Part 2 Hello, Mr. Major General I'm Gu Nianzi

308. Suddenly deteriorated

The next court hearing for Xin Xinggao's lawsuit against Gu Nianzhi had been scheduled for the Monday of the following week.
He Zhichu and his team worked through the entire week, barely taking the time to rest or sleep. They carefully watched the videotapes, from beginning to end, in an effort to find the holes in Xin Xinggao's story. Unfortunately, they could not find anything suspicious in the recordings.
Everything checked out, and nothing remotely illegal had come up in any of Xin Xinggao's conversations with her visitors.
The only thing that had seemed suspicious was Lieutenant Colonel Peter's repeated visits with Xin Xinggao.
The two of them had conversed in low voices; even with the volume turned up, it was hard to make out what they had said to one another.
Language experts were called in to verify the muffled conversations, but all of them arrived at the same conclusion: there was nothing suspicious. Xin Xinggao had merely asked Lieutenant Colonel Peter for something to read, and he had obliged her by bringing her a few books.
It was absurd to claim that Lieutenant Colonel Peter had inflicted severe brain trauma on Xin Xinggao just by bringing her books.
He Zhichu and his team were not completely convinced the visits had been entirely innocent, but they had to concede that there was nothing there to refute the plaintiff's claims.
"Mr. He, do you have to take on this case?" He Zhichu's subordinate asked, concerned. He followed this with a cautious reminder. "The military appears to be getting help from the CIA recentlythey're going all out because they think they have this in the bag."
The US military had a complicated relationship with the CIA. They were often hostile towards each other, but willingly cooperated when it came to issues involving national interest.
This time, even the CIA had their fingers in the pie; it was becoming increasingly evident now that Gu Nianzhi had been right. Xin Xinggao was most likely hiding something else. He Zhichu and his team did not know what that was just yet.
As soon as he reframed the situation in this context, He Zhichu suddenly hit upon an idea.
"Get me a team medical expertsI need a world-famous neurologist, especially." He Zhichu rapped his knuckles on the table as he assigned his subordinates with new tasks. "The John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has the best neurologist and neurosurgeon in the world. Get them to be our expert witnesses, and don't be stingy with the compensation."
"Mr. He, do you mean?" His subordinates looked at each other, before lifting their puzzled faces to look at He Zhichu over the stack of videotapes. "You're going to challenge the prosecution's claims regarding the extent of Xin Xinggao's injuries?"
"Of course." He Zhichu turned and packed his things into his briefcase. "We're lawyers. We must be bold in our assumptions, but meticulous with the evidence. We aren't scientists, so our arguments don't have to be perfectall we need to look for is the evidence to back up our claims. Everything else is superfluous, and can be removed from the equation."
By the time the trial was resumed on the following Monday, He Zhichu had had many in-depth discussions with the neurologist and a neurosurgeon from John Hopkins. The CT scans and X-rays of Xin Xinggao's brain had been sent to He Zhichu as well. He had studied them with the experts over the course of several days.
Although the two experts felt something was off with the scans and X-rays, they were unable to dismiss the possibility of actual brain damage off-handthe human brain was extremely complex, after all. It was impossible to say for certain whether Xin Xinggao's mental capacity had been irreversibly reduced.
"Mr. He, this is all we can do for you." The two brain experts politely extended their hands to He Zhichu, their meeting with him over after having worked tirelessly with him the entire week.
He Zhichu smiled and shook hands with them. "That's fine. We'll just have to do our best."
...
It was her second appearance in court, and Gu Nianzhi had chosen to dress even more conservatively. She wore a white silk top with long puff sleeves, tucked neatly into straight black trousers. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail that swayed with her every moveshe looked the very picture of youthful innocence.
Judge Judy struck the sound block with her gavel. She asked He Zhichu, "Mr. He, do you have anyone else that you would like to bring forth today?"
He Zhichu stood up. "I have invited two brain experts. Please allow them to testify in court."
"Permission granted." Judge Judy nodded and motioned for the two expert witnesses to be brought into the courtroom.
The two doctors put their hands over the bible and solemnly swore to tell the truth. After that, they took turns testifying from the witness stand.
The neurologist presented the CT scans of Xin Xinggao's brain as he explained to the judge, "Your Honor, in my 20 years as a medical practitioner, I have never seen anyone suffer irreversible brain damage from the sort of injury sustained by Miss Xin. These are the afflicted areas in her brain. In the first scan, and in all the subsequent scans leading up to the third week, her injuries are healing steadily. In the fourth week, however, her injuries suddenly deteriorated. As you can see, the CT scans from the fourth week are vastly different from the scans taken during the preceding weeks we must find out what happened in-between."
He Zhichu stood up and began his direct examination. "Dr. Carson, are you saying that Xin Xinggao may have sustained further injuries between the third and fourth week of her hospital stay?"
"I would say that it is highly probable, judging from the CT scans." Dr. Carson was careful with his answer.
He Zhichu nodded and sat back down, while the prosecutor cross-examined Dr.Carson.
"In other words, Dr. Carson, you cannot be wholly sure she sustained additional injuries between the third and the fourth week. Isn't that also right?" Xin Xinggao's legal team had appointed a new lawyer to represent them in court, one that was evidently smarter and far more capable than his bumbling predecessor.