Chapter 488: Final Verdict, Life Imprisonment (Slightly Revised)

When Song Shiwei smashed the rock at Gu Yinxue, she had hardened her heart, venting nearly all the unspeakable pain and anger that had been bottled up inside her these past few days. The two slashes she made across her heart, up and down and left and right, were already a form of torture.

Gu Yinxue herself had a heart condition; on top of that, she got caught in the rain, went into the sea, and suffered an injury to the area around her heart—she was practically at death's door.

But death would have been too easy for Gu Yinxue. Ke Zhongyu spent a fortune to bring in top experts; the surgery took over ten hours to save her. Her vital signs were stable, but she remained unconscious in the ICU.

By evening, she finally opened her eyes.

She was transferred from the ICU to another ward, with police stationed outside the door.

Gu Yinxue's eyes darted around. A sharp pain stabbed at the spot where her heart was, and her whole body was immobile. Needles were inserted into the backs of both hands—one delivering medication throughout her body, the other sending medicine directly to her heart. She had been treated this way before, with both lines going at once, when a cold had triggered her heart condition.

She was alive.

Compared to opening her eyes and seeing police, opening her eyes to see Ke Zhongyu and Jiang Lai was the most terrifying thing.

Ke Zhongyu's condescending gaze and the contempt at the corners of his mouth all told her that she was now fish on the chopping block, an ant beneath their feet.

Jiang Lai's cool, detached expression was even more glaring.

She lay there while Jiang Lai stood, instantly making Jiang Lai look down on her from on high, lofty and superior.

Before she could even react, the two of them walked away as if nothing had happened.

In Gu Yinxue's eyes, Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu were like criminals returning to the scene of the crime, coming back to savor and relish the thrill of hurting her.

Gu Yinxue was furious, her whole body tensing with effort.

The sound of their conversation drifted into her ears.

Ke Zhongyu: "I estimate she'll be able to lie in bed for two more days before going to court."

Jiang Lai: "What if she has another heart attack in court?"

Ke Zhongyu: "She's lucky. Whether in court or later in prison, there will be a doctor on call for her at any time."

Bang!

A tightly wound string in Gu Yinxue's mind snapped abruptly. Her pupils lost focus from sheer terror, and her body began to tremble.

How could she have forgotten—forgotten that she had been caught by the police?

The speedboat had been tampered with, and Lu Si had thrown her into the sea to save his own skin.

She was under arrest.

Her mother had smashed her heart hard several times.

She had thought she would die, but she didn't—not because she was lucky, but because Ke Zhongyu and Jiang Lai wouldn't let her die. They insisted she live to face punishment.

Combined with Ke Zhongyu's words just now, this meant they wanted her to live a life worse than death!

Gu Yinxue had always known Ke Zhongyu was ruthless, but she never imagined he could be so insidious.

Tears of terror kept gushing from the corners of her eyes.

Gu Yinxue's body shook, and her heart ached more and more—so painful, so painful, so painful...

The monitor beeped, and doctors and nurses rushed over.

Gu Yinxue felt like she was drowning, yet just before her last breath faded, she was pulled back from the water. She knew that the rest of her life would be like this, an endless cycle of torment.

After being discharged from the hospital, Gu Sen rested for a while.

Then came the day of Gu Yinxue's trial.

There should have been three people at the plaintiff's table, but only Gu Sen and Jiang Lai stood there. Song Shiwei had been deemed to have a mental disorder and did not need to attend.

This was Jiang Lai's second time in a solemn courtroom—once for her marriage, and once for her birth.

She remained calm and composed, her gaze soft as it swept over the public gallery, where sat those who cared about her, as well as those who cared about Gu Sen.

All four members of the Ke Family were there.

Unexpectedly, Gu Kai had also come, his expression stern. His eyes frequently scanned the gallery, perhaps afraid that media personnel had sneaked in. After the trial began, his gaze locked onto Gu Yinxue, terrified she might say something that would harm the Gu family's interests.

What you fear most is what comes.

Gu Yinxue's first crime was deliberately instigating another person to murder a national-level key scientific researcher, attempted murder. Naturally, the reasons for her crime would be explained.

Even if the events of twenty-eight years ago weren't recounted in full detail, they would certainly be mentioned.

When Gu Kai heard the lawyer say that the victim, Jiang Lai, was actually the biological daughter the Gu family had abandoned twenty-eight years ago, he nearly fainted. Even a few words about it would spell a crisis for the Gu family.

Although Gu Yinxue ultimately failed in her murder attempt, the lack of a completed result was only due to chance factors, which did not affect the severity of the felony. According to the law, she was to be severely punished for intentional homicide.

Her second crime was that, while evading arrest, she coerced and controlled her adoptive parents as hostages to escape legal accountability, depriving them of their personal freedom and using her loved ones as bargaining chips for her own survival. The circumstances were vile, violated ethics, and seriously endangered citizens' personal safety and social order, constituting the crime of kidnapping.

The third was that, during the arrest, she refused to cooperate with law enforcement, violently resisted arrest, and obstructed official duties. The circumstances were serious, constituting the crime of obstructing public service, with the aggravating factor of assaulting police.

After the first three charges were presented, Gu Yinxue could only choke out a guilty plea, because the evidence was complete—otherwise, she wouldn't have been wanted.

Then came the fourth charge.

Deliberately switching medication, abusing family members, and intentionally harming her adoptive mother's physical and mental health.

Gu Yinxue's eyes flew wide open, and she was stunned for a long moment.

She had never thought this would be discovered. She had always believed she had been discreet, and before the incident, she had already had someone switch the medicine back.

Gu Yinxue seemed to regain a bit of color and began to plead innocence, saying she hadn't done it.

The moment Wu Ma appeared as a witness, and the moment the genuine medicine, the counterfeit medicine, and the test report were all presented, Gu Yinxue fell silent again.

During that period, she had been too busy figuring out how to hide and escape the country to evade capture, and she had overlooked this matter.

She thought she had done it flawlessly, but the net of heaven is vast, and nothing slips through.

The blood in Gu Yinxue's body froze, and she stood like a stone statue.

"The defendant, Gu Yinxue, is convicted of intentional homicide—instigating the principal offender to target a national researcher, with attempted aggravated circumstances—kidnapping, assaulting police and obstructing public service, intentional injury, and abuse. Multiple crimes are punished concurrently."

"Final verdict: life imprisonment, with deprivation of political rights for life."

Jiang Lai once again heard the heavy sound of the gavel falling—and with it, everything settled.

The public gallery was utterly silent.

No one thought the sentence was too harsh.

From secretly conducting a paternity test that confirmed Jiang Lai was the Gu family's true young lady, to then, by reporting Ji Lao, instigating Lin Shutong to murder Jiang Lai.

From secretly swapping her foster mother Song Shiwei's medicine, to then fleeing after being placed on a wanted list, kidnapping the parents who raised her for twenty‑eight years, and violently assaulting the police, resisting to the end.

Her evil progressed in layers, a deliberate intent that never relented.

Even at the very last moment, Gu Yinxue, standing in the defendant's bench, remained full of resentment, her eyes gloomy and vicious, yet her face was deathly pale, tears streaming down her face.

The murder she personally plotted, the kindness she personally destroyed, the order and law she personally opposed—these will inevitably lock away all brightness in the rest of her life.

Life imprisonment is the fitting end she earned with her malice.

【68> Ke Zhongyu will let her live to a ripe old age, yet she will never see the world beyond the prison, unable to leave a ten‑li radius cage.

Ke Zhongyu will let her live a hundred years, yet she cannot see the world beyond the prison, unable to leave the cage within a ten-li radius.