Chapter 225 The Trial

This trial was completely unlike anything Qin Guan had anticipated.

The people were all ones he already knew: He Zhisheng, the officer in charge of the case; the lawyers; the prosecution; Xu Ruyi; Feng Zhi; Qi Donghao; Cui Yuan; Gong Xiaoyu; He Junjun…

And "Zeng Demei".

But each of them surprised Qin Guan in ways he hadn't foreseen—the police had actually obtained evidence he could never have imagined.

Qi Donghao and Cui Yuan, who had been tailing him, had secretly photographed and recorded him at different times—him calmly "disposing of the body" after the "crime of passion" at the Lakeside Charm Hotel; him serenely using Qi Min's phone to take pictures and post on social media; him calmly handling Qi Min's clothes; him calmly returning home; and him, after painstakingly tracking "Zeng Demei", still calmly playing the role of the model husband.

"Zeng Demei", also known as Zhu Laixiu, was also standing in the witness box this time—this woman who had repeatedly blackmailed Xu Ruyi was facing her own impending punishment after this trial, so she dared not hide anything, recounting everything truthfully.

"The setup was indeed Qi Min's doing. I was hired by Qi Min to play her mother. But Qin Guan knew nothing about it the whole time. Right up until he returned, he genuinely believed he had killed Qi Min. But look! How calm was this man after committing murder? Clearly a habitual criminal!"

"When he discovered Qi Min was alive, on the mountain in Jinxiu Park, he nearly strangled her to death. I was there. He slapped Qi Min and threatened her, saying if she dared ruin his marriage, he'd kill her!"

Zhu Laixiu remembered all of Qin Guan's vicious words clearly. "He also said he had plenty of ways to deal with Qi Min, that he could make her disappear without a trace, beyond the police's ability to find! I believe it, because after Qin Guan left the mountain that day, Qi Min said Qin Guan had shady connections everywhere, that he could erase surveillance footage from any corner of this city. She even said Qin Guan had done it before in previous cases."

Qi Donghao's photos confirmed this—after Qin Guan tracked Zhu Laixiu to her shabby residence a second time, he had a hurried meeting with an employee from the road surveillance center. That employee subsequently erased the relevant footage.

Of course, none of this was the most crucial part.

The Xinhé Hotel was.

Qi Donghao hadn't managed to capture Qin Guan going to the Xinhé Hotel that early morning. The rickshaw driver and taxi driver who gave him rides that night couldn't positively identify him. The road surveillance had been erased. But He Zhisheng, stubborn as an ox, had tenaciously dug up footage of Qin Guan from a resident's security camera on a building next to that KTV.

In the footage, Qin Guan was dressed in black, pulling an enormous suitcase.

Naturally, He Zhisheng had also found Jiang Chun—this construction worker, a rogue who used to constantly brag "I have a lawyer buddy", once on the witness stand, decisively severed all ties with Qin Guan.

"In the early morning hours of the incident, before dawn, I was sleeping. He called me, telling me to go to the Xinhé Hotel to keep watch for him. My bunkmate can testify; he was woken by the call too. Qin Guan said on the phone that a client of his was active at that hotel, that he himself couldn't go for fear of being recognized. So he told me to go immediately. He sounded urgent and promised me a thousand yuan as thanks."

"I never got the money and had absolutely no idea what he was really doing. But I still went. Because we were friends, and I really wanted that thousand yuan. Our relationship? Just friends. He'd asked for my help with things before."

He also readily spilled the beans about Qin Guan previously asking him to help fabricate scenes and tamper with evidence.

"No, when I did those things, I had no idea what they were really about. I thought I was just helping Lawyer Qin with a small favor. I'm a loyal guy. He considered me a friend, so when a friend needs help, you go all out. I mean, you definitely help. As for the specific purpose? I never asked. I'm a rough guy, I don't understand these things."

This cunning man had seen the videos Qi Donghao presented and realized Qin Guan, responsible for several lives, might never get out.

Qi Donghao had recorded videos. This was something Qin Guan hadn't anticipated.

The locked suitcase sat to the side. The two young men hesitated and paced in front of the camera, visibly uneasy and afraid. They spoke to the lens: "No matter what, we have to open the case. We need to know if there are any useful clues left inside, if we can use this to bring Qin Guan to justice. We have to know! We can't let him escape again! Uncle Xu and Aunt Min cannot die in vain!"

They worked on the combination lock.

The entire process was filmed.

Before lifting the lid, Cui Yuan forcefully smoothed his hair, took deep breaths facing the camera, one after another. "This video serves as evidence. This matter was done by the two of us: Qi Donghao and me, Cui Yuan. One day, we might break the law because of this, maybe even go to jail. We accept that. But we must do this. Qin Guan, as a lawyer, is far too cunning. So many lives… if he keeps escaping justice time after time, there's no justice left in this world."

They opened the suitcase.

Inside, Qi Min was curled up, wearing a red silk camisole nightgown, deathly pale and utterly motionless. This was nothing like what Qin Guan had described: "She woke up and kicked the case."

Furthermore, the fingernails on all ten of her fingers had been cleanly sliced off with a sharp blade.

...

Qin Guan stared at the familiar body in the footage, at these videos that were almost enough to nail him shut—he had never imagined these two little bastards had recorded the entire process.

Opening the suitcase? Recorded. Inside the high-temperature workshop at the chemical factory? Recorded. Throwing it into the lake at the Lakeside Charm Hotel? Also recorded.

The lens remained fixed on them and the suitcase.

It recorded the entire process of them moving the body and destroying evidence. But more than that, it captured their terror, their resolve, their fearless courage, and their profound gratitude driving them to repay their benefactors.

When the videos finished playing, even the judge was visibly moved.

All eyes focused on Qi Donghao and Cui Yuan, which should have been filled with fear and accusation, transformed into understanding, regret, sympathy, and admiration...

Such cunning bastards.

But what shattered Qin Guan's defenses completely was Xu Ruyi.

When Xu Ruyi stepped onto the witness stand, stood firm, and raised her eyes to meet his in that instant, Qin Guan's heart involuntarily trembled.

She had changed.

She was no longer the Xu Ruyi he once knew, with her gentle gaze and guileless nature. Nor was she the Xu Ruyi from the last trial, playing pitiful to win sympathy.

Her eyes were firm, calm. The light in her pupils was like a blade.

Her gaze, her calm, rational, and logically clear testimony, all screamed at Qin Guan—he was definitely losing.

Yes, Qin Guan stood no chance in this trial.

He had thought that when Xu Ruyi's scheme was uncovered, he could muddy the waters. But no. She was calm and candid, commanding respect and sympathy from the entire courtroom before she even spoke.

"After discovering Qi Min's body hidden in the suitcase, it was I who devised this plan. It was I who ordered Qi Donghao and Cui Yuan to prepare Qi Min's body, transport it to the Lakeside Charm Hotel, and sink it in the lake. It was also I who stole the black stockings from Qin Guan's car and bribed a hotel employee to place them in the bedside crevice. I did all of it."

"I did these things out of revenge. Because this man cruelly murdered my father and my mother."

Even mentioning her parents, she held back her tears, maintaining her composure.

She didn't cry when He Junjun recounted the scene of her and Qin Guan being caught in the hotel by Xu Ruyi's mother.

She didn't cry when He Zhisheng presented the forged wheelchair.

She was cold as a warrior forged in blood and iron.

Yet, this very state of steely resolve evoked even more pity in others—as the trial entered the heated defense phase, Qin Guan saw He Zhisheng sneak out. Soon after, he returned, face flushed with excitement. He practically jogged to whisper something to the lawyer. Soon after, a "new witness" was brought in.

When Luo Qian pushed the door open and walked in, Qin Guan could scarcely believe his eyes.

This woman, two years Qin Guan's senior, was an outstanding female lawyer in the industry. She had a good image, a good background, a good family, and an excellent reputation.

Precisely because of this, Qin Guan had slept with her twice, never worrying she would do anything to damage her own reputation—because her reputation was far more valuable.

But this time, she had actually come forward.

Qin Guan understood without needing to be told—this case had maintained an extraordinarily high level of heat and attention in the city. Almost all legal professionals knew about it. The emergence of Xu Ruyi's outrageous act of moving the body, amplified by extensive media coverage, naturally garnered even more focus.

The "attention" he had bought with money was now consuming him.

Luo Qian would rather risk her own reputation than stay silent.

Why?

Qin Guan truly couldn't understand.

"We had relations twice. Neither time had anything to do with feelings. Our relationship was purely one of mutual benefit and exploitation," Luo Qian stated calmly and confidently on the witness stand. She was actually about to get married; this decision would affect her entire life. This was why she had hesitated and wavered for so long. Yet, she was also a decisive woman with formidable willpower. From the moment she decided to come, she had prepared herself mentally for everything.

"Originally, after what happened, we kept our distance. But five months ago, during a case, Qin Guan used this to threaten me into backing down. The feeling of being threatened was deeply unpleasant. Therefore, I decided to look for leverage against him. Around that time, his father-in-law, Xu Qian, passed away. I seized the opportunity to secretly plant a recording device in his office."

Her original intention was to record details about that case. Instead, she captured something far more shocking.

After Qin Guan finished a phone call, he angrily slammed his phone on the desk. Then he took deep breaths, panting, pacing back and forth.

"Damn it! Damn it!" On the audio, he was gritting his teeth, cursing under his breath. "Fighting me, huh? Fine! Fight! Don't you know who Qin Guan is?! I fear nothing in this world! I took care of that lunatic when I was just ten! Even those hypocritical old fools who kept yapping about charity—I sent them straight to hell with my own hands!"