Ch26 - I’ve never once regretted it 

It was the second day of the trial and the weather still remained gloomy.

I woke up early in the morning, and arrived in front of the court at the appointed time. 

As a method of protection for the victims involved in the incident, though the media were allowed to cover the court case they were not allowed to disclose the identities and appearance of Mo Qiu and myself. No matter how many possibilities and theories the public onlookers put forward and regardless of whether the media reports were disseminated online or via newspapers, Mo Qiu had to be referred to as ‘a man with the surname Mo’, and I was just ‘a man with surname Lu’. Therefore, if I didn’t browse the internet and go looking for those malicious comments, the coverage of the case didn’t actually have a big impact on my life.

Yet for Mo Qiu, after his first appearance in court, it was either some unethical news publisher or a Luo Zheng Yun fan that attended the hearing – somehow information regarding his career was leaked, and that resulted in a witch hunt for Mo QIu online.

 

 

Later, they actually lynched a person, however that person was falsely accused. An innocent illustrator was therefore involved in the case and had his identity exposed in a most brutal and ruthless manner. In an instant, there was heated debate between fans and antis, and as the toxicity soared, endless accounts were banned over it.

All of this was information that Shen Xiao Shi relayed to me, and he also added on by saying that he had participated in this ‘great war of the century’ too, engaging with braindead fans in three hundred rounds of battle until he had completely annihilated them, leaving not even a scrap of armor remaining. 

I took it with a grain of salt, unsure of whether or not it was true or not, but thought that it did seem like quite a lot happened.

 

Although it was the second trial, Mo Qiu still remained nervous and started uncontrollably shaking from the moment he arrived outside the court. I gave him a pat on his shoulder with the intention of having him loosen up a bit, however he was frightened instead by my sudden movement, like a rabbit that just had its fight or flight response triggered.

When we were called in, Luo Zheng Yun and his team entered in front of us, and as we thought Mo Qiu’s mental state wasn’t the best at the moment, Meng Xuan Jun and I subconsciously shielded him behind us, preventing him from directly facing Luo Zheng Yun.

“That’s the new lawyer they hired for this hearing, Wang Xian.” Meng Xuan Jun lifted her chin and signalled for me to look at the middle aged man which stood behind Luo Zheng Yun.

 

The man in question appeared forty or so years old and had a pristinely maintained beard. His posture was flawless and he adorned a gunmetal grey suit with a red pocket square in his front pocket. The white strands of hair peeking from his temples did not make him appear older, rather they added to his air of maturity and intellectual prowess. Compared to someone who was attending court, it looked more like he was attending an evening bouquet.

Meng Xuan Jun commented, “He’s a slimy veteran and won’t be easy to go up against, so you should brace yourself. He might question your relationship with Mo Qiu, and also bring up the fact that you were incarcerated with your existing criminal record to call into question the authenticity of your accounts.”

This was one of the aces they had up their sleeves that Sheng Min Ou mentioned.

 

I nodded towards Meng Xuan Jun, “I understand.” 

This time, Yi Da Zhuang finally was picked to attend and listen in on the second trial. When I entered I was able to spot him instantly, and from there I also saw Sheng Min Ou and Wu Yi who sat in the second row.

The three pairs of eyes fell on me simultaneously, yet I only returned Sheng Min Ou’s gaze and blinked at him.

Sheng Min Ou almost imperceptibly furrowed his brows, and then flickered his gaze towards another place without any sign of lingering.

The hearing began and after swearing in with the oaths, Meng Xuan Jun asked me to recount the approximate details of the day when the case took place, as well as everything Luo Zheng Yun did to me in the private club. 

I described all that had occurred without omitting any details, including the device I used to capture the tape and my friendship with Mo Qiu starting from back in junior years.

When it was time for the cross examination, Wang Xian played his hand exactly as Meng Xuan Jun had anticipated, as he started casting doubt on whether or not my words could be trusted.

“Mr Lu, here I have a copy of your criminal record, and you’ve served time in prison before.”

“Yes.” 

“Can you tell everyone what you were charged with?”

“Voluntary manslaughter.”

 

He crossed his hands behind his back, a small arrogant smile exclusive to the elite appearing on his face as if he was omnipotent, confident that he could clear any problems that blocked his path.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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P cbvvfv, “Yo mbegrf.”

“Ljnf sbe fnfg gfugfaafv sbeg jmalbcr?”

P kjr raeccfv tfjglcu tlr kbgvr, tlr defralbc ajxlcu wf ys regqglrf jr P vlv cba fzqfma atf ilcf bo defralbclcu ab tfjv lc atlr vlgfmalbc.

Meng Xuan Jun reacted instantly, objecting that this question was irrelevant to the case. 

The judge looked towards Wang Xian.

He immediately started explaining the rationale behind his actions, “This question was just to confirm Mr Lu’s attitude towards committing crime, and whether he is an individual that upholds values and morals that is shared by society.”

The judge considered the proposal for a second then expressed the objection as invalid, and notioned for me to answer the question.

I sat on the witness stand, facing the jury and the attendees, and it was as if time had slipped back to ten years ago. 

This Lawyer Wang, did he dig through and read up on my court transcript? Back then in court, the prosecutor handling my case had asked me the exact same question.

“Have you regretted the actions which you committed?”

How did I answer back again?

I looked at Sheng Min Ou sitting amongst the attendees and met his gaze from far away, a complicated and bitter feeling swelling up within me as it asked me repeatedly, “You regret it? Regret it? Do you regret it?” 

The seconds ticked by one by one and no one urged me to make a response.

“No, I will never regret it.” When I came to and realised what I had said, I had already responded in a volume which everyone could hear clearly, and answered the prosecutors question.

Back then I really was exceptionally stubborn with many flaws, I was arrogant and obstinate, unwilling to yield. I could have easily said a different response that was less extreme, but I just had to make a statement with my answer, I had to let everyone know that if I made a choice and committed to an action, I would never regret it.

Now, I sat in the witness stand and Sheng Min Ou sat as a court participant, and the scene in front of me overlapped perfectly with what had happened long ago. The years seemed to blur as time appeared to come to a standstill. 

I looked over at him once more, responding to the same question I had received years ago. Just like he had done previously, he looked at me with a silent, distant gaze, as if he would remain unshaken by any response I gave.

I was despondent towards the pain I had caused, I worried for the uncertain future that was ahead of me, and I was extremely penitent from breaking the law.

 

But if you asked me whether or not I regretted it…

“No, I’ve never once regretted it.” 

I turned so I met the gaze of the middle aged lawyer decked out in his luxurious clothing.

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I would never regret anything I had done for Sheng Min Ou, not one minute, or any second of it.

You might say that I’m the type that never learns from lessons, well I am precisely that type of person who never learns.

The crowd attending was unanimously shocked by my response, the attendees started all whispering to themselves as the judge hit his gavel repeatedly against a sound block, calling for silence as the court officials maintained order in the courthouse. 

Meng Xuan Jun suddenly stood up and hurriedly addressed the judge, “Please allow me to request for a temporary adjournment.”

The judge took a swift glance at his wristwatch and replied, “I’ll give you five minutes.”

Meng Xuan Jun was livid as she slammed the doors of the breakout room behind her and was short of breath when she accusingly questioned me, asking whether I had a problem.

“How could you answer like that? Are you insane?” 

Mo Qiu stood in a corner and had shrunk himself up into a ball. He attempted to say a few words of dissuasion, however he had only muttered one word when the rest of it was swallowed by Meng Xuan Jun’s voice.

“The jury does not care about whatever history you may have, if you answer like this, they’ll think that there is something wrong with your morals.”

Previously Mo Qiu had described her as a gentle person, it appeared now that it was just because no one had provoked her to this degree.

I dug a finger into my ears, “I thought that lying wasn’t permitted in court.” 

Meng Xuan Jun was speechless for a second, wanting to curse at me but couldn’t as she lacked legitimate justification. However, if she didn’t swear at me, she would also feel indescribably suffocated.

At last, she let out a long sigh, “Our end game here is to sentence Luo Zheng Yun to his crimes, don’t you remember? You said so yourself, if there was a first victim, there will be another one. If he isn’t punished for this, he will never stop.”

Of course I would remember.

Because of her words, I swiftly regained my wits and realised that I had indeed allowed my emotions to get the better of me when I made my decision prior. The courtroom environment and Sheng Min Ou’s presence were all too familiar to me, and made it hard for me to not be agitated. 

I grabbed at my hair then looked towards Meng Xuan Jun, “Sorry, I’ll approach the following questions more cautiously.”

There were still a few minutes remaining so I gave the two of them a notice on my whereabouts then left the courthouse as I took a breath of fresh air outside, as well as to light up a cigarette. I ended up bumping into Sheng Min Ou in the corner of the smoking area.

 

Seeing me, the person who stood next to him and was accompanying him on a smoke quickly put out her cigarette and brushed shoulders with me as she passed.

My gaze followed her disappearing figure for a second as I vaguely recalled that she was an attendee in court, and that in the first trial I had seen her in the front row. Both times she wore a black dress, her complexion appeared frail but she was very attractive, so I had some memory of her. 

I lightly cleared my throat, holding a cigarette in my fingers as I moved forward, “I don’t have a lighter.”

Sheng Min Ou raised his head and looked at me for a moment, then after a second of hesitation, he reached into his pants pocket, seemingly searching for his lighter.

“No need for such inconvenience,” I smiled as I bit on the cigarette between my teeth and lowered my body, borrowing the flame from his cigarette as mine caught on and became lit.

The distance between us was minimal, we were so close that I could feel each breath he took against my face. 

After I had lit the cigarette, I stood up straight again, my gaze sweeping past his lips as I restrained myself with great effort to not stare too overtly.

“How come you’re here?”

It was strange, it’s like I was born missing the ability to be mad at Sheng Min Ou. It was just a while ago when I had said the very words of wanting to completely be rid of him in my life, yet in just a few days from seeing him again, those gallant words which I had declared seemed to be phrases from a lifetime ago.

“Curious,” Sheng Min Ou’s adam’s apple moved slowly as he puffed out a breath of smoke, leaving me with two simple, vigorous words. 

I saw from his expressions when he was facing me that he seemed to be completely devoid of a guilty conscience, and his attitude was even worse than me despite myself being the victim. I could only admire his calm and collected demeanour.

He really could act, if I flashed that tape in front of his face then I wondered if he could still maintain such a nonchalant expression.

What was he thinking when he did all those things, it couldn’t have all been annoyance right? Otherwise his taste and preferences would be really messed up.

The angel logic and the devil emotions at this time jumped out again. 

Logic told me to wake up from my delusions, calling loudly, “Sheng Min Ou does not have a heart, it’s been this many years, and you’re still holding onto the unrealistic hopes you had since the beginning, can you just wake up already?”

Emotions also agreed with what logic had said, but it’s face was still flushed red, amorous feelings displayed plainly on it’s expressions, as it cupped it’s face into its hands and stared dreamily at Sheng Min Ou, “If he doesn’t have a heart then then he doesn’t have a heart, I’ll just take his kidney. If I can’t have his heart, I’ll be fine having his body.”

Logic was furious, “Can you not have such low standards!”

My standards really were this low. 

“Ge…”

I wanted to ask if he wanted to go to a place for us to sit down and have a quality conversation once this whole case was resolved, however he spoke up at the same time as me.

 

“Do you know what a ‘rich judge’ is?”

I was taken off guard, and shook my head in perplexity. 

“They were born as part of the bourgeoisie, and since they were young they’ve never had to worry about food or clothing. They graduated from a prestigious school, their path one smooth road, never having experienced any sort of setback in life. Although they sympathise with the poor and despise evil, they’ve never really tried to truly understand how people from other parts of the hierarchy think. This is the rich judge.” Sheng Min Ou flickered a glance over at the direction of the courthouse, “Judge Zheng is exactly the aforementioned type.”

The judge in Luo Zheng Yun’s case had the surname Zheng.

I furrowed my brows, “What do you mean?”

“The prosecutor only needs to make sure that they can press their charges in the case and won’t talk about any other unrelated issues. Judge Zheng does not like any victims that have a tainted record, for example, like you.” He held the cigarette in his hand and slowly approached closer, the razor sharp words in his mouth coming out with the suffocating cigarette smoke, “He likes having close relations with rich people that are in the same standings at himself, such as Luo Zheng Yun. Even if the jury is convinced that Luo Zheng Yun is guilty, there is still a large possibility that Judge Zheng will only convict him to serve community service, after all molestation isn’t a severely punished crime.” 

He asked, “For a case that’s a guaranteed loss, is it really worth it?”

I bit down on the cigarette, not expecting for him to discuss this with me.

“Whether something is worth it or not, how should I put it, it depends on the individual.” I flicked off the burnt cigarette ashes, laughing as I continued, “If it’s something that I think is worth doing, no matter how difficult it is, I’ll get it done. Similarly, if it’s someone who I think is worth loving, no matter how vile they are, I’ll still love them.”

He understood the meaning behind my words, yet pretended to not have heard, as he put out the cigarette and raised his arm, eyeing the time on his watch as he remarked, “It’s time.” 

Five minutes were up, and now the trial would continue.

The ace defence lawyer, the rich judge, the scum celebrity, what a dream team.

It’s fine, what happened between myself and Sheng Min Ou, we could figure it out later, but I needed to solve the matter at hand first.

“Let’s go.” 

I discarded the cigarette that I had barely touched into the trash, tucking both hands in my pockets as I proceeded to walk back.

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