0044 Will the little lamb see tomorrow's sun?
Even before the first trial verdict in Li Qing's case was announced, many experts and lawyers expressed their opinions that there was still a lot of leeway in sentencing. Later, when the life imprisonment sentence was handed down, it caused a huge uproar in society. Times have changed, and she herself has a huge fan base of young women. Many people no longer value "heirs" as much, and there is even more negative sentiment towards the little boy who was pampered by the whole family. Combined with this case, it's as if all sorts of factors that ignite public emotions have been piled up together.
In short, during the second trial, the lawyers focused on the "illegitimate child" argument, repeating the three words over and over in the courtroom, causing Qi Shuyao, who was waiting outside, and Qi Yu, who was in the audience, to clench their fists.
Finally, it was the witnesses' turn to appear. Qi Shuyao walked in with her head down, stood in the witness stand, and looked up.
Li Qing, whom I hadn't seen for almost half a year, seemed no different from before. She was as calm as ever, and when she saw me, she showed no expression, glancing at me indifferently as if we were just colleagues.
The court hearing that day seemed much simpler than expected. Qi Shuyao mechanically repeated the testimony that her lawyer had prepared for her before being led out.
I heard that this trial was the only one in Yangcheng in the past ten years to be sentenced in court, and the defendant Li Qing was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
After the trial ended, the Mai family members walked out with different expressions. Many reporters surrounded them for interviews. Qi Shuyao stood at the corner of the corridor for a long time but did not see the mother of the murdered little boy.
Qi Yu appeared behind her without her noticing, gently removing a strand of hair that had fallen onto her shoulder. Qi Shuyao turned around, and in the instant her gaze swept over, she seemed to catch a familiar figure. She pushed aside Qi Yu's arm and slipped out, running to the door, only to see a corner of a dress receding into the distance.
Li Qing refused all interviews and had already been taken away. The scene was eerily calm for both sides. Outside the usually noisy criminal court, only the sound of camera shutters could be heard.
"What's wrong?" Qi Yu chased after him.
"It's nothing, I misread it. Let's go, we'll go celebrate your birthday."
She glanced one last time at the door, took Qi Yu's arm, and left the courthouse.
Today is Monday, and she took the day off to come out. The court hearing ended in the evening, and they went directly to the restaurant she had booked.
Before the car started moving, Qi Yu received a phone call. As he listened, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Qi Shuyao, sitting in the passenger seat, looked out the window. The reporters had left, the Mai family had left, the people who had come to see what was going on had left, and finally even the escort vehicle had left.
"Which prison will Sister Li Qing serve her sentence in?"
"Yangcheng East Women's Prison".
She muttered something to herself, and Qi Yu actually responded. She turned to look at him, but the call had already ended. Together they watched the car disappear around the bend in the road.
Qi Shuyao chose a newly opened branch in Yangcheng. The main store is in the south, and the dishes are modern, but the taste is similar to the dishes they often ate in Xijin.
She booked the entire new store, and the entire interior was decorated according to her drawings.
There was a round table in the middle, and she insisted on sitting next to him.
There was little conversation. She ate a good meal and, ignoring Qi Yu's attempts to stop her, drank several glasses of wine. She got so drunk that she leaned on Qi Yu's shoulder, her tongue slurring as she spoke.
"Dad...Dad, I haven't wished you a happy birthday yet. I hope you're happy every day, that you laugh and be joyful..."
She patted his chest like she was comforting a child, propped her throbbing head up with her chin, and leaned even closer.
"Dad, I've been thinking about what kind of gift I should prepare for you for a long time, but I can't come up with anything no matter how hard I try..."
"So you came empty-handed today."
No—what are you thinking about?
She bent down and rummaged through her small handbag, pulling out a tiny thing and hiding it in her palm. She insisted that he reach out and put it in as well. A soft little ball appeared in Qi Yu's palm. He opened his hand, and there lay a tiny figure about the length of his index finger. He couldn't tell what material it was made of, but it had facial features painted on its face.
"This is... you? It's quite a good drawing. What's it made of?"
“I used my hair. I thought about it for a long time. It seems like everything is given to me by you, including this private event today, in my name, with your money, hehe... But, anyone can get those material things. Only I am a person, given to me by you. So I used my hair to roll it up and made this little doll. But I couldn't bear to pull the hair growing on my head, so I slowly saved the hair that fell out, until yesterday when I made it soft enough.”
As Qi Yu listened to her slowly recount her story, he gently stroked the doll with his fingers.
"What made you think of sending yourself as a gift?"
“I can’t be with you all the time. Lately, there are fewer and fewer people in our class. Most of them have left. But Yang Xun is very honest and is still studying. Ugh, let’s not talk about him… I feel that no matter where I am in the future, we will always be separated again. I can’t control it, but I still want to be with you.”
She wanted to dominate his life: the first snow of winter, the first rain of summer, the roads they walked, the meals they ate—everywhere should bear the imprint of their time together.
She leaned on Qi Yu's shoulder, her body trembling, interspersed with intermittent sobs; she only breathed like that when she was heartbroken.
He reached out and put his arm around her shoulder, adjusting her position so she could lean more comfortably against him. The restaurant was completely silent; the piano was just sitting there, but no one was playing it.
Quietly leaning against the wall until sunset, Qi Shuyao straightened her numb back. She turned to the side and asked in a very, very soft voice,
"Dad, am I an illegitimate child?"
There was an unusual evasiveness in her eyes, and her eyes were filled with tears. Qi Yu couldn't bear to look at her any longer, so he pressed her directly against his chest.
"No, no, you have a father and a mother, you are not an illegitimate child."
"But that boy also has a father and mother, yet he's still called an illegitimate child."
"His mother, that's because his father and mother had an improper relationship, that's why..."
"So you weren't married when I was born?"
Silence had replaced his answer, and Qi Shuyao finally lowered her head. She should have understood long ago, but no one had ever mentioned it.
"I was born when you were so young, how do you explain that to others?"
"It's nothing. You don't know other families. There are younger ones."
"Putting everyone else aside, Dad, do you like the gift I gave you?"
She slipped out of his embrace, took his hand, and lowered her head to hide her reddened eyes. Only after suppressing the soreness in her eyes did she look up again, her face now beaming with a smile.
"I love it, I really love it, it's the most interesting gift I've ever received."
Actually, when they were in Xijin, they never knew that they could receive gifts on their birthdays. But when they arrived in Jingyang, influenced by the people there, they also started preparing gifts for each other, from an apple at the beginning to mountains of gold and silver later on.
Even in dark places, creatures can survive. One day, a small hole will be chiseled open in the damp basement, and light will shine in.
He gripped her hand tighter, silently reciting the words he hadn't spoken.
Actually, meeting you is the best gift.
He wouldn't say it aloud; she would think it was too sentimental to say such things.
The branches finally sprouted green buds, and the first batch of peach blossoms had already bloomed. Qi Shuyao climbed the peach tree in the yard, wanting to pick a few flowers. Standing on the ground, she saw that every flower on the tree was beautiful. After climbing up, she saw that every petal was strangely shaped. She held two thin branches and shook them back and forth a few times, and the open space under the tree was covered with petals. The newborn lambs ran over and rolled around.
A few years ago, when Qi Yu took her to the grasslands, an old herdsman told her that spring was the season for them to meet, and also the time when lambs were born, when everything began to revive, bringing fresh life.
The scenery before her was the one she loved, and the house behind her house housed the person she loved, yet she couldn't smile at all.
In her lifetime, she had witnessed too many girls rushing towards Qi Yu for various reasons, only to be rejected one by one. But she had never seen such a persistent family, with the whole family working together as if they were determined to force their daughter into the family.
The young girl, not much older than her, walked towards her with a kind smile, her every move exuding the air of an old lady. She patted her head and called her "baby," like a robot mechanically following a pre-programmed sequence.
She was about to explode, but it was the crucial time of the leadership transition, and Qi Yu couldn't come back even once a week. She felt like a resentful woman locked in a cage, forced to watch helplessly as her husband took a concubine.
What nonsense! Qi Shuyao shook her head violently, jumped down from the tree branch, and squatted down to stroke the lamb's soft wool.
She heard familiar footsteps behind her, but she deliberately didn't turn around and continued to rub the lamb's ears.
There were many footsteps coming from behind, and two shepherds came over with a large bag of hemp rope, about to tie the lamb's limbs.
"what!"
"Miss, what is this...?"
"Put it down for now, and come back later."
After the worker had walked away, Qi Yu stepped forward and whispered to her,
"Zhu Jiangxu is determined to establish himself in Jingyang, and he's coming on strong. Last weekend, he dragged the mayor of Jingyang over and tried to persuade him to stay, eventually getting him so drunk that he had to stay in the hospital for two days."
"So what are you trying to do, catch a sheep to bribe him?"
"He's hosting a dinner party today at his newly relocated villa. It's missing a main dish: a whole roasted lamb."
Qi Shuyao took two steps back with her hands in her pockets and fell onto the grass. She reached out and rubbed the lamb's head. The lamb smiled at her and licked her palm with its soft little tongue.
"It's so small, how much meat can it have on its body?"
"That's enough to eat."
"Don't you two have a good relationship?"
"No relationship lasts forever, not even between blood relatives."
Qi Shuyao looked down at the lamb's pretty little face. It was actually still unsteady on its feet and usually just lay on the grass, like a little white cloud that hadn't yet learned to float in the air.
She smiled at it, and it smiled back. She lowered her head, pinched its neck, and slowly tightened her grip.
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