CHAPTER 105 — The Fall of Shi Zhenai
Rain hammered the courtroom windows like a relentless drum, a fitting soundtrack to the collapse of the man who once ruled City A with an iron fist.
Shi Zhenai — patriarch of the Shi family, puppeteer of scandals, architect of Yunxi's suffering — stood in the defendant's box with trembling hands. His once-imposing figure looked smaller now, suit soaked from anxiety-driven sweat, eyes darting wildly at the crowd gathered to watch his downfall.
The courtroom was overflowing.
Journalists lined every inch of the back wall.
Spectators whispered eagerly.
Camera flashes exploded like lightning.
But none of that mattered.
Because Shi Yunxi was there.
She sat calmly beside Mu Lingchen, chin lifted, expression unreadable. Her triplets were safely in the Mu estate, protected, healed, and recovering from trauma. For the first time in many years… she wasn't hiding.
And the world saw it.
The prosecutors presented the first set of evidence — documents Roulan had secretly kept as insurance against her own father. The moment Roulan realized the world had turned against her, she dragged the entire Shi family down with her, confessing everything.
Now those crimes shone bright on the courtroom screen.
Bribery.
Embezzlement.
Tax fraud.
Illegal detention.
Child endangerment.
Human trafficking contacts.
And worst of all—
The hidden abuse and control inflicted on Shi Yunxi for years.
Shi Zhenai gripped the edge of the table, knuckles white. "This is fabricated! All of it! My daughter is mentally unstable—she's lying!"
Roulan, escorted in handcuffs, laughed hysterically from the witness box.
"Mentally unstable?" she spat. "Who made me that way? Who beat me until I couldn't breathe? Who forced Yunxi to obey like a doll? You did."
Gasps echoed across the courtroom.
Shi Zhenai slammed his fist on the stand. "You ungrateful disgrace—!"
"ENOUGH!" the judge thundered.
Silence fell.
Roulan stared at her father with dead eyes. "You imprisoned Yunxi in her own home. You destroyed her records. You threatened anyone who tried to help her. And you punished me every time I tried to protect her."
Her voice cracked.
"You even hit me when I said I didn't want to marry Mu Lingchen. Remember that? You said if I didn't, Yunxi would be the one beaten in my place."
The courtroom froze.
Yunxi's hands tightened in her lap, her breath sharp.
Lingchen reached over and gently covered her fingers with his own. "It's over now," he whispered.
Yunxi exhaled shakily but stayed silent, eyes fixed on the stand.
Roulan turned to face her. Tears welled in her eyes — real tears, for once.
"I was jealous," she said softly. "But I was also trapped. You were the only one he loved… and the only one he hated. You suffered because of him. So did I."
It was not forgiveness.
It was a confession carved out of a decade of pain.
The judge cleared his throat, voice heavy.
"The evidence is overwhelming. Shi Zhenai, you are charged with twenty-three counts of serious criminal activity—"
"I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!" Shi Zhenai exploded. "Everything I did was for this family! For our name! If Yunxi hadn't run away—if she had listened—none of this would have happened!"
At that moment, Yunxi rose.
Every eye turned to her.
She stepped forward, calm, expression steady.
"I didn't run," Yunxi said quietly. "You chased me out. You controlled me, harmed me, and tried to break me."
Her voice didn't tremble.
Her gaze didn't waver.
"You destroyed my childhood. You destroyed any chance we had of being a family."
She inhaled.
"But you didn't break me."
Shi Zhenai stared at her, stunned, as if she had slapped him across the face.
"I survived," Yunxi said. "I found a life outside your cage. I found people who genuinely care for me. I raised my children with love—something you never gave me."
She lifted her chin.
"And today, I'm taking back everything you stole."
The courtroom erupted into whispers—admiration, sympathy, shock.
Shi Zhenai sputtered, rage twisting his features. "You'd testify against your own father!?"
"You were never a father," Yunxi replied coldly. "Just a monster who used the word to justify his sins."
The judge struck his gavel.
"Order!"
Silence returned.
"Shi Zhenai," the judge declared, "based on the evidence and testimonies, this court sentences you to forty years in prison with no possibility of early release."
Gasps echoed.
Flashlights burst like stars.
Shi Zhenai collapsed to his knees, eyes bulging. "No… no… no! I'm Shi Zhenai! You can't do this to me! I OWN THIS CITY!"
"Not anymore," Lingchen said from the gallery, voice cold as ice.
"You lost the moment you touched my family."
Guards seized Shi Zhenai, dragging him away as he screamed curses and threats that dissolved into echoes.
Roulan sank against her seat, a broken shell, but no longer hiding under her father's shadow.
Yunxi watched them go.
No joy.
No satisfaction.
Just release.
The chains that had bound her for years finally snapped.
It was over.
Lingchen slipped an arm around her shoulders.
"You're free," he whispered.
Yunxi leaned against him, breath steady, eyes soft.
"No," she said quietly. "We're free."
And for the first time in her life…
She believed it.