Chapter 36.3

“Sis, one good news and one bad news,” Ye Nianwen said, waving the summons in his hand. Ye Sibei looked up, “Good news?”

“We’re going to court.”

“Bad news?”

“My brother-in-law will be in court with you, so you might not be able to see him.”

Ye Sibei was surprised that Qin Nan was going to court too. Ye Nianwen explained, “It might be because the court is clearing cases before the New Year?”

Ye Sibei laughed at Ye Nianwen. She suddenly remembered, “What about Chu Chu?”

Ye Nianwen’s expression dimmed a little, “She should be processed together with Zhao Shuhui on the same day.”

Ye Sibei thought for a moment and patted Ye Nianwen’s shoulder, “It’s fine. We can wait together.”

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Just like the last time, Lin Feng came with the Ye family to pick her up. They drove to the courthouse, and as they approached, Ye Sibei saw many reporters from a distance.

In addition to the reporters, there were also many other people this time. Most of them were young people, seemingly from nowhere, holding banners that read “Go Ye Sibei!”

Perhaps because Ye Sibei had given interviews before and had said everything that needed to be said, she walked through the crowd gracefully, and the reporters were surprisingly calm and orderly.

Ye Sibei scanned the faces of those young people and saw girls shouting at her, “Ye Sibei, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose! Don’t be afraid!”

She smiled, nodded in thanks, and walked into the courthouse with Ye Nianwen and the others.

Many people had already arrived early at the courthouse. When Ye Sibei followed Ye Nianwen to the court entrance, she saw many unfamiliar women looking at her. Although there was no introduction, in that moment, Ye Sibei knew who they were.

They were all victims who had once been silent, seemingly disappeared from this world.

Fan Jiancheng had not arrived early, and the Fan family seemed to anticipate the outcome, so they did not come either.

Meng Xin stood at the entrance, just like last time. He saw Ye Sibei, paused for a moment, and walked up to her.

“Miss Ye.”

“Lawyer Meng.”

The two stood in silence. Meng Xin thought for a moment before speaking, “Miss Ye, everyone has the right to defense, and the truth will not be buried because of my defense. I hope you can understand.”

“I understand.”

Ye Sibei smiled, “I believe that if one day I become the defendant, Lawyer Meng will also defend me.”

Meng Xin was taken aback for a moment, and after a while, he nodded seriously, “Thank you.”

While they were talking, there was suddenly another commotion from the other side. Ye Sibei turned her head and saw Qin Nan, handcuffed, walking into the courtroom.

They looked at each other from a distance across the corridor. In Qin Nan’s eyes, Ye Sibei saw gentleness, longing, and encouragement.

In fact, this was the first time she saw this side of Qin Nan. He seemed to finally let down his guard and reveal the softest, truest self.

She slowly smiled, and he smiled back.

Then Ye Sibei heard the staff calling them. She and Qin Nan turned back and walked towards their respective places.

Just like during the first trial, as a witness, she was alone in a room. This time, she didn’t feel nervous; she had waited a long time and finally heard the staff calling her name.

The small door slowly opened, and she walked through it into the courtroom, standing in the witness stand where she had previously fled in embarrassment after being questioned.

The questions were the same as last time, but this time, due to the ample evidence, Meng Xin had little room to maneuver. After asking a few simple questions, he finally brought up the same question he had asked her before: “Miss Ye, you have always claimed that you did not consent and that you had no private contact with Mr. Fan. Can you tell me what reason led you to choose silence after experiencing such significant trauma, only to suddenly decide to file a complaint?”

Meng Xin looked at her: “Why didn’t you call the police right away?”

Ye Sibei remained silent. She slowly turned around; the audience seats were empty, but she felt as if someone was sitting there.

“Miss Ye?” Meng Xin reminded her. Ye Sibei turned back and looked at him.

“Lawyer Meng, do you know how I ended up here?”

“From the moment I decided to call the police, my mother stopped me, my brother stopped me. After I finally gathered the courage to report it, I was threatened, insulted, and mocked. When I walked down the street, I felt people were discussing me. When I went online, I saw people slandering me. They questioned what I had done, mocked my husband, and humiliated my family. Then I lost the case, and I felt trapped. I even thought about killing the defendant, but my husband acted first and ended up being charged with intentional homicide, and he is currently on trial next door. All these difficulties and humiliations, I had anticipated the moment my case happened. Because,” Ye Sibei turned to look at the small room where the witnesses were, “I am not the first, and I may not be the last.”

“You ask me why I didn’t call the police at the beginning. If you were in my shoes and had already anticipated everything you might face, how much courage would you have to report it?”

Meng Xin did not respond. Ye Sibei turned to the judge: “If possible, I hope I won’t be asked this question by a lawyer today, and I hope that one day in the future, this question will never come up again. If I had reported it right away, if I had done a drug test immediately, perhaps this case wouldn’t have gone to retrial. But I was scared; the greatest harm I faced in this case did not come from the perpetrator, but from this world.”

“Is it hard to understand why I didn’t report it?”

Meng Xin nodded; he did not ask further.

After Ye Sibei stepped down, Zhao Chuchu took the stand again.

“You said you already had evidence; why didn’t you submit it during the first trial?”

“Because I was afraid.” Compared to the first time, Zhao Chuchu was much calmer facing this question. “In the past, my boyfriend and my father repeatedly told me not to go to drinking parties and to be cautious. I always contradicted them, wanting to prove I was right. But that day, I trusted Fan Jiancheng and gave the drug to Sister Ye. When I realized something went wrong, all their words filled my mind in an instant. I felt it was all my fault, and I was afraid they would find out it was my mistake. So I thought of a way to have the best of both worlds: I tried to falsely testify for Sister Ye in the first trial, hoping to send Fan Jiancheng to prison while covering up the fact that I had drugged her.”

“But I didn’t expect,” Zhao Chuchu lowered her head, “that the online discussion would suddenly turn against me. Because I left Ye Sibei in the car, they tried to find all my flaws and continually proved that I was a wicked person who must have deliberately abandoned her. My attire, my behavior, my past relationships, all my actions that did not conform to the standard of a good girl became their targets for attack. This plunged me into depression and anxiety; I scrolled through the internet every day, desperately trying to prove I was a good person, hoping they would stop insulting me. So in court, I told everyone that I didn’t leave her in the car when she was unconscious.”

“What made you change your mind?”

Meng Xin seemed a bit surprised.

Hearing this, Zhao Chuchu smiled bitterly: “Because Sister Ye believes I’m a good person.”

“And I also realized that errors do not disappear if you don’t face them.”

After Zhao Chuchu stepped down, Zhao Shuhui took the stand.

When asked the same question about why she concealed evidence during the first trial, Zhao Shuhui appeared expressionless: “Because at that time, I thought I couldn’t leave him. I needed him to support our family; I needed him to be my daughter’s father. Moreover, I was afraid to get divorced. I didn’t know how to tell my parents after a divorce, and I was also afraid that no one would want me if I remarried. I feared a difficult life while raising Wenwen alone.”

“But actually, I was helping him, and I always felt guilty inside. I often couldn’t sleep well, afraid that Wenwen would suffer retribution. After he was released, his temper got worse. We often argued, and he would hit me. Many people joked that Wenwen was the daughter of a rapist, and I felt that no matter how difficult life got, it couldn’t be worse than this.”

“Later, Lawyer Ye told me that if I surrendered and cooperated, my sentence could be reduced. I thought my child needed someone to care for her. The sooner I got out, the sooner I could take care of her. So in the end, I submitted the evidence, hoping the judge would be lenient; my child is still young…”

…