novelraw Chapter 230 You Know Better Than I Do
Chapter 230 You Know Better Than I Do
The barrage of comments surged in like a tidal wave, carrying anger, malice, and an almost frenzied righteous indignation.
"My God, she drove my mother-in-law to the point of fainting! Is Jin Qiqi even human?"
"How vicious must those words be to make someone faint from anger?"
"Jin Qiqi and Lu Xiran are truly birds of a feather, a den of snakes and rats!"
"One forced medicine into the mother-in-law's mouth, and the other made her faint from anger—are these two women specifically here to bring misfortune to the Gu family?"
"My heart aches for Lian Bichen. She's already so ill, and yet she still has to be accused in court by her daughter-in-law. What kind of human suffering is this?"
"Support Lian Bichen! Severely punish Jin Qiqi and Lu Xiran!"
"Gu Yanshen, look at the good woman you've found! Do you still have the nerve to be the chairman?"
The doubts about "not being able to remember" hadn't dissipated before they were completely overshadowed by this perfectly timed and precise fainting spell.
No one asked the prosecutor those pointed questions anymore. No one questioned the credibility of Su Lanzhi's claim of "not remembering." No one pressed for answers—why did Lian Bichen faint just as Jin Qiqi was about to speak? Why was the timing so precise, as if it had been timed with a stopwatch?
No one asked.
Because sympathy and anger never need evidence.
Lian Bichen's fainting spell was like a meticulously crafted key that was inserted into the lock at the last moment, clicking shut the valve of public opinion that was about to shift.
It has once again become the strongest weapon to defeat Gu Yanshen, Lu Xiran, and Jin Qiqi.
More powerful than tears, more lethal than testimony.
When Gu Yanxu came out of the prison hospital, it was already completely dark.
Instead of going home, he had his driver take him to a brightly lit office building in the city center. The large characters on the rooftop were particularly eye-catching in the night—Liu Mingyuan Law Firm.
He walked into the lobby alone and took the elevator to the top floor.
The door to Attorney Liu's office was ajar, letting in a warm yellow light. Gu Yanxu didn't knock; he simply pushed the door open and went inside.
Attorney Liu was sitting behind his large desk, a pile of documents and files spread out in front of him. He glanced at Gu Yanxu, his expression showing no surprise, as if he had known he would come all along.
"Sit down," Attorney Liu said, gesturing to the chair opposite him.
Gu Yanxu didn't sit down. He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, his back to Lawyer Liu, and looked at the brightly lit city nightscape outside. The lights, dense and numerous, were like countless eyes, coldly watching every corner of the city.
"Jin Qiqi," Attorney Liu said seriously, "didn't you say she wouldn't be appearing in court?"
Gu Yanxu remained silent.
He remained silent for a long time, so long that the only sound in the office was the ticking of the clock on the wall, like a dull knife cutting into his nerves.
"Are you crazy?" he finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, as if squeezed from his throat. "She is me..."
He didn't finish his sentence. What was she to him? Wife? Lover? Or just a familiar stranger who would text him "goodnight" late at night? He couldn't say. The image of Jin Qiqi standing in the witness stand was still burning in his mind, like a branding iron, so hot that he dared not look directly at it.
"Your wife?" Attorney Liu finished for him, his tone as calm as reading a menu. "Gu Yanxu, you need to think this through—she's standing in court right now, pointing her finger at your mother and saying 'she intended to kill her.' She's your wife, but she's your wife on the witness stand, not your wife in your living room."
Attorney Liu stood up from his chair, walked around the desk, and went to Gu Yanxu's side. His steps were very light, as light as a beast approaching its prey in the grass.
"I have a question for you, and you will answer truthfully," Attorney Liu said seriously. "Do you think Jin Qiqi will go easy on you because of you?"
Gu Yanxu's fingers trembled slightly.
Attorney Liu scrutinized Gu Yanxu. "Her identity itself is evidence—Gu's daughter-in-law, a relative of Lian Bichen. Her words carry a hundred times more weight in the eyes of the jury than Su Lanzhi's."
He paused, his gaze sharp as a scalpel: "You saw it today too, your mother fainted before she even opened her mouth. How many more times can she faint at the next court hearing? A person's blood pressure can't withstand that kind of torment."
Gu Yanxu turned his head sharply, his eyes red-rimmed: "She didn't fake fainting!"
"I know," Attorney Liu said calmly, almost cruelly so, "but next time, it might not just be a matter of fainting."
The air seemed to freeze.
Gu Yanxu's chest heaved violently, like a wild beast trapped in a cage. He looked into Attorney Liu's eyes, which held no malice, no threat, only a despairing calmness.
"You have to make your own decision." Attorney Liu turned and walked back to his desk, picked up a pen, twirled it between his fingers, and then gently put it down. His voice was particularly clear in the silence. "Once the dust settles, no one can change anything."
Gu Yanxu turned around and looked at Attorney Liu. Their gazes met in the dim light, like two unsheathed swords, their blades concealed, yet already exuding a chilling aura.
"At the next court hearing," Attorney Liu's voice lowered, so low that only the two of them could hear, "could she not appear in court?"
Gu Yanxu did not answer.
His gaze slowly shifted, landing on the desk lamp. A warm yellow glow enveloped half the tabletop, illuminating a thick stack of files, a fountain pen, and a cup of tea that had long since gone cold.
They all made their choices in the end.
Attorney Liu didn't rush him. He sat back down in his chair, picked up the glass of iced tea, took a sip, and looked as calm as if he were waiting for takeout.
"I need time," Gu Yanxu said.
"You don't have time." Attorney Liu put down his teacup. His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of cold water. "You know better than I when the next court hearing is. You know better than I where Jin Qiqi is living now. You know better than I whether she might 'coincidentally' be unable to attend court."
The three consecutive "You know better than I do"s felt like three slaps to the face.
Gu Yanxu's fingers tightened, a sharp pain shooting through his palm. It was the wound he'd inflicted in court earlier that day—the marks left by his nails digging into his flesh—and now it throbbed slowly and intermittently.
He remembered Jin Qiqi's hand.
Those hands had once covered him with a blanket in the dead of night, had once cooked him hangover soup when he was drunk from socializing, and had once waited for him downstairs for half an hour with an umbrella on a rainy day. And those same hands, today in court, pointed steadily at his mother.
"I understand," Gu Yanxu said.
The sound was very soft, so soft that it was almost inaudible.
Attorney Liu stared at him for two seconds, then nodded, took a document from the drawer, and pushed it onto the table.
"This is what you need to sign. The rest is none of your concern."