Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 485 I Cannot Distinguish Between Friend and Foe
An Shuyao doesn't remember anything from her childhood, but Zhou Hao can tell from the furnishings that this used to be a very cozy little home.

He was only dazed for a few seconds before quickly regaining his senses and returning to normal, reverting to the unscrupulous lawyer. His first words were: "In court, you have to know how to play the emotional card. Although it doesn't work most of the time, we can't do without it... You'd better think of a few touching stories about your mother, the kind that can make people cry as you tell them."

After saying that, Zhou Hao started walking around the room, looking here and there.

An Shuyao didn't know what he was looking for. She asked him several times, but he didn't answer. He just urged An Shuyao to hurry up and think of a 'tear-jerking mother-daughter story'. The latter had no choice but to take a shower, change into clean clothes, sit on the sofa, hug a doll, and rack her brains to think.

The room fell silent for a moment, quiet and still, and no one spoke.

About half an hour later, An Shuyao finally finished reciting her story and said, "I've come up with a really touching story that will definitely bring tears to your eyes. It's very moving... Would you like to hear it first?"

"of course."

Zhou Hao sat down opposite her, indicating that she could begin telling the story.

An Shuyao cleared her throat and said seriously, "It was a sweltering summer night. I was doing my homework at my desk when I suddenly felt dizzy, and my pen tip started drawing crooked lines on the paper..."

"Mom came in with the milk and touched my forehead: 'Oh, it's so hot!'...So, I caught a cold."

Thunder rumbled outside the window, followed by raindrops pounding against the glass like handfuls of pebbles. Mom turned to get the first-aid kit, only to find that the family's cold medicine was all gone...

Zhou Hao couldn't help but interrupt, "Is your mother going to carry you to the hospital in the pouring rain next?"

An Shuyao was taken aback and asked, "How did you know?"

Zhou Hao initially wanted to complain that this was like a primary school student's composition, since any composition on the theme of maternal love would inevitably include a scene of a mother carrying her child to the hospital in the rain; but then he thought that this little brat was indeed a primary school student, so there was nothing to say about it, and he could only blame himself for handing this task over to An Shuyao.

"Forget it, I'll think of it. I'll visit your classmates or elders to gather some material. You just need to memorize your lines and shed tears."

Zhou Hao stood up. He had finished his survey and had nothing to linger over. He could leave now.

An Shuyao suspected he was slacking off, so she quickly grabbed him and questioned him about what was wrong with the story, while also asking him what he was looking for.

“Nowhere will do, it’s too fake. I can tell you can’t lie,” Zhou Hao scoffed. “I’m looking for evidence or clues to see if I’ve missed anything.”

“What could be missing at home? If you want to find clues, why not look on the street?” An Shuyao asked like a curious child, determined to get to the bottom of it.

Zhou Hao gave her the middle finger, and before she could react, he slowly placed his middle finger on her glasses, pushed it up, and said with a smug look on his face:

"What if your mother was murdered? What if it's a carefully planned frame-up? What if your mother is actually blackmailing someone?"

An Shuyao was furious. She wanted to retort, but she couldn't produce any evidence to support her claim. In the end, she didn't know Chen Huixin at all... Now that she had amnesia, she and Chen Huixin were complete strangers.

“You, you, you—”

An Shuyao hesitated for a long time, unable to come up with anything, and finally resorted to a personal attack: "You don't even know your mother well, how could you possibly come up with a touching story?"

Zhou Hao sneered. It had been a long time since anyone had questioned his professional abilities. Even if the person who questioned him was a primary school student, he would prove to them that he, Zhou Hao, was the undisputed number one criminal defense lawyer in Jiangcheng!
"Come, sit down."

Zhou Hao sat down in front of An Shuyao again: "If you're not convinced, I'll tell you one."

An Shuyao was naturally unconvinced. For some reason, every time she saw Lawyer Zhou, a competitive spirit would inexplicably rise in her heart, and she couldn't help but want to talk back.

That guy can't say anything nice, I don't believe he can come up with anything worthwhile!
Besides, how is it fake that her mother carried her to the hospital in the rain? She found it very touching; just imagining that scene warmed her heart and moved her deeply.

This lawyer is utterly inhuman; no wonder he's the daughter's son—birds of a feather flock together.

An Shuyao secretly grumbled to herself. She plopped down on the sofa, eager to hear what kind of 'touching little story' Attorney Zhou could tell. If he didn't do a good job, she would definitely give Attorney Zhou a pinky finger and then pretend to pick her earwax as revenge.

Zhou Hao coughed lightly and spoke in a calm tone:

"I've had a dream since I was little: I want to be a lawyer."

“My father opposed this ideal. He hoped that I would study political science and law and become a judge’s assistant, which would be better than becoming a lawyer… Only by entering the system can I be considered to have the right path.”

"But my mother supported me. Despite my father's objections, she supported my application to study law and paid for my tuition for four years."

"You know, I didn't like my mom when I was little because she lost my cat. Now she's willing to support me like this, which touches me deeply."

"I studied hard for four years, got the highest GPA, won awards in debates, and gave up the postgraduate entrance exam. I did all this not to show off to anyone, but to prove myself—that I can change the world, that I have my own value in life, that I am not an invisible person that no one cares about, nor a mouse hiding in the attic!"

"I proved that I did it. I established myself in the legal profession, passed the bar exam, and got a formal position."

“My mother was overjoyed. She rushed over to celebrate immediately, rented a luxury hotel lobby, invited many friends and business partners, and even had the waiters set up a champagne tower so I could open the champagne with a small spatula.”

"That banquet was a joyous occasion for both the host and guests, and it remains one of the proudest memories of my life."

"That wasn't the end of it. After the celebration, my mom gave me a job offer to work as a legal counsel at her company."

“I took this job, reconciled with my mother, let go of the past grievances, and finally made it through in life.”

……

Zhou Hao clapped his hands and said, "How about it? Are you moved?"

An Shuyao silently raised her little finger, deliberately waving it past him, then turned to her ear and picked at her empty earwax: "Not touching at all, all dry and boring, just talking about how good your mother is to you."

“Don’t rush, it’s not over yet,” Zhou Hao rubbed his hands together. “My life was just getting back on track when my mother died.”

“…Isn’t she still alive? She even killed my mother in a car accident.” An Shuyao said, squinting.

"I'm talking about a story, a story, you understand? A story is made up. Think about it carefully, if she had died back then, how sad I would have been..."

Zhou Hao sighed, "If only she had died back then."

An Shuyao didn't understand. After listening to the first half, she felt that the mother and son were kind and filial, and she became more and more curious about what had happened in the middle that led to the current estrangement between mother and son: "And then? What happened after that?"

Zhou Hao had no intention of hiding it, nor did he feel there was any need to. He spread his hands and said, "Later, she became a gentleman, and I became a villain."

"What do you mean?" An Shuyao didn't realize the topic had gone off track: "Don't say something so abruptly, who's going to understand that?"

Zhou Hao casually explained, "The company's legal department mainly handles two issues. The first is personnel disputes, such as whether to give N+ pay for dismissal or whether to provide compensation for layoffs. The second is tort disputes, mainly lawsuits with other companies. If I did this kind of work, everyone would definitely criticize me; she plays the good cop, so she's naturally a true gentleman."

"Is that all?" An Shuyao was a little disappointed. If you accept this salary, you should be willing to endure this hardship. If you're not satisfied, then just switch jobs! Why did it have to escalate to the point of mother and son turning against each other?
Zhou Hao declined to comment, but continued, "Later, she cheated on me and divorced my father. I led a team to handle the divorce case. At that time, I had several people under me who were specifically responsible for marriage law, and I made my father leave with nothing."

“The scene was very ugly at the time. My father’s career was over. He couldn’t bear the blow. Perhaps because his life had been too smooth in the first half, he couldn’t think straight and committed suicide by jumping off a building.”

……

An Shuyao didn't know what to say. Divorce is a normal thing, and it's okay to lose a lawsuit. It's just that the judgment that the cheating party should leave with nothing is a bit strange. She didn't know how the original divorce case was handled...

Zhou Hao hadn't finished speaking; he hadn't even gotten to the crucial point: "Then I worked for her for another year or two..."

"Wait a minute, haven't you only been a lawyer for a year or two?" An Shuyao couldn't help but ask.

"Who said that? I've been doing this for many years." Zhou Hao looked completely bewildered.

An Shuyao scratched her head. She couldn't explain why, but the thought just popped into her head. She felt that Lawyer Zhou had only been working for a year or two, which felt strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Zhou Hao ignored her and continued, "Later, she bribed my assistant to mix the legal representative transfer contract into the routine signing documents, making me sign and stamp it, wanting me to become the legal representative, to make me take the blame, and to send me to jail... I don't know what she was thinking, pulling this trick in front of the lawyer."

"After I found out, I confronted her about it."

Zhou Hao paused, then asked in return, "Guess what she said?"

An Shuyao tentatively asked, "Are you ashamed? Are you lying and saying you didn't mean it that way? Or are you going to directly frame your assistant?"

Zhou Hao gave an unexpected answer: "She admitted it and told me to bear with it for a few years. Anyway, I'm her son, and she'll support me when I get out."

An Shuyao never expected this person to be so shameless.

She couldn't help but press, "And then?"

Zhou Hao shrugged: "Then I got very angry and we argued. She turned her back on me, treating all those years of my work as if I'd done nothing for nothing, and wouldn't let me quit because I had too much 'insider information,' forcing me to resign from my job as a lawyer..."

An Shuyao thought to herself, how heartbreaking this must be. Being betrayed by her own mother was bad enough, but the other party went even further, trampling on her ideals and forcing her to quit her job as a lawyer. It felt like she was being treated like a tool. It was extremely cruel.

"There's not much to say after that. I didn't agree, so she wanted to send me to jail and bankrupt me. The most ridiculous thing was that she hired two thugs to break my legs."

Zhou Hao stretched and said, "I couldn't do anything about her before, so I had to put up with it. Now that I've finally caught her red-handed, shouldn't I stab her in the back?"

An Shuyao finally understood: "So you took this case to get revenge on her?"

"Yes," Zhou Hao admitted openly.

"You're not planning to frame her, are you?" An Shuyao had a vague feeling that something was wrong. She felt that the lawyer Zhou had been wandering around her house earlier, not looking for clues, but rather figuring out how to fabricate evidence.

"What do you mean by 'framing'?" Zhou Hao was quite annoyed. He was personally involved, and this girl should have been overjoyed, yet she was spouting such nonsense: "Just tell me whether she killed someone or not?"

"killed……"

Should they be punished?

"Should……"

"Then it's over."

Zhou Hao stood up, patted her head with his briefcase, and said, "Follow me, and sue her until she's completely disgraced!"

An Shuyao felt something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Now she suffers from amnesia. Although she dislikes Lawyer Zhou, she can only follow him around and do what he says.

Attorney Zhou asked her to memorize 'touching short stories about mothers and daughters,' so she had to memorize those stories.

Attorney Zhou told her to learn to shed tears, so she applied some Tiger Balm to her fingers and immediately started crying.
Attorney Zhou asked her to commit perjury, which she found difficult and was very resistant to, but when the police questioned her, she still acquiesced.

After two weeks of this back and forth, Zhou Hao met with many people, submitted a lot of evidence, ate countless meals with prosecutors and judges, and met with his connections at the top two or three times.

On the day of the trial, the two parties sat in the plaintiff's and defendant's seats respectively, their eyes practically bulging with rage, looking at each other with eyes that seemed to want to skin and gnaw at each other.

The plaintiff is An Shuyao, represented by lawyer Zhou Hao;

The defendant is Xi Yining, represented by lawyer Zhuo Wei.

When the judge strikes the gavel, whatever the bribery or power-for-money deals may have been behind the scenes, they will ultimately be revealed in court.

Assistant Chen Ming explained the case, Zhou Hao explained the terms of the lawsuit, and then it was Zhuo Wei's turn to make his statement.

The opposing lawyer is also an excellent criminal defense lawyer. To be honest, this case is not overturned on the surface. At worst, it will be a suspended sentence, and it is impossible for him to be convicted of intentional homicide.

Therefore, he played conservatively, focusing on defense, and believed that avoiding mistakes was the greatest victory.

Zhuo Wei gave a standard account of what happened, reiterating that the problem was with the vehicle's brakes and that the insurance company and vehicle manufacturer should be responsible, classifying the incident as an accident.

Zhou Hao didn't argue with him about whether the third-party appraisal report was fake. Instead, he released the vendor's surveillance video and asked him why the vendor accelerated twice when he stepped on the brake, crashing into the car in front and heading towards the sidewalk after the rear-end collision.
Zhuo Wei was prepared for this. He was about to explain, arguing that it was normal to switch brake pedals when they didn't work, and that subconscious instincts should not be used as a basis for judgment...

Before he could speak, Zhou Hao suddenly stood up and shouted, "This is a premeditated murder! The mastermind is the defendant, Xi Yining—"

"Objection! The plaintiff's claim is based on subjective conjecture—"

Before the judge could even strike the gavel, Zhou Hao abruptly changed the subject: "My accomplice is my client, An Shuyao!"

The courtroom fell silent. An Shuyao was stunned, and everyone else looked completely bewildered.

Zhou Hao presented fabricated evidence with resounding conviction:
“That’s right, the plaintiff and the defendant conspired to kill the victim! This is the client’s confession. She admitted that she was instructed by the defendant, Xi Yining, to take her mother to the designated location.”

"There is readily available evidence regarding the defendant's motive for murder—the defendant was at fault in the divorce case three years ago, the deceased was involved in the case, as stated in the appendix of the case file, and all of this has passed through the hands of the public security, procuratorate, and court."

Zhou Hao gently placed a forged appraisal report on the table:
“My client is the illegitimate daughter of the defendant’s ex-husband.”

(End of this chapter)