the Civil Affairs Bureau would appoint a state guardian. If a lawyer negotiated with the minor under their supervision and witness, the process was entirely legal.
Sun Zhigang’s face turned deathly pale. After choking back his rage for a long time, he bellowed, "Get out!"
Zhang Wei chuckled, unbothered. He simply stood up and said, "I hope the involved party will give our offer some careful consideration. We will take our leave now."
With that, Zhang Wei left with his assistant, casting a passing glance at Xu De on his way out.
Only Yang Huan''s state guardian, He Miao, remained behind.
"You get out too!" Sun Zhigang snapped.
He Miao first motioned for Yang Huan to go into the bedroom.
Once the boy was gone, she turned to face Sun Zhigang, her expression stern. "I am his state guardian. By law, my authority overrides yours!"
"Mr. Sun, control your emotions. You are only... Zhao Li''s employer, not her relative."
"You!"
Sun Zhigang was flushed with rage, unable to find the words to retort. He could only speak through gritted teeth.
"Are you even fit to be a guardian? What was that man doing just now? He was trying to get Yang Huan to sign a letter of forgiveness!"
"I know!"
He Miao also lost her temper. Her hands clenched into tight fists, her voice rising in pitch.
"I know that Zhao Li and Yang Jiale are both... gone."
"Yang Huan has every right to be angry, he needs to be furious, and he absolutely deserves justice. He should fight Liu Jingqi to the bitter end!"
"You keep talking about morals, ethics, emotions, and justice, but..."
He Miao took a deep breath, relaxed her hands, and looked thoroughly exhausted.
"We have to face reality."
"Even if you pursue criminal charges, Liu Jingqi will get a maximum sentence of fifteen years. That will likely be reduced to twelve, and there''s an extremely high probability she won''t even serve ten years!"
"But what about Yang Huan? Zhao Li is gone, and so is Yang Jiale."
"He''s only fourteen. Without compensation money, you tell me how he''s supposed to survive?!"
Sun Zhigang felt a lump in his throat, completely silenced.
The woman had analyzed the situation with harsh clarity. Under current conditions, pushing for criminal liability to the absolute end held little practical value, while Yang Huan still had to face the grim realities of living.
Zhang Wei was willing to offer a massive financial settlement in exchange for the letter of forgiveness. Shaving off an inconsequential two years from Liu Jingqi''s sentence would provide Yang Huan with actual, substantial help.
In short, survival took priority over emotional retribution.
More importantly, from He Miao''s perspective, emotional retribution couldn''t even be achieved under the current system!
"I''ll raise him," Sun Zhigang said stubbornly. "I have money!"
"Can you raise him for a lifetime? Can you shoulder all his responsibilities? No! Only Yang Huan can be responsible for his own life."
"I refuse to gamble Yang Huan''s future on your empty verbal promises that carry no legal obligation!"
He Miao shook her head.
The two argued fiercely, each holding their own valid points.
Xu De ignored them entirely.
He shifted his gaze toward the bedroom, lifted his foot, and walked right past the bickering pair.
"Creak."
The door opened.
Yang Huan sat at the foot of the bed, expressionless. He stared blankly at the wall ahead, looking completely lost.
Xu De stood beside him, looking down at the boy. After a long silence, he spoke.
"Yang Huan, I am your civil litigation representative."
Hearing his voice, Yang Huan snapped out of his daze. He looked up, staring dumbly at Xu De.
"Zhao Li is gone, and Yang Jiale is gone too."
Xu De laid out the harsh reality in the most direct manner possible, his expression entirely neutral.
"You can demand financial compensation, or you can pursue criminal accountability. Whichever you choose, I will back you up."
"Now, tell me what you want to do."
Yang Huan opened his mouth, his lips trembling. He swallowed hard, trying to speak.
But a second later, he felt a sudden wetness at the corner of his lips. He reached up to touch it, only to realize that tears had already begun streaming from the corners of his eyes without him even noticing.
For the past three days, he had been treated like a puppet, a ball to be kicked around, huddled in a corner while others decided his fate.
This was the first time someone had actually asked for his opinion.
At that moment, the fourteen-year-old boy could no longer hold back. The dam broke, and a flood of tears poured down his face.
"I... I want her dead..."
Yang Huan pressed his head against Xu De''s midsection, sobbing hysterically as if he were crying out his very soul.
"I don''t want the money..."
"Please... I just want her dead!!!"
The boy broke down completely, his wails echoing through the room. Snot and tears instantly soaked through Xu De''s only suit jacket.
Xu De didn''t seem to mind. He placed his left hand on the boy''s head, pulled out his phone with his right, and dialed a number.
The call connected after a few rings.
"We''ve got a case," Xu De said slowly.
"A tough one."
*
At 4:00 PM.
Outside the residential compound where Yang Huan lived.
Wang Chao, who had just rushed over, stood at the main gate. He pointed at himself, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.
"Me? Sue a minor?"
He couldn''t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.
Xu De shook his head, correcting him. "Us."
To the side, Lin Yue pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Same difference."
She knew Xu De was bold.
But she truly hadn''t expected him to be this reckless!
To actually take on this case... a case involving three minors with shared liability, no less!
However, she also knew he wasn''t someone who acted without a plan.
Lin Yue looked up and frowned. "You didn''t call us all the way out here just to chat. How do you plan to fight this?"
Xu De nodded and began to outline his strategy.
"There is something wrong with the circumstances surrounding Yang Jiale''s death."
Wang Chao was confused. "Wasn''t it Liu Jingqi who killed her? There were clear signs of bullying on the rooftop..."
"No, what I mean is that the underlying catalyst for the bullying is suspicious," Xu De clarified, shaking his head.
"I''ve questioned Yang Huan and Sun Zhigang."
"Yang Jiale was a normal, well-adjusted girl. She wasn''t weak-willed, nor was she reclusive. Logically speaking... even if she didn''t tell her mother, Zhao Li, she absolutely would have reported it to a teacher!"
"Furthermore, looking at the police interviews from the day of the incident, it''s easy to see that the suspect, Liu Jingqi, acted differently than usual. Her actions were far more extreme, and they were explicitly targeted at Yang Jiale rather than being a simple emotional outburst."
"This is highly irregular."
Statistically, in most bullying cases, perpetrators act with impunity because of their victim''s perceived compliance. However, an escalation to lethal violence is almost always triggered by the victim fighting back.
"Are you saying Yang Jiale fought back?" Wang Chao asked.
"Yes, but also no. At the very least, she likely didn''t fight back directly against Liu Jingqi. If that''s the case, there''s only one answer left."
Xu De looked at the two of them, his expression grave and his logic crystal clear. "Class 4''s homeroom teacher, Lü Guangjun... is the problem!"
With long-term bullying taking place right under his nose, it was impossible for Lü Guangjun to be unaware.
Yet he had never intervened.
Connecting this to the hypothesis about the sudden escalation of the conflict...
Lin Yue instantly caught his drift. The sudden realization left her momentarily stunned.
"Lü Guangjun is involved? You think the teacher was the one who snitched to Liu Jingqi about Yang Jiale reporting the bullying?!"
"The probability is incredibly high," Xu De said.
In this case, there was no need to guess Zhang Wei''s strategy. The defense would do everything to exonerate Liu Jingqi, trying to reduce the charges to ''accidental death''.
Forget intentional homicide—they would completely deny even intentional injury, likely dismissing the entire incident as ''kids playing around'' or a ''tragic accident''.
Therefore, his first step had to be...
"To secure a conviction for Liu Jingqi!"
A conviction would be difficult to secure because there were no other eyewitnesses at the scene. Aside from the victim''s body, the rooftop yielded very little evidence pointing to deliberate murder.
But if the homeroom teacher, Lü Guangjun, truly was involved...
He would be the perfect breakthrough point!
At that thought, the image of Yang Huan''s tear-streaked face flashed across Xu De''s mind. His expression gradually hardened, and his voice turned icy cold.
"We start the slaughter with him!"
Lin Yue felt a phantom chill run down her spine, her expression turning dead serious.
"How do we take him down?"