LRAB Chapter 5 My Heart Aches for You
Chapter 5 My Heart Aches for You
"Yes, how could it not be?" Gu Ping said, "I only have one daughter, and Liu Xi is also an only child. Their wedding was held in their hometown. The entire village of Baishu attended the banquet; it was quite a grand affair."
She scoffed, "Well, his mother is very concerned about her image and is extremely shrewd. She wouldn't be satisfied if she didn't take this opportunity to recoup all the gifts she'd given over the years."
Yu Xingge nodded: "So, after the marriage, Chu Jing has been staying with Liu Xi in their hometown?"
"Absolutely," she said. "They're both getting on in years and want children. Liu Xi's mother is so eager to have a grandson that she won't let them go out to work anymore. She says they can only leave when she gets pregnant. They're lazy and don't want to work anyway, so they just stayed in their hometown. I've tried to persuade Chu Jing a few times, but she won't listen to me."
"Sigh. If she had listened to me back then, maybe she and Liu Xi would have broken up, and none of this would have happened..." Her voice trailed off, "Who could have imagined?"
Yu Xingge: "So that means the two of them were living together for almost a year after their wedding banquet. Professor Gu, can you find someone to testify?"
"Make a certificate? I can do that!"
"You can't. Because you're filing a lawsuit, your statement is considered a party's statement, not a witness testimony. However, if you have physical evidence or audio/video recordings that can prove they cohabited for a year, that would be acceptable."
"Yes! Of course we have!" Gu Ping clapped her hands. "I have their wedding banquet and gift list here, not to mention their chats and phone calls over the past year. Finding witnesses is easy; anyone in our village can vouch for me."
"Has Liu Xi ever hit Chu Jing?" Yu Xingge asked.
Gu Ping shook her head: "No, not at all."
Are you sure?
"Probably..." she said, then became uncertain. "You saw it yourself, Liu Xi is good at pretending. He's a clean-cut young man, good at talking and doing things. Initially, I didn't approve of him being with Chu Jing. Our family has a lot of land, and the farm work is heavy. After your uncle passed away, we planted trees, which meant a lot of spraying and weeding. I'm old and can't do the work anymore, so I wanted to find a son-in-law who could live with us and have an easier life. He's a well-known only son. He definitely wouldn't be a suitable son-in-law; he doesn't look like he can lift a finger, so I didn't think much of him. But he never gives us the cold shoulder; he just comes to our house every few days. He helps with the heavy work without complaint, watering the trees in the sweltering heat, his back peeling and healing from the sun. Everyone in the village says he should be our good son-in-law!"
"Looking back now, there were signs all along. How could anyone be so good? People who seem perfect on the outside are often wicked on the inside. The day after the wedding, I went to see Chu Jing. She looked unwell and wouldn't answer when I asked her anything. I assumed she was just shy. During the year after the wedding, I would sometimes visit her, and he never dared to leave a mark on Chu Jing. Liu Xi, on the other hand, would come to the house and busy himself with everything, without showing any sign of anything amiss."
Tears welled in her eyes: "The day Chu Jing drank pesticide, she called me, saying Liu Xi had cursed at her, insulted her, and given her the silent treatment. Did you hear what he just called me? Auntie. He and Chu Jing were together for so many years. I saved him the dowry, held the wedding banquet, and he called her 'Mom' all the time. Chu Jing served him and his family. He pretended to be innocent and pure, but behind her back, he drove Chu Jing to suicide. Then he turned around and casually called me 'Auntie' to bring me food. How could I dare to eat it? He wouldn't dare poison her, but spitting in her food... who knows..."
Grandma Fan, who was still harboring resentment, felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this.
A silence fell over the ward. A young girl lay on the bed near the door, suffering from alcohol poisoning due to the pressure of exams. She had previously felt that life was already unbearable and didn't want to live anymore. Hearing this, she couldn't help but sit up and look over.
Yu Xingge pulled out the accompanying chair next to the hospital bed and took out the documents from her bag, spreading them out on the bedside table.
"Professor Gu, if you are sure you want to sue Liu Xi, please take a look at these documents."
She explained in detail: "A private criminal prosecution doesn't require a lawyer. You'll need to submit to the court a complaint, evidence supporting the complaint, proof of Chu Jing's standing as the plaintiff, a confirmation of service address, etc. I can prepare all of that for you. However, you'll also need to collect as much evidence as possible of Liu Xi's verbal abuse, sarcasm, and attacks against Chu Jing, as well as evidence of their wedding ceremony and cohabitation."
"No problem, no problem, Xingge, I trust you to handle things." She looked at the documents marked with red and green memos, with notes written in pencil in the blank spaces and signs indicating the signature area, and exclaimed, "From childhood to adulthood, you have always been so meticulous and thorough in your work."
"Bed 37!" A nurse pushed open the door and came in. "Are Zuo Chujing's family members here?"
Gu Ping went up to her: "Zai Zai. I'm Zuo Chujing's mother. How is Chujing?"
"She's out of the emergency room now, and she needs a family member to take care of her."
"I'll go right away. Nurse, is my daughter alright?"
"Ask the doctor later."
"Ask a doctor? Which doctor? Can you tell me a few words first?"
Gu Ping tugged at the nurse's arm. The round-faced nurse said impatiently, "Don't pull my clothes! Your daughter drank pesticide. The good news is, it wasn't paraquat, a deadly pesticide. But the poisoning caused respiratory failure, hypoproteinemia, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome. We worked so hard to save her; let's see how she recovers. If she's determined to die and doesn't cooperate with further treatment..."
"I'll cooperate! I'll definitely cooperate," Gu Ping hurriedly assured her. "I'll keep a close eye on her and make sure she cooperates with the treatment."
After Gu Ping left, the ward returned to silence.
"Young lady, you really are a lawyer!" Grandma Fan took two steps closer and greeted her, "My grandson was being naughty earlier and spilled food on you, are you alright?"
Yu Xingge shook her head: "It's okay, it's already wiped clean."
Grandma Fan: "Your daughter seems like a kind and understanding girl. Um..." She sat down mysteriously: "I heard you call her Teacher Gu, right? What's the deal between Teacher Gu and that young man? How did her daughter end up committing suicide by taking poison?"
Yu Xingge: ...
She glanced at the elderly woman's dyed golden hair and her elegant beige silk cheongsam. Unconsciously, the other four people being cared for subtly crowded around the perimeter: "Auntie, what's wrong with your grandson? Is his vocal cords damaged? His voice sounds hoarse."
Grandma Fan's face fell when she mentioned her grandson: "He's so naughty. I wasn't watching him for a second, and he started drinking laundry detergent like it was a beverage. His esophagus is burning, sigh..."
"Such a young child is at a very difficult age to look after." She added, "I see dark circles under your eyes; you look like you're working very hard."
Grandma Fan glanced at the woman catching up on sleep by the bedside: "My daughter-in-law is blaming me, blaming me for not taking good care of her. I've devoted myself to her for the past few years, and with this incident, all my hard work has been wiped out. Everyone in the family is blaming me."
Yu Xingge feigned surprise: "How can you be blamed for this? Criminal law considers both intentional and negligent acts, and you didn't do it on purpose."
"Who says otherwise! I always said you're a good girl, no wonder you can become a lawyer!" Grandma Fan became more and more happy as they chatted: "Girl, can you give me your contact information? I'll introduce you to a friend who can help you with your case."
"Oh, thank you so much." Yu Xingge smiled.
The ward door was pushed open again.
"Huh? Where's Auntie?" Liu Xi switched the lunchbox in his other hand. His fingers crumpled the plastic packaging slightly. He glanced at the A4 papers spread out on the bedside table; his mother-in-law's presence was still there, but her figure was gone. He said this, but his tone was somewhat nonchalant as he fixed his gaze on the woman by the bed, who was bent over organizing documents.
His black hair cascaded over his shoulders, and his shirt collar was buttoned up meticulously. Seeing no one respond, he showed no embarrassment, and walked straight over, saying, "You're a student at Aunt Gu's orphanage? I've never heard Chu Jing mention you before."
Yu Xingge was tidying up the documents she had just finished working on. Liu Xi wanted to take a quick look, so she stepped forward and said, "Thank you for coming to see Chu Jing. But I'm here for you. Look how busy you are, working even in the ward. You're working so hard. Actually, outsiders don't know or understand what's going on between Chu Jing and me. If you ask me, you should go back to work and worry less. It would be better if you didn't come here."
Yu Xingge didn't even bother to lift his head.
"Hey, you!" Liu Xi was very unhappy. He knew Yu Xingge's true identity perfectly well. What friend? Could she even have a friend like that? It must be the good lawyer her mother hired. He stared at Xingge's black hair: This woman is unyielding, not easy to deal with.
"Come on, make way, make way, make way!"
Two nurses pushed the hospital bed in. Zuo Chujing, with her hair in a half-grown bun, lay listlessly on the bed. Seeing Gu Ping wiping away tears at the foot of the bed, she turned her head to the other side in annoyance and saw Liu Xi standing by the window. Her breathing became rapid.
"What do you know?" Her voice was hoarse. Even though the gastric lavage tube had been removed, it still felt stuck in her throat. The pain of being unable to swallow lingered, making her even angrier: "What do you know?"
A look of disgust flashed across Liu Xi's brow as he went to meet him: "Why are you talking like this?" He grabbed the hand by the bedside.
Two tears streamed down Zuo Chujing's face, but a glint of light appeared in her eyes: "What are you doing here? Why won't you let me...?"
Gu Ping was about to swear at someone in annoyance.
The nurse said, "Gentlemen, could you lend a hand? We need to move the patient to the bed."
Liu Xi casually tucked his arm back under the covers: "Honestly, why are you so desperate? Did you argue with the neighbors again? I was only gone for a little while, how did it escalate to the point of taking medicine?" Seeing several female nurses struggling to lift Zuo Chujing, he grabbed the food from the bedside table and slipped back: "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Are you hungry?" He asked the nurse, "Can I give her some food?"
The nurse, her hands still busy, couldn't help but roll her eyes. "No way. Didn't you see the big words on the headboard?"
The words "No eating" were written in black on a pink background and were pasted on the hospital bed.
"You've been on IV drips for the past few days, so don't drink any water today."
Liu Xi: "Then we'll just have to bear with it. Jingjing, I truly feel sorry for you."