Chapter 138 - 92: Polar Reversal

Meanwhile, inside the courtroom.

At this moment.

Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin’s eyes glinted before he spoke:

"Does the prosecution or the defense have any further objections?"

Prosecutor Huang Shi replied, "The prosecution has no further objections in this case."

"The defense has no objections," Zhang Wei said.

No objections from anyone...

Judge Lu Guowei sighed to himself. He muttered under his breath, "This is it. We’ll just announce the verdict the committee decided on..."

Zhang Bingxin was silent, his face expressionless.

The case had reached this stage, putting it squarely in the sentencing phase. All that was left was to announce the conviction and then the sentence.

If it were any other case, Zhang Bingxin would not have hesitated at all.

But this case...

Zhang Bingxin remained silent.

After a long moment, he took a deep breath, gripped the gavel with his right hand, and raised it high.

"Regarding this case, Green Forest..."

Zhang Bingxin had just begun to speak.

But in that very instant, a louder, more piercing voice suddenly echoed through the Second Tribunal!

"Presiding Judge, we still object!"

Xu De, who had fallen silent only a moment ago, abruptly shot to his feet and shouted.

His voice was like an alarm clock suddenly going off in the dead of a silent night.

It instantly captured everyone’s attention!

’An objection?’

’He still objects!?’

On the bench, the three judges who were about to announce the verdict froze in unison and looked up at him.

At the prosecution table.

Prosecutor Huang Shi froze, then whipped his head up to look at Xu De in utter disbelief, his face a mask of shock.

’There’s... there’s more evidence!?’

Even Zhang Wei at the defense table couldn’t help but feel his palms begin to sweat.

’An objection? What could he possibly object to!?’

Before anyone could figure it out, in the next second, an explosive and extraordinarily shocking statement was hurled into the courtroom without the judge’s permission!

Then they heard it...

"Presiding Judge, regarding this case, we have a serious objection concerning the defendant Liu Jingqi’s age!"

"The defendant, Liu Jingqi’s, true age far exceeds the sixteen years considered in this trial!"

"The existing Juvenile Protection Law does not apply to the defendant! Defendant Liu Jingqi..."

Xu De stood up, holding a printed document in his hand.

His face was solemn. The time for pretense was over. At this moment... he finally bared his fangs, shouting:

"Is an adult!"

An adult...

The moment those three words fell.

The pupils of everyone present shrank to pinpoints, and they trembled uncontrollably. They then raised their heads to look at each other in astonishment, a storm of emotions churning in their chests.

Especially at the defendant’s table, Liu Jingqi, who had already been preparing to leave, upon hearing those words...

The hair on her body stood on end, and a cold sweat broke out on her back. When she looked up again, her face was already filled with deep fear.

’An adult?’

’The defendant, Liu Jingqi, is an adult!?’

What was the reason this case was at a stalemate? What was the source of all the public controversy and conflict?

It wasn’t the murder.

It was purely the issue of her age, the issue of the Juvenile Protection Law!

Liu Jingqi had killed someone, but could use her age to escape full punishment. Even the judicial committee, after meeting, could only come up with a sentence of eighteen years. And yet...

Just a moment before the verdict was to be announced, someone shouted that there was a problem with her age!?

Almost by instinct...

"Representative, the court cannot entertain baseless suspicions!"

Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin spoke immediately, staring intently at Xu De. Even his own heartbeat began to accelerate, pounding in his chest.

’If there really was a problem with Liu Jingqi’s age...’

If it was proven, then the case would take a completely different direction!

Xu De had anticipated this.

Without any surprise, he once again raised the document in his hand, scanned his surroundings, and said in a firm, powerful voice:

"We have evidence!"

"Honorable Presiding Judge, Judges."

"In my hand, I have the personal identification information of defendant Liu Jingqi. Specifically, her original identity before it was ’lost,’ with details down to her date of birth!"

Seeing the document in his hand, everyone in the room was stunned.

’Her date... of birth?’

’How is that possible?’

Defendant Liu Jingqi was a missing person, taken in by the Jiaqin Welfare Institute in Lusen City. How could she possibly have her original identity information?

But...

’But what if it’s real?’

’This is bad!’

At the defense table, defense attorney Zhang Wei’s pupils contracted. The hair on his arms stood on end, and he shot to his feet. In an extremely anxious voice, he cut the other man off.

"Objection! We object!"

"Before this trial began, the representative did not submit any evidence during the discovery period! This is an ambush! A trial by ambush!"

"We move to dismiss the opposing party’s malicious stalling tactic!"

Zhang Wei was stunned, feeling as if a heavy hammer had just struck him squarely on the head.

’The other side has evidence...’

’Evidence that could possibly overturn Liu Jingqi’s get-out-of-jail-free card!’

’Damn it! We already pleaded guilty. Presenting new evidence after the facts have been established...’

Zhang Wei cursed furiously in his mind, but he had no time to dwell on it. He immediately raised his flushed, anxious face and slammed his hands hard on the table.

They had already pleaded guilty... A guilty plea meant that all that remained was sentencing, making it impossible to effectively counter the plaintiff’s accusations!

And why had they pleaded guilty?

Because the existence of the Juvenile Protection Law made a guilty plea advantageous for them!

But now, they were telling him...

’You’ve pleaded guilty, but now the Juvenile Protection Law is being yanked away?’

Wouldn’t that be like being tried naked!? Liu Jingqi wouldn’t have enough heads to roll even if she had three!!!

"This is the second time!"

"Presiding Judge, the representative is showing contempt for court procedure and has no regard for its regulations!"

"He’s doing this on purpose! It’s a malicious, deliberate ambush! We request that the opposing counsel be recused!!!"

Zhang Wei practically roared the words.

Xu De’s gaze sharpened instantly.

His gaze was like a piercing needle, stabbing toward the defense table as he spoke in a cold voice:

"Counsel for the defense, please mind court decorum. You will not interrupt me while I am speaking!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

He didn’t hesitate in the slightest, not even caring if the presiding judge would discipline the defense counsel.

He immediately turned his head and stared at Liu Jingqi in the defendant’s dock, who looked like she was drowning, and continued coldly:

"Presiding Judge."

"In my hand is defendant Liu Jingqi’s personal identity information, registered with the official civil affairs department before she ’went missing’."

"The defendant, Liu Jingqi, original name: Zhang Yueyue, was born on December 28, 1983, in Yangzhou City, Haidong Province."

"Her nickname is Nan. Twelve years ago, in 1990, she conspired with human traffickers to sell herself from Lianshan County, Yan’an City, Your Province—over two thousand kilometers away from Lusen City—to the Jiaqin Welfare Institute in Lusen City. After one year, she was adopted by Liu Hao and his wife."

"Her real age..."

His voice was loud and his enunciation was clear, carrying to everyone’s ears.

And the words he spoke...

...were nothing short of horrifying.

Just how detailed was this identity information?

It was just short of revealing her ID number! No... Xu De could probably reveal her ID number at any moment!

Even something like a nickname, which the authorities would never include in official records, he somehow knew...

"Defendant Liu Jingqi’s real age today is not sixteen, but..."

"Nineteen!"

Xu De declared loudly.

Everyone was thunderstruck.

Nineteen?

What did nineteen mean? It meant she was an adult!

If her age was real, then in the eyes of the law...

His gaze was like a sharp sword, cutting through the space to pierce the judge’s bench.

"Presiding Judge, we move to correct defendant Liu Jingqi’s age."

"And to have her convicted and sentenced for this case as a nineteen-year-old, an identity that is legally capable of bearing full criminal responsibility!"

’To be tried as a nineteen-year-old... as an adult...’

"Objection! Objection!"

"We strongly object! The representative’s claims have no basis in objective evidence! We demand a recess!!!"

Zhang Wei was losing his mind, frantically slapping the table in a desperate attempt to gain the floor.

But the judge’s bench completely ignored him.

"Representative, you need to present your evidence!" Zhang Bingxin said.

Without hesitation, Xu De passed a photocopy of Liu Jingqi’s original identification document to Zhang Bingxin via the court clerk.

It was a sheet of A4 paper, on which a photo from a household register was clearly printed.

Zhang Bingxin unfolded it.

He smoothed it out, his eyes quickly scanning the page. When he found a few key words...

His heart suddenly clenched, as if someone had squeezed it tightly.

In the column for the date of birth...

[Date of Birth: December 28, 1983]

1983, December 28th. That made her exactly nineteen years old today.

And at the time of the crime, she was...

Eighteen years and eleven months old. In other words...

An adult!!!