It was so sudden. Wu Yuanji never thought that the prosecution would actually find a new witness. Under Fu Fusheng"s similarly astonished gaze, Wu Yuanji promptly objected. "Your Honor! The plaintiff did not follow regulations and did not apply to bring in a new witness beforehand. I request that the hearing be adjourned for now!"It was no surprise that Wu Yuanji would make such a request; according to the law, the use of all evidence had to be applied for beforehand. If the hearing was adjourned now, however, it would only pick up again tomorrow, since the jury still needed to make a ruling on the examination of the witness before the latter could take the stand in court.
Liang Xin carefully weighed the pros and cons. He suspected that Wu Yuanji was probably thinking up some scheme again. However, it was precisely because this person was so cunning that Liang Xin, as the chief judge, knew that he had to handle the case in line with existing regulations and laws. Otherwise, as long as Wu Yuanji grasped the slightest bit of weakness, he might apply to Huaxiu Alliance for the chief judge to be replaced.
There had been several cases before where the chief judges had been replaced halfway through proceedings after Wu Yuanji found something to hold over their heads.
"The defense"s request is approved. Prosecution, submit your witness testimony for examination today as per regulations."
After thinking about it, Chief Judge Liang Xin in the end still agreed to Wu Yuanji"s request. He banged the gavel with a sharp sound. "Adjourned!"
To everyone"s surprise, the court session was adjourned in less than ten minutes due to an unexpected event. None of the online spectators had expected this.
Netizens were of two minds on Liang Xin"s decision. Some thought that Liang Xin was on Wu Yuanji"s side, while others had a completely opposite view and felt that Chief Judge Liang Xin was just following the letter of the law.
w.a.n.g Ling was also watching the live broadcast of the public hearing online. There were so many bullet messages on the screen that w.a.n.g Ling was dazzled. In today"s online environment, complete strangers would duke it out over the slightest disagreement, thereby making a "battlefield" out of every major online platform.
Loopy Toad sat on w.a.n.g Ling"s lap and also watched the live broadcast. It was super jealous that Little Silver could appear in court with Gao Tian as a member of the public prosecution. Loopy Toad was supposed to be there today, but considering the possibility that some of the journalists might be allergic to dog fur, it could only watch the live broadcast with Little Master Ling at home…
This was because it couldn"t cultivate a human form yet! If only it could take on a human form!
Loopy Toad suddenly found a new goal after becoming a dog! It resolved to cultivate a human form before w.a.n.g Ling graduated from high school!
Reasonably speaking, it actually wasn"t difficult to take on a human form, but Loopy Toad"s situation was a little more unique. It used to be a demon king of the demon race before turning into a spirit beast after w.a.n.g Ling revised its cultivation technique. Changing race, gender and shape directly led to more complications for Loopy Toad on the road toward cultivating a human form compared with other spirit beasts.
"You"ll be able to cultivate a human form." w.a.n.g Ling rubbed Loopy Toad"s head, making Dog Two feel limp all over. For some reason, dogs and cats especially liked their heads, chins and the spot above their ears rubbed. It was such a comfortable feeling that they shuddered with it.
Loopy Toad hadn"t really felt it at first, but it gradually realized… It seemed to have already integrated!
And it seemed to only integrate even further with the pa.s.sing of time. For example, it had recently lost interest in fly-flavored dog food.
It… had actually been corrupted!
Loopy Toad felt a sudden pang of pain. Sigh… It was all because w.a.n.g Ling spoiled it too much, even allowing it to sit on his lap – what regular person could enjoy this sort of treatment?
While the online bullet messages discussed the adjournment, w.a.n.g Ling also received a message from Odd Zhuo. "s.h.i.+fu, the trial was adjourned, as expected! Everything is going according to plan!"
Glimpsing Odd Zhuo"s message, Loopy Toad was blank.
According to plan?
Of course it was.
Because long before the court hearing, w.a.n.g Ling had already figured that the lawyer who would be defending Fu Fusheng this time would be the person known as the devil"s lawyer, Wu Yuanji, and w.a.n.g Ling had already privately discussed countermeasures with Odd Zhuo.
Wu Yuanji had already taken the bait. This adjournment was within the expectations of Odd Zhuo and the others.
"Director Zhuo, what should we do next?" Gao Tian was in active communication with Odd Zhuo after the end of the first round of the court hearing.
Odd Zhuo put down his phone and said to Gao Tian, "Follow the original plan. Act as naturally as possible. This Wu Yuanji is very cunning."
Just as Odd Zhuo and everyone who knew Wu Yuanji thought, this demon"s lawyer"s main strategy was to destroy and to create evidence, so their next move was very simple. They wanted to grasp Wu Yuanji"s weakness, and to get rid of future problems, have him disappear from the lawyers" circle forever.
...
Elsewhere, the news that the prosecution had found a new witness also gave Wu Yuanji a headache. Wu Yuanji met Fu Fusheng at the detention center as his defense lawyer.
Fu Fusheng was agitated and gnashed his teeth. "What"s going on… Isn"t Liu Yi already…"
"Keep your voice down."
Wu Yuanji rolled his eyes at Fu Fusheng. "Liu Yi is indeed dead. I never thought they would be able to find another witness. But it doesn"t matter. In any case, we can win this lawsuit; this is just an additional inconvenience."
"You have a plan?" Fu Fusheng"s eyes lit up and his expression turned enigmatic as he stared at Wu Yuanji. "You know what I want: you need to make me innocent. Not only that, you must also preserve my reputation."
"Reputation?"
Wu Yuanji laughed and his face moved closer as he stared into Fu Fusheng"s angry eyes through the gla.s.s. "The moment you looked for me to be your defense lawyer, what reputation do you have to speak of? I want you to double my lawyer"s fee, so another one hundred million. Otherwise, please find a better lawyer."
"You…" Fu Fusheng was speechless.
"I advise you to think carefully about what is more important: life and freedom, or money and fame. Think about it, then let me know."
"You devil…"
"I hope you understand: so far, only I, this devil, can help you win this case." Saying this, Wu Yuanji"s lips curled up in a wicked smile. "As long as you understand, I"ll act tonight."
Wu Yuanji made a gesture of slitting his throat.
"Can you guarantee that you"ll do it cleanly?"
"Of course. I"m already very familiar with the method."
"Very well, I agree."
Fu Fusheng finally replied.
...
But what they didn"t know was that Gao Tian had been monitoring their meeting the whole time.
They actually planned to murder the witness?
Gao Tian could only use an expression that had become popular recently to describe the two men"s despicable behavior: it was enough to make a person spit out food!To mean something so bizarre or ludicrous it"s almost funny.