Zhang Heng was the first to challenge, his tone deliberately gentle: "Ms. Lin, you had an intimate relationship with the defendant, Gu Yanting, is that right?"
Lin Wanqing nodded: "Yes, we were once engaged."
"So," Zhang Heng changed the subject, "before you 'surrendered,' you and Mr. Yu were very close, even reported by the media as 'siblings.' May I ask, did you harbor feelings of revenge against Mr. Gu Yanting because of your emotional entanglement?"
"Objection!" Chen Min immediately stood up. "The defense lawyer is leading the witness!"
“Your Honor, I was merely inquiring about the witness’s motives,” Zhang Heng said, spreading his hands and feigning innocence.
Judge Li Jianguo pondered for a moment: "Questions are allowed, but please be careful with your wording, defense lawyers."
Lin Wanqing took a deep breath and calmly looked at Zhang Heng: "My engagement with Gu Yanting was based on misunderstanding and exploitation from the very beginning. As for me and Ayu—" She paused, looking at Ayu in the audience, her eyes filled with relief and apology, "we are indeed siblings, blood relatives. I turned myself in not for revenge, but to confess a fact: I was deceived by Gu Yanting and became his tool to hurt others. But when I learned the truth, when I learned that he could trample on the law and human lives for his own selfish desires, I could no longer remain silent."
She took out a copy of the voice recorder from her bag: "This is a recording of Gu Yanting talking to me about how to deal with Zhong Hua. He said, 'Zhong Hua's mother is at the city's central hospital, right? Isn't the head of the cardiology department there applying for a research project recently?' He also said, 'That woman Zhong Hua doesn't know what's good for her. After she disappears for a few days, Ah Yu will naturally come back to you.'"
The sound of a recording pen filled the courtroom. Gu Yanting's voice carried a nonchalant coldness: "...Lin Wanqing, remember this: only I can give you everything you want. What can that poor kid Ah Yu do besides woo women? Once Zhong Hua's side is cleaned up, you obediently come back to my side, and I can forgive and forget what happened before..."
"Objection!" Zhang Heng stood up abruptly. "This recording has been edited and is incomplete! Moreover, my client may have just made a joke in the heat of the moment; it cannot be used as evidence for conviction!"
"A joke?" Chen Min sneered. "Then, is the record of Gu Yanting instructing the CFO to transfer 5 million yuan to the 'online water army company' also a joke? And is the evidence that he ordered his subordinates to forge Ah Yu's signature and sign a false contract, resulting in her being blacklisted by the industry, also a joke?"
The court assistant displayed a stack of documents on the electronic screen, clearly showing the transfer records and handwriting analysis reports. Gu Yanting's face turned from ashen to ashen. He stared intently at the screen, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to refute something, but Zhang Heng stopped him with a look.
"Call the second witness, Ms. Zhong Hua."
When Zhong Hua walked to the witness stand, her steps were more steady than Lin Wanqing's. She was wearing a dark business suit, her hair was neatly tied in a ponytail, and there was no fear in her eyes, only a firmness that came after weathering many storms.
“Ms. Zhong Hua,” Chen Min asked, “please recount the events surrounding your kidnapping.”
Zhong Hua took a deep breath and began to recount: "That was the night after Gu Yanting learned that the police had found the crucial evidence. I was on my way home from get off work, and as soon as I stepped out of the subway station, two masked men forced me into a van. They blindfolded me, gagged me, and took me to an abandoned warehouse in the suburbs. Gu Yanting was there at the time. He had the kidnappers tie me to a chair, and then he said to me..."
Her voice trembled slightly, but her gaze remained fixed straight ahead: "He said, 'Zhong Hua, hand over the evidence in Ah Yu's hands, or your mother's illness will never be cured. I've already had her imported medication stopped. If you don't know what's good for you, you'll bear the consequences.' He also said that as long as I leave Ah Yu and return to his side, he can let all of us go."
"Objection!" Zhang Heng stood up again. "The witness's statement is only one side of the story; there is no physical evidence to support it!"
“The physical evidence is here.” Chen Min gestured to the court assistant, and the warehouse's surveillance footage appeared on the screen—although the image was somewhat blurry, it clearly showed Gu Yanting entering the warehouse and his conversation with Zhong Hua. Although there was no sound, Gu Yanting's gesture of pointing at Zhong Hua was full of threat. Then, the footage showed Ah Yu rushing in and fighting with the kidnappers until the police arrived.
“In addition,” Chen Min added, “we also have the kidnappers’ confessions, who clearly identified themselves as acting on the orders of Gu Yanting.”
Zhong Hua looked at Gu Yanting in the dock, her eyes filled with disgust: "Gu Yanting, do you think you can control everything with money and power? You're wrong. The more you try to cover up the truth, the more it will seep out through the cracks. Did you think you covered up your father's 'accidental' fire perfectly?"
These words were like a bomb, causing an uproar in the courtroom. Gu Yanting suddenly raised his head, a flash of fear in his eyes: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
“Whether I’m lying or not, this document can prove it.” Zhong Hua took out the yellowed photocopy of the meeting minutes. “This is the meeting minutes from the Gu Group back then. It has your father’s signature on it, as well as a record of insurance money flowing overseas. And this money just happened to appear in the account of the first company you founded. After the fire, your father’s competitor died mysteriously. All the evidence points to an accident, but the note next to this record—‘Yan Ting, this matter must be prevented from ever happening again’—you know best whose handwriting it is.”
Gu Yanting's body trembled violently. He pointed at Zhong Hua, his voice hoarse: "You...you fabricated evidence! You're slandering me!"
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