In the name of love

You are a good boy. "

There was an electronic crackle on the radio, as if someone was approaching the microphone.Yulu held his breath and concentrated, fearing that he would miss any word.

"But he ignored me..." Xiaoxin whimpered again, and said vaguely, "He disappeared..."

"That's not because of you, there are many complicated reasons in the world of adults." Ji Lan said in a suppressed voice.

"But I made him..." the child said again, "I made him become like that, and made him be called a villain. It's my fault..."

Ai Ting's eyes changed from confusion to seriousness, and there was a trace of confusion in the seriousness.With one hand behind her back, Ji Lan walked around the testimony stand.

Ji Lan walked to the defense table and picked up the family portrait on the table.

"Is this painting given to you by your friend?" He asked softly.

The other end of the radio was silent, and it took a long while for Xiaoxin's nasal voice to be heard.

"...I can't say."

"The man in this painting is your friend, the person you treat as a father, isn't it?"

"I can't say..." Xiaoxin seemed to be unable to take it anymore, the crying on the radio was muffled, it was probably Xiaoxin covering his face with his hands or something.Voices such as "It's okay" and "Just answer the questions you want to answer" came from the speaker, which should be the social worker trying to comfort the boy.

Yulu suddenly felt a little sour, not because the other party was a beautiful boy.

"You want to protect him, right?" Ji Lan said gently.

Xiaoxin didn't answer, and it took a long time for a thin "hmm" to come from the radio.

"You made an agreement with him, you must never tell others, right?" Ji Lan asked again.

Xiaoxin seemed to nod his head, and Yulu choked up when he heard his sobs.

Ji Lan hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "Did he ever force you...?"

The broadcaster fell silent again, and there was a burst of noise in the courtroom. Yulu saw that many people, including the judge, had expressions of "what is this lawyer asking?"Ai Ting, on the other hand, looked extremely restless, biting his knuckles with his teeth, and frowning so hard that he could almost pinch a mosquito to death.

"No..." Xiaoxin vaguely made such a voice, but it was unclear whether it was "no" or something else.

Ji Lan stood still beside the testimony stand. "Including what happened that day, didn't he force you?"

There was a long silence on the radio.

"No..." Xiaoxin's voice was choked, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

Yulu saw that Ji Lan raised her head and closed her eyes facing the dome of the court.

"You don't have to apologize to anyone, Witness."

Ji Lan took a deep breath, as if forcing herself to stabilize her emotions, "You didn't make any mistakes. You didn't make any mistakes in the whole thing from beginning to end. No matter what those adults say, it won't change that. .Do not think that you are in the wrong, you must firmly remember this, from now until the rest of your life, don't forget this."

He stared at the camera lens as if warning something extremely important.There was no human voice on the other end of the broadcaster for a while, only Xiaoxin's immature and subtle sobs echoed.

Out of the corner of Yulu's eyes, he caught sight of Huai Yu who was sitting in the last row of the auditorium. As he promised, he had been sitting there since the first court session.It's just that too many things happened in court this time, and Yulu didn't have time to pay attention to the auditorium.

Yulu saw that Huaiyu straightened up, clasped his hands in front of his lips, and stared at Ji Lan in court with a look of understanding in his handsome eyes.

Ji Lan also seemed to have some ups and downs. Yulu watched him put his knuckles against the tip of his nose, sucked his nose, and then spoke again.

"I just want to ask you one last question, witness."

Ji Lan walked back to the defense stand. Seeing his red eyes like rabbits, Yulu opened his mouth to say something to him, but Ji Lan just picked up the security roster, walked to the testimony stand again, and opened the roster. Come to the camera.

"I won't force you to break your promise, don't be afraid."

Ji Lan paused for a moment, Yulu felt that his body was shaking, but Ji Lan obviously had no intention of resting.

"But you know, witness, that what you say here may cost another man his freedom for life."

Ji Lan raised the roster in his hand, Ye Chang's pale and dull face, the same as the day he met Yu Lv, was clearly reflected in front of the camera.

"So I just want to ask you a question. On that day... on July [-]th, the person who had sex with you...was the person named Ye Chang on the roster?"

There was no sound from the broadcaster for a while, and Ji Lan added, "Please see his face clearly, every inch of his features, this is different from the identification you were forced to make by the adults at the police station, you have to recognize it very clearly, You're a bright and sharp kid who should be able to do this."

Yulu noticed that Ji Lan did not use the word "sexual assault", but the neutral term "sexual intercourse". Like everyone else in the court, he had many doubts in his heart, so he could only continue to watch Ji Lan interrogation.

The broadcaster hesitated for a moment, "Will he become a bad guy...?"

Xiao Xin's voice trembled slightly, "If I tell the truth, will everyone think he is a villain?"

Ji Lan took the famous book, supported the testimony platform with one hand, and pursed her lips.

"Even so, witness."

Ji Lan seemed to use up her last voice to speak, her voice was full of hoarseness.

"I still hope you can tell the truth. I understand that this is cruel to you. This is all the willfulness of our adults, but please look at this person."

He lifted the roster again.Seeing that Ai Ting opened his lips, Yulu seemed to want to say something, but in the end he sat back on the chair, and he didn't know if he read it wrong, but there was a hint of red in the depths of Ai Ting's eyes.

"This person has two children in his family, a son and a daughter. The son is six years old and has just entered elementary school. The daughter is the same age as you this year and is about to enter the third grade. They may lose their most because of your words. Important fathers, like you, draw family portraits every day, hoping that someone in the painting will come home one day."

Facing the camera, Ji Lan straightened up suddenly, then bowed deeply to the camera.

"So I'm begging you, let him go home, let this father go back to his child. Even if it's likely to cost you another father you've been trying to find, okay?"

The broadcaster fell into a long silence, which seemed to last for a century, so long that Yulu thought it would never end, just like this tortured trial.

"……no."

Xiaoxin finally spoke, his voice seemed to come from the other side of the world into the court.It was vague at first, but gradually became clear enough that the whole room could hear it:

"No...not him...not this person..."

The whole court was in an uproar, and several people stood up from the public seats excitedly.

Yulu saw that Ai Ting on the opposite side closed his eyes tightly the moment Xiaoxin said "no", he clasped his ten fingers, and buried his face deeply into the side of his palm.

Ji Lan was standing by the witness stand, her right hand was shaking so much that she could not hold the edge of the roster tightly. The roster fell on the table of the testimony stand, and it was the page where Ye Chang and Lu Xing were juxtaposed.

"Thank you, Witness, for being a brave and kind boy."

Ji Lan clenched her lips suddenly, and Yulu saw moist water seeping out of the corner of Ji Lan's eyes, but was forced back by this young and stubborn lawyer.Ji Lan turned to the judge's seat.

"In court, the defense has no further questions."

Yulu looked at the old judge in the middle leaning forward. His expression had been puzzled since before Ji Lan began to question him. His wrinkled face was full of doubts, "Will the defense make this witness any further?" Designate, is the perpetrator of the sexual assault witness on that list?"

Seeing Ji Lan take a deep breath, Yulu shook his head.

"The defense doesn't think it's necessary." Ji Lan said: "The witness doesn't know who the real culprit of the sexual assault was. He has made it very clear. I believe the prosecution will agree with this."

The old judge turned to Ai Ting in confusion, as if hoping for his help.But Ai Ting straightened up from the prosecutor's seat, imitating Ji Lan, and also took a deep breath.

"Yes, I think the kid has made that very clear."

Ai Ting faced the judge's bench, and stood side by side with Ji Lan beside the testimony stand, with a very serious Hades face.

"The prosecution has no other questions to ask about this witness."

Yulu saw that the presiding judge showed a very troubled expression, but since both the prosecution and the defense are on the same page, cross-examination is a court activity with lawyers and prosecutors as the main body, and the court cannot interfere.

Ji Lan walked back to the defense stand, with his back to the center of the court, and Yulu watched him put his hands on his lips, calming down for a while.

He knew that at the end of the question just now, the young man had been holding back something. His emotions overlapped with Xiaoxin's. Yulu didn't know whether it was related to Ji Lan's experience when he was nine years old.

But Ji Lan didn't shed tears in the end, just like at the time, she chose to endure all of this.

"Since neither the prosecution nor the defense have any questions to question the witness, the investigation process for this witness is over."

Judge Zhang's voice overwhelmed the boiling air in the courtroom, and Yuli found that her voice was also a little hoarse.

"It seems that both the prosecution and the defense have no new witnesses or physical evidence to present, so the evidence investigation procedure of this case is all over here. Please ask the prosecutor and defender to make the final argument and defense, okay?"

***

After all the investigation evidence is completed, the court period will come to an end, which is the so-called final argument and defense.trial