Published at 16th of January 2020 11:01 am

Chapter 74: Darling, You Are Brilliant

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator: Sumi Wang

Edited by White Whale

Xing Biao lowered the volume of the TV, so that he won’t disturb Su Mo and won’t give him an excuse of continuing working overtime. After a while, he looked at the watch and it was 9:30pm. He went in and brought Su Mo a glass of water.

When it was 10:30pm, he went in again and brought him some fruit.

When it was 11:30pm, Xing Biao was on pins and needles, fearing that Su Mo would become disobedient when the time is up. He went back to the study, and Su Mo was still concentrating on his work without raising his head. Xing Biao walked to the bookshelf and wanted to find a book to read. He remembered that he bought some Playboy magazines. He is planning to kill time by browsing on the pictures.

There are two big bookcases with different kinds of genre from laws and regulations, international law, rules, annotations, celebrity biographies, essays and poems. Unfortunately, none of them included colorful sexy pictures. Xing Biao had no choice but to take a legal annotation book. He read a few lines but could not understand them anyhow and got himself totally lost. Within less than five minutes, Xing Biao felt so sleepy – sure enough he wasn’t born to read, and got sleepy as long as he read. He stretched his body and stood behind Su Mo’s chair. Su Mo’s work is almost done. He clicked on “save”, twisted his neck and let out a deep breath.

“Done?”

“Yes, at last.”

Xing Biao felt that Su Mo had stiff shoulder from sitting and working overtime so he pleasingly massaged it to relax his muscles. “Then shall we go to sleep?”

Su Mo collected all the documents and put them in his briefcase. He picked up the verbal confession and said, “Wait a minute.” He checked his watch – there’s still twenty-five minutes left, enough for him to read these materials and wrote something to start the new indictment.

“It isn’t that urgent.”

“As soon as the police is done with the investigation, I’ll submit a lawsuit, so that we could start the trial as soon as possible and I’ll be so relieved to send this bastard to jail.”

“Darling, I’ll celebrate your victory as soon as you win the case. My darling is so capable.”

“Cui Xun is already preparing for the celebration party. I’ll look at the document. Why don’t you wait for me for a while at the living room?” Su Mo thought, ‘The massage on the shoulder is cozy, but it distracts my attention from work.’

“Only twenty minutes left. Forget about it and let’s go to sleep.”

“A little hungry.”

“Hungry? Sure. Wait for me. I’ll get you something to eat.”

Once again, Su Mo successfully sent Xing Biao away with an excuse. Xing Biao went to the kitchen. Su Mo quickly leafed through the document and started typing. Just before the countdown timer alarm going off, he quickly clicked on “save”, for fear that the rascal Xing Biao would come in and cut the power off directly.

Xing Biao brought two bowls of small homemade dumplings, which was specially brought back for Su Mo from mother-in-law’s place. Su Mo had been very busy these days, and Xing Biao thought it was improper to stop visiting the parents after marriage. It was like when a man married his wife, he no longer cared for his mother – and that was unacceptable. Therefore, he went to “report his work” to the mother-in-law.

“These days, Su Mo blah blah… Yes, we’re getting more and more used to living together… Right, we’re getting along well… Oh, we went to that restaurant for dinner last week, and it was terrific. The dishes there blah blah…” Mother certainly kept thinking about her son and would love to hear all about his daily life. She thought that since Su Mo didn’t have the time to come over for a meal, she made some dumplings that Xing Biao could bring back home. Whenever Su Mo wanted to eat it, they could cook some. So, Xing Biao cooked two bowls of homemade dumplings.

The dumplings smelled delicious. Su Mo did feel a bit hungry and started eating his midnight snack dumplings one after another.

While Xing Biao was thinking about some other things – ‘Finally, I can go to bed early today. Going to bed with my darling after a full meal – how nice it is!’

Morning came-

It was Su Mo’s first time standing in the real court as a defense lawyer, and Xing Biao took it very seriously. He picked a dark suit for himself in advance and dressed very formal and solemn. He held the milk glass for Su Mo and watched him tying the tie.

“Don’t be nervous. No matter how many people will be there, just imagine them as big cabbages. Are they all prosecutors? They are not that eloquent. Although it’s the first time for you, I believe you can win it. If you don’t, no problem, it’s still fine.”

“Can you say something nice?”

“Darling, you can do it!” Xing Biao even made a fist as he spoke.

‘Idiot.’ Su Mo thought while taking the glass of milk and taking a sip slowly.

“Darling, I’ll wait for you at the gate. The court session is in the morning, and I’ll bring delicious lunch for you at noon. Then we go back to mother’s place. I’ll take you to the club and sing at the Karaoke tonight.” Xing Biao wanted to reward Su Mo whatever the result was.

If he won, they could celebrate; if he lost, he could comfort him this way. Anyway, he would not let his wife feel unhappy.

“Don’t wait for me at the gate. Go to the security company and supervise the management of your employees. By the way, find a few good coaches with great Kung Fu to train them. Only when they have the best technique, you will get the best reputation.”

“Got it, got it. Don’t worry about this. Finish your milk now.”

Su Mo checked the time, finished his milk and was ready to leave with the briefcase in his hand. Su Mo stood up after putting his shoes on, Xing Biao took the opportunity to kiss him on the lips. He touched Su Mo’s face and said, “Darling, I know you are the best.”

Su Mo smiled, turned around and went to his own battlefield. He was already fully prepared for his first court session, and believed that he would win the first battle.

The session was at 9 o ‘clock in the morning and there were already many people in the courtroom – Cui Xun was there; some people were there cheering up for Su Mo; some relatives and friends of the accuser came; there were also some policemen.

Xing Biao sneaked in as well. Su Mo didn’t want him to come, but it was the first time Su Mo standing up in a court, which is very significant to him. He wanted to witness every milestone of Su Mo’s career life, to see him silent the opponent lawyer with his extraordinarily eloquence. ‘That would be so cool!’ thought Xing Biao. He sat in the corner so that it was unlikely for Su Mo to spot him.

“The accuser stayed at the gate of the community for a while. The witness, may I ask if the power was restored when you saw him?” Su Mo asked the security guard.

The security guard shook his head and said, “No. The power was not restored then.”

“Then, what did you do after you drove the accuser away?”

“I told you the other day that I went to the restroom and came back to work after three or four minutes.”

“And then?”

“Then the power was restored and I saw him walking down the road.”

Su Mo nodded and calmly showed the inquiry record to all. “The interrogation record showed that they asked the same question to the security guard at that time. However, the policemen judged that no one had seen what the accuser had done during the three or four minutes. Based on this, they further assumed that the accuser went upstairs and killed the victim. But it doesn’t make any sense. The power was cut off and the victim lived on the eighth floor – assuming that the accuser went up using the stairs and killed the victim, and then ran back downstairs, all within mere four minutes? Who could be so fast without taking the elevator?”

Hearing this, a group of policemen, presumably in charge of the trial, patted their heads. ‘Oh, shit. That detail was missed out and it was an important part that played a key role of the whole trial. How come we didn’t take this into account?’

After thinking about it carefully, a lot of questionable points came to the surface. The seemingly interlocking coincidences were actually the assumptions they made at the beginning. It looked like a perfect judgment, but they were probably wrong this time.

The people inside the court began to whisper to each other. ‘The lawyer hits the nail on the head.’

Xing Biao laughed so proudly and he tried so hard to restrain himself from yelling at everyone beside him, “That lawyer is my wife! Isn’t he brilliant? Isn’t he eloquent? He holds a doctor’s degree in law and is super intelligent. Isn’t he perfect?”

The whole room was whispering and people were exchanging their ideas with each other. Su Mo didn’t get influenced and became even calmer. He showed a disk to everyone and said, “Here is the footage from the camera of the stores on that street after the power restoration, which clearly shows the time and proves that he actually walked off the road.

According to the testimony of the present witness, the neighbor heard the quarrel, and was also looking for a flashlight in the living room because of the power failure. They also heard the cries of the victim. These testimonies were strong enough to prove that the victim was not dead at that time.

After the power restoration, the neighbor went out and found that the door next-door was wide open, and that the victim was dead in her living room, and therefore called the police. The combination of these two things is sufficient to prove that my client did not have the time to commit the crime. He was already downstairs when the victim died. The killer is still out there – at large!

The murder weapon has not been found yet. It is really hasty to close the case on the basis of all these coincidences. I would like to ask the court to reconsider and clear my client’s name.”

Well done! Su Mo got hold of the details and strongly fought back.

The staff of the Prosecutor General began to exchange opinions with each other in panic.

The policemen that investigated this case were on thorns. A few of them left their seats in a hurry. It seems like this case was not as simple as they imagined… The true murderer must be still out there.

It was the eighth floor – going up and down within four or five minutes without using the elevator? The accuser was just a normal person, rather than the famous hurdle runner Liu Xiang nor the well-known track and field athlete Robert Keter. It was just impossible.

The judge adjourned the court and would announce the judgment later.

Xing Biao itched to hug and kiss his darling, but his darling didn’t allow him to come here. He knew the situation very well in his heart that Su Mo would definitely win this case, and left whistling while Su Mo and Cui Xun went outside to smoke.

Su Mo smoked outside the court and smiled. Cui Xun gave him a thumbs-up and said, “Well done, Su Mo! You thought carefully and very detailed. You are going to reverse the case with such a small hole.”

“I said I am sure to win this case.”

“Su Mo, I think it’s my wisest choice to have you work at my lawyers’ office.”

Su Mo smiled and said nothing.

Cui Xun continued, “I thought you would be nervous. After all, it’s the first time you stand up in a real court session as a defense lawyer. During my first time, my legs were shaking and my feet were soft as mud while walking down the corridor outside of the court room. In university, we did countless simulation trial session, but these were mere simulation. It’s a different story when everything is real swords and spears – the real thing. Every word you say makes a difference to the fate of your client, and so many people are staring at you – you could feel a whole lot of pressure. This is the lawyers’ battlefield. Your opponent is just as good and you don’t know on which aspect he’s going to debate with you. It is of the utmost importance how you answer all questions thrown at you. You are clear-headed and articulate. I thought you did not like to talk much at ordinary times, and you won’t talk much in court, neither. But you really surprised me that whatever you said silenced prosecutor.”

“I’d rather say nothing if it’s useless and nonsense.”

Cui Xun felt relaxed, leaning against the railing and looking at Su Mo with a smile.

“I know it very well. There is 80% possibility for a retrial for this case.”

“If the case will be sent back for retrial, I am confident that my client will be released.That would be the greatest victory.”

“If that’s the case, Su Mo, Hilton Hotel – that’s where I’ll throw a celebration party for you.” Cui Xun patted on Su Mo’s shoulder. He believed that Su Mo was capable to have the criminal suspect released from jail.

Su Mo smiled confidently. He had been preparing for this for a long time, and he would call himself an idiot if he couldn’t win.

The session resumed after half an hour. The President pronounced the judgment that everyone was waiting for.

“Send this case to initial trial; undertake an investigation to collect evidences again, and retrial for this case.

What did that mean? Victory! The appeal was successful and there will be a retrial. Su Mo had successfully reversed a verdict.

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