Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The judge struck the gavel, calling “Order in the court!” twice, but failed to suppress the whispers.

The jury’s gaze toward Xia Xiao Lan was indescribable.

It was indeed a beautiful face.

Beautiful enough to be pleasing to the eye even when just standing there doing nothing.

Even if Xia Xiao Lan had done something wrong, such a beautiful face could easily earn forgiveness. This wasn’t just empty talk about a looks-based world – most absurdly, when particularly attractive female criminals’ information was exposed, the public would find excuses to exonerate them, even feeling sympathy for the criminals… Damn it, the victims were the real tragedy, weren’t they? Did being less attractive mean they deserved to die?

From this perspective, Xia Xiao Lan had an advantage – she could gain sympathy.

Oh, she was so young, perhaps she had just made a wrong choice – why not give young people a chance to correct their mistakes?

If Xia Xiao Lan were to break down crying and admit her mistakes in court, she would receive such “tolerance.”

But Xia Xiao Lan didn’t.

She didn’t appear panicked at all.

As more and more unfavorable testimony emerged against her, she showed no signs of remorse or guilt. How would others view this?

A messy private life wouldn’t be condemned in America, after all, America had launched the “sexual revolution” in the 1960s. This counterculture movement, represented by hippies, had continued dramatically for over a decade, significantly impacting most Americans’ views.

How one chose to live was their freedom, their privacy, and shouldn’t be publicly exposed in court.

Unless these chaotic private lifestyle choices had violated others’ interests.

Like the poor defendant in this case.

What had the defendant done wrong? Because she wasn’t beautiful enough and couldn’t find protective “connections,” she had to endure such unfair treatment.

Li Sa’s lawyer Mai Er Si wanted to convey exactly this view to the judge and jury.

In this regard, he was truly a logical genius… Xia Xiao Lan marveled again at how worthy he was of his reputation as a lawyer who often represented entertainment celebrities.

The spectators all knew the situation was very unfavorable for Xia Xiao Lan.

Mao Kang Shan’s brain was about to explode.

He wanted to tear Mai Er Si and Mrs. Wilson to shreds. These people had reduced all of Xiao Lan’s professional architectural achievements to depending on men. Her excellent internship performance was because male seniors favored her. Her ability to independently handle projects was because she had an affair with Ha Luo De.

Nonsense!

Who could see Xiao Lan’s sweat?

The countless design drawings she’d stayed up late working on.

Her efforts to absorb his intense teaching.

Practice after practice.

Her dedication to studies even above earning money – these were what created today’s Xia Xiao Lan.

Did she think she lacked talent? How could that be? She was very talented! She just hadn’t been exposed to architectural knowledge as early as Ning Xue, but she learned exceptionally fast. This talent had made Mao Kang Shan ecstatic — he usually didn’t say so, wasn’t it just because he feared Xia Xiao Lan would become proud and then slack off in her studies?

But when others denied Xia Xiao Lan’s abilities, it infuriated Mao Kang Shan.

He hadn’t immediately jumped up to curse them only because Attorney Ai Li Ke had already explained the court rules to him – anyone disturbing the proceedings would be removed by court officers. While family and friends could observe the trial, they had to control their emotions. Those sitting in the gallery had no right to speak!

Fortunately, the old man didn’t have any cardiovascular problems. If he had “three highs,” his blood vessels might have burst right there — if there had been such a possibility, Xia Xiao Lan wouldn’t have agreed to let Mao Kang Shan attend anyway.

“Nonsense!”

Mao Kang Shan gritted his teeth, and Professor Wen’s expression was equally displeased.

Professor Mai Ka Qi wasn’t in the gallery.

He was one of the witnesses who would testify.

Mai Er Si had influenced the judge’s judgment, but the judge couldn’t issue a verdict yet. Attorney Ai Li Ke got his chance to question Mrs. Wilson.

He gave Xia Xiao Lan a look telling her to stay calm.

Having come this far, they had to trust Attorney Ai Li Ke, even though throughout the trial so far, he hadn’t shown enough dominance, seemingly always being pressured by Li Sa’s lawyer Mai Er Si.

Was Attorney Ai Li Ke really that weak?

Xia Xiao Lan remained composed.

She wouldn’t explain in court that she had no relationship with either Xiu Ma or Ha Luo De.

Li Sa’s lawyer had employed a concept substitution… this reaction was within Attorney Ai Li Ke’s pre-trial predictions. Xia Xiao Lan wasn’t anxious precisely because she and Attorney Ai Li Ke had anticipated this point. As long as things didn’t deviate from their expectations, Attorney Ai Li Ke had countermeasures!

Letting Mai Er Si take the upper hand first, make the first move, and better reveal the opponent’s cards.

That was all there was to it.

Now it was Attorney Ai Li Ke’s turn to attack, the real attack time—

“Mrs. Wilson, you just said that for certain reasons you couldn’t state in court, you wanted to curry favor with my client, so you didn’t care about her ability to complete the commission. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Your Honor, given that the defense counsel has played a ridiculous video tape slandering my client’s reputation, I request that the witness answer my next question. She needs to clarify what that supposedly unspeakable reason was. This ‘reason’ is crucial to my client’s reputation and the progression of this case!”

What a reasonable request.

The court’s position was neutral, and shouldn’t favor either plaintiff or the defendant.

If Mai Er Si could tell stories, Attorney Ai Li Ke chose to expand his story. The judge didn’t oppose Attorney Ai Li Ke’s request!

Others couldn’t understand why, in a scandal involving trading favors for sex, Attorney Ai Li Ke wasn’t trying to cover for Xia Xiao Lan but instead wanted to expose it.

Xia Xiao Lan was one hundred percent in favor – speaking was an art, and Mrs. Wilson was skilled in this art.

How could an abscess heal without being lanced?

— Xia Xiao Lan wasn’t afraid of anything. She hadn’t even managed to seduce Zhou Cheng, her legitimate boyfriend, how could she have any power-for-sex deals with others?

This was probably something no one could have guessed.

Beautiful appearance mean a corrupt private life?

She was so pure she was practically glowing with holy light!

Mrs. Wilson was surprised that Attorney Ai Li Ke wanted her to clarify – wasn’t the video tape clear enough?

“Because my husband’s brother, Ha Luo De Wilson, is the actual wealth manager of the Wilson family, while my husband Yi Wan Wilson and I can only live on dividends and trust funds. Ha Luo De controls our family’s livelihood. To please him, Yi Wan and I had to please the Chinese girl he liked. Whether she could draw designs didn’t matter! Since Ha Luo De could arrange a competition for her to win first place and send her to intern at GMP, we just followed his wishes. If he was happy, he would let us maintain our dignified and comfortable lifestyle… Here, I want to apologize to Li Sa. It was because of my selfishness that I became an accomplice. When you communicated with me several times about the theater renovation plan, I ignored GMP’s oppression of you and others appropriating your work. I could only consider my interests first.”

Sincere and touching.

Attorney Ai Li Ke couldn’t help but follow up:

“Ma’am, when you say this, does Mr. Ha Luo De Wilson know? You should be aware that Mr. Ha Luo De could sue you for defamation.”