Chapter 349: Turning the Tables
Once her injuries had mostly healed and she could move around and live normally again, Su Li was discharged from the hospital.
At the same time, the case had been turned completely upside down.
First, there were the witnesses.
Every single employee from Pinjun Clothing who had seen the man they thought was Yang Jiu came to testify. They all denied that the "Yang Jiu" who turned himself in was the same person they had seen.
At the same time, they all identified Ge Ba as the man they had seen.
In addition to the Pinjun Clothing employees, there were the homeless men.
The homeless men were suspects and assailants, but they were also the most crucial witnesses.
Ge Ba had been released initially for the simple reason that they had adamantly denied that he was the one who had taken Su Li to the underpass.
For the Yang Family, making a few homeless men change their story was not a difficult task.
However, if the homeless men could be made to change their story once, they could naturally be made to change it a second time.
Wu Sheng’s focus was squarely on these few homeless men.
When giving Wa Wa Lian his instructions, his exact words were:
"The man was released because a few homeless guys changed their story, right? You handle this. Just get them to change it back to what it was before. How you do it is up to you."
"Remember, be gentle and sincere. Don’t do anything illegal. Just achieve the goal. Don’t go overboard."
No one knew exactly what instructions Wu Sheng gave, or how his subordinates carried them out.
In any case, the homeless men changed their stories again.
Compared to their previous selves—cunning, opportunistic, and wavering—the homeless men were now incredibly compliant.
They obediently confessed everything, identified Ge Ba, and clearly explained how the Yang Family had bribed them.
They admitted their guilt, confessed to the crime they had committed, and admitted to perjuring themselves after being bribed.
This time, no matter the threats or temptations, they didn’t change their story again.
Their expressions made one suspect they had been tortured into confessing.
But in reality, apart from their previous, still-unhealed injuries, they had no new wounds on their bodies.
There wasn’t a single trace of them having been brutalized or coerced.
They had just suddenly become honest, upright, and repentant.
"It’s all our fault! We’ve committed a terrible crime! Please, you must sentence us! Let us go do hard labor!"
The interrogating prosecutor looked at the eagerness for prison in their eyes and thought he was seeing things.
He had seen plenty of despondent suspects—a great many, in fact—but he had never seen anyone so desperate to go to prison for hard labor.
He had no idea of the suffering in the homeless men’s hearts.
To them, compared to the living hell they were experiencing on the outside, going to prison for hard labor was truly heaven.
The homeless men had recanted their testimony, and their future—paying the price in prison—was now set in stone.
With their recantation, Ge Ba once again became the prime suspect.
This was only the beginning.
Following the homeless men’s recantation, Mr. Zhang submitted a stack of evidence proving that Ge Ba was the main culprit.
The evidence Mr. Zhang submitted quickly drew serious attention.
Because Mr. Zhang had provided fingerprint evidence—which was ironclad proof.
With the development of technology, fingerprint analysis and identification would become widespread in later years for solving crimes.
At this time, however, fingerprints were still identified manually, a process that was both difficult and labor-intensive.
Furthermore, since Ge Ba had been wearing gloves at the time, no fingerprint evidence had been presented until now.
It was Su Li who had first discovered this crucial piece of evidence.
Ge Ba had been wearing gloves the whole time, but perhaps because he was so agitated by the sight of the small wooden proposal sign, his emotions got the better of him.
While smashing the wooden sign, he had accidentally torn his glove.
In a corner of the shattered wooden sign, a partial fingerprint stained with Su Li’s blood was left behind.
Su Li’s conversation with Mr. Zhang had revolved around this partial fingerprint, and it was what Mr. Zhang had been so busy with afterward.
"After detailed comparison, none of the ten fingerprints from the self-confessed Yang Jiu match the partial print."
"The man who confessed, Yang Jiu, is not the suspect. We need to take Ge Ba’s fingerprints and compare them to the one from the scene."
Mr. Zhang had provided ironclad proof that Yang Jiu was not the suspect. Likewise, Ge Ba had no right to refuse to have his fingerprints taken, regardless of his reasons.
Meanwhile, Tang Yuanxiao had found the family of the man who confessed, Yang Jiu, and provided his itinerary for the day of the crime.
At the time of the incident, Yang Jiu was at the hospital. Doctors and nurses could testify that he had a complete alibi.
Along with this alibi, Tang Yuanxiao also provided evidence that Yang Jiu’s daughter was seriously ill. Previously, he had no money for her treatment, but he had now paid the hospital fifty thousand yuan, and his daughter was scheduled for surgery.
At this point, the situation had become perfectly clear.
Yang Jiu had deliberately confessed to the crime to get money for his daughter’s treatment.
With one piece of irrefutable evidence after another being presented, there was no way for Ge Ba to escape this time.
The Yang Family had originally spent a day turning the case around.
Now, after many days, Wu Sheng, Su Li, and Tang Yuanxiao had all made their moves, turning the case around once again in a single day.
When Bai Xinyue heard Lawyer Yan’s report, she could hardly believe it.
"What happened? Weren’t you saying this was a sure thing, that it was set in stone and we just had to go through the motions?"
When Bai Xinyue received Lawyer Yan’s report, she had just finished shopping and having afternoon tea with Ye Xilan.
The two got along quite well and had even exchanged views on engagements, marriage, and family.
Although nothing was set in stone, with one acting as the prospective daughter-in-law and the other as the prospective mother-in-law, they were already settling into their roles.
They were just waiting for this matter to blow over and for Wu Sheng to be released, and then everything would be settled.
But hearing this news at such a moment, Bai Xinyue, who rarely frowned for fear of getting wrinkles, found her brow uncharacteristically furrowed.
"Tell me what’s going on."
Lawyer Yan had been trying to reach Bai Xinyue all day, just waiting to report, so he hurriedly explained the details.
After hearing the full account, Bai Xinyue was silent for a long time.
Sweat beaded on Lawyer Yan’s forehead. "Those homeless men recanting... it seems Mr. Wu was behind it. I don’t know what happened. They were easy to deal with before, but now they won’t listen to anything."
"From the looks of them, there’s nothing we can do..."
"Wu Sheng..." Bai Xinyue finally spoke, a hint of realization in her voice. "If he’s the one who made a move, then this is to be expected."
Lawyer Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "That Mr. Zhang is even more troublesome. His whole family lives on his meager salary, but he’s too stubborn, completely incorruptible. We can’t bribe him."
"He’s determined to solve the case. That woman, Su Li, was in frequent contact with him. It seems Su Li is the one behind this fingerprint business."
In fact, Lawyer Yan was certain it was Su Li’s doing.
He had never paid Su Li any mind, but who would have thought she was capable of something like this.
Noticing the unusual tone in Lawyer Yan’s voice, Bai Xinyue pursed her lips.
’No wonder she dared to refuse me so bluntly back then. Turns out she has a few tricks up her sleeve.’
She had really underestimated her. A moment of carelessness, and she had let her ruin everything.
Bai Xinyue took a deep breath. "Then what happened with Yang Jiu? Weren’t you supposed to have handled that perfectly?"
Sweat dripped from Lawyer Yan’s brow. "That... that... That Tang Yuanxiao is no simple character."