Chapter 127 - 87: Persecuting the Judge

Only the mountain wind was left, weaving through the valley.

...

The car sped down the highway.

It left Lianshan County, passed through Yan’an City, and finally departed Your Province, heading straight for Lusen City.

「On the road.」

"What forensic science institutes are there in Lusen City? I’m talking about the newly established kind."

Inside the car, Xu De directed his question at Lin Yue.

Lin Yue heard him and thought for a moment before replying:

"You want a paternity test report? If that’s the case... the only place that can do it is the Medical University."

A paternity test report, in later generations, would only take a day or two.

But the reason Xu De said there wasn’t enough time was that, back then, a report generally took three to six days to process.

It was currently the 22nd, and the court hearing was on the 28th. If it took six days, it would be too late!

’What about having the police do the test?’

Same result.

Although medical examiners and criminal police could rush it and get it done in two days.

But one must remember that official bodies follow procedures, logic, and evidence. You couldn’t just use words to make the authorities invade someone’s privacy and force them to do a paternity test with Sun Miaohua.

They would first have to confirm the missing boy case from 12 years ago, conclude that Zhang Yueyue had indeed run away, and only then investigate the welfare institute.

They would only test the blood relationship after confirming that some kind of connection truly existed between Sun Miaohua and Liu Jingqi.

And the time required... would 100% exceed six days!

As for why Xu De could compress the timeline to under six days...

"For a rapid test, only Lusen Medical University can do it. The students at that school do it to earn some extra money."

Lin Yue thought for a moment, ignoring the curious Sun Miaohua beside her, and looked at Xu De in the passenger seat to add:

"It’s not cheap."

"Price is no object, efficiency is what matters!"

Xu De declared.

"Then two thousand yuan should cover it," Lin Yue said. "Within three days."

Of course, money wasn’t the most important thing, and the time could be shortened, but the crucial part was...

"We can only do it as an anonymous test."

"But an anonymous test counts as inadmissible evidence. If we bring it to the hearing, it won’t be accepted," Lin Yue said, shaking her head.

But Xu De said, "Inadmissible is exactly what we want!"

His words were a bit arrogant, but his meaning was clear.

With the hearing imminent, if you went through the proper channels for a forensic test, the evidence gathering and investigation would take at least a month.

’Why so much time?’

Because the police and the prosecutor’s office have to investigate the entire chain of evidence thoroughly!

But if you broke the rules...

"Inadmissible evidence is just inadmissible. That doesn’t mean it’s not evidence."

"As long as this evidence clearly states the blood relationship and is direct enough, it can replace the entire tedious process of ’suspicion-investigation-testing’!"

Xu De explained, his face expressionless. He seemed completely untroubled by doing such a thing.

That’s right.

Inadmissible evidence was still evidence!

As long as you produced this kind of direct evidence...

...even if the court rejected it, they would immediately order a new test!

Even without any prior suspicion or chain of evidence, the court would still test Sun Miaohua and Liu Jingqi, and the results of that test... would be valid!

Furthermore, it would allow the current case to be tried directly, with no need to wait for information from the welfare institute!

In other words...

"You’re going to strong-arm the judge!?"

Lin Yue figured out his line of thinking. Her eyes shot wide open, her mouth forming an ’O’.

"Forcing the court to proactively legitimize inadmissible evidence!?"

Exactly.

He was going to strong-arm the judge!

The court has a process called ’evidence verification,’ where they review the evidence submitted by both sides. Even if the evidence is rejected in court... as long as it’s ironclad...

...then this ’inadmissibly’ obtained evidence could completely replace the long and tedious ’suspicion-investigation’ phase.

The judge wouldn’t even have time to eat; they would rush frantically to verify it.

And once it was verified... that ironclad proof of a blood relationship would be enough to crush everything else. It required no prior suspicion and could directly prove Liu Jingqi’s age, allowing it to be used immediately without having to consider the welfare institute or child traffickers!

Connecting this to the point above, since it could be verified without any chain of suspicion, the time for verification...

In the legal field, an urgent rush order only takes two days, maybe even just one!

Xu De could even accept giving the judge an extra two days to work overtime and discuss it.

And so, a case that might have originally taken half a year to review would be compressed into less than nine days!

"You’re going after the judge too?"

Wang Chao, who was driving, couldn’t hold it in any longer. He glanced at Xu De in the rearview mirror.

"I thought we only go after prosecutors?"

"What are you talking about?"

Xu De looked displeased.

"The prosecutor verified the evidence voluntarily. I didn’t force him to do it!"

"Same for the judge. They’re the ones who gave us too little time, so we have no choice but to provide an inadmissible test!"

"What do you mean, *we’re* going after *them*?"

"Clearly, they’re the ones going after us!"

Wang Chao was stunned, looking at him in disbelief.

He knew his law firm’s methods could be a little unorthodox...

...but he never imagined they could be *this* unorthodox!

In a trial, besides their own side, there were three main players: the prosecution, the judge, and the defense. Normally, you only had to deal with the prosecution.

But Xu De...

...first he went after the prosecution, then after going after the prosecution he took on the judge, and after taking on the judge he was going to smack the defendant!?

’Wait a minute...’

’He’s going to offend every single person in the entire courtroom!!!’

"Lawyer Xu, isn’t this a bit too brazen...?"

"Stop talking and drive. Step on the gas a little harder."

Xu De was very dissatisfied with their speed.

"We’re running out of time. We’ll rest in the car, take bathroom breaks together, and drive in shifts, twenty-four hours a day."

"We have to get back to Lusen City within 30 hours!"

Wang Chao: ?

’Wait... drive for 30 hours straight to cover 2,000 kilometers!?’

’You don’t even spare your own people!’

Wang Chao was a little scared, so he decided to endure it in silence and pressed down on the accelerator.

VROOOM~!

The car sped toward Lusen City, carving a graceful arc on the highway.

...

...

「December 24th.」

Five days until the court hearing.

「Qingwu Province, Lusen City.」

「Nine in the morning.」

A white sedan flew down the highway, making only a brief stop at a service station before heading straight for the detention center.

Xu De got out of the car and walked into the detention center.

Ten minutes later, he returned to the car.

He then turned the car around and headed for the Medical University, entering the campus not long after.

...

「Two in the afternoon.」

At Lusen Medical University, several official cars drove onto the campus.

Soon, the cars stopped, and several people threw open their doors and got out in a frantic hurry.

"Madmen! Have all these welfare institutes gone mad!?"

"Embezzling subsidies, fabricating the number of orphans, child labor, and even... even child trafficking!"

"They’re insane, this bunch of lunatics..."

Prosecutor Huang Shi’s face was grim as he quickened his pace, heading for the fifth floor of the forensic science department.

A few people who were waiting for him in the hallway saw him and hurried forward to greet him.

"Prosecutor Huang."

"What is it? Why are you in such a rush?"

Several professors came forward to accompany him, their faces showing confusion.

Hearing this, Huang Shi sighed deeply. "We investigated a few welfare institutes and implicated a lot of people."

In Lusen City, they had already investigated the Jiaqin Welfare Institute.

But by following the leads from Zheng Tong’s channels, they discovered... more than one was doing it!

Besides trafficking, they even uncovered other incidents that were horrifying to learn about.

The more they investigated, the more people they arrested.

"Right now, all the major forensic science institutes in Lusen City are swamped. There’s no availability, so we had to come to the Medical University for testing."

Huang Shi let out a breath and walked quickly down the hall.

The forensic institutes had been making a killing these past two days; all sorts of evidence required their services.

This, in turn, left Huang Shi with evidence that no one could test on short notice, forcing him to come to the university and find students to do it... though of course, this was also a legitimate procedure.

"Then come quickly. Don’t delay the investigation."

The professors in charge of the labs nodded.

The group picked up their pace.

Before long, they were approaching the testing laboratory affiliated with the Medical University.

However...

Just as the group rounded a corner and the lab came into view, they saw...

...a person standing at the entrance of the lab, talking to a researcher.

Seeing this figure, for a fleeting moment...

...Huang Shi suddenly froze.

The next second, as if by reflex, his pupils contracted slightly and he blurted out instinctively:

"Xu De!?"