Archive of Our Own

April 19, 9:27 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 2

It was just as Wei Wuxian had feared: the lobby was not empty when he arrived.

Jiang Cheng was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. His otherwise crisp police uniform was mauled with wrinkles in the sleeves where his fingers caught and ticked to an impatient rhythm. He was staring into space with dark, unblinking eyes, unfazed by the curious glances of the bailiff guarding the doors to the courtroom.

Wei Wuxian’s footsteps pulled him inevitably into the room and when the doors shut behind him, that black gaze slid to meet his.

The corner of Jiang Cheng’s lip curled with a glint of white teeth and he stood up straight. 

“You’re really going to do this,” he said, eyes narrowing on the person unsuccessfully trying to hide behind Wei Wuxian.

“Wen Ning is innocent,” Wei Wuxian insisted. He took a half-step to the side and patted Wen Ning’s hunched shoulder. “I can prove it.”

Wen Ning did not appear to take any comfort from this as he visibly shrunk under Jiang Cheng’s glare, head hanging low.

“No Wen is innocent,” Jiang Cheng scoffed. “All of them deserve to rot.”

“That’s not true.” Wei Wuxian did not flinch as Jiang Cheng’s eyes returned to fix on him. “Someone else did this, and that’s the person who deserves to be punished. If the wrong person is found guilty, the real culprit will get away. Is that what you want?”

The brim of Jiang Cheng’s police cap cast deep shadows on his face and not a single glint of light caught in the whites of his eyes. “You think we got the wrong guy?” he spat. “You really think I would half-ass investigating the murder of my own fucking sister?”

My sister, not our. Wei Wuxian wiped a speck of saliva off his cheek and refused to blink.

“Yes,” he said. “To the first part. I think you did your best, but you’re not thinking straight. There’s some things you overlooked.”

A snarl of a smile split Jiang Cheng’s mouth.

“Fine.” He took a step back. “Prove it. But don’t expect to ever show your face in front of me again.”

He pushed past them, knocking Wen Ning aside with his shoulder, and strode out of the room towards the prosecutor’s lobby, the harsh clack of his shoes on the stone floor undercut somewhat by the mechanism in the door that slowly brought it closed with a gentle click.

Wen Ning hid his shattered expression in his hands.

“It’s all my fault,” he cried. “You shouldn’t be mixed up in this because of me.”

“Too late for that,” Wei Wuxian assured him. “I’ve been in it from the start. Anyway, the trial’s in ten minutes, it’s not like you can find a new lawyer now. So just keep your chin up and let me do my job.”

Wen Ning nodded, but his tearful gaze remained on the floor.

Wei Wuxian sighed and rubbed him on the back. “Look, you didn’t do anything wrong, okay? You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”

Wen Ning shook his head.

“Okay, then there must be evidence,” Wei Wuxian went on. “And if there’s evidence, I can prove it. Okay?”

“Okay,” Wen Ning whispered.

“Hey, come on.” Wei Wuxian patted his back and grinned. “The worst of times are when we force our biggest smiles, right?”

Wen Ning looked up, a tear drop drying on his cheek, and hesitantly pushed the corners of his mouth into a meek smile.

“There it is!” Wei Wuxian nodded approvingly. “We’ll work on making that smile bigger, but it’s a good start.”

The door swung open again and a harried Wen Qing came in with a shoulder bag hanging from her elbow, three paper cups of steaming tea balanced precariously between her hands.

“Drink,” she commanded, shoving the cups at Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. They both obeyed without daring to complain, even as the liquid burned their tongues.

“I got the file you wanted from your office,” she said, blowing on her own cup of tea. “And that bullet you picked up from the side of the road. It’s all in here.” She thrust her arm out, dangling the bag in front of Wei Wuxian at waist height. “I can’t believe how careless you are, leaving this to me at the last minute. My brother’s life is at stake. What would you do if I couldn’t get my hospital shift covered?”

Wei Wuxian knew better than to argue with her about what a potentially bad idea it was for him to carry such important evidence on his person as the publically-known defense attorney. “Thank you, Wen Qing. You’re a lifesaver. A-Yuan is with Granny Wen?”

“Obviously.” She rolled her eyes and seemed prepared to continue the scolding, but the bailiff mercifully interrupted.

“Court will be in session momentarily. Please make your way into the courtroom.”

“Got it.”

Wei Wuxian gave Wen Ning one last overly toothy grin and a thumbs up. Wen Ning mirrored the gesture weakly and then followed him through the doors.

April 19, 10:00 AM

District Court

Courtroom No. 7

The gallery was abuzz as the judge took his seat. It wasn’t often that Chief Justice Jin Guangshan deigned to oversee a case himself, but this was a special circumstance.

After all, his own beloved son, Jin Zixuan, was one of the victims.

The man was stonefaced as he made his entrance and sat down without even looking at the audience that had risen for him.

Wei Wuxian glanced into the gallery and immediately regretted it. In a sea of strangers wearing a whole rainbow of colors, there was only one person dressed in an all-white suit.

So that was the source of the overwhelming sense of judgment he had felt on the back of his neck from the moment he entered the courtroom. By the accounts of most reasonable people, Wei Wuxian was setting his whole career on fire for this trial; of course Lan Wangji would be here to witness this in person.

What was with all those worry lines on Lan Wangji’s forehead? He was too handsome to be ruining his face frowning all the time. Honestly, he should try to smile more, he was never going to get a girlfriend at this rate, and that was such a waste.

Wen Qing smacked Wei Wuxian on the arm. “Focus up.”

“Sorry.” He grinned and bobbed his head contritely, but she was unamused.

“The judge is against you,” she reminded him.

“Weird that his own kid being one of the victims wasn’t enough for recusal,” Wei Wuxian said sarcastically. “But I guess when you’re the Chief Justice, no one can overrule you.”

Wen Qing sighed. “Even with another judge, the prosecution is strong. Lan Xichen won’t give you any easy openings.”

The man in question stood on the other side of the courtroom with a serene expression, utterly still with his documents all neatly laid out before him. A Lan would never be so unprepared as to have to shuffle through papers right before a trial.

So boring. Wei Wuxian couldn’t help flicking his eyes into the gallery to catch Lan Wangji again, but was once again smacked by Wen Qing.

The ring of the Chief Justice’s gavel silenced the ambient hum of the crowd in an instant.

“Court is now in session for the trial of Wen Ning,” Jin Guangshan announced. “Is the prosecution ready?”

Lan Xichen bowed. “Yes, Your Honor.”

Jin Guangshan did not extend the same question to Wei Wuxian. “Summarize your case,” he commanded the prosecution.

“Yes, Your Honor.” There was no need for Lan Xichen to reference any of his files. “The defendant, Wen Ning, is accused of causing the death of two people: Jin Zixuan and his wife, Jiang Yanli. The direct cause of death was a car accident due to the incapacitation of the driver - Jin Zixuan - but the evidence suggests he was drugged. The prosecution will show that Wen Ning was the one responsible for this.”

“Very well,” Jin Guangshan said. “Call your first witness.”

“Wow, we’re just totally skipping the part where I plead, then,” Wei Wuxian whispered to Wen Qing. “He’s really not even bothering to pretend to be neutral.”

“We knew this would be an uphill battle going in,” Wen Qing replied. “Just contradicting Lan Xichen's evidence will not be enough. You need to find a way to force Jin Guangshan to side with you, even if he doesn’t want to.”

Oh, is that all?

“The prosecution would like to call Police Captain Nie Mingjue to the stand,” Lan Xichen said.

Nie Mingjue towered over the witness stand when he took it. He was nearly too broad to fit behind the curved podium.

“Would you be so kind as to tell us your name and occupation?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Nie Mingjue,” he answered. “Police Captain. It was decided this case was too important to assign to a regular detective, so I led the investigation myself.”

“Please testify as to the circumstances of the victims’ deaths,” Lan Xichen said.

“No problem.” Nie Mingjue crossed his arms and began his testimony. “The two victims were Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli. Jin Zixuan was driving his wife to her afternoon work shift after dropping off their six-month-old son at his mother’s house. On the way, Jin Zixuan suddenly lost control of the vehicle. It broke through a guardrail and crashed. Both of the victims died instantly. In trying to determine the cause of the crash, our forensics team tested for several different types of narcotics. It was discovered that Jin Zixuan had been drugged.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Jin Guangshan said. “The court acknowledges your statement. Now give us your testimony regarding how you came to arrest the defendant.”

“Objection!”

Wei Wuxian flinched at the volume of his own voice. He hadn’t meant to come right out the gate swinging that hard, he preferred to build some momentum first, but the disregard for procedure was so bald-faced that he couldn’t hold it back.

“The defense requests permission to cross-examine the witness, Your Honor,” he said. In case you forgot I’m here.

Jin Guangshan pursed his lips. “Is there really a need? I don’t see any room for error in Captain Nie’s testimony.”

“I don’t necessarily disagree, Your Honor.” Wei Wuxian clenched his fists on the desk and reminded himself to keep it polite at all costs. “That said, the defense has a right to ask further questions. There are some points I would like Captain Nie to elaborate on. In the interest of more fully understanding the prosecution’s case.”

He tacked on that last sentence with a meaningful look at Lan Xichen. Come on, you’re Lan Zhan’s brother, you’re an honest guy, right? He must respect you for some reason. Help me out here! You don’t wanna win like this, do you?

Lan Xichen smiled plaintively. “The prosecution has no objection, if it pleases Your Honor. My witness is prepared to elaborate.”

Jin Guangshan sighed. “Very well. You may cross-examine the witness. But I expect you to treat the Captain with respect, Wei Wuxian. I will not hesitate to end this if I hear any of your usual wild speculation.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” Wei Wuxian released the breath he was holding. It makes them boring as hell, but thank god for that Lan moral compass.

Wen Qing shook her head. “Don’t celebrate too quickly. If Lan Xichen objects to anything, the judge will shut you down without a second thought.”

“I know. But there’s a reason he’s still letting me do a cross-examination, the same reason we’re having a trial at all and not an execution in secret,” Wei Wuxian replied. “He’s still a judge, he has to maintain some level of accountability to the law in front of the public. Exploiting that is my only shot.”

“Just don’t expect the prosecutor to help you every time,” she warned him. “He isn’t as corrupt as the judge, but don’t think he’ll stick his neck out for you. Tread carefully.”

“Captain Nie, please repeat your testimony,” Jin Guangshan said.

“Yes, Your Honor.” Nie Mingjue did as requested. “The two victims were Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli. Jin Zixuan was driving his wife to her afternoon work shift after dropping off their six-month-old son at his mother’s house.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian curled a lock of his hair around his finger in thought. “You said his-“

Wen Qing punched him in the shoulder and he yelped.

“Ow, what was that for?!”

“What did I just say?” she hissed.

“You don’t even know what I was gonna ask!”

“‘You said his mother’s house, why not his parents’ house,’” she said in a caricature of Wei Wuxian’s voice.

“Oh. So you did know.”

“Everyone knows Jin Guangshan and his wife hate each other and have more money than god, of course they have separate houses. What the hell were you thinking, asking about that?”

“It might be important to know if there were other people at the house,” Wei Wuxian said sheepishly.

“What is your question?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“Um,” Wei Wuxian scrambled for something else to say, “why did they need to drop off their son with Jin Zixuan’s mother?”

“Jin Zixuan typically worked from home, but it seems he had an important meeting that had to be done in-person that day,” Nie Mingjue explained. “He was going to head there after dropping his wife off, so they needed someone else to watch their child. Fortunately, this meant the boy was not in the vehicle when the incident occurred.”

“I see,” Wei Wuxian said. I wonder what that meeting was for?

Nie Mingjue continued his testimony: “On the way, Jin Zixuan suddenly lost control of the vehicle.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian interrupted. “How do you know it was the driver losing control that caused the accident, and not some other reason?”

“There is footage of the incident from traffic surveillance cameras,” Nie Mingjue answered. “No other vehicles were nearby that could have collided. Furthermore, the footage shows the victim suddenly dropping his head right before the vehicle made a sharp turn and went through the guardrail.”

“I wasn’t aware of this footage,” Wei Wuxian said.

“I have it right here,” Lan Xichen said, producing a video tape from his briefcase.

“If it pleases Your Honor, I can play the tape for the court.”

“Yes, I don’t see why not,” Jin Guangshan decided.

The video in question flickered on, showing a narrow mountain road, the edge beyond the guardrail dropping off in a cliff. The timestamp in the corner read 1:16 PM. It was not a high quality camera so the image was grainy and rendered in black and white, but nevertheless, it would be impossible to miss the flashy car that came into view from the right. The blurry image of Jin Zixuan in the driver’s seat was sitting up normally at first, but suddenly his head dropped and the car swerved to the side, away from the camera. There was a small flash of light on the left side and then the car smashed through the guardrail, disappearing from view.

“What was that light?” Wei Wuxian wondered.

“This video certainly seems to show what Captain Nie said.” Wen Qing was frowning. “But with the quality, we can’t see the driver’s face clearly.”

“How do we know the driver in this video was Jin Zixuan?” Wei Wuxian asked the captain.

“The doors of the car were damaged in the crash and impossible to open,” Nie Mingjue said. “We had to use special hydraulic rescue tools to get inside. Furthermore, the autopsy report indicates death was immediate upon impact. Between the time of the video and our discovery of the scene, the bodies would have been impossible to move. We found Jin Zixuan with his seatbelt still buckled in the driver’s seat, and his wife in the passenger’s seat.”

“So it was definitely Jin Zixuan,” Wei Wuxian summarized.

“Still, I wonder if there couldn’t be another reason for the crash,” Wen Qing said. “The prosecution’s explanation is circumstantial.”

“Well, anything we come up with will also be circumstantial unless we can show some proof,” Wei Wuxian replied. “Otherwise, the judge will just believe their word over ours.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Lan Xichen said. “Please, continue.”

Nie Mingjue repeated as asked: “In trying to determine the cause of the crash, our forensics team tested for several different types of narcotics. It was discovered that Jin Zixuan had been drugged.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian leaned forward with his elbow on the desk. “How would you be able to tell if the victim was drugged without his knowledge, as opposed to taking them himself?”

“Common sense would suggest against the victim purposefully taking narcotics immediately prior to driving himself and his wife along a narrow mountain road,” Nie Mingjue replied. “But since you asked: in the course of our investigation, we found an empty plastic water bottle in the front console of the car. Testing it revealed traces of psilocybin. It seems Jin Zixuan was poisoned.”

“It seems?” Wei Wuxian began curling his hair around his finger. “Didn’t the coroner test the victims themselves to confirm if there were any substances in their systems?”

“We ran standard drug tests, as well as several non-standard tests,” Nie Mingjue explained. “But psilocybin doesn’t show up on any of those tests. It can only be detected in hair samples over a longer period of use. As it would have been ingested via the water only a short while before the crash, it would not have had enough time to present in the victim’s hair.”

“Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substance,” Lan Xichen put in.

“Yes, it’s illegal to drive under the influence of psychedelics such as this,” Nie Mingjue said. “It’s  very dangerous - as we can see from this crash.”

“Wait, you didn’t answer my question,” Wei Wuxian said. “I asked how you knew the victim was drugged without his knowledge. How can you know who put the psilocybin in the water? Also, how would you know when the victim drank the water? It could have been a leftover bottle from some other day.”

Lan Xichen shook his head with a smile. “I’m sorry, Wei-gongzi, it appears I have inadvertently trapped you. I do have evidence to present on this matter.”

“Ah…”  Whoops.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wen Qing said. “He would present this evidence one way or another. Lans aren’t the type to take shortcuts, he’ll try to put on his full case even if the judge has already made up his mind.”

“The water bottle was tested for more than chemicals,” Lan Xichen said. “We discovered three sets of fingerprints: those of the victims, Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli, as well as that of the accused, Wen Ning.”

“That’s curious,” Jin Guangshan said without an ounce of curiosity.

“Jiang Yanli’s prints were also on the bottle?” Wei Wuxian asked. “How do you know she didn’t drink it?”

“DNA evidence on the mouth of the bottle suggested only Jin Zixuan actually drank from it,” Nie Mingjue clarified. “Here is the report with all the details.”

Wei Wuxian braced his palms against the desk. “That still doesn’t answer when the water was consumed. It could have been the week before and they just forgot to throw it out.”

“The prosecution would like to request that Captain Nie testify further as to the circumstances leading to the defendant’s arrest at this time,” Lan Xichen said. “He can answer all of the defense’s questions.”

Jin Guangshan nodded. “The court grants the prosecution’s request.”

Nie Mingjue began his second testimony: “Actually, the first thing we tested the water bottle for was fingerprints. We discovered a set of prints that matched to Wen Ning in our database so we began investigating him at that time. A basic background check revealed that he works as a pharmacist. I got a search warrant for the pharmacy’s records and found that Jin Zixuan had been to that pharmacy earlier on the day of the incident. One of the items he purchased was a bottle of water. Given the defendant’s access to a variety of substances through his work, I began to suspect the victim may have been poisoned. I asked the forensics team to test the water bottle further and the results showed there was psilocybin in it. Consuming the poisoned water directly caused Jin Zixuan to crash his vehicle, so we arrested Wen Ning.”

“Very enlightening," Jin Guangshan said. “I don’t see a need to continue this trial further.”

“Objection!” Wei Wuxian had thrown out his index finger in a dramatic point on instinct, but remembered at the last second that he was supposed to be less antagonistic and pulled it behind his back. “Um, I mean- well, I have more questions, Your Honor!”

Jin Guangshan frowned incredulously. “What more questions could there be? This sounds rather decisive.”

“The confidence in my case is much appreciated, Your Honor.” Lan Xichen bowed. “There is more evidence still, should the court wish to see it.”

Jin Guangshan put a hand on his gavel. “Very well. Out of respect for Captain Nie’s work, I will allow a cross-examination. But should there be no contradictions at the end of the defense’s questioning, I will announce my verdict.”

Wei Wuxian bowed so he wouldn’t have to put on a fake smile. “Thank you, Your Honor.”

“This is it,” Wen Qing said. “You better find something, or it’s over.”

“I don’t think Captain Nie would lie on the stand,” Wei Wuxian said, “and he’s a pretty thorough investigator. I don’t think I can prove anything he said was wrong with what I have.”

Wen Qing crossed her arms. “That may be the case, but there’s still limits to his knowledge. Plus, there was a lot of pressure from the Jin family to solve this quickly, so they might not have had time to double check everything. Lan Xichen said there was more evidence - maybe if you drag out some more details, you can find something they overlooked.”

Nie Mingjue repeated his testimony once more.

“One of the items he purchased was a bottle of water.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian tapped his mouth with his knuckle, thinking. “One of the items? What else did he buy?”

“I have the receipt recording Jin Zixuan’s purchase at the pharmacy here,” Lan Xichen said, presenting the document.

It was a printed receipt bearing the letterhead of the pharmacy where Wen Ning worked, Hotti Pharmacy. It listed two items: a bottle of 50mg tablets of trazodone and a bottle of water. The date - April 13th - matched the date of the incident and the timestamp indicated the transaction had occurred at 11:20 that morning.

“Wait, let me see that.” Wen Qing snatched Wei Wuxian’s photocopy out of his hands.

“What is it?”

“Trazodone!” Her eyes shone as she pointed to the word on the paper.

“I’m not a doctor like you, I don’t know what that means,” Wei Wuxian said.

“Trazodone is a serotonin antagonist - basically, it’s a chemical that inhibits certain receptors in the brain,” she explained excitedly. “More importantly: it prevents some other chemicals from working.”

“Like psilocybin?”

“Yes, exactly like psilocybin,” she said. “Someone taking trazodone regularly would most likely not experience the hallucinogenic effects.”

Wei Wuxian took the paper back and decided this might be worth risking a dramatic point. “Objection!”

“What is the issue, Wei Wuxian?” Jin Guangshan already had his gavel in his hand.

Wei Wuxian put his hands on his hips and gave a winning smile. “Well, I was looking at this receipt, and I noticed the other item the victim bought: trazodone.”

“You noticed it?” Wen Qing scoffed.

Wei Wuxian gave her a sorry please just go with it smile and went on. “Captain Nie, this prescription was for Jin Zixuan, correct?”

Nie Mingjue frowned. “Yes. It seems he was taking it regularly for sleep. We tested the bottle of pills as well, but it wasn’t tampered with.”

Wei Wuxian shook his head and then held up the paper. “No, but the pills tampered with the poison. Trazodone interferes with psilocybin because it,” he shot a pleading look at Wen Qing, “blocks the brain receptors?” She nodded and he regained confidence. “Therefore, Jin Zixuan would not have been affected!”

“I find it hard to believe Jin Zixuan would have taken a sleep aid during the day, and especially before driving,” Lan Xichen said, touching his chin thoughtfully.

“It wouldn’t matter,” Wei Wuxian argued, glancing continuously back at Wen Qing for any sign he was getting something wrong. “He was using it regularly. It would have stayed in his system from the night before.”

The gallery, thus far kept silent out of fear and respect for the presence of the Chief Justice, suddenly burst into commotion. Wei Wuxian looked toward the noise and his eyes found Lan Wangji, who was looking right back.

Wei Wuxian quickly refocused on the judge, who brought the room back to order with a single strike of the gavel.

“What does this mean?” he demanded.

“The car accident was not caused by the drugged water,” Wei Wuxian concluded. “Therefore, my client was not responsible for it.”

“Careful,” Wen Qing warned. “That’s not enough by itself.”

“Prosecutor Lan,” Jin Guangshan turned to face the other way, “what is your opinion?”

Lan Xichen maintained his calm expression flawlessly. “It would appear there was a rather large problem with my theory of the case. I apologize for my oversight and would like to extend my thanks to Wei-gongzi for correcting it.”

“I corrected it, thank you very much,” Wen Qing spoke up loud enough to be heard by the court for the first time.

Lan Xichen bowed to her. “I have made another error, I apologize once again. Thank you for your diligence."

“Those Lans are so polite, it makes my teeth hurt,” Wen Qing grumbled, quiet once more.

“Who are you and what are your qualifications to make this observation?” Jin Guangshan challenged her.

“My name is Wen Qing. I’m a doctor,” Wen Qing answered curtly.

Jin Guangshan narrowed his eyes at her. “A Wen? You are related to the defendant, then?”

“Yes,” she said, not backing down from the eye contact.

The Chief Justice hummed incredulously.

“I will have someone verify Wen-yisheng’s opinion,” Lan Xichen said.

“Do so,” Jin Guangshan ordered. “Until this has been verified, the court cannot accept it as evidence.”

Nie Mingjue suddenly spoke up: “Whether the poisoning was successful or not, the fact remains that there was an attempted poisoning and the defendant is the only one who could have done it.”

Jin Guangshan reached for his gavel. “That is true. Wen Ning remains the prime suspect regardless.”

Is that really true? Wei Wuxian thought, curling his hair. No way, he finally decided, shaking his head.

“That’s not true,” he said, two hands on the desk. “The attempted poisoning must have been committed by someone other than the defendant. Wen Ning is a pharmacist; he definitely would know the effect of trazodone on psilocybin. Furthermore, he was the one who gave Jin Zixuan the trazodone. If he was going to poison the victim, there’s no way he would pick something directly countered by the prescription he just filled!”

Whispers erupted throughout the gallery, but were quickly extinguished by another single hammer of the Chief Justice’s gavel.

“Then how do you explain the presence of the psilocybin?” Jin Guangshan demanded.

“Someone else did it,” Wei Wuxian said. “A third person: the real killer.”

“Interesting,” Jin Guangshan said, oozing disinterest. “And who do you propose this third person is?”

It all comes down to this, Wei Wuxian thought. But…

“I can’t say,” was his answer.

Jin Guangshan’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. “You don’t know? You would make such a bold claim with no backing?”

“Sorry, Your Honor.” I still haven’t unraveled enough of the pieces yet. “But there is another point I’m curious about: assuming the psilocybin was uneffective, what was the actual cause of the crash?”

“It is a worthwhile question,” Lan Xichen agreed. “Though perhaps we should discuss that after my aid is able to confirm that was the case. In the meantime, there is another witness who can testify as to the defendant’s motive, if I may have the court’s permission to call him.”

“It is so granted,” Jin Guangshan said.

Lan Xichen bowed. “Thank you for your testimony, Captain Nie. The prosecution now calls Jin Zixun to the stand.”

Jin Zixun had the sort of high eyebrows and upturned nose that immediately clocked him as arrogant. The expensive designer clothes he wore rather suited that image, if not his actual body - somehow they seemed to hang off him like they were on a laundry line instead of a person. The outside matched the inside, unfortunately: his personality was exactly as one would expect just from looking at him.

“Your name and occupation, please,” Lan Xichen asked. Polite as ever, but Wei Wuxian stifled a laugh at how much more polite the prosecutor had been to the previous witness.

“I’m Jin Zixun,” the man said, keeping his chin up as he spoke. It was a standard way to look down on other people, but the stiff way he was holding that pose made Wei Wuxian think it might also come from some insecurity about the second chin that occasionally appeared behind it. “I’m Jin Zixuan’s cousin.”

“And your occupation?” Lan Xichen repeated.

Jin Zixun scowled, his mouth pinching together in a pout that rather resembled a baby. “None of your business. I’ve got a lot of projects going.”

Unemployed, Wei Wuxian wrote in his mental notes. Living off inheritance.

“I see,” was Lan Xichen’s diplomatic response. “You were close with your cousin?”

“Oh, yeah, super close,” Jin Zixun said, waving his ring-studded hand flippantly.

Wei Wuxian tried to imagine Jiang Yanli being okay with her husband hanging out with this guy regularly and found it to be simply impossible.

“He told you he was in contact with the defendant, Wen Ning, correct?” Lan Xichen confirmed.

“Yep, he told me all about it.”

“Please testify as to your relationship with the victims and your knowledge of Jin Zixuan’s dealings with the defendant.”

Jin Zixun flashed a gold watch as he pretended to dust something off his shoulder. “Gladly.”

He began his testimony: “I was really close with my cousin and his family. He was a big-shot investigator for the tax department. He told me about his cases all the time since he sometimes needed help figuring something out. We were hanging out a week before his death and he told me he was working on something big. He said he was going after the Wens and he had a lead on a member of the family who might be willing to talk. I told him it was dangerous, but he didn’t listen. Well, looks like I was right. That Wen Ning must have killed him for getting too close.”

“Jin Zixuan’s colleagues at the Internal Revenue Service were able to corroborate Jin Zixun’s knowledge of the victim’s work, Your Honor,” Lan Xichen said. “As it is an ongoing investigation, much of his case file is still confidential. However, from the information available, we can surmise that Jin Zixuan was indeed investigating the Wen family, who have been suspected of being responsible for a significant amount of organized crime by law enforcement for quite some time.”

Jin Zixun grinned and spread his fingers to show his multitude of sparkling rings. “You see?”

“Sloppy,” Wen Qing muttered. “That whole testimony was sloppy.”

“I wonder if even half of it was true,” Wei Wuxian replied. “But I don’t have anything I can use to prove he’s lying.”

“The more he talks, the more mistakes he’ll make,” she said. “Dig deeper and get him to say something that goes against the evidence.”

“First, I have to beg the judge to let me have my cross-examining rights.” Wei Wuxian raised his voice to the court. “Your Honor, I have some questions for this witness.”

Jin Guangshan shook his head. “This testimony has already been verified by trustworthy sources. I see no need to question it.”

“Only one part of the testimony was verified, Your Honor,” Wei Wuxian insisted. “The part about Jin Zixuan investigating the Wens. I want to question the witness about the rest of his statements.”

Jin Guangshan frowned. “I fail to see how the rest of this testimony is relevant. The nature of Jin Zixuan’s work establishes a clear motive for the defendant to have committed the crime. I do not see how examining the rest of the testimony will uncover new information.”

“Well…”

Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen returned his eye contact and did not speak up.

“And there it is,” Wen Qing said acidly. “The prosecution is satisfied with his case. He’s not gonna stick up for you anymore.”

I gotta come up with something, even if it’s a stretch. Wei Wuxian put his hands on the desk. “But Your Honor, what about… uh… what about the other victim?”

Jin Guangshan blinked. “The other victim?”

“There were two victims,” Wei Wuxian said. “We keep talking about Jin Zixuan, but what about Jiang Yanli? What was the motive for her death?”

“I would think it was an accident,” the Chief Justice replied. “She just so happened to be in the car with her husband at the wrong time.”

“That’s what we’ve all been assuming, but what if we’re wrong?”

Lan Xichen tapped his chin. “Hm. I can see some merit in exploring this question, but I’m not sure if this witness will be able to answer it.”

“This witness stated in his testimony that he was ‘really close with his cousin and his family,’” Wei Wuxian argued. “He has already commented on Jiang Yanli. I have the right to ask him about it.”

Jin Guangshan sighed. “Very well. But be warned, Wei Wuxian, I will not tolerate irrelevant questions. You will be penalized for wasting this court’s time.”

“I understand, Your Honor.” Whew! I think I pulled a muscle stretching that far.

“Jin Guangshan knows his nephew,” Wen Qing observed. “He knows Jin Zixun will talk too much if he lets you ask questions freely. Be prepared for a fight.”

“Repeat your testimony,” Wei Wuxian told Jin Zixun, and then Jin Guangshan’s stony gaze made him tack on at the last second, “please.”

Jin Zixun showed off his watch as he flicked another imaginary speck off his shirt. “No problem.

“I was really close with my cousin and his family.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian touched his knuckle to his mouth. “You say you were close with your cousin’s family - so you were close with Jiang Yanli as well?”

“Oh yeah, of course,” Jin Zixun said.

“I see.” What can I possibly ask to get relevant information out of him? “Uh, what did you think of her?”

Jin Zixun shrugged. “She was alright I guess. She was a bit of a drag, always telling my cousin he couldn’t come out to the shooting range with me, but she wasn’t so bad to look at.”

Wei Wuxian forced his gritted teeth into a smile. “She didn’t like the shooting range?” Or did she just not like the company?

“Yeah, Zixuan and I used to go all the time,” Jin Zixun said. “He was a really good shot, you know, he had the top score at that place. But once he got married, he started saying stuff like, ‘I don’t have time, I have to focus on my family’ - it seemed pretty obvious to me that she was holding a tight leash.”

It couldn’t possibly be that he preferred spending time with his wife, of course not. “So you hadn’t gone shooting with your cousin recently?”

“Nah, once they had the baby, Jiang Yanli really took it to another level,” Jin Zixun complained. “She wouldn’t let him out at all. She was like making him work from home more so he could watch the baby while she went out to her little catering thing. I only just barely met the kid for the first time because I happened to be stopping by my aunt’s house when they showed up.”

“I fail to see the importance of any of this,” Jin Guangshan said. “This line of questioning has failed to uncover any relevant information.”

“Hold it!” Wei Wuxian cut in. “Wait, Your Honor, actually this new testimony is very important.”

“No connection between Jiang Yanli and a motive for murder has been established,” the Chief Justice said. “There is no evidence that anyone other than Jin Zixuan was the target.”

“Maybe not,” Wei Wuxian conceded. “But still, these new statements contradict the previous testimony, Your Honor. Jin Zixun stated he ‘was really close’ with Jin Zixuan, and he found out about Jin Zixuan’s plans to question Wen Ning when they were hanging out a week before the murder. But just now, he said Jin Zixuan was, in fact, mostly staying home with his newborn son and not going out at all. Captain Nie testified earlier that Jin Zixuan had been working from home lately as well, so we can be sure of it.”

“Jin Zixun could have visited his cousin’s home, could he not?” Lan Xichen suggested.

“Y-Yeah,” Jin Zixun quickly agreed, starting to sweat. “We didn’t go out anymore, but I visited him all the time.”

“Objection!” Wei Wuxian leaned forward with his elbow on the desk. “You also just said you hadn’t met their son until they dropped him off at your aunt’s house. How could you have visited Jin Zixuan, who was staying home to care for his child, without seeing the child?”

Jin Zixun’s eyes were darting around wildly. “Um-“

“This is still irrelevant,” Jin Guangshan said. “Whether or not Jin Zixun had visited the victim has nothing to do with the crime.”

Is it actually irrelevant? Wei Wuxian shook his head. Jin Zixun is clearly starting to panic. There’s something about this he doesn’t want us to know.

“Actually, Your Honor, this is extremely relevant. The witness stated that the reason he knew about Jin Zixuan’s plans to question Wen Ning was because they often hung out together. If they did not, in fact, spend any time together recently, how could Jin Zixun know about it?”

“He, uh, texted me,” Jin Zixun said quickly. “Yeah, that’s it. Sorry, I misremembered!”

“I don’t think a federal investigator would be so careless as to send text messages about an ongoing case to a regular civilian,” Wei Wuxian speculated. “In fact, it was strange from the beginning that he would divulge classified information to this witness in any form… Actually, we have Jin Zixuan’s phone, don’t we?”

“We do,” Lan Xichen said. “His work phone was confiscated by the Internal Revenue Service due to confidentiality, but his personal phone was checked and found not to have any work-related information on it, so it was turned over to us just this morning.”

“I highly doubt there have been any recent calls or text messages to this witness on that phone,” Wei Wuxian said. “Am I right?”

“My assistant is checking it now,” Lan Xichen said with a bow. “We will have that information shortly.”

“That’s unusually sloppy of Lan Xichen,” Wen Qing said. “Not waiting to go to trial until he could substantiate a witness’ story.”

“The pressure from the Jins forced him to go ahead before every loose end could be tied,” Wei Wuxian replied. “It’s the only reason we have a chance here.”

He turned back to Jin Zixun.

“Witness, how do you explain knowing about Jin Zixuan’s plans?”

Jin Zixun startled and his watch flew off his wrist. He pulled another one out of his pocket and put it on. “I, uh. Ah! I overheard him, when I saw him at my aunt’s house.”

“This would be the day of the murder, then?” Wei Wuxian clarified.

“Yes,” Jin Zixun said. “I was at my aunt’s house, and suddenly my cousin and his wife showed up with their kid. That’s when I overheard Zixuan say something to his wife about the case he was working on. I guess I got mixed up, sorry.”

“So there was someone else at the house other than Jin Zixuan’s mother,” Wei Wuxian said, giving Wen Qing an I told you so look. She rolled her eyes at him. “Witness, can you explain more about what you overheard?”

“Do I have to?” Jin Zixun asked, glancing at his uncle, the Chief Justice.

Jin Guangshan reached for his gavel again. “Wei Wuxian, explain to me why it matters how this witness gained knowledge of the victim’s affairs. Regardless of the method of obtaining this knowledge, this witness’ account of Jin Zixuan’s investigation has been substantiated by trustworthy sources. The defendant’s motive is clearly established. I fail to see how this line of questioning will make any difference to this court.”

No, we’re so close! I know it! 

“It matters,” Wei Wuxian insisted, “because… well, if more people knew about Jin Zixuan’s investigation, there would be more people who might have wanted to kill him… right?” He finished with a grin, but with his eyes, he pleaded to Lan Xichen. Come on, I’m right, you know this is fishy, help me out!

“The prosecution has no objection, however Your Honor rules,” Lan Xichen said.

Wow, big vote of confidence, thank you so much.

Wei Wuxian slammed the desk harder than he meant to, but his window of opportunity was narrowing by the second. “Your Honor! If there were others with connections to the Wen family who were aware of this investigation, it stands to reason that they would also have a motive! Therefore, it matters how this witness obtained his knowledge because it is possible others could have as well!”

“Woah, wait,” Jin Zixun protested. “Are you serious? I just said I overheard my cousin talking to his wife in private, no one else was there - are you accusing me?”

Wei Wuxian bit his tongue so as not to laugh out loud. He hadn’t even intended to lay a trap, but this fool somehow still blundered right into it on his own. “I said ‘others with connections to the Wen family who were aware of this investigation’ - do you have connections to the Wen family that you have not disclosed, Jin Zixun?”

Jin Zixun flinched like he had been slapped across the face and his watch flew off his wrist again. He pulled another out of his pocket and put it on. “W-What? No, I- I misheard you, that’s all! If anyone has a connection to the Wens, it would be that Jiang Yanli, she’s the one who was on drugs!”

“Objection!” Wei Wuxian leaned forward with his elbow on the desk. “What did you say about Jiang Yanli?”

“Um,” Jin Zixun was sweating heavily now, “she was taking drugs, I saw her. Sorry, I shouldn’t talk about family business like this, but that’s suspicious, right? Maybe she was tied up with the Wens and messed up!”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Wei Wuxian whispered to Wen Qing, genuinely thrown for a loop. “Jie- Jiang Yanli would never do that.”

“The evidence shows that only Jin Zixuan was drugged,” Wen Qing agreed. “But we know that because of the forensic investigation, which Jin Zixun shouldn’t know about. Maybe he saw something that made him think Jiang Yanli had been drugged as well.”

What could he have seen? And is it important?

Jin Guangshan banged his gavel. “This has gone on long enough. Wei Wuxian, this court does not appreciate you continuing to badger the witness.”

“Sorry, Your Honor,” Wei Wuxian said, doing a small bow with his head. “But the witness’ statement just now contradicts the evidence we’ve seen so far. I think it’s necessary to hear more testimony about these alleged drugs.”

Jin Guangshan glared at Jin Zixun, but the crowd was watching. The cat was out of the bag and he had no choice. “Very well. Witness, explain why you believe Jiang Yanli had a connection to the drugs.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Jin Zixun said, hunching his shoulders meekly. “Well, I was at my aunt’s house when my cousin and his wife showed up with their kid. They were setting up, um - a crib I guess - I don’t know, baby stuff in the living room. There’s two doors - one to the kitchen and one to the hall - and the hall door doesn’t close that well, so I uh, thought I’d take a peek. I heard Zixuan tell Jiang Yanli that he had interviewed Wen Ning earlier and he had to meet with his team about it in person. Then Zixuan left the room to talk to my aunt in the kitchen. I saw Jiang Yanli take out a capsule, put it in her water bottle, and drink it. The capsule was loose in an unlabeled bag, so I thought it looked suspicious. I mean, the detectives found traces of drugs on the scene, right? So she must have been tied up in something shady!”

“That’s an unusual amount of detail for Jin Zixun,” Wen Qing observed.

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Wei Wuxian said. “He’s probably mostly telling the truth to make his lie more believable.”

“Well, you have the evidence to prove it this time,” she replied. “It’s just a matter of convincing the judge to go against his own nephew.”

“Your Honor,” Wei Wuxian spoke up, “there is a clear contradiction in this testimony. I,” he bit back the word “demand” at the last second, “request to cross-examine the witness.”

The crowd was whispering.

Jin Guangshan pounded his gavel once, and then sighed. “So granted.”

Phew, even the most corrupt judge of them all can’t just hand out get-out-of-jail-free cards for a mistake as obvious as this one, Wei Wuxian thought, relieved once more that Jin Zixun was such a buffoon.

“Repeat your testimony please,” he directed Jin Zixun.

Jin Zixun did so: “I saw Jiang Yanli take out a capsule, put it in her water bottle, and drink it.”

“Objection!” Wei Wuxian pointed furiously. “Jiang Yanli did no such thing, nor would she ever.”

“What?” Jin Zixun began twisting one of his many gold rings. “I know what I saw!”

Wei Wuxian slapped the desk. “No, you didn’t.”

“The forensics team analyzed the water bottle. It did have multiple sets of fingerprints on it, but only one person’s DNA was found on the mouth of the bottle. Only one person drank from it, and that person was Jin Zixuan.”

Jin Zixun recoiled and the ring he was fidgeting with flew off his finger to smack him in the face. He quickly replaced it with a new one from his pocket. “There’s no way! I saw her drink it, I know I did!”

“Did you really?” Wei Wuxian pushed. “The bottle did have her fingerprints on it. Maybe what you actually saw was…” He paused to think through the possibilities for a moment, then landed on the likely explanation: “Jiang Yanli only picked up the bottle. Maybe Jin Zixuan forgot it in the room when he went out and she grabbed it for him. She never actually drank it herself.”

Jin Zixun was sweating through his designer shirt. “Nngh!”

“You’ve undeniably revealed a contradiction,” Wen Qing said. “The question is: what does it mean?”

“Don’t worry,” Wei Wuxian assured her. “I think I finally have enough pieces to put everything together.”

He returned his attention to the witness.

“Jin Zixun! When you saw Jiang Yanli holding that water bottle, you panicked, didn’t you?” He leaned forward, a predatory grin creeping across his face. “Because you thought the wrong person was going to drink your poison.”

The gallery erupted. Jin Guangshan had to bang his gavel three times before they quieted.

“Order!” He had to actually raise his voice above the noise at first. “I demand order in this courtroom!” He turned to Wei Wuxian, absolutely livid if the white-knuckled grip he had around the gavel was anything to go by. “Wei Wuxian! How dare you accuse this witness of wrongdoing without any evidence!”

“Did I?” Wei Wuxian asked, still smiling and leaning his cheek on his hand as though unaware of the commotion. “Your Honor, the facts as they are just don’t add up to my client’s guilt. The psilocybin was ineffective due to Jin Zixuan’s prescription, which Wen Ning would have known. Even if Wen Ning was trying to poison Jin Zixuan, how would he have had access? Yes, he sold the water to Jin Zixuan and his fingerprints are on it - likely due to handling it at the register - but how would he have known that Jin Zixuan was going to buy water at all? He couldn’t have put anything in it beforehand - I’m guessing the water was just in a drink fridge, Jin Zixuan could have picked any random bottle. That being the case, Wen Ning would have had to have done it during the brief time he would have been scanning it at the register right in front of Jin Zixuan’s eyes, which makes even less sense. The prosecution hasn’t presented any evidence about how the poison would have gotten in the bottle in the first place, so I’m inclined to say it doesn’t exist.”

“There are cameras at the pharmacy, but they are only in the back, where the medicine is kept and the staff fill prescriptions,” Lan Xichen said. “The interaction between the defendant and the victim was not recorded. Having visited the scene, I can confirm the water bottles were kept in a well-stocked refrigerator. But it could be possible that the defendant poisoned the bottle beforehand and then arranged the drinks such that it would be the most likely to be taken.”

“That still would only explain how Wen Ning would have gotten the poison into Jin Zixuan’s particular bottle, and not any of the other issues,” Wei Wuxian pointed out. “The biggest issue being: knowing that the psilocybin was ineffective, what actually caused the crash?” He smiled at Jin Zixun. “Witness, you own a gun, don’t you?”

Jin Zixun began biting one of his rings anxiously. “Why would you ask me that?”

“You don’t need to answer, I already know you do,” Wei Wuxian said. “You told us you regularly go to a shooting range, didn’t you? Well I happened to do a little investigating of my own before this trial, and when I heard ‘shooting range,’ I thought it was worth checking if you rented a gun or owned one. The manager there remembers you quite well; he said you always bring a custom gold pistol. He even gave me a picture of it.” He took out the picture for the court to see.

“That said, I didn’t see your name on the scoreboard. You’re not a very good shot, are you?”

“Okay, yeah, I own one,” Jin Zixun snapped. “So what?”

“There’s something that’s been bothering me this whole trial,” Wei Wuxian went on.

“The video tape of the accident… There was a flash of light, right before the car swerved into the guardrail. I’ve been wondering what that was. Well here’s a theory: it was gunfire.”

“Objection.” Lan Xichen did not raise his voice above his usual volume, nor did he strike any kind of pose for his interjection. He simply smiled with his hands behind his back. “Wei-gongzi, the forensics team worked very hard to examine the wreckage of the car, and the coroner’s autopsies were quite thorough. No bullet was recovered, and there were no signs of any gunshot wounds. There is no evidence of a gun being involved in this incident.”

Wei Wuxian shook his head. “I’m not saying the victims were hit directly by the gun. A bullet wouldn’t need to hit them at all to kill them. The question we’ve had this whole time is not ‘what was the direct cause of death,’ because we know it was the crash; the question is ‘what caused Jin Zixuan to lose control of the vehicle.’ If it wasn’t the psilocybin…” He put his hands on his hips and grinned widely. “Well, if you saw someone pointing a gun at you in the middle of the road, wouldn’t you duck too?”

“Wei Wuxian!” Jin Guangshan was looking properly furious, the whites of his eyes visible despite his extremely furrowed brow. “These are outrageous claims to be making without a shred of evidence.”

“Are they?” Wei Wuxian wondered. He pulled out a little plastic baggy with the bullet in it.

“Then what’s this?”

“I believe we should ask you that question, Wei-gongzi,” Lan Xichen said. “What is that?”

“While your forensics guys were all over the car, I thought I’d take a little walk around the road,” Wei Wuxian said. “I happened to find this little bullet in the dirt. It didn’t travel all that far - you must not have been aiming it too straight, Jin Zixun. It didn’t hit the car at all. But the presence of it was enough to cause Jin Zixuan to duck. He probably turned on instinct to avoid hitting a person in the way as well, and on that narrow mountain road, there was nowhere for the car to go but off the side.”

“That bullet could have come from anywhere,” Jin Guangshan said, getting red in the face. “There are plenty of bullets lying on the sides of roads everywhere.”

“That’s a good point,” Wei Wuxian conceded. “Luckily, this bullet didn’t hit any stones or anything, just soft dirt, so its ballistic markings are pretty well-preserved. Hey, Jin Zixun, can we borrow your gun and see if it matches?”

Jin Zixun bit the ring he was chewing on too hard and it cracked in half, falling off his finger. He pulled another one out of his pocket and began biting that. “I-I don’t have it with me.”

“That’s fine,” Wei Wuxian said. “The Chief Justice can call a recess and we can go get it. We can finally confirm what Wen Qing said about the medicine, too.”

Jin Guangshan shook his head. “I will do no such thing. Even if the bullet were to match the gun, it only places that gun at that location. It does not confirm when the gun was fired, nor by whom. It is not decisive evidence on its own.”

Wei Wuxian had expected a reaction like this, but it was still maddening all the same. “It’s not on its own though, there’s tons of other evidence!”

“You asked how Wen Ning could have put the psilocybin in the water,” Lan Xichen cut in. “The same goes for Jin Zixun: how did he do it?”

“It was probably already open by the time he got to it,” Wei Wuxian argued. “Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli were busy with their son and giving instructions to Jin Zixuan’s mother. He probably put it down in the living room and all Jin Zixun had to do was wait until they both left the room. He could have easily tampered with it without anyone noticing. He most likely wore gloves or used a cloth so his prints wouldn’t get on it. But when Jiang Yanli came back, he saw her pick it up and realized his plan would fail if she drank it. He had to come up with something else on the spot.”

Lan Xichen also shook his head. “It is merely speculation.”

“Furthermore, there is no motive,” Jin Guangshan said scathingly.

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian leaned on his hand again, smiling, cat-like. “Now that’s interesting. Jin Zixun has no motive, you say?”

Wen Qing was silent beside him, staring straight ahead.

Wei Wuxian didn’t dare look back into the gallery for Lan Wangji. He, too, held his gaze carefully forward.

“I did some digging, you know,” he went on. “I thought to myself: the Jin family is really wealthy. I wonder if they had any help?”

Jin Zixun’s anxious biting increased tenfold. He cracked another ring between his teeth but did not notice the pieces fall away, even as he bit into his finger.

“You can imagine my surprise,” Wei Wuxian said slowly, taking the folder out of his shoulder bag, “when I found this.”

He opened the folder and finally revealed the printed copy of online bank transfers.

“You’re really lazy about changing your passwords, aren’t you, Jin Zixun?” he said lightly. “I went to visit Jiang Yanli and her son three weeks ago - his name is Jin Ling, by the way, not ‘kid’ - and I noticed a little post-it on her husband’s desk. It seems there was some online shooter you played, and, knowing how much better of a shot he is than you in real life, you wanted your cousin to log into your account to win for you. Jiang Yanli told me you had been badgering Jin Zixuan about it a year ago and he’d written the password for your account down, but never actually did it. Well, I was curious. I thought to myself: is Jin Zixun the type to use the same password for everything? It turns out that you are.”

He held up the paper.

“It wasn’t hard at all to log into your bank account.” His smile finally dropped. “Even easier to see the name ‘Wen Chao’ regularly transferring large amounts of money to you.”

Jin Zixun’s teeth began to color red as he continued biting his finger. “It was you,” he whispered, eyes wide.

“I was careless too, wasn’t I,” Wei Wuxian admitted. “Those sorts of sites notify you by email when there’s a login from an unknown location. It probably told you someone from the same place where Jin Zixuan lived had logged into your account, didn’t it? Even someone like you can connect those dots - or so you thought.”

Jin Guangshan had his gavel raised, but he was frozen in place, his bloodshot eyes locked on the paper.

Of course he couldn’t do anything. His name was on the paper too, after all.

“It’s not hard at all to realize how bad it would be for a federal investigator to see money transfers between you and a known member of organized crime,” Wei Wuxian said. “You said you ‘just so happened’ to be visiting your aunt when Jin Zixuan showed up, but that’s not true, is it? You knew his wife didn’t like you, you couldn’t just show up at his house, so you waited around at the one other location you knew he was most likely to come to. You were smart enough to try poisoning, I’ll give you that, but you thought it was going to fail when you saw Jiang Yanli pick up the bottle instead. You probably panicked even more when you overheard that he had actually questioned a member of the Wen family and was going to tell his team about it. So you got your gun and you waited for them on the road.”

Wei Wuxian shook his head with a sigh.

“Somehow, your incompetence actually helped you here. You’re a bad shot, Jin Zixun. You probably intended to hit Jin Zixuan, but you missed. Lucky for you, he was killed by accident anyway and there was no gunshot wound to link back to you. Lucky for you, the water bottle had Wen Ning’s fingerprints. Lucky for you, the evidence somehow worked out to point towards someone else.”

He paused, and his smile returned.

“Unlucky for you: I already knew who did it.”

Silence reigned in the courtroom.

It was at that point Wei Wuxian dared to look back.

Lan Wangji was sitting absolutely still, which was not out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was his open mouth, trembling lip, the whites of his eyes like full moons.

I knew he wouldn’t like this, Wei Wuxian thought, a bit wistful. But you can’t win against corruption by following the rules.

Lan Xichen was the first to break the silence.

“Wei-gongzi,” he said softly. He hesitated, then asked: “Are you saying you accessed Jin Zixun’s private bank information without his knowledge or consent?”

“We can deal with that later,” Wei Wuxian said. “The important thing now is the evidence. Despite his surname, Wen Ning has had zero contact with the members of his family who participate in organized crime since he was old enough to become independent. Jin Zixun, on the other hand, has clear financial ties to them.” As does the judge himself, he left out.

“It is illegal evidence,” Jin Guangshan finally spoke up, pale as a ghost. “It cannot be submitted in this courtroom.”

“On the record, no, of course not.” Wei Wuxian neatly returned the file to his bag. “But I don’t think people will forget what they saw so easily, will they?”

“You dare to threaten the Chief Justice?”

“Threaten?” Wei Wuxian shook his head. “It wasn’t a threat at all, Your Honor, I already presented the evidence. There’s nothing to threaten, it’s already been done.”

He watched Jin Guangshan wrestle with that, his eyes darting to the gallery, his fingers wringing the handle of the gavel.

At last, it struck the sound block.

“Regarding Jin Zixun’s guilt, I cannot make that determination,” he said, his voice thin. “That will be decided in a new trial. As for the defendant, Wen Ning, I declare him:

“Not Guilty.”

Blood ran down Jin Zixun’s hand, staining his watch and the sleeve of his shirt. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed.

“As for you, Wei Wuxian…” Jin Guangshan tapped the gavel. “You are disbarred. Immediately. Court is adjourned."

The Chief Justice stood and exited, seemingly deaf to the uproar of the gallery that followed.

Lan Xichen stood across the room, staring at Wei Wuxian. He did not smile. He bowed very slightly, and then left.

“Well,” Wei Wuxian said quietly, “that’s that.”

Wen Qing nodded, still looking straight ahead rather than at him.

They packed up their things and returned to the defendant’s lobby.

April 19th, 11:21 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 2

Wen Ning was in tears.

“Why would you do that?” he sobbed. Wen Qing had her arms around him, but it was doing little to console him.

“Hey, what did I say before?” Wei Wuxian said, plastering a toothy grin on his face. “Big smiles, okay? Besides, we won! We should be celebrating!”

Wen Ning valiantly tried to smile, but his tear-streaked face and puffy eyes only made the overall effect more agonizing.

“There we go,” Wei Wuxian praised him anyway with a thumbs-up. “A-Yuan is waiting to see you, you know? You can’t go home looking sad.”

Wen Ning sniffled and rubbed at his wet face with his shirt sleeve, nodding.

“Thank you,” Wen Qing murmured. “And… I’m sorry.”

The two siblings slowly made their way outside. Wei Wuxian waved them off, his cheeks aching from maintaining such a large smile.

When at last the door shut behind them, he fell back onto the sofa.

“The only time a lawyer can cry is when it’s all over,” he had heard once, a long time ago.

He pressed his fists against his eyes, shoulders shaking.

The door slammed open, footsteps rapidly approaching. He jolted upright just in time to get punched in the face, his head snapping to the side.

“It was your fault!” Jiang Cheng’s expression was wild, rage clawing at the edges of his mouth, scratching red lines into his eyes. “You did this!”

He grabbed Wei Wuxian by the collar. The bailiff at the door, seeing his police uniform, just looked away.

“You killed her!”

Flecks of spit hit Wei Wuxian’s burning cheek.

“You knew, you knew all along! This is how you repay her?”

Light sparked in Jiang Cheng’s eyes like lightning. He drew back his fist again.

“After everything my family did for you-“

He swung, but the impact never came.

An elegant hand had grabbed Jiang Cheng’s wrist, holding it firmly in place.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whispered, unable to believe it.

“This is a courthouse,” Lan Wangji said quietly, “and you are a uniformed officer. You will comport yourself appropriately."

His voice was ostensibly neutral, but the flat authority with which he made his statement was like a slap in the face.

Jiang Cheng bared his teeth but did not argue. He ripped his hand away and released Wei Wuxian, taking a step back.

Lan Wangji frowned at his own hand for a moment, as if it were dirty, then put it behind his back.

“If the next time I see you is in hell, it will be too soon, Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng snarled, and stormed out.

Lan Wangji glanced at the bailiff, who appeared to be thoroughly chastised by the look and hurriedly left as well.

Suddenly Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were alone.

“Hey, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said, unwilling to lift his eyes to Lan Wangji’s face. “What are you doing here?”

“…”

“I thought you came to see Lan Xichen,” he went on when there was no reply. “You’re in the wrong lobby, you know.”

Lan Wangji’s fingers curled into a loose fist. At last, he spoke: “What have you done?”

Wei Wuxian couldn’t help laughing softly at that. “I know, I know, it was illegal. But Jin Guangshan is in bed with the Wens, there’s no way I was gonna be able to get the right verdict by following his rules.”

He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he had to explain himself to Lan Wangji.

“When Jiang Cheng’s parents were killed a year ago, it was just so obvious the Wens were responsible. There was even video evidence of a car registered to Wen Chao visiting their house. So when the investigation ‘mysteriously’ hit a dead end, I started to suspect they had connections to law enforcement that went a lot higher than a few detectives. I guess I wasn’t the only one whose mind went to the Jins, since jiejie-“ He bit his tongue. “Jiang Yanli told me she asked her husband to put some distance between himself and his family when she got pregnant. She said it was because she didn’t think they would be a good influence on a child, but I think she was worried about where all the money was coming from. It meant losing a lot of extra financial stability, but she… well, she knew there were more important things, you know? Jin Zixuan probably had his own suspicions too, I mean, why else would he keep that password on his desk from so long ago? He probably was planning to use it the same way I did, he just needed evidence for a warrant first. I guess the only person he was still in contact with recently was his mom, she always hated his father so they probably thought she was safe. Now I wonder how much she knew…” 

He really had ended up just spilling everything. Something about that cool gaze on him made him feel like, even if Lan Wangji could never agree with what he did, he needed to be understood. Maybe it was because Lan Wangji was such a paragon of virtue; it truly didn’t matter what others thought, but if only Lan Wangji would understand, maybe he hadn’t gone irredeemably astray.

Wei Wuxian shook his head and forced himself to look up, mouth pried open into a smile. “Anyway. Good for you, Lan Zhan, you won’t have to see me in court anymore.”

The expression on Lan Wangji’s face was not one Wei Wuxian had ever seen before. His pale eyes were clouded with shadow, worry lines nesting between his eyebrows, his lips just barely parted on the border of something yet unsaid. With his fine white clothes leeching the color from his face, he truly looked the part of a beautiful widower.

Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure what to make of it. He became even less sure when Lan Wangji raised his hand up to hip height, hesitated, then returned it to his side.

After a long silence, he said, “Do not abandon everything just for this.”

“For what?” Wei Wuxian replied. “For the truth? Someone has to fight for it.”

Pained creases formed under Lan Wangji’s eyes. “Why must it be you?”

Something about that prickled under Wei Wuxian’s skin, itching where his blood pushed through his veins.

“I know what I’m doing,” he snapped, more sharply than he had intended. He took a breath to dull the edge of it. “Look, I accomplished a lot today, okay? I had to make a sacrifice, but now Jin Guangshan’s been exposed. The Wens won’t be able to get away with nearly as much without the Chief Justice on their payroll. And more importantly, an innocent man gets to walk free. I’d say it was more than a worthwhile trade.”

The sacrifice had yet to be fully collected, of course, though neither of them had said it outright. A blow like this was not likely to be received in good humor by the Wens.

Lan Wangji bowed his head. His fist clenched around thoughts Wei Wuxian could only guess at.

“Come with me,” he said, as if the words had jumped straight from his chest. “The prosecutor’s office can protect you. You wouldn’t be able to formally take an active role in cases, but you could be kept as a consultant. Security measures could be taken. You would be safe.“

Wei Wuxian barked a laugh at that. “The same prosecutor’s office that let the corruption get this bad in the first place? No offense, Lan Zhan, but I think I’m way more likely to get knifed there than I am in a dark alleyway.”

Lan Wangji’s shoulders hunched just a hair. 

“I can take care of myself,” Wei Wuxian insisted. “I’m like a rat, or a cockroach. I don’t care how low I have to go to survive.”

Lan Wangji’s eyes flicked to the red mark sinking deeper into Wei Wuxian’s cheek. Then he closed them in defeat.

“You know where to find me,” he said after another long pause.

“Don’t worry Lan Zhan, next time I’m thinking of breaking the law, I’ll let you arrest me first,” Wei Wuxian replied dryly. “Anyway, I should go. I don’t see anyone else planning Wen Ning’s freedom party, do you?”

He rifled through his shoulder bag and produced the evidence folder.

“Someone official should probably have this,” he said. “Frankly, you’re the only person I trust not to burn it immediately.”

Lan Wangji took the folder with both hands, uncharacteristically creasing the margins with his grip. He turned away and his broad back seemed to carry the weight of the scales of justice themselves.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes were dry as he stood up to leave.

There was a lot left to do.