Free Web NovelChapter 389: Justice
The investigation moved swiftly because the evidence was overwhelming. The audio recordings, CCTV footage, financial records, and witness testimonies created a case so solid that even the most experienced defense attorneys struggled to challenge it.
Within weeks, the trial reached its conclusion.
The courtroom on the day of sentencing was packed to capacity.
Reporters filled the back rows, their notebooks and cameras ready. Legal observers whispered quietly among themselves while spectators waited with tense anticipation.
At the center of it all sat Hua Ling and Mao Li.
Time in custody had changed them both.
Hua Ling, once so polished and composed, looked visibly worn down. Her hair was tied back carelessly, her face pale beneath the harsh courtroom lights. The elegance that had once defined her had faded, replaced by something sharp and brittle.
Mao Li sat beside her in silence.
He appeared smaller somehow, his posture slightly hunched as though the weight of everything that had happened had pressed down on him physically. His gaze rarely lifted from the table before him.
When the judge began reading the verdict, the room fell completely silent.
The charges were listed one by one.
Attempted murder. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Kidnapping.
Conspiracy.
Evidence tampering.
Each count carried its own severity, but together they painted a devastating picture.
When the final sentence was delivered, the words landed heavily in the quiet courtroom.
"Fifty years imprisonment," the judge said firmly, "without the possibility of parole."
The reaction was immediate.
Hua Ling shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair scraped loudly across the floor.
"This is ridiculous!" she shouted, her voice sharp with rage. "You can’t do this! I didn’t—"
Her protest dissolved into furious accusations, but the courtroom had already turned away from her. Bailiffs moved quickly to restrain her while reporters scribbled frantically.
No one was listening anymore.
The verdict had already been decided.
Beside her, Mao Li did not shout.
He sat motionless, his face drained of color, his expression hollow with a quiet kind of shame. He did not argue. He did not resist as officers approached.
The courtroom doors eventually closed behind them, and just like that, the Chapter that had threatened to destroy Hua Jing’s life finally came to an end.
A week later, the world outside had begun to move on.
But Hua Jing had not forgotten.
By that time, her strength had returned gradually. The hospital stays had ended, and though her body still carried the exhaustion of everything she had endured, she could walk again without assistance.
On a quiet afternoon, a black car pulled up outside the city detention facility.
The building stood tall and cold, its grey walls reflecting little warmth from the pale sky above. Security officers at the entrance checked identification carefully before allowing her through.
Inside, the air felt heavy and sterile.
Hua Jing walked down the corridor slowly, her footsteps echoing faintly against the polished floor. A guard led her to the visitor’s room, where a thick glass partition separated two chairs facing one another.
"Wait here," the officer said before stepping away.
For a moment, Hua Jing sat alone.
Her hands rested quietly on the table, but her fingers were slightly curled as if holding invisible tension.
Then the door on the opposite side opened.
Hua Ling entered.
The difference between them was stark.
Hua Ling wore a standard detention uniform, its dull color draining what little brightness remained from her appearance. The confidence she had once radiated was gone entirely, replaced by a tight, guarded expression.
Hua Ling and Hua Jing sat opposite each other in the small visitation room, separated by a thick pane of reinforced glass that reflected both of their faces faintly in its cold surface. The room itself was plain and sterile—bare walls, a single table bolted to the floor on each side, harsh fluorescent lights humming faintly overhead. It was a place built for confrontations that had nowhere else to exist.
For a moment after Hua Ling entered, neither of them spoke.
Hua Ling stared across the glass at the woman seated before her, and disbelief washed over her features so clearly that it almost looked like pain. She had imagined many endings for herself over the years—victory, triumph, power—but never this. Never sitting in a prison uniform inside a detention facility, facing the very person she had tried so desperately to erase from existence.
Her life had collapsed so quickly it still felt unreal.
Then her disbelief twisted violently into rage.
The moment her eyes focused fully on Hua Jing, she surged forward in her chair as though the glass barrier had personally offended her.
"You wretched woman!" she spat, her voice already rising to a shrill pitch. "I’ll kill you. Do you hear me? I will kill you!"
Her hands slammed against the table, the sound echoing sharply through the room. freewebnøvel.coɱ
"Look at what you did to me!" she continued hysterically, her eyes blazing with hatred. "Look at where I am because of you! I’ll kill you!"
The rage in her voice filled the room like smoke.
Yet the reaction she received from Hua Jing was nothing like what she had expected.
Hua Jing did not flinch.
She did not argue.
Instead, she simply looked at her through the glass and smiled.
It was not a cruel smile, nor a triumphant one. It was calm—almost serene. There was relief in it, and something else too, something that suggested the long weight she had carried had finally been lifted from her shoulders.
"I knew you would fit in there," Hua Jing said quietly, her voice soft but steady.
The words were simple, yet the calm confidence behind them struck harder than any insult.
"Take care of yourself," she continued, tilting her head slightly as she observed her sister with an expression that carried neither fear nor anger. "Everything you’ve done... atone for it. And maybe, just maybe, the heavens will take pity on you and offer you forgiveness."
Hua Ling stared at her as though she had just spoken in another language.
For a split second, genuine confusion flickered across her face.
Then the rage returned with even greater intensity.
"You’re the one who should be here!" she screamed, rising halfway from her chair as though she might launch herself through the glass. "Hua Jing, don’t you dare think that just because I’m locked up here I can’t still destroy you!"
