The next day, when Shen Nian woke up, Lu Lingchuan had already gotten up.
Supporting her head, she walked out of the bedroom. There were faint sounds coming from the kitchen. She saw Lu Lingchuan walking out with a small pot in his hands.
Seeing Shen Nian standing in the doorway, Lu Lingchuan only said: "Wash up and eat."
Then he opened the lid of the small pot. Hot steam rose up along with the appetizing aroma of porridge.
Lu Lingchuan took an empty bowl and used a spoon to scoop up the porridge.
Today they were going to meet lawyer Xu Xiping.
Shen Nian gently massaged her forehead and turned to go wash up in the bathroom.
After washing up and going out to the living room to eat, she then returned to the bedroom to change clothes.
Opening the closet door, her gaze wandered back and forth among the row of clothes.
During the previous argument with Lu Lingchuan, she had thrown away many clothes, and now the closet was empty. Most were the boring work clothes she wore for her job, utterly nondescript.
Among the many outdated work clothes, Shen Nian picked out a purple shirt with water lily edges and puff sleeves in a retro Japanese style. For pants she chose a pair of black high waisted pants with nice drape.
Standing in front of the full length mirror, she took off her pajamas and put on the shirt, fastening the buttons from bottom to top.
When fastening the top button at her neck, her fingers brushed against the necklace she was wearing.
Her movement halted. Bowing her head, her fingers pinched the sunflower pendant hanging around her neck, gently caressing it.
After getting dressed, the two left.
On the road, Lu Lingchuan drove while Shen Nian sat in the passenger seat, clutching her seat belt.
Usually, the two rarely brought up the topic of Lu Lingrui. But today, they both knew clearly that going to meet lawyer Xu Xiping, the topic discussed would only be about Lu Lingrui. So neither of them spoke.
Lu Lingchuan drove the car to the garage of a high-end gated community. Lawyer Xu was specially invited by Lu Lingchuan. Under normal circumstances lawyers would just stay at a hotel, but Lu Lingchuan cared deeply about Lu Lingrui’s case. So he went ahead and arranged for the lawyer to stay at an apartment under his name —
To ensure lawyer Xu could rest well without disruption and be in top mental state to assist them.
After parking the car, the two entered one of the buildings in the compound, then took the elevator, pressing the floor number.
The units in this compound had two elevators serving two units each. Stepping out of the elevator, Lu Lingchuan turned left, pressing the doorbell for unit 01.
"Ding dong!"
Soon a voice came from inside: "Come in."
The smart door lock had already recognized Lu Lingchuan's face and automatically unlocked. Lu Lingchuan twisted the knob and entered. Lawyer Xu, dressed in casual home clothes, happened to emerge from the bedroom carrying his laptop.
Seeing Lu Lingchuan, Xu Xiping nodded slightly. "Mr. Lu."
Xu looked around thirty-four or five years old. His appearance was not particularly striking, just very ordinary. There were no exceptionally dazzling features, but he gave off an extremely steady impression.
Gold wire-rimmed glasses were perched on his nose, adding some chill to his visage.
Xu put down the laptop on a nearby table. His gaze lifted again, but this time the one he looked at was not Lu Lingchuan, but Shen Nian.
His eyes lingered on Shen Nian for just a second. "Miss Shen Nian?"
Shen Nian nodded lightly. "Yes, that's me."
She was Shen Nian, one of the parties involved in the gang rape case four years ago. She was the only eyewitness and victim. She was also the most crucial witness in making those despicable scumbags pay.
"Mm." Lawyer Xu did not say much more, just lightly nodded his head and swiftly shifted into work mode.
"Miss Shen, I am lawyer Xu Xiping. Mr. Lu must have told you about me already."
"Yes."
Xu set up a recording device he had on him on the table and started recording. "From now on, I will be taking over Miss Lu's case. Starting now, I am the person you two trust the most. I will help resolve any issues you have. At the same time—"
He paused for a bit before continuing. "I will also need your trust. Mr. Lu has already provided me all the physical evidence. I went over it in one night. And Miss Shen, as the sole eyewitness and victim from the original incident, your testimony is crucial for the upcoming court hearings."
"So I ask Miss Shen to carefully recall the course of events from that year in as much detail as possible. Try to be precise down to every detail, and speak out everything you can remember, the more the better."
As expected of a famous lawyer. After just a few sentences, that oppressive aura of authority was already apparent.
But he was right too. As their lawyer, only by knowing the full details could he analyze the case and pick out the parts most helpful to them. The more the better.
"......" As if teleported to the North Pole, the temperature seemed to plunge from the thirties down to negative fifty or sixty degrees in an instant. She was frozen stiff.
All these years, the Lu family had never given up making those scumbags pay. And she... this was far from the first time she had to recount the details of that incident.
The most painful thing was not falling into hell, but falling into hell then being forced back to the human world where someone made you recall every single detail of what had transpired in hell, over and over and over again in an endless loop of torment that ravaged her psyche.
She forced out a strained smile on her rigid face. "Alright. The victim Lu Lingrui and I were high school best friends and classmates. Her older brother Mr. Lu Lingchuan was my boyfriend at the time. That day..."
As if reciting a textbook passage, Shen Nian numbly recounted the events of that year once again.
As soon as Shen Nian said her first sentence, Lu Lingchuan fell to pieces!
Those events from that day, he had already heard countless times over the years. Yet every time, his hands still couldn't help shaking.
In a fluster, he turned and retreated to the balcony in the living room.
Shen Nian was matter-of-factly telling Lawyer Xu all the details about what happened that year while a faint "click" sounded in her ears. Her peripheral vision caught sight of Lu Lingchuan leaning against the wall of the balcony, bent over and smoking.
He didn't used to smoke before. He picked up the habit during that month interval between when Lu Lingrui's incident occurred and her eventual suicide, and then it grew steadily worse.
Withdraw her sideways glance, Shen Nian gave a light sniff and paused briefly before continuing her account to Lawyer Xu.
After telling him a full account of what happened back then, Xu Xiping turned off the recording device and nodded at Shen Nian.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Shen."
Shen Nian struggled to control her emotions, feigning calm. "I'd like to use the bathroom. May I?"
Lawyer Xu gave a slight dip of his chin. "By all means, go ahead."
Shen Nian nodded and clutching her purse, left for the bathroom.
She had just barely left when Lu Lingchuan immediately came over and sat down in the seat Shen Nian had vacated just moments before. His expression was overcast. "Lawyer Xu, do we stand a chance of winning?"
Lawyer Xu gazed at his laptop screen. Displayed on it was the physical evidence Lu Lingchuan had provided him.
Faced with Lu Lingchuan's question, Xu's brows knitted slightly. He didn't beat around the bush but gave it to him straight.
"With both witness testimony and physical evidence present, even if the goal is just to put them behind bars and we don't hire me, but get any properly licensed lawyer, winning the case would still be a certainty."
It was the truth. The case details were already quite clear cut. It would be very difficult for the other side to wiggle their way out.
