CH 66

“Do you want to apply to meet the witnesses?”

Gu Yan asked this on the final day before the court convened. 

To many lawyers, asking this was superfluous. As long as the time and conditions permitted before the trial, they would definitely find a way to meet the witnesses. Through careful manipulation of the conversation, they could discern what information the other party knew; from which, what would be harmful to their client, and what wouldn’t be advantageous to their case.

In this manner, when cross-examining the witnesses in court, they would know what best to ask and what best to leave out.

There used to be a saying that circulated in the legal profession—when the prosecution or defence counsel examined a witness, they could always anticipate how the witness would answer. If the witness gave an unexpected response to a question that the lawyer posed, then the lawyer must not be a very good one.

But Yan Suizhi often didn’t play by the rules and wouldn’t necessarily do what was considered a safe play by most. 

Gu Yan was familiar with his style, which was why he needed to ascertain this.

Sure enough, Yan Suizhi shook his head. “Do you mean Zhao Zemu and Joe? It’s fine.”

Naturally, Gu Yan wouldn’t interfere too much when it came to matters of the trial, but he still checked, “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Yan Suizhi said with a solemn expression, “I’m acting as a passable cinnamon roll. With only a few days, the average cinnamon roll would be banging against the wall like a headless fly. How can I have the mind to think about meeting witnesses?”

“…”

Gu Yan chose not to reply to such nonsense.

However, just because Yan Suizhi said that he didn’t need to, didn’t mean that he actually didn’t pay the witnesses any mind. On the contrary, aside from the visiting time at the detention centre, he spent the entire day going through the witness statements collected by police in the existing case file, as well as several surveillance videos taken from inside the villa on Yaba Island.

The surveillance set up in the villa was mainly set up in the hallway and the corners of the hall. Every suite door was in the visible range, thus the entry and exit timing of every guest could be clearly marked. 

But the surveillance outside the villa wasn’t without its blind spots. The most glaring was the missing surveillance on the outside wall of the victim’s room, for the most gobsmacking reason—while drinking that evening on the windowsill, George Manson had accidentally damaged the surveillance camera there.

Yan Suizhi thought back on it. It seemed to have occurred just before he and Gu Yan left the central villa on Yaba Island. At that time, George Manson was still seated on the windowsill with his glass of wine, talking to him in a drunken and unintelligible manner.

If memory serves, he did knock over something at that time and had his head lowered, cleaning it up.

Perhaps that was the time that he had damaged one of the most important security cameras. Fate really did love its jokes. 

While Yan Suizhi was combing through the information on the final day, Chen Zhang was also negotiating with the warden in the detention centre.

“Can I make a call?” Chen Zhang asked.

The warden furrowed his eyebrows.

“I know that the rules require the whole process to be monitored,” Chen Zhang said. “I know, and I’m cool with it. You can listen in and even record it if you want. I only want to call my family once more.” 

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Chen Zhang stared at the warden with wide, pitiful eyes. 

Actually, he was very fortunate that despite the perpetual tiger-fierce face of the warden he was assigned to, he wasn’t the type that was vicious and unreasonable. On the contrary, the fierce-faced warden was actually a softie on the inside.

After Chen Zhang pleaded for a long time, the warden eventually relented, nodding. “Geez, alright. Let me fill out an application.”

The application went through four levels of clearance, finally returning to the fierce-faced warden at nightfall.

“Okay. Tell me the comms number.” The fierce-faced warden said, “Only I can dial the number. You aren’t allowed to touch the smart device.” 

Chen Zhang was beyond grateful. “Sure, sure, that isn’t an issue. I won’t touch it. Whatever will work, I just want to say a few words to my family.”

Soon, under special monitoring, the communication request was picked up from Ward 339 of Zhigeng Welfare Hospital.

“Hello? Who’s this?” A slightly wane female voice rang out from the other end of the line. It was a slow and gentle voice. It was Chen Zhang’s mother.

Although the recording pen Yan Suizhi had brought earlier had good audio quality, there was bound to be a little distortion. At the end of the day, a recording couldn’t compare to an actual call. 

As soon as Chen Zhang heard this question, the words that he had prepared suddenly caught in the base of his throat.

His nostrils flared sharply a few times, and his teeth were tightly clenched behind lips that had pursed into a thin line.

After asking these two questions in quick succession, the person on the other side of the line seemed to hear the rapid breathing on this side. Suddenly sensing something, she asked tentatively, “Wen’ah? Is it you?”

Chen Zhang smoothened his brows with his knuckles, letting out another long breath. He cleared his throat and he said, “Yeah. It’s me.” 

Even for a sentence as short as this, the pitch of his voice involuntarily changed at the tail of it.

The person on the other end suddenly burst into joy. She could be heard saying to someone beside her, “My son! My son called! You see, he was just too busy before!”

It was probably those nurses. Feeling disgruntled for his family, they were always upset with Chen Zhang.

In the past, Chen Zhang didn’t dare to dial the ward’s direct line, and always went to those nurses. As such, he was often blocked out by them. But Chen Zhang did not resent them. They were all kindhearted girls who couldn’t bear to see patients being abandoned in the hospital by their ‘unfilial son’. 

“Wen’ah, have you been very busy recently?” His mother fretted, asking, “Have you been eating your meals on time? You haven’t fallen sick, have you?”

Chen Zhang shut his eyes. As he listened to word after word of her concern, the rims of his eyes turned warm. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, as if trying to rub back the wetness that kept welling up. Even then, his eyes still quickly turned moist.

When he first saw the doctor’s diagnosis, he descended into a spell of despair. He was clearly still in his prime, but he wouldn’t be fit for much longer. He only had four or five years, and it truly was only four or five years…

What would his troubled family do when he, like his grandfather, father, and sister, ended up paralysed and unable to move in bed…? 

In those days, he obsessed over it every hour, every minute, every second—every day, every night. Yet, he was never able to find a solution.

Before those two people came up to his doorstep.

Under a mix of temptation and coercion, he resigned himself, thinking that this wasn’t too bad as well. Even if the price was a little high, at least the price that he himself paid could be exchanged for his family to be free of worries.

It was seriously quite a good deal. 

So much so that when all the evidence in the George Manson case pointed to him, he suddenly understood the true intentions of his two extortionists. Immediately, he directly gave up all resistance, going along with the flow and making the oral confessions.

At the depths of the devil’s pit, he even refused to be pulled out of the quagmire.

For once he was pulled out, the future security of his family would vanish. It wasn’t worthwhile to fall back into the confusion and worry of an uncertain future.

There was also a time when he felt that he was being extremely calm and clever, and had even felt a little moved and impressed by himself. But it wasn’t until this moment when he heard once more the woman’s frail and gentle voice that he finally understood. He shouldn’t have gone in this deep. 

He still wanted to listen to these concerned admonishments; still wanted to take time out of his busy week to visit them in the hospital; still wanted to be pulled and squeezed on the arm, and told that he had put on a bit of weight, or lost a bit of weight.

He still wanted to listen to this, for many years more.

The people on the other end rotated a few times. Like in a dream, he muddled his way through his answers. All his attention was focused on the words of his family across the line, such that he didn’t even know what he was saying.

Then, his mother asked him, “Wen’ah, when will you be a little less busy and make time to come over so that mum can see you?” 

Chen Zhang opened his mouth…

The trial was tomorrow. He had put himself in a different position; the only person who can extricate him was a young intern rumoured to be without any experience. The path ahead was fraught with uncertainty.

He had no idea what his status would be after the trial and where he would end up. So, he couldn’t answer.

Hearing his hesitance, the other immediately said, understanding, “It’s fine, it’s fine. You don’t have to come down. Just do your own thing, we’re doing very well.” 

The communication access the application granted wasn’t without its restrictions. Not long later, they reached the time limit.

After the line was cut off, Chen Zhang stayed frozen for a very long time. He was extremely silent the entire night. And he made a tiny wish for the trial to just come a little later, and just a little more; preferably, that it would never come.

Despite his neverending prayers, the trial for the George Manson case still came as scheduled.

At 9:30 a.m., Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan arrived at the entrance of the district court in Zone 3. They routinely surrendered a series of things—photon computers, smart devices, electronic pens, folders, etc—and went through the security check. 

Because the victim’s family had applied for the trial to be sealed off, aside from the family members of the victim and the witnesses, everyone unrelated to the case wasn’t allowed access. Therefore, there were no students or citizens gathered outside Courtroom 1 today. The atmosphere was heavy.

Also, due to the requested confidentiality, there was a secondary security check before entering the courtroom, which was, bluntly put, an identity check.

In front, a court assistant nodded at Yan Suizhi. “You are? Please show your ID.”

Yan Suizhi handed his identification card over, saying, “Defence lawyer.” 

The court assistant looked at Gu Yan behind him. “Are you together?”

“Yes. I recall that defence lawyers are allowed two accompanying slots.”

The court assistant pointed at Gu Yan. “That’s right, so he is?”

“My teacher.” 

Yan Suizhi slid a glance over at Gu Yan, smiling as he introduced him in this way. He had said it fluidly, without the slightest psychological impediment. The court assistant couldn’t tell at all. Only Gu Yan could hear the mirth in his words.

The two of them pushed open the heavy doors and walked in.

Although the trial was kept confidential from the public, it didn’t mean that there weren’t many people in the courtroom. Conversely, there were quite a few people sitting in the gallery. Among them, some were quite powerful figures, and the aura of their presence was very oppressive.

If Bens and Hersey were present, they would have immediately recognised these figures at a glance. After all, these were people frequently featured in various news reports. 

In a corner, a man in an expensive shirt was sitting with his arms folded. He had cropped grey hair and light blue eyes, with bulging arm muscles made him appear strong and stern. He cut a sharp figure. Although his features didn’t resemble George Manson, he was in fact Brewer Manson; the much older brother of George Manson, and a prominent figure in the Manson family.

A few bodyguards were seated by his side, clustered around him like a host of stars gravitating around a moon.

When Yan Suizhi entered, Brewer Manson’s gaze slithered over to him with measuring scrutiny that would have made a more timid person’s legs go weak in fright.

Yan Suizhi passed by him in the aisle and went to the front row, putting his photon computer down. 

Gu Yan stood in the row behind him but didn’t rush to sit. He said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, “Brewer Manson is here. He’s extremely shrewd and suspicious, so make sure you restrain yourself a little.”

Yan Suizhi smiled knowingly. “Of course I know. It’s just acting as an intern, I can flip it on in a heartbeat—”

Saying this, his identity instantly switched. Facing Gu Yan, he clutched his chest in fear under Brewer Manson’s watchful eyes. His voice was neither too high, nor too low. “What should I do, teacher? I’m so nervous, court is about to begin. Say a little something nice to comfort me?”

Gu Yan, “……………………” 

Why don’t you go to acting school?