Chapter 156 - 102: Verdict! Court Adjourned

"I... I’m sorry... But I really didn’t mean to."

"I just wanted to scare her... I really didn’t want to kill her. How could I dare do something like that?"

"This wasn’t my intention. I wanted to admit my mistake from the start, but I was scared..."

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I truly know I was wrong..."

As she spoke, her voice began to break.

It was clearly the beginning of a soul shattering.

"I’ll compensate you however you want, as long as you can forgive me. I’ll do anything you ask..."

"I truly know I was wrong. I’ll visit Yang Jiale’s grave every year from now on. I’m so sorry..."

Her voice was filled with sincerity, her emotions palpable.

At the plaintiff’s table.

Yang Huan stood motionless, his face devoid of expression. He watched Liu Jingqi as she confessed and repented in the defendant’s dock.

The sight of her weeping, repenting, even slapping her own face, all played out before his eyes.

But in his eyes, Liu Jingqi was like a stranger, a complete and utter stranger.

In a daze, Yang Huan finally spoke. He looked at Liu Jingqi and asked:

"Why did you bully my sister?"

Hearing this, Liu Jingqi faltered. Her voice was thick with regret as she said:

"I... I didn’t mean to..."

"At first, I saw that she was pretty and got good grades, so I just wanted to play a prank on her... I never thought something like this would happen. I’m so sorry..."

’Because she was pretty?’

Huang Shi’s lips moved for a moment, but in the end, he remained silent.

It was, indeed, a motive for school bullying—and one of the most common ones at that.

At the plaintiff’s table.

"No, you did it on purpose."

Yang Huan shook his head. He stared at her, and before she could object, he asked another question:

"I’ve seen my sister’s body."

"There were pinpricks on her... from paper clips. The police told me they were caused by paper clips that had been straightened out."

"I want to ask you, when you were doing that on the rooftop, did you laugh?"

As he finished speaking, Liu Jingqi’s expression in the defendant’s dock grew even more sorrowful. She choked on her sobs, her anguish affecting several people around her.

She confessed tearfully:

"I... I know I was wrong. Back then, I really didn’t think it would lead to what happened later..."

"She reported me to Lv Guangjun, and I was afraid other teachers would find out. I just wanted to teach her a small lesson, I never thought about killing anyone... I’m sorry, I’m so sorry to you."

"I didn’t know Zhao Li was your mother, and I didn’t know she had a heart condition..."

"If I hadn’t done those things, it wouldn’t have come to this..."

Hearing this, Huang Shi and the others inwardly shook their heads.

’She’s right about that.’

If Liu Jingqi hadn’t done what she did... or if Lv Guangjun hadn’t accepted the gift, this case never would have happened.

If Jiang Yu and Qiao Wang hadn’t been her accomplices, Yang Jiale might not have died either.

But unfortunately, what’s done is done.

Now, it all came down to whether Yang Huan was willing to grant forgiveness.

"Mm."

Yang Huan nodded, showing no emotion.

He was silent for a long while before he suddenly spoke again:

"Actually, my sister and my mom had it really hard... I know. I’ve always known."

"My mom was a woman... I remember when I was little, she cared a lot about her appearance. My dad bought her a mirror, and she could stare at it all day."

"Later... my dad died. It was just my mom. She raised the two of us all by herself. She didn’t dare remarry, afraid her new husband wouldn’t be good to us."

"After that, to make more money, my mom started working at a construction site."

"She used to be quite thin, but you can’t be thin and have any strength for construction work. So in the blink of an eye, my mom’s figure started to change. Before... you could even say she’d become bloated..."

Yang Huan murmured.

He seemed to be talking to himself, lost in his own world.

Huang Shi looked like he wanted to say something, but held back and sighed. The people in the defendant’s section were silent.

Yang Huan continued:

"Then, before I knew it—I don’t even remember when—her back started to hurt, and she began to limp."

"But she herself never changed. She still just wanted me and my sister to have a good life."

"It was so hot back then. Our whole family would huddle in front of a single fan. My sister had to do her homework and study for exams, but the fan would blow her book’s pages everywhere. The breeze was weak, too. Even sitting right in front of it, you’d be drenched in sweat."

"So my mom started thinking, ’Let’s buy an air conditioner.’"

"She was gentle and a bit slow, not good at making money, so the only thing she could do was work at the construction site. When she got yelled at there, she would just give an embarrassed smile and never talk back, afraid they’d fire her. The job only paid six hundred a month. After calculating for a long time, she realized all she could save up for was a second-hand air conditioner."

"She told me she was just one hundred twenty yuan and thirty cents short. Then we’d have enough, and we wouldn’t be cold in the winter or hot in the summer."

Yang Huan was lost in the past.

His tone was flat, but his flat words made everyone’s chests feel tight.

An indescribable emotion brewed in the hearts of the crowd, including the three presiding judges on the bench. All three were silent, watching quietly.

"But..."

"It’s all gone."

Yang Huan’s tone suddenly shifted. He stared silently at Liu Jingqi in the defendant’s dock and said:

"It’s all gone now."

"My mom went to the crematorium on November 25th. Her body was pushed into the incinerator, and in less than a day, her ashes were in my hands."

"You know, she was bloated and very heavy, but I never expected her ashes would be so... little..."

"My sister’s body went in on December 10th. She used to be so strong-willed, but her ashes were so brittle."

At this, Yang Huan stopped speaking.

"I was wrong... I was really wrong..."

Liu Jingqi was sobbing, her body heaving with emotion.

"I’m only 19. I just wasn’t thinking straight at the time. I really never thought something like this would happen. You can hit me, you can curse me, I won’t fight back..."