Huo Jialan was taken to court by the bailiff with a straight face. She froze when she saw Gu Nianzhi in a navy suit standing at the plaintiff's defense table.
Her eyes quickly scanned the courtroom, then she silently turned around and followed the bailiff to the witness stand.
Bai Jinyi's expression was dismissive of Gu Nianzhi's summoning of Huo Jialan to testify.
Huo Jialan had been torturing Song Jinning, because in her heart, Song Jinning was the culprit behind her mother's suicide.
If she had suspected Bai Jinyi, she wouldn't have treated Song Jinning like that.
The Bai's were certain that Huo Jialan did not have any evidence, so they looked at Gu Nianzhi calmly, waiting for her to make a fool of herself.
Gu Nianzhi followed the court procedure and forced Huo Jialan to reveal her identity. Then, she got down to business.
"Miss Huo Jialan, when your father, Huo Guanyuan, and mother, Luo Xinxue passed away, did you receive all of their inheritance?"
Huo Jialan was dressed to the nines, especially her luscious lips. The coral-colored lipstick she used was a striking contrast to her coral-colored suit.
She pouted her red lips, and her red nail polish paused for a moment before she asked, "Does my parents' inheritance have anything to do with this case?"
"Of course it's relevant." Gu Nianzhi stared at her calmly. "You only need to answer yes or no."
"The deceased's estate is related to this case. Witness, please answer." The judge also supported Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi smiled gratefully at the judge and continued to stare at Huo Jialan.
Huo Jialan pursed her lips and said reluctantly, "… Yes, so what? They are my parents, and I am their only daughter. If they don't give their inheritance to me, who should they give it to? "
"I'm not questioning your right to inherit the estate. What are you refuting?" Gu Nianzhi raised her brows, surprised by Huo Jialan's attitude.
The corners of Huo Jialan's eyes twitched. She panicked, but quickly calmed down and smiled. "Anyone would have the same question the way you asked."
Gu Nianzhi glanced at her and continued, "Since you've received all of Huo Guanyuan and Luo Xinxue's inheritance, I'd like to summon two pieces of evidence from you. It has been approved by the court. Here is the document. "
Gu Nianzhi raised her hand, and a bailiff showed the documents she had submitted to Huo Jialan.
"What evidence is this?" Huo Jialan frowned.
Attached to the document was a list of belongings and a list of wills.
"Of these two items, one is a list of Senior Colonel Huo Guanyuan's belongings. He was suddenly killed in an experimental accident 16 years ago, and the military handed all of his belongings to your mother, Luo Xinxue. This list was also handed over to your mother. The military also has a copy on file, and it's placed with Senior Colonel Huo Guanyuan's file." Gu Nianzhi introduced the first list first.
Huo Jialan finished reading in silence and looked up at Gu Nianzhi, waiting for her to speak.
"This is your mother Luo Xinxue's will." Gu Nianzhi pointed at Luo Xinxi's will on the big screen. "Luo Xinxue listed all of her movable and immovable assets on the will, as well as some important items that she kept at home. Please cooperate with the court's request and hand over the items listed on Huo Guanyuan's and Luo Xinxue's will to assist in the investigation. "
Huo Jialan's hands trembled slightly.
She forced herself to remain calm and said as calmly as possible, "I inherited my father and mother's inheritance, but it's been 10 years, and there are so many things, I still have to go back and search for them." "Really? May I ask how long it will take you to find them?" Gu Nianzhi looked at the two lists. "There aren't that many of these small items. Both lists add up to less than 50 items, and most of them are jewelry that your mother Luo Xinxue listed."
Huo Guanyuan and Luo Xinxue had only left behind a few small items other than property and deposit receipts.
Huo Jialan was silent for a moment. "I'll need two or three days …"
"Haha, I'll give you two hours. If you can't find them, I'll request a search warrant from the court and search your home. "Gu Nianzhi didn't hesitate to refute Huo Jialan's request.
The judge also felt that two or three days was too long to search for such a simple list, and agreed with Gu Nianzhi. "I'll give the witness two hours to go back and search immediately. If you can't find them, or if you need more time, you can explain to the court. Court adjourned. "
The court adjourned for two hours.
Bai Jinyi was slightly irritated. She said to Lawyer Jin, "How can you let a student lawyer lead you by the nose? What the hell are you all doing? "
Lawyer Jin's expression darkened. He lowered his voice and said, "Of course we did. Court was adjourned for a week for a neutral medical examiner to conduct another autopsy. Did Director Bai forget? "
Bai Jinyi was speechless.
Lawyer Jin laughed coldly. "If Director Bai could tell us more practical details, and mention a few more candidates, we wouldn't have to be on the defensive all this time."
According to Huaxia Imperial law, the prosecution was responsible for obtaining evidence.
Therefore, as the plaintiff's lawyer, Gu Nianzhi naturally had to speak more. She had to convince the judge that Luo Xinxue had indeed been murdered, and that Bai Jinyi was indeed the murderer.
Lawyer Jin and his team were Bai Jinyi's defense lawyers. They needed to find flaws in Gu Nianzhi's argument and refute it.
So far, they hadn't found any new flaws.
"… But our team of lawyers has already discussed this." Lawyer Jin looked around. "The plaintiff has called a new witness. We can make an issue out of it."
Bai Jinyi didn't understand. "Huo Jialan? That's a slippery one. What do you want? "
"Inspector Bai, as for the legal matters, please leave it to us. What you need to do is tell us all the facts. You have to know that any concealment is helping the other party send you to prison. "
Bai Jinyi pursed her lips and said reflexively, "I've told you all I need to say. I'm not concealing anything."
…
Two hours later, the court reconvened.
Huo Jialan had already returned. Her expression was dark as she handed over the items she had inherited from her parents to Gu Nianzhi's team for inspection.
Director Wang of the Special Operations Forces Forensics Department personally inspected the list of belongings and wills. He discovered two items were missing.
"1. Senior Colonel Huo Guanyuan's personal phone, phone number 1XXXXX."
"2. Luo Xinxue's birth certificate in the bank's safety deposit box."
"Your Honor, Miss Huo did not hand over these two items."
The judge looked at Huo Jialan. "Huo Jialan, may I ask why the personal phone listed in Huo Guanyuan's belongings and Luo Xinxue's birth certificate in the bank's safety deposit box were not among the items you handed over?"
She shook her head at the judge. "I'm sorry, Your Honor. The list of my father's belongings was given to my mother by the military. She signed for it. When it came to me, I had never seen this list of belongings. I just compared the list given by the court with my father's belongings. Everything else is there, but this personal phone is missing. "
What a coincidence.
The courtroom was instantly filled with chatter.
Gu Nianzhi remained calm and silent.
The truth was, after so many years, it was normal for these items to be lost or disposed of. Gu Nianzhi could understand that. However, Director Wang had years of experience in forensics. His intuition told him that this was unusual.
"Lawyer Gu, Senior Colonel Huo Guanyuan's personal phone is definitely not an ordinary piece of evidence. You should request permission from the court to have the mobile company investigate the phone's call and text records."
Without a court subpoena, the mobile company would not allow anyone other than the owner of the phone to investigate.
Of course, to Gu Nianzhi, it didn't matter that the phone was missing. As long as she knew the phone number, with Brother Ze around, no phone was a secret.
However, Zhao Liangze's method of obtaining information was exclusive to the Special Operations Forces. It couldn't be used as evidence in court. Only evidence produced by the mobile company that provided the phone number would be considered legal.
"Your Honor, we believe that the information stored on this phone is very helpful to the case. We hope the court can issue a subpoena to the mobile company to investigate the phone's call records." Gu Nianzhi made a bold request.
The judge considered it for a long time and felt that all of Huo Guanyuan's belongings were present except for the missing phone. He agreed to Gu Nianzhi's request and issued a subpoena to the mobile company.
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