Chapter 851: She Would Never Dare to Say It
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He Zhichu led Gu Nianzhi into the car and headed directly to the court, where Gu Yanran had sued Ye Xuan.
After the morning ordeal, it was already noon.
There were not as many cars on the road as compared to the morning, and He Zhichu focused only on pressing the accelerator. With speed and the road conditions, they arrived at the court in a short time.
The two of them took the evidence and doc.u.ments with them to request that the court revoke the charges against Ye Xuan and entered the courtroom.
They had phoned before their arrival; therefore, the court had arranged everything nicely for them. A mediator, traffic police, Ye Xuan, Ma Qiqi, Yin s.h.i.+xiong, Gu Yanran, and her representative lawyer were all present.
Seeing that Gu Nianzhi was standing energetically in the mediation room, Gu Yanran’s pupils constricted. She returned to normal quickly, however, and nodded to Gu Nianzhi with a calm expression: “Sister, you are here.”
Gu Nianzhi felt gooseb.u.mps all over when Gu Yanran called her “sister.” She grabbed her hands and replied, “Thank you, Miss Gu.” Then she turned to the mediator. “I am here to hand in the evidence and doc.u.ments on behalf of Ye Xuan’s lawyer, Ma Qiqi. May I know who is in charge, please?”
The mediator extended her hand. “Give them to me. I am the mediator for the court.”
Gu Nianzhi handed her the doc.u.ments and evidence. The mediator took the things and looked through them quickly. Upon seeing that they had filled the form out properly, the evidence was clear and visible, and everything was logical, she nodded, impressed.
After holding away the things in her hands, the mediator turned to Gu Yanran and Jin Wanyi, who were sitting on the side. “Miss Gu and Miss Jin, plaintiffs of the lawsuit, now that the defendant had provided us with evidence, they have requested you revoke all your charges. They have claimed that you do not have sufficient evidence to file a lawsuit against them, and thus have requested the court to drop all charges. May I know what do you think?”
She paused before continuing, reminding them. “If you do not agree to drop the charges, that is fine. However, you will need to produce new evidence before the court is willing to hear it. If that is not the case, I am afraid that the court will still have the final judgment that you lose the case because you do not have sufficient evidence.”
Gu Yanran cried the moment she heard that. She sobbed. “How can that be? So all this torture I have gone through was for nothing, just because I do not have evidence?”
Gu Nianzhi raised her eyebrows and said calmly: “No one here has x-ray eyes. Therefore, we do not know what exactly happened that day. I do not wish to accuse Miss Gu without any evidence, nor are my intentions bad. I only know that the court wants evidence to be fair. Finally, Miss Gu, I will have to remind you that tears are not a form of evidence. Therefore, no matter how much you cry, it will not help you.”
Her tone was so calm and collected, but the words shot through Gu Yanran like bullets, increasing her awkwardness.
Gu Yanran did not know what to do. She could not stop her tears, nor could she continue crying. Therefore, she lowered her head and wiped her eyes, hoping to show others she had been bullied.
While she sniffled, Gu Yanran’s eyes darted to Ye Xuan, but she realized that he was not looking at her.
Gu Nianzhi did not want to waste her time on Gu Yanran. She turned to Jin Wanyi instead. “Lawyer Jin, what do you think? If you guys are unwilling to drop the charges, then we would not mind going ahead as well.”
Ma Qiqi piped up. “Handling lawsuits is what we do well. Lawyer Jin knows the procedures. Of course, no matter if you lose or win, lawyer Jin will get your commission. However, if your client loses the case, she will have to bear the legal consequences.”
Jin Wanyi did not expect that Ma Qiqi, someone who looked so careless, could say words that were so influential. She could not help but look at Gu Yanran and realized that her eyes were blank as if she regretted her actions.
Jin Wanyi could not help but feel frustrated.
Of course, she knew that this lawsuit would not be an easy one. She had agreed to raise the case in court because, first, Gu Nianzhi had sounded so logical at that time, so she had “borrowed” her viewpoint. Second, she had thought that Ye Xuan had committed a crime on such a scale in America so that even if he were absent from the hearing or caught red-handed like that, he would not be able to escape the law.
She had not expected He Zhichu to help Ye Xuan get out of the crime in America.
Now she was stranded.
Jin Wanyi groaned silently as she looked at Gu Yanran. Then, turning to the mediator, she said, “I would like some time with my client, please.”
The mediator nodded. “Sure. The meeting room on the side is prepared for your use. It is safe inside, as the court had promised that there would be no recording devices placed in the rooms. You can use it without any worries.”
Jin Wanyi smiled an awkward smile and entered the meeting room with Gu Yanran.
Upon closing the door, Jin Wanyi furrowed her eyebrows and said to Gu Yanran: “Yanran, do you still want to sue Ye Xuan? Now Ye Xuan is free from all charges in America, and Gu Nianzhi got evidence of his whereabouts that day. If you still want to sue him, it will be tough.” She paused before continuing: “Tell me honestly. What exactly happened that day? Did Ye Xuan really hit you? Or…”
Hearing how Jin Wanyi had spoken, Gu Yanran felt her doubts. Although she felt guilty, she would never admit it. “Whatever happened between Ye Xuan and me cannot be explained. Even if he wants to be heartless, I cannot live without my morals. Forget it! I will drop all charges against him. However, I will appeal for an order of protection, to stop him from appearing anywhere within ten meters from me.
“On top of that, he just ended a lawsuit with me. Of course, he will bear grudges. Therefore, he cannot be a witness for the inheritance lawsuit between Gu Nianzhi and me.”
Jin Wanyi was speechless.
“You have already pressed charges. Now you decide to change your words to ‘Even if he wants to be heartless, I cannot live without my morals.’ Aren’t you a little late?”
Albeit annoyed, Jin Wanyi had a work ethic. She nodded and said, “Okay. That’s settled. I will go and appeal to the court.”
They returned to the mediating room.
Jin Wanyi turned to face the mediator: “My client has agreed to drop all charges. However, my client wants to appeal for a personal protection order against Ye Xuan. She does not want Ye Xuan to go within ten meters of wherever she is. She would also like to request that Ye Xuan be unable to be a witness in the lawsuit of her inheritance.”
The mediator looked at Gu Yanran. “The plaintiff agrees?”
Gu Yanran pouted as she nodded her head. “Ye Xuan and I have had a relations.h.i.+p lasting many years. Even if he has decided to be heartless, I cannot live without my morals. I shall drop the charges against him. However, I do not wish to see him ever again. Moreover, I am also afraid of him…” She bit her lip in an attempt to appear hurt while looking at Ye Xuan.
Gu Nianzhi looked at Gu Yanran coldly as she continued her acting and realized that this lip biting was hideous. No wonder Huo Shaoheng repeatedly tried to correct her.
Ma Qiqi stood up, laughing. “Miss Gu, you know how to go back on your words, don’t you? You were the one who pressed charges. Now that you know that you will not be able to win, then you turned your words to ‘even if he wants to be heartless, I cannot live without my morals’? Hahaha, what if you won the lawsuit? Goodness…Moreover, now we are talking about things one by one. Whether or not Ye Xuan would be able to testify for the inheritance case between Gu Nianzhi and yourself would be decided by the court once you raised the case. That case has no relations.h.i.+p with this as far as I know, so it would be senseless to agree to that right now.”
Jin Wanyi agreed to this as well. However, she could only concur silently, as she was the plaintiff’s lawyer. Ma Qiqi was different—as the lawyer for the defendant, she could speak on this.
The mediator agreed with Ma Qiqi as well: “We can consider the personal protection order, but we are able to stop Ye Xuan from testifying in court for another lawsuit. This would not be under our control. You would have to request this of the court once the case is brought up.”
Gu Yanran realized that her words had been weak, and her face flushed in embarra.s.sment.
She looked at Ye Xuan again and realized that he was looking at Gu Nianzhi. That gaze was so focused and gentle that Gu Yanran suddenly felt uncomfortable.
Even though she was the one who had ditched Ye Xuan, seeing him change targets in such a short time upset her.
It was all because of her…
Gu Yanran’s eyes darkened and moved to look at Gu Nianzhi.
The moment this girl appeared, her life had been turned upside down…
Did she really think that she did not know about her background?
Sadly, she would not spill it no matter what. If she did, she would be dead.
Gu Yanran was keeping this mum. She followed Jin Wanyi out of the court’s main entrance. She was still silent even after the exit.
…
Gu Nianzhi successfully managed to bring Ye Xuan out from the court.
He Zhichu walked in front alone and had no intention of talking to anyone.
Ma Qiqi and Yin s.h.i.+xiong followed behind him. They were whispering to each other.
Gu Nianzhi realized that after this incident, both of them did not care about being found out…
She looked at Ye Xuan, who was silent and asked softly, “What happened between those two yesterday? Do you know?”
Ye Xuan’s mind raced, and he was extremely tense. He was just thinking about how he would respond when Gu Nianzhi asked him about Gu Yanran and Gu Xiangwen. However, she merely smiled brightly and leaned forward toward him. “How do I know? They had been whispering things to each other the entire night…”
Gu Nianzhi giggled.
Ma Qiqi, who was walking at the back, finally snapped back to reality. She walked in front, increasing her pace, until she reached where Gu Nianzhi was standing. She pulled her to one side and said, “I heard something happened while you were on the way here just now?”
Gu Nianzhi felt odd. “How did you know?”
“I heard it from him.” Ma Qiqi looked behind him.
“Him? Who?” Gu Nianzhi teased her on purpose.
Ma Qiqi laughed and pushed her playfully: “Fine, fine, I will admit. I spoke to brother Xiong about it. He’s my boyfriend already.”
So straightforward! Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help but to mentally click on “like” for Ma Qiqi and exclaimed, “That is amazing! Brother Xiong is a good person. Who knows, he might even be a virgin. You have gotten yourself some treasure…”
“What?” Ma Qiqi was taken aback. “You are serious? Brother Xiong…still…still has not…done it before?”
She knew that Yin s.h.i.+xiong was not exactly young anymore. Could it be possible that there was something wrong with him?
Gu Nianzhi almost fainted from laughter. “I was just saying. As for whether it’s true, you would have to ask him on your own!”
They joked around and boarded He Zhichu’s car in no time and returned to school.
…
At this time, Huo Shaoheng was holding on to the reports from the specialists in the explosives and machinery departments. He headed to the Inst.i.tute of High Energy Physics to look for his mother, Song Jinning.
“Shaoheng, what brings you here today?” Song Jinning, looking refreshed and as gorgeous as ever, came out in her white robe to welcome Huo Shaoheng, Her skin was fair without any signs of wrinkles, and she looked not a day over 20. It was tough even for people who knew her to believe that she had a son this old. Had it not been a fact that all of them knew that she had fallen ill during these years, they would have believed that she had gone for cosmetic surgery…
Huo Shaoheng held a suitcase locked with a code. It contained evidence collected at the scene of the crime.
He showed Song Jinning the suitcase. “I have some work-related things to consult about with you. Would you be free? Let’s look for a place for me to show you some things.”