Chapter 107 — The Fall of the Shi Family
Rain hammered the city like the heavens themselves were washing away the remnants of the Shi family's sins.
Inside the courtroom, the atmosphere was suffocating—press, police, legal teams, and an audience hungry for justice. Cameras weren't allowed inside, but reporters packed every hallway, waiting to tear apart whatever verdict came out.
Shi Yunxi sat in the first row, her posture upright but her eyes cold and unreadable. She wore a simple black coat, nothing flashy, nothing soft—just clean, sharp lines that made her presence impossible to ignore. Mu Lingchen sat beside her, a silent shield, one hand resting lightly on her back.
He didn't speak.
He didn't need to.
Yunxi's aura alone froze the air.
Across the aisle, guarded by four officers, was Shi Zhenai.
Her father.
Her blood.
And now—just another criminal whose name would be printed on tomorrow's headlines with words like embezzlement, child abuse, corruption, attempted kidnapping cover-up, and association with hostage-taking.
He looked nothing like the imposing patriarch she grew up fearing. His hair, once meticulously combed and oiled, now hung limp and gray around his gaunt face. His eyes—once cold, calculating—were wild with a fear Yunxi had never seen before.
He trembled.
Shi Zhenai, the man who once terrorized an entire household, trembled like a cornered animal.
The judge's voice cut through the silence like a blade.
"Proceed with witness testimony."
The first to stand was not Yunxi.
It was Roulan.
Or what remained of her.
Her wrists were cuffed. Her eyes were hollow. The fall and the arrest had drained whatever pride or arrogance she once had. She shuffled to the stand, head down, as if she had aged years in days.
She lifted her gaze—and locked eyes with Yunxi.
Instant chaos exploded inside her expression—hatred, envy, desperation, and the last remnants of the insanity that had taken her over.
"I want to testify," Roulan said, voice hoarse.
The judge nodded. "State your name."
"Shi Roulan."
"And your statement?"
Roulan's eyes shifted again to Yunxi.
"She ruined everything," she whispered viciously. "She always ruins everything."
A murmur rippled through the courtroom.
Lingchen tensed beside Yunxi, muscles tight with restrained fury.
But Yunxi didn't blink.
Roulan looked around wildly, like she was trying to cling to the remnants of the delusion she had lived in for years.
"She took the family's attention," Roulan continued. "She took the inheritance, the company, the public love—even Father's protection—when she didn't deserve anything!"
Shi Zhenai flinched.
The judge frowned.
The entire room stiffened.
"And then," Roulan hissed, "she stole the man I wanted. She stole the life I was supposed to have!"
Yunxi's expression didn't change.
But her silence made Roulan unravel.
"She—she destroyed us all! If not for her, I—"
"Order!" the judge snapped. "This is testimony, not a tantrum."
Roulan's voice broke into a distorted laugh.
"I want to expose everything. EVERYTHING. If I go down, I'm dragging them all with me."
She lifted a shaking finger.
"And I'll start with him."
She pointed at Shi Zhenai.
The courtroom sucked in a breath as dozens of eyes snapped toward Yunxi's father.
Shi Zhenai's face drained of all color. "Roulan, shut your mouth—!"
"I WON'T!" she screamed.
"Shi Zhenai ordered everything!" she spat. "He covered the child abuse, he hid the embezzlement, he forced Yunxi into isolation, he tampered with evidence—and he tried to kill her the night she escaped!"
Gasps filled the courtroom.
Shi Zhenai lurched forward, eyes wild. "You lying, psychotic brat—!"
"Silence!" the judge thundered. "One more outburst and you will be removed!"
Roulan smirked—a broken, jagged smirk.
"I'm not lying. You think I didn't know? He told me I had to destroy Yunxi before she came back and ruined the family name. He told me I had to break her spirit, make her irrelevant—"
Shi Zhenai slammed his hand on the table. "SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DISAPPEARED! YOU FAILED THAT TOO!"
The courtroom erupted.
People shouted.
The judge pounded the gavel.
Officers rushed to restrain both father and daughter.
But Yunxi didn't move.
Her face remained eerily calm,
like this was not the first time she'd heard those words—
and it wasn't.
The only difference was that now, the entire world knew too.
After several minutes, order was restored.
The judge looked exhausted.
"Enough. Bring in the next evidence."
One by one, documents, financial reports, hidden transcripts, audio recordings, and years of abuse logs—many recovered by Xiolan herself—were read into the record.
With every new piece of evidence, the Shi family's empire burned a little more.
Shi Corporation.
Shi Zhenai's political alliances.
The hidden operations tied to illegal labor.
The forced confinement of Yunxi.
The years of psychological and physical torment inflicted on her.
It was all dragged into the light.
By the time the final document was read, Shi Zhenai was slumped in his seat like a corpse.
The judge turned cold eyes toward him.
"Shi Zhenai, based on overwhelming evidence, this court finds you guilty on fourteen counts, including financial fraud, abuse of a minor, unlawful confinement, and criminal conspiracy."
He didn't react.
He simply stared at the floor, hollow and defeated.
The judge continued.
"Your sentence will be announced next week, but prepare yourself—leniency is not an option."
Roulan snarled. "He's not the only one—"
"Remove the witness," the judge ordered.
Officers dragged her away as she thrashed and screamed.
"You won't be happy! You'll NEVER be free, Yunxi! You'll always have the blood of our family—"
The doors slammed shut behind her.
Silence.
Finally, the judge turned to Yunxi.
"Miss Shi Yunxi," he said gently, "you may make a statement if you wish."
She rose.
The entire room held its breath.
Her voice was low, steady, emotionless.
"I have no father," she said.
Shi Zhenai twitched in his seat.
"I have no family named Shi," Yunxi continued. "Whatever blood tied us ended long ago — when they chose cruelty over humanity."
She turned away.
Her final words fell like thunder.
"And today, I cut the last thread."
Lingchen stood and followed her as she walked out of the courtroom — calm, composed, and finally free of the chains she had been born into.
The Shi family had fallen.
And Yunxi?
She was rising.