November 10.
Qingwu Province, Greenwood City, Intermediate People's Court.
Afternoon.
"Oh no, oh no, we're late! If we don't go in now, the trial will be over before we know it!"
Outside the main entrance to the Greenwood City Intermediate People's Court.
A taxi hadn't even come to a complete stop before its door was rashly thrown open.
A slender female reporter wearing flat shoes scrambled out. Holding a microphone, she took a single glance at the towering steps leading to the main hall before anxiously racing up them.
"Clack, clack, clack..."
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the air, accompanied by loud bickering.
"Zhang Wang, you are dead meat! If we miss this scoop, I'll be the first to report you to the team leader when we get back!"
The female reporter, Zhang Xia, gritted her teeth and ran breathlessly up the steps, not forgetting to scold the person behind her as she moved.
Behind her, a slightly plump man with a press badge around his neck followed closely. Panting heavily and clenching his jaw, he lugged a tripod and a video camera.
Feeling extremely wronged, Zhang Wang howled as he chased after her.
"Sis, the company car broke down and we had to take a taxi! How is that my fault?!"
"All I did was forget the camera the first time we left, and then when I went back for it, I accidentally grabbed a broken one..."
Hearing this, Zhang Xia felt a surge of anger in her chest.
The two were siblings. After graduating, they joined the same company and just happened to be assigned as a team.
They hadn't managed to dig up any good material in the half-year since they graduated, causing the chief editor to look at them with increasingly dangerous eyes over the past couple of days. The Lijia Village case had finally blown up, and she wanted to seize this trending topic...
Unexpectedly, their plan to arrive at the courthouse at twelve o'clock to snag a good spot had been delayed by Zhang Wang until now!
"You still have the nerve to speak!" Zhang Xia scolded angrily, though her pace didn't slow.
Zhang Wang wanted to argue, but his ears suddenly twitched. He instinctively stopped in his tracks and looked back.
When he clearly saw the vehicle approaching from behind, his pupils shrank slightly, and he blurted out:
"It's the transport van! The prison transport is here!"
Hearing this, Zhang Xia stopped walking and looked back.
A white police van slowly pulled into the courthouse's main gate. It was the dedicated vehicle used by bailiffs to transport prisoners!
The two watched the vehicle intently until it turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
"It should be transporting Wang Qiang. The timing is right," Zhang Wang whispered.
The arrival of the defendant meant that court was about to be in session!
Zhang Xia said nothing more. She turned around and quickly ran toward the main hall, breathing rapidly with a few strands of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.
Stepping past the final stair, Zhang Xia entered the lobby.
Looking up, she saw a large, gold-and-red national emblem hanging high above the hall, invisibly exuding an aura of solemnity!
Zhang Xia's mood instinctively sobered. She quickly checked the directory for the corridors, and after identifying the correct path, hurried into it without hesitation.
The Lijia Village case was being heard in Courtroom One.
She took the elevator and passed through a quiet, chilly hallway.
Finally, Zhang Xia stopped at the closed main doors of the courtroom. Standing at the entrance, she could faintly hear the sounds coming from inside.
She took a deep breath, placed her hand on the handle, and pushed.
"Click."
The heavy doors yielded, opening a narrow crack.
Through the gap, she could see the very front of the courtroom. The highest tier belonged to the judges' bench, behind which stood three armchairs. A gavel rested on the desk, and a national emblem hung high on the wall behind it, majestic and upright.
She pushed a bit harder, widening the gap.
In the center below the bench was the enclosed defendant's dock, overlooked by the judges. To the left were the seats for the public prosecution, and to the right was the defense counsel's desk.
Since the trial hadn't started yet, these seats were entirely empty.
At the back was a large, tiered public gallery. At a rough glance, it had at least four hundred seats.
Right now, all four hundred-plus seats were occupied, with over four hundred people looking down at the trial area.
A slight murmur filled her ears as people whispered amongst themselves.
'Made it. The trial hasn't started yet!'
Zhang Xia let out a long sigh of relief. Looking up again, she saw a figure in the front row waving at her.
"Over here, over here."
Zhang Wang didn't follow her in; he stayed in the back to set up the camera while Zhang Xia hurried over.
The female reporter who had waved pointed to an empty seat.
"Hurry up. Do you know how many dirty looks I got saving a seat, let alone one in the first three rows?"
"You're always so careless. It's a good thing you called me. Next time I'm not here, let's see where you manage to sit!"
"Thank you, Sister Liu. I'll treat you to a meal later," she replied.
Zhang Xia's face reddened, but she hurriedly sat down. Placing her bag on her lap, she pulled out a pen and paper, then looked up at the trial area.
Aside from the completely packed gallery, the trial area was empty, making it look starkly desolate.
Seeing her look, Sister Liu leaned over in her chair and whispered into Zhang Xia's ear:
"There are still twenty minutes until court starts. The key players haven't arrived yet."
Sister Liu paused and sighed emotionally.
"This case has definitely stirred up a lot of public opinion. I didn't expect even Courtroom One to be short on seats. This place can hold at least five hundred people!"
"They even brought in the judges from the First Group of the Criminal First Division!"
Courtroom One was the largest courtroom in the Greenwood City Intermediate People's Court, yet there were still a bunch of people with nowhere to sit.
But as for the judges of the First Group of the Criminal First Division... Zhang Xia knew nothing about them.
"Sister Liu, what's the deal with the First Group judges?"
Zhang Xia asked quietly, glancing at the bench where the nameplates for Liu Jianguo, Zhang Bingxin, and Sun Dong were displayed.
Behind the three nameplates sat three empty armchairs.
"You just graduated, so it's normal that you don't know."
Sister Liu explained, "The judges in the First Group of the Criminal First Division are the most professional, impartial, and capable team of judges in the entire city."
"They exclusively handle major, crucial, and severe criminal cases!"
"Among them, Zhang Bingxin is the most prominent. He is the Chief Judge of the Criminal First Division, a high-ranking official at the deputy-director level in the Intermediate Court, and is famous for being strictly impartial and looking only at the evidence!"
Sister Liu paused and let out a sigh. "This man has a very stubborn temper. In the Lijia Village case, if the evidence is unfavorable to the defendant... there is a high probability he will just go strictly by the book!"
In other words... he would even ignore public opinion and forego his own 'discretionary power'?!
Zhang Xia looked at the nameplate bearing Zhang Bingxin's name at the middle armchair, and a sense of awe welled up in her heart.
A judge with that kind of unyielding character...
Wouldn't that just add fuel to the fire of this case?!
Just as Zhang Xia was thinking this, an abrupt sound echoed across the trial area below, and the crowd instantly fell silent.
"Creaaak."
The side door of the courtroom had been pushed open.
Several middle-aged men stood at the doorway. They wore black suits with white shirts, bright red ties, and red badges pinned to their chests.
The leading middle-aged man swept his gaze over the room without any change in expression. The moment he stepped forward, a powerful aura radiated from him.
He led his team to sit calmly at the public prosecution table, ignoring the hundreds of people behind him, and simply began organizing his materials.
"That is the team leader of the First Case Handling Group of the Second Prosecution Department, Hu Guang."
Sister Liu stared at Prosecutor Hu Guang and whispered, her eyes never leaving him, her tone serious:
"This guy is practically a case-handling machine. Just like Zhang Bingxin, he never mixes in personal emotions!"
"With these two presiding over the Lijia Village case... it's probably going to explode."
Two people who did everything strictly by the book, encountering a case dripping with human emotion—just thinking about it made one's scalp tingle!
After Hu Guang and his team took their seats, a few other people followed them in.
"See that? Sitting next to the public prosecution, in the civil plaintiff seats, are the victim's parents, Li Youcai and Liu Cui."
"Sitting in the victim's representative seat, the one wearing the suit is their legal agent, lawyer Chen Wei. This guy is a famous shyster in Greenwood City; he'll do anything as long as you pay him!" Sister Liu explained.
Zhang Xia followed her gaze and saw two elderly people with malicious expressions, muttering something under their breath.
Beside them was a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who looked like a well-dressed beast. He was also organizing his documents, a smile hanging on his lips, but a trace of gloominess seeped from his eyes.
Not long after...
"The defendant and the defense are here!" Sister Liu suddenly blurted out.
Zhang Xia looked up and saw two stern, unsmiling bailiffs walking strictly toward the defendant's dock in the very center of the room.
Between them walked a man as thin as a rail, wearing a yellow vest. His eyes were muddy and dull, and his back was hunched.
This person was none other than Wang Qiang!
After taking his seat, he instinctively looked to his side.
There, a sharply dressed young man in a professional suit was slowly walking toward the defense counsel's desk.
Although he was young, his gaze was composed, and his expression showed no signs of nervousness. After sitting down, he merely sorted through his materials.
Looking at him, the gallery suddenly broke into whispers.
Sister Liu frowned and clicked her tongue. "The defense lawyer is named Xu De, from Jinmao Law Firm. He doesn't have a single criminal case on his resume yet; he's a rookie lawyer."
"A rookie lawyer?!"
Zhang Xia was somewhat stunned. Her pen stopped moving as she looked up at the defense in disbelief.
The defense consisted solely of Xu De, making their side look incredibly bare.
She then looked at the prosecution across the room.
Prosecutors Hu Guang, Wang Wei, and Zhang Qing...
The victim's legal agent, the notorious shyster Chen Wei...
Serving as both witnesses and civil plaintiffs, Li Youcai and Liu Cui...
This gap...
It was far too huge!
The disparity in their lineups was obvious. Most of the people in the gallery looked extremely surprised, bursting into hushed discussions as their gazes bounced back and forth between the two sides.
Zhang Xia's mind was also in a whirl, not knowing what to say.
Until...
"All rise!" the clerk suddenly called out.
The moment his voice dropped!
"Click!"
Several figures wearing long robes slowly walked out from the corridor.
The three individuals had calm, solemn faces. Their gazes were sharp and steady, without a hint of a smile. The moment they appeared, an invisible majesty instantly rolled over the room, and the entire gallery of over four hundred people fell completely silent.
It was the three judges adjudicating the case!
The lead judge, Zhang Bingxin, walked with steady steps toward the bench and sat at the focal point of the entire room: the high platform of the court, in the Chief Judge's seat!
After the three sat down, the clerk read out a few statements.
Sitting in the central seat, Chief Judge Zhang Bingxin suddenly raised his head. He swept his gaze across the room, taking in everyone in every seat, and then...
He picked up the gavel with his right hand and raised it high.
"Bang!"
The gavel fell with a sharp crack, followed immediately by a voice that resonated like a grand bell throughout Courtroom One.
"This case is regarding the murder of Li Erniu, a villager from Lijia Village, Yangcheng County, Greenwood City, Qingwu Province!"