Crimson Instinct

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Beijing.

People were starting to gather in the High court for the preliminary hearing of Fu Ting's case. The bailiff was overseeing the decorum. He wore a uniform similar to that of the cops.

The crowd muttered among themselves as they passed through Fu Ting.

"Isn't he the man who kidnapped his daughter and killed her?"

"Yes. What has the world come to now?"

"I heard the cops found the daughter's dead body. Do you think…that perhaps he raped her?"

"Who knows?"

"Quiet." The bailiff sternly said, and they hurriedly sat on their seats.

The jury consisted of four members. Two middle-aged men and two women. They were sitting on their desks on the judge's left side.

The judge was a woman in her late fifties. She was in front of the courtroom, sitting on the bench. Her slightly grey hair was parted in the middle into a neat bun at the back. She wore square spectacles that added on to her stern and fierce image.

Fu Biyu entered the courtroom, holding Fu Jun's hand with a blank and tired look on her face. There were dark circles under her eyes, which were red and puffy.

Just a few hours earlier, Fu Biyu and Fu Ting got the news of Fu Meili's death.

They simply couldn't believe it.

Fu Ting caused a huge ruckus in custody, and under strict supervision, he was allowed to see Fu Meili.

They saw her in the morgue, her body pale and lifeless, devoid of any warmth. Her little body was covered with a white sheet.

"Meili!!!!"

They broke down. They cried so loudly with grief and pain etched in their voices, mourning their daughter's death that even a hard rock would melt, hearing their cries.

They lost all their strength. The hope of seeing their daughter ever again vanished away.

In the court at present, Fu Ting looked blank and lifeless... just as Fu Meili looked under that white sheet.

And that was what worried Xin Nianzu. Fu Ting looked as if he didn't care anymore. He didn't even look at his wife and son, who walked into the court. His gaze looked like he lost all the will to fight for his innocence.

He understood that it was difficult and painful for them, but he needed Fu Ting's help and conviction too that he was innocent.

Fu Ting was only vacantly staring ahead, his eyes red and puffy that mirrored just like his wife.

Fu Jun, who was quite young to understand what happened, tugged his mother's dress, who looked lost and sad to him.

"Mommy…Did you cry? Your eyes are all red! Why are you crying?"

Fu Biyu took a sharp breath. She was on the verge of breaking down again.

He tugged again. "Mommy. Where is sis? The bad uncles…" he hugged her thigh in fear, remembering that episode in Natural Park, "is sis still with them? When will she come back? I am missing sis. She promised she would draw a nice picture for me! She is so good at drawing!" He chirped.

Fu Biyu covered her mouth, trying to gulp her gasps. She looked away and wiped away her tears.

How was she supposed to tell Fu Jun that Fu Meili would never come back again?

Fu Jun saw Fu Ting on his seat, and his eyes brightened. "Daddy!"

He ran off towards him. Startled, Fu Biyu followed after him. "Jun, come back!"

Fu Ting seemed as if he heard nothing. He didn't respond to his son's call. He didn't even twitch a single muscle.

She caught Fu Jun and pulled him back. She bowed in front of the judge. "I am sorry that he…"

The judge smiled. "It's alright, Mrs. Fu. I understand. He is just a little boy."

Xin Nianzu ruffled his head and smiled. "Jun. Sit with your Mommy, okay?"

"But I want to sit with Daddy! Because it's so long that I saw him. He didn't return home for so many days!" He whined.

Xin Nianzu felt sad for the kid, but he could do nothing until he proved him innocent. He hoped he could do that today.

Fu Jun carefully observed his father and looked up at Fu Biyu. "Mommy. Daddy also cried like you. Why are you both crying?"

His eyes also teared up. At his age, he understood the nuance that people generally cried when they felt sad.

"Mommy...Daddy...why are you both sad?" Tears were already trickling down his cheeks.

Even the judge felt her heartache for him. She wished to make him stop from crying, but it was the time for the hearing.

"Mrs. Fu. Please take your seat." She looked at Xin Nianzu and the prosecutor, Wen Guiren, a man almost of the same age as Xin Nianzu, looking professional in his lawyer's robe.

"The proceedings may now begin. Mr. Wen. You may start."

Wen Guiren bowed. "Thank you, Your Honor. I would like to call my first witness, Mrs. Yu. She is a teacher and a colleague of Mr. Fu Ting."

"Permission granted."

Mrs. Yu, a woman in her late thirties, entered the witness box.

"Mrs. Yu. When was the last time you saw Fu Meili?"

"It was around two-thirty in the afternoon when we had lunch."

"And when was the time when Fu Ting went back?"

"Around three."

The court reporter was rapidly typing down every statement on his side.

"Why are you sure of the time?"

"Oh, that's because, at three, my husband called me. So I looked at the time."

"What did he say when he left?"

"He just said that he forgot something in his room. So he would be back in a few minutes, and he quickly left after that."

"Thank you, Mrs. Yu. That is all."

The judge glanced at Xin Nianzu. "Mr. Xin. Do you want to ask anything?"

Xin Nianzu respectfully said, "Yes, Your Honor."

"Mrs. Yu. When Fu Ting left, did he seem nervous to you? Or any odd behavior? Scared or jittery?"

Mrs. Yu seemed to be in thought. "I guess he looked just a little panicked but really not scared to that extent."

He nodded. "Thank you."

Wen Guiren then called upon other teachers who were in the same group, and they all testified that Fu Ting went away at three.

Wen Guiren said, "With the testimonies, it is clear that Fu Ting went away around the same time when Fu Meili disappeared. Along with this, I ask your permission to show you the evidence which the cops found in Fu Ting's room."

"Granted."

Wen Guiren presented some papers to the court reporter, who passed it on the judge.

"Your Honor. This is the DNA analysis of the blood found on the knife. Fu Meili's body wasn't found at that time, so the forensics took some of her hair strands found in her hairbrush. And the result is a ninety percent match. The weapon of crime was found in Fu Ting's room."

The judge carefully read the report and nodded.

"As Fu Ting's time of disappearance matches with Fu Meili's and with the weapon found in his room, it points out that Fu Ting was involved in his daughter's kidnapping."

A stranger who sat at the back in the courtroom smiled to himself. He mockingly looked at Fu Ting.

"Objection, Your Honor." Xin Nianzu said, "The evidence is not conclusive. There are no fingerprints on the weapon."

"Objection sustained."

"Thank you, Your Honor." Xin Nianzu continued. "First, there are no fingerprints on the weapon that could definitely say that Fu Ting might be the culprit. The knife could be very well planted to pin the crime on him."

Wen Guiren said, "Fu Ting could have worn gloves."

"If Fu Ting was cautious in not leaving his fingerprints on the knife, then would he be so careless to leave the knife in his room and get implicated in the case?"

Wen Guiren replied. "Your Honor, by that time, Fu Meili's disappearance had caused an uproar. So in a hurry, Fu Ting made a mistake."

Xin Nianzu said, "Your Honor. The place where Fu Meili was found buried and where Fu Ting's room is, is a whole twenty-five minute apart by foot. Fu Ting returned from his room to join the group at ten past three. It is physically impossible to kidnap Fu Meili, kill her in that abandoned building, bury her and come back just ten minutes later when the place is twenty-five minutes apart."

The judge asked, "Is there a witness who saw Fu Ting go to his room and return?"

"There was, Your Honor. A worker named Miss Ming had seen Fu Ting coming and going to and from his room at that time frame. But unfortunately, she was murdered last night."

The crowd gasped at this revelation.

"That is shocking. She died?"

"This seems so complicated."

The judge struck the gavel against the surface. "Quiet."

She gravely looked at Xin Nianzu. "Details."

He explained what happened last night.

"Your Honor, if the witness was killed to prevent her from giving her testimony, then that means that somebody doesn't want Fu Ting to be free."

Wen Guiren said, "Your Honor. But without her testimony, Fu Ting cannot be cleared of suspicion."

The man at the back smirked.

You are done for, Fu Ting.

Xin Nianzu said, "It is possible. I have Miss Ming's testimony, Your Honor."