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CHAPTER 334
Once everyone was seated for the next hearing to begin, the public present surprisingly maintained peace and quietness without even being told to do so.
Nobody needed any quick hints before feeling the tension that had encompassed the courtroom, to the point it felt somewhat suffocating and the air felt heavy.
Obviously, the case was getting tougher and tougher by the minute, with new information and unexpected revelations unfolding before the court, press and the public's present.
And at this point, no one knew exactly what to expect.
As always, Beatrice Zhang was brought to the prosecuting stand and everything was about to be carried out as usual when the judge walked in, except it was a completely different judge, leaving the public and Andromeda puzzled at the sight of him.
Sitting at his table, the new judge proceeded to make his announcement, "I will be taking over the case from now henceforth. The previous judge ran into an accident on his way here and the board contacted me to take his place."
Several gasps could be heard as the news visibly shocked everyone to their wits, most especially Andromeda whose hands flew to her mouth.
The judge encountered an accident.
Andromeda was obviously stricken by the news that she turned to look at Liu Xueyi, wondering if he was aware of this, but he looked just as shocked and as clueless as her.
Andromeda wasn't even done recovering from the news when the sound of the judge's hammer hitting the table broke her from her thoughts, forcing her to return her attention to the pressing matter.
"Your honour."
Lawyer Chang got to his feet, stepping away from his table and dipping his head in a low bow.
"The news has left us all speechless, but without a doubt, the case must go on."
Raising his head back up, he turned to look at Wu Bai and gestured for the young man to move towards the witness stand, and this time around, Wu Bai willingly moved without putting up a fight, an action that didn't miss Lawyer Chang and the rest of Andromeda's crew.
"Your honour, in the last trial we had Mr Wu Bai go into some questioning, but the case had to be adjourned due to certain reasons and we're here today to resume. If you don't mind, I would like to continue with the questions, your honour."
"Proceed."
The judge gave him a go-ahead and Lawyer Chang returned his gaze to Wu Bai who was busy arranging the collar of his suit and standing firm on the witness stand.
"Mr Wu Bai," Lawyer Chang professionally began, "during the last hearing Ms. Zhang here made mention of you being the reason she took a large step that led to the stealing of Ms. Kai's work. Do you remember?"
Wu Bai nodded in response, surprisingly looking the opposite of how he did last time when he was called out.
"What do you have to say about that?"
"Before you begin," Attorney Longwei also got to her feet, "I have an objection to make, if I may, your honour?"
"Objection sustained," came the judge's response that left Andromeda blinking in disbelief.
Not just Andromeda but Lawyer Chang as well, and the worst case was that he hadn't even begun his questioning yet.
A cunning smile adorned Longwei's lips as she took a step forward, the sound of her heels click-clacking against the tiled floor as she stood before Lawyer Chang, but barely shifting her gaze to his direction.
"Your honour, the truth about the subject is that my client Ms. Zhang only made mention of Mr Wu Bai's name out of pressure, she was forced to call out his name under solid threat," she stated, leaving Lawyer Chang's brows to furrow in bafflement.
"Do you have proof of what you just mentioned?" asked the judge whose glasses shifted to the bridge of his nose.
"My client Ms. Zhang is more than willing to speak for herself if his honour is willing to hear from the horse's mouth."
"That is basically nonsense attorney Longwei," Lawyer Chang objected to that statement sharply.
"How can you possibly say it's a threat or out of pressure when she made it clear to the court that she did everything to please Mr Wu Bai here?"
"Lawyer Chang," attorney Longwei turned to meet his sceptical stare but seeing as the situation was falling into place, she couldn't possibly risk doing something that would jeopardize everything, like teasing him with a mocking smile.
In the end, she had to stop herself from revealing the smile on her lips.
"Like I said," her expression turned thoughtful, "I think we should let my client speak for herself so we can settle things, and you should cool up a bit too, we're here to defend the truth, not fight."
"Attorney Longwei," the judge finally spoke up, breaking apart the heated stare both lawyers kept exchanging with one another.
"Your request has been granted."
With that, the sound of his hammer resonated in the courtroom, leaving Andromeda's mouth hanging agape and a little hope to taint Wu Bai's lips.
"Thank you, your honour." Attorney Longwei bowed in appreciation while Lawyer Chang was visibly dumbstruck by the judge's rule towards them.
He wasn't even meant to grant attorney Longwei any form of speech since he wasn't done questioning Wu Bai on this issue.
Something felt wrong and he just couldn't put a finger to it.
Returning her gaze to Beatrice Zhang, attorney Longwei gestured for her to speak, and she nodded before looking at the people present in court.
"As you've heard from my lawyer, Wu Bai is innocent of what I accused him of," she audibly announced, and Andromeda felt her hopes crumbling bit by bit the more Beatrice spoke up.
"I called his name out of pressure because I was being intimidated by all of them," she outrightly accused while pointing at Andromeda.
"That woman over there is no saint, because of her I had to accuse an innocent being of something he never did, and I'm unsure of how to seek his forgiveness but she…"
She suddenly paused, as though she was hurt by everything that was happening and tears pooled in her eyes, which she slowly wiped off before apologizing to the court for getting too emotional.
"My client has spoken," Attorney Longwei said without a hint of hesitation, turning her gaze to Wu Bai who still feigned victimhood.
"We apologize for the inconvenience we caused you. My client was pressured and…"
"That's a blatant lie!" Andromeda didn't hesitate to cut in as she got to her feet, "Wu Bai is just as guilty as Beatrice and should not be let off the hook so easily!"
"Andy..." Liu Xueyi nearly facepalmed at her outburst.
Of course, she was bound to get emotional seeing the people responsible for her ruins get the upper hand, but he wished she controlled it still.
"Andy…" Liu Xueyi's voice trailed off, hopefully.
He wanted to gain her attention, but she deliberately didn't listen as she shook her head in refusal.
"No, I can't let them get away with it," she openly enunciated, not caring about any consequences again.
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