27: COURTROOM (PART 1)

[INDICTMENT]

The courtroom is filled with visitors who are mostly journalists, wanting to get a fresh update from the case against Director Lim. The respective lawyers are with the plaintiff and the accused who both showed up at each table with supporters sitting at the back of their chairs.

Behind Wang Xiu is Li Jun who already got out of jail, looking thin from stress after staying a week at the police station. Beside him is her aunt Ming Zhu who has been quiet from the first day they arrived in Shanghai. The woman expresses annoyance through her pursed lips that Wang Xiu assumes it's because her Auntie is required to appear with her in public.

The jury box is filled with different people of various ethnicities and backgrounds. The verdict will be determined by the group which can be hard to pursue which is why both parties agreed to have a jury trial instead of a judge.

Honey plans to pursue the jury in emotional and relatable ways like the many cases of a woman being harassed by someone in power. A jury tends to be more compassionate to a woman that's why she believes they will win the trial easily unless the defense has anything that can turn up and change the jury's minds.

The CCTV from the hotel is being played on a thirty-two inches movable television hinged on the wall opposite the jury box so they watch it conveniently from their seat.

"Your honor, I'm calling Ms. Zhang on the stand." Ms. Tang stands up from her chair to begin.

The beginning of the indictment is to present both the complainant and the charged individual. Detailing back the incident for the jury to evaluate both the party's claims of innocence. 

Wang Xiu walks up to the front and takes an oath, to tell the truth. She proceeds to sit down at the plaintiff's box and prepare herself to be questioned by the lawyers of each side.

"This is a video we got from the Hotel where you and Director Lim stayed that week. Can you tell me who is the woman in the video?" Ms. Tang asks, pointing at the screen of the television with her finger.

"It's me." Wang Xiu answers. Her eyes are low like an innocent girl being reprimanded in front of the teacher.

"And who is that man?" The female counselor inquires, referring to the man on the screen. 

"Director Lim." The woman sitting on the box answers.

"You are both standing at the door. What are you two talking about?" The advocate for the complainant stands with both of her hands in front of her.

"Director Lim proposed to stay with me for the night and I told him, I have a headache and I'm going to sleep." Wang Xiu gives out the facts.

The exchange of questions and answers from Wang Xiu and her lawyer, Ms. Tang is for the jury to fully understand the case from the version of the victim. The questions are for the plaintiff to give the exact details of the scene and narrate it in a way that doesn't look like a memorized script.

"When you said that you were going to sleep, did the director leave?" The counselor inquires.

"No. He confessed that he likes me." Wang Xiu answers.

"What was your reply." Ms. Tang asks, walking towards the jury box. 

When Honey reaches the panel, she turns around and leans her hips on the wooden fence to make Wang Xiu stare at the jury like they were the ones she is talking to and not the counselor.

"I told him, I want us to be professional." Wang Xiu replies.

"And was his answer?" The counselor leans her head on the side. She wants to imply curiosity to the woman's next answer.

"H-He was angry from my rejection and insisted we talk." The victim stutters, revealing the director's refusal.

"Did you say yes?" Ms. Tang insists on asking for more details about the particular scene. 

The counselor wants to establish a clear view that Wang Xiu never agrees to anything the director says.

"No. I-I... felt threatened... by how he reacted so I thought of calling my cousin, Li Jun who is staying in the opposite room." The victim explains.

"THAT'S A LIE!!! You opened the door to let me in!!!" The director exclaims, standing up from his chair to call out the woman.

All the people in the room stared at the director's outburst. The judge glares at the man and his lawyer. Director Lim sits back when Mr. Yang gestures to him to settle down in his chair.

Wang Xiu stares at Honey while maintaining the innocent look on her face. They both know the director will get furious if they change a few events from her story beginning from her opening the door for the director. They both want to convince the jury that her vulnerability in the situation was taken advantage of by the accused.

"What happened next?" The counselor continues to inquire about the scene.

"H-He put his feet forward… I-I got scared so I quickly closed the door but he caught it and pushed it hard towards  me." Wang Xiu begins to tremble, recalling the scene. 

"That is where you got the bruise on your shoulder?" Ms. Tang denotes the severity of the action that the accused did to the victim.

"Yes." The plaintiff touches her shoulder to imply the pain she suffered from the force of the door shoved back in by the director. She wanted to make the jury feel the same agony she was under.

"Then what happens?" The counselor continues her interrogation.

"H-He told me… I-I… w-will be more excited if I see his… h-his penis. After that, he unzips his fly and…a-and shows it to me." Wang Xiu let her eyes well up, remembering the trauma she experienced from the man that planned to attack her.

"What did you do after that?" Ms. Tang's forehead wrinkles and she steps closer to the victim shivering from fear. She wants to console Wang Xiu from the distress of the incident. She may look calm but watching her best friend look helpless and afraid, she wants to punch the accused herself.

The tears from the victim's eyes are real. The trauma from the attack did make Wang Xiu tremble, recalling the event of the assault makes her cry from the sudden defenselessness. The truth that making a woman feel terrified can traumatize her, no matter how substantial the injury is.

"I pushed him hard—"

"—YOU BITCH!!! That's a LIE!!! You punched me in the balls."

"Order in the court!!!" The judge hit his gavel on the sounding board. "Counselor Yang, restrain your client or the court will."

"Yes, your honor." Mr. Yang glares at the man beside him, the anger on his face is apparent by the furrowed brows and his hand making a fist.

Yang Sheng Zheng can feel the fear in the woman's eyes sitting at the witness box beside the judge. The tears look genuine and it breaks his heart. But he can't let his emotion rule his head. He has a job to defend his client whether he is guilty or not.

Yang Sheng Zheng knows that Ms. Zhang is twisting the truth to make her look hopeless in front of the jury. They already have the women's vote and they want to bury the defense down to the mud. If the outburst from the director continues, they will look like the guilty entitled men that think all women want sex.

"After you pushed the director? Did you still feel threatened?" The counselor asks standing in front of the plaintiff.

"Objection, your honor. Suggestive." Mr. Yang stands up from his seat. 

He wants to look angry at how the defense played the jury but he couldn't show one bit of emotion. Sheng Zheng knows Director Lim is guilty but he is not the only one at fault in the situation. Zhang Wang Xiu lured the man into thinking he had a chance, warranting him to act lasciviously. The rejection is hard enough but the deception is cruel and the man wants payment for being a fool.

"Sustained." The judge 

"I'll rephrase the question. What did you feel after you pushed Director Lim?" Ms. Tang asks again, clasping her hands in front of her.

"I-I feel relieved that I got out of the room and at the same time… I-I… I feel scared that he might come after me." Wang Xiu wipes the tears from her eyelids before it falls on her cheeks.

"And the rest of the story is where the other case begins." The female counselor declares, cutting her statement to make the jury wonder about the case against Li Jun.

"What other case?" The male judge inquires.

"The defense accused my client's cousin of attempted murder, your honor." Ms.Tang replies.

"My client almost died from her cousin's hand." Mr. Yang exclaims, not expecting that the lawyer on the other side will bring the case that was already pending.

"Counselor Yang, you don't have to argue that here. It's not the case here." The arbiter tells the counselor from the defense.

"The accused is using the attempted murder case for us to drop the attempted rape case." Ms. Tang says out loud for the jury to hear. She wants to establish that the defense wants to settle because they are guilty.

"I didn't offer that!" Mr. Yang defended himself from the woman's poisonous words.

This is not the first time he works against the woman they call "Tiger Empress" but it's the first time he finds the lawyer performing dirty tricks by announcing a false offer from the defense to get the jury to sympathize with them. 

"Counselor Tang, I suggest you discuss your case somewhere else or I will hold you in contempt." The judge fairly rules their argument.

Honey ends her cross-examination and the prosecution rests. The defense will have a chance to ask a question to Wang Xiu as the proceedings continue.

Mr. Yang stares at the woman beside her, Ms. Bao Hwei Ru, and nods his head to imply that their strategy should begin. 

Ms. Tang Hiu Ying wants to fight dirty, they will fight dirty, Yang Sheng Zheng tells himself.

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The Court Trials don't follow the Eastern (Asian) way as each country has its own type of proceedings. This a generalized court, one that you can see being used in television series and movies.