Chapter 177 of 222
Chapter 70.1: If heaven has love, then it will also age. If people have love, they will die early.
5 min read1,198 words
“Why does Ji Lin always think that his father’s death is related to you?” she decided to ask directly, “What’s going on with this case?”
This question caught Lin Hui off guard. He didn’t expect that after opening up so much, what Bai DuanDuan was concerned about was not whether Ji Lin had deceived her, but whether he had deceived her.
Lin Hui lowered his head and his gaze softened. “This case is too old, and to be honest, I can’t remember all the details clearly. But you can find them in the case database, and the judgments and rulings are also available for electronic access on the Judicial Documents Network. If you’re interested, you can take a look.”
He raised his head again. “DuanDuan, believe me, I’m telling you all this for your own good. Because our relationship is not the kind of rumor that is spreading, if Ji Lin really hurt or deceived you, I would be upset and even angry, but honestly, it wouldn’t cause me unbearable pain. Ji Lin’s sneaky move didn’t really hurt me that much. I could have kept quiet, but I don’t want you to be hurt.”
Bai DuanDuan looked at Lin Hui but didn’t say anything.
Faced with her reaction, Lin Hui felt a little reluctant and helpless. “Silly child, do you still believe Ji Lin until now?”
“I believe him,” said Bai DuanDuan calmly and confidently, “because I trust my own judgment. The man I like wouldn’t do something so despicable and wouldn’t even stoop to using a woman’s emotions. Even if every word that Lawyer Lin said is true, Ji Lin wouldn’t try to retaliate against you in the way you described. He’s an upright man. If he wants to win, he’ll fight for it himself, and if he wants to defeat you, he’ll do it openly and honestly.”
Before he approached Bai DuanDuan, Lin Hui had anticipated her reaction. Perhaps she would cry bitterly upon learning the truth, or maybe she would hesitate and be unsure, or she might not want to believe it and even argue with him. But he had never expected this kind of reaction from her.
Bai DuanDuan was completely calm and composed, and Lin Hui’s heartfelt words could not shake Ji Lin’s position in her heart.
Lin Hui had never thought that Bai DuanDuan would trust Ji Lin more than him. Although they had previously had conflicts, he had never felt that these conflicts were irreparable. Deep down, he believed that Bai DuanDuan would trust him. After all, they had gone through too many things together over the years, whereas Ji Lin had only known Bai DuanDuan for a short time.
However, the facts spoke for themselves.
For the first time in his life, Lin Hui looked crestfallen and sad. “So you believe him, but you don’t believe me, DuanDuan?”
Bai DuanDuan looked into Lin Hui’s eyes and spoke each word forcefully, “I used to believe you, but now, I’m having trouble understanding you. You’ve changed, and I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.”
“Anyway, thank you for the coffee. I know what you wanted to tell me, and I’m also busy with additional evidence for the Tian Mu case. Ji Lin and I won’t lose this case. We’ll win openly and honestly.”
After saying these words, Bai DuanDuan paid the bill and left the private room without hesitation, leaving Lin Hui alone to stare at his cooling coffee in a daze.
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Although Bai Duan Duan was calm and composed when she left Lin Hui, her inner world was actually in turmoil and shock. She had never thought that there was such a history between Ji Lin and Lin Hui.
She believed in Ji Lin, but she still wanted to sort out what happened between Ji Lin and Lin Hui. Almost as soon as she returned to the office, she opened the case library and the judicial document network, and began searching with the names of Lin Hui and Ji Chengzhi as keywords. Soon, there were corresponding results.
However, in all the public records, only the facts as determined by the court or arbitration tribunal and the judgment results can be seen. Although the judgment results will indicate what the judge based the judgment on, overall, it is fundamentally difficult to reproduce the courtroom scene at that time with only such written materials, as the arguments of the plaintiff and defendant will not be fully recorded, and many details will not be stated one by one.
After all, this was a case nearly 20 years ago. If it were today, it would be different. Most first-tier city courts would record the entire trial process, and many cases that do not involve privacy and sensitive information would even update the trial videos regularly on the official website of the court. For cases that are not public, they can also be viewed by applying to access the records.
Although the road of consulting public documents from the court and arbitration commission was blocked, Bai Duan Duan did not give up. She directly opened a search engine and started searching with Ji Lin’s father’s case as the keyword. Many times, in addition to professional lawyer websites, seeking help from public search engines may also yield some useful clues and details.
However, 20 years ago, the Internet was just emerging, and was far less developed than it is today. Many information was still disseminated through print media and television stations. Bai Duan Duan searched for a long time, but was unable to extract any useful information.
However, even so, she had no way and did not want to directly ask Ji Lin for confirmation about this matter. Because for Ji Lin, who experienced the painful event as a witness, digging up details from his memory again would likely be a kind of secondary trauma. After all, no matter what, Ji Lin lost his father after this case. Moreover, Ji Lin obviously did not want to talk about the details of the case, as she had tried to probe and inquire many times before.
If Ji Lin didn’t want to talk, and Lin Hui seemed to be hiding something, who else could she turn to for information about the past? Should she ask Meng Xin? But Meng Xin was also one of the parties involved and lost her husband and was burdened with debts at a young age. It was probably not something she wanted to bring up again… So, who else could understand these old things?
“I’m back from my business trip! This time I went to Tianjin and brought back some Tianjin twist, it’s so delicious and crispy. Come and try it, first come first served, don’t wait till it expires!”
While Bai DuanDuan was pondering, Rong Sheng’s boisterous voice came from the door. He had just returned from his business trip and immediately gathered his friends.
In a short while, the other colleagues were all lured away by the Tianjin twist. Bai DuanDuan remained seated and suddenly thought of something.
Didn’t Ji Lin say he had known Rong Sheng for nearly 20 years? Maybe Rong Sheng knew about this old matter?