Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Fierce Courtroom Debate

Zhao Baode’s courtroom speech-like defense sent a powerful shock through everyone present, including the many viewers watching the live broadcast online.

After Zhao finished, the presiding judge asked the prosecution whether it had any new evidence or objections. The prosecution, unprepared for Zhao’s line of argument, rifled through the case file for quite some time before finally dredging up something new.

“Honorable presiding judge, esteemed jurors, we believe the defense is deliberately shifting the issue. First of all, the defendant’s motive was not simply to save someone.” The prosecutor slowly regained his composure.

“Wow...” Hearing that, everyone in the room widened their eyes again. So it really was not that simple.

The prosecutor paused briefly, then continued reading from a hastily written note handed over by an assistant beside him. “Around 9:30 p.m. on October tenth, the defendant attempted to leave the scene, but was informed that his two female companions, as the red-marked participants that night, were not allowed to leave. He nearly clashed with the guards, and in the end he still remained at the scene. Did this happen or not?” Having just been put on the defensive, the prosecutor now felt he had found his footing again, a trace of triumph curling at the corner of his mouth.

“The defendant will answer the prosecutor’s question,” the presiding judge reminded the composed Chu Dong.

“Yes, it happened.” Chu Dong’s expression did not change in the slightest. He did not even try to explain anything.

“Because the defendant’s two female companions could not leave, and because if the injured Vyata ultimately won, he would obtain the defendant’s two female companions. Since the defendant’s counsel enjoys hypotheticals, then we likewise have reason to believe the defendant acted out of private resentment and intentionally inflicted grievous injury upon Vyata in order to vent his anger. Therefore, we maintain that the defendant, Chu Dong, is guilty of intentional injury, and in accordance with Article XX, Clause XX of our criminal law...” The prosecutor spoke more and more fluently, as though victory were already in his grasp.

“So he has two female companions? Man, what a hero!” said a long-haired young man.

“A red-marked participant, and she’s probably not bad-looking...” said a lewd man in his forties.

“Here’s a new headline: fallen young master brings beauty to a wager...” said an excited reporter.

“That kid’s pretty charismatic...” said an auntie resembling a certain buxom gossip.

The reactions in the room were all over the place.

When the prosecutor finally finished his long-winded recital, Zhao Baode rose to his feet and gestured toward the presiding judge.

“Everyone has heard the prosecution’s account of the circumstances concerning my client. Originally I did not intend to disclose this, because my client objected. He said it made him uneasy to defend himself by talking about a foolish moment in which two well-bred ladies were briefly deluded. But since the prosecutor has brought it up, let me say a few words. Ahem...”

He closed his right hand into a fist and cleared his throat against it. Then Zhao Baode let out a sigh.

“As a man—an accountable, responsible man—when one sees a friend encounter such a situation, I wonder what each of you here would do. When your friend is facing harm, and the consequences may even be beyond calculation, would you tuck in your tail and play the coward? Would you smile ingratiatingly and say, ‘Please, enjoy yourself at your leisure’? Or would you use the last shred of a man’s dignity and the little strength left in him to resist, to protect her? I cannot ask others that question now, but what I do know is that at that moment, my client chose without hesitation to stand up and fight—a man who had just been driven to the point of helplessness by a master of the martial world, even brutally slaughtered without mercy. What kind of courage is that? What kind of bearing is that?” Zhao Baode slapped his own chest with audible force.

After taking a breath, his next words took on a hint of irony. “I do not know what state of mind the gentlemen and ladies who would speak thus of a man brave enough to resist are in when they make such a claim—jealousy? Envy? Or merely the luxury of standing and speaking without being the one who suffers? I think no one can answer that question face to face, because no one wishes to expose the dark side of his own heart. But,” his voice rose at once, “I believe that even if we do not call my client a hero, we cannot describe a man who knows he is no match yet still steps forward as cold-blooded and cruel. Must we make all men in society into obedient little lambs, meekly enduring outside threats and challenges, and when a companion is butchered, merely bleat twice before going back to graze? If that is how everyone thinks, then I have nothing to say. I would rather accompany my client in accepting the punishment of the law from this day on than face such a reality.”

The entire courtroom fell silent under Zhao Baode’s impassioned speech. Even the reporters, whose fingers had been dancing like dragons and serpents across their keyboards, stopped as well.

What had been thought to be a trial without suspense had suddenly become a social issue worthy of heated debate. Whether violence used in response to violence under special circumstances could be considered a crime became a hot topic among the viewers of the live stream.

“In that situation, daring to resist is already something worthy of praise. As for how badly the other side was injured, that was no longer something one could consider at the time.”

A rational netizen.

“He deserved that beating. Not killing the bastard was already merciful.”

An extreme netizen.

“I think the defendant’s two friends are really lucky.”

A love-struck netizen.

“Social progress lies in fairness; repay others in their own coin. I do not think the defendant bears any responsibility.”

A boastful netizen.

...

In short, ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the online crowd chose to support the defendant, Chu Dong. The cold-blooded killer from before had suddenly become an idol, almost a model to emulate. Public opinion shifted in an instant.

Of course, Tan Xue and Li Youlan had always hoped Chu Dong would be cleared of the charge of intentional assault, because they knew the situation at the time all too well. Yet the circumstances then, together with the chain of events that followed, had left them with little time to dwell on it. Now, Zhao Baode’s defense and the increasingly uncontrolled murmurs of the spectators around them had dealt them a great shock.

“If it had been you then, would you have done that for me?” A girl stared solemnly at the boy beside her and asked.

“Of course. I’d have beaten that guy so badly his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.” The young man lifted his chin arrogantly.

“I knew you were good to me.” Her gaze full of tenderness, the girl leaned happily against the proud young man’s shoulder, smile blooming at the corners of her eyes and brows.

“You old fool, when that butcher at the market bullied me last time, where did you run off to?” An aunt twisted her husband’s ear and demanded.

“I’ll deal with him when we get home. I won’t spoil him one bit—ow, be gentle...” The old man’s head moved with her hand, begging for mercy again and again.

Watching Chu Dong on the defendant’s bench, his lips always carrying that faint smile, Tan Xue’s heart grew more and more restless. Was that really what he had been thinking at the time? Had he truly stepped forward to face a death without hope in order to keep me from being harmed? What gave him the courage to do that? One question after another rose from the depths of her heart and cast itself back at her. Tan Xue truly found it hard to make sense of this man—heedlessly roguish in appearance, yet always able to surprise her at critical moments; seeming harmless on the surface, yet capable of erupting with startling fury when angered.

At this moment, her mind could hold nothing else but the man who, since childhood, had always been naughty and mischievous, always bullying her, always making her eat her rice through tears.

Li Youlan did not possess Tan Xue’s kind of awakening. Her first reaction was a little touched. But the moment she saw Chu Dong’s indifferent, unconcerned look, she immediately despised this arrogant fellow. “So what if you’re amazing? If you were really that amazing, would you still have needed to fight that charcoal-black brute? You would have taken us and run long ago. Hmph.”

Though that was what she thought, she did not say it aloud. Li Youlan turned to look at Tan Xue beside her and saw that her friend’s eyes were somewhat dazed as they gazed in Chu Dong’s direction. She knew then that her friend had more or less been completely won over by Chu Dong.

With a pout, Li Youlan swallowed the words that had been on the tip of her tongue. If not for the fact that she bore much of the responsibility for all this, she would not have held back at all; she might already have been chattering away about Chu Dong’s shortcomings.

After a period of disorder, the courtroom settled down once more, thanks to the presiding judge’s bellowing and the intervention of a group of bailiffs who finally managed to restore order.

The fierce accusations and defenses continued in tense succession, but under Zhao Baode’s grand and lofty rhetoric, the legal provisions and statutes cited by the prosecutor seemed increasingly pale and powerless. Zhao Baode, by contrast, spoke with boundless fluency, citing classics and authorities, and even in a courtroom so solemn it could hardly be more solemn, he won wave after wave of applause.

The presiding judge warned the room several times to no effect, and since apart from clapping there was nothing else the spectators were doing, he simply let them be.

“This court now announces...” After consulting the jurors on both sides in regard to the accusations and the defense—finding that neither side had new evidence or witnesses—the presiding judge brought down the gavel.

Everyone in the room stood up, including Chu Dong, who had been sitting dutifully on the defendant’s bench the whole time.

“Given the complexity of the case, and since the injured party has not yet regained consciousness, making it impossible to determine the extent of the injuries in the short term, this case is adjourned for one week and will be retried. Court is adjourned!”

Before the hearing began, the judge’s thoughts had actually been no different from those of most people: the facts were clear, the evidence was conclusive, and it would be a mere formality to hand down the sentence. But looking at the situation now, if Chu Dong were sentenced directly, would the heavens not be turned upside down? Better to wait, and to return and seek guidance from above.

When the crowd left, they were still buzzing with discussion. In short, today’s trip had not been in vain. Not only had they witnessed the grandeur of a top lawyer, they had also seen with their own eyes how a man worthy of admiration chose to shoulder the pressure with his own shoulders in the midst of crisis. Truly, it had been a worthwhile journey.

Tan Xue was still staring somewhat dreamily at Chu Dong, who was being led away by the bailiffs. Seeing his hands in handcuffs as he made a teasing, embarrassed gesture toward her, she felt a little sour inside, and bright tears shimmered in her eyes.

“Let’s go. Uncle Zhao is already waiting for us at the entrance. Hurry up.” Li Youlan had stayed with Tan Xue all along, and only after Chu Dong’s figure had disappeared down the corridor did she urge the dazed girl beside her onward.