Chapter 139: Qin Yun’s Plagiarism Exposed, Fourth Sister Breaks Down! Qin Jiang Sues Back

The trial continued.

Qin Jiang returned to the defendant’s seat.

Luo Xiang seemed to have taken a phone call. After coming back he didn’t say a word to Qin Jiang, and his eyes looked a little more complicated and hesitant.

But he did not speak further.

The judge took his seat, but for some reason the usually solemn bench felt a bit hot beneath him today.

Qin Shuyun, the plaintiff, returned to her place. This time, the chief lawyer who had originally been her second sister’s boyfriend, Gu Hai, was suddenly replaced.

Qin Shuyun tried to look for her second sister’s whereabouts but found nothing…

She frowned suspiciously, though she had in her hands some evidence related to their mother’s incident.

And the evidence pointed directly to problems with Qin Jiang’s ointment, meaning their mother’s suffering was not in vain.

After a brief discussion and careful review by the professional team, the judge spoke.

“Defendant Qin Jiang, the video evidence you provided, after professional review, indeed shows no signs of time alteration, but it does not rule out the possibility of writing on behalf of someone else with subjective intent. Do you have any other specific and clear evidence?”

“Of course the plaintiff should also present concrete evidence of the alleged plagiarism!”

The judge looked toward a somewhat familiar figure, and for a moment couldn’t tell whether this person had come incognito to observe or had come on behalf of one side.

Therefore, in handling this case he had to be extremely cautious!

“Your Honor, of course there is evidence!”

Luo Xiang made a grand move again, presenting a very detailed set of materials.

“Our defendant recorded the beginning of ‘Endless Cold Wind’ on video four years ago at local time 5:24, with a creation time of about one hour.”

“At the same time, Qin Yun was attending a small birthday party, and that instant Polaroid happened to record the shooting time and year as a memento. The youth in the center of that photo is undoubtedly Qin Yun.“

“Of course, we have physical evidence and we also have witness testimony!”

Luo Xiang’s voice rang with force. He was in his element in court, wielding the penal code as if he could bring anyone to justice!

When that imposing authority was displayed.

It even gave off the immediate impression of a rogue within the law.

The judge inspected the evidence on the spot and immediately decided, “Where is the witness?”

Qin Shuyun looked in disbelief at the photo in the judge’s hand, though it was only a fleeting glance when it was presented.

But it was enough to remind her of the origin of that Polaroid.

Four years had passed. No one would have noticed such a detail.

For example, the time when Qin Jiang recorded his creative inspiration on video was within ten minutes of the Polaroid time from when Qin Yun attended Fifth Sister Qin Qianyun’s birthday party.

Moreover, Luo Xiang, as the lawyer, had already marked the times and locations of the two scenes early on.

The two could not possibly appear in the same frame such that some absurd “you recite to me, I’ll record the inspiration” scenario could occur.

The lie was nearly pierced with a single poke!!

Qin Yun sat in a wheelchair. The physical pain was of course agonizing, but seeing his lies exposed before everyone made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

The key was, his leg injury was serious…

He couldn’t even stand up to run!!

Seeing this, Qin Shuyun’s doubts grew deeper, but she still trusted Yun.

Yun had worked so hard privately to help her restore her appearance and didn’t want her to know about it. A Yun who selflessly devoted herself to the family like that, how could he lie?

If ‘Endless Cold Wind’ really was intentionally taken by him to claim Jiang’s work as his own.

Then it must have been Qin Jiang’s presence that made Yun feel threatened early on, which led to the wrongdoing.

This was not Yun’s fault.

It was that she, as a sister, failed to notice Yun’s inner fear immediately and to offer comfort at once.

Yun had always been a good child.

Why did he turn bad as soon as Qin Jiang returned?

Was there really no reason to suspect Qin Jiang of scheming on purpose?

Qin Shuyun couldn’t calm down for a long time. “This is impossible, Qin Jiang, stop slandering!”

“Even if there really is a Polaroid as evidence, if Yun told you the inspiration beforehand, you might have deliberately recorded the beginning of the script on video while he was at the party — who knows.”

“Qin Jiang, you’re terrible… Yun really can’t outsmart you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make you pay the price…”

Qin Shuyun didn’t want to believe it, and didn’t dare to believe it.

Her second sister’s sudden disappearance had already made her panicked.

For Yun’s sake, and for their mother’s, she had to hold the most crucial post.

“Fourth Sister, could you stop being so stubborn?”

“Is it fun to harbor a criminal, to shelter a machine of lies?”

At that moment, a thin, almost frail figure appeared in the courtroom. She walked with heavy steps and her head bowed as she moved toward the witness stand.

The moment Qin Shuyun saw her appear, she felt a chill on her scalp.

She had imagined countless friends who might have appeared at Fifth Sister’s birthday party, but she never thought… that Fifth Sister Qin Qianyun herself would be standing across on the witness stand.

Only a few meters separated them, but it already felt like a distant severing from the Qin family.

Family turned traitor!

She had become the first blade in the attack against Qin Yun!!

A look of astonishment flashed in Qin Yun’s eyes. His mind buzzed and his thoughts momentarily froze.

Fifth Sister? She had clearly cared for him even more.

Now she was standing opposite him accusing him?

“Little Five… no! Qin Qianyun, are you crazy?”

“Who do you consider family? How many benefits did that cursed one give you to make you betray your family like this?”

Qin Shuyun was beside herself. As a former queen of the screen who had always appeared graceful and composed.

She had given herself plenty of exposure this time, intending to utterly crush Qin Jiang!

But the situation before her was so uncontrollable that she couldn’t restrain her emotions. Her former image as the queen of cinema was shattered by repeated losses of control.

“Your Honor, I am Qin Yun’s fifth sister. The Polaroid group photo was taken at my birthday party four years ago. I can testify that Qin Yun spent seven days on the island with me, our eldest sister, and Fourth Sister, and during that time there was no contact with Qin Jiang to discuss any so-called film inspiration.”

“I take full responsibility for my testimony!”

Qin Qianyun stood at the witness stand. Her expression showed no fluctuation from beginning to end, but the light in her eyes faded bit by bit, as if a flower were visibly wilting and perishing…

She couldn’t help but turn to look at Qin Jiang. With just one glance her heart swelled with dense, continuous pain, a suffocating ache.

Qin Qianyun squeezed her fist so hard that her nails pierced her palm and dug into the flesh. Only then did she recover a bit of reason from the pain.

This… was the condition Jiang had asked her to agree to.

At this moment Qin Qianyun was merely a knife in his hand, the blade to cut into the Qin family!

Although she knew the truth and was willing to expose it.

But… it should not be on the witness stand in court!

She could expose Qin Yun’s hypocrisy in the Qin family ancestral hall, at a family meeting, or in countless other private settings.

Those would all be family-internal criticisms and a lesson directed at Qin Yun behind closed doors…

But it should not be to make his dirty lies known to everyone.

Although Qin Qianyun still felt some resistance deep down, this was the best way to atone for Jiang.

She still nodded helplessly.

“Qin Yun, do you have anything to say?”

Qin Qianyun made her ruling, staring into Qin Yun’s eyes, trying to find a trace of guilt or remorse.

As for Qin Yun, his face instantly drained of color, his whole being like a rootless duckweed, weak and forsaken.

He seemed to grasp at a final straw, pushing his wheelchair to Qin Shuyun’s side. His long fingertips pinched her hem and gave it a slight tug.

“Fourth Sister… why would Fifth Sister falsely accuse me?”

And Qin Shuyun, who had originally firmly chosen to side with Qin Yun, had already been somewhat shaken when she saw the Polaroid.

“Qin Shuyun, look at this.”

Luo Xiang once again launched a “send to prison” motion.

A thick stack of materials appeared—over the years Qin Shuyun had secretly obtained one printed and heavily annotated manuscript after another, scripts revised to near perfection.

One after another, a thick huge pile!

They were all things she had believed Yun had provided as inspiration—the stepping stones for her transition into a screenwriter-director path.

Among them were some initial inspirations, not all full scripts.

But this single pile was enough to overturn Qin Shuyun’s understanding… and send it crumbling.

At this moment, Qin Shuyun’s fingertips trembled, and the tip of her heart felt as if something were crushing it, causing pain.

Her psyche was collapsing inch by inch.

Until she was utterly defeated.

Yet she still desperately flipped through the materials before her, as if torturing herself, determined to read every page.

Her eyes grew redder and redder as if mad, and she frantically turned to the last page of the manuscript.

It was the new film she was preparing, but only a preliminary concept.

She had originally planned to consult Yun about plot details, but Yun had been hospitalized recently, and the script she left at home showed no signs of being read or annotated with inspirations.

She thought… she thought it was because Yun’s health had been poor recently…

But she had never suspected that the one helping her was not Qin Yun, but the notorious Qin Jiang?

She had misunderstood Qin Jiang—she had misunderstood him outrageously!!

Qin Yun looked at Qin Shuyun’s state and couldn’t help gripping her sleeve, begging her to stop reading.

But Qin Shuyun was already possessed, paying him no heed whatsoever.

Qin Shuyun’s throat choked. Her face was masked, so normally that would hide emotion—but now everyone could see…

Qin Shuyun was about to fall apart!!

“Ah… Jiang, I’m so…”

Qin Jiang raised an eyebrow, his tone so indifferent and flat that it contrasted sharply with Qin Shuyun’s nearly hysterical state.

“Hey, shut up!”

“Put away that worthless cat pee of yours!”

“Judge, I apply to submit the plaintiff’s complaint.”

Qin Jiang mercilessly cut off Qin Shuyun’s repentant façade. Of course this did not rule out that Qin Shuyun only temporarily needed a way to prove she was just a deceived good person.

Whatever her reasons, Qin Jiang no longer needed it.

Luo Xiang, with full professionalism, submitted the complaint again.

This time, it was not just one sheet.

But several thick stacks!

Just at a glance it was clear this wasn’t an amount meant to sue only one person.

The jurors: ???

The press corps: ???

The plaintiff’s original team: ???

A max-level holy body of charges, huh!!

“Now it’s your turn: defendants Qin Shuyun, Qin Yun, and the absent Qin Muyun, Jiang Yuyao, Gu Hai!”

The judge was equally caught off guard.

This… this wasn’t procedural either!!

However, his gaze fell again on a familiar figure—someone influential even in constitutional revisions—and that person’s eyes were gently fixed on Qin Jiang??

The power of the country’s financial tyrant family was terrifying like this!

The judge, holding his little gavel and recognizing the situation, pounded once.

“Ahem ahem… although this isn’t very procedural!”

“But the law serves the people, so when necessary it must be applied with discretion. The court will accept your complaint immediately!”

“Additionally, defendant… ahem, plaintiff’s lawyer Luo Xiang, please restrain yourself. The complaints should focus on the main case!”

The implication:

You’ve sued so many defendants, but you can’t sue this judge who’s handling things with discretion, okay~