The court building itself had ten floors and with the addition of the roof, the whole structure was twelve floors high. The space around the building was also incredibly limited so he had to be very careful with every step he took.
Aside from being careful for safety’s sake, he also had to be careful to avoid Zhao Gui’s detection.
Fortunately, the colleagues in the court were doing a good job by engaging Zhao Gui and his family in conversation. However, right when he was about to approach Zhao Gui, someone shouted from afar, “Zhao Gui, be careful, someone’s coming from the side.”
Zhao Gui glanced quickly to the side and saw that the person he’d been warned about was Xu Baohan. Trembling with anger, he asked, “Didn’t you say earlier that you were going to look for your director? You lied to me.”
“Yes, I lied to you,” Xu Baohan’s sharp gaze focused on his eyes as he said firmly, “The conditions you raised are simply impossible to meet. The court cannot set such a precedent. You aren’t the first one who has come to the court to commit suicide and you definitely won’t be the last.”
Zhao Gui hadn’t expected him to be so unyielding. He was now at a loss as to what to do.
Seeing this, Xu Baohan took the opportunity to move a few steps closer.
“If you come any closer, I will jump down immediately,” Zhao Gui warned. He tried to calm himself down but he remained as furious as ever, “Are you trying to force me to my death? The son whom I raised so painstakingly died just like that. If you fail to offer me an explanation today, I will die here.”
“Alright, I will give you an explanation,” Xu Baohan said, “You can continue to appeal. If the second trial doesn’t work, then we’ll proceed to the third. If the city courts don’t work in your favour then you’ll go to the province. By the time you’re well and done and when all the judges have upheld the original verdict, it would then be time for you to reflect on why your son would assault another man’s wife. You’ll be forced to think about how you educated him.”
“What do you mean? Are you trying to accuse us of not educating our son well?” Zhao Gui asked, knowing deep down that he wanted to grab ahold of Xu Baohan and push the both of them over the balcony together.
“According to the evidence gathered by the opposing lawyer, this isn’t the first time your son has forcefully assaulted a woman, is it?” Xu Baohan sneered, “How can you blame those women when you haven’t even, as parents, reflected on why your son would do such a thing?”
“That’s right. If those women didnt dress so provocatively and hadn’t seduced my son, my son wouldn’t have taken a liking to them,” Zhao Gui yelled.
Xu Baohan took advantage of his emotional state and rushed up to grab his arm.
“Let go of me,” Zhao Gui pushed him with all his might.
Xu Baohan grabbed the railing of the narrow balcony with one hand and dragged him over the wall with the other.
Su Run and the security guards of the court immediately rushed up to grab him.
Zhao Gui struggled violently on the railing and roared loudly. Xu Baohan’s body was right on the edge of the narrow balcony and he instinctively wanted to grab the security guard’s hand. However, just as he was about to do so, he stepped on some moss. His body buckled and fell over the edge like a kite with a broken string.
Back at the law firm, An Lan had called Xu Baohan a few times but no one had picked up. She grew frustrated – they had been deciding what to eat for dinner and all of a sudden he’d just decided to not reply to her WeChat messages.
Regardless of how busy he was, couldn’t he just drop her a simple text? It seemed now he was refusing to pick up her calls as well.
Where were they going to meet then?
“An Lan, shouldn’t you be getting off work? You probably don’t have to work overtime today right,” Li Yuchen asked from her door. He had been getting ready to leave when he saw that the lights in her office were still on.
“I’m waiting for a call,” An Lan said gloomily, “We were supposed to have dinner together, but it’s like radio silence now.”
“Are you talking about Chief Judge Xu?” Li Yuchen touched his chin thoughtfully, “Could something have happened?”
“Don’t be such a jinx,” An Lan rolled her eyes but her heart skipped a beat. Xu Baohan rarely missed her calls or went off the grid except for when he was in court or in meetings.
“I’ll ask his assistant.”
She regretted not asking for Su Run’s phone number directly the last time they’d met.
