The moment Xu Ruyi stepped onto the witness stand, she immediately felt the heavy weight of gazes converging on her from all directions.
She was still somewhat nervous.
Even though this was far from the first time she'd recounted her story—Captain He and Captain Qi sitting behind the prosecutor had questioned her countless times already.
During Qin Guan's detention, the police hadn't actually relaxed their investigation, especially Old He. He'd repeatedly verified details with her and asked the same questions multiple times.
Don't show weakness. Keep every account consistent. Even if you make a mistake, don't panic, and definitely don't correct it. That was what Xiao Zhi had repeatedly instructed her.
"Sis, you can rest easy. Qin Guan absolutely cannot escape this time, and we'll all come out unscathed," Xiao Zhi had said.
Yes, each time was the same. Old He dug, excavated, searched carpet-style, but found nothing.
They couldn't find any flaws. After all, the murderer truly was Qin Guan.
Xu Ruyi took a deep breath. Her heart gradually calmed, and she began answering the prosecutor's and the defense attorney's questions steadily.
What Xu Ruyi said was what she had stated from the beginning.
She naturally admitted her suspicion of Qin Guan—suspecting his affair with Qi Min—which was why she'd secretly copied the car key. She also admitted that on that night, when Qin Guan went out, she had followed him to the park. To prevent him from discovering her, she had directed Auntie Feng to break the windows and doors, calling Qin Guan back.
But she only admitted to that.
She firmly denied any meeting or contact with the so-called "Zeng Demei," denied going to the Lotus Hotel, and of course, denied ever seeing Qi Min.
She only admitted to using Li Yang.
The phone used to message Li Yang was registered under the nanny Feng Xiangping's name—"I just wanted to secretly get back at Qin Guan. He betrayed me. I hated him. But I couldn't bring myself to confront him openly because… I still couldn't bear to lose this family…"
She wept "pitifully."
All the chat and call records from that phone had been dug up by Old He. As she'd said, it was only used to send a few provocative messages to Li Yang, make two two-to-three-minute calls to Feng Zhi, and contact the nanny Feng Xiangping—Xu Ruyi had used that number to call Auntie Feng the night the windows were broken.
Xu Ruyi admitted to all of this—Xiao Zhi had said these were minimally connected to the case and wouldn't matter no matter how deeply the defense probed.
The most critical piece was Qi Min's phone.
Qi Min's phone had been retrieved by police from Qin Guan's study, and the SIM card was hidden beneath his office chair.
Naturally, the phone was covered in Qin Guan's fingerprints.
Not Xu Ruyi's.
Equally damning were the lethal black stockings bearing the epithelial tissue of both Qin Guan and Qi Min.
In short, all the evidence pointed to Qin Guan.
Qin Guan had no defense. Even with a hundred mouths, he couldn't explain it away.
"So, you never discovered Qi Min's phone hidden in your home study? You rarely entered Qin Guan's study, didn't even sleep in the master bedroom, but stayed with your daughter instead. Can I understand this to mean your marital relationship had long been troubled?"
The inept lawyer, relying on a gut feeling and viewing Xu Ruyi as a naive innocent, was trying to lure her into his trap—finding Xu Ruyi's flaw, establishing her suspicion in court, and then requesting a retrial. That was this new lawyer's promise to Qin Guan.
"Xu Ruyi did it. I didn't kill anyone," Qin Guan had insisted. "Our relationship was broken. Xu Ruyi was scheming against me step by step. If you help me, I'll pay you handsomely. I have money."
Yes, this was Qin Guan's last hope.
But he didn't live to see that hope materialize.
He stared at Xu Ruyi—that delicate, pitiful, betrayed wife—as she answered the lawyer's question with red-rimmed eyes: "Our relationship was always good. He was my first love. We loved each other for many years. My parents supported his education. He grew up alongside me. After my parents passed, he and my daughter were my entire world…"
She choked back a sob, tears welling up at the perfect moment.
A victim's tears always garnered more sympathy.
Qin Guan watched Xu Ruyi's "delicate" face, listened to her hypocritical lament about their deep affection, and felt the waves of disdainful glances from those around him—if those glances were tiny whips, then Xu Ruyi's false face was a sharp blade.
Waves of fury battered the thin cord of restraint within Qin Guan's heart.
Xu Ruyi continued, "There was nothing wrong with our relationship. I never imagined he would betray me. I don't know how to tell my daughter what her father did, where he is… My daughter is only three years old… I saw him off that morning for his business trip… I even reminded him to come back early. I thanked Qi Min for her constant help with his work. How could I have known my own husband was having an affair with his assistant? Right under my nose…"
She was still acting.
Qin Guan clenched his jaw. His fists, tightly balled, trembled violently. The tidal wave of rage surged like a tsunami.
"I don't know what I did wrong for him to betray me, to betray this family like this…" She was crying now.
Qin Guan couldn't bear to listen any longer.
Not a single word. He couldn't endure it—he was facing imprisonment, possibly the death penalty, while this bitch walked away unscathed.
Unacceptable. Utterly unacceptable.
Even if he died, even if he went to hell, he would drag her down with him!
She wouldn't escape alone!
The thin wall of reason crumbled. Qin Guan's eyes widened. He took a sharp breath, then lunged forward wildly, throwing himself at Xu Ruyi.
But the moment he moved, the bailiffs flanking him seized him.
"She's lying! She's a fraud! She knows everything! She knew about the affair long ago! She followed me! She met Qi Min! She met 'Zeng Demei'! She's pretending! She's acting! She's trying to ruin me! She wants me dead! Yes, I killed Qi Min! I admit it! But she was involved too! She moved the body!"
The courtroom erupted.
A collective gasp filled the air. People rose to their feet, staring in disbelief at the near-hysterical Qin Guan.
Xu Ruyi, however, appeared frightened and timid.
Instinctively shielding herself with her arms, she paled and shrank back.
One bailiff stepped protectively in front of Xu Ruyi, while the other two dragged Qin Guan backward.
"You bitch! Bitch! You set me up! I hope you die horribly—Liar! Fraud! Everything you've said is a fucking lie! You did it! You moved the body! You committed a crime too!"
Qin Guan held nothing back. He was beyond caring.
He was forced to the floor by the bailiffs.
His face pressed hard against the ground, yet he continued to roar: "I'll appeal! I demand a retrial! This case is wrong! Wrong! Xu Ruyi moved the body, tampered with evidence, obstructed justice! She's a criminal too! Why aren't you investigating her? Why aren't you arresting her? She's involved! I want her in prison with me! Prison!"
Qin Guan was removed from the courtroom.
Due to his emotional outburst, the court adjourned the session.
After he was dragged out, many sympathetic and pitying gazes turned towards Xu Ruyi.
Hugging her arms, she stood pitifully on the spot. Shaken by the scare, her slender frame looked even more fragile and alone.
"So pitiful. Betrayed by her husband, and now he tries to drag her down too."
"I heard the husband was educated with her family's money. A real ingrate."
"A woman meeting a man like that is a lifetime of bad luck."
...
"What do you make of what Qin Guan just said?" Qi Zhifei leaned over.
He was asking Old He.
Old He didn't answer immediately. From between his slightly puffy eyelids, his deep, weary eyes remained fixed on Xu Ruyi.
When Qin Guan had lunged wildly just moments before, everyone's eyes had been on him. Only Old He had watched Xu Ruyi—he had clearly seen, in that instant when she rose, a flash of resolve, strength, and vindictive pleasure in the eyes of this "delicate," seemingly fragile woman.