Chapter 113 Give me the entire Zheng family, and I'll release him.

In the courtroom, Father Zheng sat in the defendant's chair with a look of dejection on his face. Although the sentence had not yet been formally handed down, he already knew what the final result would be. It had taken him less than a few months to go from being the chairman of the Zheng Group to a prisoner.

Sitting behind him was Mrs. Zheng. Watching her husband sitting in that chair, she felt a complex mix of emotions. This was her husband, yet he was now facing judgment. She wanted to help him get out of the Prison, but she had no other options.

Just as the court was about to be in session, the side door of the courtroom opened. Everyone's gaze subconsciously focused there. When they saw the person who emerged, Father Zheng and Mrs. Zheng felt their hearts skip a beat, for that person was none other than Zheng Jie.

Father Zheng was not a fool; he knew that this person must be here to laugh at his misfortune. After all, it was this person who had snatched away his position as chairman. Although he had formulated several counter-attack strategies, none of them had worked; they had even caused his own people to be sent to the Prison one after another. He had completely become a loner, and now it was his turn to be sent to the Prison.

Zheng Jie sat in the back row, with Old Li and his secretary sitting on either side. Seeing this scene, Mrs. Zheng's face looked ugly.

"We request that all irrelevant personnel be removed immediately." At this moment, Mrs. Zheng looked at her lawyer, who understood her intent and spoke up.

"Overruled." "I now announce that the trial is officially in session." The judge's attitude was very firm, directly rejecting the other party's request. In their view, such requests were completely unworthy of being granted. Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of those few people were unsightly, but since the court was already in session, everyone had to put this matter aside for now.

Mrs. Zheng sat in her chair, looking at her eldest son, not knowing what to think. A perfectly good family had been turned into this by him. Inside, Mrs. Zheng definitely harbored some hatred toward him. She hated why he hadn't just taken the shares and left in the beginning, instead of snatching the position of chairman of the Zheng Group. If it weren't for this, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out like this.

To them, Zheng Jie was the shame of their lives. They even felt regret—regret for why they had given birth to this second son. Yes, if they didn't love him, why did they give birth to him in the first place?

The trial process was essentially the prosecutor's office presenting accusations and the defense lawyer refuting them. Both sides engaged in a war of words, each presenting their own theoretical basis. If the judge felt that one side made sense, they would lean toward that side. Under normal circumstances, the role a lawyer could play was actually not very significant.

When the line between whether to convict or not was blurry, an excellent lawyer's role could be demonstrated. However, for a situation like Father Zheng's, which was already a foregone conclusion, the role the lawyer could play was far too limited.

"Boss, the news we received is that it should be a 13-year fixed-term imprisonment." Hearing this, Zheng Jie nodded.

"I know. There won't be any other surprises, will there?" "No, there won't. This matter has basically been finalized as a proposal; there won't be any problems."

13 years. Father Zheng was already 58 years old. After 13 years, he would be 73. At that age, he would practically have one foot in the grave, and it was highly unlikely he would be able to come out of the Prison. If someone with connections might consider applying for medical parole or other methods, as long as Zheng Jie did not agree, any attempt by these people to get medical parole or sentence reduction would be nothing but wishful thinking.

As the trial began, Zheng Jie sat up straight, because he was quite interested in the whole affair. Watching his greatest enemy about to enter the Prison, Zheng Jie felt quite happy.

The trial process was not very long. The defense lawyer was indeed well-prepared and had made preparations in advance for many of the prosecutor's attacks; the anticipation was indeed well-executed. However, regarding several key core pieces of evidence, the lawyer really had no better options. After all, these things were ironclad evidence. What could a lawyer possibly do when facing such ironclad accusations?

Seeing the lawyer fall silent, Mrs. Zheng knew very clearly what the situation was; it was estimated that it would be of no use. Although she knew from the beginning that there was a high probability it wouldn't be of much use, when this scene actually happened, Mrs. Zheng still felt somewhat sad, because with the lawyer falling silent, it proved that there were no miracles left.

"The court is adjourned for one hour. After one hour, this court will announce the verdict." After saying this, the judges left. As for Father Zheng, he was taken away by several staff members.

"Zheng Jie, what is the meaning of this? You are here to watch a joke, aren't you?" Mrs. Zheng came up to Zheng Jie, her tone filled with anger. Watching this, Old Li stepped out and blocked her.

"Since you already know, isn't it redundant to come here and ask? If I weren't here to watch the joke, why would I come? It's not like I specifically came to visit my father, right?"

Hearing this form of address, Mrs. Zheng felt a sense of irony in her heart; she didn't understand what kind of son could send his own father to the Prison.

"You are not welcome here; I advise you to leave immediately." "Whether I am welcome or not, I have already arrived. Moreover, I came here through legal means. You want me to leave with just one sentence? Is it because you feel the fines you've paid during this period are not enough?"

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zheng clenched her fists. At this moment, the expression on her face was ugly. She didn't understand how there could be such a shameless person in this world. However, if Mrs. Zheng were willing to look in a mirror, she would discover that there was actually an even more shameless person in this world, and that person was undoubtedly her—or, to be precise, the entire Zheng family.

In the lounge, Father Zheng sat in a chair, clenching his fists. "How many years will I be sentenced to?" At this moment, Father Zheng raised his head and looked at the staff members in front of him. The staff members looked at each other.

"This matter is currently somewhat unknown, but you will know when the judge announces the verdict in a while. You can rest for a moment now."

Even if they knew, it would be impossible for them to say it, let alone the fact that they didn't know at all. However, they actually had some judgment in their hearts, which was that it would be at least a fixed-term imprisonment of ten years or more.

An hour passed quickly. When Father Zheng was brought back to the defendant's chair, his heart was filled with anxiety. He was wondering how many years he would spend in the Prison. A fixed-term imprisonment of ten years or more—he didn't know if he would ever have the chance to come out alive.

At this time, the judge also walked in holding a thick file, which contained the final verdict document. Looking at this large stack of things, Father Zheng took a breath, forcing himself to calm down, but he found that he couldn't calm down at all. He had thought that he would definitely face this matter calmly, but when the moment the result was about to be made public arrived, he was still a bit nervous. Besides the nervous Father Zheng, the situation on Mrs. Zheng's side was no better; her palms were sweating incessantly.

When the time was about up, the judge stood up from the chair and began to pronounce the verdict. The beginning was naturally the whole process, which made people feel a bit dizzy listening to it, but the latter part was the verdict result. At this moment, everyone perked up.

"13 years." The moment he heard this number, Father Zheng could no longer hear what the other party was saying. In his heart, he kept echoing this number—13 years, a full 13 years. This meant he was going to lose 13 years of freedom.

When you possess freedom, you don't feel how precious it is because it is within your reach.

But when one day you suddenly lose your freedom, only then do you realize how happy you were in the past. During this time in the Detention Center, Father Zheng didn't even have the freedom to use the restroom.

If he wanted to use the restroom, he had to report it. Besides this, he was also forced to do manual labor every day, doing things he had never done in his life. After each labor session, he would be exhausted and sore all over, but he had to continue doing it the next day.

If there was anything to be happy about, it was that the Zheng family was not short of money, so every once in a while, Mrs. Zheng would send him some money. This money allowed him to improve his diet in the Prison, but the degree of change wasn't that great—nothing more than being able to eat a cup of instant noodles and smoke some cigarettes.

He had to endure this kind of life for 13 years. 13 years! What did this mean? It meant he would have to stay in this place endlessly, and he might not even be able to get out on the day he died.

"If you are dissatisfied with the verdict, you may file an appeal." Leaving this final sentence behind, the entire trial was officially concluded. Seeing that there was no more fun to be had, Zheng Jie turned and left. Watching his retreating figure, Mrs. Zheng hurriedly chased after him.

"Zheng Jie." Hearing the voice from behind, Zheng Jie took a breath and turned his head to look at Mrs. Zheng in front of him.

"Do you really have to be so ruthless? No matter what, he is the one who gave you life. Can't you show mercy and let him be free? I guarantee that after you let him out, we will definitely find a place where you will never see us again, hiding far away, and we won't cause you any dissatisfaction."

When Mrs. Zheng said this, her tone carried some pleading, because she really couldn't bear to watch her husband spend a full 13 years in the Prison; no one could bear it.

"Your words have zero credibility to me now. Besides, what benefit is there for me to let you out? Asking me to take such a big risk to get him out is simply a pipe dream."

"So, regarding what you said, I have no way to help. Of course, if you are willing, hand over all your remaining assets to me now, and then I might consider it."

Zheng Jie's tone was calm as he spoke, but the moment she heard this, Mrs. Zheng's heart skipped a beat. The Zheng family did indeed have some assets left. Apart from over 9 billion in cash, there were still assets worth about 5 billion. This was their last capital. If they handed all of this over to the person in front of them, they would truly have nothing left.

What was the concept of having nothing? It meant that if they wanted to live from now on, they would have to go out and work. But for people like them, even if they went out to work, what could they do? Were they really supposed to let these former bosses of multi-trillion-dollar enterprises go work in factories?

It was simply impossible. If they really had to do that, they felt it would be better to just kill themselves, because this matter would be the ultimate humiliation for them.

"It seems you are not very willing right now. Since you are not willing, why bring these things up? You don't seem to care about him as much as you claim, do you?"

This is what is called "killing the heart"; this is the true definition of it.

It was normal for Mrs. Zheng to be hesitant, after all, this was all they had left. If they handed it all over, their future livelihood would be a problem. After all, there was no one left in the circle willing to help them, and no one willing to get close to them, because everyone was afraid that if they got close to them, they would be dealt with by Zheng Jie.

In fact, Zheng Jie hadn't released such a message to the people in the circle, but these smart people were truly too smart; they knew very clearly how not to offend someone they absolutely could not afford to provoke.

There were even some people who might take action against the Zheng family, hoping to please Zheng Jie. Of course, someone like Zheng Jie wouldn't give them a good look. This didn't mean he was particularly good to the Zheng family, because such people were just fence-sitters. Today, he could humiliate your enemy to please you, and tomorrow he might attack you to please someone else. Such people were truly not worth trusting.

"When you have figured it out, you can contact me. You must understand that this world is a world of interests. If you don't give me a satisfactory number, why should I do things for you? Is it because you took away my position as president of the Zheng Group? Or is it because you made me replace him in marriage, and after he returned, you made me divorce?"

After saying this last sentence, Zheng Jie left. Things had reached this point, and there was no need for him to say anything more. Watching the other party's figure get further and further away, Mrs. Zheng sighed.