Chapter 131 - 89: The Trial Begins

December 28th.

Weather: Overcast.

On the surface, Lusen City was calm. But the December wind felt like it was laced with knives, like countless fine fishing lines lashing at people’s faces. Pedestrians on the street couldn’t help but pull their clothes tighter and hurry on, heads bowed.

Along both sides of the street, steam rose from bamboo steamers, the neat white clouds offering a small hint of warmth. The shop owners were a flurry of motion, busy and sweating profusely.

Workers began trickling in for their shifts.

The frigid air gradually dissipated as the warm sun chased away the chill. And it was at this very moment...

"TAP, TAP, TAP..."

The sound of footsteps echoed through the Lusen City Intermediate People’s Court.

「Nine in the morning.」

Several judges were gathered in a special case deliberation room, speaking in low voices.

"Phew... the pressure on the judges for this case is immense. Who knows, the High Court might just send it back for a retrial."

"Tell me about it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t all be sitting in this office."

"It’s fine. Barring any surprises, we should be able to proceed according to the outcome of the pretrial conference a few days ago. After the court session and plea arguments, we’ll just announce the verdict we’ve already decided on."

"Nothing’s changed in the last few days. The prosecution hasn’t presented any new, valid judicial evidence. We’ll likely just continue from the last hearing. So, this outcome is probably the fairest one we can get, relatively speaking."

"Heh... eighteen years, is it?"

"It can’t be helped."

Inside the deliberation room, several trial judges sat at a long table, conversing in hushed tones.

There weren’t many people in the room, but every single one of them held significant power and authority. Even the lowest-ranking among them was a senior adjudicating judge!

As for what this place was...

It was, of course, the judicial panel for the ’18th High School Case’!

Thinking of this, the junior judges couldn’t help but look up at the few people seated at the head of the table.

There...

...sat several extremely high-ranking judges.

Looking from left to right, one would see the Chief Judge of the 18th High case, Zhang Bingxin, and adjudicators Lu Guowei and Zhao Xing.

In addition to them...

...were the President of the Lusen City Intermediate People’s Court, Zhang Rong; the Vice President; and the chief judges of the various divisions.

"Tsk..."

Looking at this lineup, the junior staff were inwardly astounded.

Normally, a deliberation room would only include the personnel directly handling the case to discuss it. But... the 18th High case had run into a snag.

The first trial had the defendant, Liu Jingqi, dead to rights!

The evidence of her guilt was ironclad, and she should have received her due punishment. But as luck would have it, she was a minor—under 18—which meant her sentence had to be commuted.

This clash between moral ethics and legal statutes...

...immediately put the court in an impossible position, like it was being roasted over an open flame.

Sentence her as the crime warrants? Impossible. As the saying goes, the word "shall" in the regulations isn’t a "suggestion" in reality—it’s a "must"!

So, should they just give Liu Jingqi a lenient sentence according to the law?

That wouldn’t work either.

The 18th High case involved two lives. Although Zhao Li wasn’t directly killed by the defendant, Liu Jingqi was inextricably linked to her death!

And so...

The Adjudication Committee was convened!

All the high-level judges from the most authoritative municipal court in Lusen City gathered in the conference room to discuss this single criminal case. Any one of the participants was qualified enough to serve as a chief judge in any other case...

The committee met for four full days.

Fortunately, they reached a conclusion!

"All things considered, eighteen years is a very reasonable sentencing range."

"Chief Judge Zhang, after the hearing begins, you can adjust the sentence up or down within that eighteen-year range based on the arguments from both sides."

At the head of the table, President Zhang Rong and Vice President Qian Hu spoke reassuringly to Zhang Bingxin, their own faces showing traces of fatigue.

Four days on the committee...

More than ten judges had all suffered the same twisted psychological torment, torn between the law and ethics!

But Judge Lu Guowei murmured, "Only eighteen years..."

As he spoke, he gave a wry twist of his lips and sighed deeply.

Liu Jingqi had killed Yang Jiale and indirectly caused the death of Zhao Li... she was even guilty of multiple other crimes, including ’robbery,’ ’intentional injury,’ and ’false imprisonment’...

And the judges had pushed for a ’severe’ sentence.

But the committee had only come back with an 18-year sentence!

"You can add two years."

"Sentence her to twenty."

Vice President Qian Hu patted Lu Guowei’s shoulder.

"It’s rare... but still within a reasonable range. Just sentence her as you see fit."

Then, he, Zhang Rong, and the others gathered their things and slowly left the deliberation room.

’Are two extra years a lot? Does rounding it up to twenty count as just deserts?’

’How is that possible...’

’The prison system is also more lenient with sentence reductions for minors.’

’How lenient?’

’Let’s put it this way: the law explicitly states that the criteria for a minor’s sentence reduction are: ’pleading guilty and showing remorse, obeying prison rules, and participating in studies and labor.’ Meeting these is directly considered as genuine repentance.’

’What does that even mean?’

’In plain terms, it means you can get a sentence reduction just by not causing trouble!’

’But for adults, sentence reduction requires passing a strict evaluation that includes: points, commendations, and no disciplinary infractions. Only after passing the evaluation can they even try for a reduction.’

’Even the amount of time reduced is different.’

’For a minor, in an ideal scenario, they can get a reduction every six months, for a year and a half each time.’

’And an adult? An adult can get a reduction once every two years, and only if you achieve some major merit... then congratulations, you might get the one-and-a-half-year reduction that a minor gets under normal circumstances!’

’Furthermore, you are generally not allowed to apply for another reduction for the next year and a half to two years...’

’But this ’interval’ rule doesn’t apply to minors.’

’In an ideal situation, Liu Jingqi really could get her sentence reduced by a year and a half every six months!’

"Eighteen years... heh. And that’s the ’heavy sentence’ of eighteen years handed down when the prosecution had the upper hand in the first trial."

"In the second trial... the defense attorney won’t be keeping his mouth shut."

Judge Zhao Xing stood up, a look of weary resignation on his face.