Chapter 7 The Accused in the Rape Case

Because I took a ride on Lingxiao, it was still early when I arrived at the company.

Zhu Shan found her department and when she opened the door, the workstation was filled with people.

She instantly had the illusion that she was late.

For this reason, Zhu Shan also checked the time on her phone to confirm that it was only half past eight.

She walked in and noticed that in addition to a few colleagues who were typing away at the keyboard, many people were dozing off. There were also a few brave ones who were lying on their backs with chairs on their feet and wearing eye masks, sleeping openly. .

In addition to the sealed smell of air conditioning in the air, there is also a faint smell of coffee.

Zhu Shan glanced at the work stations and deduced that the department must be working overtime all night.

Before Zhu Shan could decide which colleague to disturb and ask about her arrangements, the small office door opened.

It's Qu Lianjie, Director Qu.

He stood at the door of the small office and clapped his hands. The dozing person was startled but ignored him.

The dark circles under his eyes were exaggerated and he looked very tired, "I still have half an hour to submit, are there any questions?"

The colleague who was typing on the computer keyboard raised his hand and responded, "No problem."

Just as Qu Lianjie was about to turn around and go back to the office, he glanced at Zhu Shan who was standing aside.

He waved with a smile on his face, "Shanshan, come here."

Zhu Shan followed, closed the office door, and introduced herself, "Hello, Director Qu, I am Zhu Shan. Today..."

"You introduced yourself yesterday." Qu Lianjie interrupted her and motioned for her to sit down. "First of all, I would like to remind you to be prepared to endure hardship. As you have seen, our department is busy day and night."

"I can endure hardship."

"That's good. You go to the Human Resources Department to go through the formalities later, and then go to the Administration Department to get your work permit. Your workstation is the third one by the window."

"good."

"Everyone has worked overtime all night and is very tired. I won't hold any welcome ceremony for you today. You won't mind, right?"

"of course not."

Welcome ceremony?

How embarrassing.

Don't do it right.

Qu Lianjie fiddled with his phone, "I'll add you to the work group and send you the work account you applied for later. You can first take a look at our recent news materials and then understand the work process."

"good."

Qu Lianjie suddenly thought of something. He held his phone and stared at her with a meaningful smile.

Zhu Shan blinked her big eyes twice and touched her cheek subconsciously.

Qu Lianjie said in a gossipy tone, "You and Ling Lu are..."

"Neighbors!" Zhu Shan raised her voice and added, "The kind we grew up with."

Qu Lianjie patted his desk, looking like he had seen through everything, "I knew you were familiar with each other, so this is the first to win."

Zhu Shan had a question mark on her face, "Huh?"

"Let me tell you, the news we worked on overtime yesterday was about a rape case. It happened to be the second trial yesterday. Ling Lu was the defendant's defense lawyer. Can you provide some materials? For example, the direction of the case and so on?"

So that’s the news.

Zhu Shan recalled Ling Xiao's phone call yesterday and said with great confidence that the third trial would definitely result in the defendant being released in court.

Qu Lianjie saw that she was a little embarrassed, "You can make bold guesses and speak boldly!"

Zhu Shan waved her hand, "I really don't know."

Qu Lianjie was a little disappointed and waved his hand away, "You go and complete the employment matters first, and then read the materials yourself."

Only then did Zhu Shan leave.

It was almost noon when Zhu Shan finished her employment matters.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a slender and beautiful sister.

Her name is Wu Jing, she is five years older than Zhu Shan. Zhu Shan greeted her in the morning.

Wu Jing was friendly and enthusiastic, "Shanshan, do you want to have lunch with us?"

Zhu Shan declined, "I feel sick to my stomach, so I brought porridge. I will be a host next time and treat you to dinner."

"There is also porridge in the cafeteria, so just go with us."

Zhu Shan really wanted to establish a good relationship with them, which would make it easier to ask them for information in the future.

She smiled sweetly and nodded, "Okay."

Seeing that they had already started packing their things, Zhu Shan pointed to the time on the computer screen and asked, "Are you going to the canteen now?"

Isn't there still twenty minutes left...

"It doesn't matter, time is all about using it flexibly."

Zhu Shan, "..." Can it still be like this?

See it! See it!

Zhu Shan followed him to the canteen and met his colleagues who ate together.

In addition to Sister Jing, there is also a boy named Zhai Honghui and a girl named Xu Wenwen.

Zhu Shan ordered vegetable porridge and listened to their conversation about the defendant in the rape case.

This case attracted attention because the defendant, Ren Xingyan, is the eldest son of the listed investment company Inri Group and is currently the vice president of Inri Group.

During yesterday's court hearing, Zhu Shan had already heard that the defendant's family was wealthy, but she did not expect it to be so wealthy.

Indo-Japanese group?

Zhu Shan felt a little familiar, but couldn't remember where she had heard it.

On the way back to the office after dinner, Zhu Shan took out her mobile phone and searched for Indo-Japanese Group.

Founded eighteen years ago, it caught up with the good opportunity for real estate development, quickly went public, and gradually expanded the investment market.

Its company LOGO is a round red sun held up by white clouds.

Zhu Shan finally remembered that she had seen the Indo-Japanese Group and this LOGO on her mother’s computer.

Is it possible that my mother knows someone from the Indo-Japanese Group?

During the lunch break after dinner, the folding curtains in the office were lowered, all the lights were turned off, and a faint snoring could be heard.

Zhu Shan held the mobile phone, and a faint light shone on her face.

She looked at the screen of her phone, which was the WeChat chat page with Ling Xiao.

There is not a word on it, they have never contacted each other in all these years.

Zhu Shan hesitated for a while, then typed. She entered [Ling Xiao, you and the Indo-Japanese Group...]

Zhu Shan thought for a while, then deleted and re-entered.

Zhu Shan: [Brother Ling Xiao, have you had lunch? 】

Zhu Shan: [What a coincidence, the news in our department is about the case you tried in court yesterday]

Zhu Shan: [Yesterday’s defendant Ren Xingyan, are you familiar with him? 】

Ling Xiao was reading the case information, and his eyebrows moved when he received the WeChat message.

He took a sip of coffee, stood up, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

His law firm is on the 42nd floor, overlooking half of Yuhe's city center.

He thought for a moment.

Then reply to the message.

Ling Xiao: [Unfamiliar]

Ling Xiao: [Just took on a lawsuit]

****

Zhu Shan did not expect that she would have to work overtime on the first day of her internship.

In fact, there are no hard requirements.

When he got off work, Qu Lianjie left a few colleagues behind, and other colleagues began to pack up and prepare to leave.

Zhu Shan asked mindlessly, "What about me?"

Qu Lianjie looked at her and said in a very democratic tone, "You, it depends on your own wishes. If you are willing to stay, I can take you to see the samples of tomorrow's program."

In this way, Zhu Shan stayed.

While having dinner in the cafeteria, Ling Xiao sent a WeChat message.

Ling Xiao: [What time will you be back? 】

Zhu Shan: [Work overtime! 】

Ling Xiao: [Let me know in advance if I work overtime in the future]

Zhu Shan: [Why? Does working overtime also affect you? 】

Ling Xiao: [Influenced me to lock the door]

Zhu Shan rolled her eyes, put her cell phone on the dining hall table, angrily picked up the bowl and poured the vegetable porridge into her mouth.

After dinner, Qu Lianjie took Zhu Shan to the editing room to watch the samples as promised.

It's news about Ren Xingyan's rape case.

Second program sample.

The station plans to produce three episodes of this case. The first episode has been broadcast after the first trial, the second episode will be broadcast tomorrow night, and the third episode is expected to be produced after the third trial.

The main content of the second sample is to explore the story behind the case based on the clues after yesterday's court hearing.

Zhu Shan didn't expect that so much interview material had been accumulated in just over twenty hours since yesterday's court hearing.

She couldn't help but sigh, "It's amazing."

Qu Lianjie was a little proud, "Journalists, what they pay attention to is speed."

In the sample film, the reporter dug deep into the case to present the family background, case background and growth experience of the victim and defendant in all aspects as accurately and detailedly as possible.

The victim Zhuo Yue was called "Zhuo" in the news.

The defendant, Ren Xingyan, has made his name and identity public.

Zhu Shan was a little confused, "Why?"

Qu Lianjie looked at the sample and explained briefly, "This case was exposed on the Internet long before our program was broadcast. Because of Mr. Ren's identity, the online news was later muffled. The authorities allowed us to For regular TV reports, as for the identity of the victim, it should not be clear either emotionally or rationally."

Zhu Shan nodded and continued to look at the samples.

In the news, Zhuo's mother died of illness at an early age, leaving only his father who worked as a farmer to make ends meet, so his family was poor since he was a child.

An interview with her high school classmates said that she had excellent grades, was beautiful, and was a campus goddess during her school days. Of course, she also had premature love.

Her roommate said he didn't know about the money she owed. He only heard that she was going to live in a big house and didn't feel that she was under any financial pressure.

The defendant, Ren Xingyan, the eldest son of the Indo-Japanese Group, grew up in a wealthy family.

His high school teacher was interviewed and said that he had excellent grades.

Interviews with his high school classmates said he was an upright and introverted person, and confirmed that he had suffered from depression for a long time.

At the end of the program, our reporter went to the hospital to interview the victim Zhuo.

The victim Zhuo, whose face was mosaicd, said emotionally that she did not set up a trap to frame Ren Xingyan, but that it was Ren Xingyan who committed a sexual assault on her.

When reporters asked her about her involvement in online loans, her ambiguous relationship with Ren Xingyan, and her thoughts on the second trial, she suddenly became emotional and cried, asking the reporter if he didn't believe her.

Because she had difficulty controlling her emotions, the reporter was advised to leave by the doctor.

Finally, the reporter exclusively interviewed Zhuo’s father.

Zhuo's father's face was mosaiced, he was thin and wearing a blue old-fashioned work jacket. His voice was very vicissitudes of life and he had a very obvious accent.

He said that his daughter had been filial since she was a child. She finally graduated from college and worked in a big company. She thought her life would get better and better, but something like this happened.

He said it was all because of him that his daughter fell into online loans because he was diagnosed with terminal gastric cancer some time ago and had to borrow money for medical treatment.

His daughter is not going to live in a big house, but she plans to live with him so that she can take care of him more conveniently.

His daughter is not a gold digger, let alone do such things for money.

By the end, he became so emotional that the interview had to be interrupted.

At the end of the news, the reporter stood in front of the hospital gate with a microphone, saying that he was waiting for the truth and the final judicial decision.

After the sample video was played, Qu Lianjie said a few more words and led Zhu Shan back to the office.

On the way, Qu Lianjie glanced at Zhu Shan and said with a smile, "What's your expression? It's not enough to work overtime, right?"

"Ah?" Zhu Shan subconsciously rubbed her cheeks and denied in a low voice, "It's not because of overtime work."

"Is that the news just now?" Without waiting for Zhu Shan to answer, Qu Lianjie asked, "What do you think after reading it?"

Zhu Shan smacked her lips and frowned slightly, "I think that girl was crying so much that she felt panicked."

"Shanshan, why do you want to be a reporter?"

As if she didn't expect that the topic would suddenly turn here, Zhu Shan was stunned.

"Don't be nervous. I'm just curious about how you want to be a reporter given your academic qualifications and major."

Zhu Shan rubbed the back of her head and responded perfunctorily, "I have liked the reporter industry since I was a child."

Zhu Shan lied, her eyes drifted away, and her cheeks were still hot.

Qu Lianjie just thought she was embarrassed and said in a gentle tone, "It's a good thing that you have empathy and a sense of justice, but the judge of this case is the judiciary. As a reporter, you cannot make judgments with subjective thoughts. Do you understand?"

Zhu Shan still understood this. She nodded several times and responded, "Understood."

Qu Lianjie sighed and patted Zhu Shan on the shoulder, "It's very late, let's go back first."

Zhu Shan packed up her things and walked out of the TV station. It was almost eleven o'clock. She called a taxi on the app.

Standing on the roadside in the quiet night, under the yellowish streetlight, her breath was obviously misty.

Zhu Shan felt a little warmer after getting in the car.

She leaned against the car window listlessly, looking at the city still illuminated by lights at night, feeling as if there was cotton stuck in her heart.

After a while, she took out her mobile phone and searched online for the column group's first report on the case.

During the interview, Zhuo's appearance was still blurred. He cried to the camera and accused Ren Xingyan of the crimes of that beast, and finally fainted directly in front of the camera.

The barrage that filled the screen was "girlshelpgirls".

It can be said that the current direction of public opinion is one-sided in favor of the weak Fang Zhuomou.

However, when the second episode of the program is broadcast tomorrow, Zhuo's two overlapping relationships, her involvement in huge loans and other backgrounds were revealed, as well as her ambiguous relationship with Ren Xingyan.

Even if she is a victim, she is no longer a perfect victim.

By then, what will be the direction of public opinion?

Zhu Shan frowned. She knew how terrible public opinion was.

In yesterday's second trial, Ling Xiao used the backgrounds of both parties to rationalize the cause of this "sexual assault case", thus reversing the direction of the case.

Moreover, the prosecutor's evidence was also overturned in court.

There was also the phone call from Ling Xiao, who stated so confidently that Ren Xingyan would be released in court during the third trial.

Zhu Shan felt uncomfortable because she was afraid of what she would do if Zhuo was really the victim.

How should she defend her own justice when she is powerless?

Just like...her father was so miserable back then.