The indictment written by the prosecutor clearly wrote Zhu Xiaoting’s motives for killing, the process and method of killing, as well as physical and material evidence. After listening to the indictment, the masses sitting in the audience cast disgusted eyes at Zhu Xiaoting, and that look seemed to be saying—— How can you kill someone? Why are you so bad!
The malicious gazes of those strangers made Zhu Xiaoting’s whole body stiffen. Her expression became uglier, her lips almost bitten by her teeth. Since she was a child, this was the first time she had faced the malicious gaze of so many strangers, which made her feel helpless.
Until the presiding judge announced, “Next, let the defendant Zhu Xiaoting to state the history of the crime.”
Zhu Xiaoting heard her name and came back to her senses in a trance.
Looking at the unfamiliar faces around her, her mind went blank, and she couldn’t remember a single word of the script she had memorized before, only stammering and trembling, “I- I didn’t kill anyone.”
The audience was in an uproar.
Yue Xingwen wrote a script to Zhu Xiaoting in advance and asked her to memorize it. Obviously, Zhu Xiaoting, out of nervousness, forgot all the things she memorized!
The people in the audience were full of discussions, and Ke Shaobin was so anxious that she couldn’t go on stage to speak for her, “What’s going on with this Zhu Xiaoting ah! Life and death are at stake, and she actually forgot the script that Xingwen wrote to her?”
Liu Zhaoqing sighed and said, “This is a stress reaction under tension. She was originally a timid girl, standing on the court as defendant for the first time, and it was normal to be nervous. Many people will be so nervous that they forget to say anything when they participate in an interview, not to mention the trial of life and death? Ai, we can’t demand too much of her either.”
Jiang Pingce frowned and looked at the defendant’s table—— Zhu Xiaoting’s face was as pale as paper, her hands were tightly clenched into fists, even the blood vessels on the back of her hands were clearly visible. The girl was obviously nervous to the extreme and had fallen into a helpless chaotic situation.
Her mind should be in a mess at this point, not to mention the speech, she couldn’t even say who she was.
The presiding judge picked up the hammer and knocked on the table, “Silence.”
The audience instantly fell silent.
Lan Yarong suddenly got up and said politely, “Presiding Judge, my client Zhu Xiaoting is a 22-year-old female university student who has never experienced a solemn court trial before, her emotions are too tense and she is unable to calmly state the case, can you give her half a minute to adjust? Thank you.”
The presiding judge frowned for a moment, looked at the pale Zhu Xiaoting, and said, “Defendant, please adjust your emotions as soon as possible.”
Zhu Xiaoting nodded and looked at Lan Yarong.
Lan Yarong gave her an encouraging look and said to her with her lips, “Don’t be afraid, there is still us.”
Zhu Xiaoting took a deep breath, closed her eyes and carefully recalled the events of the day of the crime, and then combined it with the script written to her by Yue Xingwen. When she opened her eyes, her face was much calmer and she said to the presiding judge, “I have adjusted.”
The presiding judge said, “Defendant, please make a statement.”
Zhu Xiaoting’s voice trembled slightly, but her words were still clear as she slowly said, “Honorable presiding judge and the judge in court, good afternoon. I’m the defendant Zhu Xiaoting. Regarding the death of Xie Xiangqin in dormitory 703, I would like to give some of my own explanations.”
“On October 25th, 2021, I went to a beach barbecue organized by the Law Department with my high school classmate Liu Jiajia, and after the bonfire party at 10 pm in the evening, I suddenly began to have diarrhea. I got up many times to go to the beach public toilet, and I couldn’t sleep all night. The cause of my diarrhea is related to Liu Jiajia’s case, the murderer Lin Xuefei added laxatives to my food, which has been verified by the Public Security Force, and my lawyer will help me attach the supporting materials later.”
“The night of diarrhea made me miserable, and at dawn, I used my phone to make an appointment for a fast car and wanted to take a taxi back to school. At 4:30 am in the morning, I took a Didi car with the license plate number of A-76512 and arrived at the entrance of Beishan University at 5:10 am.”
“At 5:20 am, I came to the girls’ dormitory Building 6 downstairs, and my mobile phone suddenly rang, and the called ID was my roommate Xie Xiangqin. I was very puzzled at that time, how did Xie Xiangqin know that I would come back early? But I didn’t think much, picked up the phone, but there was no sound on the other side of the phone. I thought the signal was not good, so I hung up the phone, and then a message popped up on WeChat, and it was sent to me by Xie Xiangqin. The content was ‘there should be an end between us’, I put away the phone and took the elevator on the west side to go upstairs, opened the door of the dormitory 703, and found that Xie Xiangqin fell to the ground.”
Recalling the bloody scene at that time, Zhu Xiaoting took a deep breath and stabilized her emotions before continuing, “She was pale and seemed to have blood on her body. I thought she was injured and ran over to help her up. But as I got closer I realized that she had a knife in her chest and blood was still pouring out. She grabbed my hand and opened her mouth to talk to me. I grabbed her while trying to stop her bleeding, which is why I accidentally touched the murder weapon.”
“I wanted to save her so much that I picked up my mobile phone and was about to dial 120 to call an ambulance but at this time my roommate Mao Yue pushed the door in, and then screamed, and subjectively shouted: Zhu Xiaoting killed someone.”
“Mao Yue’s scream attracted some students nearby. They were all frightened by the scene in front of them, no one listened to my explanation. I was flustered and did not know how to explain until the police quickly arrived and arrested me as the first suspect.”
“I know the evidence is very unfavorable to me, I still want to say that I really didn’t kill anyone!”
“The conflict between me and Xie Xiangqin is only a dispute between roommates due to disagreement of ideas, and it’s not to the point of murder. My parents are unemployed and have worked hard to raise me as an adult. I’m about to graduate and pass an interview with a foreign company. What awaits me will be a great future. Why should I kill someone because of a small dispute?”
“I hope the presiding judge and the judges in court will give me justice! I was framed, it was not me who killed Xie Xiangqin, but someone else, don’t let the real murderer go unpunished!”
Although Zhu Xiaoting’s voice was not calm enough, the statement she said with red eyes and crying voice was more likely to move people’s hearts. Even if her statement sounded like making up a story, but her ‘aggrieved’ emotions were in place, leaving everyone with the image that she was trying to ‘prove her innocence’, it was enough.
The logic of the script written to her by Yue Xingwen was actually clearer, she just forgot part of it. However, for the girl standing in the court for the first time, it was not easy to fully explain the process of the case.
Yue Xingwen gave her an appreciative look at the stage.
After Zhu Xiaoting finished her statement, the presiding judge said, “Prosecutor, do you still have any questions to ask the defendant?”
The prosecutor sent by the Public Prosecutor’s Office immediately stood up and said, “I have a few questions.”
The presiding judge made a gesture to ask a question, and the young man with glasses immediately walked to the defendant’s seat, looked into Zhu Xiaoting’s eyes, and asked coldly, “Zhu Xiaoting, when did you like Zou Yijia?”
Zhu Xiaoting’s face changed, and she lowered her head, saying, “When I was in my second– second year.”
“It’s three years ago?”
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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“I– I don’t have self-confidence. I feel that I’m not beautiful enough to be worthy of him.”
“Did Xie Xiangqin know about your secret crush for Zou Yijia?”
“Yes.”
“She knew that you like Zou Yijia, and she took the initiative to pursue Zou Yijia and became his girlfriend. Do you hold a grudge against Xie Xiangqin because of this?”
Zhu Xiaoting bit her lips and didn’t know how to answer. Lan Yarong suddenly raised her hand and said calmly, “Objected. The questions raised by the prosecutor are baited questions of subjective inference without any substantial evidence.”
The presiding judge nodded and said, “Prosecutor, please pay attention to the way of asking questions.”
The young man shrugged his shoulders and continued, “A month ago, did you break Xie Xiangqin’s limited-edition mug, and she scolded you in front of you and asked you to pay for it?”
“Yes, I promised her I’d pay her back when I get this month’s work-study program’s salary.”
“But immediately after, you broke her bottle of limited edition perfume worth thousands of yuan?”
Zhu Xiaoting gritted her teeth and said, “… She put the perfume with the facial cleanser. When I took the facial cleanser, I accidentally knocked over the perfume bottle. I didn’t mean it.”
“Did she ask you to pay for it?”
“… Yes.”
“A limited edition mug, plus a limited edition perfume, with your family’s condition and hard-working income, you simply can’t afford to pay for it. You and Xie Xiangqin have quarreled many times, old grudges and new ones, have you even thought about—— If only she was dead?”
Zhu Xiaoting looked frightened, and Lan Yarong immediately interrupted the other party, “Please don’t ask baiting questions.”
The presiding judge said, “Prosecutor, please change the question.”
After sitting back, Lan Yarong squeezed a layer of cold sweat in the palm of her hand, and whispered in Yue Xingwen’s ear, “This prosecutor uses psychological tactics, smashing down one question after another, which is easy to make Zhu Xiaoting confused, emotionally collapsed, evoked a lot of bad memories, and made mistakes when answering.”
Yue Xingwen looked serious and said, “Senior sister, if he asks inappropriate questions again, we will interrupt immediately.”
Lan Yarong nodded her head.
The prosecutor began to ask about the crime, “When Mao Yue opened the door, did she see you holding the fruit knife that killed Xie Xiangqin in your hand? That knife, did you personally buy it?”
Zhu Xiaoting’s eyes were red and said, “I was holding the knife, but I didn’t kill anyone!”
The Prosecutor: “Is it the knife you bought back? Please answer this question.”
Zhu Xiaoting gritted her teeth and replied, “Yes.”
The prosecutor: “The moment you entered the door, did you find a third person in addition to you and Xie Xiangqin?”
Zhu Xiaoting: “…”
The prosecutor: “There was no third person, it was just the two of you at that time?”
Zhu Xiaoting shook her head frantically and said, “I don’t know! I really don’t know what’s going on!” Lan Yarong interrupted again, “Prosecutor, please pay attention to the tone when asking questions. My client is a young university student, such aggressive questions are easy to make her psychologically collapse.”
The prosecutor smiled and said, “I’m done asking.”
Although Zhu Xiaoting did not clearly answer these questions, judging from the reactions of the presiding judge and onlookers, Zhu Xiaoting was still the only suspect in this case. After all, at the time of the crime, only she and Xie Xiangqin were present, and she was still holding the murder weapon, which was a fruit knife that she bought back…
How could this be argued?
The crowd turned their attention to defense lawyers.
Lan Yarong and Yue Xingwen exchanged a look. Senior sister Lan stood up first, and she stepped out first to calm Zhu Xiaoting’s agitated emotions. Senior sister Lan was very kind when she smiled, plus she was short. She looked like a little sister next door, and she was also a girl. Zhu Xiaoting trusted her very much, and it was easier to restore calm when talking to her.
Lan Yarong walked up to Zhu Xiaoting and asked, “At 4 am in the morning of October 26th, you couldn’t bear it because of diarrhea for all night, so you decided to take a taxi back to school to rest and no longer participated in beach activities. This was a sudden decision made at that time, right?”
Zhu Xiaoting nodded immediately and replied, “Yes.”
“Did you tell Xie Xiangqin about taking a taxi back to school at 4:30 am?”
Zhu Xiaoting shook her head and said, “I didn’t tell her.”
“In other words, Xie Xiangqin didn’t know that you would suddenly go back?”
Zhu Xiaoting seemed to have captured the key and immediately followed the question and said, “Of course she doesn’t know. I had diarrhea because someone had secretly given me a laxative, which was an accident that I didn’t expect.”
Lan Yarong asked, “She knew that you went to a beach barbecue organized by the Law Department and would not return until Sunday night, so why would she suddenly call you and send you a WeChat at 5:20 am on Saturday morning, when the sky was still dark? Aren’t most people sleeping at this time?”
Zhu Xiaoting said suspiciously, “I was wondering when I got the call. I decided to go back to school in a sudden, why did she seem to know I was coming back?”
“Did you happen to be walking downstairs to the dormitory building when she called you? The location is directly opposite the balcony window of dormitory 703?”
“That’s right.”
“You weren’t wearing a mask or hat at that time. Could someone in dormitory 703 clearly identify you if they looked down through the window?”
“It could be recognized.”
“Are you sure that the person who called you was Xie Xiangqin herself?” Lan Yarong looked at her gently and asked.
Zhu Xiaoting was suddenly stunned, and she reacted to Lan Yarong’s meaning. She immediately said, “I’m not sure, I didn’t hear her voice. After the call was connected, there was no sound, and immediately after, Xie Xiangqin’s account sent me a WeChat!”
The prosecutor interrupted suddenly, “The defense lawyer has been asking hypothetical questions!”
Lan Yarong smiled and nodded, and then asked, “You had diarrhea all night, and when you returned to the dormitory, did you feel that your body was very tired and had no strength?”
Zhu Xiaoting replied, “En, I just wanted to get some sleep at that time, so when Xie Xiangqin sent me a message, I ignored her.”
Lan Yarong said, “When you took the elevator to the 7th floor, did you hear footsteps going upstairs?”
Zhu Xiaoting said, “Yes, someone went upstairs from the west side stairs.”
Lan Yarong said, “Can you tell which kind of footsteps it is? High heels, sneakers?”
Zhu Xiaoting thought about it carefully and said, “It’s not high heels, it’s not leather shoes, it sounds like flat shoes or sneakers.”
Lan Yarong said, “Why didn’t you take a look at it at that time?”
Zhu Xiaoting said, “The sound of footsteps in the corridor is normal, I thought it was the girls upstairs. I was too tired to pay attention and went straight back to the dormitory.”
Lan Yarong said, “You don’t get along with Xie Xiangqin, and when you returned to the dormitory and saw her falling in a pool of blood, why did you go to save her?”
Zhu Xiaoting said, “Although I hate her, after all, we have been roommates for four years, and she was screaming for help, so I can’t stay idly by! I really thought she was just accidentally injured and bleeding. When I got closer, I found a knife stuck in her chest!”
“Why didn’t you call the police as soon as possible?”
“I didn’t expect it to be murder! She was talking to me, and I was in a daze, went to grab her hand to try to help her, and accidentally touched the murder weapon. It was the first time I encountered something like this, I was really nervous!”
“Okay, presiding judge, I’m done asking.”
The audience was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, and the crowd in the audience had increasingly bewildered looks on their faces.
Although the evidence presented by the prosecutor sounds impeccable, several of Lan Yarong’s questions were also very critical—— Zhu Xiaoting suddenly returned to the dormitory halfway, why did her roommate call her as soon as she arrived downstairs? Wasn’t this timing too coincidental?
Not Guilty Defense 16
This concludes the questioning of Zhu Xiaoting by the prosecutor and the defense lawyer. This was followed by the appearance of witnesses. The first witness for the prosecution to be called was Mao Yue, the person who reported the crime.
The prosecutor’s questions all revolved around the scene she witnessed and the conflict between Xie Xiangqin and Zhu Xiaoting.
Mao Yue described how the two people quarreled and repeated the scene in vivid voice, “I went to the school’s all-night study room to study by myself, rushed back to the dormitory at 5:30 am in the morning. Xie Xiangqin was lying in a large pool of blood, eyes closed as if dead. I was terrified, and screamed uncontrollably. At that time, there were only Xie Xiangqin and Zhu Xiaoting at the scene, and there was no third person.”
Lan Yarong glanced at Yue Xingwen and nodded at him.
The strategy of the two today was that senior sister Lan was in charge of Zhu Xiaoting, stabilized her emotions, and raised doubts about the case by questioning Zhu Xiaoting. Yue Xingwen targeted other witnesses and looked for loopholes in the testimony of witnesses invited by the prosecutor. In the end, the more professional senior sister Lan concluded her speech.
Yue Xingwen stood up, walked in front of Mao Yue, and asked gracefully, “Hello Mao Yue, with your understanding of Xie Xiangqin. What time does she usually wake up on weekends, given her usual habits?”
Mao Yue was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and then said, “She usually sleeps until 11 pm on weekends and eats lunch directly.”
Yue Xignwen said, “In the past four years, has she suddenly woken up at 5 am on weekends more often?”
Mao Yue: “… It doesn’t seem like much ah? I haven’t seen her get up early on weekends, and she loves to sleep in.”
In the audience, the teammates were relieved when they heard it.
Xingwen had participated in debates more often, and his ability to grasp the key was indeed excellent—— Xie Xiangqin, a girl who loved to sleep in, suddenly got up at 5 am in the morning on Saturday to call, and it was unusual as if a demon possessed her!
Sure enough, the presiding judge also looked puzzled when hearing this.
Yue Xingwen asked, “When you went back to the dormitory, you saw Zhu Xiaoting holding a knife in her hand, and Xie Xiangqin fell in a pool of blood, right?”
Mao Yue nodded immediately and said, “That’s right, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, there will be no difference!”
Yue Xingwen continued to ask, “So, are you seeing a static picture or a dynamic process?”
Mao Yue was completely stunned. “……”
Yue Xingwen explained warmly, “I mean, what you see was the static picture of Zhu Xiaoting holding a knife in her hand; Or did you see Zhu Xiaoting holding a knife and stabbing into Xie Xiangqin’s body, this dynamic process?”
Mao Yue was a little dizzy by Yue Xingwen’s tongue twister-like question. She scratched her head and thought carefully before replying, “It should be a static picture.”
Yue Xingwen said, “The static picture is deceptive, that is, you are not sure what the specific process of Xie Xiangqin’s death was, and you did not see Zhu Xiaoting personally stab Xie Xiangqin’s chest. You just saw Zhu Xiaoting holding a knife in her hand, is that what you meant?”
Mao Yue hesitated for a moment and nodded. “Yes.”
Yue Xingwen said, “When you rushed back to the dormitory, you saw Zhu Xiaoting with the murder weapon and subconsciously thought that Zhu Xiaoting had killed someone, but there is still a possibility—— the murderer fled after killing Xie Xiangqin, Zhu Xiaoting entered the dormitory, saw Xie Xiangqin falling to the ground, wanted to save her, and accidentally touched the murder weapon. Have you thought about this possibility?”
Mao Yue looked dazed, “How is this possible?”
Yue Xingwen said, “Of course this is possible. Presiding judge, please allow me to play a video.”
The presiding judge nodded, and Lin Manluo immediately took the USB flash drive and walked over to connect it to the computer, playing an animated video made by Ke Shaobin on the spot, completely simulating the crime process at the scene.
They saw that in the animation, at 5:20 am in the morning, a sturdy murderer stabbed Xie Xiangqin to death, just at this time, Zhu Xiaoting came downstairs. The murderer saw Zhu Xiaoting through the window, followed by picking up Xie Xiangqin’s mobile phone, calling Zhu Xiaoting, hanging up after 30 seconds of calling, and then sending Zhu Xiaoting a WeChat, and then escaping from the west side stairs.
Zhu Xiaoting took the elevator upstairs, heard footsteps from the stairwell, and looked at the stairwell suspiciously, but she didn’t think much and walked quickly to the dormitory. After opening the door, she saw Xie Xiangqin lying in a pool of blood, she rushed over to save her, but Mao Yue then arrived, witnessed this scene, and screamed.
The animation came to an abrupt end at the moment when Mao Yue screamed.
The prosecutor frowned, “Defense lawyer, the animation made with hypothetical reasoning can’t be used as evidence!”
Yue Xingwen smiled and said, “Of course this is not evidence. I just want to ask the presiding judge to consider the possibility that the murderer escaped and framed my client; We shouldn’t spare the murderer, but we can’t wrongly accuse the innocent either!”
The presiding judge nodded and motioned for him to continue.
Yue Xingwen followed and looked at Mao Yue. “Zhu Xiaoting and you have been roommates for four years, has she ever seen a course related to human anatomy? Or teaching videos?”
“Human anatomy?!” Mao Yue’s eyes widened in surprise, “No, right? She was so timid, she covered her eyes when we watched ghost movies together.”
“In other words, in your opinion, she doesn’t understand the structure of the human body?”
Mao Yue was bewildered. “She shouldn’t understand, right? She is in the Translation Department and spends most of her study time memorizing words.”
Yue Xingwen then asked, “She and Xie Xiangqin, who is more powerful?”
Mao Yue did not hesitate to answer, “It should be Xie Xiangqin. Zhu Xiaoting is the thinnest one in our dormitory, and she even has to get help from the boys to carry a gallon of water.”
Yue Xingwen looked at the presiding judge and said, “My client, Zhu Xiaoting, was given a laxative on the day of the crime, had diarrhea all night, ran to the toilet more than a dozen times. After the diarrhea improved slightly, she returned to school by car, her body almost collapsed. How could she stab Xie Xiangqin’s chest in such a state and accurately stab into the heart artery?”
“You know, there are still muscle layers outside the human heart, and there are a large number of ribs in the chest area. It takes a lot of strength and a great understanding of human structure to try to stab directly into the heart from the rib gap. It’s hard for a surgeon to do that, let alone a skinny girl who has had diarrhea all night, right?”
The presiding judge frowned and motioned for him to continue.
Yue Xingwen said, “Mao Yue, may I ask if the door of the dormitory building was locked when you entered the dormitory building at 5:30 am at the time of the crime, and did the dormitory aunt stop you?”
Mao Yue shook her head. “The access control system of our dormitory is broken, and the door will open when you push it. The dormitory aunt was sleeping and didn’t see me, so I took the elevator directly upstairs.”
Yue Xingwen: “That is to day, due to the damage of the access control system and monitoring system of the dormitory Building 6, the dormitory aunt was sleeping at the time of the crime, and you entered the dormitory without any obstruction, and others could also enter this student dormitory unimpeded, right?”
A shiver ran down Mao Yue’s spine and she nodded stiffly, “That’s– that’s right.”
Yue Xingwen said, “Thank you for your answer, I’m done asking.”
At this point in the defense, although no substantial evidence had been presented, the seeds of doubt had quietly grown in the hearts of everyone at the scene.
The dormitory door was broken and anyone could enter.
The deceased, a person who loved to sleep in, suddenly called the defendant at 5:20 am and sent a WeChat message.
Witnesses only saw the static picture of the defendant holding a knife, and did not see her stabbing Xie Xiangqin to death. Moreover, the defendant had diarrhea all night, and everyone who ever had diarrhea knew that after severe diarrhea, the whole body would be weakened, not to mention to stab people to death, that person did not even have strength to kill a chicken.
Was the thin Zhu Xiaoting really a murderer?
Yue Xingwen said calmly, “Presiding judge, I would like to invite another witness from dormitory 703, student Li Huijuan.”
phew not so nervous anymore 🤧
Cold girl will make things better, I’m confident in it!
Thank you for your translation 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
It’s interesting to see the differences between a Chinese trial and a trial from my country, assuming the author is being accurate.