Chapter 154: The Bright Moon of the Qin Dynasty

The statements from several audience members in the hall are quite representative, and at the same time, they reflect everyone's general view on this matter. Recently, a certain website conducted a special questionnaire survey regarding this case, in which 430,000 people believed that Wen Xinwu was innocent, accounting for 95.7 percent of the respondents. Even the remaining individuals, while considering his actions improper and subject to criminal liability, all felt the sentencing was overly harsh.

At this point, Qin Yue shifted the tone of the conversation. "However, this is merely based on the emotional judgment of ordinary people. As to whether Wen Xinwu's actions constituted justifiable defense, and what the outcome of this retrial will be, we must rely on professionals to analyze it for us. Next, let us welcome with warm applause our legal expert—"

"The academic leader and doctoral supervisor from the Law School of Renmin University of China, Professor Zhou Ruoyu!"

On the stage, Professor Zhou analyzed the case for the audience from a professional perspective. Meanwhile, in the guest waiting area below, Wen Xiaocheng and Professor Dai were whispering to each other.

"I've met this Professor Zhou before. Isn't this the old fellow we teamed up to fleece while playing chess online last time?"

Professor Dai squeezed his eyes and said, "That's him! Don't underestimate this old fellow. He is a towering figure in the legal world, with disciples and grand-disciples flourishing everywhere. If this old boy says on the show that your dad is innocent, the court will probably have to weigh that carefully when rendering the verdict! Understand?"

In fact, this exclusive interview program was arranged to build momentum and show support for Wen Xiaocheng. This Professor Zhou was personally invited by Elder Dai with a phone call. Although he was merely expressing his views on the case on television, his status and standing were right there, so the weight of his words naturally differed.

Professor Zhou did not actually reveal anything entirely new; he merely introduced justifiable defense and excessive defense from a professional standpoint, and shared his views in conjunction with the case itself. As soon as the audience below saw that the expert's views coincided with their own, another wave of enthusiastic applause broke out.

"Everyone present here, including the expert Professor Zhou whom we invited, believes that Wen Xinwu is innocent. But has anyone thought about this issue from the perspective of the victim's family? Even though rushing into someone else's home was a fault, it certainly did not warrant death. How do they, having lost their loved ones, view this matter?"

Demonstrating exceptional command of the stage, Qin Yue instantly led the audience into the role of the opposing side. Subsequently, Zhang Weishan was invited out and seated next to Professor Zhou.

After introducing him to the audience, Qin Yue asked, "Hello, Mr. Zhang. First of all, please accept our condolences for the loss of your family member five years ago. Now that so much time has passed, do you still hate Wen Xinwu?"

With a solemn expression, Zhang Weishan spoke slowly, "My younger brother died at his hands. Just think about it, what kind of hatred is this? It is irreconcilable! For three years after his death, I didn't dare to tell our elderly mother at home. Before she passed away, my mother refused to close her eyes, wishing to see her second son one last time, and left this world with regret. Do you think I could not possibly hate the Wen family?"

These words were delivered with profound sorrow, causing the audience members who had just advocated for Wen Xinwu's innocence to fall silent. Even though Wen Xinwu had extenuating circumstances, the other party indeed did not deserve to die. For a moment, everyone furrowed their brows.

"Yet later on, you still reached a reconciliation with the Wen family. Why was that?"

"Because of my son," Zhang Weishan said. "My son and Wen Xiaocheng were classmates in the same class. Because of the feud between the older generation, the two of them were always fighting. Later, when I heard him say he wanted to kill Wen Xiaocheng, I finally realized that the hatred had spread to the next generation! If we didn't do something, God forbid, the tragedy that befell our generation would repeat itself in the next! Hatred solves nothing, and truth be told, hating Wen Xinwu was merely an emotional outlet for me to process the grief of losing my younger brother."

"After all, the dead cannot be brought back to life. What happened five years ago was a tragedy, and in this tragedy, everyone was a victim—including myself, and including Wen Xinwu. My younger brother died at his hands, but at its root, Wen Xinwu did not want to kill anyone. In truth, no one wanted the events of that year to happen; this is the consensus and foundation upon which we reached our reconciliation. It was like a disaster; in the disaster I lost my brother, while Wen Xinwu lost his freedom. Since we are all victims, why must we fight to the death and let the hatred continue?"

By the time he reached this point, his words were interrupted by full-house applause.

Qin Yue proved herself worthy of being the top headliner of Haitian Satellite TV, structuring the program impeccably. Not only Zhang Weishan, but even Crippled Ding, Lü Songyan, and others were invited onto the stage one by one to recount the past events from different perspectives, restoring a comprehensive picture of the old grievances. At the most touching moments, many audience members shed warm tears.

Wen Xiaocheng and Lü Qi were the last to take the stage. When the host introduced that the younger generation of the two once-daggers-drawn families had become good friends, it sparked another round of applause in the hall. After all, what could be more joyful than turning hostility into friendship?

"What I want to say is that after what happened back then, sentencing my father or even killing him could not simply draw a period to it. The person who died cannot be revived, Uncle Ding's disability will stay with him for the rest of his life, the younger generation of their family hates me, and in school, we teenagers barely in our teens were filled with hatred. In truth, the matter was far from over! Only when we all calm down, look back calmly at everything from that year, can we understand that this was a tragedy where no one won and everyone was a victim."

"I want to seek vindication for my father not because I think what he did back then was right, but simply to bring the past to a close as much as possible. Now I have gained the tolerance and understanding of the Zhang, Ding, and Lü families, and have actively fulfilled my compensation obligations. I believe that since everyone—including the audience here, netizens online, legal experts, and even the victim's family—believes my father is innocent, I trust the court will rule accordingly."

"I do not think my father's actions back then were particularly righteous; it was merely out of helplessness. The warnings this matter has given us are more than enough. In truth, arguing over who was right and who was wrong no longer holds any meaning. The crucial point is to prevent similar tragedies from happening again. That is what we need to reflect upon and remain vigilant about."

Following the broadcast of this episode, hundreds of thousands of viewer comments poured in, elevating the reflection on the past case to a new height. Human sentiment, natural justice, and state law! A single case might simply be a matter of guilt or innocence from a legal perspective, and a question of right and wrong from the standpoint of public justice, but how can things in this world be reduced to such simple rights and wrongs? Every single person is a living, breathing human being, each bearing their own responsibilities and supported by a family behind them.

Right and wrong are actually no longer important. The key lies in ensuring that similar events never happen again.

The law lacks the power to dissolve hatred, but forgiveness possesses it. The bright moon of the Qin Dynasty was never quite complete; the violent Qin perished in the second generation, leaving behind mostly tragedies.

The Great Qin swept across the six states with formidable martial might, yet who would willingly become the countless whitening bones beneath the Great Wall, listening to the bitter weeping of Meng Jiangnü? The pride in a nation's might is abstract; by comparison, I would much rather see Meng Jiangnü and Fan Xiliang living in harmonious marital bliss, enjoying an unashamedly joyful life—that is genuine, tangible happiness.