Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 27

The following day, Great-Grandmother was transferred into the ICU for closed treatment.

The attending physician’s words implied that the family should prepare themselves psychologically. The elderly woman could pass away at any moment…

Even so, Xu Miao remained resolute. She refused to give up on the old woman until the very last minute.

Ling Yu understood that Xu Miao was trying to delay the inevitable, buying Grandfather enough time to see her one final time.

The ICU operated under closed management, and family members were allowed only half an hour of visitation each day.

Neither Ling Yu nor Xu Miao could remain for long.

Thus, the following day, Xu Miao returned to the old residence to rest while Ling Yu went to work at the law firm.

It seemed as though everything had returned to normal.

Yet it also felt like the calm before a storm.

That morning, Ling Yu accompanied Sister Wang to the courthouse to complete some procedures.

When they submitted the documents, the staff member looked strangely at both women.

“Attorney Gu certainly reacts quickly, doesn’t she? Another surprise witness has appeared in Jiang Wei’s case?”

The employee clicked their tongue and sealed the folder.

Whether intentionally or simply unable to restrain their sarcasm, they added:

“With Gu Qing at your firm, your business continues flourishing. After all, she can accept any case without the slightest discomfort… If your firm doesn’t make money, who will?”

Sister Wang stammered twice but offered no defense.

She kept her head lowered.

Even after they left the courthouse, her cheeks remained bright red, as though she felt inexplicably guilty and ashamed.

Because of the elderly matriarch’s condition, Ling Yu had missed work and knew little about the firm’s preparations for Jiang Wei’s second hearing.

However, judging by Sister Wang’s expression and the court employee’s mockery, she immediately understood.

Again…

It was Gu Qing again.

Once more, Gu Qing had crossed Ling Yu’s bottom line, calmly discovering new evidence capable of overturning the case for a rapist like Jiang Wei.

Throughout their return journey, Ling Yu indirectly questioned Sister Wang about the case’s progress.

Sister Wang refused to discuss it.

She offered only one explanation:

“I signed a confidentiality agreement. Yuyu, stop asking. Knowing too much might not be good for you.”

Ling Yu wisely ended the subject.

Near the end of the working day, she called Li Juan.

No matter how she considered it, there was only one possible breakthrough capable of reversing Jiang Wei’s case:

Li Juan.

The phone rang for a long time before someone answered.

Li Juan sounded hurried.

“Xiao-mei?”

Ling Yu hummed.

“How have you been recently, Juan-jie?”

Li Juan stammered, “I’ve been fine.”

“Today is New Year’s Day. Are you free?”

Li Juan remained silent for several seconds.

Ling Yu continued:

“Aunt Yu previously asked me to remain in contact with you. You know I’ve been in Yuncheng for only a little over two months and hardly know anyone here. It’s New Year’s Day, and all my friends have returned home.”

She repeated her invitation.

“Are you free? Let’s meet and spend some time together.”

Her words were flawless.

She invoked her relationship with Yu Xin while casually mentioning the holiday.

Ordinarily, Li Juan would have agreed immediately.

This time, however, she hesitated.

“I’m sorry, Xiao-mei. I need to attend a banquet tonight. Let’s do it another day. If you…don’t mind, I’m free anytime afterward.”

Li Juan clearly did not want to continue discussing the banquet. She stiffly changed the subject.

“What have you been busy with lately?”

Ling Yu narrowed her eyes and did not answer.

Instead, she made a disappointed sound.

“What kind of banquet is scheduled on a special day like New Year’s Day?”

Ling Yu paused, then deliberately adopted a dejected tone.

“Sister, have you misunderstood something about me? Did my tone during our last call upset you? Do you no longer want me as your younger sister?”

Li Juan’s breathing abruptly stopped.

She hurriedly explained:

“Xiao-mei, don’t say that. You’re wonderful. I’ve encountered all kinds of people over the years, but you’re the only one whose values are as upright as your appearance.”

“Thank you for what you told me that night. When I appeared in court last time, I repeatedly thought about your words. Justice may arrive late, but it will never fail to arrive.”

Ling Yu pushed open the law firm’s revolving door while sending Xu Miao a message:

[I won’t return for dinner tonight.]

At the same time, she responded thoughtfully to Li Juan.

“You’re also a good person because you were willing to believe—”

However, that sentence seemed to strike the point where Li Juan could no longer endure.

She suddenly sobbed like a child, then broke down crying over the phone.

Ling Yu’s expression sharpened.

She stopped beneath a tree.

“Juan-jie.”

Ling Yu repeated her question with keen seriousness.

“What happened to you?”

Li Juan’s psychological defenses completely collapsed.

She cried for approximately five minutes before stopping.

Then, in broken fragments, she poured out everything that had happened since the first hearing—how Jiang Wei had threatened and coerced her.

“Shushu’s father has stomach cancer. He needs surgery.”

“If Shushu were alive, she would never want to watch her father die. Jiang Wei offered me five million yuan to give false testimony.”

“I was desperate and willing to try anything. Somehow, they persuaded me to sign a confidentiality agreement. They would give me five million, and I would lie in court for Jiang Wei.”

“I’m sorry. Both you and Attorney Gu told me that giving false testimony in court could send me to prison. I was terrified that day. Even now, I still feel frightened whenever I remember it.”

“And they maliciously used Shushu’s sexual orientation against her…”

Ling Yu raised an eyebrow.

“So you regretted your decision?”

Li Juan sobbed in confirmation.

“But they said I was ill. After the hearing ended, they sent me to the finest psychiatric hospital in Yuncheng.”

“They subjected me to electroshock treatments for twelve hours every day.”

“Everyone around me said I was sick. Whenever I spoke, someone told me I was babbling nonsense.”

“Eventually, even I began believing I might genuinely be ill.”

A trace of winter’s desolation entered Li Juan’s voice.

“I used to believe justice would eventually arrive. But Xiao-mei, the wait has been too long. I can’t endure it anymore…”

Ling Yu remained silent for a long time.

She had considered the possibility that Li Juan would be threatened.

She had never imagined the woman would be subjected to such psychological torture.

This was not a method a brutal, spoiled heir like Jiang Wei would devise.

It could only have come from his father, Jiang Bochuan.

Ling Yu opened her dry lips.

It took a long time before she forced two inadequate words from her throat.

“I’m sorry.”

The elderly matriarch’s condition had recently become critical. Ling Yu had not had time to pay attention to Li Juan, much less anticipate matters developing this way.

As the case’s newest witness, Li Juan should ordinarily have received significant protection.

Unless Jiang Wei was an idiot, he would never attack her at such a crucial stage.

That was why Ling Yu had never worried much about Li Juan’s physical safety.

She had not expected them to destroy her psychologically instead.

At that moment, Ling Yu could say nothing except that she was sorry.

However, Li Juan sobbed even harder.

Her words became indistinct as she repeated:

“Don’t apologize to me. I don’t deserve it.”

Unable to withstand the electroshock treatment and psychological torture, Li Juan ultimately made the cowardly choice to survive.

She agreed to change her testimony for Jiang Bochuan.

Jiang Bochuan was nothing like Jiang Wei.

He was an experienced schemer who excelled at manipulating people.

After shattering Li Juan’s psychological defenses, he did not give her another opportunity to recant in court.

Instead, based on the statements she had made against Jiang Wei during the previous hearing, he created a new identity specifically for her.

Li Juan would become Jiang Wei’s kept mistress, a caged songbird who had turned against him because of unrequited love.

She had fabricated evidence to frame Jiang Wei.

According to the new story, Yan Shu’s rape had also been entirely invented by Li Juan.

Yan Shu’s true cause of death was supposedly an accidental fall. Because Li Juan hated Jiang Wei, she had deliberately tampered with Yan Shu’s body.

Jiang Bochuan promised that if Li Juan cooperated with their performance, she would receive only a one-year sentence.

After her release, the Jiang family would compensate her with one billion yuan.

By the time Li Juan finished explaining, she could no longer speak through her sobs.

“Xiao-mei, I had no choice. If I refused them, I would spend the rest of my life growing old alone in a psychiatric hospital.”

“I’m not insane, but I’m afraid they’ll force me to become insane.”

Cold wind poured through Ling Yu’s collar, chilling her entire body.

She rubbed her fingers together.

“So the banquet you’re attending tonight is the investment-appreciation banquet hosted by the Jiang family in Yuncheng?”

Ling Yu had always found it strange that Jiang Bochuan chose to hold his investment event in Yuncheng.

Now she understood that every detail had been deliberately arranged.

Since Li Juan had been given the role of Jiang Wei’s mistress, she needed a publicly acknowledged position.

The banquet following the investment event would provide the perfect opportunity to establish that identity.

It was all preparation for the reversal they intended to create during the second hearing.

As expected, Li Juan choked out:

“I’m attending as Jiang Wei’s companion.”

Inside her mind, Ling Yu gave whoever had devised this case reversal an admiring thumbs-up.

…

After ending the call, she sent a message to “Kaihe Law Firm Gu.”

Yuyu: [Gu Qing, the depths of your insanity genuinely frighten me.]

[It turns out people truly do become unfortunate after encountering you.]

Kaihe Law Firm Gu: [Oh…]

[Since you’re frightened, remember to stay the hell away from me.]

Ling Yu’s fingernail scraped across the word “hell.”

A moment later, she wrote:

Yuyu: [I heard you suffer an episode every month.]

Ling Yu found an image online depicting a syringe puncturing someone’s neck and sent it.

She added:

[Do you like it?]

A few seconds after sending the final two messages, Ling Yu withdrew them.

However, Gu Qing had apparently seen them immediately.

[I don’t particularly like it. The image you sent lacks texture, and the puncture marks were edited out. It has lost its beauty to me.]

Ling Yu stared incredulously at the screen.

She was so distracted that she came within three steps of colliding directly with Jiang Wei outside the law firm.

He initially froze, then glared at her irritably.

“Ling Yu, are you avoiding me? Why aren’t you attending tonight’s banquet?”

At the same moment, a short-haired woman approached in high heels from ten meters away.

Her voice arrived before she did.

“Yuyu, accompany Auntie to a banquet?”