Chapter Eighteen: Key Evidence

  The security guard did not let all of Ye Feng's coworkers in, so only Zhu and two other coworkers from the same hometown came to see him.

  As soon as they met, the three of them rushed up to give Ye Feng a hug, while his mother stood far behind, watching them silently, not speaking or walking forward, just standing there and crying quietly.

  Ye Feng simply said a few words to his workmates, mainly thanking them for hiring Qin Yan as his lawyer. Afterwards, Ye Feng slowly walked over to his mother's side and gently held her hand.

  Zhu Zi and two fellow workers from his hometown had already left at this time, they also did not want to disturb Ye Feng's alone time with his mother.

  Her mother looked thinner and darker.

  Ye Feng grasped her hand and softly called out in his hometown dialect: "Ma, you've come."

  Her mother wiped away her tears and asked Ye Feng with her first sentence: "Xiao Feng, did you really kill someone?"

  Ye Feng shook his head vigorously and replied solemnly: "I didn't, I really didn't. I was framed."

  Her mother let out a sigh of relief and said, "It's good that you didn't. I also believe you wouldn't do such a thing. As long as you really didn't kill anyone, I believe that lawyer Qin Yan will be able to help you get justice."

  Ye Feng didn't expect that his mother had already been in contact with Qin Yan, and asked: "Mom, how long have you been to Mingzhu? Where's Dad? Where are Grandpa and Grandma? Who is taking care of them?"

  "I've been here for over a week now, the court and police won't let me see you. At first, Zhùzi was taking care of my food and lodging, but it wasn't convenient, so later on, Zhùzi introduced me to Attorney Qin, and I've been staying at the unit where Attorney Qin works these past few days. As for your dad, now it's your uncle and aunt who are taking care of him."

  "Then what about my uncle and aunt? Do they know about my situation? Why haven't they come, why aren't they taking care of Dad?"

  "Ever since your thing spread back to the village, your eldest uncle and aunt have refused to set foot in our home, even wanting to cut off all ties with us, saying that our family has produced a murderer, that you've done something that will make people hunch their backs for life, ruining the reputation of the Ye family and making them unable to hold their heads up."

  After listening to his mother's words, Ye Feng suddenly felt a surge of resentment in his heart. Eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law usually didn't have much contact with them, not only did they not take care of their disabled younger brother and his wife, but also neglected the elderly grandfather and grandmother. It was impossible for them to do anything about this matter, it would be good if they didn't add insult to injury.

  "Your father, upon hearing about this matter, fainted for three consecutive days and was sent to the rural clinic for infusion for several days before he recovered. However, after waking up, he became even more eccentric, either crying or laughing all the time."

  His mother's words made Ye Feng feel very depressed, Ye Feng pulled her hand and said: "Mom, why don't you go back? I'm worried that my uncle and aunt can't take care of Dad. You don't have to worry about me, I promise you, it won't be long before I get out."

  Her mother just shook her head and didn't say a word. She only stroked Ye Feng's hand and face, and the tears that had stopped flowing again flowed down.

  Ye Feng knew that before he was finally sentenced, his mother would absolutely not be back.

  After comforting his mother for a while, Ye Feng asked the police officer to see a lawyer.

  Ye Feng knew that Qin Yan had arrived, but she might also be letting herself have some alone time with her mother, so she didn't rush to meet him.

  Qin Yan arrived, and then her mother went to the courtroom, waiting for Ye Feng to come out.

  Seeing Qin Yan again, he still couldn't help but feel amazed, just like the first time he saw her. Although the current situation was not suitable, for a moment, Ye Feng's mind was still immersed in Qin Yan's extreme beauty.

  Today, Qin Yan wore a crisp light gray suit, her hair was tied up in a bun, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, with lightly raised eyebrows and rosy lips, she looked stunningly beautiful.

  Ye Feng gathered his thoughts and politely called out: "Attorney Qin, hello."

  Nowadays, Ye Feng indeed has some good feelings towards Qin Yan, of course not the kind of liking her, but because she is not a relative or friend, yet can lower herself to take care of his mother who came from the countryside.

  This moved Ye Feng deeply and also made him very grateful.

  Qin Yan smiled and said to Ye Feng, "Ye Feng, you're also good." Then she immediately put away her smile, took out a small notebook from her bag, opened it, looked at Ye Feng very seriously, and said: "Ye Feng, I have two pieces of news to tell you, one is extremely bad and the other is not too good. Which one do you want to hear first?"

  Ye Feng is no longer the same person who was frightened by Liu Yong's gun a few months ago. Qin Yan's serious expression and solemn tone only made him feel somewhat surprised, but it wouldn't make him panic.

  Ye Feng sat down on the plastic soft chair in the detention room, propped up his legs, and changed to a more comfortable posture before saying, "Then I'll listen to that extremely bad news first."

  Qin Yan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, somewhat unexpectedly at Ye Feng's calm demeanor. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and said seriously: "Ye Feng, do you still remember our conversation before you were taken into custody? I told you that the most favorable piece of evidence for your case was the time difference between the victim's death and when you arrived at the villa. This time difference can be proven through the forensic autopsy report. With modern high-tech autopsy methods, it is possible to accurately determine the exact time of death, especially since the victim's body has been well-preserved. However, when I found the forensic expert in charge of this case, I received some very bad news."

  Here is the translation:

  "Up to this point, Qin Yan paused for a moment, flipped open the notebook in her hand, and carefully read it for a while before continuing: 'Firstly, the forensic autopsy report has come out, which clearly states that the victim's exact time of death was shortly after you arrived at the villa. This proves that you had ample time to commit the murder; secondly, the forensic expert also emphasized that the victim had struggled with you before dying, because they found your skin tissue in the victim's fingernail crevices. Either of these two points can prove that you are the real murderer, and as for the motive and on-site evidence, it will be even more unfavorable to you.'"

  Ye Feng listened quietly to Qin Yan's account of this so-called extremely bad news, and there were not many ripples in his heart. In the deceased's villa, Ye Feng had been knocked unconscious by Liu Yong for a period of time. During that time, Liu Yong had enough time to stuff Ye Feng's skin tissue into the gap between the deceased's fingers. On the other hand, as Ye Feng had guessed earlier, the forensic doctor must have been bribed by Liu Yong, so the forensic doctor would have made false testimony in the autopsy report on the key point of the deceased's death time. At present, this point is no longer in doubt.

  So in response to this extremely bad news, Ye Feng only said one sentence to Qin Yan: "Lawyer Qin, if Liu Yong wants to thoroughly frame me, he will definitely make the most of it. He can transplant my skin tissue into the deceased's fingerprint during my coma, and also bribe the forensic doctor in charge of this case. This shouldn't be a difficult task for a deputy chief of police."

  Qin Yan didn't immediately respond to Ye Feng's words, but simply nodded and walked around the room a few times before continuing: "Ye Feng, what I'm about to tell you is not very good news, it's the biggest gain from my investigation over this period of time. You were right, if you were really framed, then it's possible that the forensic doctor was bribed to provide false evidence. As your defense lawyer, I have to get to the bottom of this, so at the time, I asked the forensic doctor to conduct a second autopsy. But what I didn't expect was that he told me the body had already been cremated. To be honest, his answer immediately made me doubt and suspect your case. The deceased had only died less than three days ago, and yet the body was cremated in under three days, which is clearly against procedure. Moreover, without the consent of the deceased's family members, the forensic doctor and police did not have any authority to privately decide to cremate the body."

  "So I asked the forensic doctor back, asking him why he did this. As a result, the forensic doctor was tongue-tied at that time and gave me an even more absurd answer. He said that the freezer in the forensic autopsy room was broken, and considering the hot weather at the time, the body had deteriorated, so after obtaining the consent of the police and the deceased's family members, they cremated the body. Then I asked him where the body was cremated, he couldn't answer, I continued to ask him where the consent form for the cremation signed by the family member was, I wanted to see the signature, but he also couldn't produce it. Finally, he simply pushed everything onto the police and told me to go find the police to understand."

  "So I went back to the Yangtze River District Public Security Bureau and found that criminal police chief Liu Yong, asking him to provide relevant evidence, but he couldn't provide me with anything. He didn't tell me where the body was cremated, nor did he give me a signed consent form from the deceased's family members. And just now, when I was communicating with a judge who is familiar with your case, I found out that until today, neither the police nor the court has contacted the deceased's family members. Ye Feng, do you know what this means?"

  At this point, Qin Yan suddenly stopped talking, she stared straight at Ye Feng, her body lightly trembling, Ye Feng could feel it, she seemed to be somewhat excited.