Chapter 668: Another Possibility

The courtroom fell into complete silence. The vast majority of jury members were staring open-mouthed, unable to believe the case had developed in this direction.

The explanation sounded improbable at first. But on reflection, with the Lion King Card's details already verified as accurate, it really did seem like the only coherent account.

Because what else could explain it?

The husband once had assets exceeding a hundred million? That sounded like pure fantasy.

The wife actually had assets exceeding a hundred million? That directly contradicted the existing evidence.

Substituting the husband as the junket agent might technically hold together, but there was not a single piece of evidence suggesting the husband had worked in that role, and the probability of a male junket agent accompanying a wealthy female patron and receiving the card as a gift was far lower than the reverse.

Moreover, the theory that the wife was a junket agent was supported by two pieces of verified evidence: the bank statements and the social media photographs.

The moment the card was confirmed as the Lion King Card, much of the prior analysis and conjecture had effectively collapsed. The range of plausible truths had narrowed to almost nothing.

Lin Sizhi paused briefly and continued, "So, combining everything we now know, the truth becomes clear.

"This newlywed couple met at the casino.

"The husband had no legitimate employment. He occasionally scraped together gambling funds through questionable means, and had accumulated substantial debts through gambling. But he was handsome and silver-tongued, which made him quite attractive to women.

"The wife was a casino junket agent and social media influencer, who had accumulated wealth disproportionate to her actual abilities through this grey industry. After the deaths of her doting parents, she inherited a property valued at fifteen million along with various other assets, making her a very appealing target.

"The two grew close, and love was certainly part of it. The husband was physically attractive, the wife had the air of a social celebrity, and attractive people naturally draw each other's attention.

"But there were also material interests at play.

"The husband coveted the wife's assets and could not let her see the truth of his financial situation. He would naturally have presented himself as a successful man of means. Meanwhile the wife, in her own way, was also looking to extract something from the husband. As a junket agent, she had done this kind of thing more than once.

"But under the husband's passionate pursuit and subtle psychological manipulation, the wife genuinely fell in love, and without proper thought, they registered their marriage.

"Yet a marriage like this was always going to be fraught with tension. That is precisely why the wife's expression in the wedding photograph carries such unmistakeable unease.

"A wedding photo session produces many shots, and couples select the one they are most satisfied with to display in a frame.

"The reason the wife chose this particular photograph is that she loved what her own expression conveyed in it: a hint of melancholy that cast a bittersweet veil over this love story.

"After the marriage, the husband continued pushing forward with his plan. He deceived the wife into signing the large insurance policies, and continued using medication to control her, ultimately choosing this yacht as the setting to carry out his plan.

"But the wife was not entirely unaware.

"Because the final outcome was that both of them ended up in the water together. If the husband had planned carefully, the wife was unsuspecting, and she was also under the effects of medication, how could she have pulled him into the sea?

"So the wife had not only noticed something, but had also arranged a counter-plan.

"She found someone on the ship to help her, preparing an ambush.

"The moment the husband revealed his intentions and moved against her, and the two of them struggled, the person the wife had recruited would appear, intervene in the guise of defending her, push the husband into the sea, and carry out the reversal.

"Unfortunately, the person the wife recruited appears to have had their own ideas. They ultimately chose to push both of them into the water.

"Only this explanation is consistent with the actual course of events as we know them.

"And among those on this ship, only two people could genuinely qualify as this 'helper.'

"That is: Tang Qing and Mr Wang.

"I am a lawyer with no physical capability to speak of. Doctor Feng does not appear particularly robust either. The wife would not have turned to either of us when looking for someone to help.

"The Detective, by contrast, deals with criminals regularly in the course of professional work and presumably has a working command of basic combat techniques. And Mr Wang is the actual owner of this yacht. A man of means with broad connections and influence would naturally have a few loyal and capable associates around him.

"Only the two of you would be capable of pushing this couple into the water without leaving any trace and without attracting anyone's attention.

"Furthermore, while the method of boarding the yacht was an online lottery, for the two of you, finding a way to ensure that outcome would not have been particularly difficult."

In the midst of the general shock, Lin Sizhi paused once more and continued, "Of course, other possibilities do still exist.

"For instance: in the struggle, the wife's survival instinct produced a burst of strength, and the two of them fell into the water together. The helper the wife had arranged was unable to intervene in time, and afterward had no choice but to feign ignorance to avoid being implicated.

"Or: the wife had arranged no helper at all, and no counter-plan. She was still deeply in love with the husband. Under the enormous psychological pressure and the effects of the medication, her mental state had become acutely unstable.

"In the end, driven by a complex mixture of anguish and resolve, the wife chose to pull the husband with her into the sea, ending this misguided and bittersweet love story together.

"As for which of these possibilities I find more likely, I lean toward the latter.

"The evidence is the ring introduced at the very beginning.

"Please look again. This ring does contain a diamond, but the stone is modest in size.

"For a couple of ordinary means, using this as a wedding ring would be perfectly reasonable. But based on the wife's lifestyle and photographs, she was accustomed to a high level of spending. For something as romantic as a diamond ring, there would be no reason to buy something this small.

"Furthermore, this ring is on its own. No other rings appear.

"As newlyweds, there would be no reason for one of them to wear a ring while the other did not.

"Since both were wearing rings, why was this one left behind?

"The answer is simple. According to the custom most people follow for marriage, three rings are typically prepared.

"Two of these are matching couple's bands, worn as everyday jewellery. The third is the diamond ring, reserved for formal occasions such as the wedding ceremony itself.

"In terms of size, the man's everyday band generally carries no diamond and is larger. The woman's everyday band often carries a small diamond, as this one does.

"The true diamond ring, however, would have a noticeably larger stone, and might cost tens of thousands or more.

"The wife would typically alternate between the everyday band and the diamond ring depending on the occasion, keeping whichever she wasn't wearing in the ring box.

"This box is quite exquisite. It was clearly designed to hold a diamond ring. But what it currently contains is the wife's everyday band.

"Which means the wife took out the diamond ring from the box and placed her everyday band inside it instead.

"Because she had already made up her mind to die with her husband, she would naturally have chosen to wear this most precious ring, the symbol of their love. Beyond that, there would be no other particular reason she would need to carry it.

"Of course, this is also speculation on my part. So I ask the esteemed members of the jury to verify this ring, and see whether any useful information can be obtained."