Save your breath.

"If you dare to bully her, I will fight you to the death!"

Xiaocheng intended to explain. In truth, he was always the one being bullied in the past, or he wanted to tell the cripple that the two of them were not in a romantic relationship. However, the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down. Let them misunderstand; otherwise, the slap he had just received would be even harder to explain.

They had barely exchanged a few words before the dishes were served. Most of them were pre-prepared, so it didn't take long. Ding Sina placed the folding round table down, and all three of them took their seats. Dragging his leg, the cripple went to fetch the bottle of Jiannanchun from the cabinet, had his daughter rinse two small cups, and placed one in front of himself and the other in front of Xiaocheng.

"Can you handle a little drop?"

Not wanting to ruin the cripple's mood, Xiaocheng nodded and said, "I can only drink a tiny bit."

"Alright, just drink a little at noon, just to be sociable." As the cripple spoke, he reached out to pour a drink for Xiaocheng. Xiaocheng sighed inwardly, took the bottle from him, filled Old Ding's cup first, and then poured about a finger's depth of liquor into his own small cup to keep him company. Ding Sina didn't drink; she went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of soda for herself. All three of them raised their glasses.

Xiaocheng felt like a new groom entering his bride's home for the first time. The cripple wanted to say a few words, but after opening his mouth for a long time without knowing what to say, he finally blurted out a single word: "Drink!" Raising his glass, he took a large sip first.

Xiaocheng followed suit, taking a polite sip. As he put his cup down, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ding Sina sitting beside him, her eyes brimming with affection. The handprint on her face was less obvious now, but half of her cheek remained red.

Five years ago, Cripple Ding had been arrogant and overbearing, holding a club as if he were ready to fight the Wen family to the death. Yet who could have imagined that five years later, he would be sitting at the same table drinking with Wen Xiaocheng...

Under the table, Ding Sina secretly kicked Xiaocheng with her silk-stockinged foot. Xiaocheng almost dropped his chopsticks. Seeing that the cripple opposite them wasn't paying attention, he turned his head and protested with his eyes, as if to say: *What are you doing?*

Ding Sina smiled mischievously, looking immensely pleased with herself, as if she were saying: *You're my boyfriend now.*

Xiaocheng rolled his eyes: *Asking for a beating.*

Ding Sina was utterly defiant: *Come on, hit me then...*

And so, Xiaocheng conceded defeat.

At that moment, after pondering for a long time, the cripple finally raised his glass once again, facing Xiaocheng as he said, "Child, the matters of the older generation have passed for so long, and I won't dwell on them anymore. It was all damned sin! What's in the past stays in the past. Whatever witness your father needs, I'll help with all my might. As for you and Nana, you might still be considered young, but if you two are truly dating, your uncle isn't some old-fashioned conservative. I hope the two of you stay well together..."

Xiaocheng didn't know whether he should drink this cup of wine or not.

Before Xiaocheng could speak, the rims of Ding Sina's eyes turned red, and she let out a cry of, "Dad!"

That single word of "Dad" immediately made Old Ding's eyes turn red as well. The cripple took another large sip and covered up his emotion by saying, "This liquor is really spicy!"

Xiaocheng thought to himself, *Fine, let's not explain anymore.*

That brute who had wielded a club and been the first to charge into his house wasn't really a bad person when all was said and done. Especially now, seeing Old Ding's display of deep paternal affection filled one with emotion. No matter what, as far as the Ding family was concerned, the grievances of the previous generation had finally been brought to a satisfactory close.

At the entrance of the apartment building, Ding Sina walked Xiaocheng all the way down. It was a little past two in the afternoon, and there was no one around. The girl took a few quick steps to close the distance and said softly, "Didn't you tell me to pursue you in reverse? Does this count as me catching you?"

Xiaocheng truly had no idea how to respond.

"Right now, I don't hate you anymore."

Cripple Ding not only provided Xiaocheng with a piece of testimony, but even helped contact more than a dozen eyewitnesses who had been present back then. Xiaocheng visited them one by one, conducting detailed inquiries. Combined with the victim and family testimonies from Zhang Weishan and Lü Songyan, that statement could essentially be verified as fact.

In Wen Xinwu's case, he had injured someone with a knife, and causing death through injury was undeniably an indisputable fact. The crucial point of the case was whether his defense had been excessive.

If the deceased, Zhang Hainai, had indeed uttered the words, "Beat him to death for me, beating him to death is not a crime," then it would prove that Wen Xinwu had faced a threat to his life prior to committing the act. So-called justifiable defense requires that the defense does not exceed necessary limits, but when one's life is threatened, even killing the other party does not exceed necessary limits. This was the pivotal breakthrough for overturning the verdict.

By now, through self-directed study, Xiaocheng had become extremely well-versed in the law. If he were to take the judicial examination at this point, even if he didn't get a perfect score, he wouldn't be far off, and his legal literacy surpassed that of professional lawyers. However, some matters simply could not be handled without a specialized lawyer—for instance, reviewing the case files.

Of course, this wasn't too difficult of an obstacle; in truth, he only needed to retain a professional lawyer. At this juncture, Professor Dai volunteered to step forward, and it turned out the old man held a lawyer's practice license.

Armed with the lawyer's license and the family's authorization letter, Xiaocheng finally managed to copy the entire case file from back then—a thick stack of papers. He had experienced firsthand what had happened that year, and the case file reflected it fairly and accurately for the most part. However, aside from the missing crucial statement uttered by the deceased Zhang Weihai, Xiaocheng discovered another issue.

There was no dispute that Wen Xinwu had injured someone with a knife. Regarding whether injuring someone constituted justifiable defense, the court had ruled as follows: First, Wen Xinwu had taken the initiative to wield a knife, possessing the subjective intent of intentional injury. Second, the victim was holding a club, which indeed posed a threat to the defendant and bore a certain degree of responsibility for the escalation of the conflict. Third, the victim committed the assault outside his own dwelling; clearly, the defense exceeded necessary limits. Therefore, the charge of intentional homicide resulting in injury was established.

Outside his own dwelling—meaning his own courtyard. And that small courtyard was also a part of the house. Xiaocheng clearly remembered that his family's property ownership certificate and land use certificate included the area of the courtyard. In other words, those people had broken directly into his family's home, and his father had only taken up a knife to fight back in self-defense!

At that time, the family had hired the most famous senior lawyer Gu from out of town, practically the number one figure in China for criminal cases. How could he have made such a mistake? The family's property certificate had been in their hands—even now it still was—so why had such crucial evidence not been submitted to the court?

If someone charges into your home and you kill them, it is a completely different concept from killing someone outside your home. A professional lawyer could not possibly be ignorant of this! With his mind full of doubts, Xiaocheng dialed the phone number of lawyer Gu Hua.

For five years, Senior Lawyer Gu's number had remained unchanged.

On the other end of the line came the voice of a middle-aged man. Xiaocheng still remembered that he was the very lawyer Gu who had appeared in court to defend his father back then.

"Hello, Lawyer Gu. Five years ago, you handled an intentional injury resulting in death case in Hongxing County, Xiangyang City. The defendant was named Wen Xinwu. Do you remember?" Although anxiety gnawed at his heart, Xiaocheng still asked politely.

The person on the other end paused to think, "Oh, I remember. There was such a case. And you are?"

"I am the son of the defendant Wen Xinwu. My name is Wen Xiaocheng."

"Ah, Xiaocheng, is it? What can I do for you?"

"I am currently reviewing my father's case file and discovered that in that year's case, an important piece of evidence was never submitted to the court. The reason my father was convicted of excessive defense was because the court believed the other party had never entered our home, thus deeming it excessive defense. However, according to the property and land use certificates, the courtyard's area is included, which fully proves that the courtyard is part of the residence. If this evidence had been submitted back then, I am afraid my father would not have been sentenced to such a long term. As a nationally renowned and famous lawyer, you could not possibly have been unaware of this. May I ask what considerations led you to do this?"

Xiaocheng spoke very politely, but his tone already carried a hint of interrogation.

"Yes, you guessed correctly. I did it on purpose."