The second meeting with Long Xiaoyu was scheduled for the afternoon two days later. Before that, Lao Lin passed through Pingling when he went to Shanghai, and he got out of the car as promised and stayed overnight. Han Ding went to pick him up at the station in the evening, and after meeting, he reported the situation of the past two days, especially Luo Jingjing's emotions, to Lao Lin. He said to Lao Lin: "Luo Jingjing and Long Xiaoyu had a good relationship in the past, so she didn't believe that he would kill people, even if she did, she didn't want him to die, and this emotion was understandable." Lao Lin said: "You didn't let him die, he committed something damned, won't he die?" Han Ding lowered his head and said, "I just don't want Luo Jingjing to be too sad, I hope she can face this reality rationally." I think Long Xiaoyu is now in her heart, and she is already a character packaged by illusions. She may have summarized every advantage of Long Xiaoyu and every feeling she had for her in the past, and then produced the current Long Xiaoyu in her heart. ”

Lao Lin thought for a while, and said: "Okay, then you tell her what you saw in the case file, and you tell her that the person she is obsessed with is just an unreal illusion of hers, just the beautiful appearance of this person, and you tell her that under this beautiful appearance, there is a cruel heart." Just ask Luo Jingjing, do you know if this man is forcing Siping to do that kind of thing with him while swearing an oath to her? You must expose these circumstances, and you must tell Long Xiaoyu about her perverted psychology and ugliness. Otherwise, she would always think that the kid was wronged. ”

Yes, maybe Lao Lin is right, only by completely subverting the image of Long Xiaoyu in Luo Jingjing's heart is the only way to save Luo Jingjing. But when Han Ding pulled Luo Jingjing to dinner with Lao Lin that night, he was not in a hurry to disclose Long Xiaoyu's ugly deeds, he wanted to take advantage of Lao Lin's presence to have a good talk with Luo Jingjing, be reasonable, and let her look at and deal with the possible outcome of this case rationally. For Luo Jingjing, Lao Lin is an elder and an outsider, what he says should always be fair.

Therefore, when the three of them were sitting and drinking tea after dinner, Han Ding briefly said the series of evidence he saw in the court in front of Luo Jingjing in the way of reporting to Lao Lin. Lao Lin nodded solemnly while listening, and made a comment or two sentences and judgments, singing and harmonizing with Han Ding, and the cooperation was both natural and tacit. They all watched Luo Jingjing's reaction to see if she accepted their hints. But Luo Jingjing's attitude made them a little disappointed, she didn't express any discouragement, and insisted in a strong tone that she believed in her own judgment, and she believed that Long Xiaoyu would have grievances. Maybe she was really superstitious about her own judgment, maybe she had a weak heart but still bluffed in order to urge Han Ding not to let him back down. After listening to Han Ding's first sentence after nagging about the evidence, she asked, "Did Long Xiaoyu admit it himself?" Han Ding could only truthfully say no. But he added: "He doesn't admit it, but he can't provide evidence that he definitely didn't commit the crime, so it's useless for him to deny it like this." Luo Jingjing suddenly asked a very expert sentence like a legal expert: "There are many people who have been wronged and can't find evidence to exonerate themselves, if he can't find evidence, does he have to admit his guilt to the court, does he have to admit his guilt?" ”

Han Ding and Lao Lin were stunned, Luo Jingjing's stubbornness made Han Ding truly realize how correct Cheng Yao's point of view was: men are rational and women are emotional. Women often decide their position based on feelings, and even replace reason with feelings.

Han Ding's words were not only because of Luo Jingjing's stubbornness, but also because Luo Jingjing's words just now inadvertently mentioned an important litigation principle. Lao Lin also realized this, and opened his mouth to explain: "Xiao Luo, you asked a good question, you actually asked a legal question, that is, whether the plaintiff or the defendant should bear the burden of proof. According to the principle of presumption of innocence and innocence in case of doubt in modern jurisprudence, except for a few crimes such as the crime of unclear sources of huge amounts of property, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff for most crimes, while the defendant does not bear the burden of proof. As long as the plaintiff's evidence does not fully establish the guilt of the defendant, even if the defendant cannot prove his innocence, he cannot be found guilty. That's what you're trying to say, right? Seeing Luo Jingjing nodded, Lao Lin smiled, changed his words, and said: "Actually, Long Xiaoyu's inability to find evidence of his innocence is not the key to the problem, the key to the problem is that the plaintiff, that is, the Pingling City People's Procuratorate, has put forward sufficient evidence of guilt, which is enough to prove Long Xiaoyu's guilt." There is also a clause in China's legal principle that the defendant's confession is not a necessary condition for conviction. Article 46 of China's Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: Where there is no confession by the defendant and the evidence is sufficient and conclusive, the defendant may be found guilty and punished. ”

Fortunately, this was said by Lao Lin, so of course, their dispute did not turn into a quarrel, but Luo Jingjing became preoccupied throughout the night. In order to provoke her emotions, Han Ding told Luo Jingjing that he would go to the procuratorate early tomorrow morning to see the materials on the way back to the workers' new village after sending Lao Lin to the hotel. He told Luo Jingjing that he was going to make copies of some materials and bring them back to study slowly, and Luo Jingjing gradually had a smile on his face. She immediately hugged Han Ding, and on the street, she hugged Han Ding. In the past, they would often hug each other in front of the public, but this was the first time since Long Xiaoyu appeared. Luo Jingjing hugged him and quickly let go, she said to him, "Don't give up, okay?" Even if it's for me. ”

Han Ding swallowed and said, "Okay." ”

Han Ding went to the train station early the next morning to see off Lao Lin, and then went directly to the procuratorate, and only came back from the procuratorate before lunch. He let Luo Jingjing see that he really brought back a lot of photocopied materials from the procuratorate, not all of them, but only the part that the procuratorate allowed him to bring back. These materials allowed Luo Jingjing to see his attitude and his dedication. After having a simple lunch, Luo Jingjing accompanied Han Ding to the detention center, and in the afternoon it was the time for Han Ding to make an appointment to meet Long Xiaoyu for the second time. Without Yao Dawei this time, Luo Jingjing had to send him there. On the way out of the workers' new village to the bus station, taking advantage of Luo Jingjing's short sunny face, Han Ding told her some strategies for her defense and the direction of the next investigation and evidence collection, in fact, she was still hinting and persuading Luo Jingjing to be mentally prepared and accept such a possibility, that is: Long Xiaoyu is guilty. If the success rate of exonerating him is only one percent or less, then it is better to think of other ways. He said to Luo Jingjing: "Didn't you say that his character is particularly good? Didn't you say he was particularly hard-working? So can we find out some facts to show what a good person he was in the past, his crime was just impulsive, it was very accidental, maybe this kind of defense can also make the judge feel a certain sense of forgiveness, in case it can be exchanged for a suspended death sentence to save Long Xiaoyu's life, wouldn't it be good? It's better than insisting on innocence and spending useless work in vain, but in the end it will delay the glimmer of life that could still be fought for! ”

Luo Jingjing didn't speak, and it could be seen that she was unwilling to Han Ding's defense plan to plead guilty in exchange for her life, but she couldn't say the reason for her objection, and she couldn't think of a better way, her silence was actually equivalent to a helpless recognition.

Luo Jingjing sent Han Ding all the way to the big electric iron door of the Pingling City Public Security Bureau Detention Center, watched Han Ding negotiate with the staff in the communication room, and watched Han Ding being led into the slowly opening electric iron door. Han Ding turned around, and when the iron door was about to close, he saw Luo Jingjing still staring at his back, standing motionless outside the door.

Han Ding turned his head and walked inside, feeling sad when he heard the sound of the electric iron door slamming behind him. He clearly knew that Luo Jingjing was not sending him, she was walking into the back of the iron gate through him, and cast her imaginary gaze on the death row prisoner Long Xiaoyu that he was about to face.

Han Ding walked to the police office in the detention center and filled out a registration form for meeting with detainees. The police in the office recognized him as the little lawyer brought by Yao Dawei of the Criminal Investigation Brigade the day before yesterday, so he was still polite. Like the day before yesterday, Han Ding quickly passed through the long corridor and heavy iron gates, and sat with Long Xiaoyu again in the dimly lit conversation room face to face across a long table. It was the policeman who brought Han Ding in the day before yesterday, and this time he did not sit at one end of the table and listen to their conversation like the day before yesterday, but stood in the corridor at the door and smoked and chatted with another policeman.

Because of the last communication with Luo Jingjing, Han Ding's conversation today seemed much easier. The first thing he said when he sat down and asked, "Did you sleep well yesterday?" The tone of his voice was more intimate than the first conversation. And Long Xiaoyu's expression seemed to be the same as the day before yesterday, with some restraint in the dullness, and some melancholy hidden in the restraint, he nodded his head and said:

"It's okay."

"Then let's start talking." Han Ding turned around in his chair to make himself more comfortable, and he said, "Talk about your past, your past life, and your family today. Whatever you want, whatever you want, okay? ”

He looked at Long Xiaoyu with a relaxed smile, wanting to infect and encourage him to relax his nerves. But maybe Long Xiaoyu's identity as a death row prisoner obviously couldn't be really relaxed by Han Ding's few pretended relaxed words, he just grinned as if he was on the occasion, returned the meaning of a smile, and still asked stiffly:

"What do you want to know?"

"Whatever!" Han Ding said. After a pause, he simply helped him start, "Then let's talk about your hometown first, are you from Shiqiao Town, Shaoxing?" ”

Speaking of his hometown, Long Xiaoyu's eyes softened and became a little angry. He said slowly: "My hometown is said to be the hometown of beautiful mountains and rivers, the state of historical relics, and the place where celebrities gather, with a history of 2,500 years, and countless literati and artists. ”

Han Ding asked: "Do you mean Shaoxing, or Shiqiao Town?" ”

Long Xiaoyu said: "Of course it is Shaoxing, our Shiqiao Town belongs to Shaoxing, and it is very close to Shaoxing City. I went to university in Shaoxing City, and I went to Shaoxing University of Economics and studied economic management for two years. ”

Han Ding asked, "What do your parents do?" ”

Long Xiaoyu said: "My father used to work as a worker in a pewter factory. In the past, Shaoxing people had to sacrifice their ancestors and worship the gods during the New Year's Festival, and every family was engaged in it, which was very grand. The candlesticks, incense burners, wine jugs, and jars used were all made of tin. But in recent years, few people have engaged in this kind of ritual, and only a few parents-in-law of the older generation still take ancestor worship and worship God seriously. Therefore, the pewter factory business became more and more difficult, and then when it could not continue, all the workers were laid off, and my father quit. He likes to listen to Shao opera since he was a child, and he sings it himself, and after he came out of the tin factory, he found a few people to pool money to pull a Shao opera team. Shaoxing people like to watch dramas, didn't Mr. Lu Xun also write about Shaoxing's social dramas, that novel is very famous. ”

Han Ding smiled and said, "Yo, your father is still an artist, it's really good." ”

Long Xiaoyu didn't laugh and said, "He loves this, so he went to do it." All artists and artists perform in the theater auditorium, but our Shao opera there is all going to the countryside and singing on the open-air stage. I had to open my voice and sing, otherwise the people behind the field wouldn't be able to hear it, so I practiced my voice. They still look down on those who sing in the theater auditorium, my father said that Chen Hegao, the most famous steel voice in Shao Opera, and Wang Xiaokui, the golden voice of Shao Opera, sang on stage, and they could be heard for miles around. In the past, there were no loudspeakers. ”

"Yes, that's a matter of confidence." Han Ding echoed and asked, "What about your mother, does she also like art?" ”

Long Xiaoyu said: "My mother and my father have long been separated, when I was six years old, my mother met a rich man, and on a rainy day she didn't take anything and walked away with him, and there was no news from him as soon as she left." But my dad has been thinking about her for so many years, and when she left, she left behind the string of pearl bracelets she wore every day, and my dad has been wearing it on his own hands since then, and he didn't even take off the bath and sleep. I don't remember what my mom looks like, but I've always missed her, and maybe everyone thinks they should have a mother. ”

Han Ding paused for a moment without sympathy before continuing to ask, "How is your father treating you?" He didn't marry you another stepmother? ”

Long Xiaoyu shook his head: "No." I'm afraid it's not good for me if it's not my own. Therefore, it is not easy for my dad to be both a father and a mother over the years. When I was a child, I followed my dad everywhere to perform in villages and villages, and my elementary school was in the troupe. I bought elementary school textbooks from the bookstore, my father taught me, and it wasn't until junior high school that I entered Shiqiao Town Middle School. So, the foundation is not too good. ”

Han Ding said: "Didn't your father want your son to inherit his father's business and sing with him? You have followed the troupe since you were a child, and you haven't smoked any drama addiction? ”

Long Xiaoyu said: "When I was a child, I used to like singing, and Shao opera is quite energetic. Especially when it comes to the scene of drinking, the audience is the most energetic. We are a place where wine is served, everyone loves to drink old wine, and the actors on stage are swaying and drunk, and when you look at the stage, a large number of people watching the play are shaking. That's listening to the drama and getting drunk, it's really exciting. But for some reason, my dad himself is a drama idiot, but he resolutely refuses to let me learn drama. When I was a kid, I learned to do two somersaults with a trickster, and my dad beat me up. Everyone in the troupe knew my father's temper, and no one dared to teach me. You see that my dad likes Shao Opera so much, but he still thinks that singing is not a serious thing in his bones, and it is not promising. He still hopes that I can go out to study, and it is better to learn computer and English, and he thinks that I can do great things in the future. Therefore, when I reached the age of twelve, he resolutely refused to let me stay in the troupe, and insisted that I go to school. When I graduated from high school, my dad borrowed money to pay for my college education. When I received the admission letter from Shaoxing University of Economics that year, I didn't know much, and my dad cried. ”

Han Ding nodded and said, "Pity the hearts of parents in the world!" ”

Long Xiaoyu smiled faintly and said: "I studied economic management, my father said that the future will be the world of the economy, or people who understand economics and financial management can be the future masters." My dad wanted me to get a job in a big company in the future, and he said that was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I only studied for two years, and my dad fell ill and died. I said it was a cerebral hemorrhage, but I couldn't figure out how I got it. As soon as my dad died, I couldn't afford to go to school. My dad borrowed a lot of money to pay me to go to school, and I sold my house and my belongings, except for the pearl bracelet, so that I could pay off my debts. The bracelet was left for my dad when my mom was gone, and my dad wore it as a keepsake, so I couldn't sell it. It's also something my dad left me, so I wear it all the time. Wearing it, I feel that I have also had parents, and I have also had my father and mother who love me very much. After I paid off all my debts, I had 200 yuan left, so I rented a canopy boat from a distant relative's house in our town, and rowed it every day to pull people and goods for food. We are a water town, and the villages and towns are surrounded by water, and outside the water is another village, and the villages, towns and towns are arranged in the river. In the past, in Shaoxing City, there were many rivers like roads. Many people use the canopy boat as a foot, which is very convenient. Have you ever seen a canopy boat? That kind of boat was rowed with hands and feet in our hometown. You have to practice for a while to row. ”

Han Ding listened quietly, and Long Xiaoyu also said quietly. In such a calm tone, he told his life story. Sometimes he would sink into the past and ponder for a moment, at which point he seemed to have forgotten that he was a suspect in shackles. He seemed to regard Han Ding on the other side as his own shadow, a shadow with whom he could communicate with his heart, a shadow with whom he could talk to himself, or a friend with whom he could talk about his life, a friend who could sit down with him to read the past after his ups and downs. And Han Ding's feelings towards Long Xiaoyu at this time also had some subtle changes. He began to unconsciously enter an imagination with a picture, which took Han Ding to the opera troupe in the countryside of Jiangnan, and the wandering childhood, as well as the father who was full of love and expectation for his son...... Long Xiaoyu's short life was crowded with so many misfortunes - losing his father, dropping out of school, having no mother since he was a child, and being homeless at the age of twenty. Those succinct and unexaggerated narratives couldn't help but arouse Han Ding's sympathy. Everyone has sympathy, and Han Ding has an inexplicable affection and faint pity for the peer in front of him with a good face and simple words because of his sympathy.

But the need for duty told him it was time to change the subject. He interjected in a brief pause for Long Xiaoyu, and led the conversation in another direction. He asked, "Is Siping also from your Shiqiao Town?" When did you meet? ”

"Siping? She is not from Shiqiao Town, her family lives in Shaoxing City. Her parents used to work in a paper mill. Siping's mother had rheumatism again, and the pain was so bad that she couldn't get out of bed, and there was an old Chinese medicine doctor in Shiqiao Town who was famous for treating rheumatism, and Siping took her mother to see the doctor, and after seeing the doctor, she took my boat back to the city. She wore a red sweater on the day she first took my boat, and it was dazzling. In our place, girls like Siping are outstanding. She took her mom to the doctor and went back and forth several times on my boat. She singled out my boat, and that's how we met. Siping works at a winery in Dongpu, Shaoxing, and the winery is profitable, so she asked me to find a job there, which is more profitable and stable than boating. Then I went. ”

This is actually a very common encounter in life, but to Han Ding's ears, it reminded him of the hometown of Xianglin's sister-in-law in the movie "Blessing", so this encounter became a very amorous story - in front of the background of green mountains and greenery, in the river through the fields, in the drizzle of Feifei in the south of the Yangtze River, in the ancient canopy boat, the oarsman wearing a black felt hat and a girl in red who used to ferry, have affection for each other...... It was a beautiful situation. This made Han Ding almost really interested, and asked along the way:

"And what happened after you went to the brewery?"

Long Xiaoyu still replied unhurriedly: "There are many wineries in our place, do you know Shaoxing rice wine?" Jiangnan people love to drink and are very famous. In the past, people said that the world's rice wine came out of Shaoxing, and Shaoxing rice wine came out of Dongpu. Because Dongpu is located in the area of Jianhu Sanqu, the water there is best for sake brewing. When I entered Dongpu, even the air smelled of alcohol. The factory where Siping is located is called the 'Hundred Years Red' Distillery, which existed a hundred years ago, closed down in 1950, and in the eighties, the descendants of the 'Hundred Years Red' re-established the factory, using traditional wine-making methods. You have drunk Shaoxing's rice wine, also called rice wine, it has a lot of stamina, and you northerners are not used to drinking it. ”

"What is Siping doing at the winery?" Han Ding asked.

"She does statistics, and she sits in the office." Long Xiaoyu replied.

"What about you, what did you go for?"

"Me? I'm a wine maker. 'Centennial Red' is a small factory, unlike a large factory, which does not divide the workshop process into small factories, we are from the beginning to the end, and every process must be done. A novice like me has no skills and has to do all the hard work, so it's quite tiring to do. ”

"You're a college student, and you've studied economics and management for two years anyway, and even though you haven't graduated, you should also do some management work, so why do you want to do such pure hard work?"

Long Xiaoyu smiled: "It's not easy for us to find a job there. I don't know anything about it. There was a need for coolies in the factory, and when I went to take the exam, I could only do coolies. However, it's also interesting to learn how to make wine, and it's also a culture. ”

Han Ding also smiled with him, perhaps only out of respect for the phrase "winemaking is also a culture", so he asked again: "What is the brewing method?" ”

Speaking of winemaking, Long Xiaoyu had some solemn expressions on his face, as if that was the expression that he had to have when talking about the word "culture". He may have really thought that Han Ding had a desire to learn about such things as winemaking, so he started from the beginning, no matter how small:

"To make wine, you must first make koji, and koji, you know, is the leavening agent of sake. We also call it 'wine medicine' and 'wine cake'. It is made of rice flour, rice sugar or Guanyin soil as raw materials, adding a little Chinese herb or spicy knotweed, and then inoculating the wine mother, relying on artificial temperature control, after a certain period of time, it has sweetness and fragrance. Many large factories use modern technology to produce purebred barley koji, but in fact, it is not as good as the wine made by our ancient operation method. ”

After listening to Long Xiaoyu's introduction, Han Ding felt that it was complicated enough, it was really a doorway with a line, and it was not easy to do anything. He asked, "If you put koji in water, will it become wine?" ”

Long Xiaoyu shook his head: "No, making koji is only the first step in making wine." The second step is 'pouring rice'. It is to steam rice with glutinous rice and then serve it in a large vat. Long Xiaoyu was handcuffed, so he had to draw a big circle on his chest with both hands, comparing the size of the wine jar, "Each jar should hold more than ten catties of glutinous rice, and then mix the koji into it to let the rice ferment." We call the rice 'Jiuniang Wine', which means that this big vat of rice fermented like the mother of wine, and it can be used for raw wine. ”

Han Ding said: "It's time to exchange water this time, right?" ”

Long Xiaoyu finally nodded: "Yes, at this time, you can pour the water drawn from Jianhu Lake into the vat of 'Jiuniang Wine', mix well, and add a lid, which is also called 'making a big meal', or 'spreading rice', which can be regarded as officially starting to make wine." Brewing rice wine is very particular about the climate, because the length of fermentation time is related to the climate. The best time to 'pour rice' should be before the light snow in the lunar calendar, and the best time to 'cook big rice' is before and after the heavy snow in the lunar calendar, because the water used before and after the heavy snow is used to make wine, and the wine is not easy to spoil, which is convenient for long-term storage. ”

Han Ding was a little anxious to end the topic: "After pouring water, it becomes wine?" ”

Long Xiaoyu shook his head again this time: "It takes 90 days to cover the lid of the 'spread rice', and the last process has to be done around the second lunar month of the second year, which is called 'squeezing and frying'." Remove the lees, put it in a large pot and boil it, and after boiling, put it in the jar, and it is wine. But the wine that has been filled with the jar cannot be drunk, it must be sealed with mud, and it can only be opened and drunk after three or five years, and the longer the time, the better, and the wine that is not enough for three or five years has not yet aged and matured. Isn't it said that the older the wine, the better? ”

Han Ding suddenly changed the subject, and even he didn't expect that he could use such a mean word to take Long Xiaoyu's discussion of wine to a question that was extremely embarrassing to him.

"Yes, the older the wine, the better, but people also say that the newer the girl, the better. How long have you been with Siping? ”

This turn was obviously too fast, pulling Long Xiaoyu out of the intoxicating narrative. He looked at Han Ding, quickly adjusted his tone, and replied earnestly and honestly like a prisoner explaining a question: "It's been almost two years." ”

"Are you chasing her, or is she chasing you?"

"I think she should be chasing me, she is chasing me."

"You're saying you don't really like her, do you?"

Han Ding's tone revealed obvious doubts, and also revealed a trace of disdain: "Since you don't like her, why do you want to fall in love with her?" Was she better off than you at the time, or did you ask her? ”

Long Xiaoyu fell silent, his silence was obviously not speechless, but a kind of resistance. After a long time, he said slowly:

"I don't ask for her."

"And do you like her?"

What Han Ding always wanted to find out was what kind of beginning and what kind of relationship Long Xiaoyu had with Zhu Siping, who was finally killed by him. So he stared at the question and insisted on asking it to the end.

Long Xiaoyu was still silent for a moment before he slowly spoke: "I'm a person, I can't stand others being good to me, others are good to me, I want to repay him." My dad taught me this way since I was a child. When I was a child, I followed my father, life was very hard, wandering, no matter where we went, if someone was kind to us and helped us, we would be moved, and we wanted to do something to repay him, and my father was like that. ”

"Is Siping good to you?"

"Good for me. When I first arrived in Dongpu, I didn't know the place well, I lived in a warehouse in the factory, working during the day and looking at the warehouse at night. At that time, it was winter, and I didn't have much bedding with me, so Siping brought me a mat from home, a stove, and a bamboo shoot tip roast pork made by herself to eat. She was very nice to me at that time, and I had no relatives in this world, so I felt like my relatives at that time. ”

Han Ding looked at Long Xiaoyu, and from his calm voice, there was no trace of cunning. He talked about his childhood, his father, the joys and ups and downs he experienced, the girl who chased him, and his philosophy of life...... Everything he said seemed to be true, and it was impossible to hear that a single sentence was fiction or a lie. The impression and feeling left by these things on Han Ding and the appalling atrocity of Siping's murder seem to have some kind of insurmountable distance, some kind of inexplicable doubt, and some kind of contradiction that cannot be unified. Han Ding couldn't help but look carefully at the peer sitting opposite, would he kill someone? Will he kill a girl who once loved him, helped him when he was helpless, and gave him warmth? Stick stab, stabbing before killing, will he be such a cruel and unscrupulous madman? If so, then why did he and Siping, this pair of lovers, have such a deep hatred? As the afternoon conversation was about to end, Han Ding found that he hadn't figured out a logical thread for Long Xiaoyu's motive for killing; On the contrary, he seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into this mystery. He really wanted to ask straightforwardly: "Siping is so good to you, why did you kill her in the end, is it because of Luo Jingjing?" But he didn't ask that, and it was in vain. In the face of so much irrefutable evidence, Long Xiaoyu stubbornly refused to admit his guilt, could he still be lucky enough to imagine that he would blurt out his motive for committing the crime under a righteous indignant question? Han Ding didn't want to do this naïve experiment.

On the night of the second conversation with Long Xiaoyu, Han Ding and Lao Lin talked on the phone for a long time. Lao Lin had already arrived in Shanghai and had already moved into a hotel. Han Ding told Lao Lin on the phone about the contradictions and questions in his heart—these contradictions and questions made him a little disbelieving that Long Xiaoyu could be the murderer described with so much evidence in the case file. He told Lao Lin that the evidence he saw and his intuition created a strong opposition and conflict. Although, because of his relationship with Luo Jingjing, Han Ding didn't like Long Xiaoyu, and he should have rejected him very much instinctively, this intuition still arose. He told Lao Lin his intuition, which made him uneasy, and he told Lao Lin that he didn't know what to ask Long Xiaoyu when he saw him again.

Lao Lin's reaction may have been deeper than Han Ding could have imagined, and he pierced the essence of Han Ding's mood with a sharp point. He said: "Have you shaken up your original defense plan? ”

At that moment, Han Ding was stunned and speechless. Lao Lin did say that Han Ding was not clearly aware, but his intuition would inevitably reach the conclusion once it was extended. Yes, the original plan was in Han Ding's heart at this time, and it contradicted this intuition. Lao Lin knew and agreed with the original plan, that is: focus on the motive of the crime, and look for evidence that Long Xiaoyu is guilty rather than innocent. Such a plan is certainly a safe one, and its greatest advantage is that it avoids a head-on confrontation with that series of powerful evidence, and obtains some victory on another battlefield; Its biggest drawback is that the whole defense is certainly not suspenseful, the lawyer appears to be even, and, for the defendant, he is doomed to death.

Lao Lin was right, Han Ding was shaken, and his intuition told him: Long Xiaoyu may have grievances. Although those who practice law do not have to pay attention to intuition, intuition is a vain thing after all, and intuition is worthless in the face of actual evidence, unless intuition can find a gap in that seemingly powerful set of evidence that expands itself. Lao Lin asked Han Ding, "Can you find that gap?" The series of evidence is like a complete looping chain, each evidence is one of the indispensable links, can you find a little gap in a certain link? Can you take this gap off and let the whole chain break? ”

Han Ding thought for a long time, and on the phone, Lao Lin could hear his dull breathing. Then, his slightly hesitant voice was heard:

The Public Security Bureau's materials say that Long Xiaoyu was moved to kill when he was resisted during the rape of Siping. But as far as I know, Long Xiaoyu was already in love with Luo Jingjing at that time, a man who fell in love with other girls, he would generally not be interested in the women of his past anymore, I don't understand, but I think men are like this. ”

Lao Lin immediately reacted: "Yes, that's usually the case." Did Siping have a relationship with Long Xiaoyu? What was their original relationship? Long Xiaoyu said that Siping was his original girlfriend, and they had known each other in their hometown.

"Have they ever had sex?"

"Yes, many times."

Lao Lin probably has too much personal experience in this area, so that the tone in which he discusses this kind of thing is like a statement: "If a man has a new love, he is generally not interested in the old love." The relationship with the old love is not necessarily reduced, but there is definitely not much desire in the flesh, this is the law. You asked this question well, since Long Xiaoyu and Siping are 'old husband and wife', why do you want to rape her in vain? There is definitely something wrong with the motive for the murder determined by the Public Security Bureau! ”

Han Ding said: "In the witness testimony collected by the Public Security Bureau, it is said that Long Xiaoyu and Zhu Siping have no romantic relationship, and even Zhu Siping's fellow villagers in Pingling and Siping's parents have also proved that Siping and Long Xiaoyu have never been friends. But Long Xiaoyu personally admitted to me that Siping was his girlfriend in the past, but he didn't love her anymore. ”

Lao Lin pondered for a moment, and suddenly became excited, his tone was like an instruction, a decision, an order: "Okay, you can find a breakthrough from here!" As long as it can be proved that Long Xiaoyu and Siping were indeed boyfriend and girlfriend in the past and did have sexual relations, of course, the more times the better, and the longer they maintain a sexual relationship, the better. As long as such evidence can be obtained, the motive for the crime originally determined by the Public Security Bureau is too reluctant. More importantly, obtaining such evidence can show that the witnesses found by the Public Security Bureau, including Siping's fellow villagers and Siping's parents, all committed perjury and concealed the truth of the matter. At least we have to ask the court why they are telling lies in unison, why do they conceal the history of the defendant and the victim, and what is the benefit of concealing this history for those who come out to testify? ”