3.9 Inquiry

Shu XinYi walked back to the court and this time he sat close by Xiang Li, both of then looked at each other. Shu XinYi nodded assuring but Xiang Li shook his head. Although Xiang Li didn't say anything, Shu XinYi understood. Xue Fan had bought forward some solid evidence that he was at the murder site because he was called there by a blackmailer, who was the so called "customer" Mr.Feng mentioned.

This led to Mr.Feng arguing that this murder was planned by someone to blame Xue Fan. That's why Xiang Li shook his head indicating that it didn't seem Xue Fan was going to be held in court as a culprit any longer.

Mr.Lin said "Your honor, how does this prove that Mr.Xue didn't plan to murder Bai Jiao? I have a witness to murder present Your honor, allow me."

Gasps ran throughout the court, even Shu XinYi was a bit shocked. Where did this so called witness pop out from?

The judge gave him permission and so Mr.Lin said "Your honor, I request from the court to protect my witness. He is the man that was sent by Mr.Xue inside the gallery to do the job for him. Here is the guest list your honor and I have highlighted his name, you can confirm with Mr.Xue if he knows this man or not."

The judge called out "Xin su, Mr.Xue are you familiar with this name."

Xue Fan widened his eyes almost imperceptibly but he gained his composure saying "I have, he works for me. Yes I allowed him to go to the gallery since he said he really likes art and I was being considerate of m-"

"YOU LIAR." Someone from the audience stood up and said.

The judge "Everyone please maintain silence, if you have anything to say then come forward."

Mr.Lin "Your honor this is Xin su, Xin Su come on out. You can speak the truth freely, Mr.Xue can't harm you."

The man from the audience walked forward and his body was trembling like he was truly scared finally he faced the judge saying "Y-your honor, I .." The man took a deep sigh like he was facing all his fears and trying to stay calm.

He continued "I am Xin Su, I have been working for Mr.Xue since 3 years. Before this Mr.Xue never tasked me with such a job but this time he threatened me to do it. I had no choice your honor, Mr.Xue would really kill my family. Even now I get the courage to speak because Mr.Lin took my family to a safe place."

The judge "Speak about what happened."

The man nodded and continued "I entered the gallery at opening time and 15 minutes later I got the signal from Mr.Xue so I used the poison Mr.Xue gave me and in the commotion I ran away."

The man suddenly kneeled down and said "Your honor if you must punish me then do so but I beg of you to keep my family secure please your honor."

Shu XinYi had distracted himself from the court and was searching in phone "Lan Xiao gallery leaks". The gallery forbid any videos or photographs and so Lan Xiao had even assorted gaurds to be on the lookout but humans tend to do exactly the things that they are restricted from doing. This worked out well with Shu XinYi though, but there was currently no evidence that the statue present in the gallery that day wasn't the original one, the one Lan Xiao had made, but a fake statue, that being song XingChen himself.

In the previous month Shu XinYi had went around to inquire the warehouse incharge and workers who were responsible for keeping all the artifacts secure, there was no way Song XingChen had slipped passed all of their eyes. Definitely they had seen him but Shu XinYi had been unsuccessful, maybe because the worker had been paid off or was working for Song XingChen to begin with. Either way Shu XinYi had confirmed one thing as of right now.

Lan Zhou, Lan Xiao's father, hadn't died as much of a simple death as Snow read for him from the background. This Xin Su here looked a lot like Xin An, it was more than likely that the 2 were brothers. The probability of Xin family being Song XingChen's foster family was close to 99 out of 100. So Shu XinYi had to just look into the background once again to know that Song XingChen had used Xin An to kill Lan Zhou.

That is why Shu XinYi, who could have delayed finding or forging evidence against XingChen, had started looking for evidence right now. If he could prove that there was a fake statue present, the court would investigate the matter thoroughly.

Shu XinYi who was sitting in the audience with his head down in his phone suddenly smirked and said out loud "I have some evidence to display, your honor."

Xin Su was trying to convince the judge about how he is the murderer when he got interjected. The judge said "Mr.Lan, If you have anything to speak then come forward."

Shu XinYi nodded and walked forward. He gave a reassuring look to Xiang Li before walking towards a person and handing him the a USB. Once the USB reached the judge, he displayed the contents of the USB. There were 2 pictures side by side. The judge couldn't understand, neither the audience so Shu XinYi spoke.

"Your honor the picture on the right was taken by me personally when I had just finished this sculpture, the picture on the left is taken secretly by someone who had visited the gallery on that day."

There was momentary silence in the court and by the looks of it most people were still confused so Shu XinYi continued "As you can see your honor, the two sculptures are different. The original one has a piccolo carved out of a snakes body which is clearly seen and even extends to the finger. Meanwhile the one on display in the gallery that day, has a regular piccolo. A sculpture carved out of stone can not be changed like this, unless the sculpture itself had been switched. Which is exactly what happened. I didn't notice until now, I found the second picture just yesterday and had it checked by the lab if this was forgery, The lab report is also in the USB."

The Lab report had been forged by Snow just now, it wasn't that Shu XinYi could get a genuine report, but he couldn't wait an other day.

The judge and the Lawyers viewed everything and the looks on everyone's faces were definitely entertaining. Especially, Bai Meng's face had turned sore. Under normal circumstances Bai Meng would not display these kinds of emotions but it was clear that Bai Meng was stressed over something.

For 30 seconds no one could comprehend this new found evidence.

Mr.Lin "What are you trying to prove Mr.Lan. How does this prove Mr.Xue is innocent?"

Shu XinYi tilted his head and said "I never implied that this evidence has something to do with Mr.Xue being innocent. Mr.Lin why are you so insistent on proving Mr.Xue guilty? As a lawyer shouldn't you be more partial to more evidence and be logical?" Obviously this was bull sh*t in certain context but everyone in the court got Shu XinYi's implication.

Shu XinYi smiled politely and said "Your honor, I don't know what this means but what I do know is that someone stole the artifact before the show. Replacing the original artifact, a fake was displayed in the show, without my knowledge. if their intentions were to sabotage my show then they would have replaced it with a damaged artifact instead of a barely unchanged one. Oh and your honor I think it's Intresting that the broken sculpture we found at Mr.Xue's construction site has all parts except the piccolo mouth piece."

The judge didn't say anything but Mr.Lin did "Hah? Well he would obviously hide the piccolo piece since he doesn't want people to know that, that artifact found, was a fake."

"That artifact?" Shu XinYi said ever so innocently.

Mr.Lin "Yeah the one in your gallery, Mr.Xue didn't want people to know that was a fake."

"Oh? But why would Mr.Xue replace my original artifact with a fake one?" Shu XinYi asked again with some childishness in his voice.

Mr.Lin "Obviously because he wanted to steal the original artifact."

As soon as Mr.Lin said this both Xiang Li and Shu XinYi smiled a very Intresting smile. Xiang Li smiled in admiration, while Shu XinYi smiled looking at Mr.Lin like he was a wolf looking at a sheep and asked in a clear loud tone "Mr.Lin, If you want to steal something from me then would you make an exact copy of it to distract me, only to steal the copy as well? Why not just steal the original?"

Mr.Lin said in an angry tone "What do you mean to say?Whatever the case of your sculpture is, is not important. Your Honor Xin Su here has confessed his crimes. What more is there to look for?"

The judge raised his hand asserting silence and said "Mr.Lin, every evidence plays a role. If you have no arguments to make and evidence to back it with, then sit down."

Mr.Lin wanted to speak but he still sat down. Shu XinYi on the other hand kept standing as if he was contemplating something, the judge obviously noticed this and asked "Is there any problem, Mr.Lan?"

Shu XinYi looked up and said "Your honor, the problem isn't that there is a fake. The problem is how can a fake even exist?"

The judge raised his eyebrows in contemplation waiting for an explanation, so Shu XinYi continued "Your honor, It was 3 months ago that I started on this project. It took me 2 weeks to complete it and along the course of that time I was inside my house where I live alone. Except for Song XingChen, who worked with me as a model, no one else had visited my house and seen the sculpture. I can obviously confirmed this since my house has a security system. Neither did I posted about it on social media nor did I have any private shows. So the question is how can a copy exist? The person who made the copy, had to have seen the original, and seen it for long enough period to remember all the details. Even after seeing the details, the copy artist still mad one mistake, unless that mistake was intentional, there is no other reason for there to be a defect in the copy."

The judge thought for a while and said "Mr.Xiang , you are required to investigate about this plagarized sculpture and in the next hearing I want a detailed report. Set an inquiry for Mr.Xin as well and take his official statements from your side. Mr.Xue is to be thoroughly investigated for child abuse and kidnapping and a new case will be filed on that matter. The court is adjourned for today, On second September the court will resume." The judge stood up and walked out.

One by one everyone left. Because Xiang Li had already left to continue his work, Shu XinYi walked back to his car. He called Lan Cheng asking about the situation.

"Gege, how is Yao Ge doing?" Shu XinYi

Sounds of shuffling from the other end,

Xue Yao's ecstatic voice "XiaoXiao your brother is soooo rough with me, saaavvee mee. Unggh."

Shu XinYi (￣ー￣)ゞ

Some more shuffling, Lan Cheng's angry voice "A'Xue, don't say things you'll regret. XiaoXiao, everything is good here i am hanging up ok."

After this Lan Cheng really did hand up, Shu XinYi didn't dawdle on the matter and went home to work on his new project.

Shu XinYi didn't know if this was what he wanted to see on the canvas but he still wanted to experiment if the image he had in mind is what he wanted to see on the canvas. This was his 4th try after yesterday. It would still take atleast 4 hours to fully paint it. So Shu XinYi got buzy. It wasn't that he didn't have other things to do but right now he really wanted to paint something.

Meanwhile in an interrogation room, Xin Su had just walked in with Xiang Li. Xin Su had already removed the hidden mic in his body and hoped that young master had heard enough. After a full body check, Xin Su was bought inside by Xiang Li.

Xiang Li first asked Xin Su for his official confession and he just repeated what he said in court.

Xiang Li's first question was "How did you deliver the poison in the victim's body?"

Xin Su answered "I used a very thin needle tipped with poison, it was thin enough to go unnoticed in postmortem."

Xiang Li wrote down in a file then asked "Mr.Xin, does Mr.Xue have anything to do with the stolen fake sculpture."

Xin Su had not been prepared for this answer, young master had said that the Sculpture would be ignored once the case progresses but now that the truth about the "Fake sculpture" had been revealed, it would not be simple anymore. Xin Su found it probable that the young master would definitely improvise so he should do everything to avoid suspicions.

"No, Boss only told me to kill Bai Jiao as for the sculpture. I left with the crowd and boss left before that, so the sculpture theft hasn't got anything to do with us." Xin Su said.

Xiang Li raised his eyebrows and said "I thought you trusted Mr.Lin."

Xin Su said in a confused tone "Huh? I do trust him. He is helping protect my family."

Xiang Li said "Oh. So wasn't Mr.Lin the one who claimed that the broken sculpture found was disposed there by Mr.Xue, and even held him accountable for theft of it hence also the murder of Bai Jiao?"

Xin Su's face became more complicated, Ah how can I forget what that dumb sister of mine did. If only she hadn't done that stupid mistake, there would be no complications to this case. I will have to discuss with young master that the simple mistake of my sister disposing the sculpture, will cause only more problems for us.

Xin Su said "That may be the case but I don't know of any sculpture theft, maybe boss assigned someone else."

Xiang Li hummed and said in a believably docile manner "Mr.Xin, Please don't make fun of me but I think ghosts are involved in this case. I was reviewing the footage from the gallery and I found something really strange."

Xin Su raised his eyebrows labeling Xiang Li a little crazy in the head. "What do you mean?"

Xiang Li closed in and the ever handsome intimidating face was although still handsome but it was inlaid with immaturity, he said "Mr.Xin last night I went to the gallery to review the footage again and I saw that during the first five minutes like around 7:07, that sculpture moved. Believe me, Although there were people around the sculpture, you could clearly see the arm move by a whole 3 inches. I think it's a ghost, when you were there did you see the sculpture move as well?"

Xin Su's face changed from annoyance to curiosity and then his face seemed like he had heard a really bad news. He quickly said "What no, it might have been an illusion of your eyes. How can a sculpture move?"

Xiang Li continued his act saying "No, It's not. I rewatched the video three times and the sculpture really did move. I don't have the footage right now but tomorrow I will go to the gallery to retrieve it. Then you can see there really is a ghost involved."

Xin Su said in a serious tone "Mr.Xiang I am sure it is a misunderstanding on your part. I hope you are professional enough to realize that. Do you have anything else you want to inquire from me?"

Xiang Li huffed in disappointment and said "Ok don't believe me but when you see it for yourself then you'll know to be scared. You can leave."

If Shu XinYi was here he would do a backflip after seeing such a docile and moody Xiang Li and pamper him to no extent but unfortunately this docility was all a farce. As Xiang Li imagined Xin Su left in a hurry with a complicated face, obviously he hadn't seen the statue moving or anything but with Xin Su's behavior just now, Xiang Li had confirmed his own theories.

Not only was there a fake sculpture but it wasn't much of a "sculpture" either. When XiaoXiao had made the claim that there definitely was a fake sculpture Xiang Li didn't think much of it but when XiaoXiao said that it is not possible for there to be a fake since no one had seen the sculpture except Song XingChen. So why complicate things. If song XingChen is the only one capable of making a deep fake then why doubt anyone else?

Xiang Li first thought that Song XingChen might have made a fake sculpture to take away the real one for himself but that didn't make any sense, so one thought led to another and Xiang Li finally arrived at a conclusion after this inquiry with Xin Su.