Too Bad I Take Things Seriously-Chapter 475 - 201: Husband and wife are birds of the same forest; when disaster strikes, they perish together!_4

Clearly, Meng Lei’s words were about to fundamentally change the direction of the trial.

In the courtroom, the Judgment Chief paused for a few seconds before asking, "Was Tian Shulan aware of all the loans you took out after your marriage?"

Meng Lei nodded hastily. "She knew about all of them; the chat records on my phone can prove it."

"Then did she ever explicitly try to persuade you or warn you against borrowing money?" the Judgment Chief asked after a brief pause.

Meng Lei shook his head. "No, she never thought there was anything wrong with it. In fact, she would urge me to borrow money when we needed it."

The Judgment Chief pondered for a moment, then looked again toward the other side of the defendant’s dock, asking, "Tian Shulan, is what Meng Lei just said true?"

The focus of the case had now shifted from Meng Lei to both spouses. The key to the judgment lay in whether there was any instigation. If she had merely acquiesced, without explicitly directing, instructing, or inciting him, it would not constitute the crime of instigation. Even her awareness of the borrowing, by itself, would not be enough. However, if she *had* directed or incited him, it would undoubtedly constitute the crime of instigation.

"I... I... I did tell him to borrow money a few times," Tian Shulan stammered from the defendant’s dock, nervous under questioning. "But only a few times! The... the rest was all his idea."

The Judgment Chief continued to ask, "During the marriage, did you ever explicitly dissuade or stop him from borrowing money?"

Tian Shulan swallowed hard. She dared not meet the Judgment Chief’s piercing gaze and didn’t dare to answer directly.

During their marriage, she indeed had not discouraged him. Her reasoning was simple: borrowing money was Meng Lei’s personal action. All these loans were taken out under Meng Lei’s name and had nothing to do with her. On the contrary, the borrowed money could be used to improve their lives, so why not?

After questioning both parties, the Judgment Chief reached a conclusion. "In that case," he announced, "as new evidence has emerged and new criminal leads have been discovered, we will now focus on examining whether Tian Shulan is suspected of incitement."

Initially, this hearing was intended simply to confirm the facts of Meng Lei’s crime and pass sentence. But now, another criminal lead had surfaced, necessitating scrutiny of Tian Shulan’s actions. The focus of this investigation, naturally, was whether any act of instigation had occurred.

When Tian Shulan heard this, she paled with fright again and glared hatefully at Meng Lei beside her. At this moment, Meng Lei wore the same expression she had displayed just moments before: one of schadenfreude.

"Judgment Chief, I also want to report that the evidence presented by the prosecutor just now is incomplete!" Tian Shulan declared. She glanced at Meng Lei, then, in front of everyone in the courtroom, said through gritted teeth, "To my knowledge, the money Meng Lei has borrowed over the years is far more than 730,000."

"He also borrowed a lot of cash from many relatives and friends..." In retaliation, she threw out another bombshell, revealing cash dealings the prosecution hadn’t accounted for.

"I have kept records of all these transactions," she said. Then she took out her phone, opened her notes app, and began to read: "In March last year, he borrowed 2,000 yuan in cash from a colleague and wrote an IOU."

"In April last year, he borrowed 3,000 yuan in cash from a colleague—no IOU, no chat record, no bank transfer record."

"In May last year, he..."

As Tian Shulan read, details of one cash loan after another were made public. All this information concerned cash Meng Lei had borrowed in his own name—a total of more than twenty instances, none of which the prosecution had tallied.

Hearing this, Meng Lei stared daggers at Tian Shulan, his face growing even more sinister.

Tian Shulan... She was clearly determined to see him rot in jail. He had never encountered such malicious intent in his life! No wonder the ancients said, ’More venomous than a wasp’s sting is a woman’s heart!’