Six months to live (ZhanYi)

33

The annoyance oozing out of Zhan ge and Cheng is out of this world. I was upset, no doubt, but now I'm afraid of both of them. Zhan ge was practically crushing my hand.

Can both of you calm down and focus? I heard lawyer Yang whispering to them. A few seconds later, Zhan ge loosened the grip on my hand.

Cheng stood up abruptly like his body was controlling him. Your honor, I'd like to call Zhu Zanjin to come to the witness box.

And he slowly stood up and walked right in front of us to the witness box. That smell, I know it anywhere. Fucking sly fox, you pushed Xue Yang. All heads turned to look at me. I didn't know I said it out loud.

The perfume you were talking about? Cheng picked on quickly.

Yes, I nodded.

Sorry about that, your honor. A sinister smile spread across Cheng's face.

After Zhu Zhanjin swears to tell nothing but the truth, Cheng bends down and whispers to Zhan ge. I'm sorry to take this personally, but I hope you don't mind.

No, I don't. He said calmly.

Good. Cheng smiled again.

Mrs. Yang, first you were not supposed to bring up my client's personal experience here without his permission. Many people do not feel comfortable talking about it. Secondly, wouldn't it have been better if you said the truth from the beginning and got a restraining order for your son? But you let a 16-year-old boy run the show. You knew exactly what was going to happen to my client when charged with murder and yet you felt comfortable doing it.

She was speechless. She opened her mouth to speak a few times but nothing came out.

Someone walked over to Cheng and handed him a brown Manila envelope. He walked over to the judge and handed it to him. The judge looked at it and back at Cheng before he gave it to the lady in front of him and whispered to her.

This is taking too long, I thought to myself.

Zhu Zanjin, I will take it you played the if I can't have him, no one can have him" game.

What? No, it's not possible. He is my best friend. Xue Yang cut Cheng off.

You are still oblivious. Cheng gritted his teeth.

Zhu Zanjin is fuming with anger, either about what Cheng said or his best friend.

See that's your problem. All this is your damn fault. If only you had paid attention to me, all these things wouldn't have happened in the first place. Zhu Zanjin blurted out.

What are you talking about? Xue Yang whispered, sounding surprised by his best friend's words.

I have always loved you, stood by you, did everything for you, and tolerated your shortcomings most times but instead, you chose him over me. What's so special about him anyway? He cried out.

Oh dear, he looks like he is about to burst out of annoyance. God knows how long he has been bottling this up.

I hated that you loved him, I hated that I did community work because of him. And that day you came to see him. I was so angry. I wanted to push him but ended up pushing you and I hated him for it too. I lied to your mom because I knew she would keep you away from him. I just wanted him to go to jail. I didn't know that the moron was planning to switch places with him. He pointed at Zhan ge.

As Mrs. Yang stared at him beside her, she wanted to use her eyes to kill him. She was so angry. But honestly, I don't care what happens to all of them. Now we can put all this drama behind us and focus on healing from past experiences.

Their lawyers are obviously upset but who cares? I'm sure they didn't think Cheng would dig up evidence since they got away with it from the beginning.

Everyone should be sentenced to prison. Lawyer Yang chimed in.

Cheng dropped an A4 paper in front of the judge and also the opposing lawyers.

The judge read it out loud. Yang's family should face a civil lawsuit for defamation of character via false allegations.

Whoever intentionally gives false evidence at any stage of a judicial proceeding, or fabricates false evidence for the purpose of being used at any stage of a judicial proceeding, shall be punished with imprisonment of any description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine.

Manslaughter.

Compensation for damages.

They are guilty of all the above. But I'm confused about something. Can you tell me who paid Miss Bai and her colleague and who killed her? The judge asked.

My husband and I paid them but our lawyer said she would take care of her. Mrs. Yang replied. She's obviously trying to lessen her jail term.

1- Guilty of fabricating false evidence for the judiciary, 7 years imprisonment, and 10,000 dollars fine.

2- Guilty of manslaughter, life imprisonment.

3- Compensatory damages, 1,000,000 dollars.

Number one is for all of you involved in this case except Xue Yang.

Mr. Wang, I sentence you to six months in prison for the intentional withholding of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.

Mrs. Yang, you will have an additional 10 years for aiding in the manslaughter of the nurse who helped you. Your lawyer gets life imprisonment.

Mr. and Mrs. Yang, you will pay the sum of 1,000,000 to Mr. Zhan.

We don't need their stupid money. Zhan ge sighed.

Yeah, I leaned on the bench while he rested his back on it to hear me. We don't need it but we can do a lot of things with it. It might make sense to paint the prison, and hire a lawyer to look into some of the prisoners' cases. There are probably some of them who are innocent or don't deserve to be jailed.

Okay, Zhan ge nodded. The judge signed and the court reporter called in the next case.

We will apply for an appeal. I heard one of the lawyers say before they started packing their bags.

You can leave, but I have another case to settle. Cheng sounded a bit angry when he said it.

Can we leave now, please? Zhan ge sighed.

We will wait. Zhan ge smiled and stood up to stretch his legs before he pulled me up. Let's sit a bit far from the lawyers, please. I've had enough of them.

We didn't know Mr. Lee had come. I was so happy when I saw him. Zhan ge decided we should sit behind him. But he looks gloomy.

Not long after the warden of the prison came in with two hefty lawyers.

He was subpoenaed to court? I'm sure it's an embezzlement. I asked Mr. Lee.

No, he was summoned. Mr. Lee replied drily.

The warden sat beside his lawyers and the court proceeded.

Mr. Hong, you were accused of rape and child molestation. Looking at the juries, the judge said sternly.

His hefty lawyers came out and spoke one after the other. Damn, they are terrific. They made it look easy.

Cheng took a paper to the judge and he handed it over to his reporter. She called Mr. Lee to the stand as a witness.

After swearing to tell the truth. He took a deep breath and started talking.

My name is Lee Hao and I have worked as a security officer for 15 years.