A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Chapter 38 Witness Zheng Meiling

Zhang Jian did not answer immediately.

Someone in the audience shifted slightly, and the wooden chair made a series of soft creaking sounds.

Wu Liang did not urge him.

"The prosecutor?" Guo Yong reminded him.

Zhang Jian stood up. He glanced down at his case file, then closed it.

"Your Honor. Regarding the question raised by the defense, the prosecution argues that this precisely confirms the premeditated trigger mechanism."

He paused for a moment, reorganizing his logic in his mind.

"The defendant harbored resentment towards the victim for a long time. On the day of the incident, a phone call from the victim triggered this resentment. The defendant left the pharmacy and took a car to the Green Garden residential area, during which time he had ample time to develop the intent to kill. This journey was the process of the premeditation taking shape."

Wu Liang tilted his head slightly.

"Prosecutor Zhang, do you mean that Ni Dayong carried out his premeditated plan on the bus?"

A short, sharp sound came from the back of the gallery, which Guo Yong glanced at and then quickly disappeared.

"Defense attorney, do not misinterpret the prosecutor's meaning." Zhang Jian's voice deepened. "Premeditation under criminal law does not mean writing a plan three days in advance. From receiving the phone call to arriving at the scene, there is enough time to establish intent."

"Sufficient to constitute intent."

Wu Liang raised his chin.

"Then may I ask, before Ni Dayong received the call, where was his 'intention'? When he was buying olanzapine for his wife at the pharmacy, was he thinking about killing Ding Hu?"

He picked up the screenshot from the pharmacy's surveillance footage.

"At 10:17, Ni Dayong was queuing in front of the pharmacy counter. In the surveillance footage, he was holding a prescription slip with the names of the medications listed as olanzapine and quetiapine fumarate. If any of you here have a medical background, you should know that these two medications are antipsychotic drugs."

"Furthermore, according to the investigation, not only did Ni Dayong's wife, Jiang Cuilan, suffer from a serious mental illness, but Ni Dayong himself also suffered greatly."

He put down the screenshot and turned to face Zhang Jian.

"Prosecutor Zhang, you equate 'sufficient time' with 'premeditated'. What about the phone call that Ding Hu made voluntarily? If what Ding Hu said on the phone triggered Ni Dayong's mental illness, wouldn't that mean the victim himself lit the fuse?"

Zhang Jian did not respond to that sentence.

He was unaware of the contents of the recording, and speaking out at this point might inadvertently give Wu Liang leverage against him.

Guo Yong frowned: "Defense attorney, is there any evidence to support what you just mentioned?"

This is what Wu Liang was waiting for.

"Yes." He pulled out a neatly bound manuscript from the bottom of the case file. "Your Honor, the defense requests to call a second witness."

The clerk looked up at him.

"Witness Zheng Meiling, female, 31 years old. She had a long-term financial relationship and personal connection with the deceased Ding Hu before the incident. She has some recordings of Ding Hu's last few days before his death."

There was a moment of silence in the courtroom.

This name is neither on the prosecution's witness list nor on the list of supplementary evidence previously submitted by the defense.

"Your Honor," Zhang Jianli immediately stood up, "the defense has applied to call new witnesses, and the prosecution requests an explanation of the source of the evidence and its relevance to the case. Furthermore—"

"The original recording has been transferred along with the case file," Wu Liang interrupted him. "Yesterday afternoon at 4:20, registration number B-083. The prosecutor can check it now."

Zhang Jian turned his head and glanced behind him. The assistant prosecutor had already opened his laptop and was typing rapidly on the keyboard.

A few seconds later, the assistant leaned over and whispered something, and Zhang Jian's face turned bright red.

Guo Yong: "Are the witnesses waiting outside the courtroom?"

"exist."

Wu Liang raised the corners of his mouth.

"She came on her own initiative."

……

"Are you crazy?! You want me to appear in court?!"

Zheng Meiling's nail salon has just seen off its last customer.

She pulled the roller shutter down halfway, and when she looked up, she saw a figure squatting on the curb across the alley.

Wu Liang stood up, patted his pants, and said, "Boss Zheng, I brought you some late-night snacks." He waved the plastic bag in his hand.

"roll."

"Do you still want that 38,000?"

Zheng Meiling stopped in her tracks as she was about to pull down the roller shutter.

"Ding Hu's case will go to trial the day after tomorrow. If the judgment confirms that he has a debt relationship with you, you are entitled to the first share of the inheritance cleared from Wang Li's side."

Zheng Meiling leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed: "You said the same thing last time. And what happened? You got my name on the police report."

"That's to make you a witness," Wu Liang corrected, "not to let them arrest you."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. Witnesses can walk out of the courthouse openly and honestly, but those involved in the case may not."

Zheng Meiling remained silent for a while.

"There's one more thing." Wu Liang took out a folded sheet of printed paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it over.

Zheng Meiling glanced at it, and her expression changed instantly.

A new notice about public security rectification posted by the local police station.

At the end of the notice, there was a line highlighted with a highlighter: "The public has reported that some beauty and nail salons in the area are operating beyond their permitted scope. Once verified, they will be dealt with according to law."

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing," Wu Liang shrugged. "Just reminding you that business is tough, and you can't do without money."

"You, you, you..."

Wu Liang looked down, took a steamed bun out of the plastic bag, and started eating it.

Zheng Meiling stammered for a long time before finally collapsing in dejection.

"I'm willing to appear in court, but what am I going to say?"

"It's very simple. Just repeat exactly what Ding Hu told you. Then leave."

Zheng Meiling lost her temper again.

"Wouldn't that just expose me? I'd get arrested too!"

Wu Liang swallowed the steamed bun and smiled.

"Don't worry, Boss Zheng, your and Ding Hu's behavior is just a moral issue. As long as no one reports your shop, it won't involve you."

"...That's good. Wait, what do you mean by 'as long as no one reports it'?"

Wu Liang smiled but remained silent.

……

The clerk stood up and summoned the person.

The side door opened, and Zheng Meiling walked in, walked straight to the witness stand without looking to the side, and sat down without even reading the oath.

Wu Liang walked to the witness stand and was about to speak.

Zheng Meiling spoke first: "Can this chair be adjusted? It's too high, my legs can't reach the ground."

Someone in the audience was trying not to laugh.

Guo Yong said expressionlessly, "Witnesses are not allowed to speak without being questioned."

Zheng Meiling pursed her lips, moved her buttocks forward halfway, and barely managed to put her feet firmly on the ground.

Wu Liang cleared his throat: "Witness, how long have you known Ding Hu?"

"Four years. About right."

"What's the relationship?"

"He slept with me, borrowed money from me and hasn't paid it back."

As soon as he finished speaking, the clerk stopped typing.

The bespectacled female juror on the jury table, who had been drinking water, choked upon hearing this.

The audience couldn't help but burst into quiet laughter.

Guo Yong frowned: "Witness, watch your language. Vulgar language is not allowed in court. Please restate your statement using proper language."

Zheng Meiling looked bewildered: "Then what should I say?"

Guo Yong took a deep breath: "Did you have an improper, long-term relationship with the deceased?"

Zheng Meiling pondered for a moment: "What you're saying... is that what you mean?"

"Yes."

"That's right. Four years."

Wu Liang's usual composure began to falter.

He had rehearsed the lines with Zheng Meiling beforehand, so it wasn't this version.

Even if you ask this woman to tell the truth, you don't have to make her say it so honestly.

"Defense attorney," Guo Yong turned to him, "this is your witness. Please control the pace of your questioning."

"clear."

Wu Liang adjusted his posture, deciding to steer the conversation back on track: "You just said that Ding Hu borrowed money from you and isn't paying it back. How much did he borrow in total?"

"Thirty-eight thousand. I took it in more than ten installments, and I've never paid it back."

Do you have a written IOU?

"no."

"Then what makes you conclude that this is a loan, and not some other type of financial transaction?"

Zheng Meiling raised her eyelids: "Because every time he came to collect money, I would put my phone under the coffee table and record it. All the things he said are recorded in it."

Wu Liang took the old cell phone sealed in the evidence bag from the clerk and held it up: "Did you voluntarily hand this cell phone over to the police?"

"Yes. It contains recordings from the last two years."

"Your Honor," Zhang Jian stood up, "the witness claims to have been secretly recording conversations of others for a long time, much of which is irrelevant to this case. The prosecution questions the completeness and authenticity of this part of the recording."

Zheng Meiling didn't wait for Wu Liang to speak.

"Questioning?" She turned to Zhang Jian, her eyebrows raised. "Don't you understand the concept of putting yourself in someone else's shoes? If you were a woman—"

"Witness," Guo Yong's voice suddenly rose, "answer the lawyer's questions. Do not ask the prosecutor any questions on your own."

Zheng Meiling swallowed back the words she was about to say, clearly intimidated by the judge's seriousness.

Wu Liang sighed inwardly.

"Witness, you just said you recorded every time Ding Hu came to collect the money. Why?"

Zheng Meiling paused for a moment: "Because he doesn't keep his word. The first time he said he'd pay me back next month, but he didn't. The second time he said he'd pay me back in a couple of days, but he still didn't. Later I got smarter; whenever he mentioned money, I would record what he said."

"In these recordings, did he provide any further details about the source of the money he was repaying?"

"He said he held a person's life in his hands," Zheng Meiling's voice gradually calmed down, "and whenever he needed money, he would ask that person for it. If they didn't give it to him, he would say he would ruin their family."

Wu Liang opened the transcript of the recording, found the section on August 19th, and read it aloud in a deep voice.

Once the alcohol taint from Ding Hu's words was removed from his tone, the power of his words became even more terrifying.

The audience members, who had initially found Zheng Meiling's eccentricities amusing, fell almost completely silent after hearing Ding Hu's vicious remarks.

Ni Xiang sat in the last row, her head bowed and her fists clenched.

She only found out now.

It turns out that her father killed someone because of her.

In the dock, Ni Dayong's body trembled slightly. The bailiff noticed this change and stepped forward.

After reading it aloud, Wu Liang looked at Zheng Meiling.

"Witness, were these words spoken by Ding Hu two days before his death?"

"Yes."

"In the past two days, has he told you when he plans to implement his so-called plan?"

Zheng Meiling looked at Wu Liang.

"He said... once that girl comes of age, he'll find a way to trick her into going out with him..."