Chapter 226 Defeat

What did defeat taste like?

I don't know, and will never know, because winners refuse to taste it.

This line was written by Qin Guan on the first page of his notebook during middle school. The handwriting was childish, yet carried an indomitable, spirited fighting will.

"Such mettle at such a young age! This child has a future!" His homeroom teacher, also his Chinese teacher, had always held him in high regard. Seeing this sentence, he gave Qin Guan a thumbs-up.

"Good boy, such ambition. Work hard, you will surely succeed." Xu Ruyi's father also gently patted his back, offering affirmation and encouragement.

Yes, from childhood, Qin Guan refused to accept defeat.

In elementary school, defeat meant no school to attend. It meant being tied at home feeding pigs, cutting grass, and farming, serving a foul-tempered, filthy drunkard and a deranged slob who understood nothing.

When confronting his mad mother, defeat meant his true nature would be exposed to his sponsors. The lifeline he had just grasped would be cruelly severed.

When poisoning his drunkard father, failure meant losing the perfect reason to get closer to his sponsors and live the life he desired. It meant being shackled to that useless father for life, dragging the dead weight along.

His entanglement with Qi Min, his murderous acts against his in-laws... all could only succeed, not fail. Failure meant disgrace, career collapse, divorce, expulsion from the Xu family, the evaporation of imminent vast wealth, and the shattering of the enviable, affluent, stable, beautiful middle-class life like a bubble.

And this trial? Defeat meant only one outcome.

Death.

Death penalty. Immediate execution.

Qin Guan stood in the defendant's dock, his eyes blankly fixed on the prosecuting attorney who was speaking—a Mr. Zhang. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man, but was actually a formidable figure, renowned within the industry.

At this moment, he was presenting evidence: Qin Guan sneaking back to the construction site on the third night after Qi Min's death to confirm the foundation had been filled in. His furtive figure, checking the site, had also been captured by Cui Yuan.

That group held so much evidence.

Each piece alone might not constitute a fatal threat, but strung together, Qin Guan couldn't find a single chink in their armor.

Lawyer Zhang's eyes blazed as he delivered his righteous and stern statement. His voice was steady, powerful, his rhythm impeccable. All eyes in the courtroom were fixed on him.

Qin Guan stared at the man's mouth. In a daze, the movement of those lips seemed to slow down. Along with it, the sounds emanating stretched out, as if slowed down—deep, hoarse, sluggish, growing fainter and less distinct.

Silence.

The world outside his ears suddenly fell silent. Qin Guan watched soundlessly as the other man's mouth twisted and contorted, his fist waved passionately, and the intense confidence burned in his eyes.

Yes, confidence.

That man was brimming with it. Clearly, he had not a shred of doubt about the outcome of this trial.

Forget him; even Qin Guan could be certain—the judge, the jury, the spectators... all eyes were locked on that lawyer's face. All gazes converged into a fire, a fiercely burning fire called "justice."

A few sharp gazes, like blades, landed on Qin Guan's face, wishing they could flay a layer of skin off.

Everyone anticipated and believed in the same outcome, though the judge hadn't pronounced the verdict yet.

But Qin Guan knew. This time, he was defeated. Utterly defeated.

As a professional criminal defense lawyer, how could he fail to read the situation?

The evidence for Qi Min's murder was irrefutable, and it had shifted from the initial "crime of passion" at the Lakeside Charm Hotel to a "premeditated murder" at the Xinhé Hotel. The case for his father-in-law's murder was also ironclad.

Two lives. If you counted his mother-in-law, that made three—yes, He Zhisheng had helped Xu Ruyi file a case for her mother's death too.

Three dead. Two were his former sponsors, foster parents, parents-in-law.

By sentiment, reason, and law, the outcome could only be this.

He should stand up to refute, refute vehemently. Calm down, strike at the opponent's weaknesses, just like every time before in court. Before coming, Qin Guan had been full of fighting spirit.

"My dictionary has no 'defeat', only 'success'. Anything unfavorable to me, I will turn it around, no matter the effort, no matter the cost."

The bold declaration from his ten-year-old self leaped before his eyes twenty years later.

He who had climbed out of the pitch-black abyss, ever upward, never allowing his footing to be unsteady, who had exhausted every effort to climb... why, at this moment, did his chest feel devoid of fighting spirit?

Was it because he knew deep down the evidence was overwhelming and irrefutable?

Because the vast crowd of supporters outside the courthouse made him realize that even if freed, there was no road left for him?

Or because he finally discovered that Xu Ruyi was no longer the Xu Ruyi he could manipulate?

That woman was so coldly rational that looking at her made his own gaze tremble.

...

There was no chance of survival left.

This was the final trial. Without new evidence, he couldn't demand a retrial or appeal—but where would new evidence come from? Xu Ruyi and her group, to nail him down, had already staked themselves as part of the game.

Qin Guan's gaze swept over that group—they had confessed to every detail, everything. The five of them would certainly face punishment or detention, maybe even prison. Yet, on each face, there was only uplifted spirit, confidence, calmness, and expectation.

They cared nothing for their own futures or reputations, as long as Qin Guan was brought to justice.

Where was the lifeline?

Money?

Should he inject another dose of adrenaline into his own legal team? Or simply find a better team, use money to spur them to strive, to work, to dig deep like He Zhisheng for any possibility favorable to him?

But that would cost money. A lot of money.

He still had assets. Marital property. He was a suspect, but that didn't mean he had no property. The Xu family property. The property that automatically belonged to Xu Ruyi after her parents' deaths—that was also marital property! She had no right to deprive him of his property and inheritance rights!

A sliver of reason drifted back into Qin Guan's dazed wandering. A spark of hope ignited in his heart, like ashes stirred.

"This piece of evidence concerns the Xu family property," Lawyer Zhang said, as if reading the hope in Qin Guan's eyes, presenting his final exhibit.

This evidence, naturally, was also unearthed by Old He.

He investigated Xu Ruyi's father's call records for the three months before the incident. One answered call came from a notary office.

Xu Ruyi's father had gone to the notary office to carefully inquire about will notarization. He had also added a staff member on WeChat, sending voice messages asking how to leave all his property to his only daughter.

Upon learning he needed someone to accompany him to the notary office for certification, Xu Ruyi's father promised to go soon but repeatedly delayed. Later, due to illness and injury, he couldn't travel alone and informed the other party via WeChat to wait a while.

However, under the staff member's verbal guidance, Xu Ruyi's father recorded two videos of himself with his phone. In the videos, he faced the camera, clearly and detailedly stating his property distribution wishes.

These two videos were just trials by Xu Ruyi's father, not finalized. Not wanting Xu Ruyi to know the full situation and be saddened, he chose to hide the videos in his computer. Old He found them by meticulously searching folder by folder, layer by layer.

This video will effectively protected the Xu family property.

"This video will, along with that unfinished written draft, and the medical records concerning his wife Min Huifen's death hidden within Xu Qian's calligraphy manuscripts, all clearly reveal Qin Guan's motive. He had long coveted his in-laws' vast wealth. Only by preserving the marriage could he preserve this property. Therefore, he murdered his mother-in-law, Min Huifen. For the same reason, he murdered his father-in-law, Xu Qian. Again, for the same reason—fearing his lover Qi Min would destroy his marriage—at the Xinhé Hotel, he premeditatedly ended Qi Min's life. He then calmly and rationally erased the evidence, disposed of the body, and buried it. This was not a crime of passion. This was premeditated murder. To be precise, three premeditated murders."

Lawyer Zhang's words were forceful and resonant.

But Qin Guan didn't hear them. From the moment he saw that video and understood he had no hope left, the last string in his heart finally snapped. He collapsed.